Asia Update #9 - Seoul Olympics

The Olympics are on in Australia and I live in Asia, so I figured I'd pop down and see what was happening. Well, not really considering that it is a very long flight (probably a good 10 hours) to Australia from here. And I didn't do any preparation, such as book flights, lodging, or get tickets to the events. So all I get to do is watch it on TV, and think about what it would be like there while visiting the Olympic Park here in Seoul (where the 1988 Olympics were held).

I did some sightseeing last Sunday, besides going to the Olympic Park. Jennifer, who works for my company, offered to show me around a bit. Here is a picture of her on sitting by the Han River. I used the panorama function of my camera to splice three pictures together - came out pretty good for my first try at this.

Seoul is split by the Han River. The north side is the old city, where all the palaces and such (and my apartment) are at. My office is on the south side. This picture was taken on the south side of the river, though not near my office. Seoul is a big city, with somewhere between 10 and 15 million inhabitants.

Most of the tall buildings you see around are apartments. Various companies and even government organizations are building these tall apartment buildings to satisfy their housing needs. Much of the new apartments are built as part of planned communities. They seem to work here, as opposed to 'The Projects' in major American cities.

You can see a couple of the bridges which cross the river. There are about 20 bridges already in place and at least 2 more being built. This makes it so that it isn't too hard to get across a bridge (unlike the Bay Area, where the bridges are the first place which get snarled with traffic). Unfortunately, the roads in the city aren't being expanded that quickly, so once you get across the river, you are back in traffic. Supposedly, each bridge is wired with explosives, just in case North Korea attacks.

As the picture shows, the weather has definitely improved. Partly cloudy skies, and much of the pollution haze has blown/been washed away by the storms leaving behind comfortable temperatures (low 70s). Made it a nice day to be outside and wandering about. I didn't even have an excuse to not go for a run (though I haven't gotten myself around to fixing the flat on my bike, even though I have all the parts here now, so I still have an excuse for that).

 From time to time I've had cravings for different Western foods. For a while, it was spinach pasta with pesto sauce, though my trip back to the States seemed to have settled that one (plus a good friend mailed me a packet of pesto sauce and pasta to let me stop the craving the next time it hits). I can't seem to find a good salad (even at the 'western' restaurants - I've had some of the worst Caesars salads ever here), though I do think I am getting enough vegetables through eating kimchi and such. But what I miss the most are bagels. The bakeries here carry various western foods, but very few carry bagels. And those that do probably shouldn't call what they sell bagels. So, if anyone wants to send me a care package, send me a couple of packages of Sara Lee bagels (any flavor).

A bunch of American coworkers arrive tomorrow and will be here for about a week, so that may keep me too busy to write an update. Then again, it also may provide some good fodder for my drivel...