Asia Update #24 - Snow Plows?

It snowed some more on Tuesday, but most of that melted. It is interesting to see how the city deals with the snow over the long term. On the whole, they seem to try to ignore it. The side roads were never plowed, so the snow was packed down and is now sheets of ice in most places. Sidewalks are often the same. Makes driving and walking a bit precarious. I haven't fell yet, but I've seen many falls. It is funny to watch the deliver motor cycles moving at 20-30 mph with the driver's feet out to each side to give them that extra bit of balance on the ice.

The above picture was taken Tuesday (while it was snowing) from my office. On the lower right of the picture (where the people with the umbrella are), the sidewalk may look like a sheet of ice. That is because it is. The other side would be better to walk on, because the layer of snow over the ice gives some traction.

I can understand if you don't think that it is a sidewalk because you see cars parked there. Trust me, it is a sidewalk. And it is normal for cars to park, or even drive on, the sidewalk. Especially normal for delivery motor cycles to just about knock pedestrians over on sidewalks.

The intersection in the picture is kind of interesting, with all the cars in (or stopped well past) the pedestrian cross walk. At the time of the picture, the turn arrows for the cross street are green, so the 2 buses turning are legal. The people heading away from me who have pushed forward and look like they are almost hitting the bus are just trying to save themselves an extra millisecond by getting that 20 foot head start when the light turns green. Oh, and there are 4 lanes on the road going away from us, but if you look closely you'll see there are 5 cars side by side up at the front of the line. This is all normal for Korea.

This weather has had some impact on my morning run. Certain areas are too slippery to run, so I avoid. But I now run up the road that heads towards the hill I often hike up. That road is closed to cars due to snow (and lack of plows) so I am able to run up the center of it. Still slippery, and cars still drive on it, so I do have to watch out. But it is better than most of my other possible routes and has fewer people. Sorry to say, I am running through the same military area I've talked about before, so I won't be taking any pictures.

I am running more now. Both because I think I've gained a coupe of pounds during my stay here, but also because I am now training for a race. I signed up for the Dong-Ah International Marathon. Actually, I am just going to do a half marathon, which is plenty long considering my last running race was about 20 years ago. The race is March 18. Should be interesting to see what a Korean race is like.

It is often hard to get myself out for a run. It is dark here until about 7:30 am and generally quite cold (highest temperature predicted for the next 5 days is -6°C, or about 22°F). It is a bit cooler than that in the mornings when I am running. I have tried to run in the evening, but I seem to end up working Korean hours (which are longer than US hours), so don't make it home until 6:30 or 7:00 and would rather crash in front of the TV with a beer than exercise. But I have been getting myself motivated (so far) and running in the mornings. Between gifts my 'friend' in CA gave me for Xmas and some stuff I had already for winter sports, I seem to have the right clothes to make running in the cold bearable.

I had an interesting web site emailed to me. It shows the world map based on NASA images showing the lights at night. Quite interesting to see where people live. Of particular interest is the difference between North and South Korea. North Korea is in the dark not because people don't live there, but due to economic factors. Check it out athttp://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/earth_lights_lrg.jpg(be prepared if you are on a slow connection - the file is some 600k in size).

I found a channel on my TV which could best be described as Fashion TV. 24 hours of watching models walking the runway. I  am not a fashion hound (as those of you who have seen what I wear can attest to), but this channel has caught my eye. It seems that every few minutes there will be a woman walking down the runway basically topless. Either the designer chose see-through clothes, or chose to only button the model's shirt as high as their belly buttons. Interesting that this nudity is allowed on Korean TV - I can't even seem to find rated-R movies in Korea.