The Korean government sends text messages to all mobile phones every once in a while. This way of informing the nation is new to me and proves to be rather effective. Sometimes it’s a simple request, asking to clean your porch from snow, but today I received a warning. “Tomorrow the yellow dust from China will reach Korea”. I wondered, what is yellow dust?
It turns out that yellow dust is a seasonal phenomenon related to drought. Dust clouds origionating from Mongolia and northern China and Kazakhstan that get cought by the wind and get carried as far as Korea and Japan. It’s increasing every year possible because of the Aral Sea of Kazakhstan that dryed up due to a failed Soviet agricultural scheme.
That finally answered my question what that substance in the sky was. Smog? Fog? No, yellow dust from China. Thank you Korean government for this enlightment. I will be on the threatmill instead this week. Kuche Kuche.
Pictures
EDIT: I took some pictures from my office. Check the difference for yourself:
Yellow dust: (I thought it was smog from exhaust or fog before I got the text message)
Normal:
Spil Games Asia honcho with some ROK and PRC experience. Check out this blog for your daily photo feast and some background stories from Asia. 
3 Comments on "Enlightment about that foggy substance in the sky"
Oh, that’s an odd thing :-)
Good luck with the workout!
Hey,
Ik ben straks ook de hele dag in HongKong, ik vlieg over een paar uur. Ik ben met een vriendin en ontmoet daar een HongKonger. Mocht je het leuk vinden dan zijn we hopelijk te bereiken op 0031653312959.
Groetjes!
I was at the hostel between 17.30h and 18h, didn’t found you there, forgot to leave a message.. Sorry! Went to see temple street night market. Tomorrow check out around 10 and then to Stanley Market at the sea. Wanna join us? Hope to see you around!