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Ode to the Rooftops

I write this post in appreciation for the little individual freedoms that still exist in Korea long after they have ceased in so many other countries thanks to those few idiots who go and blow it for everyone. Possibly one of my favorite among these is the insanely easy access to nearly any roof of any building in the country. I have indeed taken advantage of this perk and am no stranger to rooftop shenanigans, but I must say we discovered a real winner last night. While escorting some traveling Hungarians about town, our eventual boredom of the ocean view from the sand led us to head out in search of a better place to enjoy our soju. By this time it was rounding 2AM, businesses were closed and the flicker of neon lights was beginning to diminish from the water’s reflection. There are twin towers to the east of the beach – the tallest buildings on the skyline. We made the short stumble to the front doors from the street, and to my partial amazement the front doors were unlocked. Too easy! Up the elevator 20-something floors, through a few corridors and unfinished rooms, out another door and up a few ladders, we were taken by the most stunning view I have seen in Korea. We were up high.. VERY high. Convenience store drinks, a stunning view, and good company. As they say in Hungary, Egeszsegedre!

Review: ROKetship book (Luke Martin)

One of the better efforts to entertain the Korean expat crowd, ROKetship's book (which oddly lacks a title) is out and for sale as of this month. While most of the comics will look familiar to fans or readers of the weekly one-panel comic, more than a few are supposedly 'rare' or 'unpublished'. With over 50 comics in the 100-page book, there's bound to be at least a few you haven't seen before.

ROKetship succeeds on so many levels because of shared experiences - how many of us have seen a girl wearing high heels in the dead of winter (if you haven't yet, you will), or sprayed ourselves with the shower while trying to brush our teeth? How many times have you felt underdressed while hiking a mountain? While enough Korean references are around to serve as inside jokes, the jokes are well-understood without needing to speak, understand, or even read Korean - perfect gifts for friends and family back at home.

My biggest complaint is not the comics, however - it's of the typos, odd spacing, and grammar in the accompanying commentary. There's little excuse for poor English coming from both an English teacher and a native speaking person. That the Korean language is inconsistently used is more forgivable (in the book, Korean is sometimes phonetically spelled out as one might hear it, or Romanized in a not-quite-officially-correct way). Perhaps it's much like his own comic:

Credit: ROKetship

Questionable text notwithstanding, the book is well worth tracking down and adding to your collection. It's a bit early to be thinking of Christmas presents, but being a soft-cover book it's easy to ship home. Look for it at What the Book in Itaewon by late July, or go to roketship.com for more information.

Disclosure: Chris in South Korea bought the book - no press / media copy was available at review time.

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This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

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Korea and gender parity in education

Follow the link to a blogpost and graph showing the average number of years of education the people of a country get and how evenly that is shared by gender.

Note they use the phrase ‘school life expectancy’, which sounds a little weird to me.

From the post:

On the vertical axis in the figure below (click to enlarge) is total life expectancy in school and on the horizontal axis the ratio of female to male life expectancy in school. The figure tells us a number of interesting things. First, the largest imbalances are against women and these tend to occur in countries with a low level of total education. South Korea is an interesting outlier.

A few island nations (to stretch a little the definition of ‘island’) seem to lead teh way, education-wise.

Following the links back to the source (the UN statistics division), I looked for Canada, as I couldn’t find it on the cluttered graph. Below are Canada and a few other countries, for those who can’t find their country or who prefer numerical, rather than visual, presentation of data. Actually, I have not tried to make a chart with WordPress before. With Blogger, the extra spaces would be ignored and the characters jammed together. I hope there is a usable chart below.

Country or area Men Women Total/ Average

Australia 20 21 21

Canada 16 16 16

RO Korea 18 16 17

US 15 17 16

It looks like the data at the UN is very easily manipulated. I don’t mean that in the spin-doctor sense; it is possible to make your own charts and tables on-site.

Data Centre

Access data and build your own statistical tables related to UNESCO’s fields of action.

The Data Centre contains over 1,000 types of indicators and raw data on education, literacy, science and technology, culture and communication.

Via Marginal Revolution.

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Question from a reader: Relaxing and romantic getaways?

A reader writes in:

I'm wondering, besides Jeju, what would you consider the best place in Korea for a romantic overnight/weekend getaway? I'm talking relaxation, not like a "romantic" hike on Seoraksan. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeju is definitely a romantic place, don't get me wrong. Until recently, the island was considered the honeymoon spot for Koreans, and a number of hotels offered honeymooner services that broke the ice for the new couple to, um, introduce themselves to each other. Unfortunately, the island is a plane ride away - not the easiest thing to spontaneously plan. The following suggestions, therefore, recognize that getting away needs to be reasonably easy.

Namiseom in eastern Gyeonggi-do has been recommended by multiple people, although I've not yet been there.

Tongyeong - I've been here before; while the city itself is small, it's not far from Geoje-do and Oe-do Paradise Island. It's also one of the only places in Korea where I've seen the stars - you know, those little white twinkly things in the sky you can't see in Seoul due to light pollution? 11 non-stop buses a day head there from Seoul's Express Bus Terminal, while 16 express buses a day (a few stops along the way) head there from Seoul's Nambu Bus Terminal.

Jumunjin Beach was quite relaxing, and far enough off the beaten path that you're unlikely to run into too many other people.

Danyang had plenty of things to see and do. The large bridge (simply called 대교, literally 'big bridge') lights up at night, while the river offers some nice areas to see some stars.

The area around Oido station is a relaxing place - a fairly quiet park offers a number of sculptures to enjoy as well.

If you don't have time to leave Seoul, there are still several nice places to get romantic. The lake near Jamsil station (the same one that Lotte World is partially on), almost anywhere along the Han river, and any number of jimjilbang can serve quite nicely. While I wouldn't recommend a Han River Cruise as a really romantic place, you'll see quite a few couples go on one for a date.

Readers, where are some relaxing / romantic you've explored with a significant other or on a date?

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

Stationary Wisdom Part I.

Just a quick jot.

I'd like to share a little bit of wisdom, bestowed upon me by Korean stationary.

"Everything Might not be as smooth as silk... but don't don't stress out too much."

"You will have the inner strength and ability it takes to accomplish what you desire."

"Action is the foundational key to all success. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally."

"If you don't believe that you are the best, no one will think that you are. So, you need to bring it out by believing in yourself first."

"It is obviously quite difficult to be no longer loved when we are still in love, but it is incomparably more painful to be loved when we ourselves no longer love."

"Somewhere there's someone who dreams of yours smile,

and finds in your presence that life is worth while.

So when you are lonely, remember this is true:

Somebody, somewhere is thinking of you."

Enjoy!

Until next time,

~A.

The Korean taco truck craze comes to Seoul (sort of.)

El Camion is located in Apgujeong

One of the most persistent food trends of recent years in the US has been the emergence of the Korean taco truck. Part of a wider street food movement, outfits like Kogi BBQ in LA have arguably begun to redefine America’s culinary landscape and are known for creative and affordable food.

Although very much a bricks and mortar establishment, El Camion (Spanish for “truck”) takes inspiration from this ethos. This hole in the wall taco joint is part of Smokey Saloon’s Apgujeong branch, and features a simple menu with a Korean-Mexican flavour.

Chabol Taco

Their tacos – served with handmade corn tortillas, salsa and nachos -demonstrate a willingness to experiment. The carne asada comes with grilled pineapple and shredded cabbage, while another Taco uses thin slices of fatty Chadol beef to bring a Korean element to the wrap. A chicken taco takes this logic further, incorporating marinated chicken and pickled cabbage.

It’s by in large well conceived and nicely prepared stuff. They use quality ingredients, and the flavours are simple and complementary. I particularly enjoyed the hot, tart and herby salsa that came on the side. My only concern is that the portions tend towards the dainty.

The place itself also seems to suffer a little from proximity to it’s bigger brother next door. The last time was in I was ushered out and had to order and eat in the Smokey Saloon – not the worst thing in the world, but it kind of left me wishing I’d ordered a burger instead. This, and the disappearance from the menu of a promising looking kalbi taco (marinated chuck tender and sesame leaf) suggests to me that it is struggling to carve out it’s own identity.

Despite this however El Camion remains a promising addition to the Seoul taco scene. I’d just love to see them come out with the kind of multi-ingredient, belly busting burrito that would give the burger slingers next door a run for their money and bring them into their own.

Directions: Walk straight ahead from Exit 3 Apgujeong Station, turn left at the CGV, follow the road as it curves 45 degrees then take the first left.

news will arrive from far away

At any given moment my desk looks a litte something like this...

(note the tiny champagne chair at the top. I'm really proud of that little chair.)

.... it's an organized chaos kind of thing.

But as my departure day draws frighteningly closer, it's time to start clearing things away and discovering what's under all that "organized chaos".

Aren't they precious?

.... and they have quite a few stories to tell.
Rad City # 1

Important purchases....

... and birthdays.

Creative Korean Advertising #23: Namdaemun Market

( Source: KOREA.NET )

Not an original concept for an advertisement by any means, but then considering Korea’s abysmal record at self-promotion then it deserves praise just for its grammatically correct English(!), let alone how aesthetically-pleasing it is.

For Namdaemun market (남대문 시장) in Seoul, the background to it is explained in the notes to Korea.net’s Flickr page:

Starting March 2010, the Agency for Traditional Market Administration will place a full-page advertisement in ASIANA, the in-flight magazine of Asiana Airlines, in line with promoting Korea’s traditional markets worldwide. The agency came up with ten representative traditional markets in Korea – including Seoul’s Dongdaemun Market, Jidong Market in Suwon, Jagalchi Market in Busan, Seogwipo market on Jeju-do Island and so on – and each market will be advertised in this monthly magazine until December.

The project kicked off with the nation’s biggest, Seoul’s Namdaemun Market, a place that “has everything from women’s and children’s clothes to ginseng and seaweed, to flowers and kitchenware.”

Alas, traditional markets everywhere in Korea are in slow but sure decline, so best of luck to them. Unfortunately however, the English remains very awkward in the next 3 examples in the series here, here, and here also, but I did like luxuriating over all the details in the last one for a market on Jeju Island:

( Source: KOREA.NET )

(For all posts in the Creative Korean Advertising series, see here)

Filed under: Creative Korean Advertising, Korean Advertisements Tagged: 남대문 시장, Namdaemun, Namdaemun Market

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The Power of One Poster

“Ready to crush any attack with a single blow!” It’s a bizarre way to prove if the DPRK really did sink the Cheonan, a propaganda poster spotted by a Chinese businessman in the DPRK has become the latest argument for North Korean culpability.

Radio Free Asia based its report on an interview with the businessman, who took the photo of the poster on a recent trip to North Korea. The poster is shown on the RFA Korean Web site. The RFA did not specify the date the photo was taken but, citing unnamed sources, said it was likely the poster was made after the Cheonan sinking to encourage military heroism among North Korean soldiers.

The RFA quoted the Chinese businessman as saying, “Officials in North Korea have claimed that the South Korean government’s accusation of North Korea as the culprit in the Cheonan incident is a false charge, but the propaganda poster showing the breaking of a ship in two pieces seems to conflict with their claim.”

The RFA also cited a North Korean defector who said a rumor circulated within the North Korean military after the Cheonan sinking that “the heroic navy landed a blow.”

Despite an indirect condemnation by the UN Security Council Friday, North Korea is reiterating its claim of innocence. The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday that the country remains resolute in digging out the truth behind the Cheonan incident.

There seems to be a disagreement between commenters milton, Kushibo, and NKEW about whether the ship depicted in the poster could be something similar to the Cheonan.

Of course, Pyongyang doesn’t need to prove it sank the vessel to win the approval of its citizens for a belligerent policy. What is clear is, that Pyongyang is as confused and ham-fisted about a message about the sinking as Seoul was.

In the RFA report, a South Korean military expert explained, “Judging from the shape, it is clear that the warship on the poster is a patrol ship, the same kind of warship as the Cheonan, not a destroyer or a frigate,” and added, “The North Korean authorities seem to have produced the poster to maintain soldier confidence.”

However, a defector from North Hamkyung Province who also spoke to RFA said, “Even though a rumor that our heroic navy had dealt a blow (to the South) circulated within the Chosun People’s Army immediately after the Cheonan incident happened, the authorities insisted it was a fabrication by South Chosun. Therefore, soldiers cannot trust them.”

In late April, a Daily NK source reported that the authorities advertized proudly after the incident that they had taken revenge on the enemy, and that South Korea was living in fear of the North’s military ability.

Now, there’s a reason for unification: we both are stupid!