Korea, Greece, The Philippines and Cayman Islands.

Ok, you're probably looking at that title and wondering what the heck the connection is. It's tenuous, but here goes. First, these are four countries I likely will not drive in (although I did drive in the Philippines, or Phil, but that was in my younger days) the first three because of the amount of nuttiness I've either witnessed or assumed is there and the last one because I don't think I'd spend much time away from the beach.

Ok, so about this Korean driving stuff. I've been here for almost 2 years and always get the question: "do you have a car?" My answer, I think, is pretty logical. No, because (i) the subway system here is cheap, easy and pretty fast (no traffic); (ii) the bus system is not prefect, but once you know which one to take it's quite nice; (iii) our firm has a driver and Hyundai Equus for visits on company business; (iv) taxis are everywhere in this city and are pretty inexpensive; (v) my work is like 20 meters from home; and (iv) driving here is not like in Canada (either I'd cause an accident here or get used to this way and cause one when I drive back home). Thus, no need for a car. Actually, I try to stay off the roads whenever possible here.

Perhaps this is for good reason, Korea has one of the highest traffic fatality and injury record in the developed/developing world. It's really quite amazing. Take a look at these articles (here and here) and you'll see what I mean. One reason is many Koreans do not use seatbelts (another article here). Even I don't, when I'm in the back seat--especially of a taxi. It's really quite odd (and scary) that I always buckle up at home but take my life into my own hands when I'm here...perhaps simply because everyone does it here.

People who do come here to drive have to get used to the rules of the road, as described in this article from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. And if you hit someone the driver is almost always at fault in some respect (more on that here).

So, what's the connection to Greece? Korean drivers licenses will be considered valid in Greece. I'm not sure why, it certainly isn't valid in Canada, you have to do a new test and everything there, but for some reason Greece has opened the doors for Koreans to take to its streets, probably because of the Olympics. (Apparently Greece is famous for some crazy driving as well.) But then, isn't that a brutal time for Koreans (or any foreigners) to be tooling around town in a rental? Oh well, I'm certainly not going to Greece anytime soon, and if I did I'd probably call George the Super-Cabbie.

So, on to Phil. I went there with a bud in December 1998 (most of this file is classified, so this'll be short). One of the highlights was driving from Cebu City (where Ferdinand Magellan was beheaded by King Lapu Lapu way back when) to Moalboal, the noted diving spot. It was about a 3 hours trip on provincial (read: rural, goat/dog/child/rickshaw-strewn) road and on the way back Carlo was at the wheel. For some reason a dog was on the road and Carlo tried to avoid it (really, he did swerve like 3 times, the thing just changed direction again!) but, in the end, it became one with the rubber. Also, a kid jumped on the road and pointed a gun at us (I hope it was a toy, but you never know). With that I started to really question why I'd be at or near the wheel of a vehicle in Phil or any other developing country.

Carlo and I returned to Canada safely and got back to work at RBC Dominion Securities where we worked (did I note that we started on the same day and had the same briefcase?) but within 2 years the both of us made moves to other firms. I was in Canada a while longer before coming here and Carlo went to first Turks & Caicos Islands then to Cayman Islands. He left then returned to RBC and, as you can see from the pics below, is an avid flagger, I mean flag football player. Ya, he goes long on the field and goes short in the office. (haha! a little finance/hedge fund humor there for ya!)


Watch out Carlo! Looks like that big dude's got your number! Good thing it's flag football.

Right now he's Player of the Week! Way to go Carlo! His profile is here and his league's site is here (Carlo, why is the domain dot K-Y??). Oh, and ladies, too late, he has a girlfriend and a baby on the way.


Lookin' a little rotund there, Carlo.

Well, that's the story, from crazy driving to driving to the end zone in one blog.