This is one of the most beautiful videos on Korea… Makes me feel highly nostalgic..
The video that makes me want to leave everything behind, pack my bags and set off to Korea…
I love you so much Korea for giving me the best days of my life…
The top of Jangsan rewards those who reach it. The very tippy top of the mountain is chain-link fenced off, a relic of the Korean War, but from where we stand the views are wide. We summited the Haeundae area Jang Mountain after about four and a half hours of hiking, and from here, we can see Haeundae Beach, Centum City, Sajik Stadium, and a small wildfire with a helicopter making a beeline towards it with its load of extinguishing chemicals. A bit unsettling, but it looks under control. 
Feeling renewed, we continue the hike, walking for a time along a barbwire edged land mine field, here in the middle of a metropolitan city, another lingering remainder of the Korean War. When we come out of this forested length of the hike, the landscape opens up and we're walking the perimeter of a tall grassed field, the kind I'm used to seeing back in the Midwest. This kind of openness is such a rarity here.
I've been a bad blogger, and I apologize sincerely for the complete lack of updates on this site since I got to South Korea. I've been busy, it's true, but sadly it's not been the kind of busy that makes for particularly interesting travel tales. I've been drinking and living on a tiny budget; going on dates; making new friends; and finding my feet in a Korea that isn't exactly as I'd left it. But my first pay check is just around the corner and my life is finally finding a bit of stability, so expect them to come thick and fast from here on in.
Byron and I throwing down beers at Vinyl Underground
As far as tourist sights go the obvious choices in Busan include Haeundae Beach, the world famous Jagalchi Fish Markets, or any of its numerous temple sites or gorgeous parks. But there's a little known (and considerably seedier) corner of Busan that often goes overlooked by visitors to the city that labels itself Dynamic Busan. Named after a state where everything is apparently bigger, Texas Street is a surprisingly small stretch of road across from Busan Station and smooshed into side of Chinatown like a malignant, lascivious tumor. For a few blocks you're almost able to forget you're in South Korea as you walk a few blocks that reek of perfume and cheap whiskey.
Byron makes a few friends at Paradise Bar on Texas Street
Filipino women wearing little more than a smile aggressively attempt to lure you into their den of iniquity whilst burly Russians seem to walk the streets looking for lonely hearts to ply with promises of Russian sex with their toothless offsiders. Where the Filipino women at least disguise their wares with the unimaginative cries of 'You want bang bang?', the Russians instead use the universal sign of cock in vagina with their index finger thrust into a hole of their own creation.
It's not all pimps and prostitutes along the street though. There's Chinese and Filipino cuisine to be had in spades and you don't need to be a trafficker in human flesh to indulge in a little of the human zoo. In a country where prostitution is ostensibly illegal, it's on display in this particular corner of Busan in the same ostentatious way as Seoul's infamous 'Hooker Hill' in on the fringes of Itaewon.
On this particular night it was closing in on 3am when my good friend Byron (from Byron & His Backpacks) and I decided to make an unscheduled stop off. I'd heard tales from female friends of being asked 'how much' as they'd walked the street by day, and we were certainly not left alone for long as the doors flew open and women of varying degrees of attractiveness stepped out and attempted to entice us. I'm a sucker for a new experience and Byron's no different, so we soon found ourselves in a bar named Paradise with a menu of ridiculously overpriced drinks in front of us.
"It's on me," Byron assured me as he nonchalantly ordered a white martini. I ordered a Pepsi.
It wasn't long before we each had a woman sitting beside us in our modest booth. The lights were low and generic US Hip-Hop and R&B played at a low level as our 'girls' introduced themselves. A juicy girl is essentially a woman you pay to tease you. She's not going to have sex with you, but she is going to flirt with you and potentially do a little more as long as you keep buying her drinks. And while our white martinis came at $8 a pop - the girls' drinks went for a more handsome sum of $20. The girls get to keep 4000 won of every drink that is bought for them.
Byron and his friend hit it off, while I was more interested in what brought my Russian friend (with an unpronounceable name and more sass than I'd expect from a girl in her industry) to Korea of all places. I'm under no illusions that it probably wasn't completely voluntary. I don't know how long we stayed in the club, but the sun was on the rise when we stepped out into the chill morning air and decided it was time for a bite to eat and some much needed sleep.
It's not the kind of thing I'd do again, and never as a legitimate customer, but it was an interesting (and slightly depressing) look at an often overlooked part of life abroad and life in Korea. It might be a nation where sex is a dirty word and only had in cheap love motels, but there are veins where the slime reaches the surface and it's a stronger man than me who can turn his eyes away from it.
Two good Christian boys thoroughly overwhelmed by the sin and depravity of it all
It's not going to be for everybody. The Russian men can be a bit intimidating in their pitch and there's something dead in the eyes of the forty something women dressed like Ke$ha who prowl the streets after peak hour has finished. But it's a long way from kimchi, noraebangs, and crowded markets. Sometimes that's worth stepping outside of your comfort zone.
Got a burning question that you can't fit into one comment? Need to contact me for a travel tip? Feeling generous and want to donate $1,000,000 to my travel fund? Want me to visit your town and tell the world about it?
For all of the above reasons and many more, here are my contact details.
It’s Not Too Late to Know Fringe
In its third season, Fringe is a science fiction TV show on Fox. It’s a serial, which means that you should start from the beginning, with Season 1. If you are in Korea, then it may be available on ipTV. It is not one of the highest-rated shows on TV. For those that can remember, I would call it a blend of Alias and the X-Files. If nothing else, the trailer for Fringe (below) is awesome.
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Growing Profits is Good, Right? Not So Fast
This seemingly innocent post here reported that the interest income earned by private lenders in Korea has risen handsomely. The five largest private lenders, A&P Financial Co. (Rush & Cash), Sanwa Money, Welcome Credit Line, Lead Corp. and Baro Credit, posted a greater than 20% increase in interest income during 2010. The article also reported that smaller private lenders’ interest income rose by over 30% during the year. Well, herein lies the problem.
Consumer Debt Growing
Last week, the Seoul Gyopo Guide pointed out some issues that are facing everyday Koreans, and the banks that lend money to them. Increasing energy costs, and food inflation, have been coupled with a moribund real estate market. With household living costs rising, Koreans have borrowed in order to pay for food, gas, and other costs. The recent headlines point out that Korean consumers have been using private lenders to further borrow money in order to pay for their living expenses. Private lenders, of course, are eager to lend. So you have willing lenders and struggling borrowers: that is not a healthy combination. For now, as long as the borrowers do not default, the private lenders will continue to enjoy greater interest income. For now. If Korean borrowers from these institutions start to fail to repay, then these same private borrowers will be faced with problems similar to those faced by the Korean credit card companies in the early 2000s.
Credit Card Problems Redux?
Korea has faced this problem in the past. Less than 10 years ago, enormous credit card problems hit the subsidiaries of the largest banks, which had to absorb the losses resulting from the inability of Koreans to pay their credit card debts. Now, the same ingredients are brewing once again into an unsavory stew. Some of the cracks are starting to show. Saving banks, a small portion of overall deposits in Korean banks (approximately 5%) have begun to fail. These banks are sitting on loans to real estate, project finance, and individuals. As the borrowers continue to struggle, and deposits do not grow, the regulators have had no other choice than to close these savings banks. While the headlines regarding the private lenders seems positive, make no mistake. They are not positive at all. They are indicative of over-borrowing by Koreans who have felt that their only way to maintain their standard of living is to borrow from aggressive lenders. Some of the loans are in the form of home equity loans. The Korean borrower pledges his/her apartment in order to access money from the private lender. Given that the value of real estate in Korea has actually fallen, particularly outside of Seoul, this is reminiscent of the problems that have plagued the U.S., where people have borrowed at the same time that real estate values have declined.
Conclusions
Some aspects are quite different from the early 2000s. Korean corporations’ products are, overall, on much better footing in the global marketplace. There is no doubt about that. Every consumer of electronics knows Samsung, and every auto buyer knows Hyundai. While that may have been true in the past, now those brands stand in the upper echelon amongst their global competitors. However, the question is whether or not Korean employees’ wealth has risen as well. The answer to that, unfortunately, is no. There are a number of reasons for that. Corporate waste is high, and inefficient compensation has led to a situation where employees have not enjoyed the fruits of their employers’ success. Small and medium sized businesses do not have the same hope of success as they do in other countries. Until these problems are addressed and everyday Koreans’ wealth increases, the domestic Korean economy will remain in a precarious position. The headlines regarding the private lenders highlight this fact.
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Michael Breen (via THH) reprises himself ranting about tyrants reprising themselves.
North Korea issued two warnings last weekend. The first claimed this week’s military exercises in the South were a rehearsal for an invasion. It threatened…
BORING! Have you heard? Egyptians and Tunisians and Libyans, oh my, are protesting and fighting for their lives. Shibboleths are tumbling. Beijing has the most daring attack on liberal ideology now. But, on the Korean peninsula, even expatriates are still trying to find ways to dress up Cold War ideology for another generation – actually Ottogi references are a bit tired, too. It’s ironic South Koreans keep spinning Madison Avenue-inspired dreams and ad campaigns about their messianic role to modernize East Asian society and the globe with the most superficial glitz imaginable. But, on the peninsula, it’s like every new year flips over into 1950 again. The newest Kim is made over to look like Kim Il-sung.
Cairo might not be “the” place to be. But, Seoul isn’t either.
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When Something is Gross/Distasteful, You May Have “Morbid Curiosity”
Have you ever been in a situation that you cannot help but watch? For example, if you see an accident on the road, many cars slow down in order to find out what has occurred. You most likely have no idea who has been involved in the accident, but for some reason, you continue to watch the scene. When that is the case, it is said that you have “morbid curiousity.”
This is only the case when something very negative has occurred. For example, it is not appropriate to use the phrase “morbid curiosity” when describing why you are watching a supermodel walking down the street.
Examples:
(o) Out of morbid curiosity, I stayed at the scene of the accident for a half an hour, even though I wasn’t involved.
(x) Out of morbid curiosity, I was went to the Lee Hyori album signing.
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