Asia Update #7 - Misc. stuff, mostly Seoul

Sorry about the time gap between this update and my last. Not much has happened since I posted my last update (much of the reason for that is that I was only in Korea for a few days before heading back to the States for a week). But now I am back in Asia and ready to write about my experiences…

I didn't write about this, but I visited Singapore the 2^nd week I was in Asia. Very clean, English is spoken by most everyone, and the food was great. Probably one of the more cosmopolitan cities in Asia, and one where a westerner would likely feel more comfortable as compared to other places in Asia (though I suspect that it would start to feel too sterile after a while, with all the rules they have). Nothing out of the ordinary happened there, so nothing to write about. Singapore is definitely a nice place. I should be back there for a few days on the way to Thailand in October, so maybe something worthy of writing about will happen then.

My company's office is in one of the business sections of Seoul (an area called Youido, and it contains most of the TV stations and the Korean Stock Exchange). The area looks similar to an American city with all the tall office buildings and such. In the picture below, the office I am in is the gray one next to the red, white, and blue bubble building (the one on the right behind the low rise yellow building).

One thing that seems to be missing from the area is that there aren't many restaurants within sight. There not being restaurants doesn't make sense, considering the large amount of business people who need to eat lunch and business dinners/drinks (Asians do a lot more business socializing than Americans - I'll have to write more about this later). Turns out the restaurants/karaoke bars/'business clubs' are there, just out of sight. Just about every office building has a basement with multiple restaurants (mostly Korean foods) or clubs/bars in it. Some you enter through the building, others have entry ways outside of the building (which could easily be mistaken for subway entrances). There are signs for these, but I didn't know what they were given they mostly are just Korean words and no pictures. I am still exploring these basements to see what I can find (found a TGI Fridays in one, complete with the same menu you'd find in the States - wasn't expecting that from one of these basements).

I have cable TV in my apartment now. I went from about 6 channels, all in Korean, to about 50 channels. I now get 3 full time English channels (Armed Force Korea Network, CNN, and a local channel which is similar to PBS) and a few of the others sometimes show English programs with Korean subtitles.

Korean TV is interesting, even without understanding the language. They have a variety of soap operas, game shows, and variations of candid camera/kids say the funniest things. There also seems to be three or four music channels. There is also a handful of shopping networks and supposed to be a movie channel (I guess a pay per view style thing) which I haven't figured out how to use yet (instructions and the remote control are all in Korean). The two most different from the US are:

1. the 24 hour karaoki channel - I can sing my heart out all day. They have pictures of nice areas (fields, streams, ducks swimming), instrumental music running, and words (usually Korean) across the bottom for you to sign along with.
2. The 24 hour Korean chess game. The camera is aimed straight down at a board containing white and black markers (looks kind of like an Othello board). Every couple of minutes you see a hand reach out and add, move, or remove a piece. Some color commentary is going on in the background (at least that is what I think the Korean voices are talking about). I haven't figured out the rules at all, and likely never will.

 

Today's weather report on the CNN web site said we would get "tons of rain". That pretty much covers it. The second typhoon of my stay is rolling in. I've been told that this is unusual - the typhoons usually end by August. I have taken to carrying an umbrella with me most of the time. Wet umbrellas are trouble in buildings, because most buildings have marble floors. A bit of water on a marble floor and you have a slick surface. So, in the building's entry, they put out bags which you slip on the wet umbrella. Kind of like slipping a big condom on it.

Looks like I will be spending much of September in Seoul. We are closing on an acquisition here (one of the reasons that Seoul was chosen as my base) which will require a significant amount of my time over the next few months. Only trip I see as a possibility in September is perhaps a few days to Tokyo. I should get back to bouncing around Asia in October and November, with plans to visit Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and back to the States in those months.

Oh, I've reread some of my posting and could easily understand if you think I am hating it here. I must say that I was wondering if I made the right decision at first and did have some hard times. And I do miss biking and a lot of my friends in California. But overall this has already turned into a fun experience and should only get better.