Revenge of the killer seagulls. Just lucky timing, on the way across from Jamjin-do to Muui-do.

Fishing boat at Yeongjong Pier with Incheon City in the background

Panorama of Incheon City in the horizon from Muui-do

It seems that autumn is finally upon us. Temperature has dropped to 20C on a sunny day like today. Looks like the right time to explore some islands off the city of Incheon. Island hopping is a term I wanted to use, but it is technically not really any hopping at all, since by public transport I would be lucky to even get to one island per day. What more, everything is in Korea here so I will have to guide by chance and by the grace of my GPS. Good light also means I can ditch my big camera and go light with a D300, lunch and plenty of water. Always ready for an adventure.

Google Earth capture of the entire journey mapped by a GPS. Green path is the actual route taken throughout the day.

Getting to the island is a multi-transport discipline. On my research, it looks like the easiest way to get there is to get out of Seoul and get on the express train to Incheon Airport an then hop onto a bus. The alternative way going through Incheon and then a ferry ride to the Airport island looks to be a longer journey. In most cities, Seoul included, the authorities have this idea that tourists are beings meant to be fleeced, so for example a metro ride to Incheon city proper is less than half of what it cost to go to the airport. Price aside, I’ve said that getting out of the city to the airport by Metro is not an easy task. There are some signs at metro station that looks like you could get a A-REX express train to Incheon Airport at Seoul Station, but don’t make the mistake I did. There’s no train going to the airport as of 2010. The line should be ready in the future, but just not now. I wasted 1 hour looking for that phantom train. Some maps indicate that the line is there, but some doesn’t. Best way seems to be to get to Gimpo Airport using Line 9 and then hopping to the A-REX to Incheon Airport without getting out of the station at Gimpo Airport stop.

Outline for today therefore, to take metro to Incheon Airport and then onto one of the island next to it by bus. End the day with a ferry ride into Incheon city before dark. It doesn’t really matter how it turns out. What is clear is that I will have to take a bus over a causeway to Jamjin-do and then hop onto a ferry to Muui-do. Will make up the itinerary as I go along…

Incheon City from Yeongjong Pier

So now at Incheon airport, it takes a little bit of investigation to know where to go next. I used up at least 1 hr here figuring out that it is impossible to walk to the pier (2km away) because of the airport security, so a bus is the best option. Go to departure area on the 3rd floor and take bus 222. Unfortunately there is no way to know whether the bus is going to Jamjin island or to Yeongjong pier for the ride into Incheon city. Just have to take your chance or ask the driver.  Bus fare seems to be 1000W as I didn’t really pay attention to my stored value card as I put it on the sensor.

However I was one of the ones that got on the wrong bus as the first one I took was going to Yeongjong pier on the return trip from Jamjin-do. When I got there, it was time to wait for the next bus to go to the island I wanted to go in the first place. Good time killer is to hang around the pier and look at all the tent-restaurants that sprouted out at the parking lot, full of drunk Koreans munching on BBQ pork and kimchi.

After half and hour, it was time for the bus to start moving again. Somehow I have a feeling that there’s not more than 2 buses that services this route going from one end of the Incheon Airport island (that would be Yeongjong Island) to the other end. The bus goes through the airport to pick up more passengers (or victims) and then darts to the west, where I wanted to go, confirmed by my GPS. Right after the airport the bus turns left into a small lane full of korean restaurants, seemingly built so that patrons can look at the sun setting over the sea. After a while, going through a tight road and avoiding carks parked on both sides of the road, the bus goes over a causeway connecting Jamjin-do with larger Jeongyong-do where the airport is located. The bus stops in the small island just before the ferry point. Roads here are tight, as real estate is not plentiful. A building sells 3000 Won return tickets to Muui-do for pedestrians.

Ferry connecting Jamjin-do with Muui-do

Four lanes of cars, they go in on the left then make a u-turn at the end of the ship and get out the same way.

There are two ferries operating here, taking turns in a maritime ballet shuttling cars and pedestrians across. On this day, and at this time, there are more cars returning than going to Muui-do. It’s almost 5pm by the time I got to my destination, which rules out any possibility of exploring the island. Just enough time to enjoy the sunset. The trip itself is an adventure in getting lost and letting a bus driver determine my fate for the day. Muui-do is not very far away by ferry, it takes less than 15 minutes to get across. As the ferry glides across the straits, seagulls follow the wake of the ferry, I’m not sure if its because the boat of to feed off the bread crumbs thrown by passengers.

Jamjin-do’s ferry ticketing booth. Notice the small space which is almost all taken by roadside restaurants. No place to park for sure.

Ferry anchor points on Muui-do

The trip back is quite straight forward. I already have a return ticket, so just hop onto the ferry at the pier, get back to Jamjin-do and wait for the same bus 222 to get here at the front of the ticketing building. The trip to Yeongjong pier is long enough it is possible to get a nap here. It was already dark by the time I noticed the bus making a detour from the standard route and realised that the driver was going off course to get some fuel. Thought that only happens in Malaysia. Though the sun was already below the horizon, the cold evening and clear skies gave the sky a nice gradient between dark orange and dark blue. I couldn’t take a picture of the nice colours since I can’t set up my tripod here (nor did I remember to bring one) and my camera does not do high ISO that elegantly.

Small fishing boat at Muui-do

Evidence of what peopel do here. Drink beer, eat oysters and light up fireworks (on the bottom right).

… and fishing…

This reflecting pool is actually a small pond on Muui-do with the sea in the background.

View of Jamjin-do from Muui-do in the late evening.

The convenience store in Muui-do

Heed the warning!

These two guards are looking after the ferry boarding points on Jamjin-do. Muui-do is in the background. This picture was taken on the way back to the mainland.

At least on the map, Muui-do looks like a holiday place with beaches and resorts. However, by the time I got here, I have less than an hour before darkness, and perhaps the last boat back to the mainland too. So it would not be too wise to hang around here too late, so only thing to do is to hang around the main town just after the usual Family Mart convenience store and watch the moon rise from the east over Incheon city. There are some fishermen, but they look local, the rest of the people here are making their way back to the ferry for the trip back to Yeongjong-do. I was thinking of taking some pictures of the small fishing boats in the harbour but at ground level they do not look too interesting. I have quite a number of pictures of it, but I only kept a few as most of them are quite boring. I was able to isolate the boats with a 105mm lens on a DX crop sensor but in general nothing much to talk about.

Tickets for the ferry ride back to Incheon city from Yeongjong pier cost 3000w too. But quite sure this time it is one way, so it is not a cheap ferry. It would be cheaper to grab the A-REX and Line 9 from Incheon airport. It is getting dark and the next boat is at 8 pm, just 20 mins away. Other than loud Korean travellers, the night is peaceful tonight. We have full moon now and during the long Chuseok holiday, and add to that a cold and cloudless night. I am unfortunately outfitted for summer. But I still prefer to be outside during the boat ride to the part of Incheon with the seaside promenade and a big ferris wheel.

For this shot I wished I had brought a longer lens. Its a 105mm on a Nikon D300, not too bad framing, but I would have liked a little tighter cut. That’s the Incheon bridge in the background. One of the longest in this region.

The boat took 15 mins. Could see that the second ferry is finished for the night, hence the longer than usual wait. I guess for those who don’t mind paying, they could go by bus, taxi or private car over the long bridge connecting the airport and Incheon city too.

The boat landing site is a cacophony of tourist restaurants and neon lights. Looks like there is a couple of mid sized amusement parks here. For me, it’s getting late and I absolutely want to get back as soon as possible. The next chore I had to carry out is the kilometer or so walk over to metro line 1 guided by my gps and google maps on my phone. What would I do without technology? There is a monorail system that looks like it connects to the metro station, but at this time in the evening it is not operational anymore. I’m not even sure if it is ever working. Can’t really verify it today.

And like clockwork, now inside the metro waiting for 30 something stops before getting back to downtown Seoul. For the final tally, my odometer says I have done just a little more than 100 km, but that had to include the multiple bus ride. Long trip, spent 1 hour maximum at the destination, but still feeling a sense of adventure in the process of finding my way around here. The boat ride into Incheon was the highlight of the day, there was fireworks off a tourist boat moored close to the promenade and just the general feeling of seaside wind blowing for 15 mins or so. It was cold but refreshing at the same time. Looks like a sequel should be coming up soon.

According to this superimposition of GPS plots and places where I took some pictures, it’s clear that I didn’t take too many pictures at too many different locations today. Most of is just figuring out where to go. But the results were worth it.

Tranquility

Watch it!

*end*

Sun setting over Lantau Island

Now that was a quick 7 months and a bit in Hong Kong. Whenever I go over Stone Cutter island bridge, I can never help staring at the hill with colonial houses on it overlooking Hong Kong Island. For me at least, that would be the best location with a view of  Hong Kong Island. I’ve always wanted to go there in the evening and set up my tripod to take a panorama at location (22.31530, 114.14248). On my last weekend there, I found that that place is a Naval base, hence off limits to casual passerbys. Its amazing what a little check on Googlemaps and streetview can tell you. So its time to search for an alternative. I’ve shot quite a number of pictures of Hong Kong, and I have not had a good panorama of the place yet, so this is an obvious last project before leaving.

The new ICC tower in Kowloon, next to the waterfront

Finally settled on West Kowloon Waterfront as the second best alternative just above Western Harbour tunnel. Again, best time for me to shoot was between 6:30pm to about 8:00pm. At this time of the year, the sun will start to set at 7pm and there will be two light show. One when the orange glow of the setting sun showers the subject with soft warm light and the second (which I think I like better) when the sun has set below the horizon and the skies in the background are in a dark shade of blue and foreground lighted by orange neon lights. I’m pretty happy with the resulting panorama made up of up to 15 frames of 12 megapix pictures stitched in Photoshop. Heres a sample:

Hong Kong Island at sunset: glowing in the evening sunlight

Hong Kong Island at early night: Moon on the left, remains of daylight on the right.

Good way to end my short stay in Hong Kong. Now signing off, soon I will report back in a new location.

This farming island is not too far away from Shanghai. A fast ferry from Wusong Port in Baoshan will get you there in 1 hour and a bit. A full circumnavigation of the whole island will take more than a day along the coast, but highlights of it can be done in a day. I’ve about had it with long blog posts, so this time for once, only pictures, no words. Enjoy…

Please do not reproduce these pictures without permission. Thanks.

*end*

Majiagang Pier, Changxing Island

The term “non-linear” applies especially to this post. I have made 2 trips to Changxing island over a few weeks, both times armed only with black & white film. As usual, I would type out this blog post on my Nokia E71 and then combine and edit them on a Macbook when I’m back in the comforts of my living room. However, somehow I got the post on Hengsha up and I forgot about this one till March 2010. So here I am, working on getting it out of my clogged up draft box.

As I originally wrote: after Hengsha, it is only natural the next island on the Yangzi River Delta to visit would be Changxing island, a lot bigger than Hengsha and slightly to the west. Not the biggest of course, that honour would go to Chongming island, subject of a future trip which I planned but never got to carry out before this post went online. It is not too difficult to get to Changxing. Same bus or metro to Wusong port and a boat to Majiagang, which is the only pier on the island, I was told. There are a lot more boats to Majiagang than to Hengsha, and the same for the return trip, so it shouldn’t be any issue to get there and back and advanced ticket is not necessary.

There are not too much information about Changxing Island on the internet, at least not the English internet that I can search for. I was told that this island contains many orange farms, of the green skinned type. Lokam, some call it. Shanghainese would go there in their car in autumn and pick them, like a novelty item as if reminding them of the agricultural origins of Pudong. As the ferry passes by Changxing Island on the way to Hengsha, all I saw on Changxing was a lot of shipyards, so I have expectations of orchards, four-stroke tractors and shipyards.

Eventually I would spend a total of two weekends to survey two sections of the island, the middle  and the far western end. It would be total nuts to walk the whole island. Changxing is at least 30km long from one end to the other.

First Survey: 15 August 2009

Central Changxing Island hike

Tried to wake up early, as I expect a long long walk on Changxing. Left home at 0700hrs after packing my own lunch, as I don’t expect to waste time to look for a restaurant when on the island. After a quick breakfast, it was the usual bus 952 from People’s Square to Wusong port. At the Baoshan ticketing office, the next fast boat I could find was at 1000hrs. This means I have at least one and a half hours to waste at the waiting room. I plug in my iPod and Fring on my Nokia E71 and tried to get productive going through some podcasts.

Boarding time

Boarding the fast boat to Changxing Island

I have on me my old Lowepro Rover AW backpack, which I do not use too much anymore as I have found better alternatives. Inside is crammed with a Mamiya RZ67II medium format camera with 50mm and 127mm lenses. Originally I was thinking to bring 2 magazines and both black & white and colour film, but to cut down on the weight, it will be a black & white trip this time. Lunch went on the top of the bag, and the Sony PCM-D50 audio recorder in a pouch attached to the belt.  Navigation is provided by Garmin eTrex Vista, and backup with Nokia E71 running google maps in case I need to check if a path leads to dead-end or not.

Huangpu River traffic: Mainly barges

1043hrs: Arrived at Majiagang port. Took less than an hour to get here. This place is busier than google maps suggested. Leaving the port gates, we are all greeted by motorcycle taxies and minivan drivers, offering to have you anywhere on the island for a pittance. Too bad this trip is all walk for me, no cheating on any other type of transportation. Just about every car on this island is doubling as a makeshift bus or taxi. There are some roadside stalls selling dried salted fish (because you could smell it).

Everyone seems to live in houses here. Not small huts either, these are 2 storey bungalows. But it would not be fair to call these luxurious, but rather, standard houses you would find on a typical chinese rural community. Not really farm houses either. They all seem to have tiles on the outside, which brings the class down a notch or two in my opinion. But you are on an island, so maybe style is not the concern. The only minus about these houses is that the cars that travel on the 2 lane highway have their horns permanently set to honk all the time. To make things worse, they prepare to overtake half a kilometer a way.

One of the small township on the island. This is one of those 120 film rolls that got partly fogged because of user error. But came out quite artistic.

Came across this stockyard for bricks

So I set a course due north east and walked till I hit the coastline where I could see Chongming Island, cutting through villages and farms, and orange orchards. Its not east to be discrete when carrying a Mamiya RZ67 as it looks as though I’m there to hunt for wild boar. This camera is just too big! But I love the medium format negative that it produces.

1305hrs: Finally hit the coastline after having to cut through some plantation, helped by satellite maps from my mobile phone. Found a way to get to a bund, and now sitting on a ledge at N31.42274, E121.68030 having my packed sandwich while enjoying the view of the bridge that connects this island to the main Chongming Island. I have heard of a long bridge somewhere near Shanghai, and I didn’t know it was linking Changxing and Chongming Island. I don’t think the bridge is ready yet for traffic yet but it does look long as hell. There are plenty of wetlands plants here, swaying in the wind, with nice cooling wind blowing so that it is not too hot. Perfect peaceful time to spend half an hour on lunch and just relaxing before the trek back to Majiagang.

Walking along the dykes

... plenty of machinery left here, construction can be found everywhere. This one looks like a moon buggy.

Wide open plains, this is looking towards Chongming Island.

More construction workers

I think they're mixing cement here, found while walking through a village on the island

As expected, not all roads are paved on this island

It is quite common in China to see mobile phone numbers scribbled all over

A farm of some sort. For a while I thought it was grass, but I defer from making conclusions. Just makes a nice photo scenery.

1421hrs: Reached km0 of Fenghuang Highway, which should lead me straight back to Majiagang. The way back is just plenty of walking. Other than large breakwaters and dykes, majority of the island is mainly farmland. Not too many shops, so do stock up on tidbits and water before you venture out here. There are no restaurants that I have seen so far. They could be clustering around the Ferry Pier.

1530hrs: At Majiagang ferry terminal. No problem getting a ticket back to Wusong Port. The large waiting room at the terminal is noisy and full of locals. I don’t see any tourist today. Maybe this is a good sign.

Ferry waiting room

And there were plenty of seats in this waiting area...

1647hrs: Back in Wusong Port and hungry. Time to look for some dinner. It was a nice long walk today. Most of the trip was boring, but the northern shore of the island is perfect for a quiet picnic. What is better than a totally secluded place with only the occasional local and no tourists and best of all, quiet and has a great view of the Chongming Island bridge?

22 August 2009:

Western Changxing Island Hike

0800hrs: Back at wusong port queueing up for the day’s ferry ticket. Weather today is again forecasted rain but very very smoggy, but not worse than the typical smoggy Shanghai day. The ticket office seems emptier than normal which is strange. Bought a fast boat to Majiagang for 18 RMB, and like routine, went straight to waiting room 1&2. Boat number is 153, and I guess I will be at Majiagang before 1000 hrs.

Motorcycle taxies waiting for passengers to alight from an incoming ferry at Wusong Pier

Packed a Mamiya RZ67 and a Nikon S2 in my small 20L Arcteryx backpack so that I don’t look too much like I have heavy photographic equipment. Lunch today will be a few buns from last night. Should be enough to keep me going all day. Water will all be in a 2L Camelbak inside the backpack. Bringing a Goosen Luna Pro light meter and the Sony PCM D50 audio recorder with a 16GB memory stick, about the most modern thing I have currently. Navigation is via an old Garmin eTrex Vista backed up by google maps on the Nokia E71.

There are many boats going to Majiagang on Changxing Island, but for some reason when you purchase tickets there is only one time on the counter. Trying to fill up the next boat? The fast boats are always filled up it seems anyway. Not tried the slow boat on the way to Majiagang, with more seats it should be a lot more vacancies on those. However, time is something I do not have much of, so no slow boat going there.

Ah, just like a professional sailor...

On the way to Changxing

0937hrs: At Majiagang. With the smog, the view at the port is quite different from last week. The dry dock named Emei Shan seems to be sinking, at least by design so that the large ship being repaired there can leave the dry dock. Smoggy but sunny day, so guessing at least sunny f/16 minus 3 stops all day long.

1021hrs: Took a local illegal bus to a place to the west end of Changxing with a name I forgot but have the coordinates for. Stopped just in front of an army shophouse. Everyone inside are dressed in uniforms but wonder what they do here. There is a bus stop across the road and I noticed there is a bus that leads back to the pier every hour on the first quarter. Took note of it by snapping a picture with my mobile phone. Its time to take a walk… To the coastline!

Rural transporter

Farmhouses

This little bit of treeline cover helps sheltering me from the hot sun

... but it mostly looks like this.

New home in the middle of nowhere

But I prefer this one for "house in the middle of nowhere", but this one is anything but new. Notice the phone number scribbled on the wall.

There are giant breakwater dykes in this end of the island, and I’ll just follow it for a few kilometer. The big issue today is that it is very very hot. I wouldn’t be too surprised if it got close to 40C today in the hot sun. There are not too many trees out here for shelter, and the cemented path does not help either. I must have walked more than 10km by the time I got back to the place where I started. The scenery here is less of a wetland, as I originally thought from Google Earth, but more of large desolate landscape surrounded by concrete dykes. Good potential for simple landscape photography.

Landscape always looks better when shot in medium format

Road to nowhere. On the GPS it looks like a straight few km in the hot sun.

And finally, the elusive orange/lokum plantation

Time to walk back.

1354hrs: Back to the place I was left off. A public mini bus stands idle and the driver is sleeping inside. This has to be the 1415hrs bus back to Majiagang. Bus costs 3RMB. The one sitting here seems like the right one. Once the driver sees more than a person standing outside the bus he opens the door and turns on the aircon. The buses here do not seem to have number, they go by the destination displayed at the front, which is a bit of a problem for someone like me.

In the bus back to the pier

1426hrs: Back at Majiagang pier. Bought a fast boat ticket back at 18RMB leaving at 1545hrs. Which is just nice as this leaves me time to roam the pier looking for more things to explore. First up would be a visit to the waterfront to try to recreate the picture I took last week but lost because of a roll of fogged up film. Left my 127mm Mamiya lens at home today so unlikely I will get the same exact shot but will try.

Feel thirsty enough to crave a bottle of ice cold beer. But figured a bottle of sugared water would be a better choice considering I’ve probably lost quite a bit of salt through sweating today. Then its time go go into the boat waiting room, which is a 2 storey building. As with any transport area, you are greeted by a guard and an xray machine. I see that here no one puts their bag into the machine.

This guy distributes gas canisters for cooking. At the pier.

Waiting Room

Waiting room

The waiting room seems to smell of urine. I was wondering if the floor is the toilet, but I guess its the unkept public toilet up on the second floor where most passengers wait and board the boat. Its fine to wait here except for the chain smoking men up here. They smoke all the time, never do you see them without a stick in their mouth.

1621hrs: Back in Wusong Port. Greeted by illegal motorcycle transporters, but this is quite normal outside the big urban centres in China.

And I leave you with this shot of a chinese easy-rider...

*end*

No it didn’t. Light did REALLY get to the film. Processing was via 1+100 Rodinal on stand development in 27C water for 1 Hour. To my surprise (seriously, there was no big surprise!), the base was all dark, no frame marking at all, and there were just a small trace of image on it. First frame was 90% destroyed, and other than uneven fogging, some Photoshopping might recover some details.

And it did. Actually, the result is less Holga, and more wet plate collodion with a little age induced fogging. Possibly making some nice artistically inclined shots. Here they are…

First picture of the frame. No, its not god rays, but a ship under repair on a floating dry dock. Being the first frame in the roll, this one took the full brunt of the fogging.

All these rural places in China are full of these crude minotaur of a vehicle. The fogging is apparent, but there's also a little texture in it. This frame is in the first half of the roll, so I'm guessing this is the texture of the black backing paper, that somehow managed to transfer itself to the film during the fogging.

This one I like. Looks like the result from a lost world war 2 negative of some Japanese port. No, its Changxing Island circa 2009. And the texture is also here. This one is actually frame no.2.

Stacks of bricks. The actual shot of this is less interesting as the background is visible. The yard is not THAT big, but due to the fogging, it suggests an infinite storage area. On the contrary, but a nice surprise. This one is towards the middle of the roll.

This is a small river that cuts through the middle of Changxing Island. The fogging sets back the scene 100 years to the past. Nice!

Tractors here are all caked in some white alabaster thingy. No I didn't stick my fingers into it to confirm, but up till now I still don't know what it is for sure. This is one of the last frames in the roll.

Surprise, surprise! Now I’ve added another processing trick into my darkroom arsenal!