Frozen Chosun

Labels: seoul

Westin Chosun

Labels: seoul

Insadong

Having spent hours after midnight in the office last night, I left early today. Wait straight to Insadong as suggested by WS. Some nice souvenir shops lined up both sides of the street there. I lost myself in there for over an hour. And then headed back to Itaewon to pick phone card and look around. Unfortunately, it was just after 9pm and everything was closed.
So I headed back to MyungDong (they must recognize me in that area now - as a regular). Some mroe shopping later, I am back to piece together Jason's life.

Labels: seoul

Strange, Funny, Painful

You know what. I am writing this from the Hong Kong Airport Cathay Business Class Lounge...or whatever. During check-in I was informed that the flight was over-booked! And I had a confirmed ticket. What the hell!?!! Memories of Atlanta came rushing back in.
We were flying to Orlando on a long weekend. 4 people from 4 places. DSS requested to take the same connecting flight from Atlanta. He was flying in from Hartford and myself from NJ. TKP from NYC and AP from DC. Just that my flight got delayed and I reached Atlanta after the connecting flight (the last one for the day) had taken off! Wow! Delta offered me a room at the OMNI hotel which is right behind CNN HQ. Well, I had to wait for another 6 flights to take off before they could squeeze me in. Wasted 1 whole day. And I never got to see the Universal Studios. Hmm. I was more interested in NASA Space Center though.
Come back. HK, spent the evening with a friend and fujita at Coyote. Not bad.
Thinking of the fact that I shall reach around 5 am and then need to get to the office by 9 am. Criminal!
Well, at least I have the Bourne trilology with me. I bought Robert Ludlum's 3 Bourne books in 1 yesterday at the Wan Chai Ferry Pier - Dymocks. Good books. The movies (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy) do not do full justice to them. So I decided to read them all.
See you soon! And you get well soon!

Labels: seoul

Korean Folk Village

Lazy start in the morning shifted to higher gear when I realized that it was 10:15am. 15 minutes to end of breakfast buffet. :-) After a hurried breakfast, I set off for Suwon. This time changing train at Guro. But you know what. They have two platforms for Suwon and I waited on the wrong one for 30 minutes in vain. Then I went to ask the tea-stall lady and she told me to go to no.3. By the time I arrived at Suwon, I had finished the Digital Fortress. With that all 4 books by Dan B. He is coming out with another Robert Langdon sequel, this time set in USA around June '05. So wait until then. The free shuttle bus ride to the Korean Folk Village was around 30 minutes from Suwon subway station. A hurried look at the souvenir and a trial hot soup later I was at the village gate. There I found a rock where everybody was tying a paper wish on the ropes that were tied around it. I wished for world peace..just joking. Wished something for everyone. No ask, no tell. Korean villages are very like Indian villages. In fact I think all villages look the same. But it was interesting to see the village residents at work. Some were repairing the thatched huts. Some busy gardening. Some preparing silk threads. Some preparing Kimchi. Oh yes..even here. Blacksmith, fortune-teller, etc...The food in the village was Korean. No. After last night's adventures I decided to keep myself out of it. On the way back to the entrance, I watched performers doing acrobatics and some traditional dance, games. Which reminds me of the rope-walk performers that used to roam the streets of Cuttack when we were kids. They would just put up the poles and rope and perform wherever they saw a crowd. Even little girls..more like gypsies. Indian gypsies.The soup girl was still around. And I thought I should grab another one to keep the cold out. I said thanks. And she said - you are welcome. And burst out laughing to cover her embarrassment, not sure if that was the right response. I just smiled and walked on to the shuttle bus stop.Back at Suwon, I took a ticket for Itaewon. Just to get the phone card. I could not find that particular one in Myung dong. I called up a colleague and we decided to try out spicy chicken tonight. Tonight, the chicken was less hot than the rice cakes. The rice cakes were covered with chili sauce...or rather paste. After having low fat yogurt at Red Mango I came back home...cooling down on the way. :-)
You can view the Korean village and other snaps by clicking on the SEOUL link on the left panel.

Labels: seoul

Red Hot Chili

We decided to try some spicy chicken today. After finally managing to locate the outlet in Myungdong (whatever spelling), we were turned back. They reported a problem in their kitchen. Wow. The area was packed today. PACKED. In CWB, on friday or saturday nights you can still squeeze through because HK people are slim. Here, with a laptop, difficult.
We decided to try some Korean food as an alternative. Dumpling rounds were fine.
But when they brought in a harmless-looking rice with beef, mushroom and octopus dish topped with kimchi, I had no idea of what lay beneath. Chili Paste! JHC. Sorry. But JHC. And the smoke was full of chili. I am regarded as the weakest link back at home. I cannot handle a chili straight. But in HK, I fair ok. But today, I was sweating and my nose was running and my eyes were watering and the local people were enjoying the scene. Until I finally decided to throw in the towel. I could not torture my burnt tongue any more. Now, you know why the Koreans do not use toilet paper that much. IT WOULD CATCH FIRE!!!
Cold it was outside, but I could move around without a jacket until my body temperature cooled down enough. I decided to go shop some Korean DVDs. The latest ones are priced at 28000Won. Expensive. I think the originals sell much lower in HMV back in HK. Strange! I saw a DVD sign and went up to the shop. 3/F up, I came up to a counter where an old lady sat. There were a few movies on display - dvd, vcd and tapes. I patiently enquired the rates, thinking of buying some dvd. But it turned out that they had a few rooms in the back where you can actually watch them for 7000 Won (they are called DVD bang - Korean word). Hmmm. Interesting. Just when I realized that the stock was not a good one and turned to leave, she (the old lady!) tried to coax me into watching some korean ero stuff. Chi Sin! I ran away.

Labels: seoul

Its now Snow in Seoul

What a painful start to a lovely day
It was 10mins after getting out of bed when I realized muscular spasms in the middle of my back. They turned worse and I decided to lie down on my bed.It was raining outside. Dull, dark. Sun doesn't rise until well after 7am.I tried to stretch back and lie still for a few minutes. It was after that. When I tried to get up again. I just could not. The pain was too much to handle. I could not even turn sides.
Busy and snowing
I was busy with work when WS sent me an email saying that I was lucky.It was snowing. Normally, he says it snows 2-3 times a year in Seoul.Wow, but you know what. I had missed it. After a few minutes I looked out the window.And there it was, like a wide twister of snowflakes...on a slope surrounded by buildings on all sides.It was spectacular. But I had not taken my camera with me. To carry less weight on a bad back.Of all the luck. CK offered her camera...but by the time we finished our meeting, it had stopped.And then there was bright sunshine...what a lovely day...and I was stuck with back pain in office.With lots to do before the telecon.
Freezing with the dogs
I stepped out of the office late in the evening. It was very chilly. With temperature dipping just below zero, tears that flew down my cheeks, felt icy.And I had to be careful not to step on any water on the ground. With the M&S I wear, I could end up with a broken back. Around Lotte, it was so romantic. Cold weather, warm couples..and singles..hehehe..I walked around. Some Korean guys were holding up advt. boards high above their head. Standing in the cold weather with frozen tears. Red in the face. Pain in the face. So bad. I walked on. Then, there was this guy selling puppies on the street. All the little ones paired up inside small cardboard boxes, with confetti for paddingand a small electric bulb to keep them warm. In a wire-cage, two bigger puppies tried their best to sit down at the same time. If one sat, the other could not.Not enough space. I could not read for how much he was selling them.I have always wanted to have another dog, but with the type of job I do, I cannot. :-( I walked around some more and then returned to the hotel.Its decorated beautifully in the lobby. A Harry Potter tree setting. I do want to take a lot of pictures to send you. Probably carry the camera with me tomorrow. Need to go back to work. How sad.

Labels: seoul

Kind and friendly

Korean people in general are very kind to foreigners. And very friendly too. I revisited one of the restaurants and the family that runs the business was actually having dinner. But they were so kind to take me in and I had those wontons again. And God knows how many eggs I have consumed today. I am going to die of heart attack! Scrambled eggs in breakfast, boiled eggs in lunch and fried eggs in dinner. Someone was so impatient that they went ahead without waiting for me to return to HK. They had advance knowledge of my coming back for a few days the coming weekend, but they simply could not wait 6 days more. So much for important occasions on the friendship calendar :-p Alright, you shall not find any special reaction from my side anyways. Especially since (see below) hahaha...
Its slightly warmer today. And though I wanna icq, I am going to go back and bury myself in that novel again. I want to wrap it up by thursday.
Headout had his birthday yesterday. I offered him the role of Arafat in one of my future productions. He has got the nose for the job, if you know what I mean. Especially, with the Hrithik looks. His latest hobby is to find out if there are any books with tabs/staff notes for hindi songs. And he is already writing his first book. Hey, you know what? I forgot the name of that song you used to play every afternoon that summer. Scorching heat, wasn't it. And those trips to the dhaba and railway station for aloo parathas. And the superman costume. hahaha. And all that shopping before you flew to your little Limasol? That was the name wasn't it? What about bumping into a sleepy Lara right after the competition, out of all places, on a plane to Germany. And the dam, I forgot the name of the place, the one in which you could not sink even if you tried to. Which reminds me. Were you not the one with Barron on the boat in the middle of Kaliasote that stormy afternoon. Hahaha. Stand by you always.

Labels: seoul

What a lazy day!

Woke up late (had slept around 4am) missed the breakfast buffet. Anyways, could do with a little dieting...hehehe. Today I planned to go to a Korean folk village - a 2 hour journey by subway and bus from the hotel. And I did start it, but I was so deeply engrossed in reading Deception Point, that I missed the station where I was supposed to change lines and it took me 1.5 hours more to reach the destination station, Suwon. And then there was not enough time to catch a bus and go to the village (gets dark early, these days). So I just spent the whole afternoon reading novel on the subway, standing, sitting, standing...and observing Korean people. I happened to see twin girls again, similarly dressed. Didn't I tell you before that I chance upon twins all the time. So, I shall spend the evening resting in the hotel and reading the novel. The week ahead is very hectic.

Labels: seoul

DMZ - Half Day Tour

Birds, Rivers, Breeze – no border stops them.
Borders are meant for humans.
Then again what have we achieved as humans?

7:30am on the bus doing rounds of various hotels. Picking up sleepy, cold and hungry tourists like me. Yawn!
The DMZ tour started with the first stop at Imjin-gak tourist resort. This resort is right next to the Freedom Bridge on the Imjin river that roughly divides South from North Korea. It was pretty cold in the morning but temperature started climbing up to around 8deg. After taking a few pics there, we changed bus and headed for the 3rd Infiltration tunnel. This one was discovered in 1978. Highly commercialized! Everybody was disappointed by it. The entrance to the tunnel was some 71 m below ground level…so we took another tunnel (built recently) to the entrance and walked into it. Too low to stand straight – some insulation on the floor, dynamite and coal marks on the walls and water dripping from the roof…there was a basin with spring water too for Japanese tourists who drank from it. Damp and cold in there until the end which of the NK side, where the tunnel was made to collapse using dynamite to build walls. And it is under constant surveillance. Which reminds me, some of the soldiers were kids. SK guys have to do 2 years military training and the NK – 7 years! Hmmm.
The length of the new tunnel is 350 at an angle of 30 deg to the horizontal roughly.
Next stop was Dora Observatory where a soldier explained the landscape to us. Too bad, no photography is allowed from near the edge of the viewing platform. Using the binoculars, I could see the Gaeseong city in North Korea and the Propaganda ghost village (where nobody lives – just a town built by NK troops to fool SK troops – how imaginative!).
Dorasan Station made famous by Bush’s visit in 2002, is going to be part of history when the reunification comes through. Got a stamp on my passport there.
That was it. Half-day DMZ tour. I have tried to include links wherever possible so that you can read more about the places.
I got off the bus at Itaewon which is declared a special tourist zone. Prices are high and the stalls are packed with fake goods and souvenir. Interesting thing is the number of shops selling and advertising hip-hop clothes and the number of people wearing them. ;-))
From there I took my first subway ride in Seoul to the City Hall station. The design of the network is similar to that of Beijing, concentric circles intersected by straight lines. Don’t need that in HK. Too small in area. Not worth it. There were some demonstrators holding meeting in front of the city hall. The streets on either side were lined with white police buses, the ones with wired mesh all over the windows as protection. The policemen were everywhere - even coordinating traffic. Several plain-clothes policemen moved around with walkie-talkies.
I walked up to the Westin Chosun through a garden. I thought I would catch a short nap but slept off a couple of hours! Snaps!

Labels: seoul

-2 deg on Diwali Night

More Current Conditions
Feels Like: -2° Dewpoint: -4°
Barometer: Wind: N 14 kph
Humidity: 65% Sunrise: 7:09 am
Visibility: 9.99 km Sunset: 5:24 pm

I watched a lady arranging golf balls on the mini-golf course on a terrace in tee-shirt and skirt. So I headed downstairs happily. Defying warnings. When I stepped out to get into a cab, my eyes were watering (under 2 seconds) and cold biting through my shirt. Today was different. Winter has arrived in Korea.

Cancer June 21 - July 21
The message from the planets is clear.
This is all I got from the scmp website in the name of a western horroscope.

And today is Diwali (also known as Deepavali) the Indian festival of lights. A time to share time and gifts with your friends and family, wear new clothes and eat sweets. Not to forget burn fire-crackers. Almost all homes in India do this. We do not have designated areas to go and watch fireworks. We do it at home. Yes, there are restrictions but there is nothing one can do about the pollution - noise and smoke, accidents - fire. Well, there is actually, I have not lit a fire-cracker for years!
What is this festival, you may ask. It is a declared holiday in Singapore and celebrated in the White House too. Where did it all begin?

The date for Diwali is set by the Hindu calendar and so it varies in the Western calendar. It usually falls in October or November. Diwali is a New Year festival in the Vikrama calendar, where it falls on the night of the new moon in the month of Kartika.

The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance, although the actual legends that go with the festival are different in different parts of India.
Two of them show the triumph of Good over Evil, and tell of the destruction of two monsters that preyed on humanity.

First one from the Ramayana (remember the story depicted in the wall-paintings?). Legend has it that Lord Prince Rama returned home with his wife Sita after winning a big battle against the king of demons Ravana (in the process of rescuing his kidnapped wife), signalling the end of their 14-year exile in the forests. The road was very dark and the people in his kingdom lit his path with lamps. They followed it up with big celebrations when he was made king.

Second one features Lord Krishna's rescue of 16,000 girls and Aditi's (she was the mother of the Gods) ear-rings from the clutches of Narakasura (the greatest demon ever). This also gave birth to the legend that Krishna had 16,000 wives....Rich man! And very free.

Diwali is known as the 'festival of lights' because houses, shops, and public places are decorated with small earthenware oil lamps called Diyas or deepas. These lamps, which are traditionally fueled by mustard oil, are placed in rows in windows, doors and outside buildings to decorate them. In the cities, most of the lamps are replaced by electric lights.

Some people try to float oil lamps across the river Ganga - it is regarded as a good omen if the lamp manages to get all the way across. :-)

Businessmen regard it as a favourable day to start a new accounting year because of the festival's association with the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, Lakshmi.
Normally, people will be busy spring cleaning a week in advance. They know that Lakshmi would visit clean and cheerful homes only. Most Hindus will leave the windows and doors of their houses open for her to come in.
Rangoli (coloured powder) are drawn on the floors in patterns - the most popular subject beiing the lotus flower. Images of Lakshmi traditionally show her either holding a lotus or sitting on one.

Many Indians see it as an occasion to gamble. This comes from a legend that the that Goddess Parvati played dice with her husband on this day and she said that anyone who gambled on Diwali night would do well. No, she was not Chinese.

Like Christmas, Diwali is also a time for buying and exchanging gifts.
Traditional sweets and dried fruit are very common gifts.

Diwali is also used to celebrate a successful harvest.

But how does my family celebrate it at my home? We worship Goddess Kali(+) on that day. Usually, someone in my family, an elder, would fast through the day and eat with us only after the puja is over (usually late in the evening). In the dining area we light a small fire, in front of the Goddess, into which ghee (clarified butter) is poured. All of us sit cross-legged on the floor in new clothes full of respect. The puja has been conducted by a very well-known Hindu priest (from my area) over the years. I have seen him ever since I can remember the puja. :-) Once the worship is over, and we have paid our respect to the Goddess and the priest, we would all join in to have special food prepared by my mother and aunty. Still remember the times when my Grandma used to cook for us. Yummy. I miss it so much...:-(

In a recent editorial, the Times of India summed up the modern meaning of Diwali:
"Regardless of the mythological explanation one prefers, what the festival of lights really stands for today is a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed committment to friendship and goodwill, and a religiously sanctioned celebration of the simple and some not so simple joys of life."


+ Goddess Kali is the destroyer of time or Kala, she too is the goddess of death and destruction having her abode in the cremation grounds. But to the Shaktas she is Parambrahma swarupjni (identical with the Supreme Brahman), creator of the universe, its sustainer and ultimately its detroyer The Markandeya Purana, Devi Bhagavata, Kalika Purana and other books describe her as the ultimate Mystery of the Universe. If she is the desroyer of Mahisasura (as Durga), Shumbha, Nishumbha, Chanda, Munda, Raklavirya, she is also the compassionate Mother. The two mudras in her right hands, abhaya (protection from fear) and vara (granting of boons) and the raised blood-smeared sword in one her left hands with the freshly severed head of a demon dangling from the other hand, with three eyes standing for the sun, the moon and fire (Agni) make her a most complex symbol of love, compassion and terror.

Labels: seoul

All you wanted to know about - Hinglish

Indian English appears very funny to most foreigners and some Indians. And very often, the way we speak is the butt of many a joke (even in movies - The Party). Yet some people do realize that English spoken by Indians sounds different from one Indian to another. It is easier to understand some but not the others. Why?
We are a vast country. With 14 nationally recognized languages (each with a different script to read and write) in addition to Hindi and English. Hindi is spoken by about 30% of the population and English is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication. The other 14 are Oriya, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit (visit on another day). Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language.And to make it more simple, we have 1300-1600 dialects (cannot pin point a figure, needs more research). This means that what you hear changes every 20 miles or so. And trust me, if I went to my Dad's village, I would not be able to make out much of what is being said. I am sure he would though. ;-) Same goes for a person who comes to my city and speaks to me.
So how did it all happen?The Chinese were made to stick to one written form by their powerful emperors. India was exposed to foreign invaders and rulers (read dynasties) who were overthrown one after the other and no centralized force to unite them. And hence, the British who came under the pretext of establishing trade relations with south Asia managed stay in India and rule over her for centuries.When some of the English officers introduced English to the Indian intellectuals, it was done with a purpose. Indians would be able to read and understand the western culture and appreciate their literature. And it would be easier still for them to follow instructions.Soon the better off Indians, picked it up. Zip...zip...zip. Fast forward to Indian independence (visit on another day) from the British rule, and the Indian government finding it very difficult to establish a common language for the masses. Each region wrote, spoke and read separately. Democracy. So, Hindi (30%) got the nod ahead of other languages. But the people from south India refused to accept the dominance of Hindi over their languages which originated from Sanskrit, the oldest language. So they chose the next popular alternative - English. And hence, until this day, we have both as major languages. Enough of this. Lets get back on track.
Now people from each region spoke a bit differently. And they went to schools in their localities. Schools in which English was also a medium of instruction. They were taught by Indian teachers. Indians who spoke English in the way, their teachers had taught them. Thus ensuring that accents were formed. And if today, you can understand what I am saying, it is not because I studied abroad. Hahaha. No I did not. I went to a modest English medium public school too and was taught by very Indian teachers. It's just that when people are exposed to other cultures they are bound to pick something up. Just like you find me speaking 'lah' (not the Singaporean one). And don't forget the impact of BBC, CNN and MTV on the minds of people. Lets not get into that horror story today. So now the accented Indians were picking up different phrases from different cultures. And at the same time communicating with each other in English (because though north Indians can pick up English, south Indians refuse to). They let in a few words from their own mother tongue into their conversations with others face to face, on paper and over internet. And hence, phrases crept into their daily conversations. And the heavy old British effect is still there. You have in short a big collections of phrases from different Indian languages being used in English. And some of them are date back to the days of the British, when the British had picked them up! Don't trust me? Read about it - Hobson-Jobson.
So what Indian English is must be clear to you now. Indian English has many dialects - Hinglish, Tanglish and Benglish are more popular. We focus on Hinglish (Hindi+English) since it is the most popular one. And the best part is that you can type it in English letters and not miss anything.
You have it everywhere now. Yahoo Greetings .
News articles have announced the arrival of Hinglish as the next global language.This is claimed by David Crystal. Due to the IT boom, outsourcing and impact of Bollywood movies, more and more are joining the party. It is also based on the fact that about 350 million Indians speak English as a second language, exceeding the number in Britain and the US who speak it as their first language.
And whats more, there is a new edition to the Indian English guide book called Hanklyn-Janklin.

Binoo John is writing a book on the evolution of Indian English and says that it tends to be more formal than British English because Indians tend to be very respectful towards strangers and there is a strong literary tradition. eg., perfectly ordinary people can quote Shakespeare and so you tend to have longer words and more complex syntax. The way Indians use nouns as verbs - just as Shakespeare does - shows they are tapping into the core creativity of the language.

Did you know that international companies have had to bow before the power of Hinglish.
Pepsi changed its slogan 5 years back from 'Ask for More' to 'Dil Maange More' (The heart wants more) and now it is 'Yeh Pyaas Hai Badi' (This thirst is big). Ford still sells the Ford Ikon by the name Josh (Exciting and powerful) car.

Every country has its own dialect of English :-) Hong Kong's Chinglish and Singapore's Singlish. But Hinglish is far ahead owing to the ever-growing size of the Indian population.
YeH DiL MaAnGe MoRe!

Labels: seoul

Getting Colder As We Speak

The temperature has dropped. Tonight you could feel it. With predictions of touching zero on saturday-sunday. When I am hopefully back from the DMZ.
It was great hearing your voice after so many years (around 14). Wait. 1 day 3 autumns, right! :-p LCK has been kind enough not to comment on the blog. Shy?! Hahaha.
I ignored the warning from God of Hiking and dared to go back into a Chinese restaurant to try some Chinese food. Fried meat dumplings = deep fried hard meat dumplings. 8-@
I miss leafy green vegetables. I love vegetables. I love you.
In the morning, I had a chance of going round the City Hall, there is a palace nearby. But all sight-seeing is for weekends. This was on the way to work. Also happened to spot a few people preparing for some kind of demonstration. Wait and see, if it is mentioned in the papers tomorrow...if I still remember.
I have a friend who is Quizard. Wonder if I can use this word. Well, basically, he is pretty good at them and we have always thought of participating together..but never worked out..for his good. ;-) Well, he wants me to host his quizzes on my blog and I have agreed. So you may be finding a quiz every week. Trust me, it is good stuff. May not be much trivia though. But good enough for professionals. So come up Q. Show some stuff.
I have been pulling your leg about Hinglish. So what is it? Read on.

Labels: seoul

Its rain in Seoul

Ok, so it is a dorm. Hmm. Too bad. Its a special time tonight...and I cannot be there to spend it with you. I was thinking today, is this going to be like this forever. This global thing? I hope not.
The morning was cloudy and warmer than yesterday. I spotted the yellow and red leaves. Its autumn. And Seoul looks beautiful. Natural beauty...reminds me of Ash and Sush and their double glory in 1994. (Ashwariya Rai - Miss World 1994 and Sushmita Sen - Miss Universe 1994). And the time I bumped into Yukta Mookhey (Miss World 1999) at Planet M, VT, Mumbai. Not quite the same stuff though. Sorry, Yukta.
Skipped lunch today and worked until after 9pm. Too bad. Seoul, you need to hang on until weekend, I guess. Worse. My colleagues invited me for dinner but I had to take a raincheck. The God of Soccer had worked too late last night and today I had decided to stay back and help him as much as I could.
As I stepped out onto the street, rain, breeze and falling leaves greeted me. Like the scenes from Turn Left Turn Right. But that was Taipei. Another time another place another story.
Do you still remember that rainy night, we had bought an umbrella just to cross the road...and I had told you about Pyar Hua Ikraar Hua. Read about Nargis the lead actress today.
Always asked myself how can people fall in love in a city like HK, always on the move, too fast, too full of energy. Where is the time to sit and relax and enjoy and run around trees singing romantic songs...remember the changing of clothes every stanza...Bollywood ishtyle.
Tomorrow...Hinglish. What it is all about...Don't miss.

Labels: seoul

Walk back through shopping district

What on earth are you doing at an I-cafe? I thought you were on holiday! :-) Miss me big time, huh? Me too!
Walked back from office today. Needed the exercise. And the subway, in one area, had people (who looked poor) lining up to get meals and then sitting down along the world and eating it. With their backs to the corridor, facing the wall. I do not know if this is a cultural thing or was just charity. But it pained me. No, I did not photograph this. I did not want to offend any one. Up and down and in and out through the subways, I walked through the Namdaemun market (passing the Sangnyemun - South Gate) on the way. Seoul's answer to the Mongkok market. Only that this one is not a night market. By 8 pm almost everybody closes shop. I found a row of shops catering to anglers. Another thing I found is that, here, people love to drink...or so it appears. By 8pm they are heading home (I assume), red in the face (not from cold because I was sweating today) and very drunk. You could tell that from the way they walked. Shabba Shabba Hai Rabba Hone Lagaa Hai Nasha...which reminds me, I got a page of cool dog and cat pictures today.
I saw a few guys wearing hip-hop clothes in the Lotte shopping area. And one thing is sure, they all look alike. Doesn't matter which city or country. Yo, maan! Hip-Hop is here to stay for sometime. Six, are you still listening, maan? Another one - the kids. They are the same everywhere. Just look a bit different in the face but having fun all the same and enjoying themselves. Hmmm. Reminds me of the messages G suk suk sent me in the morning. Chiew, as someone else would say. I miss that Chiew too. Don't kill me when I tell you that I was very lazy today and just popped into MacDonalds and tried out my favourite - Big Mac. And supersizing myself,,,well. Its the exercise that is missing...weight is still the same...the shape that is changing...my life is so complicated... <(*<*)> Still no email!! I hope everything is all right. I appreciate your coming over that day. Thanks!
Hmm. Guys, do you know India's greatest romantic movie ever (not only in terms of money, but also in terms of class)? Its the Mughal-E-Azam. The original black & white print has been converted into colour and the soundtrack - digitally remastered. Slotted for Diwali night dual premiere on Nov 12 (I shall explain Diwali later). Not something you HK kids are exposed to...may be my generation would appreciate it more. Another such movie, that missed the Oscar and surprised so many people was Lagaan. And India did a Lagaan to Australia in the last test match too. Hinglish, folks, Hinglish. I wonder about Infernal Affairs' showing. A friend told me that the story line is the same as that of an older south Indian movie. Now, I have not watched it and cannot confirm it. And do not remember its name either. IA is a good movie.
Leave you now. Dan Brown's beckons, mate.

Labels: Movie Review, seoul

Tiring Day @ Office

Hmm. The plane touched down and you are out on your own in foreign territory. Only one way contact for the next few days. How do I feel?
Such a tiring and unproductive first day @ work in Seoul. Worked right through lunch and after it until dinner and still no result. Poor, hungry, tired, lonely, dissatisfied...come on AD there's still tomorrow. Cheer up, buddy. hahaha...no I have not gone crazy.
Well, I finally had a chance to look at Seoul in daylight during that 5 min cab ride to the office. Beijing-Mumbai. Well, to be frank, any big city with wide roads. Dry. And not so cold. I wonder why I put so much money into that ski-jacket. I might as well put some more in and spend a day out there...gotta be this month...or never.
My next look at Seoul was around 8pm when I was walking down towards the hotel...2 km and I could have done it...but I decided to give myself a cab ride home. Chiu! You would say. Well, I did get a chance to take pictures...but I didn't want to flash the camera on my face. So you have to wait until daytime and then your wish will be granted. Night time, there was not much to capture. May be from the Seoul tower, yes. But this is no Hong Kong. God, do I love that city.
I ventured out to buy some water, biscuits (ration - hahaha) and food. Just being the Oriya I am, rice was what I was looking for...and after scanning through tens of photographs of kimchi, I chanced upon Chinese characters...the shop's name was in Chinese. So, up I went the red steps and through the glass door. Expecting to practise my Cantonese/Mandarin or the lack of it...Unfortunately, everybody looked Korean...So I ended up with more eggs, shrimp, fried rice, black pepper sauce, some soup and green tea (the one made from powder at the Sushi bars). With a gentleman having to help me out with the bill, stomach somewhat full, I went out again to brave the cold...Ya, I know. Its pretty warm and my wind-cheater keeps me warm enough. Its not that cold yet...hear that it snows twice a year in december...If luck would have it, I wouldn't be here, right, in the first place!! Oh, come on, AD. Ok.Ok. I love snow, though I have never seen it fall. You will fall all right. On the snowy slopes - again if you do manage to go there. Luck does play a big role in one's life, me thinks. Then I spotted a KFC and could not stop myself from having a twister. Know what , mates, the Korean one tastes much better than the ones we have in Hong Kong. I reckon, that has to do something with the sauce being used. Or may be it appeals more to my Indian tongue. I love my tongue, it's Indian. I love India. I love India. I love India. There. That's making me feel better already. Hahaha. Lalala. You know what? I found some poor people sleeping under cardboard boxes in the subways. Not on the trains...I am yet to see one. But the city actually has miles of corridors underground - connecting stations and buildings. You can find many underground markets too. And I am not talking about the mafia ones. Anyways la. Back at the hotel, I found that there are no music channels on TV. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. But there is some audio system playing soft music all the time. And when the alarm went off in the morning it was actually the music - imagine my surprise to find music filling my room at 7am...automatically...well, I had set the alarm but not the music. Tomorrow (oops , today) I may just continue sleeping. Ok, enough said. I should go to bed now. Don't want to be the lord of the dark rings under the eyes any more. Tomorrow should be a brighter day. All the best! Yes, I love you and I miss you too.

Labels: seoul

Love in Korean

너 나를 사랑해

Would you believe me if I told you that I typed it in and it actually means - "I love you".
Anybody interested in "I Love You" in different languages can take a look at the following.
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/romance-faq/part3/section-1.html
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/iloveyou.htm

Labels: seoul

A DMZ Tour advt

Our tour company is exclusive group tour for foreigners.If members are not enough, the tour may be not start.in that case, you can apply for individul tour in special tour
Tour Condition
- All the tours Include the guide, transportation, admission fee. - Child fares: 30% DC under 11years of age.- If you cancell your reservation on tour day. We will charge 50% cancellation fee to you.- Some morning tours will be dropped off at Itaewon or city hall.- We notice that We have no responsiblity for your personal incidents and losses during all the tours.- We are stuck in a traffic jam the pick up service will be delayed.- It is possible to pay all the tour fees by credit card.

Where's my Hinglish, dude?!

Labels: seoul

Seoul - The first night

Well, I am here on a business trip. Challenging one. The business, I mean.
Took off slightly later than scheduled time for departure but arrival was on time.
People are very polite so far. Bowing regularly and I like it and try to return. I know that there is a social status thing involved, so need to keep it under control..hahaha.
Staying at the Westin Chosun. First impression is very good. One of the top 100 hotels in the world - according to some rating. Too tired to find it on the google but yeah I read it somewhere.
The bus journey from the Inchion airport to hotel was in a deluxe limo - great seats and view. Unfortunately, too dark. But I am beginning to like this place already. Looks like out of the Korean movies....wow...when was the last time I said that!
Don't miss me much. I shall be back with some snaps next time.
And by the way, it was great listening to Hindi, English, Mandarin and Cantonese songs on the way - ipod mini - zindabad. In case you didn't know what that last word meant - Hinglish is something you should really learn, mate.

Labels: seoul