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Chopsticks & Scissors

It's no surprise that people love their chopsticks in Korea. When you get good at using them, it's almost as if you have very long fingers and you're eating with your hands. The glutton in me still likes the simplicity of a fork or spoon where you can shovel a big old mouthful of grub into your piehole instead of using the chopsticks to eat one kernel of corn at a time. Painful.

What many people may not know is the prevalence of scissors at the Korean dining table. With all the noodles and meat that needs to be chopped up, scissors are a very common table utensil. Check out the video:

This particular meal was really tasty. Tentacles, nuts, spicy sauce. Pretty delicious. Definitely not for everyone though. Well, gotta go. I need to cut up a grilled cheese sandwich.

태종대 Taejongdae

6 Dec 2009, I return to Busan to visit 태종대 Taejongdae, a park on the edge of the Korean Straight.

부산 중구 Jung-gu, Busan

5 Dec 2009, I head over to 부산 Busan for a little hiking and shopping in 중구 Jung-gu.

A beautiful song about teachers

Well, it is a song about teachers, however beautiful.

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Slightly Strange Sights

So here are a couple of random shots of things you don't see everyday. None of this stuff is shocking by any means - just a little...off.

That's quite the unwieldy load in that truck. You should've seen it move around when it was rolling down the street. It's an episode of Emergency 9-11 waiting to happen.

This advertisement reminded me of an old joke about three guys at a gentlemen's club. Carol reminded me that some of our church friends read the blog so I decided not to share that one. I'm showing restraint in my advanced age.

Ah, nothing like taking advantage of a nice spring day and the sunshine to dry your clothes. Makes your garments smell fresh and clean - unless you've got a dead fish hanging next to them. Again, not shocking. Just a little off.

If you look closely inside the bed of the truck, you'll see a guy actually on the motorcycle talking on a cell phone.

This is one of those claw machines that you put money in and try to grab a stuffed animal toy. That part isn't strange at all.

What is a little strange are the things inside the claw machine - shoes, belt buckles, a can of STP oil treatment, walkie talkies, a flashlight and other stuff. Interesting.

Here's a man riding a big tricycle in the subway.

A group of Koreans hanging out on the beach in their thongs - during the winter. Notice everybody else with jackets on. Yes. Thong Man strikes again. No jumping rope this time.

This is outside a nightclub in Haeundae Beach. It's a very distinguishable landmark and great for giving directions. "Yeah, go past the Paradise Hotel, take a left at the big hairy penis and you'll see my apartment on the right."

Enough silliness for now. Have a great weekend.

Punishment Basket

Check out this basket:

It's no ordinary basket. When little Korean kids accidentally wet the bed at night, some parents would make them strap on this type of basket and haul salt around. Or something like that. My Korean friends out there, please correct me if I'm messing up the explanation.

I think wearing the punishment basket was some sort of public humiliation to motivate the kids to not pee in the bed anymore. If it was a successful technique, I'm thinking Longaberger might have a great idea for its newest line of baskets. I know that's pretty manly of me to know what Longaberger is. I'm gonna drink my Fresca now.

A Bicycle Built for Two

One of the oddities of living in a densely populated city is that everything is done en masse. In good old Pt Augusta (300km north of Adelaide), where I spent some of my youth, we only had two sets of traffic lights in the whole town. The annual Christmas pageant lasted all of 20 minutes and involved half the kids from my school. We also had a single toy shop in the town, called Toyworld, and that's where 90% of our Christmas presents came from.

In terms of population size, the Seoul metropolitan area has approximately 24.5 million more residents than my old country town. Taking a nice Sunday evening stroll along the river is inevitably shared with thousands of others who were struck by the same great idea.

Which is fine with me.

It's not as bad as it sounds. I often can't see most of the people anyway, because I'm myopic.

I'm quite a big fan of the Seoul City Council, who do their best to make the world's biggest Korean Beehive a pleasant place to live in. Recently they've been promoting bike riding here, with special subway carriages being renovated for bicyclists. And along the Han River, there's a whole bunch of council-run places where you can rent bikes.

For around $6 you can rent 'a bicycle built for two'. That reminds me of a song that my old man used to sing in the mornings. It referenced a lovesick man wishing to marry some lass called Daisy, and because he couldn't afford a lavish method of locomotion, he alternatively suggests a tandem bicycle.

The lyrics in the song are less technical.

And here's me and the lady who married me, even though I can only afford to rent a tandem bicycle for an hour.

And here's a shot from Handlebar Cam. We had quite a nice journey up and down the river. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with a persuadable companion.

Every elementary school kid in Korea knows the 63 Building. Even those who have never been to Seoul. It's a fairly agreeable looking chap. We sat and stared at it for a good ten minutes before continuing our bike ride.

It spends the days watching over the Mighty Han, which is really just a great big dirty old thing, but equally as endearing.

And after our nice afternoon at the river, we headed out to Itaewon for a nice meal and Alley Kat beers at the Wolfhound. This pub sells some great food, and we were impressed with the fish and chips. Then we went home early and watched movies on our computer.

I wish everyone could have more Sundays like these.

Road trip!

So I have been itching to do something a little different this weekend. I am once again in a new place where I have not yet exhausted all the potential destinations for mini weekend road trips - my favorite thing! I figured I better get on it quick, since summer runs out in the blink of an eye and I know I will lack the will and motivation to do it during the awful, bloodsucking winter. I did some research and decided to head to Suncheon-si; a little town about 3 hours away by bus. What drew me to Suncheon was initially Seonam-sa Temple, which is apparently one of the most famous and beautiful Buddhist Temples in South Korea. The internet tells me it is nestled back into the mountains and surrounded by hiking trails and rivers; sounds like the perfect place for a little soul-searching. I also came across a place called Naganeupseong Folk Village. This old village apparently has a castle of some sort, which is surrounded by indigenous dwellings complete with thatchet roofs where people still currently reside. I am very excited to see this place… promise to take lots of pictures!

I was planning to head out alone tomorrow morning for a relaxing weekend to myself, but after a chat with a friend I was pursuaded to invite him along. Overall I am pleased with my decision since he has a motorbike that we can ride through the countryside to get to Suncheon. Sounds like a winner to me!