more about Korea coming soon... promise. right now there just aren`t enough hours in the day. oy.
Friday, January 26, 2007
La Bomba... it`s da bomb
best name and/or shape for an energy drink ever:
more about Korea coming soon... promise. right now there just aren`t enough hours in the day. oy.
more about Korea coming soon... promise. right now there just aren`t enough hours in the day. oy.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Korea Pt. 1 - Afternoon in Seoul
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!
Well, as usual better late than never!
Ulala and i had a wonderful trip to Korea, and it was a very full and busy trip to be sure. 5 days and 4 nights can add up to a lot of photos and a lot of memories, more than i could hope to convey here. But i will put up a few separate posts about our trip. they may or may not be in any kind of cohesive order... =)
We flew into Seoul on December 30th and were met by Ulala`s close friend Ellen and her boyfriend Hubert (from Canada). After that we went to drop our stuff at the guesthouse and then to meet Ellen`s other friends and do some shopping and sightseeing and whatnot. Everyone was very nice. Of course i didn`t understand a lot of what was said amongst the Koreans but it was alright since they were all pretty good about trying to communicate. Also Hubert and Ulala speak no Korean so we talked a fair bit and had excellent translators in Ellen and one of her friends who speaks English (spent some time Calgary oddly enough). Korea was very interesting and this short trip has just whet my appetite to go back and explore a little more thoroughly. It was impossible for me not to draw comparisons between Japan and Korea, even though that is not always fair to either culture. But there are certainly a lot of interesting and sometimes quite humorous similarities and differences between the two. I`ll try to avoid an amateur compare and contrast expository digression and stick mostly to explaining the pictures. =)
Here are some random pics from our fairly random first afternoon in Seoul:
I`m Cappuccino. Like in Japan, the Koreans have a knack for humorous use of English in their packaging. Not quite as rampant as in Japan but still just as funny. Also note the redness of my fingers, an early indicator of just how frigging cold it was (and also why i bought the cheap can of canned coffee.
In the rather sketchy (but not too bad) neighborhood of the guesthouse were these old arcade machines, still in use. As you can see by Ulala standing next to them, they`re so little! Even sitting on the bench to play one has to kind of hunch over to see the screens! Not to mention the fact that they are outside in the below zero weather, perhaps explaining why we saw no one playing them. Ever.
Ellen`s friends took us to this great area called Insadon, which is a little touristy but has lots of great things to see and do. One of those things is the "Wake Up Andy Warhol" building, which consists of a wide courtyard surrounded by an semi-outdoor mall that wraps around in a slowly rising spiral up to some cafes at the top and is all filled with fashion boutiques, craft shops and galleries. And, as the name might suggest, it was also filled with lots and lots of modern art, often as a tribute to or derivative of the works of Andy Warhol. There were even busts of Warhol in some of the shops. The courtyard contained this massive work of umbrellas, all silkscreened with icons and symbols of modern culture.
This place naturally lends itself to various Mary Poppins jokes...
And these sculptures lend themselves to Oompa Loompa jokes. fun fun.
Outside the mall, just to round out the randomness of the place was this lovely young woman offering free hugs. yup. hugs. for free. Apparently it`s part of some campaign to help fight against the alienation and separation caused by an increasingly technology-dependent and emotionally distant society. And who am i to say no to a free hug?
Also very similar to Japan were the massive numbers of street vendors selling everything from knock-off designer goods to snacks of all sorts and sizes, in fact there were many more than in Japan, i think. We tried a variety of traditional Korean sweets and snacks, including some of these roasted chestnuts (which are also very popular in Japan). If you haven`t had roasted chestnuts or maybe haven`t had them in a while, since they seem to have lost popularity in North America, try them! they are so good!
I have no idea what this monument is. Nor were any of the people i asked about it particularly informed about its origin or purpose. It was right smack in the middle of a major shopping area too. But on reflection i doubt i could tell you the purpose of even half of the monuments in Toronto. And the people i was with were much more interested in finding i nice warm bar to hang out in.
There will be more pictures forthcoming, if and when Ulala and i can tear ourselves away from watching the 5th season of 24 on DVD. =)
Well, as usual better late than never!
Ulala and i had a wonderful trip to Korea, and it was a very full and busy trip to be sure. 5 days and 4 nights can add up to a lot of photos and a lot of memories, more than i could hope to convey here. But i will put up a few separate posts about our trip. they may or may not be in any kind of cohesive order... =)
We flew into Seoul on December 30th and were met by Ulala`s close friend Ellen and her boyfriend Hubert (from Canada). After that we went to drop our stuff at the guesthouse and then to meet Ellen`s other friends and do some shopping and sightseeing and whatnot. Everyone was very nice. Of course i didn`t understand a lot of what was said amongst the Koreans but it was alright since they were all pretty good about trying to communicate. Also Hubert and Ulala speak no Korean so we talked a fair bit and had excellent translators in Ellen and one of her friends who speaks English (spent some time Calgary oddly enough). Korea was very interesting and this short trip has just whet my appetite to go back and explore a little more thoroughly. It was impossible for me not to draw comparisons between Japan and Korea, even though that is not always fair to either culture. But there are certainly a lot of interesting and sometimes quite humorous similarities and differences between the two. I`ll try to avoid an amateur compare and contrast expository digression and stick mostly to explaining the pictures. =)
Here are some random pics from our fairly random first afternoon in Seoul:
I`m Cappuccino. Like in Japan, the Koreans have a knack for humorous use of English in their packaging. Not quite as rampant as in Japan but still just as funny. Also note the redness of my fingers, an early indicator of just how frigging cold it was (and also why i bought the cheap can of canned coffee.
In the rather sketchy (but not too bad) neighborhood of the guesthouse were these old arcade machines, still in use. As you can see by Ulala standing next to them, they`re so little! Even sitting on the bench to play one has to kind of hunch over to see the screens! Not to mention the fact that they are outside in the below zero weather, perhaps explaining why we saw no one playing them. Ever.
Ellen`s friends took us to this great area called Insadon, which is a little touristy but has lots of great things to see and do. One of those things is the "Wake Up Andy Warhol" building, which consists of a wide courtyard surrounded by an semi-outdoor mall that wraps around in a slowly rising spiral up to some cafes at the top and is all filled with fashion boutiques, craft shops and galleries. And, as the name might suggest, it was also filled with lots and lots of modern art, often as a tribute to or derivative of the works of Andy Warhol. There were even busts of Warhol in some of the shops. The courtyard contained this massive work of umbrellas, all silkscreened with icons and symbols of modern culture.
This place naturally lends itself to various Mary Poppins jokes...
And these sculptures lend themselves to Oompa Loompa jokes. fun fun.
Outside the mall, just to round out the randomness of the place was this lovely young woman offering free hugs. yup. hugs. for free. Apparently it`s part of some campaign to help fight against the alienation and separation caused by an increasingly technology-dependent and emotionally distant society. And who am i to say no to a free hug?
Also very similar to Japan were the massive numbers of street vendors selling everything from knock-off designer goods to snacks of all sorts and sizes, in fact there were many more than in Japan, i think. We tried a variety of traditional Korean sweets and snacks, including some of these roasted chestnuts (which are also very popular in Japan). If you haven`t had roasted chestnuts or maybe haven`t had them in a while, since they seem to have lost popularity in North America, try them! they are so good!
I have no idea what this monument is. Nor were any of the people i asked about it particularly informed about its origin or purpose. It was right smack in the middle of a major shopping area too. But on reflection i doubt i could tell you the purpose of even half of the monuments in Toronto. And the people i was with were much more interested in finding i nice warm bar to hang out in.
There will be more pictures forthcoming, if and when Ulala and i can tear ourselves away from watching the 5th season of 24 on DVD. =)
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