Muses along the way...

Mini Y2K... in Australia

2008-04-01T07:21:00.006+09:00

Australia tried to be different, and pushed daylight saving back a week for 5 states.

Source: TheAge.com.au - I'm sure my clock is right!!

Do you know how many friggin conference calls I called into last night to Singapore and the USA, just to find that meetings were 1 hour later, and that all my Microsoft Outlook meeting calenders were telling me the wrong time? Gosh knows how many people messed up the same... trains coming into work yesterday were half empty.

THEY reckon almost 3/4 of the Adelaideans (is there such a word?) had no clue when daylight saving starts. All I know is, I have to live with screwy clocks and devices until daylight saving actually starts on April 6, 2008!

I guess this is what happens when a good idea isn't matched up with the practical steps to achieve the desired result... or rather, lawmakers are out of synch with the complexities of how the world operates.

What's wrong with Melbourne?

2008-03-25T14:17:00.004+09:00

Here in Melbourne we are... after arriving for 5 weeks, I get my first PMS observation.

Guess what's wrong? :)

Language: Lethal cocktail of Malay + English

2007-04-30T20:27:00.000+09:00

You know what? On most days I give Singaporeans a lot of crap about their Singlish... but I guess we aren't doing that great in Malaysia either.

Spotted this outside a residential home while visiting Angel in Kota Kinabalu on the weekend.

*DILARANG = Forbidden/Not allowed (in the Malay language)

About me... and about her

2007-04-14T17:15:00.000+09:00

Since we last met on this blog, I've taken my non-single hood status one step further. We are now...

GOING FOR MARRIAGE COUNSELING!

Well, if only Angel and I knew that we'd be 100% made for each other, then we wouldn't have gone down this path.

*What the...??

The point is, we're serious about each other. Even though we are "in love", but are not certain that we're talking about all the things we need to talk about, doing the right do's, don'ting the wrong don'ts... rah rah rah. So we decided to go for marriage counseling even though we're not engaged or anything. Wish us well!

Since she's in Kota Kinabalu and I am in Singapore... I have to fly to meet her every so often to do 8 sessions of it. Check out my travel calendar:

Thank God for mum's advice about saving $$ for a rainy day. Bless her dear soul...

Oh incidentally, I'm blogging from KK. :)

Announcement: Maybe its about b****y time...

2007-04-08T00:10:00.000+09:00

I have been simply overwhelmed by the concern people have given about how I used to blog, why have I stopped, why I forgot all about my fans when the girlfriend came along... rah rah rah

OK, so I'll try blogging again, amidst the 1,000 + 2 things I have to do everyday. Maybe I'll lean it out and cut down on the graphics compared to way back then. I've got quite a few things to rant about Singapore anyway.
*Pssst... They say you're getting old when you start using phrases like "Way back then..."

I missed you all! *Blushes

About me: Answers...

2006-07-02T20:53:00.000+09:00

I believe I owe ALL my readers an answer as to why I have not been blogging.

There's been quite an adjustment on my personal front recently... Until the day that I leave Kota Kinabalu for my new career prospects in Singapore/Australia sometime in July (You heard me right), I have been, and will be spending every waking moment with her.

I apologize, but stories will come later. Hope you all understand. Check back in soon, as I look forward to the support of my readers once again when I start updating regularly.

About me: Travel to Perth and KL

2006-05-31T22:41:00.000+09:00

Alright, there's been some speculation as to where I've been for the last week or so.

For a 10 day period, I went to Perth (Australia), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). I went to Perth because I had to get my residency for Australia officiated, and also to visit some family.

This was the first time I met my cousin in-law: Jack Lee. I like the guy: very down to earth, and boy does he have a way with words! Lucky cousin of mine ~ Cherry. Then there was also her sister Ting, who tried her very best to hook me up with EVERY girl she knew from around town.

*Oh come on... Do I look desperate?!

There were also the bunch of people I knew from 2003 when I was still building a power plant there. We used to hang out and were everyone joined the FGA Church, Perth.

If you're reading this...

G'morning Joanne... smile! :)

I thought it wouldn't have hurt to throw in some extra side trips to rekindle some fond memories of the past... food-wise. There were the Chili Mussels from Conca's, Deep fried intestines with salt and cracked pepper, and dim sum from Jade restaurant.

*Yes... we do enjoy some of the vilest of foodstuffs :P

Having spent 5 days in Perth, I flew to Kuala Lumpur for another 5 days before returning to Kota Kinabalu for work at site. Humbug.

Not much to report from the home front of Kuala Lumpur, apart from a good time catching up with family and friends. Oh, and Saturdays at McDonald's was good fun once again...

People: Gabriel Liew

2006-05-26T22:53:00.000+09:00

Remember my coincidental meet with Zahid and Van? Now dude... seriously, this post is about another even more bizarre coincidence.

As I had mentioned, I need to make my way to Australia to get my residency officiated. This is what they term a "first entry" into Australia. So I took leave from work, and hopped on the plane to Perth from Kota Kinabalu.

While waiting at the airport, I kind of made out the figure of someone in the distance that looked like.... OMG

GABRIEL LIEW!!!!!!

This person used to be my housemate when we were studying pre-university in 1996, but lost contact after that year.

Sharon and me have talked about him over the years, but no joy as far as tracking him down.

Who would've known that after almost 10 years... As fate has it, we meet at a time when I am only passing through KK, and on the first trip that Gabriel has made it back to his hometown of KK for the first time in 5 years! He is now living in Perth.

Talk about coincidence.

Culture: Do Not Rush!

2006-05-24T05:00:00.000+09:00

G, since you missed my Korean commentaries, I dedicate this one to you. :)

A public signage can tell you a lot about a culture... Spotted this at the train station on my way back from Seoul back in January 2006.

~ DO NOT RUSH! ~

Indeed though, that's the impression I've formed about Korea while working there.

Everything is a BIG rush... Everyone is always driving irrationally, and running lights. People sometimes shove their way through queues just so they can be ahead in a line. Jobsites are being run like a military drill, where everything is all about being fast and not about quality. It's all about being "palli palli" (빨리 빨리) ~ FAST FAST!

My take on it... rushing doesn't necessarily mean you're going to end up doing something faster. Worse, you could really get people all fired up emotionaly, works could end up in mistakes, or even cause fatalities.

Instead of rushing, couldn't the focus be more on EFFICIENCY, or just NEW METHODS of doing something, and DOING IT RIGHT THE 1ST TIME? I guess it's hard to drill this mind-set into the population of 49million people in Korea, and change has to start from me.

That being said and done, I'll set my alarm clock 15 minutes early, so I don't have to be rushing like a mad man to the airport tomorrow... *Hint hint ;)

Food: Bak kut teh

2006-05-15T07:23:00.000+09:00

Ever heard of businesses that can afford to be located on prime property, and open only for business during evening hours, and still do pretty good?

I haven't... prior to visiting Yu Kee restaurant in Kota Kinabalu, that is.

Yu Kee is just opposite Jesselton Hotel on Gaya Street. Their specialty is Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶), which literally translates into "Meat and Rib Tea".

For readers whom are not familiar with the local cuisine, it is a dark herbal soup that derives its taste from meat-packed ribs, whole garlic, mushrooms, and "whatever else" stewed up in a hotpot. With it, is usually servings of plain rice, and piles of fried dough ~ You Tiao (油条).

Back where I'm from, every bit of the soup and "stuff" is usually served in a hot pot for every person. Here at Yu Kee, we ordered every part of the pig in separate bowls. I guess that makes sense, since not everyone likes the idea of introducing pork intestines to his or her own...

Excuse the grotesque English...
But a pig is a pig and intestines are intestines right?
How else could I have put it??

Since I've been fed the best stuff from Klang (Selangor) and also quite a memorable one in Kuching (Sarawak), I wouldn't say that this is the definitely the best I have had. But to be fair, it still was a pretty good meal.

Now, back to the art of telling how good a business is...

Just look at the following picture.

I mean dude... while other restaurants are serving their customers toilet paper rolls for wipes, this one dishes out PRIMIER, which is 5 times more expensive!!

Business is definitely bustling at this KK local's hotspot!

People: Zahid & Van

2006-05-08T01:20:00.000+09:00

It seems like everyone is flocking into KK for holidays, coincidentally during the period when I am stationed here for my project.

Just a few weeks ago, I managed to meet up with Zahid and Van, both friends from my varsity days.

Coincidences in meeting them have been unbelievable. Take March for example, when I just arrived in KK...

Doing the obligatory "Hi what's up, I'm back and in KK for work" messages to all my friends, I get a reply back from Zahid saying "Do you want to meet up in KK this weekend?".

I called Zahid immediately upon receiving the message, and apparently they were going to be in Kota Kinabalu for a vacation! We did eventually meet up, and had quite a decent time catching up.

*Thanks for dinner guys!

That's not it...

Van and Zahid were on a long distance relationship for 5 years due to work commitments, where she was in Australia, and him in Malaysia. On 2 other occasions, my break in-between projects back home (Kuala Lumpur) coincided with Van's annual week-long visit of Zahid. That one time, I was alighting at a train station that I don't normally go to, and voila ~ there they were coming out from turnstiles at the opposite end of the station!

I can only let my imagination run wild, as to where we'll be meeting next. The Kota Kinabalu experience was certainly one of the more memorable ones. That's why it's on this blog. :)

Music: Aegukga (愛國歌/애국가) in the key of ROCK!

2006-05-03T14:29:00.000+09:00

If you remember, I blogged about how a band got in trouble by playing a rock version of the Korean national anthem.

As an act of support to the musicians, whom I believe to have had no disrespect towards their country, here is my version of Aegukga (애국가) in the key of Rock.

Click 'HERE'.

Note that I probably could have done a lot more: Progressing into a D-major, and throwing in a few more shredding phrases, or even follow the odd 5/4 - 4/4 timing that the original score calls for... but I believe the bridge I threw in, ala Vinnie Moore should be more than enough for now.

By the way... do pray that I don't get sued since it is copyrighted. ;)

In case you wanted to listen to the original, click 'here'.

Nature: Born to be in fashion

2006-04-30T20:02:00.000+09:00

This, I bet is the grossest pouch I have ever seen...

Spotted it at the Philippino Market in Kota Kinabalu town. It's probably a REAL skinned frog, judging by the feet and also the texture of the leather.

*Barfs

Food: Tenom coffee

2006-04-28T00:32:00.000+09:00

After hearing people brag about Tenom coffee, I just had to get me a pack to try.

I tell you ah, you smell that coffee that time... man your jaw muscles will loose control. Fuuuuuuuuu yoh, mouth will just hang there like it dun wan to move like that. You won't stop salivating, until your whole body drained of liquid, you shrivel, and you pengsan...

Somemore ah, you try once already... MAN! I tell you, you won't try another non-alcoholic drink ever except for coffee... not just another cheap substitute ~ only T.E.N.O.M. coffee. Even if you're an alcoholic, you'll be sure to give it all up, since you've tasted something even more addictive ~ Tenom coffee!
- Quote by Vincent Tan

Anyway, it's freshly grounded, packed.... and I'm sure I must have been ripped off, since I paid like RM5.00 (USD1.50) for that wee small little excuse for a 300g bag of coffee.

Actually, it's about the same as that Arabica breed of ground coffee mum buys at the local store back home... also roasted with a tad of butter and salt. Funny as it sounds, but I think that roasting it in that manner basically removes any after taste to the brewed coffee! Try it, and tell me it doesn't work.

Instead of hearing me rant non-technically about Tenom coffee, have a read 'HERE'.

About me: Australian prospects

2006-04-26T23:57:00.000+09:00

Guess all that hassle paid off, having to deal with my IELTS test, and persistence in haggling with my case officer, which if you remember ~ ended in disaster.

I am a permanent resident of Australia. :)

Only thing left for me to do, would be to make a flight into Australia, get my visa validated, and I will have free access to Australia for the next 5 years. I basically get equal rights with any Australian, except the right to vote, and the right to get on the dole in the next 24 months.

*D'uh! I've got hands and feet. I want to work, forget about social welfare!

Then again, with my job travelling all over the place, I have concerns about whether I'd be able to meet the requirement of living in Australia physically for an accumulated 2 of the next 5 years. But there seems to be a wee light in the yonder... more on that when it's all confirmed.

*I could leave Malaysia sooner than you think...

Ah well, I'll deal with whatever concerns when I get to them... Melbourne, here I come!

Nature: Ribena berries

2006-04-24T14:06:00.000+09:00

Spotted this at the Gaya Street Sunday Market.

What the...

Ribena berries??!!

I mean, what in the world are these things anyway?

From memory, Ribena berries are nothing like the spikey puffer fish-ish looking thing in that basket. They should be ROUND, PURPLE, cute and adorable… like on the Ribena drink advertisements, that is.

Travel: Gaya Street Sunday Market

2006-04-22T14:39:00.000+09:00

Gaya Street… What a glorious address to be perched at on a Sunday mornings. Packed with people of sorts, it’s definitely one of those places to go on a weekly basis just to get de-social anxietilized (is there such a word?).

A weekend market opens here from wee hours of the dawn, up until 2pm in the afternoon on a Sunday only. Don’t ask me what time it opens, because it was already bustling when I got there at 8am.

With stalls sprawled all over the vicinity of Gaya Street, overflowing into the side streets, you could pretty much get EVERYTHING: From local produce, clothing, tools and potted plants, down to these friggin weird looking vegetables.

Just a piece of advice: If you intend to visit after 8am, don’t drive if you can afford a taxi. Otherwise, just walk. Parking and traffic is horrendous, especially later in the day.

~~I won't tell you about the girls that hang out there, and the fact that KK's hooker district is in the vicinity.~~

Paid the market a visit a few weekends ago, and I must say that my life was finally completed then ~ I got my grounded Tenom coffee powder.

I think I'll be there again tomorrow...

Language: Menggatal

2006-04-11T09:03:00.000+09:00

Have a go at me for insulting somebody else’s language, but this just cracks me up.

The area where our power plant is being built is an industrial area with power plants and factories called “Menggatal”.

For those of you who think it’s just another name, it’s not. For those who think that it probably sounds perfectly fine in the local lingo (Kadazan and what have yous), it probably does… but consider the following dissection of the Malay grammar:

Verb/Adjective is put into it’s context of time and intent, with an verb-modifiers stuck to the front and back of the word - affixes. For example:

Use ~ Guna	Beautiful ~ Cantik
Uses/Using ~ Mengguna/menggunakan	Beautify ~ Mempercantikkan
Used (past tense) ~ Digunakan	Most beautifullest ~ Tercantik sekali

Hence, “men-/meng-/memper-” puts a verb into the context that it is being done… or implying “to be” and in the process of doing/being.

Gatal on the other hand, is the Malay word for “itchy”, and sometimes in slang, also meaning “horny”… go figure why it is. ;)

So technically, Menggatal means:

“In the process of being horny”

I think I might have just signed up to build a power plant in a redlight district, and gosh I love taking apart languages!

About me: My new Motorola L6

2006-04-08T19:02:00.000+09:00

For the life of me, I finally bought a new phone after saving up money for the last 5 years…

Sounds pitiful? Shower me with money!

Anyway, you can read all about the phone’s specifications on the web, I am sure. Hence I will not elaborate, except some things about the phone I noticed:

It’s small and flat. It takes time to get used to, since all the keys are so close to one another.

The cover is brushed metal and not cheap plastic... so cool!

You can’t text message in any language other than English, even though menus are available in Chinese.

The camera sucks, judging by the picture of the mysterious wild panda sighting in the last post.

Then again, all I needed is a phone, who in the world would be in their right mind to compare the photo quality with a *Canon digital camera anyway?
*You know where my loyalty stands ;)
Text messaging ~ Motorola uses it's proprietary iTap system.

I love Nokia’s T9 system (messaging predictive text input) much better than the rest. But honestly I am starting to change my mind about that, even though this Motorola takes a wee while to get used to. I can see that iTap is a lot better than what people give it credit for. Let's compare...

iTap CONS
For example, when typing a non-standard word such as “Xceed”:
Nokia’s T9 will prompt you with different combination of letters, and choices of words. When you finally decide that the choices are not what you want, you will be prompted by the system to input a word manually. Once done, the word will be used in the current message, and stored in the dictionary for future messages.

Motorola’s iTap will also go through a list of words. At the end of it, if there were nothing that suits your needs, you’d have to delete the whole word, and start all over, switch to manual input mode, and type.
*What a waste of time!

PROS

iTap

Bravo iTap!

Note that I bought this phone in Kota Kinabalu. Initially, I thought it would be more expensive, comparing with the "main land" on the likes of grocery and car prices. I compared prices with those my sister quoted me from around Kuala Lumpur, between RM750 (USD$200) ~ RM850 (USD$226). It isn't even guaranteed that I'd get an original warranty.

*Surprise surprise!

I believe I got a good deal ~ RM670 (USD$180), which includes all original Motorola warranty. From what I hear from word of mouth, KK is indeed cheaper overall, simply due to the competition.

Come buy a phone in KK!

Nature: Wild Pandas in Borneo

2006-04-05T09:54:00.000+09:00

Coming into work a few days ago, we found thrash sprawled outside the site office in a total mess.

Before being cleaned up by the cleaning lady, I managed to capture a quick and dirty shot with my new *ehem.

I swear it was wild Pandas on the loose in Borneo, tearing up thrash bins at night!

Well, of course... that's all subject to blog reader scrutiny. :P

PMS: Work permit...

2006-03-30T18:00:00.000+09:00

I'm always an advocate of 'Doing the right thing'. This includes applying for work permits when you go to a foreign country for employment.

But this is just stupid because...

I NEED A WORK PERMIT

... while I am Malaysian, on Malaysian soil, working with Malaysian contractors, and building a power plant for my own country ~ Malaysia!

Fine... so there is the East-West Malaysian issue going on, hence the permit to limit West Malaysians, i.e.: ME, working here.

*I am from Kuala Lumpur (West - Peninsula), in Kota Kinabalu (East - Borneo island).

From what I gather, East Malaysians feel that the West is out here to take their resources, and out to stop the progress of their people... yadi yadi yada. It's understandable that the Easties are pissed, because some of the key businesses over here are apparently, dominated by Westies. But this is still SO stupid... Pretty Much Senseless (PMS)!

Food: Crazy about coconuts

2006-03-29T14:23:00.000+09:00

Over the weekend, Elton – an old classmate from university who is a local, lead the way to explore some of the culinary delights that Kota Kinabalu had to offer.

Being a nature-ish + beach-ish + chilled out-kinda resort town that Kota Kinabalu is, they naturally have a lot of coconuts.

*Think Hawaii

One of the places we stopped at, were simply wooden shacks by the main road that served up coconut. Apart from your normal young coconut, they served two other varieties – Burnt Coconut (Kelapa Bakar) and Coconut with Pudding (Kelapa Puding).

Burnt coconut is basically a skinned coconut that is put on coal and burnt on the outside. When served, its contents are hot, and the coconut flesh peals off simply with a scrape of the spoon. Taste-wise, it’s almost like baked coconut, yet retaining the moist and smooth texture of fresh coconut.

A bit of a history lesson here… Word has it, in the days when forests were burnt to clear land, someone decided to try out some of the coconuts burnt along the way. He/she found that it was good and hence, burnt coconut came about.

*Kelapa Bakar = RM4.00 (USD$1.10)

Kelapa Puding, literally meaning “coconut with pudding”, is a pudding filled coconut. Contents are served cold. Puding Kelapa on the other hand, is simply plain old coconut pudding served in a cup. They serve that too, but why go for the (*Yawn) boring stuff, when you can experience the novelty of having it served in a coconut.

*Kelapa Puding = RM3.00 (USD$0.80)

Honestly, the two coconuts would have made a complete meal. One cooked, and one dessert. Try them when you visit Kota Kinabalu. These road-side stalls are found mostly in the outskirts of the city center.

@ Work: Turbine is here

2006-03-25T06:28:00.000+09:00

Alright, it's been awhile so I thought I really should update...

Since the last post on Sunday, work has been on over-drive for the last few days. This is predominantly due to the fact that our turbine and generators have arrived.

Think you can grab one of these babies, throw 'em on a truck, grab a crane and throw them on the ground? Not really... It took us about 6 days for both machines, from when they arrived at the port 15km away, to when they finally got set down onto their foundations.

Stay tuned until after the busy period. ;)

Music: Space...

2006-03-20T21:49:00.000+09:00

Over the weekend on Sunday, I made it to Skyline SIB church in Kota Kinabalu, prior to running of abruptly at the end to go to work. Singing the song Amazing Grace (John Newton, 1779) just absolutely touched me in a way I have not felt for a long time. Especially when we got to the chorus "...T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far... and Grace will lead us home".

*I got teary eyed, but who cares!

Feeling inspired and all, I decided to pick up the guitar to do a wee rendition of the song, but came out with this instead... Have a listen to ~ Space.

*It's far from Amazing Grace... I know.

Don't ask me how it happened, but at least I tried right?

Food: Healthy weekend

2006-03-19T09:20:00.000+09:00

Embarking on a quest to rid myself of unhealthy elements in my diet, I decided on Martabak for dinner last night.

What the Sabahan version of Martabak really is, is a batter of schmushed egg, onion and vegetable mix, wrapped in a thin flour dough skin. The package is then is deep fried to a crisp gold brown on the outside, and served with chili sauce.

*Deep-frying kills germs. Must be healthy... right?

God bless Sabah... the Martabak cost me only RM1.50 (USD$0.40). Other things I had for dinner last night include:

Cendol~~, containing coconut milk high in cholesterol and packed with sugar~~ ~ RM1.50 (USD$0.40).
Deep fried banana ~ RM0.50 for 4 pieces (USD$0.15).

Stay healthy people, and take me as your best role model!

People: Uncle Voon

2006-03-18T02:12:00.001+09:00

Since arriving in Malaysia, I messaged a few of my closer friends to do the obligatory "Hi I'm back, call me sometime" message.

Having messaged Felix ~ a friend from church back in KL, he knew I was in his hometown of Kota Kinabalu. He then gave his dad a call to help me out, especially on finding accommodation and settling in.

So we met up tonight.

Apart from showing me around KK, and buying me dinner (Thanks Uncle Voon!), he also helped me work out a great deal at a phone shop for a "new purchase". More on that later.

What was cool too is...

He reads this blog!

I am flattered.

p.s: For the readers who aren't familiar with Asian salutations, Uncle Gerald Voon isn't really my uncle. "Uncle" and "Aunty" is just how you would address someone much more senior than yourself to show respect. This is similar to the Korean Ajeossi (아저씨) and Ajumma (아줌마) salutations.

About me: Views from my hotel

2006-03-16T22:36:00.000+09:00

Kota Kinabalu does have some spectacular views, since it's on the ocean front and facing the West.

Read "B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.S.U.N.S.E.T.S"

Just so you know, this is the view from my hotel window out into the South China Sea at dusk. Absolutely magnificent!

I need someone to hug!

Just so you all know, I have put myself up at LeMeridian hotel since my arrival. For now, I have started house hunting, but it seems that an apartment facing the seafront will be inevitable in two weeks. ;)

Will be updating you guys as we go along.

@ Work: Overwhelming

2006-03-15T22:29:00.000+09:00

Okay, it's officially not funny that I've arrived in Kota Kinabalu. There's lots to do, and so little time!

Dear readers, you guys will just have to be patient with sporadic updates for the next two weeks, as I am still trying to set up the job. Drawings, technical issues, getting to know the contractors, procedures... etc. Sorry.

*Oh crap... back to doing some work, and it's 9:23pm!

Announcement: Sudden departure.

2006-03-11T11:33:00.000+09:00

Every single day, I dread the day that I would have to leave Korea... the day that I will eventually leave HER behind. D-day was originally set to be 24th of March 2006.

Unbeknownst to me, my boss had other plans. Not knowing what to expect, I called my boss on Tuesday ~ two days after returning from Bangkok, when I got the email that simply said, "Call me. It's urgent." It's ironclad now.

I leave Korea for Malaysia, on the 13th March 2006. I travel to the new job-site the very next day.

Welcome to the life of a field engineer.

My next project will be out in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia for the next 6 to 8 months as a lead engineer for the installation of 2 turbines.

Hopefully I will be updating the blog, and my readers interested in Korean issues will still read on about my Malaysian adventures. Wish me well, and I will try to update once I settle in to the place. Thanks for all the support so far!

Language: Bangkok!

2006-03-11T10:55:00.000+09:00

Alright, it wouldn't surprise me if someone told me the Thai phrase for "I need to go eat curry" would be 10,000 syllables. Thai is HARD!

But this sure beats it... Bangkok's full ceremonial name is the longest name of a place, as recorded by the Guinness Book of Records.

When spoken in Thai, it literally translates into:

The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

(กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถาน อมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์)
- wikipedia.org

Being curious and all, I asked our tour guide - Mei, to recite the name in Thai. Click on the picture below to see a video of how it's said in full!

20 seconds to recite the whole name of a city ~ now THAT is a mouthful!

p.s: You might need the DivX CODEC for viewing the video.

Travel: What's a Wat?

2006-03-10T10:51:00.000+09:00

During my week-long stay in Bangkok, we managed to squeeze in two brief tours of the city. It really would've been better if I'd taken off to explore on my own for days. Being that I was there for a conference (honest!), it really wasn't too bad. At least we got to see some of the Thai cultural icons ~ Wats.

What's a Wat?

In a nutshell, it's a Buddhist temple from the Cambodian, Lao or Thailand region. Click 'HERE' for a more detailed definition.

Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) was one of the gems we visited on the first of our Chao Phraya River tour. Located on the Western banks/Thonburi area of the city, it consists of a center tower (Khmer style prang), boasting 104m tall, with 4 smaller prangs seeded at its corners. All of the towers are adorned by pieces of Chinese porcelain.

Nothing sits within this temple. This is only a structure, with no rooms or halls for believers to pray in. Although it once housed the infamous Emerald Buddha, the relic has now been moved to Wat Phra Kaew, closer to the Grand Palace.

Noting that Wat Arun is probably one of the most published images of Bangkok, it is also on the back of a 10Baht (USD$0.25) coin.

Wat Pho, or Phra Chetuphon as known by the locals, impressed me the most.

Wat Pho dates back to about 200 years prior to Bangkok being established as the capital of Siam in 1782 by King Rama I. It is by the Grand Palace, housing a 13m (43ft) high and 46 meter (151ft) long sleeping Buddha.

At the temple, handfuls of beads could be offered up as prayers, placing them one by one into the bowls while walking alongside the temple walls.

Wat Traimit in the China Town area was one of the interesting ones. In there, sat a statue of Buddha, made out of 5,500kg (12,000lbs)!

At first glance, the 3m high Buddha image in here looks distinctly average and undeserving of the busloads of tourists that visit every day. What attracts them all however, is the remarkable fact that it's made of 5.5 tonnes of solid gold.

The story behind the image is that in 1957 a large stucco Buddha image was being moved by crane during development of a port. To the horror of all concerned, the crane operator accidentally dropped the image, sending it crashing towards the ground. Instead of smashing however, the stucco covering merely cracked and in the process revealed the solid gold image hidden underneath. It is thought to have been covered like this during the early Ayuthaya or Sukhothai period, apparently to protect the image from the invading Burmese, and remained that way for several hundred years.
- into-asia.com

Wats are everywhere in Bangkok. Turn every corner, and you'll see a Wat here, there, and everywhere!

Kings continually to built temples in the capital. Probably the last official one being built by the kings, as we were told, was Wat Benchamabophit ~ or Marble Temple. Construction commenced in 1899, under orders of King Chulalongkorn. This is a UNESCO world heritage site, housing 52 Buddha statues, an intricate roof (inside and outside), and is actually still being used by monks for meditation.

I'd like to go on and on about more of the places we visited, and the histories, but I guess that's probably enough about Wats for now.

If you'd like to see more pictures of the trip, not only of temples, do click on my photo album link on the blog's sidebar, or 'HERE'.

Food: Thai and all things glorious

2006-03-08T14:31:00.001+09:00

Having been back to Korea for a few days now, I thought it'd be about time I blogged about the trip to Bangkok. Not having any experience with the Thai culture and its culinary offerings, I did what made the most sense... I asked.

Eating Asia is a blog I read regularly, if not on a daily basis. Robyn has certainly done a tremendous job at documenting all foodstuffs that is Asian. Being enthusiastic as she is about food... I got me a 4-page email about things to eat.

The treasure hunt began on the afternoon I arrived, where I ventured down Wireless Road in search of some roast pork and Polo chicken. Instead, I was greeted by wisps of Pandan leaf sweetness, while exploring a little lane ~ Soi Polo (Polo Road), off Wireless. There she was, the little lady on the side of the road throwing bits of dough into boiling sweet water.

She was preparing Bua Loy ~ A dessert with boiled tri-colored dough, served in coconut milk, corn and yam chunks. I suppose the next closest thing, would be the Malaysian/Singaporean Bubur Caca.

*Cost: 18 Baht = USD$0.50

Soi Suan Phlu was my next destination. This is another diplomatic area where embassies, including that of Malaysia, reside. Further down the road, were two rows of shops running alongside the single carriageway road, with markets and places selling all kinds of goods and services. Just in front of the market, was where I found the Khanom Jeen curries that Robyn recommended to me.

Sure... adventurous Vincent definitely went for the fish INNARDS curry (Gaeng Tai Plaa) served with rice noodles and any choice of raw greens, fried fish cakes (Tawtman Plaa), and not so traditional Coke.

As much as I would like to claim to be macho... man was it spicy! But I enjoyed it, being that I have never tasted anything quite like it.

*Cost: 55 Baht = USD$1.40

Topping off the meal with dessert, I bought me a fried banana off the side of the road. What I was impressed with was the fact that the Thais really do pay so much attention to detail, even with the smallest thing such as a fried banana!

It's not any ol' friend banana, as it as encrusted in a layer of what I could only figure out to be yam (??), and fried to golden perfection.

*Cost: 50 Baht = USD$0.15

Life is good like that.

Unfortunately for me, after downing 3 dishes in a span of a mere few hours, I had no capacity for more food hunting. Thus I went in search of other things to see that night.

But that will be a story for tomorrow... :)

Music: Negaraku

2006-03-07T10:00:00.000+09:00

Backtracking to the Korean national anthem makeover project... My guess is, efforts to muster up at least 20 comments to re-do Aegukga (愛國歌/애국가) has hit a stump. Come on people, surely we can do better than 15 comments?

Anyway, while waiting on those comments to pile up past the 20-mark, I had 30 minutes last night to record some guitar riffs. So I present to you the one and only...

*Drum roll

Malaysia's ~ NEGARAKU!

(Click 'HERE' to listen.)

I do apologize if I didn't manage to include drum tracks, as well as doing some post editing to remove that background noise... But if you are convinced that this version of Negaraku is half-decent, go now and spread the good word. Forward THIS post, and leave more comments to have Aegukga remade!

Let's get the project going, sometime in April ~ that's when I'd have left Korea for greener pastures. Hopefully then, lawsuits that may follow over Aegukga's copyrights won't be an issue anymore. :P

Stuff: They are serious!

2006-03-06T16:50:00.000+09:00

You know that the Koreans are serious about their barbeque... when they've got smart vents of the likes of this:

Use of the vent is two-fold:

Suck up all the smoke from the barbeque
Move air through the burning coal, which drives it hotter.

When not in use, it is folded, stored hanging up top, and out of the way.

Note:
Real sorry that I haven't been updating. It's been helluva ride traveling back to Korea yesterday, and catching up on work today. So today's post is something that I wrote some time ago, but never published. Will make sure you guys get a scoop on the Thailand trip tomorrow ~ God willing!

Back to work! *Grumbles...

Announcement: I miss you all!

2006-02-28T20:18:00.000+09:00

Just so you all know that I really ~~don't~~ miss you all, and can't wait to get home to properly update my blog. My ~~holiday cum~~ conference here in Bangkok ends on the 5th of March.

Just so you know how I feel, here's a picture of me with a LONG and MISEREABLE face in front of Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). :)

Announcement: Bangkok here I come... Life's hard like that.

2006-02-24T09:23:00.000+09:00

I will try posting as often as I can next week, but I hope you understand my HARDSHIPS ~~of being in a paradise of culture, sights and history, which probably will cost me a fraction of what I'd spend in Korea...~~ ;)

In the meantime, leave COMMENTS on THIS POST if you want a remake of the national anthems. It'll be good, I promise. Come on, you can do better than that!

P.S.: For a preview of what I can do with the guitar, refer back to the WEDDING MARCH audio post in December '05.

News: Rock version of Korean national anthem causes a ruckus!

2006-02-23T13:44:00.000+09:00

I was in the midst of remaking our Malaysian anthem in the key of Rock when I read 'THIS'. *Gulp

SK Telecom managed to ruffle some feathers in Korea recently when they screened a TV commercial containing the rock remake of the Korean national anthem ~ Aegukga (愛國歌/애국가).

Credits go to Yoon Do-Hyun band (윤도현밴), which I must say has some excellent musicianship, and were probably only trying to expressing their love of the country through their style of music. Don't see anything wrong with that!

Not that this is an issue now, but damn ~ I also found out the song is copyrighted.

Yes, you heard me right:

Aegukga is COPYRIGHTED!

It's a first for me to hear that a national anthem has a copyright... especially coming from a country that copied EVERYTHING from Louis Vuitton bags to Rexona deodorants!

Copyrights originally belonged to the composer Ahn Eak-Tae (deceased) and his family until 2015. But rights were relinquished/transferred over to the Korean government on 16^th March 2005!
- wikipedia.org

I wonder if shit is going to hit the fan now if they pursue the matter. Anyway...

Got me a wicked idea!

If anyone wants to hear MY souped up version of the Malaysian national anthem Negaraku, or if you want to hear me remake Aegukga (gulp!) ~ Leave a comment, as well as forward this post to as many people as you can. I will take the plunge if we get the comments box filled up with at least 20 comments.

If that happens, you'll be seeing some remodeled national anthems on this blog, and probably legal lawsuits, all within the next two weeks. *Wink

Travel: Korea ~ Come prepared.

2006-02-23T10:48:00.000+09:00

In response to the comments over the last two posts on: ^1.Whether I am in Seoul, ^2.I should leave an address for that raw fish place, and ^3.People are all rave about Korea, and would like to visit.

I definitely appreciate the comments, and there is no doubt that Korea is quite the place to visit.

BUT!

Response 1:

I am NOT in Seoul, but in Suncheon (순천) city of the South Jeolla ~ Jeollanam Do (전라남도).

I am a gazillion miles from Seoul!

Let me jog your memory by re-posting this map.

Response 2:

I wished I could leave you an address, but the fact is, it would not do you ANY good...

Addresses DO NOT work in Korea!

Streets are messy as hell here. Sure ~ officially, EVERY building has an address, but people rarely have a friggin clue about where that would be. This is VERY evident especially in Busan (부산), where side streets, lanes and haphazardly built houses are scattered all over the bloody place.

*Any thoughts about Jeju Island G?

People work with LANDMARKS and MAPS. That was how fax machines were popularized in Korea, as people often faxed each other maps of where they lived/did business ~ Quote from Lonely Planet Korea.

Many businesses that don't have an address in a premier building, or on a main road, like this motel I stayed at once, would have a map of their business location printed out on the back of their card.

I salute Korean postal workers.

Response 3:

Don't come to Korea unless you have local contacts, speak and read the Korean language, or are with a tour group.

It is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to experience the real culture if you do not fall into the afore-mentioned categories.

To illustrate this ~ I had to go to Seoul for my IELTS exam in January, and also a medical checkup. So the clinic I had to go to was at the Hanaro building.

Fair enough. I called up, and the nice front desk lady said it was "... in Insadong... two corners away from Pizza Hut... get off at Jonggak metro station... you will see a BIG sign that says Ha-Na-Ro".

How hard can that be right?

*Mumbles: "Yeah right..."

Instructions were clear, but it still took me awhile. Have a look at the picture below.

See any English writing ANYWHERE, apart from that microscopically lame excuse for an English signage at the bottom? Even though I read Korean, I'm still not as fluent as I should be. That's why it took 30 minutes before I spotted the words "하나로" up top.

Not convinced?

Most local restaurants (non of that tourist restaurant crap) have only Korean menus. Services such as most banks and even motels have no English speaking personnel... and good luck to trying to find an English roadmap if you intend to drive around the country ~ there is non detailed enough that I know of.

Heck, if you are still hell-bent on visiting... come prepared!

Business: Chockablock full!

2006-02-22T09:23:00.000+09:00

How the crap does a business/shop attract customers when you are:

A wee shop on the 5th floor of a building with no elevator?
Have 20,000 business banners cropped up next to yours?
Is one of the 450,000 PC rooms, where ALL of them are most likely to be packed into a two-block radius?

Note that in the picture, EVERY banner you see represents a business in those buildings. This is not a unique sight.

Welcome to the Korean money making ~~dilemma~~ dream.

Food: Raw fish ~ with class.

2006-02-21T09:30:00.000+09:00

Sometimes, when raw fish on a cheap marble bench with water all over a market floor just ain't good enough, a visit to a raw fish house ~ Hoitjib(횟집) may be necessary.

Had a chance to ask a friend out just before Seollal. Since he's a good friend, and the occasion was more of a congratulatory New Year celebration, I couldn't be all cheap ass could I?

That being said, we dined at Sugung Hoitjib (수궁횟집) in the Jinwol/Hadong area. It's a fancy restaurant, which is famous for local delicacies of raw fish and side dishes. The good news is, the cost for something of similar quality, is nothing like that in Seoul or Pusan. A meal for the three of us, which you will see, cost only 80,000 Won (USD$80). Relatively cheap!

--- Savor the unlikely ---

Side dishes flow onto the table in abundance before the main event of sliced raw fish. Contrary to popular belief, none of the familiar radish and cabbage kimchis were present. Instead, we were presented with a selection of mollusks.

Among the lot, was this icky-furry-looking thing that you have to dig the insides out... the rest of the fur goes in the thrash. Sounds kinky doesn't it?

More shells and clams.

Spring rolls, fried fish and such...

Then there was this funky mushroom/roe assortment that tasted like... mushroom and roe?

I swear that this next dish ~ Preserved Fish A'la Hadong (name of this area), is one of the nastiest I've ever had. Since the meat is plain white/pinkish, it looks exactly like plain boiled fish to the unsuspecting eye ~ Guess again.

As the unsuspecting connoissuer samples the cleverly disguised morsels of death, a potent wisp of ammonia pierces through the nostrils in succession of every bite... and the stench does not back off easily. Not even after multiple shots of Soju!

OK, so I exaggerated. It DOES taste like ammonia, but the taste does grow on you, and I like it. It's an acquired taste. ;)

--- End of Entree ---

Yes... it's true, that was JUST the entree.

Here comes the main dish of raw fish ~ Hoei (회). Raw overload!

I guess the Koreans don't believe in ever believe that being skinny is a good thing. Along with the sliced fish, more side dishes are laid down. One of the funkier ones was an ingenious mixture of tuna and roe/caviar. Interesting...

--- Almost at the end! ---

To wash it all down, there was also the infamous fish broth ~ Maeuntang (매은탕).

Still believe that this whole meal, which really could feed four people, cost only $80? You bet'cha ;)

Stuff: Holy crap ~ Bubble butt sighting!

2006-02-20T08:53:00.000+09:00

It's a bl***y Monday, and I believe a light and nonsensical post would be appropriate. So let's just take our attention away from Korea for two seconds, and focus our attention on Egypt for instead.

Was surfing Google Earth the other day and decided to look up the Egyptian Sphinxes you see...

As I zoomed in on the Sphinx, I discover... Holy crap, the Sphinx has a bubble butt!

Bubble butt
~ Well rounded, firm/not sagging and wobbles when walking. Bulges pants preferably.

Example of a perfect bubble butt:

What I'm particularly excited about, is because Korean women have NO bubble butts. Stereotype dictates that ALL Korean women have flat butts. So it's been awhile since the last sighting.

Hail the great buttatologist Vincent!

Announcement: IELTS results are out!

2006-02-18T08:18:00.000+09:00

I finally got the IELTS test results in the mail a couple of days ago. This was after a wee mishap, resulting in emails flying back and forth. A copy of my original test results slip was probably sent to Godknowswhereland, and I had to request for an extra copy from the British Council (Korea).

Cut to the chase ~ I did good. Hope my immigration case officer thinks so too.

Full score is 9. *Winks

Food: Oyster rice ~ Gulbab (굴밥)

2006-02-17T08:59:00.000+09:00

Gul (굴) is Korean for Oyster. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the nastiest, slimiest morsels that one can ever savor... I mean, what's up with the funky gross-looking layers of GRAY skin anyway?!

BUT I LIKE IT!

OK, if it's not particularly appealing to you, here's one (less gross) way of eating it ~ In a hotpot of rice and roe. I introduce to you, Oyster Rice ~ Gulbap (굴밥).

As with the post I did on Barley Rice ~ Boribab (보리밥) in November, you mix the contents in the burning clay pot so that the oyster, roe, seaweed, vegetables and rice will cook in each other's juices. Add soy sauce as appropriate.

Once cooked, consume it in any manner your culinary senses desire.

I personally like the idea of it wrapped up in seaweed ~ Kim (김).

Then there were the side dishes again. For one, the plate of dried seaweed seasoned with sugar caught my taste bud's attention.

...and more oysters!

Tell me why do we need SO MUCH aphrodisiac in this country again?

One of the best things about Korea is the cheap seafood. By saying 'cheap', I am talking in relative terms... Just so you know, this meal cost only 5,000 Won each at the Tongyeong Gulbab (통영굴밥) chain of stores. :)

Travel: Geoje and Oedo Islands

2006-02-16T08:21:00.000+09:00

Last Sunday was one of those rare days in winter where the temperatures actually shot up above the 10-Celsius mark. Being all-trusting in the local forecast bureau the previous night, we planned a trip down to Geoje Island in the South of the Korean Peninsular bright and early. The ultimate destination was to visit the Geoje's outer lying island of Oedo.

For movie buffs, this is where the grand finale where Winter Sonata (겨울연가) was shot. In the show, Jun-sang and Yoo-jin finally kiss to the end of their happy relationship by getting married, made babies, had fights everyday about credit card bills, and finally filed for divorce in year 2006.

But REALLY... I didn't watch the movie, couldn't care less. Just thought it'd be a good idea to give the movie's sad grand finale a better makeover.

That's why I'm not a movie producer/director. Anyway...

Geoje is a nice place if you like laid back and scenic views of fishing villages around the island. One thing that was in abundance around the island was seafood and oyster beds. Have a go at the grilled Oysters (굴구이) and Oyster Rice (굴국밥) if you ever get out there. *Watch this blog!

There are a number of ports that have boats going to Oedo Island. We chose randomly by plucking daisy petals (yeah rite!), and head for Haegeumgang port town in the South East of Geoje. There we bought tickets for ferries and a 1.5-hour pass to explore the island. We were designated a boat on which we will travel to, and back from the island. Costs: 16,000 Won/person.

After 20 minutes worth of good ol' rocking boat action to get to the island, we finally had to bribe the gate attendants with ANOTHER 5,000 Won each (Read: T.I.C.K.E.T.S) to start our wee adventure on the island.

Lee Chang-Ho and his wife settled into Oedo Island in 1969. It is a privately owned island, which was subsequently opened to the public in 1995. Having
nurtured the surroundings for over 30 years, the couple's island boasts some 1,000 sub-tropical plants, sculpture parks ~ including the Venus Garden, as well as a prayer chapel on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea North of the island.

1.5-hours was definitely enough to explore the football field-sized island on foot.

Strolling through gardens with multitudes of flora, and sipping on tea from verandas overlooking the crystal-blue ocean was relaxing.

Then there was also the pristine chapel on the Northern-Eastern cliffs. I could only imagine speaking to God (if that's your thing), with golden rays of sun peeping through the horizon at the break of dawn.

20 minutes short of boarding the boat back to Geoje Island, we warmed ourselves up with a hot cuppa at Otea's Room by the docks.

Perfect ending to a tour of the island...

From there, we drove back and had dinner in the town of Tongyeong on the North-West of Geoje Island.

So to end the day on a high note, we caught the sunset. Gorgeous ~

Have a look at the other pictures we took on our trip over the weekend 'HERE'

Announcement: My Valentine's Day

2006-02-15T09:25:00.000+09:00

OK, so I lied on Monday about posting about our trip to Geoje and Oedo islands over the weekend... Valentine's was so nice, I now have to BRAG about it!

I mentioned yesterday that men shouldn't do squat, as that would totally violate the whole Valentine etiquette... OK, I admit! I did give her a small (like REALLY small) bar of Swiss chocolate.

Hey ~ You can't just cut a guy off a bad habit rite? Weaning takes time. A small bar of chocolate for the girl... Seriously, that should be acceptable?

Back to the topic of what I got for Valentine's ~ She gave me a box of Ferrero Rocher, and a PUMA cap.

Coming back from work, we skipped the whole commercial propaganda, and beelined for the supermarket. She made dinner, and even though there weren't any candlelight, steak or sparkling wine... it was beautiful.

The company was, that is.

All in all, to top off the day, THIS cracked me up as I flipped open the tags on the new cap for a read.

Bloody geniuses... I would buy the cap just for the laugh! Well-done PUMA.

Culture: Happy Valentine's from Korea

2006-02-14T13:19:00.000+09:00

Since it is Valentine's Day all over the world today, let me take the chance to wish everyone a:

Happy Valentine's Day

Living in such a male-chauvinistic society, surely you jester that Korean men must spend phenomenal amounts during this commercialized holiday?

On the contrary... it is the women who do all the work on Valentine's Day.

In Korea, the year's calendar has been infested with so much commercialization that it's not even funny. A special day is created oh-so-often, concurrently with clever marketing plans to take over the world. Playing on the theme of Valentine's, a 'special day' (Ehem!) has been created for the 14th day of each month, each to it's own ~~bullshit~~ story. Note that even the Koreans I know dismiss most of these days without even a whim.

Read on about what people coin to be COMMERCIAL holidays in Korea if you want to find out why MEN should do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on Valentine's Day!

14th January ~ Diary Day:
Lovers exchange fresh new diaries, signifying the start of a new year. If you two have been together for a while, hopefully your lover will FINALLY remember your birthday this year by writing it down in the diary.
*D'uh... Buy a PDA!
14th February ~ Valentine's Day:
In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honor St. Valentine who was martyred in 269 A.D. for holding on to Christianity.

Back in those days, lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. On the eve of the Roman festival of Lupercalia however, which is Valentine’s, would be the only day that girls are allowed to show their feelings. Over time, February 14th became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers.

Following that tradition, it is the day when Korean women GIVE men chocolates as an embodiment of their ~~intention to shag~~ admiration. A gift would also be appropriate. The male has a ONE-month period to decide whether he accepts her ~~invitation to shag~~ heart.
*Guys: Don't do ANYTHING today, unless you want to ruin her efforts! ;)
14th March ~ White Day:
So the deadline is up, and White Day is the day for the men (only) to take action.

On this day, if a man accepts the heart of the woman who confessed her love for him on Valentine’s Day, he will present her/his lover with candy. Otherwise, he will have to return her gift.
*Wake up! She'll expect more than JUST chocolates...
14th April ~ Black Day:

Black day is the day commemorated by either single men or women who have been disappointed with the passing of Valentine's and White days without a partner. On this day, participants will be dressed from head to toe in black EVERYTHING, including clothes, shoes, socks and accessories.

Lest we forget, black coffee and black sauce noodles ~ Jajangmyeon (자장면) are also consumed as an act of solidarity. To me, wearing black is just another excuse to spot out the single chicks so guys can hit on them.
*Getting hitched on this day is allowed!
14th May ~ Yellow and Rose Day:
Since Black Day is a day where single people mourn their sad lonely singlehood, Yellow day is the day you pray to get OUT of it.

As the name implies, you wear everything yellow, and eat curry, which is also (almost) Yellow. Since May is also the season where Roses flourish, this day is also called ‘Rose Day’. As the atmosphere is supposedly good, it will be a day where couples give each other roses, as a sign of a developing relationship.
*How bout praying for an upgrade?
14th June ~ Kiss Day:
In the event that things have been working out great between a couple up until Yellow day, a first kiss will be in the works on this day.

After the nice and fuzzy feelings have worn off, either from getting your tongue stuck in the other's braces, or basically from bad technique... this is ALSO the day in the year when couples sit down and CONFESS.

They are supposed to talk about everybody they’ve ever been with, kissed, or felt up. Since traditionally, rain is supposed to fall annually on this day, it will be coupled with the tears of joy couples share upon receiving painfully detailed accounts of each other’s sexual exploits.
*Oh sorry honey... got to go out of country for a project from the 13th ~ 15th!
14th July ~ Silver Day:
This is the day where the lover is introduced for the first time to one’s seniors, including those at school, the work place, as well as the parents. On this day, the seniors will have to present the lovers with money, or silver. Lovers may also exchange gifts made of silver.
*Only introducing her 5 months after she proposed in Feb 14th... is she THAT ugly?
14th August ~ Green Day:
Days of summer will be hot and unforgiving in this month. Lovers will hence seek out cooler environs, to go hand in hand for a walk in the forests. People with no lovers, will drink hard liquor with a Green theme to cheer up.
*I bet you the XXX Soju Co. invented this one!
14th September ~ Music and Photo Day:
Having introduced the lover to your family and seniors, it's probably time to introduce her to your mates. Have a party, crank the music up, and get the girl to come over and see how the boys get sloshed on Soju. Take incriminating evidence on film if you'd like.
*You'd be pretty lucky if she'd still hang around.
14th October ~ Wine Day:
It's the day to get serious and sit down to talk about whether you two were meant for each other. Choose a nice restaurant, have a wine, get tipsy... then maybe she'll agree to marrying you and still let you spend your salary at your discretion after marriage.
*In some Korean families I know, women manage ALL of the $$. Ouch!
14th November ~ Orange and Movie Day:
As if selling I Love You Day Pepero sticks on the 11th of November wasn't enough for the corporate thugs... they now insist that we watch movies, and buy more orange juice?!

Anyway...

Consuming the slightly sour orange juice is supposed to be a reminder to couples of the 'sour' times they promise to share together in the days ahead.
*Are the theatrics really necessary?
14th December ~ Hug Day:
Baby it's cold outside... gimme a hug!
*I wonder if love motel businesses are also better during that day...

Since I am living in Korea now, it'd be best that I follow the local practices... Alright ladies, show me the money!

Travel: Suncheon Film Village

2006-02-13T14:12:00.000+09:00

For my readers out there who watch Korean dramas, the new serial Love and Ambition (사랑과 야망) by SBS, is filmed in our fair city of Suncheon.

For the drama, the Suncheon 'Film Village' (순천 드라마 촬영장) was built with partial sponsorship from Suncheon's local governance. Since it's just two spits away from where I live in Wangji (왕지), we decided to pay the place a visit on Saturday.

Film village: An entire village built from scratch as a film set. Not all buildings in the village are functional, as most of them are facades of plywood and styrofoam.

If you were sharp enough, you could check out the filming schedule, pay the entrance fee of 3,000 Won (USD$3) per person, and possibly spot some of your favorite Korean movie stars working on the set.

It was a fun day out. Since I was puppy-sitting Gizmo while Rob was away for the weekend. What better way to raise girlie eyebrows than to take cute pictures, make silly sounds with the puppy, and having him sniff skirts isn't it?

I mean, who doesn't do it these days right? :P

Back on the village... It was an insightful tour.

Since the story line is set in the 1960's, many of the shops and houses supposedly depict what it was like in that era. If the houses are anything like what they had in real-life, then gosh ~ the living spaces they had to deal with were pretty darn small!

Being a foreigner visiting the set, I must say that they've paid pretty good attention to detail.

Then again, it's not all perfect, since I do have my doubts about a signboard that says "담배 ~ Cigarettes" outside a supposed 60's convenience store.

Seriously, what are the chances of any village folk, in a nation of predominantly rice farmers, know what a white man looks like back in the days, let alone speak the language?

Check out these bottles I spotted in the medicine shop.

People back then actually believe in drinking that stuff? "Life Revival Water" (literal translation of 活命水) sounds kinda shoddy don't you think? It almost reeks of packaged sewer water!

I can just imagine the advertising back then... "Not planning to die anytime soon? Have a Life Riviving Water!"

All in all, it was an awesome day out. Excellent weather, and great company. For more pictures, click 'HERE'.

More on a travel post about our trip on Sunday should be up by 15th February. Tomorrow, there will be a special post about Valentine's... stay tuned!

PMS: Do you think this will sell?

2006-02-11T09:59:00.000+09:00

Let's just stray away from the somewhat intense post from yesterday about Prophet Mohammed, and get back on-track to what Muses... is all about: Quirks!

I think I would've walked into THIS restaurant while in Seoul two weekends ago

... if it weren't for THIS sign

... to me, the words "Tourist Restaurant" equates to saying:

"Welcome! For your dinner tonight, we will be serving YOUR stretched out
platinum VISA card, topped with YOUR wallet, shaved into Sashimi-thin slices.
Lest we forget... there's the tip, service charges, and GST".

*Drip sweats and retreats with fear and trepidation...

Pretty Much Senseless (PMS)!!

OK, so maybe tourists who come round to these parts of the world aren't exactly the smartest... The restaurant looks like it's in pretty good shape.

News: We are not violent

2006-02-10T16:23:00.000+09:00

Some of you may know that the recent row about the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed and freedom of expression in Denmark has gotten somewhat out of hand. It's pretty much affecting the world now, including Malaysia with the recent suspension of Sarawak Tribune's license.

Here's a quote arising from the whole issue that seemed interesting enough to make it on this blog.

Being interviewed by BBC, and responding to queries as to whether Muslims REALLY are extremists:

"They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to
them and to their newspapers"
- Mawli Abdul Qahar Abu Israra, Protester

OK ~ we got our questions answered. :)

Culture: Middle Eastern caligraphy

2006-02-10T16:20:00.000+09:00

Being inspired by Gdimension's post today about a renowned calligrapher on Jeju Island, I have decided to re-post these pictures I took from Dubai some 3 years back.

These are Middle Eastern calligraphy pieces from an exhibition at the Al-Makthoum house.

As I understand it, most of the writings depict verses of praise to Allah from the Quran ~ Holy book of the Muslims.

They are so different to what I'm used to! Coming from a Chinese background, these writings were definitely an eye opener.

*Note: This is a repost from the old blog, since the Friendster service that it is on isn't reliable AT ALL. All of my archives there do not show anymore.

@ Work: All suited up for the cold

2006-02-09T10:14:00.000+09:00

Another cold front has hit Korea over the last few days, where temperatures plummeted into the sub-zero zone. If you have already been following this blog, you will know that there will be no end to the bitching until probably summer!

Anyway, I'm glad that someone else is more prepared on our site than me.

This is a 'Transmitter'.

Since there is water in it/flows through it, there is possibility of freezing... Long story short ~ It'll stop working, and a power plant could possibly shut down because of this one failure.

"So how?"... you may ask.

"Wrap special heat-tracing cables around it, run electricity through it, and this will heat up and keep it from freezing. Slap on insulation that'll keep the warmth in afterwards lah! That'll stop it from freezing over"... I will answer.

"Oh, so there's like a heater thingy underneath all that goo! But why so ugly wan?? Looks like a cob job where someone just slap some cow shit on there!"... you may ask again.

"Hey ~ this is the first time I'm seeing funky insulation like this too you know! Usually it's nicely wrapped, or they make nice boxes around it and stuff it with fuzzy insulating wool."... I explain.

"How does it look before having all that crap slapped on?"... you wonder.

"Click HERE."... I point.

By the way, this stuff stays on for the rest of its useful life.

PMS: Numbers don't match!

2006-02-08T09:26:00.000+09:00

Having visited Cheonggyecheon and blogged about how beautiful it was (Click 'HERE'), I decided to find out how much it cost.

On the official Cheonggyecheon website, it was quoted that:

Actual amount spent by September 2005: 386,739 million won
- Cheonggye official website

Hang on a minute...

Check out the cost breakdown posted on the website: 386,739 million Won seems to be the cost incurred only in 2005!

If you look at the cost breakdown carefully, you will find that something funky is going on. Try adding up the cost over the 3+ years, it's a total of 1,487,138 million!

Quoted numbers & cost breakdown DON'T match!

For those interested enough to see the cost breakdown page for yourself, go to the Cheonggyecheon homepage, and follow the links - Home > History > Restoration > Background.

Here's another point too ~ For convenience sake, let's just take the cost as USD$386 million. I was scratching my head like... Is it possible to plan, tear down 6 kilometers of highway in a densely populated urban area, remove all that rubble, re-route massive traffic, fancy publicity/PR, build a bunch of fancy monuments, throw in 3+ years, and spend ONLY USD$386 million??

In 2002, Yonhap news came out with a story with cost estimates prior to the start of the project. In the article, it mentions that it will cost (I quote) 900 billion won to restore Cheonggyecheon and 12 trillion won to develop the 792,000 square meter region over the next five years. Now that sounds a wee bit more reasonable!

I'm no accountant, but I believe this deserves to be tagged as Pretty Much Senseless (PMS). If it were a few dollars and cents, I really couldn't care less. But we're talking in the scale of hundreds of millions and billions of dollars here!

I believe this is quite a big boo boo. With all the PR going on, I don't think I'm the only one in the world watching this project. It is also quite a unique project, as far as scale, environmental impact and necessity(?) are concerned.

Stuff: Crazy about phones - Episode II

2006-02-07T09:18:00.000+09:00

Following the "Ooohs" and "Wowz" in the last Crazy About Phones story, I have decided to release a sequel. Spotted this in Seoul on a subway. There's more to it than just a plain ol' LCD screen used for advertising.

It's a mobile phone battery charger!

What you do is: Place your battery in one of the slots, which I assume will detect what terminals are on your phone, and swipe your T-Money card. The card is a reloadable cash card and available around town (Seoul). It's kinda like our My-Kad in Malaysia, and EZ-Link card in Singapore.

Charging takes 10 minutes, and costs 1,000 Won (USD$1).

I mean sure... you could go to a 7-11 here in Korea and get them to charge your phone for you for the same price. But charging a phone on the go in a subway ~ Neat!

Language: The "X"

2006-02-06T09:08:00.000+09:00

For a while, I always thought that hand signals were universal. Obviously that got debunked the moment I stepped into Korea. They're all different from what I'm used to!

Here's one I totally love... It's when the locals cross both hands in front of their chests like Ultra Man.

For simplicity sake, let's just call this action ~ The "X".

Caught a picture of a perfect scenario, where the execution of The "X" would be appropriate. This was taken while up in Seoul two weekends ago and thought it would be great to illustrate the meaning of The "X"!

This was a picture of a dancing girl, who are typical of those hired for store openings and promotions. Interpret it as you may, of what she is trying to say.

Since The "X" is generally a sign of disapproval/disagreeing in Korea, any of the pictures above would be about right. But if you asked me, I think "No pictures you $@#%!" would be the most accurate. ;)

Announcement: I watched Memoirs of a Geisha

2006-02-04T11:18:00.000+09:00

Went to watch Memoirs of a Geisha yesterday. Awesome movie it was and EVERYONE should watch it. Bring tissues!

I don't mean to do it, but my evil self just could not contain itself... so here's a run-down of how the story went

In the beginning…

Story is starts off in 1929 where a farm girl Chiyo was sold off to the city to work as below-wage child labor at a fast food chain.

Being depressed about the fact that she was sold for ONLY $15 dollars, when she thought she could’ve been worth more, she trips while walking across a bridge one day.

As fate has it, Ol’ Chairman comes along. Being the ‘child lover’ that he is, he picks her up, brushes her off, and gives her two winks.

Chiyo knew from first sight that she was madly in love. Having thought about it, she figured that if she wanted to be with him FOREVER, she would have to step into his world by being a Geisha.

"Gei" means arts or performance in Japanese. "Sha" means people. Geisha
are professional hostesses who entertain guests through various performing arts.
Geisha girls and women are not ordinary hostesses and are not prostitutes.
- gojapan.about.com

So she studies day and night, and invests in a bunch of SK-II and probably some L'Oreal lip-gloss as she goes along. To finance her costly endeavor, the kid works another part time in the Geisha district (Hanamachi). There she met, and was assigned to serve psycho bitch Geisha Hot-Sue-Momo.

Yadi yadi yada… 6 years go by and she still don’t earn enough money to go to Geisha school.

Oh dear, what shall our love-smitten Geisha wannabe do?!!

Fear not… old-hand Geisha Mameha, who migrated over from Malaysia to Japan some years ago, and owned a Geisha house (Okiya) down the road spotted her one day. She realized that even though Chiyo was 15, tortured daily by Hot-Sue-Momo, cleaned a whole bunch, lived on a diet of Instant Noodles, and was absolutely skin to the bones… she has gorgeous Blue-Gray eyes.

Chiyo has POTENTIAL!

Mameha pays a $20 premium over the $15 that Chiyo’s owner paid for her years back, and gets her over to be one of her girls.

Mameha trains the Chiyo to be a Geisha herself, and sure… Chiyo is happy and all. BUT, here’s the catch. Mameha got Chiyo to sign the contract that if there were ever any good fish in the sea (men and money) that came her way from being a successful Geisha, Mameha wanted a 30% cut.

To that, Chiyo says: “That’ll go down… anything for mah bitch go gives me a chance to hook back up with mah man yo!”

Being the prodigy that Chiyo is, she aces her bootcamp training, and starts of her career only in a few months. Throwing her past behind her, she adopts the name Sayuri, and debuts her career at an awesome dance party.

All the important politicians and business men, including The Chairman were present that day. Sayuri saw HIM and gave them her bestest dance ever, throwing in a few moves from a Beyonce Knowles MTV she watched a few days back at a slumber party… The men were seriously impressed*, and that made Hot-Sue-Momo pissed as piss can be!

*If there’s anything that would tell you if she was successful, it would be the wet floor that the janitor discovered after the party.

La la la… bitch fights… La la la… World War II broke out… La la la… Hot-Sue-Momo dies when she enlisted for the army because she couldn’t take the competition with Sayuri anymore…

La la la... houses burn down and everyone runs for the hills, ditching the life of a Geisha behind.

War ends, and everything is now settled... Except that almost EVERYBODY was piss poor. Ol’ Sayuri survived and finally figured that it was time to move on and quit doing crack.

Anyway, she figured that her ~~possible future Swiss bank account~~ heart really still belonged to The Chairman, so she tries to track him down via the internet. Voila ~ he was listed on match.com, and his profile says that he’s single now, and still rich as anything even after the devastation of war. Now THAT really turned her on!

After a bunch of networking and stuff, she finds out his personal phone number. Gives him the obligatory “Yo! How’s mah homie hangin” call.

They hook up, Sayuri does the whole Geisha dance thing, he gets mesmerized and remembers her beautiful eyes from yesteryears, and they get jiggy with it swatting each other with their lips.

Movie ends…

However! The movie doesn’t really say if Sayuri remained a Geisha to serve him as an entertainer, and him being her sugar daddy (Dana). For all we know, she could’ve ditched the whole Geisha do and became his Sweet 47th mistress… That will probably remain a mystery until the sequel: “Memoirs of a Gesha – Episode II: Return of the psycho bitch from hell”.

We will see.

Disclaimer: All images were obtained from Google Image Search. Storylines are well... 1% (ehem!) distorted from the original. It did keep you entertained, didn't it?

Stuff: Gizmo got shaved!

2006-02-03T08:48:00.000+09:00

Totally irrelevant to the subject of my weekend in Seoul...

Gizmo ~ Robert's dog, as well as our resident puppy on site, got SHAVED!!

Shock horror! The chick magnet that he was a few days ago now looks like a six-pound RAT! We might as well be keeping him away from the girlie dogs. It just DOES NOT look like he'll be spreading any seeds in the next month or so!

On a side note, his twig and giggle berries (go figure) are kinda 'sticking out', now that even his intimate parts are shaved. I wonder if the new nudist twist in his fur-do might bring him other opportunities?

... Think
... Think think
... ... Light bulb moment!
Puppy ~~porn~~ love stories and stardom!!

*Rubs hands together + evil grin + phone call to the local talent agency...

People: Meliana and gang

2006-02-02T11:53:00.000+09:00

Apart from Mr. Lee's, New Year was funtastilicious catching up with Meliana and her entourage who were on tour in Korea for 5 days... after a bit of a runaround in Seoul that is. This was attributed to a last minute change of plans on part of the tour guide, as well as communication problems. They could only rely on public phones when not on the tour bus!!

It was the first time I met the others who came with Meliana, including her sister ~ Mei Hoa, Rio and Esther. They are all Indonesian-Chinese working in Singapore.

Events of the night: I brought the bunch out for a *REAL Korean dinner after we met up.

*Hey... can't get any REAL-LER than having a meal cooked by a KOREAN in KOREA right?

So I get them all settled in with the cultural do's and do not's. There was also the necessary introduction to Mr. Soju, one of the most influential figures in the Korean culinary scene. *Wink wink

What I did NOT tell them however, was that the grilled eel (Jangeo gu-i ~ 장어구이) we had, was considered as one of the most potent natural aphrodisiacs (Read: V.I.A.G.R.A.) that the Koreans hold dear too. Eel ranks up top with the likes of Ginseng, as well as dog.

*If you 4 people are reading this, sorry lah... I just remembered!

After the meal, we continued to stay up for a bit, catching up on details we might have missed out on during the meal. Unfortunately though, our time together only lasted 11 hours, of which 6 of it was spent with me bunking over in Rio's room for the night.

Humbug ~ wished we could spend more time... but the gang had to run off to do their sightseeing with the tour group the next morning.

I MISS YOU GUYS!!

Before I forget... They brought me some coconut jam, or fondly known as KAYA from home!! I never knew how much I missed the stuff until I had it for breakfast yesterday.

Mmmmph!
.....Oooooh!
..........Aaaaah!

God bless their little two shoes!

Culture: Korean Lunar New Year ~ Seollal (설날)

2006-02-01T19:47:00.000+09:00

Sunday-past was the first day of the lunar calendar. Hence, for the Korean New Year ~ Seollal l(설날), I made my way over to Mr. Lee's family gathering in Incheon.

There, I met his parents, brother, and his sister's families. Some of the kids and Mr. Lee's brother had the traditional Korean dress on ~ the Hanbok (한복).

It was pretty much a whole day of catching up between family members who congregate on that day at any specified. Usually, families will visit the husband's family, prior to going to the missus's. During the THREE days that Seollal is celebrated, friends will also visit one another.

I can imagine the kids being all psyched up for the New Year, since they receive money from their elders!

As opposed to the casual way that we Malaysian Chinese receive money from elders, kids in Korea have to perform a special bow ~ Jeol (절), while wishing the parents/elders Happy New Year.

The most common wish I have heard thus far is "새해에 복많이 받으십시오 (Saehae ae bokmanhee badeushipshiyo)", which literally translates to "I wish that you receive many blessings for the New Year".

As far as I have heard, some elders even DEMAND that the Jeol be performed in the strictest manner, and family members, especially kids, have to be in their very best Hanboks.

*Current market rate: 1 bow/kid = 10,000 Won (USD$10)

Lest we forget... oh the glorious food! Not sure about other families, but I believe that the New Year's LUNCH is had together with family members.

Traditionally, the main dish would be rice cake soup ~ Ddeokguk (떡국). Consuming the dish on the onset of the New Year, symbolizes that one has grown a year older .

Food doesn't just stop AT lunch, but pretty much goes on for the rest of the day. Apart from your usual soju and beer, Shikhye (식혜) is a common sight served together with other table foods.

Believe it or not, this stuff comes in cans labeled 'NOSTALGIC RICE DRINK'... The name sounds pretty darn corny if you ask me!

Anyway, apart from the food and latest goss, the guys throw in a few games of 'Go-Stop' for the fun of it. (Read: G.A.M.B.L.E.)

Not that I don't want to elaborate on how the game is played, it's just that I haven't quite figured out what the game is yet!

Basically, it's a deck of patterned cards, which is played like the Chinese Mahjong (麻將). From what I observed, each player starts off with a certain number of cards, puts down/draws from a stack in the middle, and tries to collect cards of similar motifs together to obtain points.

Just for your information, Mr. Lee won the most money that night. I am sure it had nothing to do with my visiting him... or could it? :P

Anyway, those were highlights of the New Year I had at Mr. Lee's. Learnt quite a bit about the culture, made new friends, and certainly had a truckload of food... life is good.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Announcement: Me and my 2nd Korean New Year!

2006-01-26T16:09:00.000+09:00

OK, unfortunately there will be no posts again for the next few days... Sorry readers! You do realize what time of the year it is? It's:

Korean Lunar New Year ~ Seollal (설날)

For the information of my foreign readers: We folks of Chinese descent celebrate it too. Last year was a disaster for me, as I was stuck in Incheon (Korea) on a project, and didn't have anywhere to go to for 3 woeful days.

This year, it's all looking up. Didn't have ANYTHING planned this morning, except I knew that I had to somehow make my way up to Seoul to meet Meliana. But I made a few phone calls by lunch time, and was all set! Be hitching a ride up to Seoul with a colleague tomorrow, and maybe another exhilarating train ride home again on Monday. Woo hoo!

Meliana and I go way back to when we were both studying in Melbourne. We met in church, and sometimes hung out together. Just so happens, she was dropping in for a tour of Seoul during the New Year holidays. So we will rendezvous on Friday night when she flies in.

Saturday will be reserved for an old buddy ~ Kevin Yee. He is now working on a project near Seoul, and was my housemate when we were in training with the company in the USA two years ago. Both of us are Malaysian Chinese. So I thought it'd be good have Reunion Dinner on Saturday night, which is the eve of the Lunar New Years.

Now here's the difference between the Chinese and Korean New Years... Chinese have the big ass Reunion Dinner with family on the New Year's Eve, whereas the Koreans have it on the New Year's Day. Typical to both cultures, married couples will give out money to the children.

What thrills me about Korea, is that it is customary to buy hampers for friends/family or when you visit. I kid you not... packaged fish is one of them, and they are NOT CHEAP!!

I will get a first hand account of what goes on in a Korean family, when I visit Mr. Lee on Sunday. Be staying over for a night too, so I should be back in Suncheon (oh joy...) by Monday.

We have been given Tuesday to ~~recuperate from the New Year binge~~ rest too, so might be able to squeeze a day of skiing into that. Not sure yet.

Don't miss me ~ Be updating on Wednesday at latest!

Stuff: Crazy about phones

2006-01-25T14:34:00.000+09:00

Another thing that tells you about how important mobile/cell-phones are to Koreans... This booth was perched at the train station waiting room.

This is a charging bay for mobile phones. It has a bay for every Anycall (brand) model available. There were a total of 17 different bays.

I didn't know that they had THAT MANY different phone models with SO MANY different chargers.

I always believed that batteries, or at least the chargers were, and would be generic! Silly isn't it?

On a side note: Chargers don't only appear at train stations, but also at bars. If you knew the bar owners well enough, you'd be able to plug your phone in for a recharge.

Travel: Train ride in Korea

2006-01-24T14:59:00.000+09:00

I was excited just buying the ticket to go to Seoul last weekend. You know why?

The reason definitely wasn't because of this...

But this... THIS was what it was ALL about!

This is the super-duper-bullet-speed-o'light-fast KTX train that I took on the second leg of the journey. I had to transfer trains at Iksan, on the way to/from Seoul, since the high speed KTXs only did a handful of direct routes. If you really want to know, just take it that I live in the back woods...

Being the country bumpkin that I am, I have never ever taken a bullet train before, and this puppy went extremely fast! Though the clocked time on the picture was 298.4km/h, I've spotted it doing 300.5km/h!

Wooooooooooooo hooooooooooo!

Everything on the KTX was screaming STYLE, from sleek automatic doors, down to the ultra-comfy seats. Even the suspension must have been some engineering work of art. The train simply did not feel like it was going THAT fast ~ It was so QUIET!

Not to mention, it was a real boost of the ol' ego riding in one...

If you think there mighta been problems transiting from one train to another in the frosty winter cold. Think again... Koreans have got it ALL figured out.

On the platforms, were these cool-ass waiting bays, with their thermostats set at a fuzzy 20 Celsius inside.

Cool!

However, a hint for those who are reading this and MIGHT be considering traveling through Korea on your own...

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT
(until you've picked up SOME Korean)

It's not impossible though, but for the life of me, timetables and staff that spoke English were few and far in between. Bummer ain't it?

Anyway, just to let you all know ~ I'm feeling like a little boy again since the choo choo train ride from the weekend. Yipeeeeee!

Travel: Cheonggyecheon (청계천) - Seoul, Korea

2006-01-23T16:47:00.000+09:00

Remember the first thing I said I wanted to see, when I headed up to Seoul last month?

Cheonggyecheon (청계천) ~ 清溪川

Due to the extremely cold weather back then, we only managed to see 500 meters of it. Saw it again this trip up to Seoul for my English exam and medical checkup. With more time during the day on my hands, I did some recreational walking down its banks.

It is definitely a place to visit at night, as I experienced a slight disappointment visiting it only during the day this time. None of the fountains were functioning, and definitely none of the lights were on (Duh!). But still... it was a nice way to spend the day up in Seoul.

During the nights: It has some of the most awesome spectra of lighting illuminating the rapid stream.

Non-conforming blend of unorthodox forms, mixture of old and new elements, with a few splashes of color from the city's neon lights along both banks... Every detail melds into what I can only sum up as "art". Magnificent piece of work I must say.

Here is ALSO why Cheonggyecheon is so special:

Project is a stream (Cheonggye) restoration project commissioned in July 2003 and officially unveiled in its current form to the public in October 2005.
A highway was completely built over the river by 1978, BUT was torn down for the restoration project.
Restored stretch is 5.84km: a.k.a. THAT MUCH highway was torn down. This is what's left...
Total cost ~ whopping USD$ 1.5Billion from the start of the project up till September 2005.
*Costs published on the official website is a bit (erm) funny... watch this blog!

For more pictures from the trip, and the day's walk down the stream.

Click 'HERE'.

Excuse the advertisement, but... Another reason to visit Cheonggyecheon NOW (see below).

It's falling apart!
(was only unveiled 3 months ago)

Catch it while it's still there! *wink wink

Announcement: Off to Seoul tomorrow!

2006-01-19T14:49:00.000+09:00

Booked my train ticket and getting ready to leave for Seoul tomorrow. Taking a train instead of a bus/driving, as traffic in Seoul is usually chaotic.

I will also have to do a medical checkup, apart from the IELTS exam for my migration papers. So wish me well, that the doctor doesn't come up with some weird ass diagnosis of Herpes or something...

p.s: Will be updating the blog on Monday. Don't miss me!

@ Work: Fendolite

2006-01-18T18:44:00.000+09:00

Starting from yesterday, an external contractor was called in to site for a job. What were they here for?

FENDOLITE

... that must be the next biggest technical revelation that I've had all year on this Korean jobsite!

What I found out from THIS website (italics edited):

Fendolite MII is a mix of vermiculite and Portland cement. Spray-applied Fendolite MII produces a coating able to withstand high intensity hydrocarbon fire (gas or oil), whether by total engulfment or torching.

Cement-like Fendolite is sprayed onto important metal structures. This forms a protective barrier (insulation) on the metal surface to protect it at elevated temperatures, in case of an explosion and danger of meltdown.

One such area of concern on OUR plant would be near the natural gas equipment area. Important pipe supports need to be protected, since natural gas is potentially explosive even if leaked in the presense of the smallest spark.

As an engineer, this absolutely fascinates me, because I haven't been on a plant (yet) that does Fendolite coating on their structures!

A note for my non-engineer readers: I guess if you know anyone who might be venturing into hell, you really should either ^1.preach them the gospel, or ^2.ask them to consider spraying on a layer of this stuff. Sounds like Fendolite might be just the thing to make the devil cringe with jealousy.

Nature: That's why trees are GREEN in Korea!

2006-01-17T20:12:00.000+09:00

Our project is close to finishing up in a few months. Some of the last things done at this stage on a construction site, are the tar roads, as well as 'beautification' works. So recently, they started sticking in scrawny looking tree seedlings and support braces onto bare soil ~ Not exactly seedlings per-say, but I don't know how else to call it!

So I walk by this 'beautified' area one day and WHOA ~ All GREEN!!

Then I spot this dude hosing GREEN stuff all over the place.

So that's how they mass-fertilize trees!

GREEN fertilizer!

Waitaminit!

No wonder this part of the country looks all nice and GREEN when you look down from a plane!

A'Hah!

Food: Cliché ribs and everything else (yummy!)

2006-01-16T09:02:00.000+09:00

Ol' Chinese engineer ShenLing is leaving for home. So he brought us out to dinner on Thursday night at this cool Korean barbeque place called Danjichon (단지촌) in Suncheon. We chowed down on barbequed pork ribs (Doaeji galbi, 돼지갈비).

(Read: F.R.E.E.M.E.A.L.)

OK ... barbeque is pretty standard foodstuff in Korea. Almost every one else in the world knows about Korean barbeque anyway. If you don't already know how people eat barbequed meat in these parts of the world, I figured that you'd know by now, if you've read my previous post on the barbequed duck...

(Y.A.W.N.)

That's the reason why I never blogged about barbequed beef or pork. SO, today's post is not about the barbeque we had.

The stars of this post (instead) are the side dishes at Danjichon ~ all spread out on your table whether you order it or not.

^1.Sweet red bean goo, or "Pat-chuk" (팥죽) is served as starters. This can also be taken as a complete meal, but of course, in much larger quantities. Usually, in our beloved Jeonnam province, the beany sweet paste comes with flour noodles, and is taken with a dash of salt. Yes, you read right: SALT!

^2.Carrot cake... or is it? Anyway, it's a bit of a sweet fill-in when you get tired of all the other salty stuff

^3.Clam soup... We got plenty of clams down where we are. Good source of aphrodisiac ~ No wonder we've got so many love motels in the area!

^4.Soft shell crab, which I (erm) believe are RAW! But anyway, it's under so much sweet chilli paste you can't tell anyway. I love it ~ shell and all!

God bless Danjichon!

Traffic: Ridding Korea of dumb-doers

2006-01-15T14:53:00.000+09:00

If you agree that throughout this blog, I have been bitching too much about Korean traffic, and it's about darn time I started doing something about it, say:

HALLELUYAH!

Alright, one sunny afternoon last week, I spotted some ~~idiot~~ un-evangelized sinner parked in the driveway between the parking bays, and our office door. No cars could get in or out of the enclosed area from where the picture was taken.

(Like... what the XXXX rite?)

So I decided I must raise the person's awareness, and I pasted the following friendly reminder on the windshield.

I sincerely believe the person has been evangelized, because I have yet to spot a similar incident since that day. Same to be said of the OTHER car that double parked on another main driveway, whom may I highlight, caused all out-going and in-coming cars to go on a big detour.

THEY HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!

I hope to get more heaven brownie points for my good deeds...

News: The Chinese found America first??!!

2006-01-14T09:04:00.000+09:00

Is this possible... the Chinese might have been the first to make a modern discovery of the American continent as we know it today??!!

Click on: 'BBC NEWS'.

Photo: The Economist/PA

Oh, on an irrelevant note... what are the chances that a person is a ^1.Chinese admiral, ^2.Muslim, ^3.Eunuch, ^4.Mariner AND ^5.Explored all corners of the world with wind power in the 1400's?

Well, supposedly Zhang He was... Fuuuuuuyoh*!

I doubt that even if Viking Leif Eriksson REALLY were the one who discovered North America in year 1000, his credentials probably wouldn't come close.

*Malaysian expression of gawgasperation... amazement... like... "WOW" reigning on the pinnacle of gigantamatum!

About me: CK in a bottle

2006-01-13T09:50:00.000+09:00

Got this little surprise yesterday, from the sweetest thing who's EVER walked the streets of Suncheon.

Apparently my skin has been drying up pretty bad from the harsh winter climate. So she dropped by the store for a bottle of moisturizer ~ by Calvin Klein.

Blushes *^^*

If you are reading this (you know who you are):

~ THANK YOU SO MUCH! ~

It's been awhile since someone's been so sweet to me...

Blushes (again) *^^*

Business: Annoying crap

2006-01-12T16:18:00.000+09:00

Now this is how they do business advertising in Korea...

Note that this is the entrance to my apartment, and everything from notification flyers to discount coupons are taped onto the door. Flyers amazingly 'regenerate', and my door pretty much looks the same EVERYDAY coming home from work even though I CLEAN IT! Apparently this is rampant throughout Korea.

See the crap I have to put up with in Korea?

Stuff: That wraparound thing

2006-01-11T13:14:00.000+09:00

No wonder I am never popular with the girls... torn up pants! I go through a pair every 6 months from working on the site. For this, and this reason ONLY, I knew I should have studied to become a doctor, lawyer, or even some fancy ass fashion designer. Bummer~

If there was ever one thing that was typical of a Korean job-site, apart from them silly vests, it would be that wraparound thing that keeps pants edges intact.

It's not exactly trend setting, but smart. Smart enough it warrants a post.

Disclaimer: You will NEVER catch me wearing one of those!

Language: 18... not so sweet after all

2006-01-09T14:40:00.000+09:00

Alright, life supposedly starts at 18. So goes sayings like "Sweet 18"...

In Korea, I'd be careful saying the number 18 though. "18" is pronounced as Shib-pal (십팔). Guess what... the term "BITCH" (or to a certain extent "F**K"), is pronounced as Ssi-pal (씨팔).

"18" and "Bitch" sound identical!

Oh crap ~ How DO YOU tell someone it's 18th December...

Old ajumma: "What's the date today?"
Me: "Sib-pal (18)..."
*SCHLAAAAAAAAAP!

Then ~ You need 18 apples at the fruit stall...

Cute chick: "How many apples you need?" *Wink
Me: "Sib-pal (18)..."
*WHAAAAAAAAAAMM!

Just for laughs and giggles, check out this page on Korean slangs. Click 'HERE'.

Note though, that there are 2 numbering systems in the Korean language. Depending on the application, you would use pronounce "18" as Yeol-yeodeolb (열 여덟) instead of Sibpal (십팔). But that discussion will be for a later day/post.

18 isn't so sweet in Korea eh? *Evil grin

People: Mr. Gang and his family

2006-01-07T13:51:00.000+09:00

While on my travels, it's always nice to get to know the locals on a more personal level...

Two days back, Mr. S.G.Gang brought me out to dinner, when his family came down for a four-day visit. Mr. Gang and I work together on-site in Gwangyang, and his family lives five hours away in Seoul.

The family: Ms. Jang (장정화)* and daughters 보영 + 보경. We met up previously, when they visited in autumn.

Nice people. Just wished the kids wouldn't be so shy. I swear that they didn't dare look me in the eye throughout the meal.

ㅠ_ㅠ... Am I THAT ugly?!

*Cultural note ~ Apparently you do not call someone by their husband's last name in Korea. So addressing Mr Gang's wife as "Mrs. Gang" probably doesn't sound quite right, even though it is accepted/not offending. Using her maiden family name instead, would be more appropriate.

Haven't quite figured out how else to address the person yet, if you don't know her family name. I guess I can get away for being the foreigner. :P

Thanks for the awesome dinner Mr. Gang!

Business: FedEx (Korea)

2006-01-05T16:19:00.000+09:00

FedEx is excellent in the whole wide wide world, as far as I am concerned. But somehow, for where I am... they suck ~ BIG TIME!

Well, the story is this: We had to send something the other day. I log on to their website, lodge a pickup request, and get a follow-up call the very next morning. BRILLIANT!

I wait... and I wait... for 2 weeks and NUMEROUS follow-up phone calls from me to them. I even had to get a Korean-speaking colleague to call them up again and again to explain where in the world we are located, even though they have been here numerous times before.

Maybe (we) being located next to the world's 5th largest steel manufacturer POSCO doesn't ring a bell??

Come pickup time, a smart-ass driver from a local delivery service rocks up on behalf of FedEx, discards all the import/export paperwork I prepared, and wanted to leave without it. After all the excuses, false promises of "todays" and assurances of "no problems"... What the...

WAITADARNMINIT!

It's not the first time I'm sending parts overseas mate, who do you think I am... some dumb freshie? I KNOW what paperwork and invoices are needed! He finally took it after I bugged the crap out of him...

This is not the first time they've done stuff like this to us. One time, a package reached Seoul from the USA, and even before being dispatched from Seoul to us, they routed it back to USA, because they figured that our address was undeliverable. No one even checked with us!

However, I must give FedEx credit for thinking up a brilliant business model tailored to Korea though. Here, FedEx relies on local delivery companies ~ taekbae (택배) to transport goods between localities and the sorting center in Seoul. FedEx does not deliver with their own transporters in all corners of the country. This is primarily because addresses are worthless in Korea and local knowledge of landmarks is quiet essential. It's a mess even in Seoul, believe you me.

BUT, my take on it is:

A business model is ONLY as good
as the means by which it is carried out

In my case, the local delivery company obviously screwed up. That's why we only use FedEx, when we have to.

That being said and done, I am glad the package finally went out last Friday. Not sure yet if it arrived yet though, hmmm~

@ Work: Turbine #4 runs!

2006-01-04T17:10:00.000+09:00

Well, please excuse me if updates haven't been too timely. Lots have been happening at work.

For once, I can say: "Yipedee doodah yay ~ I have stuff to do, apart from blogging!"

So finally, the 4^th and final unit of our turbines started up two days ago, no problems. We've come a long way from nothingness on barren land, to the turbines being installed, commissioned and actually started up. That should be keeping us busy for the next few weeks, doing more testing and commissioning.

Also, 2 other units that have been running are now shutdown for a short period of time. This is what the industry coins as an 'Outage'. This is the time where stuff is fixed, and things are done. Busy busy there too.

Life will be back to normal sometime next week.

Language: Koreans invented... Ghetto?!

2006-01-03T19:51:00.000+09:00

OK, here's my hypothesis on what the REAL origins of Ghetto talk is from.

IT EVOLVED FROM KOREAN!

Having said that, here is my point: Korean language, Hangeul (한글) in its form today, was 'invented' and completed in 1444. The existence of the Korean language is therefore older, and definitely more developed that the Ghetto language we have today, topping at most a century in history. If there was ever a shadow of doubt about the chicken or the egg... Korean definitely came about first.

Some of the Korean sentence structure and sounds are unmistakenly similar to that of Ghetto. Or rather, Ghetto is undeniably similar to Korean. Two prominent examples of Ghetto talk being similar to Korean are:

"Word"
Used either as a confirming question, OR used in statements of affirmation.
Example:
Person A: "I don't dig that s*** no more man..."
Person B: "Word?"
Person A: "Word."
Korean equivalent: 정말 (Jeong-mal)
Literal meaning ~ Real word.
Example:
Person A: "I make many many money last year"
Person B: "정말 (Word)?"
Person A: "정말 (Word)!"
Peace out yo
A well-wishing statement.
Example:
Person A: "Gotta cruise man..."
Person B: "Alright, peace out yo"
Korean equivalent: 안녕하세요 (Annyeong Hase YO)
Literal meaning ~ You have peace.
Example:
Person A: "Oh hello!"
Person B: "안녕(Peace)하세요 (Yo)"

Just look at the similarities and sounds. Proves my point, no doubt.

Brilliant unraveling of Ghetto roots, if I do say so myself. I should be nominated for a prize in linguistics or anthropology for this finding!

-_-||

Erm... Yeah right! If you've been reading this with a pinch of salt and taken in with good humor, I applaud you. For the rest of you... Please la. :P

Business: Brewed coffee to-go

2006-01-02T16:09:00.000+09:00

Here's another reason why I think Koreans have got it all figured out. Here's what you can purchase at any convenience store of the likes of 7-11. Hot water is provided at the cashout.

Brewed coffee on the go: For people who detest instant granulated coffee.

It comes hermetically sealed, complete with strainer, filter, sugar, stirrer, and not to mention the grounded coffee powder. It's cool because the strainers act also as measuring cups. Pour in enough hot water to fill it up to the brim, and it should percolate into the cup to give you the right amount of water + coffee mix for a medium strength coffee.

The only thing that sucks is: Too little (amount) coffee. Pouring more water into the strainer really thins the coffee out too much.

Good enough for me. Anyone seen this anywhere else?

People: Sharon... Throw one more on top of it!

2005-12-31T09:32:00.000+09:00

Dear Sharon, if you are reading this, I just want you to know that I remember and I care!

~~Happy Hanukah!~~* Happy Birthday!

*Sorry lah, too many holidays to remember. Type wrong pulak.

(Keep scrolling)

...and to all the other good-looking people reading this post.

Happy New Year ~ 2006!

Have a great year ahead.

Music: Bottle sliding

2005-12-29T09:19:00.000+09:00

Was hunting through a list of musicians recently to listen, and got stuck on Eric Sardinas. He is one crazy Dobro (type of guitar) player ~ Forte being his mean-ass slide guitar playing, reaching deep into musical roots of Delta blues.

In a nutshell, it involves playing notes on the guitar with a wee tube made of plastic, metal, or glass stuck on one of your fingers. It creates a smooth sliding effect, which is DARN RIGHT cool.

I decided to give slide guitar a try yesterday ~ using a glass health drink bottle. Haven't been bothered to go buy a proper slide just yet. *Ehem...

Well in fact, they DO make bottle slides, and Sardinas, in his absolute coolness, played his Dobro with a Budweiser bottle too didn't he (see picture)? *Wink...

Have a listen at my first half-decent attempt at the slide (ever!). Click 'HERE'.

Stuff: Funky ear muffs

2005-12-28T10:01:00.000+09:00

You know it's really cold when the temperature outdoor feels like

-45,267,899 Celsius!

OK, that was (honestly) bullshit. Anyone who's studied a bit of science will know that it's impossible to go below 0 Kelvin (approximately -273 Celsius).

Facts aside, you know it's cold when the Koreans dish out their funky earmuffs.

For the non-Korean readers ~ This is a really funky work of art. Unlike a beanie, you just pop it on. It DOESN'T ruin your hairdo, and it slips right under the hardhat when we're at work.

For only USD$3.50, you can keep your ears nice and warm. Another reason why I think the Koreans have got it all figured out. Brilliant!

Stuff: High speed tours

2005-12-27T11:30:00.000+09:00

As usual, my camera was sitting handy in the glove box as I pulled up behind one of these tour buses this morning.

In case you were wondering, the English stencil on the bus doesn't exactly reflect the true meaning of the Korean one.

Actual translation: 세계(World)고속(High Speed)관광(Tours)

What never ceases to amaze me about some of these tours that operate on the grand theory of seeing ten countries in 2 hours, which I assume this tour company is part of, is:

How do they do it, and who'd be crazy enough to join their cause?!

I mean, how in the world do you see Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Netherlands, spanning over 2000 kilometers in just 10 days on a bus? An aunt was in one. Maybe Jordan and the whole of Turkey's north to south coastline of over 1000 kilometers in 1 week? Mum was in that one. Now this Korean 'High Speed' tour ~ the whole of the South Korean Peninsula in a weekend perhaps??

*Not sure if the tours might throw in North Korea on the 3rd day, but unless you're dead-set Adventerous (spelt with a capital "A"), I'm not sure if too many people will be keen on that one.

This made me realize how fortunate I have been over the last few years to travel for work, taking time in-between work to see the sights and soak in the local culture(s). Not many people have the luxury of time or money for multiple trips, but still, that defeats the whole purpose of traveling isn't it?

Bringing back only pictures and not a single memory of where they went... Admiring nice scenery and not knowing the significance of what they are looking at... Bringing back loads of souvenirs and not a story to tell of the local culture...

Just food for thought.

About me: My new chickmagnetronifying-atrracting'O-trapamajigit 4-wheeler.

2005-12-26T17:09:00.000+09:00

Yo people! I will complain no more about the so-called "PMS Car Replacement Program". I love my new car. It's a Hyundai ~~Accord~~* Sonata NF 2.0...

I will be behaving for the next few days, finding out how the car drives. When we've finally gotten to know one another, that's when the people on the road will have to watch out! *Evil laugh

Yipedeedodah yay!

*Kinda looks like a Honda Accord doesn't it? Guesses anyone?

I looked at 1998~2005 Accords. Similar, but not close. I swear I've seen it somewhere!

PMS: The reason...

2005-12-25T13:21:00.000+09:00

We are issued a company car each for this job in Korea. These cars are owned by our local office in Seoul. TODAY is the last day that I will use my 1998 Hyundai Sonata EF. This leaves me a tad nostalgic, since it has been with me all around the country for the last 9 months or so.

The reason we have to get rid the cars, so says our management, is that they are OLD ~ A.K.A more than 4 (only??) years old. This supposedly increases accident risks, which is a liability our company would like to avoid.

-_-||

Tell me why that sounds Pretty Much Senseless (PMS)?

I mean, shouldn't the car's integrity be based on it's ^1.mileage, ^2.upkeep and ^3.typical useage, and NOT age? I'm not exactly bitching about it, since we are getting some NEW rental cars from Hertz tomorrow. But the reason why we're getting rid of the old cars still sound a little PMS-ish. *Wink

We'll see what car shows up at the door tomorrow... ;)

Announcement: Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T13:17:00.000+09:00

People...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Special season greetings to the people who left comments on the previous post: 'The other Kenny', Beck, Gene, Laynie and Nomad. Have a good holiday ~

Music: Merry Christmas 2005!

2005-12-23T08:53:00.000+09:00

I think it's clear that in Malaysia, we are still allowed to say Merry Christmas, instead of all that politically correct ~~bullshit~~ terminology, where we are obliged to say "Happy Holidays".

In case I don't post on the weekend:

Merry Christmas!

I have a little something I dug up from my guitar recording archive two years ago. This is in-line with the festivities, regardless of what the day may mean to you. For me, being away from home without family, it's just another day at work ~~with plenty of overtime~~. Hope you have laugh.

Click 'HERE'

P.S: I apologize, because you'd have to download the file and play it. Putfile has banned further uploads from the Asian region because of the recent Australian hanging. Stupid.

News: Bloody snowstorms and killer traffic

2005-12-22T10:24:00.000+09:00

This is yet another bitching post about the snow... only that this time, it's backed up with headlines on the news.

OK, note the news date: December 5th. But I swear, yesterday was just as bad if not worse!

Yesterday, it seems that our Jeollanam-do (전라남도) province got hit by sudden snowstorms again. In Suncheon (순천), we had probably 6 inches of snow in the few hours that the blizzards came down on us. It took me almost 4 hours over 35km to get home from work, which I normally do in 30 minutes.

Some of the highlights going home:

Site was closed down by 4pm, and all work stopped.
Highways were closed, and all trunk roads were clogged. Many cars and trucks were not able to climb even the slightest slopes due to the icy surface.
Policemen called in for last minute relief efforts, and overtime duty to spread salt & dirt on the roads.
Abandoned cars and trucks all over the side of roads. Many people walked home instead.
I gave up giving ~~hot~~ stranded Korean chicks (Evil grin) a ride, and instead did two blokes going my way the favor.
*Sorry mum, no grandchildren for you in the horizon. I'm too honest for my own good.
Almost missed the Christmas dinner in Suncheon at Outback. Thanks for waiting up guys!

Driving to work this morning was OK, because I started earlier than usual. But I am so NOT looking forward to driving home again today!

Stuff: Innocent-looking, but mean ass street money dealers!

2005-12-21T11:35:00.000+09:00

On the weekend ~ Spotted these looking old ladies, sitting with wee towels covering their laps while at Namdaemun market in Seoul.

At first I thought they were innocent old ladies... possibly asking for alms. But NO!Just wait till you see them dish out these big-ass piles of Korean Won and USA Dollars from under those towels.

THEY ARE MONEY CHANGERS!

Apart from calculators, I bet that if you pissed any of them off enough, they'd probably pull out a machine gun from underneath those towels.

Language: I mean... what the... food?

2005-12-20T08:36:00.000+09:00

OK, so you do realize I've been bitching about the cold a lot lately.

...

Yes, there will be no stopping until the season ends. So live with it.

Anyway, we were in Insadong (Seoul) on the freezing Sunday afternoon. One of the best ways to keep warm, is to fill the stomach with hot steaming foodstuffs. Well, that works for me anyway.

So we pop by a wee street store that sells little red bean paste-filled tarts.

Not sure what it's called though...

BECAUSE WE COULD NOT UNDERSTAND THE SIGN!

What we DID figure out though, is that it costs 1,000 Won (USD$1) for 8 pieces. I guess that's good enough...

Nature: Weather report on Seoul... visit in spring!

2005-12-19T11:43:00.000+09:00

Alright, Seoul was cool... might I say COOOOOOOOOOOLD!

To be exact, it was -13 deg Celsius (8 deg Fahrenheit) on Saturday night and -5 deg Celsius (23 deg Fahrenheit) during the day on Sunday. Remind me next time to go there only in spring!

Had fun though. Will be blogging about it when I get time later today.

Announcement: Weekend full of SeOul

2005-12-17T10:15:00.000+09:00

Heading off to Seoul this weekend. Been there a gazillion times, but there are a few things I'd really like to catch this time, include the city hall lights, as well as the newly built Cheonggyecheon (청계천) restoration project.

Have a great weekend readers. Updates will be in on Monday! In the mean time, I will have my earmuffs on for the next two days.

Its bloody -8.3deg Celcius in Seoul as I type now...

Stuff: Yuletide joy for the dog

2005-12-17T08:14:00.000+09:00

Guess what Momma Ferby sent her grand-dog, a.k.a. Kwangyang resident pup Gizmo... A Christmas Care Package!

In the care package we received yesterday, she threw in a whole bunch of stuff from wee winter jackets, to chew toys! Awesome... Gizmo can now take it out on Mini-Santa too!

*Momma Ferby is my American colleague's mum. They hail from Oklahoma.

Since she doesn't have any grandkids, and non are in the horizon... Gizmo (Ferb's new Shih Tzu) is probably the next closest thing.

Hence, Gizmo became the "Grand-dog".

What a better way to welcome the little fella, than a Christmas care package!

I wish I were a dog sometimes... *Mong mong!

@ Work: Girlie men playing with soap bubbles?

2005-12-16T09:02:00.000+09:00

OK, what would you make out of BIG BURLY men carrying bottled soap water, spraying bubbles all over the place... girlie?

Heck NO! That's how we (engineers) check for air/gas leaks on pipes, lines and hoses... There's just no other more convenient + cheap way to do it.

By the way, MY bottle is transparent PINK. ;)

Business: Hyundai Santa Fe 2005/06

2005-12-15T08:39:00.000+09:00

A show car was perched outside where we have lunch and sales people were out swarming the place with fliers of sorts. Seemed like the new Hyundai Santa Fe is on the streets. Not a bad looking SUV I must say... plus the brochure cracked me up. Hence this post.

*Note though, it looks a tad like a COPY of a Mazda 6 from the back, and probably a Honda Accord from the front. B****y copy cats!

Either way, Hyundai has once again come up with a sweet deal as far as warranty is concerned. If I read my Korean right, I believe its a 2 year OR 40,000 km warranty with free servicing on the first 1,000 km and subsequent 10,000 km until the warranty period is over.

Wow!

You could opt for the Mozen option. Mozen seems to be an in-built safety and GPS system that probably curses in Korean whenever you don't drive per the directions. That's what I think anyway, since I don't understand a friggin word the GPS (SHE) utters whenever I'm in a car that has one.

The Mozen SOS system will (I quote) lay your worries to rest anytime. So supposedly if your car breaks down, commandos swoop down, locks everything in place and airlifts your car to the ultimate destination?

For USD$33,000, you could purchase the (I quote) "Super-High Class" SLX Santa Fe with the top Mozen option, which unfortunately is only 2-wheel drive... Throw in an extra USD$1,860 and you can have the 4-whell drive option.

*Note: On the brochure, there is NO standard model, only High and Super-High Class models. So you'd be driving what technically is a standard (a.k.a. CHEAP) model, that's labelled high-class.

D'uh!

I'd buy it though, it if it were as cheap in Malaysia. Anyone knows how much the current Santa Fe retails for in Malaysia?? My guess is 2.5 times the price here (Korea).

*Grumbles at ~~stupidly excessive Malaysian~~ duties and import taxes...

I hope it drives as well as it looks too.

Food: Raw fish ~ FRESH!

2005-12-14T08:42:00.000+09:00

Finally, we have a Chinese colleague who just arrived on our job site. He's the only one who's been brave enough so far, to go ease the craving for raw fish with me.

When the Koreans eat raw, they mean RAW, and they mean FRESH...

This is a common sight all over Korea: You rock up to a fish tank, pick the fish, have it weighed, sit down at a table, and wait for the fish to be sliced up. Other non-fish options include sea slugs and urchins.

We picked the minimum of 1kg that night, and it cost 20,000 Won (USD$20). That should feed 2 ~ 3 people. Not bad at all!

Settings vary, but typical fish tanks can be found at fish markets, or even raw fish (회) speciality shops. One of the most famous markets around is Jagalchi Market (자갈치) in Busan, and the annual Jagalchi Festival in October.
Just try not to gross-out ok...

Don't ask me what fish we ate... Whatever the lady said when she picked up the fish sounded pretty foreign to me! Tasty though it was, and not a hint of smelly seafood... It was THAT fresh!

As with ANY Korean meal, life would not be complete without soju, accompanying side dishes of Kimchi, raw leaves of lettuce and mint, as well as chilli sauce.

It's freestyle as far as how you eat it. I love it with leaves, and a tad of mustard + light soy sauce.

~ Lovely ~

Announcement: Plunge forward

2005-12-13T13:16:00.000+09:00

I have submitted to my destiny... The IELTS application has been submitted!

If you're lost on what I'm ranting on about, read HERE.

Culture: Slogans will protect you!

2005-12-13T08:40:00.000+09:00

Just remember, Koreans LOVE slogans!

This again, is a shot of Mr. An, our model from the Tourmaline post some time ago. This time, he's here to model for us the vest, which we were told we have to wear on site.

On ALL vests are scribbled the words:
무재해 (Mujaehae) ~ "No accidents"

It's a stark reminder to everyone on the job site, of the reputation of having a poor safety record within its construction industry. Maybe some people believe it provides extraordinary protection to the wearer, by forces incomprehensible to the common man?

Here's food for thought on why I DON'T wear it... Which is safer?

To wear a vest that says "No accidents" on it and climb/walk around the construction site, only to have the edges of the loose-hanging vest frequently caught in items that stick out, aka: bolts, pipes and sharp edges.
To not wear it and simply have my shirt tucked in while climbing about. No loose edges.

It's corny anyway. I think I am entitled to win my case. :P

About me: OK, so my Engrandish sucks rite?

2005-12-12T09:36:00.000+09:00

OK, remember how my case officer for the permanent resident requirement me to do an English test? I wrote an appeal, which was rejected, stating reasons of policy.

I then found a clause on the immigration website that states:

"...Any waiver of the test is at the DISCRETION OF YOUR CASE OFFICER."

SECOND letter of appeal!

Response... short and sweet:

Crap la... that means I have to drive all the way to Seoul (5 hours away) on a Saturday for a stupid test that I aced 9 years ago, and pay another ~ USD$180.00. I mean, how in the world does your English language deteriorate with time anyway?

*Grumble grumble grumble... !@#ㄸㅌㅠㅃ他Xガｒセア媽U^!@%#$*!!! (Swearing in ALL Asian languages I know...)

30 minutes

I feel better now.

PMS: Wireless internet

2005-12-11T14:11:00.000+09:00

Let me have a go at the Korean internet system one more time.

This (Sunday) morning, I decided to use the FREE wireless internet again, which is from onlyGodknowswhere. Note that I've been using this in my apartment for the last 8 months. Personally, I don't think I'm 'stealing' someone else's bandwidth, because obviously, I could log on with no problems. This means that someone did not set up the system's security properly, and ANYONE could use the connection at will.

IT WAS AN OPEN INVITATION!

Anyway, what I'm here to take the piss out of is not this. Refer to the screenshot above.

Today, I believe they finally did something about it, and enabled this log on feature in the KT Megapass opening splash screen. Without logging on, I was restricted from getting on the internet.

"Oh joy... I have no account!" I grumbled to myself. "What about my faithful blog readers?!!"

This is where you get teary eyed, and promise to send this link to everyone you know. Since you KNOW that I care, and you'd want others to feel the joy of reading my blog.

Refusing to give up, I try to see if Yahoo, MSN and Google Messenger would work, because they do tend to bypass firewalls and proxy servers sometimes.

Voila ~ It works!

Since the messenger programs worked, I decided to try logging in to our company's network, and so I dished out the ol' VPN (login program, in a nutshell), and lo and behold... I now HAVE access to the internet, and am typing this at home right now!

So here's why I feel this deserves to be a Pretty Much Senseless (PMS) post:

A splash page that only prevents me from getting to the internet directly (only), is exactly like a locked gate in front of an un-walled house. PMS!

Business: Fags

2005-12-10T08:52:00.000+09:00

It's funny how some businesses are named. It was a good laugh when I spotted this one.

In case you were wondering what's the joke... See the word "FAG"? By definition a FAG could be:

A cigarette ~ British English.
Example: "Would you like to go out for a fag (smoke)?"
A derogatory term for homosexuals. An abbreviation for faggot.
Example: "Don't come near me you fag!"

What a gay name for a business, but it IS a brand of bearings.

Announcement: Can I come to Australia??

2005-12-09T09:17:00.000+09:00

This came in the mail yesterday. Yup ~ a reply for my long awaited application to be an Australian Permanent Resident!

It's not quite approved yet, and they still need two documents:

Medical checkup (fair enough)
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score... shudder in disbelief!

OK, so what does that mean: My English is bad? I have always been speaking a minority language, while traveling the world with multi-national companies for the last 5 years? This blog was completely written up by my personal assistant while I recited ideas to *HER in dialects?!

*Yes, I wouldn't mind not being able to speak English in that case.

Anyway, I have written a letter of appeal to the case officer. There was an exemption clause in the English testing requirements document, which I feel that I've fulfilled. I had taken this test in 1996 anyway, but only that it has passed the expiration period of 2 years. We will see what goes.

But usually at this stage, you could pretty much call it good on the application once the required documents are in. So Australia... hold on to your wigs and panties, because Vincent's storming into town by 2006!