Thai oil spill: tourists evacuated

(CNN) — Tourists staying at Ao Phrao (Phrao Bay) on Thailand’s island of Koh Samet have been evacuated as the bay turned black from an oil spill over the weekend.

Authorities estimated that around 5,000 liters of crude oil have washed up on the island, having leaked into the ocean from an offshore pipeline belonging to PTT Global Chemical, Thailand’s largest petrochemical producer.

The total leakage is estimated at 50,000 liters.

Due to its beautiful beaches and proximity to Bangkok — the travel time from the capital is a little less than four hours by bus and then boat — the island has long been a popular Thai weekend destination.

Tourist activities on the island are largely ocean-oriented and include jet-skiing, snorkeling and banana-boating.

It’s still unclear to what extent the spill will affect local tourism, but the damage is reportedly limited to one beach, at Ao Phrao. There are 14 beaches on the island.

“We’ve had some hotel cancellations on Samet,” Rayong province tourism authority director Chuchart Oncharoen told the Bangkok Post. “Whether this has a long-term impact on the island depends on how quickly PTT cleans up the mess.”

The affected beach is on the less populated Western part of the island, where resorts have closed and tourists have been evacuated to hotels in other areas.

The island is currently in its tourism low season — the high season is from October to April.

“By far the majority of tourists who go to Koh Samet stay at resorts and hotels on the eastern side of the island,” Thailand travel blogger Richard Barrow told CNN.

“They haven’t been affected by the oil spill and people are carrying on with their holiday as normal.”

 The oil spill has effectively closed Phrao Bay.

The oil spill has effectively closed Phrao Bay.

Some travelers to Phrao Bay have already posted about the unexpected change in their itineraries.

“The oil completely covered the beach when we woke up in the morning,” wrote Tripadvisor reviewer MatJens about his curtailed stay at Lima Coco resort, one of the popular hotels in the area that has been closed.

“We rebooked to a hotel on Ko Chang and the personnel at Lima Coco were very helpful getting us there. We also got a voucher covering the days we paid in advance,” wrote MatJens on Monday.

A statement from PTT Global Chemical said the company had deployed booms to contain the oil as well as oil spill dispersant.

It added that the Thai navy and approximately 300 workers from PTT Global Chemical are continuing to clean up the area.

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Thai oil spill: tourists evacuated

Is this Asia"s artiest town?

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Korean artists and art students have installed various works of art throughout Gamcheon village. Can you spot the painted sculptures in this photo?

“People and Birds,” by artist Jun Young-jin (look on the roof) is one of many art installations placed in houses throughout the village.

The public art project called on villagers’ participation, as well as input from artists. The “Culture Garden” series of painted wooden fish is a joint project by artists Jin Young-sub and Park Kyung-seok and Gamcheon locals.

The village “closes” to tourists at 6 p.m. so that residents can maintain their privacy in the evenings.

In order to not get lost, visitors are instructed to follow schools of painted wooden fish throughout the village.

Abandoned houses have been turned into exhibition spaces for works such as “Room of Darkness” (in top right of this picture).

View from the roof of the “Sky Garden” village information center.

Houses have been converted into restaurants and cafes. Some are run by the village, others by individuals.

The village is dotted with playful photo ops such as this colorful “lighthouse.”

The “Little Prince” is one of many quirky surprises found around corners in Gamcheon.

The old bathhouse has been turned into the village community center where visitors can buy coffee and learn how to make pottery. The structure of the bathhouse remains — one artist has recreated a bored bathhouse receptionist.

The new exhibition space at the old bathhouse shows how things used to be.

Gamcheon was founded in 1955 by the followers of Taegeukdo, a religious community formed in the early 1900s.

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(CNN) — The first-time visitor quickly notices the pretty pastel houses and curious sculptures placed at intervals throughout the town — but the quaint facades and works of modern art signal merely the tip of the fascinating story behind a little known hillside labyrinth in Busan known as Gamcheon village.

Not on any standard travel itinerary, the village offers a stark contrast from the glitzy skyscrapers of “new Busan” or even the bustling markets of “old Busan.”

Instead, the eerily quiet village is a destination for a different type of traveler — one that’s not driven by foodie discovery or lazing on the beach, the primary reasons Koreans vacation in Busan.

Instead, Gamcheon lures travelers with an interest in art and history.

Older women rule S. Korean fish market

Love for baseball unites S. Korean city

South Korea’s big surfing wave

Religious roots

The village has an unusual origin story.

Many accounts say Gamcheon began as a slum town in the 1950s filled with refugees from the aftermath of the Korean War, but the village actually owes its beginnings to an ascetic religious community called Taegeukdo, an obscure religion birthed during political upheavals in Korea in the early 1900s.

Although relatively scarce today, members of the Taegeukdo religion believe that the meaning of the universe can be found through a philosophy of “great polarity,” which incorporates the concepts of yin and yang.

The swirling blue and red Taegeuk symbol has been important throughout Korea’s history — it’s the symbol in the center of today’s South Korean flag.

In 1955, during the rebuilding phase that followed the Korean War, the city of Busan ordered some 800 families of the religious movement to move into designated area on a nearby hillside.

The religion’s headquarters also moved. It remains the preeminent landmark of the village today.

Meaningful layout, artistic rebirth

Unlike other area villages that sprang up in ad hoc fashion, Gamcheon’s multi-tiered communal layout was meticulously planned.

“By building the houses in tiers so that no house blocks any house behind it, the architectural layout of the village adheres to the Taegeukdo teaching of allowing others to prosper,” says Kim Kye-young, a local representative of the Taegeukdo religion.

Gamcheon’s art-themed makeover began in 2009, when it hosted a public art project and invited art students and artists to “decorate” the village.

While the villagers had for decades painted their own homes in pastel hues, artists added dozens of colorful touches throughout town, attaching nicknames such as “Korea’s Machu Picchu” (bizarre choice) and “Korea’s Santorini” (closer).

While the view is best from a high vantage point called “Sky Garden,” where the village information center is located (only Korean brochures and guides are available), the real delight lies in getting lost in the village’s maze of alleyways.

Each alley leads to a different surprise, from bird sculptures on roofs to Murakami-like playful installations in abandoned houses.

The quirkiest surprise is “The Little Prince,” from the French novel of the same name, sitting atop a fence, staring forlornly out at the Busan Harbor alongside his fox.

Getting around

It’s almost impossible not to get lost. Each alley leads to three or four others.

One way to maintain your bearings is to “follow the fish” — painted schools that “swim” throughout the streets. Look closely and you’ll spot tiny people sitting on top of the fish, or kicking them in the eye.

“Photographers come and fall head over heels in love with the village,” says In Sik Kim, a local tour guide.

“But the villagers don’t like the fact that so many people are traipsing through their houses, and many of them are moving away. The houses don’t sell though, so they just abandon them.”

More than 300 local houses are estimated to be empty.

Artists are stepping in to turn many of them into exhibition spaces.

Some have been transformed into cafes and restaurants run by the town. Profits go back to the villagers.

Small, quiet and mostly hidden from the tourist path, Gamcheon isn’t ready for a flood of visitors. It prefers the occasional trickle that it has today.

“I don’t think fat foreigners can fit through these alleyways,” says another guide when asked about tours for foreigners.

“They’ll have to watch their heads every step, too. It’ll be very uncomfortable.”

How to get there

In Busan, take the subway to Toseong-dong Station or Goejeong Station, then take a taxi to Busan Gamjeong Elementary School (taxi will cost approximately $2.50).

Tour company Jane Tour DMC offers day tours in English from $300; +82 70 7393 2428

Gamcheon Culture Village, 10-13 Gamcheon-2-dong, Saha-gu, Busan, South Korea; +82 70 4219 5556; Sky Garden village information center open daily, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

See more on CNNGo TV

Is this Asia"s artiest town?

Thai seafood favorites

From fish to crustaceans, many forms and varieties of seafood play a major role in Thai cuisine. Deep fried, steamed, curried, and roasted are just a few ways that seafood is prepared, and there is no end to the ways in which seafood can be combined with the spicy, tangy, sour and sweet flavors in traditional Thai cooking. For seafood lovers, Thailand is a paradise!

Here are five locally popular seafood dishes in Thailand.

1. Pla Kapong Neung Manao

Though it’s now mostly farmed, a barramundi fish (also known as an Asian seabass), is a favorite in Thailand. While it can be cooked in a number of different ways, steamed in a tangy lime and garlic sauce is one of the signature Thai methods. After the entire fish is steamed it’s normally served on a metal fish shaped saucer, submerged in a zesty soup consisting of lime juice, garlic, and chilies, and then placed over a candle to keep it continually piping hot while you pick its bones clean.

2. Boo Pad Pong Garee

At a mid- to upper-class dining restaurant in Thailand, boo pad pong garee, or crab yellow curry, is always a crowd-pleaser. The curry powder used is similar to an Indian mixture, including turmeric, cumin, coriander and fennel. The crab is fried in oil in a wok along with both white and green onions until fully cooked. It’s then combined with the yellow curry powder and finally thickened and enriched with beaten eggs. The dish is not chili hot, but the egg curdled sauce coats each piece of crab in flavorful spices.

3. Hoy Lai Pad Prik Pao

One of the most popular seafood dishes at Thai-Chinese restaurants and curry stalls around the country is hoy lai pad prik pao, or clams stir fried in roasted chili sauce. The clams are wok-fried, combined with fragrant roasted chili sauce, a dash of condensed milk to make things creamy, and just before turning off the heat, a heap of fresh Thai sweet basil is added. The little clams are packed with flavor and don’t taste fishy – rather, they’re fragrant from the chili sauce and with a boost of earthy sweet basil.

4. Hoy Tod

Hoy tod, a greasy mussel omelet, is high in demand on the streets of Thailand. Depending on the style, some vendors sell their version more like a real omelet with an emphasis on the eggs, while others use less eggs and focus on rice flour to create a sticky dough that encases the mussels. Either way, the mussel mixture is fried in a pool of oil until becoming crispy on all edges. It’s served over a bed of bean sprouts and often enjoyed with a sauce resembling weak ketchup).

5. Hoy Kraeng

Another seafood dish that commands the streets of Thailand is hoy kraeng, also known as blood cockles. I’ll be honest, these things look awful and are usually not the preferred seafood option for foreign tourists, but many local Thais crave and cherish them. As soon as you pop open a shell, a murky red and brown liquid oozes out, hence the blood cockle name. Most of the time they are boiled plain and served with a dipping sauce made from garlic, chili and lime.

From high-end Thai restaurants to street-side food stalls, while dining in Thailand, you’re never far from seafood that’s waiting to be discovered!

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Is this Asia"s artiest town?

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Korean artists and art students have installed various works of art throughout Gamcheon village. Can you spot the painted sculptures in this photo?

“People and Birds,” by artist Jun Young-jin (look on the roof) is one of many art installations placed in houses throughout the village.

The public art project called on villagers’ participation, as well as input from artists. The “Culture Garden” series of painted wooden fish is a joint project by artists Jin Young-sub and Park Kyung-seok and Gamcheon locals.

The village “closes” to tourists at 6 p.m. so that residents can maintain their privacy in the evenings.

In order to not get lost, visitors are instructed to follow schools of painted wooden fish throughout the village.

Abandoned houses have been turned into exhibition spaces for works such as “Room of Darkness” (in top right of this picture).

View from the roof of the “Sky Garden” village information center.

Houses have been converted into restaurants and cafes. Some are run by the village, others by individuals.

The village is dotted with playful photo ops such as this colorful “lighthouse.”

The “Little Prince” is one of many quirky surprises found around corners in Gamcheon.

The old bathhouse has been turned into the village community center where visitors can buy coffee and learn how to make pottery. The structure of the bathhouse remains — one artist has recreated a bored bathhouse receptionist.

The new exhibition space at the old bathhouse shows how things used to be.

Gamcheon was founded in 1955 by the followers of Taegeukdo, a religious community formed in the early 1900s.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

(CNN) — The first-time visitor quickly notices the pretty pastel houses and curious sculptures placed at intervals throughout the town — but the quaint facades and works of modern art signal merely the tip of the fascinating story behind a little known hillside labyrinth in Busan known as Gamcheon village.

Not on any standard travel itinerary, the village offers a stark contrast from the glitzy skyscrapers of “new Busan” or even the bustling markets of “old Busan.”

Instead, the eerily quiet village is a destination for a different type of traveler — one that’s not driven by foodie discovery or lazing on the beach, the primary reasons Koreans vacation in Busan.

Instead, Gamcheon lures travelers with an interest in art and history.

Older women rule S. Korean fish market

Love for baseball unites S. Korean city

South Korea’s big surfing wave

Religious roots

The village has an unusual origin story.

Many accounts say Gamcheon began as a slum town in the 1950s filled with refugees from the aftermath of the Korean War, but the village actually owes its beginnings to an ascetic religious community called Taegeukdo, an obscure religion birthed during political upheavals in Korea in the early 1900s.

Although relatively scarce today, members of the Taegeukdo religion believe that the meaning of the universe can be found through a philosophy of “great polarity,” which incorporates the concepts of yin and yang.

The swirling blue and red Taegeuk symbol has been important throughout Korea’s history — it’s the symbol in the center of today’s South Korean flag.

In 1955, during the rebuilding phase that followed the Korean War, the city of Busan ordered some 800 families of the religious movement to move into designated area on a nearby hillside.

The religion’s headquarters also moved. It remains the preeminent landmark of the village today.

Meaningful layout, artistic rebirth

Unlike other area villages that sprang up in ad hoc fashion, Gamcheon’s multi-tiered communal layout was meticulously planned.

“By building the houses in tiers so that no house blocks any house behind it, the architectural layout of the village adheres to the Taegeukdo teaching of allowing others to prosper,” says Kim Kye-young, a local representative of the Taegeukdo religion.

Gamcheon’s art-themed makeover began in 2009, when it hosted a public art project and invited art students and artists to “decorate” the village.

While the villagers had for decades painted their own homes in pastel hues, artists added dozens of colorful touches throughout town, attaching nicknames such as “Korea’s Machu Picchu” (bizarre choice) and “Korea’s Santorini” (closer).

While the view is best from a high vantage point called “Sky Garden,” where the village information center is located (only Korean brochures and guides are available), the real delight lies in getting lost in the village’s maze of alleyways.

Each alley leads to a different surprise, from bird sculptures on roofs to Murakami-like playful installations in abandoned houses.

The quirkiest surprise is “The Little Prince,” from the French novel of the same name, sitting atop a fence, staring forlornly out at the Busan Harbor alongside his fox.

Getting around

It’s almost impossible not to get lost. Each alley leads to three or four others.

One way to maintain your bearings is to “follow the fish” — painted schools that “swim” throughout the streets. Look closely and you’ll spot tiny people sitting on top of the fish, or kicking them in the eye.

“Photographers come and fall head over heels in love with the village,” says In Sik Kim, a local tour guide.

“But the villagers don’t like the fact that so many people are traipsing through their houses, and many of them are moving away. The houses don’t sell though, so they just abandon them.”

More than 300 local houses are estimated to be empty.

Artists are stepping in to turn many of them into exhibition spaces.

Some have been transformed into cafes and restaurants run by the town. Profits go back to the villagers.

Small, quiet and mostly hidden from the tourist path, Gamcheon isn’t ready for a flood of visitors. It prefers the occasional trickle that it has today.

“I don’t think fat foreigners can fit through these alleyways,” says another guide when asked about tours for foreigners.

“They’ll have to watch their heads every step, too. It’ll be very uncomfortable.”

How to get there

In Busan, take the subway to Toseong-dong Station or Goejeong Station, then take a taxi to Busan Gamjeong Elementary School (taxi will cost approximately $2.50).

Tour company Jane Tour DMC offers day tours in English from $300; +82 70 7393 2428

Gamcheon Culture Village, 10-13 Gamcheon-2-dong, Saha-gu, Busan, South Korea; +82 70 4219 5556; Sky Garden village information center open daily, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

See more on CNNGo TV

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• Royal baby a boost to UK tourism?


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• Royal baby a boost to UK tourism?


• Royal baby a boost to UK tourism?

Is this Asia"s artiest town?