Too much food

My bulging belly is glad that we will be moving into our new home tomorrow. We have had a long six weeks of eating out and eating well.

When I first discovered Korean food nearly 20 years ago, one of the things I liked about it was all of the extra side dishes that came with the main course. When you order one dish, you get a bunch of extra delicious ones as well.

I really enjoy the side dishes, but there are so many that I am often too full for my main course. In this picture, Rie and I ordered the big bowl I am holding and the bowl of red soup at the bottom. The ELEVEN other dishes were just what the woman who made our food felt like giving us.

My current theory is that no matter what you order, the restaurant will fill the tabletop completely with food. For this reason, I usually look for restaurants with small tables.

A quick apology to Korea

Last week, I mentioned that the Koreans are the most aggressive and least law-abiding drivers I have ever seen. I have now seen a bit more of Korea than Pusan and realize that I was in error. From my slightly broader perspective, I still think that Koreans are not the safest drivers I have ever seen, but all of my previous observations about how bad Korean drivers are still apply to the residents of Pusan. Its a battle out there. That is why I ordered a 115 decibel horn for my bike.

Our first venture out of Pusan

After our great Thanksgiving day with co-workers and Kyung's family and our night in the "Sweet Motel", Kyung came to pick us up on Friday morning. She took us to her family friend and doctor and then we went to eat in a very nice Italian restaurant on the edge of the city. I thought I could see an airplane on the other side of the nearby lake. Kyung told me that the plane is very old and someone parked it there and turned it into a restaurant. It looked good.

Kyung knows that Rie and I like hiking in the mountains. She drove us to the nearby Palgong-san. Kyung thought that Rie and I should hike to the top to see the Buddha, but there did not seem to be time for that. Instead, we all hiked up for about 30 minutes to a small temple complex. Kyung is under 40 years old and follows the typical patterns of a person her age and means. By this I mean that she does not hike much, but she does like golf and designer clothes. I felt bad for her expensive shoes on the walk.

After another night in Daegu, Kyung drove us to the town of Gyeongju. I wanted to visit a Folk Village near there. Kyung drove us to the village of Yangdong. Yangdong is about 600 years old and many of the buildings are well over 200 years old. The Korean government subsidises the inhabitants and in return they maintain the appearance of their homes and gardens and leave portions of the village open for tourists.

We stopped for lunch in a small family-run place that did not seem to get much business. I think it was as much of a cultural experience for Kyung as it was for us. After lunch, Kyung went home and left us with the very capable English-speaking guide. She showed us around the ancient village and gave some good explanations. After the tour, our guide drove us to the main road and we caught a bus back to Gyeongju.

Gyeongju was the capital area for one of the three ancient Korean regional kingdoms. The Silla Empire ruled the area from 57 BCE through 668 CE. We visited the excellent Gyeongju National Museum. They had many artifacts from the nearby tombs and buildings. We saw many gold and iron objects, as well as glass and pottery. The museum could have used a bit more English explanation, but otherwise did a very impressive job of presenting its objects.

We spent Saturday night at another boring love motel near the Gyeongju bus terminal.

Sunday morning we walked to the Tumulus Park. There are ancient burial mounds all around the city, but a bunch of them are protected in the Tumulus Park. One of them, Cheonmachong (Heavenly Horse Tomb), was excavated and rebuilt as a small museum. We went in and saw where the king was buried, the objects he was buried with, and the way they built a small wooden building over the casket, covered it with rocks and soil and then planted grass.

Next, we walked to Cheomseongdae and saw one of the oldest structures in Korea - a Star Observation Tower. We finished off our tour of Geongju with a visit to Anapji. Anapji was a royal pond and garden.

After a short bus ride, we visited Bulguk-sa. Bulguk-sa is an old Buddhist Temple and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. We looked at some impressive temples and Buddhas and then took a taxi up to the top of the mountain. After paying yet another small entrance fee, we walked along a mountain-top trail to Seokguram. Seokguram is one of the most impressive works of art in Korea (according to my guidebook). It certainly was worth the visit. High up in a cave, facing east towards the ocean, there is a large Buddha statue and a few other carvings.

At the end of a long day of sight-seeing, we took the train back to Haeundae beach in Pusan and are now spending our last night in a hotel. Tomorrow we move into our new place.

Happy Turkey Day

Thursday was a holiday, so Rie and I headed out of town for some fun.

We took the bullet train to Daegu - about 100 miles away. They have a very nice bullet train, but they have not finished building the bullet tracks. That means that we take normal tracks and the ride should take one hour. But, to make our first Korean inter-city train ride more interesting, the train broke down in the middle and we had to wait an hour for another train. We were headed to Daegu to have dinner with some co-workers and the big boss. I wanted to call ahead and say we would be late, but we won't get our cell phones until Monday. I knew a few other people were riding up to Daegu, so I just walked through the train until I heard one of my co-workers on the phone to my supervisor saying we would be late.

Eventually, the four of us made it to Daegu and ate way too much good southern-style Thanksgiving fixings.

From dinner, Rie and I went to the main train station and found a nice love hotel. It cost about $22 and was nothing special as a love hotel, but it was a perfectly reasonable regular hotel room. Then we called Rie's friend, Kyung. Kyung lived in Newport News last year and moved back to her hometown of Daegu last summer.

Kyung picked us up at the nearby Louis Vuiton store and took us to a Japanese restaurant. We ate some great food with her family. Her husband is a neuro-surgeon and his friend owned the restaurant. The sushi chef brought the head of a tuna fish to our table and sliced off some choice cuts of cheek for us. Then he popped out the big eye and gave us some of the tasty middle-of-the-head meat.

We went back to the hotel, and thanks to the black-out windows, slept great all night with our big bellies from the two wonderful meals.

I see naked people

I learned to love hot spring when I lived in Japan. Here in Korea, they translate at 'Hot Saunas.' By any name, they are still great.

To most people, one room full of naked men might seem much like any other room full of naked men, but to my discerning eye there a number of differences from what I got used to in Japan. In Japan, many men carry a small towel around and hold it or lay it strategically for modesty. In Korea, nobody does that. Here, they are much more comfortable laying face-up and spread-eagled under the heat lamps. During the pre-soak scrub, fathers vigorously clean their sons and friends frequently scrub each others backs.

Korea has many Hot Saunas and we are looking forward to visiting as many as we can.

Lay of the land and outdoor enthusiasts

Pusan has about 4 million residents. The city has three subway lines and takes about an hour to cross by subway. It has four distinct downtowns. It is also criss-crossed by 2000 foot mountain ranges. It is great. You are never more than a mile or two from a good hike. From our last hotel, I crossed one small street and one big street and then hiked in the mountains for four hours.

Last weekend we took the subway to another mountain area. Especially on the weekends, most of the people riding the trains are 50+ years old and completely decked out in technical outdoor gear. North Face and Columbia are very popular brands here, as well as the local Kolon Sport and Black Yak brands. Needless to say, I feel very comfortable around here with all of the fellow hikers.

As soon as we left the station, there was a man selling trekking poles. That was a great sign. We took a cable-car to the top and then walked in the hills for four hours. We got lots of great views of the city and, since it was a clear day, we saw the nearest Japanese island of Tsushima as well. We finished the hike at Beomosa Temple and then went for a hot soak.

Health Care

Pusan has a bit of a reputation as a health-care destination because the Korean Won is so cheap compared to the Dollar or Yen. There are a lot of medical tourists from other countries who come here for plastic surgery.

Yesterday we took a tour of a local hospital with one of their international counselors. She is a registered nurse and helps foreigners make appointments and figure out their medical needs. The hospital is two hospitals in one. A western hospital and a traditional oriental medicine hospital. So, if you have a headache, they can take x-rays and then prescribe acupuncture.

The hospital offers a four hour full-body medical exam. They take MRIs, do all sorts of tests and only charge about $200.

Traffic, Daily Commute, and Public Transportation

We are still living in a hotel, as we have been for one month. At first, we were in Centum City. That was a nice hotel near the convention center, but there were not many restaurants near there. While there, my co-worker Mr. Kim, picked me up every day and drove me to work. Driving with Mr. Kim, I learned about the rules of the road in Korea. There aren't many.

If there is cross-traffic in the road, you stop for red lights. Also, if there are people in the cross-walk, you stop. Other than that, you mostly just go. As fast as you can. This is one of those countries where you can fit three cars side-by-side on a two lane road. You can make a right turn on red, and you don't even need to stop first. Many drivers stop for red lights, but if it safe they don't bother to wait for the green light.

I have driven in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and Mexico City. I have walked in Kathmandu, Buenos Aires, Rome, Madrid, Marrakesh, Nairobi, Lima, and many other cities, but I have never seen such aggressive drivers as they have here in South Korea. They use the horn a lot, especially taxis. They aren't shy about racing pedestrians to the cross-walk and zipping past you. On the highway, they speed, but then slam on the brakes when they pass the speed cameras.

A few weeks ago we moved to the Seacloud Hotel on Haeundae beach. This is the most popular beach in the country and has lots of great places to eat. I now take either the subway or the bus to work. Usually, I wait for the express bus in front of the hotel and then change to a local bus after 15 minutes and then walk for 25 minutes. The whole commute takes me a bit under an hour, but I don't mind because I am either reading or walking the whole time. It seems like a great way to start the day to me. In the evening, a co-worker drops me off at the subway station.

Buses and trains cost well under $1 to ride. We bought 'Hanaro' cards. I keep the card in my wallet. When I get onto a bus or train, I just touch my wallet to the sensor pad and the money is automatically deducted. Very easy.

Life in Korea

Well, I managed to do it again. I am now living and working in my 10th country. This time it is South Korea. Rie and I left Virginia on the 26th of October and got here on the 27th. Two of my co-workers picked us up at the airport and took us to a great hotel in Busan. We quickly settled into our routine. I go to work and do all of my new job paperwork and Rie explores the city and learns about the buses, trains, shopping, neighborhoods, universities, restaurants, etc.

So far in Korea, we have done a few nice hikes in the mountains and explored Busan a bit. I will share some of my initial impressions of this part of South Korea.

There are a lot of people around here who can speak some English. I was able to open a bank account in English. About half of the people we deal with in shops or restaurants are able to do there job well enough in English. It is pretty impressive.

We are still living in a hotel. We moved to one on Haeundae Beach. We have an ocean view from our 18th floor room. We move into our new place in about a week. It will be nice to have a kitchen again and stop eating out so much. Luckily, the eating out has been great.

Ressurection of the Blog

Hello all,

I am glad you found my new blog. This is the third iteration of my online ramblings. The first blog is at http://www.geocities.com/avramfox/. The second is at http://www.geocities.com/foxavram/.

It has been a bit over three years since my last post and lots of wonderful things have happened since then. Most notable of course, is my marriage to Rie.

Since my last post in May of 2005, I visited friends and family in the US, studied Geography at Arizona State University, completed an Ironman triathlon, ran another marathon, crossed the Grand Canyon in one day, made a few trips to Japan, swam across a big bay in Japan, got married, drove across the US, spent a winter in Kansas, took a cruise to the Bahamas, did a couple of great bike-camping trips in the Arizona desert, started a career with the Federal Government, spent 16 months in Newport News, VA and moved to Korea.