Chuseok (추석 - Full Moon Harvest) is a Korean festival celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month in lunar calendar (Sept 14 in 2008).
Chuseok is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea (the other is Seollal the Korean New Year). It is considered the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving and a time to honour ancestors with newly harvested grains and fruits [more on KoreaNet]
As for Korean entertainment fans, it’s the season to see their favourite Korean celebs in traditional Hanbok wishing everyone a happy Chuseok. Sharing a few pics of some all-girls Korean pop groups (image from Newsen and Star)…
Jewelry
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The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, has started its first test on September 10, 2008.
The LHC was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and lies underneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. It is funded by and built in collaboration with more than 8000 physicists from over 85 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.
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Suicide issues again take headlines in South Korea for the past few days following the death of actor Ahn Jae-hwan.
State-run Korea Youth Counseling Institute released a poll finding on Tuesday (Sept 9) indicating that six in every 10 South Korean teenagers have thought about taking their own lives at least once [via Yonhap]
According to the survey of 4,700 middle and high school students, 58.8% of the respondents had thought of suicide; and 11.1% of the respondents attempted suicide.
The National Statistical Office (NSO) earlier said that there were 12,174 suicides representing 5% of all deaths in 2007. It’s also said that an annual average 23.6 Koreans committed suicide out of 100,000 people in the last five years, which is one of the highest levels in the world.
I almost didn’t want to believe the news report at the beginning, because the figures are a bit overwhelming for me… that’s like more than 30 Koreans are dying each day from suicide; the Korean government needs to treat this issue with serious urgency.
Chand Baori is a famous stepwell in the village Abhaneri near Jaipur in Indian state of Rajasthan. This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. It was built in ninth century and has 3500 narrow steps and 13 stories and is 100 feet deep.
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The Vietnam Museum of Ethonology in Hanoi is a great place to have a glance at the traditional culture of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups. The museum is located outside of the main city area… took a bit of travelling time but it’s worth a visit.
Sharing some photos below, taken inside the museum building…
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The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games opened last Saturady (Sept 6) and will run till September 17. Didn’t manage to catch the opening ceremony live; I don’t think it’s shown on my local channels… had to catch the clips from Youtube instead.
I am not sure about international media… but my local press are not giving much attention to the event, which is a pity because although its popularity is non comparable to Olympic Games, Paralympics is still one of the largest worldwide sporting events and features some amazing athletes.
Well, at least the Chinese organiser seems to be working hard to make the Paralympics a successful event as well. The opening ceremony, again directed by Zhang Yimou, was quite a splendid show; and the Chinese media are giving the games some decent coverage too. Kudos for all that.
Check out the Beijing 2008 Paralympics’ official website for information and updates. Check out this link for some opening ceremony’s photos.
Dave who is living in Mokpo, South Korea, found this instruction with his new washing machine, hmmm…
I wonder if the cat with wings in China has anything to do with washing machines.
French Health, Youth and Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin wore a pair of pink Crocs sandals to a cabinet meeting last week (Aug 27) after losing a bet to the French Olympic athletes.
Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin in her pink croc sandals (Image via
Xinhuanet)
Roselyne made a promise that she would wear the shoes if the French Olympic squad could bring home 40 medals from the Beijing Olympic Games as a way to boost their morale… and the French athletes did just enough (7G,16S,17B) to claim the wager.
