Yellow Sand

There is a particularly odd weather condition in Korea, and Japan and China for that matter. It is known as a Yellow Sand Storm. This is a fine dust that hangs in the air, swept across from Mongolia. The cause of the dust is over farming in that region, causing the land to become dry and the sand to be picked up by the wind during Late March, April and into May. In addition, due to open cast mining and heavy industrialisation in China particles of cadmium, mercury and other nasties are in the dust.

The Korean's take it all very seriously. As they should. Many wear face masks, all the time, even at none storm times. There are official warnings of storms coming, and many people stay inside during storm times. Keeping their children from school.

People are told not to go out if at all possible, to close all windows, to protect your skin with creams. They even sell special yellow sand cream bundles in the shops. Contact lense wearers are advised to wear glasses. In fact people are advised to wear some kind of eye protection, during storm periods.

On Sunday, unknown to us was a storm day. There was a noticable haze in the sky, which we simply put down to the regular pollution haze that we've noticed appears from time to time. It wasn't until Monday when Mr. Oh mentioned it, that it all fell into place. The back of our mouths still feel a little dry, and we have a slight cough. Cars are covered in a thin layer of the yellow dust.

Serious stuff. In the future we'll know better. I'm going to get myself one the masks that everyone wears, so I'll be more prepared next time.