China: One Big Happy Timezone

Just a short one this morning. Yusheng said something interesting when he was here (well, actually a lot of things: one of which is the amazing 노래방/KTV places they have in Taipei which are like 5-star, 15-story hotels): China has one timezone!

Crazy as it sounds, but a testament to a central, Communist government, citizens in Jilin have sunrise at 6:10AM these days and sunset at 4:24PM; while those in Urümqi greet the sun at 8:46AM and adieu to it at 7:00PM. The good news: everyone has the same time on their watch. The bad news: if you move from east to west you go to work in the dark. Man, this is too weird. (Lots of world times here.)

Later...

Joe Republican and Ted Liberal

Ok, ok, I know...I said there would be minimal (read: no) political stuff on this blog. But, I got this from a bud of mine and wanted to respond. It's not for the political value, it's to make you laugh (at yourself, perhaps).

A day in the life of Joe Republican

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance--now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is
safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer adheres to these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the taxpayer funded roads.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

And my response:

A day in the life of Ted Liberal (aka: But, hey,...)

Ted gets up and makes his tea that comes from a plantation that was established by white Imperialists in some god-forsaken corner of the world and then transported, processed and sold to him by a complex web of self-interested, greedy sons-of-bitches who want nothing more than to profit from his addiction. But, hey, he likes tea.

Ted then take a shower with water heated by some Capitalist corporation that cares nothing about his needs as a person and treats him only as an address on his monthly bill. But, hey, he likes a hot shower.

Then Ted travels to work in a car produced by legions of underpaid and underemployed part-time workers in some backwater area of the world--like the Philippines or Kentucky. Of course the fuel he consumes comes from gaudishly-rich sheiks and Texas-drillers through a stifiling cartel. But, hey, he just has to get to work.

At the office, Ted uses a PC, many pens and reams of stationary as he goes about his duties. All of which were made in deplorable conditions and by applying toxic substances to components made of non-renewable resources. But, hey, he has work to do.

For lunch Ted likes to go to a local deli where meat and chese is shipped in from all over the world--meaning an incredible usage of energy and resources and production of much pollution as the cows are bred and fed, milked or slaughtered and processed, and the final product shipped to his plate. But, hey, he's hungry.

At night, Ted kisses his baby girl good night and thinks to himself that he's glad that he did his part to make the world a nicer place to live.

Haha?

Top Ten List and Yusheng vs. Minaz

Herewith is the official "Top Ten Things From Yusheng's Seoul Visit"

10. Within 4 hours of touching down in the country, gets date with gorgeous girl.
9. Carrying around that massive camera and telephoto lens makes for great pick-up lines with wanna-be models.
8. Can translate Japanese and Chinese restaurant menus as an icebreaker.
7. The room at the Ben Hur Hotel...no closets, but awesome tub and shower.
6. Getting home at or before 2AM every night...that was nice.
5. Hearing about New York and how everything in Seoul (food, taxies, hotels...) is 'mad cheap'.
4. Having almost every Korean we meet start speaking to him in Korean...even days after they meet him.
3. Finally got away from his 'Paris & Yusheng' home video scandal.
2. The Red Sox won the World Series...oh, no that's the wrong list.
1. Two words: The Outsider.

and...

In the spirit of Alien vs. Predator here is the comparison of Yusheng and Minaz's trips to Seoul:

Women:
Minaz: 2 weeks in Seoul, no action.
Yusheng: Got a date the first night, it lasted.
Advantage: Yusheng

Language:
Minaz: Learned 2 things 아가씨/agasshi (girl) and 물좀주세요/mool-jom-joo-sai-yo (some water please).
Yusheng: Within 2 days got down 감사합니다/kam-sa-ham-ni-da (thank you), 죄송합니다/jwi-song-ham-ni-da (sorry-polite), 물좀주세요/mool-jom-joo-sai-yo (some water please)...more.
Advantage: Yusheng

Lodging:
Minaz: My floor (tough to entice a girl back to that).
Yusheng: The lovely Ben Hur Hotel (turn your speakers on when you click).
Advantage: Yusheng

Communication:
Minaz: Borrowed phones from cabbies and (female) passer-bys.
Yusheng: Rented a cell at the airport.
Advantage: Yusheng

Clothing:
Minaz: From a backpack, but respectable 제비/jay-bi (playboy) style.
Yusheng: Some wild stuff; about 20 pairs of pants.
Advantage: Draw

Hilarity Factor:
Minaz: Take a read of the posts from when he was here. He approached everyone for a conversation: men, women, Korean, foreign, English-speaking, no clue-what-he's-saying...everyone.
Yusheng: He's a unique guy...albeit relatively stable.
Advantage: Minaz

Schedule:
Minaz: Likes to stay out til 4AM or 5AM everynight...no way I can keep up with that and work the next day.
Yusheng: Always home before 2AM.
Advantage: Cinderella, I mean Yusheng

Hair:
Minaz: Got none--shaved scalp, baby!
Yusheng: Got lots, dyed, funky cut, moulding mud spiked.
Advantage: Draw

Physique:
Minaz: Big upper body, but gimped feet.
Yusheng: The guy never exercises, but still pretty slim.
Advantage: Draw

Well, I guess when you look at it this way Yusheng has many of the advantages. That's not to say that Minaz's time here wasn't a blast too...both guys made the most of the time they were here and I appreciate both of them making the trek here.

Yusheng's Last Night in Seoul

Last night we headed out to 63 Building to get a view of the city. I find I either bring guests here on their first day or last day in Seoul. It's really a nice view. After a beer we got pretty hungry so it was off in a cab to Sinchon for some 산낙지/san-nak-ji (live octopus). My usual place changed owners and menu (now it serves some sort of cow intestine dish...kind of a Korean haggis, I guess) but a substitute was nearby so we went there.

We asked the lady to get us an active octopus (they cut it up and serve it wriggiling on a plate) but she said that the active ones are not that good...they are scared so they move around a lot. The sleepy ones in the corner are better because they are used to their surroundings (and darker in color). Whatever, she could have told us anything and we would have bought it. We also had some octopus fried mandu (dumplings) which were REALLY good. Yoosh's not a big octopus fan, but it was interesting for him...although not super. Oh well, another one for his list of things he's done/eaten.


This feisty one was not on the menu.

Next we went for 서피동파/seo-pi-dong-pa, a sort orf fusion pizza and pajeon. This he liked more. Then it was off to The Outsider to thank the owner for the (basically full) bottle of Jack Daniel's he comped us on Friday. We hoped to make it out of there relatively intact, but he went and comped us some food and they made up 'James Dr. Peppers' as well (recipe is 1/2 pint beer, 1/2 pint cola and amaretto shot 'bomb'). Yikes. So the last night was much like the first...in The Outsider and having a good time.

This morning I walked Yoosh to the bus stop and that was about it. Who knows where/when we'll meet again: New York; Shanghai; Seoul; Vancouver; London?


I think he's happy in this pic...maybe he's fighting back tears.

Busy, Busy Day.

Today, like so many others was a day of work, broken up by my (usually daily) walk to the 산업은행/san-eop-eun-haeng (Korea Development Bank, or KDB) cafeteria in its basement. The place is like a museum and is an architectual testament to government spending: 80-foot (25 metre) ceilings in the massive foyer, dispersed offices and many, many staff. The cafeteria is large, too. Airy, bright, clean and incredibly cheap. Usually meals are 3,000 won (2.50USD) and the max is 5,000 won (about 4.25USD) as it was today. But look what I got for that (there's so much it didn't even fit in the picture!):


Kalbi-tang, whole fish, rice, noodles, octopus, 2 kinds of kimchi and some orange...soooo full.

Afterward I had my first shoeshine. (I have shined my shoes, but this is the first that wasn't a side-effect of a repair or something.) This couple worked so hard at spit-and-polishing them I felt a little guilty at the 2,000 won pricetag...then I saw their backlog of work. Wow, they must make a mint here in Yeouido.


Look at that! Her hand is a blur!

After work I met Yusheng at Technomart to look for a new camera, the Sony T-3. Andrea just got the T-11 (for some reason they named them T-1, T-11 and T-3) a couple of weeks ago from Yongsan, but the T-3 has a lens cover and is not sold in North America at all (I think they get by with just the T-1 there) so Yusheng wanted to get one here (or in Tokyo, but the price was ok here too). It took a while (had to ask tons of sellers) but he found one and picked it up.

After that we went to the Hyatt Hotel to meet a friend (another Andrea) who works at an insurance company in Seoul. Andrea is pretty good at English and Yusheng (opportunistically) seems to have a fetish for Korean gals this week, so it made for a good start to the night.

We were going to go to JJ's (review here and my blog posting on it here) but it was about 6:30 when we got there...a little early, and the restaurants and lounge there are great for entertaining for business, but for us it was a little sedate. We got in a cab and went to Treins in Seoul Station (review here) and had some food and beers...then it was off to a noraebang for some offkey (that was mine) singing. Bunny from Saturday night was in the neighborhood and joined us for a couple of songs and then we took the train to Daehangro.

Once there we met up with Kelvin and Yen from Saturday and hit Kkoon bar. It was quiet in there, but pretty fun. Yusheng was quite hungry at the end of it all so we went to 이남장/E-nam-jang which apparently is a nationally-famous restaurant for 설렁탕/seol-leong-tang (beef boiled for 24 hours and served with rice and noodles in the mixture). It was good. Yusheng said it's the same as NY 설렁탕 (albeit a lot cheaper)--seems the #1 place to go in the wee hours of the night in NY is the Korean restaurants as they are ALL open 24 hours. (The # is 02-3675-8888 if you want to go there.) Speaking of wee...for some reason Yusheng can't hold over a beer in his bladder...man, did he ever have to whiz a lot.


Yoosh dives into his bowl of Seol-leong-tang as Yen stares down the camera.


I go crazy with my Seol-leong-tang as Kelvin strikes a pose.


The boys and their soup...where's Bunny? Oh, behind the camera.

After that we decided to call it a night and broke up....until next time.

Oh, how can I forget...you know my favourite thing to take a pic of when out on the town: no-shame Korean bathrooms...here's another one (near the noraebang). It's not too bad, but not up to North American standards.


You guessed it...another wide-open lavatory shot.

Hold on to Your Hats! -refers to pic.

Just been too busy these last couple of days to get super-creative in the ol' blog for you guys...will get back on track in a few days. Yusheng is here, as you know, and in Korea having a foreigner/out-of-towner in town is a great excuse to slack on everything else.

I'm also doing a bit more work lately. Our CEO has an interesting little business niche to exploit and they need me to do a lot of the 'English' stuff (reading, writing, talking, Googling...) that makes life so hard for them here. In my 'real' job of hedge fund stuff I often wonder what they'd do without me (not to elevate myself too much) because many of our supplier companies' people have various accents (English, Irish, Scottish, French, German, Swedish, Swiss, American potpourri...) which are quite impenetrable for the locals. And when it comes to legal contracts they can get the words, but sometimes convolute (up to 180 degrees) the meaning. It's really quite incredible. But, there is progress here. But, they will always be Korean. But, things are slowly changing. But, it will take a long time. But, it will happen. (I think you get my meaning, but maybe not.)

Also, there is a pervasive idea that (i) Koreans cannot understand 'pure' foreign things and especially (ii) foreigners cannot understand 'pure' Korean things. So even though they can understand it (the guys I work with are all from the best schools) it seems sometimes like they just can't. And although I've been here 2 years (and 1 week, but who's counting? oh, I am) there is no way I can understand some of their concepts--no matter how many times I say: "Yes, I got it; I understand; it's in there." 아이씨/aisshi! (men's expression of exasperation) The funniest things is much of what they are explaining are Western ideas and procedures that I know like the back of my hand, but they learned them in Korean so figure they are Korean notions. 아이씨 again!

On to lighter topics. As you know, I'm a tight-ass and have been buying lots of shirts and ties lately. Today I looked at this combination: a small windowpane. Shirt is blue on white; tie is light blue and white on navy. At first I thought it'd look like crap, but when I put it on, to my surprise, it looked good. (Maybe Yusheng and his funky clothes have changed me.) At least I don't have a windowpane jacket to make it incredibly nuts...that would be a fashion-crime. Oh, and the prices: 6,500 for the shirt, 4,000 for the tie.


Try to control yourself...as you can see I'm one wild and crazy guy!

Still on the clothing front (narcissist that I am) I'm getting a little shocked at how I'm losing weight lately. Actually my weight is the same, but my muscles are bulking and fat is begin shed. As I noted, I've already cut my belt down, but now I'm down to the last hole...and I'm fitting into suits I almost gave up on a few months ago (although the jackets are feeling a little tight now). I guess it's not a bad thing...before I was trying to find pants big enough for my girth. Just hope I can keep this up. I got a little worried yesterday as I did such a heavy chest workout my right boob/pec was twitching all night. Hulk like work out...aaaaaarrrrrrghhhhhhhhh!

The End of an Era

What can I say? Shawn's blog has packed its bags and left cyberspace. Well, actually, thankfully, only Shawn has stepped away from it...the blog will stay online for generations to enjoy. I was comment FORTY-THREE on his last posting...which goes to show you how many people read (I mean really read) his daily comments on life in Korea.

Shawn,

Your blog was what got me to start mine. I read a few beforehand, but so many of them were either: (i) depressing, (ii) too damn political (Korean and/or American/Western). Yours was/is (*sob*) funny, true and incredibly self-deprecating (a pic of you with no shirt on? that takes guts, man!) and it's THAT side of Korea and myself that I try to portray in my blog (um, ya, as if...).

Anyways, if you're going to do a Jerry Seinfeld and 'go out on top' I guess this is the time to do it...just don't do a Michael Richards and not have an encore. Be like Jerry: sell the syndication rights, marry and get a home in the Hamptons and 15 Porches!

JB

Maybe that's it for today for me. 'Til tomorrow...

Neat Looking Blades

Well, they're not really rollerblades/inline skates, but they seem to handle the problem of how to get into a no-skate place/building with a little style. I can't see myself attaching a line of skates to special shoes (one brand is Hypnoskates), and those Heely things just have one wheel in the (you guessed it) heel. I found these while checking out some info for my boss. (Little does he know that much of what I do is googling...oh crap, I think he reads this blog too.)


The Instrek....what do you think?

Well, for 157,000 won (136USD) they better be good...not sure if I can justify buying a pair. My old blades are Nikes that I got here 2 years ago and apparently the aluminum rails are a lot better than plastic (especially, as it was so eloquently said to me, for a larger guy like me) but I can probably get a wicked pair for 157 grand...at least I know what I'm buying then. Maybe the guys at Instrek will see that I am a market maven and trend-setter and comp me a pair...I wonder. I wonder what wheels to get as replacements too...and would I still end up buying 'serious' blades for my cross-country treks? I've been inlining for like 8 years: are these a little too pedestrian for a guy like me who has a need for speed on the sidewalks of Seoul?

Looks like there is a little competition, too. Streetflyers (official site here) seem to think that 2 wheels are better than one (Heely) but are these 3-wheeled Instreks better? There's some cool movies on the site of 3 kids booting around Seoul (including Olympic Park Plaza....ah, those were the days when I lived near there). Minaz and my Dutch buds might want to click on the "Passion" vid where our favorite song is: I got what you need so tell me what you need...

If anyone has tried these things please let me know. I'd like a wing tip version if possible for my commute.

Weekend in Seoul aka Yusheng's Big Adventure.

Thanks for your comment, Terri. Although I can't divulge all of the details I do have some info about Yusheng and 성희/Seong Hee's 'date'. It started when I went to Yusheng's hotel to get him on Saturday and spotted this sign (below).


Tom's Lobster is now Canadian Lobster...wonder if I can get Molson Canadian beer there?

Then we made our way to Daehangro for the VT meeting. We took the bus (the lovely 263 from Yeouido to Namdaemoon Market) for some of the trip, as I wanted Yoosh (I'm the first and only person to call him that) Seoul overground...he's seen subways before. He said it reminded him of Tokyo...pretty clean, busy...but that Seoul is a 'foreign' country for him because he can't read any of the signs. He's fluent in Mandarin and can understand Cantonese and, thus, can read many signs in Japan but here he hasn't a clue on many of them.

Anyhoo, we transferred to the subway and it was then that I noticed my phone battery was almost toast. Crap! My number is the reference for everyone coming and we didn't exactly have an itinerary set out. As well, no chance of an audioblog--had to conserve the battery. As it turns out they lasted long enough to get everyone together. So, who was there: Yoosh, Seong Hee (his 'date'), Bunny (another VTer, her Korean name is almost impossible for us foreingers to pronounce), Rachel (Supernib on VT), Jason (her beau), Kelvin (Lanatir on VT), his bud Yen (an auditor from PriceWaterhouse in K.L.), Dawn (a teacher), another Rachel (Psychokitty from VT), another Jason (friend of them from Australia), and Jane (another teacher). Holy crap, that's a pretty big group. We were sure to get discounts with a posse like that.

We made our way to a 닭갈비/dak-kalbi (chicken & hot pepper sauce dish) place and took over 3 tables. Also ordered beers, soju and 오십세주/oh-ship-sai-joo (50% baeksaiju, 50% soju) and the fun started. Everyone started talking adn stuff and I found out that Supernib and Jason have been here 3 years and are ready to go back--they met in Canada and figured what better way to test their relationship than to go to a place like Korea for a few years. Ha! Talk about trial by fire. I couldn't take any pics on account of the battery situation, but Yoosh had his massive professional-grade camera so I'm sure he took a few (not that I could remember if he did or not). Yoosh and his gal weren't talking much (his Korean is basically zero and her English, while passable, was not too good with all the noise and booze). He just said: "Ya, we're can't really communicate right now." or something...hmmmm...wonder what that means?

After dinner it was off to 꾼/Kkoon for beers. The owner knows me there and he got a couple to move so we could have seats at the ice-bar. We also got free cuttlefish mmmmmm... Someone (me) had a bottle of tequila there and started pouring shots...what a nut. At about 11 Jane and Dawn had to leave, but we convinced Jason to stick around...haha.

Next was the 노래방/noraebang (singing room). We got a massive room and I proceeded to do my pitiful rendition of 1979. After that the real singing started. Kelvin and Yen bolted at about 1AM, and after the time was up (actually it was finished a couple of times, but we told the manager to give us more time..as in free time) both Jasons and Supernib headed for bed (not together, though). The rest of us proceeded to the only dance bar in Daehangro (that I know of): Bunker.

Of course Bunker was loaded with people. With a 1 drink minimum and good tunes it's a rockin' place to be. We wanted to go to Hongdae but Psychokitty seemed in her element in Bunker, so we parted there.

In Hongdae we hit Hodge Podge, but that didn't last long. I saw my old stalker (a story from before my blogging days) and we got the heck out of there. If you're in Seoul long enough you'll get a stalker (even if you're a guy!) For my Dutch buds they got one on their first night out (right after I told them there is no chance for them to meet girls easily here...what did I know). Basically, a stalker is a Korean girl (in my case) who is quite aggressive and tries to, well, 'get' you. It's weird as most Korean gals are pretty timid, shy, reserved...that sort of thing. But these gals are anything but. Thankfully call-display is all the rage here and you can block the calls, but for a while it gets damn annoying. I have to tell you also that I wasn't encouraging her at all...but Koreans have a way of taking most/all things to extreme. This is just so you know...if you're single and out for a good time then this place is cool. If you're married and face capital punishment for any infidelity (as I am) you have to watch your step here.

We all got home safe and sound. Man, I was so bagged at the end of all that--I think my own shoring woke me up a couple of times...my poor neighbors!

Sunday was a little more sedate. Yoosh and I headed to Namdaemoon Market for a little shopping and sightseeing. I found my favorite shirt-seller there and picked up 4 from him for 26,000 won (about 22USD). Korea is funny. You have your high-end department stores where they sell the same things for 45-65,000 each and your street-sellers who mark it down to 5-20,000 apiece. One of the shirts he had even has a Meryvn's tag on it and a $15.99 price point! I've seen ones with Moore's tags on them too, but most are last season's stuff from Home Plus or Lotte Department Store. I also saw another good shirt, but it was 10,000 won...still got it though. I had fun with the lady selling them...a little chatting in Korean about how some of the shirts were 제비/jay-bi (playboy) style shirts. Did she think I was a playboy? Haha...no discount. Crap, oh well, here you go: 10,000 won. What the heck.



We strolled to 명동/Myoung-dong and Yoosh got out his telephoto lens for some long-range shots of people. He does model-shoots as well as architectual photography and he said they always use the telephotos because it makes the model seem slimmer, as opposed to the wide-angle ones that spread you out (obviously ALL pics you see of me are wide-angle...I'm actually very thin). So you get this model on one end of the room and the photographer on the other side barking orders to her...haha. Kinda looks like he's aiming a rifle, doesn't it?


Yusheng the paparazzi

In a coffeeshop on the 4th floor of Lotte Young Plaza (young is the new fad here). Check out this table. Yoosh's camera is on it...making it look smaller.


Cool kidney-shaped table.

After meeting up with Seong Hee we had 빙수/bing-soo (ice, fruit and yoghurt ice cream) which Yoosh loved. (Have to get some pics from him.) After that we went to Insa-dong and walked around. Saw this neat store with lots of old toys in it.


Wow, old action figures!


They love their Astroboy here.


This big boy is 90,000 won (about 80USD)! Maybe I should get my mom to ship my old toys here.


Here's an interesting one...a doll in a towel. From Japan; where men read sex-filled comics on the subway.

Then it was time for more food. We really weren't that hungry but had nothing since dunch at 2:30, about 6 hours ago (dunch is a throw-back to the Dutchboys who lived here last year...they always got up last after a night out and had breakfast/lunch after 2 or 3 PM...couldn't call it brunch so they called it dunch: Dutch + lunch). Yoosh wanted to compare New York Koreatown Bulggogi and Pajun to the Korean versions...they're pretty similar, but the Korean ones (even with Insadong's higher prices) were cheaper.


Here are those two in the restaurant...everyone's very tired.


Ancient Yoyos? Anyone know what these shaped rocks are?


Even more tired...on the subway now. Finally got Yusheng to be a little wacky.

Tune in tomorrow for more "Adventures of Yusheng"!

Interesting Signs and Yusheng's First Night

Yesterday I played a little hooky from work. Well, I had a meeting downtown, how is that?, but it gave me a chance to see downtown Seoul in daylight on a weekday--something I haven't done for a while. I spotted these two marques that I've seen before, but finally got a pic of.


Sometimes a Subway is not a Subway. Can you say copyright infringement?


The only Starbucks I've ever seen that has the sign in Hanguel.

Last night, I noted in the audiopost, Yusheng came town. I was pretty happy to see a familiar face again; it's been a couple of weeks since Minaz left. Actually, he's not that familiar, I haven't seen the guy for about 4 years. We met while working on one of them dot.bomb companies (it's actually still in business, though!) and now his occupation is "architectual photographer" or some such cover. (His site has TONS of building photos.) He said I look younger (the second person to say that this week) and that he looks fatter--which he does not. He got a good deal on his hotel room (thanks to me) but it doesn't have a closet in it for all of his 제비옷/jay-bi-ot (playboy clothes). Oh well...what do you expect from a 'love hotel'...hehe.

Of course we went to The Outsider bar, but first we hooked up with Terri Kim, a VTer from Philadelphia who was in town this week. This was my first time meeting her, but she is a regular reader of the ol' blog (which I'm sure you are as well). It was kinda funny...I was talking about the Buitoni (pasta) restaurant on the first floor of the building where I got service from the owner (who I met a couple of weeks ago) and she said, "Oh ya, I rememeber that." Huh? Oh ya, I put it in the blog. Imagine how the stars feel when the Enquirer writes about them (not as if this is even close to that, I'm not some pure meglomaniac)...at least I have some control over the lies in this thing.


Yusheng trying not to crack a smile. Kinda looks like a thug, don't he?


Terri Kim, VT member and Korean-American (single too!).


Here's another, better, pic of Terri. Time for me to get a real good camera phone.

The owner joined us for a drink...well, more than a drink...he bought a bottle of Jack Daniel's and food for us--all service. What a guy. His wife and kids are in San Francisco so him and I share a similar fate here in Seoul. Yusheng made mention that he liked the looks of one of the gals and I told this to the owner...next thing I know he's setting it up for her to join us tonight for the VT meeting. Interesting place, this Korea, where bosses can 'invade' workers' personal lives (although she didn't put up a fight...I think she likes the look of this Yusheng character).

This morning I got up at 8:30 and hit the gym...finally. My lazy ass hasn't been in there since Tuesday on account of I've had too many nights out lately. It felt good...but now it's time for a nap. Good thing Yusheng hasn't slept for 2 days, maybe I can get some shut-eye before he starts moving around.

First Audiopost

Oh my God...my voice sucks. The good news is it's easy to get this thing going...just click on open (play) or save (save to file then play, which is what I have to do on this computer for some reason).

Get ready for Hallowe'en and Big Buildings in Seoul

Saw this posting on a couple of sites:

ALL-NIGHT HALLOWE'EN BOOZE/DANCE PARTY IN YEOIDO! (Canucklehead style!)
Date: Saturday, October 30th
Time: (9:00 pm until 5:00 am)
Location: KAPA Brewpub (Basement), Youido; Take Line 5 to Youido Subway Station...Go out Exit #5, turn right immediately go through the entrance in the building right there (with Dunkin Donuts...),. and to the big parking lot in the back; Turn right, go down the stairs...Voila! There will be signs showing directions for the directionally-challenged, but the distance from the subway exit to the stairs from the parking lot is about 30 metres at most.
Cost: 40,000 won per person
Includes: All you can drink Beer (Microbrew and local draft) and Wine.
Schedule: Midnight-1:00AM Buffet meal; 4AM Survivors' Breakfast (Bacon/Ham and Eggs; Toast and coffee);
Prizes for: Best Costume (Male and Female); Best Carved Pumpkin; plus a Substantial Door Prize.
Music: Provided by FROZEN NORTH: All kinds of GOOD dancy stuff; all genres
For info and to order tickets, please go to: psypumpkin@yahoo.com

Thanks, Frozen North Productions

Hmmm....let's see, it's walking distance from my place, will feature Canadian stuff (whatever that is) and all-you-can-drink-and-eat....sounds good to me. As for a costume...I'll probably go as a salaryman or Wall Street trader (what a lazy-ass I am).

If anyone else is in, please leave a comment or email me from my profile (on the right, near the hideous pic).

Speaking of Yeouido, I used to think that the 63 Building was the tallest in Korea, but it looks as if some are already taller and more, even higher, structures are proposed. Take a look at all of them here and some cool pics of buildings and stuff are here. Then there's this video I found in the forum area...it's supposed to be set in North Korea but it's in Chinese and subtitled in German. Kinda funny, but the stream was a little choppy for me.

And I pilfered this story from Grant's blog. It's really quite odd that Koreans believe in 'fan death'. I go to sleep with mine on all the time in the summer, my air conditioner too (it's a good filter of all the brutal pollutants we have here in Seoul) and I haven't died yet.

Adding Audioblogger to Hometown: Yeouido and Breakfast in the Office

After hearing some pretty hilarious stuff on Tom Green's blog, I've decided to take the plunge and try out Audioblogger on the ol' blog. Of course, some of the audiopostings he made are kinda mundane, but even those are kinda funny.

Sometimes (maybe usually) Tom is a little loopy when he gets on the phone(like that relative of yours who calls you when their tanked, no matter the time or effect of timezones). Here's a typical audiopost with alcohol added (keep in mind that Tom extends the word blog so it sounds like blaawg, what a nut):

Tom: Hey, Jeff, talk to my blog.
Jeff: Hello? Hello? There's no one there!
Tom: No, it's the Internet, you're talking on my blog.
Jeff: Your what?
Tom: My blog; just use it like an answering machine. Talk.
Jeff: Whose answering machine?
Tom: Um, mine.
Jeff: Ok, um, hey Tom I guess you can't get to the phone because you're out drinking with me. Call me and we can hit the bar! How's that?
Tom: Oh, great, fantastic. You have a real good radio voice. Who's next?
-pause-
Brooke Shields: Hi! We're here at the bar in Vancouver and Tom is pouring drinks down my throat and Jeff is hitting on the ladies here. Have a good day everyone on the Internet!
-pause-
Tom: You, sir, would you say something for my blog?
-pause-
Biff: Ya! Tom Green rocks! Woo-hoo!
Tom: Ok, thank you. Thank you. Well, just wanted to check in with everyone. Now I have to go save some gals from Jeff's advances.
-click-

I'll probably bring it out at the VT thing on Saturday night. Damn! Wish I had thought of this for the The Koreans concert...I could have broken more copyright laws. Should be fun...who knows, maybe MTV will pick up my 'act' and I'll be a star! Ya, right.

Last night a bud of mine gave me some 호박떡/ho-bak-ddeok (pumpkin rice cake) so since I can't eat 2 trays of the stuff I took it to the office. It's Mr. Jo's birthday also (why do I call him Mister? I'm about 3 years older than him...) so I got him a 삼각김밥/sam-gak-kim-bab (triangle seaweed, rice and meat treat) from 7-11. Well, no sooner than when the others saw this that they started wailing "배고파요/bae-go-pa-yo (I'm hungry)!" 아이씨/aisshi! "잠깐만/jam-ggan-man (just a sec-informal)!" I went back down to the 7-11 to get 3 more for these famished souls. Of course the 7-11 gal who always sees me get 1 Jumbo 삼각김밥 and just saw me get 2 this morn had to start going on about 돼지/dwei-ji (pig) and rounding her hands across her gut as if I had a growing paunch. Oh ya, all these are for me...I can eat 5 Jumbos in one morning...haha, very funny. Well, I just did the ol' Korean trick: I threw it back at her, pointing at her gut and saying "나/na (you-informal), 당신dang-shin (you-formal)??" Ha ha, got you there.


Wow, Jo is a fast eater...couldn't even get a pic of the complete tray!

So tonight Yusheng comes and Jo has his birthday...by the time Yoosh gets here I should be in good spirits (or at least have some good spirits in me).

Here's an interesting story I got from a comment on Shawn's blog. Hmmm...

Finally, here's a story (actually a blog that is published in the Globe & Mail (Canadian newspaper) about how Google saved someone's life (?!?!?).

Updated Pics from Minaz

Ok, ok, I said that I was finished putting pics of Minaz's visit up on the site...but I got a few from him just now and thought you'd like to see them. I debated putting them in the chronological postings, but I figure if you want to see them then you'd like them all in one place, and if you don't then who cares.

Oh, and if you want a good laugh take a look at this bloke's blog (Oct 20th posting). Hilarious.


Minaz and 2 kids at the Chinese restaurant.


Minaz making friends at Kkoon bar.


Guys dancing at Bunker (where are the girls??)


More guys dancing...and me looking on. White boy got no rhythm.


Another pic of Minaz and his man Sung in HongDae.


Me contemplating eating street food....nah! (Take a look at them Popeye-esque forearms!)


Manila traffic...and I thought Seoul was murder on the roads!


Boracay...just as I remember it.


Ya, just like this. Ahhhhhh...


Minaz and his suit-man, Mr. Kim. Check out the shirt...that way no hookers or thieves will touch him. (By the way, nice gut.)


Minaz gives the camera a 's#it-eating grin' as he soaks in The Outsider's croupiers and dealers.


Minaz and I enjoy one more night at The Outsider. (The martini is shaken, vodka--dubbed the 'James Martini' in that bar.)


A line of pok-tan-juu (bomb booze) ready to go.


After a few bombs...making friends: one is the owner of Wa-Bar in Yeouido, the other is Wa-Bar's corporate CIO.


Last shot...Me in front of Yeouido Full Gospel Church (near my office) just before he got on the bus.

The Japanese Love "The Koreans" and Being an Insider at "The Outsider"

From time to time I take a look at my little hit counter and see how many people are reading this thing. (To be truthful, I obsess over it.) Anyways, the average daily visitors has gone up from about 15 to 30 to 60 over the last few months; however, yesterday 251 people (or 502 'eyes') came to my little blog, which was quite remarkable (about 4 TIMES the recent usual). I took a look at where they were linking from and there were 2 main places:

1. This Cyworld homepage (get this, there are about 45 million people in Korea, and about 20 million Cyworld homepages) where the gal has a tribute to The Koreans and were actually standing next to me at the concert on Saturday! (Actual referring page is here.)

2. (The big one.) This site (entirely in Japanese) seems to be where they all came from (scroll down to #161). My readers from Japan jumped from almost nothing to #3 in the charts.

What's more, my The Koreans Rocked Seoul posting is now my #1 looked-at page. Well, I don't know how sticky all of this traffic will be, but it's interesting to see what people are interested in and where they are from. To quote 'shit-break' from American Pie after the webcam incident: "God bless the Internet".

Ok, back to dry land now. (That doesn't make much sense.) Last night I went out for 'work' with one of our office workers and a guy from a partner firm (they do the investment trust management). We went out for dinner then to 'my' bar, The Outsider. It's a neat place, everyone there knows me: I sometimes go 4-5 times a week (even twice in a night if I get a call from my bud 동준/DongJoon, who lives in the same building, to go out for a drink). Lately I've toned it down a bit, but my status is still alive and well (even if my liver isn't).


John and me at The Outsider (from a while back).

Every night at 10PM they have something special. On Mondays the bar-girls sing a song on stage, Wednesdays is when a singer and/or pianist does their thing on stage and Fridays are Bingo-nights (I won a ball a while back, remember?).


Fantastic pianist and accomplished singer at The Outsider.


Mr. Yoon listening intently to John's pearls of wisdom.

You know, I call him Mr. Yoon, but I'm actually a few months older than he is. That's the thing here. I call (more or less) 'Westernized' guys (like John) by their English names and 'pure' Koreans by their Korean names. Anyone else do that?


Mr. Yoon again, just in case you didn't get a good look at him in the last pic.

One of the songs playing (not sung, mind you) was Sting's Englishman in New York. I wonder how it would sound it I wrote it? I wonder...

I don't eat soondae, I'll have sausages
I like my kimchi nice and fresh
Here in Seoul there ain't much snow
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido

See me walking past 포장마차/pojang-macha [streetfood restaurants]
I won't dare set foot inside
I was sick one time and that's enough
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido

I'm an alien, I'm an E-7 alien
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido
I'm an alien, I'm an E-7 alien
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido

If knowing Korean gets you a discount here
I will study all the time
You know I like to haggle for everything I buy
Top quality, and never pay full price
Top quality, and never pay full price

I'm an alien, I'm an E-7 alien
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido
I'm an alien, I'm an E-7 alien
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido

A smile and a wink, will get you more than you think
Koreans love a bright and cheerful face
Gentleness, sobriety don't work in this society
Over here tea-tottlers are out of place

Just one more drink and we're done tonight
Now that you're finished: just one more
We've got a bottle of whiskey here in front of us
And four more empty rattling on the floor

Never leave a glass empty for long
They will think you're very crass
When you're drunk, there's no need to be polite
You can belch and scratch your ass
You can belch and scratch your ass...

I'm an alien, I'm an E-7 alien
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido
I'm an alien, I'm an E-7 alien
I'm a Canadian in Yeouido

And on that note...time for work.

TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

Wow, hard to believe I've been here two (2) full years. It was October 20, 2002 when our plane touched down at Incheon Airport for that fateful 2-3 weeks trip to Seoul. Little did I know my wife and I would have another baby boy (conceived in Seoul, no less) to keep our first boy company within a year and that I'd be here all this time. (Our whole story is here.)

Over the years (man, strange to say that) I've done a lot here. Met many people, had some good times and some not-so-good and managed to live through it all. One thing about being here in Seoul is it's a place that shreds your arrogance. I mean it: if you think you're hot shit wherever you come from you're nothing here. Maybe you have a great product or a sharp mind or a fantastic way with people: it all has little worth here unless you can adapt it to the local market and people. Lately I've done what seems in the West to be a crazy thing: I applied momentum theory and trend analysis to the hedge fund indices. This is preposterous, of course, because hedge funds (almost by definition) do not trend all that much, and to buy them based on those ideas makes little sense. But, here they like trend-watching and, to some degree, trend-following so I made a presentation based on it. The locals seem to have taken to it. Forget steady returns, non-correlation and all the other high-fallutin' talk, give 'em a trend!

Then there's the food here. You know, I really, really like Korean food. I like the variety, the (bottomless) sidedishes, the service (the smiles and the complimentary food) and the incredible speed at which it is served. It even makes a steak dinner (except the ones from my parents' wood-fueled backyard grill) pale in comparison. I've even learned to like a few foods I didn't warm up to much initially:

Chapchae/glass noodles,t hey just had a weird texture
오징어/oh-jing-eo (cuttle-fish), I love the stuff now
미역국/mi-yeok-gook (kelp soup), my wife had a ton of this after both kids (traditional post-natal meal) and now I like it too
삼 겹살/sam-gyup-sal (3-layer fat pork) and it's cousin from Jeju Island 오겹살 (5-layers!), it was just too fatty before, but now it's no problem
소주/soju, it used to make me puke, now it's like water.
폭탄주/pok-tan-joo, soju or whisky shot in a glass of beer, used to make me really drunk and get me sick...not as much at all now
양주/yang-joo (whiskey), it's still not my fav, but I can down it with the guys
산 낙지/san-nak-ji (living octopus), ya, I even had the swimming kind; the first time I had octopus was in Osaka in them little breaded balls...never all that enthused about a slab on sushi, but get them squirming around and I'm all over it.
hmmmmmm...lots of drinking examples there...

But some foods are still too much for me:

두부/doo-boo (tofu), miso soup is ok, but if the stuff is in chunks I still can't go near it
순대/soon-day, let's see...what's not to like about blood and noodles boiled in pig guts? Lots, I say.
냉면/naeng-myoun, those cold noodles put me off...I keep thinking they are old and spoiled.

Yusheng just asked me about how to dial here, so I thought it might make sense for travellers or newbies to Korea (I know I needed a lesson when I got here). Thus, here is the Directions on How to Phone People within/from Seoul, Korea:

To start, there are 2 kinds of phones, landline (starting with 02) and cell (starting with 010, 011, 016, 017, 018 and 019).

When calling 02 from an 02 phone you just dial the last 7 or 8 digits after the 02. E.g., 02-3775-1317 becomes 3775-1317.

When calling a cell from an 02 you have to dial the whole sequence: 019-385-1317 is 019-385-1317.

When calling an 02 from a cell you need to include the 02 as well: 02-3775-1317 is still 02-3775-1317.

When calling a cell of the same prefix as the originating cell you can just use the last digits: calling 019-385-1317 from 019-3775-1317 can be shortened to just 385-1317. But, if you put the 019/prefix on as well there is no problem at all.
When calling long distance from any line in Korea the easiest (albeit most expensive) way is 001- countrycode-blah-blah. There are other ways as well, but this is easiest.

UPDATE: Now that you have that...there are different profixes for outside Seoul as well: Kyunggi-do is 031, Koje-do is 055, Pusan is 051...just treat them as you would a cell phone call if you're dialing from out of town, and drop them (just like you do the '02' in Seoul) if you're in town calling a landline.

When calling Korea from elsewhere callers need to add the country code (82) and drop the first '0'...02-3775-1317 becomes 82-2-3775-1317.
The safest way is to call with all prefixes except landline=>landline where the 02 is dropped in all cases.

Simple, eh?

Pitter-patter, time to get at 'er. (Kind of cockney accent for time to work.)

The Princess and the Pencil; and About the Subways Here

Snappy title, eh? I was getting ready to study some Korean this afternoon (slow day) and wanted a pencil (as I often screw it up) so I rifled through my desk for one to no avail. Then I looked in the supply cupboard; none that I could see. Finally, I asked our officegirl (that's what they're called here...ok?) for one. She found an unsharpened one in the same cupboard I just searched (duh!).

While I looked for a pencil-sharpener she got out her trusty Exact-o knife and started whittling. Not the bold, deep cuts that I used to make when doing the same thing when I was in a fix for a pencil, she did gradual, honing, precise slices until it was a perfect cone. Proving once again that all you need in an Exact-o and duct tape.

Oh ya, and why the Princess remark in the title? Our gal is from 공주/Gong-joo (princess) an actual city south of Seoul.


Why bother with a pencil-sharpener when you can use an Exact-o knife?

I have another memory of an Exact-o, too: thanks to Manchester Mike. When we were treeplanting I was sitting in a box with another box over me (this was like 14 years ago, I don't sit in boxes much anymore) and throwing grapefruit pieces at him. Well, he lost it and came at my little 'fort' with his knife...as I tried to throw the box off myself and escape he put a gash in one of my fingers enough to require stitches (to the bone, man!) but we were too far out of town to bother getting them. Well, Mike and I are still friends (somehow) but that day always haunts me.

And, for the get-together on Saturday a newbie to the subway system was wondering how it works here. Here's my reply email (below). Seoul's subways are tooooo simple. There are maps of the entire system, each line, all of the exits and even all of the stairways and platforms all over the place (on the trains, on the platforms, near the tickets) so if you get lost here once that should be the only time in your life.

Every line in Seoul is numbered. There are 8 city lines now plus Incheon line and #9 is under construction. All maps have the lines noted in a legend and they are also color-coded (Line 6 is brown, Line 5 is purple) and MOST of the maps have the same colors on them (although some unofficial ones have different colors, just to screw with you, it seems).

Many stations have transfers, it's free to move between lines (and bus <-> subway <-> bus <-> bus also if you have a T-money card, available at all stations) and each transfer is clearly marked in the hallways and they have a special announcement on in the cars to let you know that a transfer is coming up.

As for exits, all of them are numbered and clearly marked...they have a number inside a circle on the signs. The station with the most exits is Dongdaemoon Stadium with a whopping 14, Hyehwa, where we are going, has just 4. When you get off the train take a look at the map on the platform and see where to go to get out at the right place.

Ok, back to my studying.

Pics from Yeouido

I remember an commercial for B.C. Tel (British Columbia Telephone, now Telus as of the merger) where a gal was jogging with a futuristic helmet on. She was talking with her friend about what to buy her mom for her birthday, then spotted the perfect gift. She took a picture with the helmet and sent it to her friend. The year was 1994 and all of this seemed curiously possible. The marketing gurus based in on the notion of 'intenders': that there are consumers out there who are so ahead of the curve that they are looking for things that don't even exist yet, and they fully intend to buy them as soon as they come out. Of course, in Korea the cycle from intender to buyer should be as short as possible (measured in nanoseconds).

Anyways, this is what I thought of when I snapped this pic and emailed it to a friend's cell phone...the immediate response: "Wow, let's go there tonight!" (Usually it's priced at 6,500 - 8,000 won a head, so 4,900 saves the price of a bottle of soju!) Nothing like instant message and gratification. Makes you wonder where things are headed.


Get yer discount pork right here!

Also saw, later, after it got dark, a pretty wild looking car. It's a Smart Fortwo Coupe Brabus.The car company is Smart (think it's part of Daimler-Chrysler); the model is Fortwo (get it? for-two!); it's a coupe; and Brabus is an after-market customizer of luxury cars (looks like they do a lot of Mercedes). Looks like they'll be sold in Canada too, but the prices are a little steep: the Japanese models start at over 2,000,000 yen (about 19,000USD)--especially for a 2-seater. But you really can't beat the street cred.


The Brabus Smart Fortwo Car!


But for about 8,000USD you could have this Matiz...and fit an extra 2-3 people in it.

Speaking of bragging rights, which would you like to be seen on:


Your run-of-the-mill red bike.


Wow, a rare specimen...a red trike!


Fancy pizza delivery bike (note the rollbar in case of severe accident).


The old-reliable, complete with a snappy blue cargo rack.


Or this crotch-rocket/rice-burner?


Finally, the piece-de-la-resistance...the red Honda Aspencade.

The guy with the Aspencade also has a Harley, I think, cuz I also see one parked in the same space some days. (One has to wonder if red is the preferred color for things with 2 wheels here.)

Crap, time to get at it here. Til tomorrow...