Asia Update #15 - hiking and drums in Seoul

Went for another hike with the same group on Saturday. Turned out to be the same mountain as last time, but we did a different route. Weather was much better this time - hard not to be better when the last time there was a typhoon coming through. Got some pictures this time, so thought I'd write another update.

The trails were incredibly crowded. Literally hundreds of people (possibly thousands) hiking on the mountain.

We did the stop at the top and pulled out the full spread of food and booze (and even a bucket of kimchi). Whiskey, beer, some clear bottles of Korean liquor (don't know the name yet), and once again those evil green little bottles of Soju. On the interesting food side, there where some red dried fruits stuffed with peanuts (looked like a small one of those hot dog in a blanket finger foods you'd see at parties, except that the blanket was a fruit which looks like a dried cherry and the hot dog was actually peanuts). Also had some octopus jerky (complete with the suction cups - it's the stuff in the plastic bag on the lower left of the photo). I was still fighting a bit of jet lag and also hadn't gotten my eating patterns back in sync yet, so did my best to keep it light. But Koreans are incredibly gracious hosts and continued to offer me more foods and drinks.

Side note - the foods I eat may gross some of you out. It turns out they may also gross out other Asians. I saw this first-hand when I was in Beijing a month ago. One of the women from our Beijing office looked very hesitant about trying sea cucumber at a Japanese restaurant. Prior to that, I had figured that the Chinese eat anything and everything such that nothing would surprise them. But this reminded me that every culture has a set of foods they are used to, and have foods which others eat and they would consider weird.

Back to the hike - one of the benefits of living in a climate that has 4 seasons (unlike California) is that I get to see the trees turning. We were probably a week or two too late to catch the most colors, but there were still many amazing areas. Of course the downside of an area that has 4 seasons is that they have 4 seasons - it has been 10 years since I have lived in an area where it snows. The temps barely get up to the 60s now, so the seasons are making themselves known. I am already planning trips to warm areas (Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) to escape from the cold and blustery winter here.

Because I wasn't feeling 100%, I decided to cut out at the earliest convenient point. So after the hike and dinner, I asked to be dropped off at the nearest subway station to head home. Means I missed the naked Korean hot tub experience and all of that fun.

Sunday was a bit more relaxed. Went for a run and then a coworker came over my way to watch a drum festival/parade with me. I didn't even know this was going on until I jogged right through the middle of them setting up. Hundreds, if not thousands, of performers were milling around. There was some semblance of order to make it a parade, but it really was hard to tell what was them warming up/getting into order and what was the true parade. There were some international performers, but most were traditional Korean. The centerpiece was the world's largest drum - some 5 meters in diameter. Definitely a very loud area.

This all took place at the Sejong Cultural Center, which is across the street from the US Embassy. The embassy normally has a sizable contingent of police around it - between that and the walls, it looks more like a prison. Today had the largest contingent I had ever seen - they literally had the embassy circled with police shoulder to shoulder. Even had cordoned off in the same way the building next to it (some sort of Korean Government building, I think). Had to be hundreds of police. Intense. Guess Americans aren't always well liked in this world.

While waiting for my friend to show up, I was watching a show on the English-language Korean TV channel on sex in a married couple's relationship. Sex is supposed to be controlled by the kidneys under eastern medicine, so kidney problems are something you should watch out for. Even impotence and premature ejaculation are related to kidney problems. They talked about a variety of fixes for sexual problems, involving herbs to improve a kidney's health and massage. It was a bit of a broad overview, but the emphasis was on fixing medical problems in a male only, as if that alone would give the couple a great sex life. Looks like I learn something new every day…

Good news! Bagels have reportedly been sighted at the Dunkin Donuts near my office. It will be nice to have a local source, if this is really is the rare and elusive bagel. I'll have to check them out to see if they meet my now much reduced standards.

I've now been in Asia for 3 months. This means I am a quarter of the way through my planned stay of one year. My company is changing so fast that anything could happen (I could get recalled back to the States, sent to some other locale for a while, or most likely given the opportunity to stay longer if I want). On the whole, the trip is going very well. I am learning a lot and am amazed at the experiences I've been able to have. On the other hand, I am not picking up the language nearly as fast as I had hoped and do miss my friends and biking and many of the benefits of living in California. I've found an unexpected pick me up for when my mood gets down. I just read my online journal or review the photos I have taken (I have many - I only post about 1 out of every 50 or so that I take) and think about the experiences and opportunities I've had and my mood improves pretty quickly.

Asia Update #14 - Tokyo

If I had to sum up Tokyo in a few words, I would have to say crowded and expensive. But none-the-less, it is still a fun place. I only spent 2 days there on this trip. I guess it is more of a quick stop over on my way back to Seoul from the States than a real trip here. I didn't get to do much besides work because I was still fighting jet lag.

I was quickly reminded about how expensive everything is in Japan. The train from the airport to downtown is about $30. You sit down in a taxi and it costs you $6 before he pulls from the curve. A Coke at the hotel is $4. Everything is pricey. Even though the company is paying, I still cringe at paying rates like this.

The crowds were also interesting. Seoul is a big city, but it doesn't feel as crowded as Tokyo. I got off the train at Shinjuku, which is one of the downtowns in Tokyo. The train station was packed with thousands of people. Leave the station and go out to the street and it was no less crowded. Added to the crowded feeling of all the people are stores packed into every available space, both inside and outside. Definitely a much more packed feel than anywhere else I had been in Asia. I have been to Tokyo before (last March), and I don't recall feeling that it was this crowded then - I guess it is because I am staying in a different area now.

I got to take a quick walk through the Emperor's Palace Gardens (I didn't bring my camera - sorry, no pictures). Definitely impressive. Not quite to the grandeur of the Forbidden City in Beijing, but still quite a marvel.

The Japanese are a model of efficiency and technology. The trains arrive and leave almost too the minute that they are scheduled - you literally could set your watch to them. A coworker has a cell phone where the flip part is a PCMCIA card. He sticks the phone into his laptop and connects to the web at 128k baud (twice as fast as I can connect to the web over wire in the US).

Now, there are definitely areas where this ingenuity and efficiency has gone awry. For example, at the United Airlines lounge, they have a beer filling machine. Pouring a beer is an art, and the objective to me should be to fill the glass with as little head as possible. I want to drink the beer, not breath the foam. In the lounge, there is a beer machine which has nearly perfected the beer pouring. You place your glass into the holder and hit the button. The machine then tilts the glass and fills it with beer in such a way that you get little or no head. This is worth watching even if you didn't want the beer.

But the Japanese couldn't leave perfection alone (IMHO) - after it has filled the glass about 2/3rds full, the machine straightens the glass out and a separate nozzle squirts a thick head onto the beer. Oh, the horror!

I should be back in Japan in 2 weeks. Perhaps I will have some more to write then.

Asia Update #13 - Phuket, Thailand

To go out and do anything (even going to a restaurant for food) can be a challenge when you don't speak the language. The easy route is to not try new things, which I have done all too often. I was going to be alone in Phuket for a few days before the folks I was meeting with showed up, and I was afraid I'd stay in my shell and not do anything with those days. Of course, it is a resort, so relaxing for 3 days wouldn't be that bad. But instead, I made a point to see what activities they had and try something new. And I went a bit overboard.

I had settled on either trying scuba diving or wind surfing. In the end, I have done both. I spent a few hours on the lagoon here on a board and can get around without falling off too much. And I also took a 2 day course to get the first level of PADI certification for scuba diving. The second day of the course was 2 open water dives at a reef, and the sea life there was amazing. Saw a sea turtle, rays, moray eels, trigger fish, clown fish, and hundreds of others. Spent some 2 hours under water between the two dives.

Beyond that I also found time to swim, kayak, sight see, get a Thai massage, eat way too much, etc.

Here is a nice sunset shot at the beach from our resort. Tough life, eh? I guess it is hard for people to think that I am roughing it with my job. This is the third resort I've been to for work this year. Went to Puerto Rico last April for a sales meeting (though I didn't get to enjoy it due to bad head cold). Then Cheju Island in August and now Thailand. I don't have plans for any more of these in the near future - I guess I will actually have to pay for my next trip to a resort.

Thailand is a beautiful country and the people seem quite happy. My scuba instructor was Dutch, but has lived here for some 11 years. He said that the Thai people love their country and would not want to move. Most every Thai person that he knew that left Thailand, came back before long. Thailand has everything they would want, where other countries all seem to come up lacking in some area or another.

I was about to write that I didn't see much of the Thai culture because I was staying at a resort and was insulated from the population. But then we went out to an area called Patong Beach in town one of the nights, and oh my god was I amazed… Maybe not culture per se, but definitely one hell of an experience and one you won't see in too many places in the world.

This is a strip containing a few bars in Patong Beach (a town that caters to tourists). Most of the girls there are 'bar girls' (a nice name for prostitutes). When you walked by, the girls would come out and try to talk you into the bars. At times, they would literally grab onto you and try to physically pull you in (sometimes grabbing you in areas which aren't normally grabbed…). A coworker said he felt like a movie star with all of the attention being placed on him. I thought the whole place felt like spring break on steroids.

The views in the bars reminded me of bar scenes from the movie Good Morning Vietnam (women sitting close, or on, the male patrons trying to drum up further business). And the picture isn't the one place in town like this, but an example of what many of the bars in town are like. The strip with this stuff went for over a mile and included most of the side roads shooting out from the main road. Had to be literally hundreds of bars and thousands of bar girls. It sure seemed that the bar girls greatly outnumbered the available male patrons.

I don't know why, but it seems that Thailand is known for sex change operations. And it appears that the guys who change themselves to girls like the bar girl profession. It was interesting trying to determine which ones had the operation and which were real (of course, without getting up close and personal).

Along with the bars, there are lots of stores selling just about anything you would want for a souvenir. Lots of name brand clothes (all fake) at very cheap prices. And lots of Thai products and souvenirs.

It appears that the bar girls seem to like Americans but not Koreans. One asked me where I was from, and when I said Korea, she just about turned and ran. But an American had women flocking around him. I don't think I look very Korean, so her knowledge of geography and races must be lacking a bit.

Another bar had various floor shows. In the center of the bar was a boxing ring, where they held Thai boxing matches. Between matches, they also had a snake charmer. He had 4 different snakes, including a large Burmese Python and the cobra you see above. He also did hold some snakes under some control, including making some roll over and play dead, and would also bring people from the audience up to the stage.

Yes, the picture below is me on the stage with the snake charmer… Yes that is the same cobra as in the picture above… Yes I was drunk…

It was interesting to see so many female tourists in the area. The bars and bar girls were very prominent in all areas, with probably more of these bars than there were restaurants or stores. And many guys were on the street holding fliers for various sex shows (which go well beyond a woman taking her clothes off) trying to drum up business from any tourist who walked by. It seemed a bit surprising to me to see female tourists all around and hanging out at the same bars as these bar girls. I wasn't totally comfortable with the whole situation - I could only imagine how a woman would feel around all of this sex trade.

Interestingly, the labor costs appear to be next to nothing, but products from outside of Thailand are comparable to most other areas (perhaps a touch cheaper). We were quoted a price of about US$12 for a bar girl for the night. But the beers at the bar were similar in price to much of the rest of the world. So if you were bartering, a girl for the night would cost you about the same as 4 foreign beers. Oh, you are supposed to bargain, so the girl might have gone for only 2 or 3 beers in the end…

Overall, I found Thailand to be a wonderful place. The people are very friendly (and not just the bar girls), the landscape is covered with lush, tropical vegetation, and the prices were amazingly cheap for many things (an example was my diving lessons - which cost me under $200, where in the States it would be closer to $1000). More than once during the trip did thoughts of settling there pop into my head. Definitely worth going back for another visit.

I don't expect to have any updates for a while because I will be in the States for a week.

Asia Update #12 - Singapore (sorry, no pictures)

American's often stereotype 'Asians' as one category of people, but we definitely shouldn't. Asia is a huge. When I fly to Singapore from Seoul, it is about the same distance as me flying from SF to Panama. There are lots of different cultures covered between SF and Panama, and even more in the same distance in Asia (and we haven't even gotten south of the equator yet). The Americas were conquered by a few different European races, so the indigenous cultures have been repressed/partially replaced by European cultures. Asian cultures have held there own a lot more against western oppressors. Some European influences, but except for Australia/New Zealand, the indigenous cultures have held there ground (or booted the imperialistic Euros out) such that the local culture is still very prevalent. This has started to change in the late 20^th century as all the countries take a more global look, and will likely continue to change.

I am spending a few days in Singapore before heading to Thailand for a few days of holiday and then a few days of meetings. Singapore is definitely a nice place and has a much different feel than Korea. Probably the terms that come to mind when I think of Singapore are controlled, clean, tropical, affluent, and multi-cultural.

Controlled - one of the T-shirts which are sold at tourist places talks about Singapore being a 'fine' place, and then talks about all the things you an do which will get you fined. Littering, jay walking, chewing gum, unnatural sex acts, not flushing a public toilet after using, etc. Lots of laws in place. Even the death penalty for trafficking drugs. And beyond the rules, there are things like how all schools (even colleges and universities) have uniforms and things like that which make it feel like a controlled environment.

Clean - a benefit of being such a controlled environment is that it is very clean. Littering just doesn't happen. Spitting doesn't happen. Lawns and such are well manicured. People seem to take some pride in how things look.

Tropical - Singapore is less than 100 miles from the equator. Makes for a warm and humid environment year round. The areas that aren't covered over with concrete have very lush tropical vegetation on them. Has a very nice feel to it.

Affluent - this is based on the type of cars seen an how the buildings look, plus that you don't see homeless people. Mercedes and BMWs are quite common here - almost makes me feel like I was back in the Bay Area.

Multi-cultural - Indians, Malaysians, and Chinese are the most common ethnicities of the people who live here, but you also see people from just about any other country or ethnicity. In Korea, you rarely see anyone who isn't Korean. Here, you see different types of Asians and Pacific Islanders, Indians, people from Africa, and Caucasians all mixed together. I didn't notice this the last time I was here, but now that I have been in Korea for a while, it is sticks out for me.

Thankfully, even with all of these different people and all of their different languages, English is the unofficial language of choice. At least the Singapore version of English, which is a bit different than what I use. "Been there yet you?" was how one coworker asked another if they had been to a new restaurant. Only downside is that when I am with someone from my office (who are ethnic Chinese), the people they are speaking to often switch to some mix of Chinese and English to talk to each other, which quickly loses me. And they do tend to use some British terms, such as the signs on the road announcing "hump ahead".

Singapore is an island, a city, and a country, all rolled into one. There are some 2.5 million people in 240 square miles. Basically, the entire place is urbanized, except for a few parks or reserves. Not much room to grow, without filling in the ocean (which they are doing in some areas).

If there is any part of Asian culture you are interested on and want to see me write about, drop me an email to peter@singlespeed.org. As I get acclimated to living in Asia, I suspect things won't stand out as much for me as things to write about. I've been here two months already and it does seem like I am getting more and more comfortable every day. Any questions you may have should help prompt me on what is good drivel fodder.

Asia Update #11 - DMZ

When the Korean War stopped, they set up a border between what is now the two Koreas. This borer is officially called the Demarcation Line. Then they set a zone of 1 to 2 kilometers on either side of this demarcation line, which is supposed to be demilitarized. At least no guns, but I've heard there are close to 1 million land mines buried there. Just outside of this zone on both sides is what is likely the most militarized zone in the world. This is the last cold war border in existence and it is about an hour's drive from my front door…

The border is some 248 kilometers (155 miles) long. Supposedly, there are 1 million military men on each side of the border. Well, we did some quick calculations and that would be men lined up shoulder to shoulder on each side (with some to spare), and we didn't see that many people. But it was very obvious that it was very heavily guarded…

The picture above is a guard house which we passed on the way there. As you leave Seoul following the Han River, the edges of the river are lined with barbed wire as soon as the river becomes navigable (there is a slight waterfall built in the river to prevent ships and subs from the north from coming up, with the negative side effect of also preventing commercial shipping from plying the river). This is still an hour's drive on a freeway from North Korea. As we continued closer to the North Korea border, the barbed wire got more thick and the number of guardhouses more common. Many of the guardhouses were manned at all times.

This picture is from the 3^rd Infiltration Tunnel. We were told that over the years the North had built tunnels under the border with the plans of infiltrating soldier and spies into the South. The South was worried about this, so has listening devices and they would drill bore holes at random intervals. This is the third one which they found with this method. Interesting, the North had dug a tunnel and made it all the way past the South's side of the DMZ, but not all the way to the surface. The South finds it with bore holes, and what do they do? They complete it by digging it the rest of the way. I guess the North knew that they were found, so abandoned it (and flooded it). The south searched it and then they put a set of concrete plugs (one is some 2 meters thick) in the center and make the rest of it a tourist attraction.

In the tunnel are 2 soldiers at all times. When we went down and as far as they'd allow us (some 170 meters from the demarcation line), there was one facing us and answering our questions and preventing us from getting too close to the concrete plugs. And there was another further down staring at the concrete plug. It seems that this soldier gets to spend his 4 hour shift at the end of the tunnel staring at the concrete just in case someone decides to bust through the concrete. I wonder if the north has soldiers staring at their side of the concrete plug?

This was the 3^rd Infiltration tunnel because it was the third one found. A defector from the North said that there are supposed to be some 9 of them in existence, though it was not clear if any of the unfound ones made it all the way across and to the surface.

These pictures are not great, but they were the best I could do. This is because those areas which we were allowed to go to are off limits to taking photos. As a matter of fact, there are many areas where they wouldn't even let you bring your cameras (I guess they were smart - we were sneaking pictures whenever we could - almost had a soldier yell at a coworker of mine). Even the tunnel was off limits to cameras.

And you probably thought I was kidding… This picture had to be taken on the sly (and not by me - I didn't want to risk arrest or torture or expulsion to the North or whatever they'd do to those who were a bit too camera-trigger happy).

We did get to go to a vista point on top of a hill where they provided information and even had binoculars which you could use to look across the DMZ and see the North. From there you can see the many soldiers and emplacements on either side of the border. The first one we visited we were not allowed to bring cameras to. But we were allowed at the second one (which was set back a bit further from the border). Here is a picture from there:

The other side of the river is North Korea. The buildings on this side are military installations for the south. The line heading away from us on this side is two rows of barbed wire with a trench between them. There are a variety of lookout points and bunkers built into the hill. I wonder if the North also has observation towers where people from their country and foreign visitors go to visit and stare at the soldiers of the South?

At both observation points, we were treated to videos and presentations talking about the propaganda which the North has done. They showed evidence of how towns have sprouted up directly across from the observation towers shortly after the towers were built (those fuzzy white buildings on the north side). These towns look modern, yet have signs of being uninhabited. The South is saying that these are signs of the north trying to show that they are affluent. Lots of other propaganda is talked about also. Of course, there are many signs that the south is also playing the propaganda game (such as the thing that looks like a billboard on the lower right of the picture). Makes you wonder who you really can believe - the truth is probably somewhere between what the North and South are saying.

The DMZ is basically uninhabited. And it is also untouched by man (well, besides the mines). This makes it very interesting from an environmental point of view - the DMZ is effectively a nature reserve and is supposed to contain many rare or endangered species.

It is very interesting that all of this exists so close to where I live. Around Seoul, you don't get much of a feeling about this. You sometimes see groups of police (especially around government buildings) and you will see the odd soldiers from time to time, but never does it feel like a police state. And there are various military bases around (one of which I accidentally wander on to while exploring on my bike - a soldier chased after me and made it quite clear that it was time for me to turn around), but all of this doesn't stand out or seem to have any affect on anyone's daily life. But when you get close to the border, you have to go through checkpoints and there are many soldiers around.

At the end of the Korean War, an armistice was agreed to, but no peace agreement. This means that the two Koreas are still officially at war. Thankfully, the tensions are easing quickly and it now would not be surprising if the two Koreas reunify within a decade. And it sounds like things have been changing over the past years- one of the VPs who was in town was here about 20 years ago, and he said that it was much more of a police state then. He was describing about a hill top in Seoul (comparable to Twin Peaks in San Francisco) where you'd go to enjoy the view. But instead of a view, there was a wall around it with a drawing of what you would see if the wall wasn't there. They didn't want anyone to see where everything was. It was reported that they wouldn't even print maps of Seoul.

I'm off for a few days in Singapore later this week, and then a week in Thailand. Should have some interesting stuff to write about between those two.