Still finishing off the post on Tokyo, but I did load my pictures to Flickr (www.flickr.com/loftusinlondon) and videos to Youtube (www.youtube.com/loftusinlondon) Here are the highlights:

Seoul

Korean BBQ on Friday night:

Cheongbukgong:

Fukuoka

Warning on the JR Beetle:

Crossing the Korean Strait

Dinner at the sidewalk cafe:

Sumo:

Kyoto

Cemetary at 6am:

Park in the mountains:

Shrine:

Tokyo

Mt Fuji from Shinkansen:

Tokyo at night:

Great Sales Pitch:

Videos:

Traditional Korean Musical Act:

President Obama’s Motorcade:

Kyoto Japan

I’ve been quite a bit unlucky with the weather on my trip, even when the forecast has called for a nice day. Hopefully it at least stays consistent and is wrong tomorrow given it’s calling for showers all day in Tokyo.

Rewinding back to Sunday evening, I had a couple of moments that were very reminiscent of events of my month long trip around Europe last summer. The first one was much like my mad scramble to catch a connecting train in Dresden Germany. This time it was in Osaka. While there was another train a half hour after the one I was gunning for, the check in deadline a the place I was staying was fast approaching. I had 4 minutes between trains in a station with about 30 tracks, leaving guessing a direction as the only option. Like Dresden, I luckily guessed right and made it on the train with 10 seconds to spare.

Once I arrived in Kyoto, I needed to catch a bus to the Gion neighborhood. I memorized well set directions but got cocky when I was walking to the adjoining bus terminal when I saw a bus of a familiar number drive by. I foolishly jumped on. Not only were the maps not in English but it was pelting down rain al well, so I had little room for mistakes. This was much like my attempt to find my friends flat in Prague last summer. I frantically tore through my translation book to try to figure out what my stop would look like in Japanese, but ultimately admitted defeat, got off and got a cab.

The rain had subsided enough for a late evening wander, but eventually I decided to call it a night in favor of a very early morning hike. A couple things about Kyoto. First, it’s bordered by mountains on three sides which is scenic but since they’re on the east and west, it cuts an hour of sunlight off each end of the day. The mountains are full of ancient and secluded Buddhist temples along with many amazing shrines, and, as I discovered on my morning hike, Japanese graveyards.

I woke up at about 5:15am to start my morning journey into the eastern hills. The entire city was completely asleep and it was still dark out. As I ascended up the mountains, there was such an amazing calmness about being virtually alone in an ancient land. It reminded me of my sunrise hike through Venice last year. It’s easy to let the imagination try to place you hundreds of years back.

I was sure that I was entering many areas that I was not supposed to be but figured I can use my complexion and accent as a fallback should anyone object. The first amazing site I came across was this massive Japanese graveyard on an embankment perched high above the city, giving a stunning view. I wouldve given anything for a clear morning at this point, but the gray skies left me to rely on my imagination. I’ll have to research japanese burial customs when I get a chance, but the graves seem stacked very closely together below a square gravestone base with a tall rectangular stone on top with the inscription of what is probably the name of the deceased.

From there, I made it to a couple other amazing temples. At one point, I observed a monk from a distance, going through his morning prayers. They were a monotone chant accompanied by drumming on what seemed to be a softball sized ceramic sphere. It was very peaceful to watch.

After a good 5 hours of uphill hiking, I made my way back to town for some coffee and breakfast. I found a nice little place and decided to get a little bold with my Japanese, which I’ve found easier to use than Korean, mainly because the more common phrases are commonplace in American culture. I requested a table, ordered and gave a hearty “that was delicious” (oy-shi-ka-ta) which was very well received. It was definitely one of those exhilirating moments where you feel like the locals really appreciated the effort, which is encouraging.

I hiked for a few more hours after that, mainly in the ancient markets that led to other temples. By that point, the city was wide awake and a bit crowded. I was very content with the decision to get up super early and enjoy the scenery before dealing with the crowds. I had been fairly warned that Asians can be very pushy, something that normally doesn’t bode well with my slight claustrophobia. However, since I expected it, I was much less bothered.

I made my way back to the hostel to recharge the batteries before heading out for an afternoon hike. That’s where I got a huge helping hand from the golden gift to tourists, vending machines. Japan has plenty for multiple purposes and none of them have week old sandwiches or fruit that no doctor would recommend eating. Instead, there have been two types that have aided my travels. The first is for restaurants. Some of them have vending machines that are a part of the ordering process. When you enter, there’s a machine right by the door, complete with pictures and prices. You make your selection, then bring the ticket to your seat and a waitress picks it up. It’s so much better than butchering “do you have an English menu?” and then hacking your way through the order. It’s much more efficient to just memorize please, thank you and that was delicious.

The other type of vending machine is for drinks and they’re all over the cities. The best thing is that they don’t just have sidas and waters, but canned coffee too…and amazingly, hot and cold. I know, hot coffee in a can, which has been there for whoever knows how long, sounds awful. But when you’re fighting to find the energy to keep on hiking after your legs are shot and you’re exhausted, it’s pretty awesome. The best part is every machine has a picture of Tommy Lee (or whatever the name of that guy is who is in Men In Black with Will Smith).

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. It’s 10pm and I’m on the rooftop of the ryokan in Tokyo. I’m beat, and my legs and feet are destroyed. So I’m going to bed. I’ll probably wait to recap Tokyo until my flight home, or after thanksgiving. Tomorrow evening I’m meeting up with the head if our Asia Pacific practice since he’s based here and is a friend of some of the lads in the London office. Should be fun.

Phil

This is the post I had stored on my laptop.  I just now have a connection for the first time in a couple days.  I hiked Kyoto from 5:30am to noon today and am relaxing at the hostel today.  Probably going to take a quick nap, then head back out.  Taking a morning train to Tokyo tomorrow.

I’m not particularly thrilled with my effort on this post given how wild a stretch it was, but here it is anyway:

Wow, what a 36 hours!  Rewinding back to 36 hours ago, I had a pretty intense day at work yesterday, including attending a client meeting.  It was a bit unexpected, I helped with preparing and reviewing the material, but was caught off guard when I was asked to join the meeting.  The one thing I learned about the Korean business culture is that dress is pretty conservative.  White dress shirt, simple tie, and sharp suit.  And I showed up in a turquoise shirt and no tie.  In line with everyone being overly polite, I received lots of compliments.  But after the meeting, one of the client contacts, who’s American but has lived in Seoul for a decade, made a polite comment about the boldness.

We then made our way to a very nice, authentic Japanese restaurant for lunch.  It was complete with the separate dining room for each table, the removal of shoes, and the low set table with seating where you put your legs below ground level.  The meal was pretty elaborate, mainly tuna based, and quite delicious.  One of the client contacts was Brazilian, his theories on the ability to host the Olympics were interesting.

After a busy afternoon/evening of work, some coworkers and I made it to a Korean restaurant for dinner.  The best part about it was the music that was playing, straight from a cheesy 80’s album off an infomercial.  My favorite moment was when they played the theme song to The Never Ending Story.  I hadn’t heard that song, and many of the others, in 20 years.  Once we were done with dinner, I went off wandering the streets of Seoul.  The first neighborhood I hit was Insa-Dong, a couple block stretch of street vendors in front of buildings with nice restaurants and bars up to the third floor.  There I ran into one of the many random sights of the trip, numerous second floor batting cages.  The Koreans love baseball, and more importantly, they love the Chicago White Sox.  I’ve seen about 15 baseball caps since I got here, and over half of them have been Sox hats.  Probably reaches back to the day when the famous Korean, Carlos Lee, played for the Sox.

Later that evening I went hiking to the same market area that I went to on Monday evening.  This time I was met with throngs of riot police.  Earlier in the evening, there were a couple of peace rallies.  Things were pretty calm though, it was an interesting scene to see.  Through my wandering, I ran into another random scene, a big Miller Genuine Draft bar.  Seriously?  MGD?  I guess I’m not surprised that it was empty.  Eventually I made my way back to the hotel and called it a night.

I took Thursday off to explore the city while the sun was still up.  After grabbing breakfast, I left the hotel on the way to see some of the ancient Korean palaces.  However, upon leaving the hotel, I was met with thousands of Koreans lining the main drag in jubilation.  There were numerous rallies, populated with Korean military, along with many large signs and Korean and American flags being waved.  The signs were mainly in support of the alliance between the American and Korean militaries, and in support of peace on the Korean peninsula along with the prevention of nuclear arms being acquired by their neighbors to the north.  The scene was amazing and worthwhile of delaying my trip to the palaces.

Eventually the excitement seemed to be building, with everyone turning towards the street.  At that point, a jeep went flying down the street at a high speed with Korean and American flags flying out the back windows.  Then the motorcade of the President of the United States made it’s way through.  It was definitely an intense scene.  No matter your politics, being in a country far away from ours, seeing the reaction to our President passing through is simply amazing.

Things disbanded after the motorcade passed by, so I finally made my way to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, which is an ancient palace and gardens just down the street from our office.  In front of the palace, there are guards dressed in traditional Korean gear, all of them pretty large and fully bearded.  I arrived just in time for a changing of the guard ceremony which I tried to record.  If it turned out well, I will post it here.  After Gyeongbokgung, I wandered the streets until I got to the much larger Cheungdeyok Palace.  This is one of the most elaborate palaces of the royal families over the past 5-6 centuries, and is one of the areas that was spared by the Japanese colonization.  It’s amazing to see all of the beautiful, ancient sculptures around Seoul, realizing that much of the city was ravaged over the centuries, mainly by the Japanese, and of course more recently by the North Koreans and their allies during the Korean War.

After doing a self guided audio tour of the palace and gardens, I decided to hike across the city to Seoul Tower which sits on one of the many smaller mountains that are located within the city proper.  This was the hike that my coworkers hardly believe I made, but I have some solid blisters that could prove otherwise.  There are two ways to get to the tower, by car/taxi/bus up the roads to the tower, or by cable car, which of course I chose.  The tower itself has a panoramic observation deck that really is the only way to grasp how absolutely massive a city Seoul is.  There are skyscrapers and highrises in every direction and as far as the eye can see.  It was my first chance to get a glimpse of Hangang the river that divides the city into north and south.

On the way down in the cable car might’ve been one of the more random and hilarious moments of the trip.  We had packed into the car, about 25 Koreans/Japanese and myself, so I had a solid height advantage, until one last passenger came running up before the doors closed.  He was about 6’4” and Swedish, a pretty big guy.  Everyone in the cable car was just amazed and let out a collective “ooohhhh”.  No joke, a couple people took pictures with him.  The Swede noticed me just cracking up and came over to chat as we left the cable car.  Alex is a super friendly guy traveling through while he was on his way to meet a friend in Tokyo.  He said he had been getting that reaction pretty often throughout the city.

On To Kyoto

I was politely told that Kyoto is two syllables and not three, which I sort of knew from my couple of hours reading Japanese language lessons. However it’s alway tough to ditch habit, given that many have Kyoto in their vocabulary. I also learned that I hold chopsticks slightly wrong. After getting used to the adjustment to the right way I feel like it has opened up a whole new world. Either way, I’m currently on a Shinkasen train to Hikari before transferring over to a little express train for a detour up to Kyoto (this train continues to Osaka, a city I wanted to see but don’t have time for.

First the train. It’s unreal, possibly only matched in speed and smoothness by the German trains, specifically the bullet train from Nurembourg to Munich. The crazy thing is, this isn’t even the fastest Japanese train. The Nozomi is even quicker, but not supported by the Japan rail pass. While the rail pass wasn’t much cheaper than booking individual trains, it grants such flexibility. Given my habit of making few plans when I travel and just making it up as I go, the rail pass is much wiser, even though it kills me to miss out on the Nozomi. It’s a bit of a dreary day in Japan, which was fine for being indoors for the sumo, but I’d love a great sunset view of the Japanese mountains right now. Oh well, the next couple days in Kyoto are supposed to be sunny and mid 60s

I’m going to try not to butcher Kyoto’s history too much, but it was the capital city for over a thousand years and is chalk full of palaces and gardens. It’s also the overwhelming favorite Japanese city based on the reviews I’ve heard from friends. I won’t get to the hostel until later this evening, so I might just grab some dinner, hike around a little but crash early. That way I can do one of my favorite things while traveling, getting up at the crack of dawn and seeing an ancient city while it still sleeps. Some of my best experiences from traveling have happened at 6am and it’s rarely because I’m still out from the night before.

Anyway, I’m going to keep this one relatively short since I’d like to do some reading on Kyoto and practice some more Japanese. To recap, the sumo was an awesome experience. I was bummed to have to leave while the excitement seemed to be building, but the combination of it being too late to cancel my bed tonight at the hostel and the holiday tomorrow impacting travel, it seemed like the right call.

Phil

Fukuoka Japan

Sunday noontime in Fukuoka Japan and I’m at the Kansakai Center for the national sumo tournament. More on the current setting later, but I wanted to recap the last 24 hours.

The train ride from Seoul to Busan was incredibly relaxing. Many people already know I have a somewhat healthy obsession with trains and outside the US it’s easily my most preferred method of travel. Throughout Europe, the trains are fast, clean, roomy, on time, and connect city center to city center. Since the KTX in Korea was built by the same people that built the TGV in France, I wasn’t surprised that the ride was high quality.

The Korean countryside felt very Coloradoish to me, maybe minus the tallest of Rockies. The Koreans also seem to have quite the obsession with highrise residences, which I had read before. Most of the smaller towns we passed had a couple mammoth white highrises in the middle of town.

The train station in Busan is pretty close to the port, so I had plenty of time to grab some noodles and green tea before boarding. The ship itself was very nice, with two levels of seating. I of course chose the upstairs for the view. There was about 10 rows of seats with a typical 2-5-2 airline seating format. But while the downstairs was almost full, the upstairs was about 90% empty which added to the comfort. Until we hit high sea, the boat simply operates as a normal vessel, travelling rather slowly. But when we hit the open waters, the boat elevates on what are essentially water skis and starts racing across the Korean Strait. The ride was amazingly smooth with only the very occasional bout of turbulence. We passed a couple mountainous islands along the way and the combination of the sun setting and partly cloudy skies translucently letting the sun through made for some amazing scenery. A nice fog over the layered mountains with scattered rays of sunshine illuminating sections of the sea. Hopefully the pics I took do it some justice.

In Fukuoka I’m staying with a friend of a friend of a friend. Tim actually grew up in Oak Park but has lived in Japan off and on for the last 10+ years. His place is not too long a cab ride from the port. But there was a slight problem, the ATM only took domestic cards and the taxis didn’t take credit cards. Given the language barrier, it was quite an ordeal with about a half dozen cabbies standing around me speaking only Japanese. Eventually another cab entered the port and the other cabbies grabbed my bags an threw them in the trunk. Turns out this guy had a credit card machine and took me to Tim’s.

Tim had two other friends staying with him this weekend, Hannah who is a Wisconsonite teaching English in a nearby village and Gijeon (spelled wrong) a Turkish national who just gained American citizenship and is fluent in 7 languages. I’ve mentioned it before but the only slightly bad side effect of international travel is that I feel so uneducated among oters my age since everyone is fluent in a couple languages.

Anyway, Hannah, Tim and I decided to grab some dinner. Tim tried to explain these places to me, that are illegal in every other part of Japan. I can’t remember the name of them off the top of my head, but they are basically mini restaurant tents that are just in the middle of sidewalks on semi busy streets. They only seat about 6 people around a little bar and have the menu on chalkboards, in Japanese of course. We were just walking down a main sidewalk and Tim disappeared into one and a couple seconds later his arm emerged, waving us in.

I was very lucky to know someone local, because these places are recommended in most tourism books but most of them just gouge tourists. Tim is fluent in Japanese and knew the two people running the stand so we were good. We had an assortment of traditional Japanese dishes including a great ramen, some great soups and various vegetables and fish that I’ve never seen before.

After dinner, we went to an equally small bar on the top floor of a 7 story building, which just opened and Tim knew the owners, so we were treated very well. The bar was actually called Soul Kitchen in honor of The Doors. Hannah knew Japanese too so I was off on an island most of the night and forced to use Tim and Hannah as interpreters whenever anyone tried to talk to me. Like the Koreans, the Japanese are very curious, but at the same time shy to try English. They’re still very smiley and happy to have a conversation through an interpreter.

Eventually we called it a night and I got up early this morning to hike around Fukuoka and then made it down to the sumo tournament. The reason I can tap out this long post is because the tournament is an all day event of continuous matches. The lower divisions are up now and the place is somewhat empty except up in the rafters where the cheap seats are, along with the rowdy locals. I did use my cluelessness to sit virtually ringside for a while, but felt guilty and made my way to my seat. I would say the arena fits about 4,000 or so and is partitioned by ringside pillows, backed by 4 seat/pillow boxes and then a couple rows of bleacher seats at the top.

I probably don’t need to elaborately explain the actual matches since I think most people know how they happen. Some of the interesting aspects are that before each match, someone comes out and sings each competitors name. The red also has a pretty intense kimona and shouts out the same line over an over during the match. As I said, I’m in the cheap seats and am surrounded by old Japanese men, most of them enjoying multiple Asahis, a Japanese beer. While you’re supposed to be quiet during the match, there’s one guy who seems a bit drunk (yes, it’s noon) an he occasionally shouts something and the whole section roars in laughter. So I of course join them even though I have no idea what he’s saying.

The unfortunate thing is that I think I need to catch a 5pm train to Kyoto so I won’t get to see the Yokozuna compete along with some of the traditional ceremonies before the upper level matches. I would stay another night in Fukuoka but tomorrows a big national holiday and trains are supposed to be tough to get on. So I’d rather be in Kyoto already and just check out the palaces and gardens all day.

With that, I’m going to head to te concession stands and figure out how to order some lunch.

Phil

I’m currently at Seoul Station about to get on a bullet train to Busan which is a port city in southern South Korea, and the second largest city in the country. The train ride takes about two and a half hours and will travel at speeds up to 190 mph. It’s a very clear day so I’m anticipating a great view of the country throughout the trip. From there I have about an hour to find my way from the train station to the port to catch a boat across the Korean Strait to Fukuoka/Hakata Japan. Though the site looks like it needs some updating, you can get a good view and demonstration of the boat at www.jrbeetle.co.jp.

This evening I’ll be going bar hopping in Fukuoka with Tim, a former Chicagoan, and some of his friends. Then tomorrow I’m hoping to get to the national sumo tournament, then catch an evening train to Kyoto.

I know I’m skipping over the latter half of the week. I have that post half typed up on my laptop and may try to finish it on the train and post whenever I next get access to the web. The last day in the office was an intense one on many levels. For multiple reasons, it was a very exciting but draining week. However, Friday evening we celebrated with a little going away dinner and evening out. We started at one of the locations that I had been most looking forward, a Korean BBQ restaurant. It was quite possibly one of the best meals of my life. The setup involved a table with a grill in the middle. There is a charcoal fire underneath and low hanging fan to collect the smoke. Plates of raw meat are brought out along with large lettuce leaves and a host of side items. Of course the meal was accompanied by a couple bottles of Soju. The meal is a steady process of cooking the meat in small strips with garlic, onions and mushrooms. Then as the meat is finishing cooking you grab a piece of meat with steel chopsticks, dip it in a soy sauce mix and set it on the lettuce leaf with whatever garnishes, wrap it up and enjoy. Throughout the meal there is lists of toasting over Soju.

From there, we made our way to a Japanese restaurant, complete with shoe removal, sitting on the floor and the semi private room. More food was ordered, accompanied by some Sake. Unfortunately at that point, I was beyond exhausted. Thursday was a very long day of walking and seeing as much of the city as I could. Most of the office simply wouldn’t believe that I walked to all the places I did and that I simply mustve been confused or misstating all that I saw. Combine that with a very busy Friday at the office and I was really struggling to keep my eyes open. I felt awful because my sleepiness was turning me into Captain Buzzkill and eventually the others called it a night. Probably best I wasn’t out to all hours of the night given the travels ahead.

Anyway, the train is about to take off so I’m going to sign off. Ha, the background music playing on the train is an Asian version of Let It Be. Outstanding.

Phil

I have half a post pulled together, but couldn’t stay awake last night to finish it. A ton has happened in the past 48 hours that I would like to spend the appropriate time documenting. But today is a super busy day, followed by the going away party this evening, so I won’t have time to update. Hopefully during the train ride to Busan and/or the boat over to Fukuoka. I know some people were concerned about safety due to the reports on the news. I’m completely fine and didn’t at all feel unsafe yesterday. While the atmosphere on the streets was wild and there was riot police everywhere, the demonstrations were very pro-American and peaceful.

With that, I have to get back to work. Sorry to those that have emailed that I haven’t had time to respond to or have gotten a very brief response.

I did just discover how to post from my mobile, so given there’s 3G coverage throughout Japan, I hope to be able to make more, but shorter posts, which will be nice to prevent feeling backed up and posting when theimages and experiences are fresh in my head.

Phil

7am Wednesday morning and I’m watching the sun rise over the city again from my room. It’s a very clear morning so the view is outstanding. I’ve actually had two pretty busy work days so it’s been a little tough to explore the city all that much. Monday I went into the office, which is just a block from the hotel, at about 8am.

When I came out here, I was told the team of actuaries was comprised of 8 people, 2 Brits, 2 Aussies, 2 Canadians, and 2 Koreans. It didn’t occur to me that it really meant that the team was 8 people of Korean descent, but that some of them had moved with their families to other countries and subsequently returned here to work. So I stick out like a sore thumb much more than I thought I would, and Korean is spoken the whole time in the office. I do sometimes feel like a zoo animal both around the city and in the office with getting so much attention. People are just curious, especially since there’s a very small foreign population in Korea. Like London, it’s an open office, so it’s very busy and lively, which I really enjoyed when I was in London. Of course, I can’t interact with everyone as easily, or understand what everyone’s working on through hearing the conversation, since it’s all in Korean. However, it still makes for an enjoyable environment.

The one word I can regularly understand when someone says it is “Chandler”. Why? Because at my first meeting, the whole team agreed I look exactly like Matthew Perry and thought it was hilarious. I’m serious, when one guy on the team mentioned it, about 10 minutes of giggling followed. So I’m now officially called Chandler by everyone in the office. I’ll be working away and a couple people will be talking nearby in Korean, which of course I don’t understand a word of, but then I’ll hear “Chandler”, followed by a lot of giggling. So I start giggling. This is further proof that a sense of humor and willingness to laugh at oneself is instrumental to enjoying a very different environment. Whenever someone stops by my desk to introduce themselves, a couple younger associates from the team run over and ask them who I look like. One guy who stopped by yesterday evening was asked and couldn’t come up with the desired answer and they told him, his response was, and I quote, “he’s much more attractive than Chandler”. Awkward, but leads me to my next point.

Koreans are very openly affectionate to each other and also aren’t shy about topics of relationships. When walking through the streets, it’s very common to see two guys or two girls walking hand in hand or arm in arm. This is pretty popular in most Asian cultures.

I’ve been very shy and hesitant to try to use the language, mainly because it’s very difficult on many levels. I really haven’t gotten past “Hello”, “Thank you”, and a couple of numbers. The fact that the alphabet is not Romanic makes it difficult to visualize what you’re saying, and of course, tons more difficult to try to read. The couple times I’ve tried to use Korean words, people do light up and treat me better, but it’s still been a difficult go. I really try to stay away from rants on this blog, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when there is a foreigner in my country who doesn’t have a complete grasp of English, but is trying, is occasionally met with a, “This is America, learn the language or get out.” My guess is that anyone who would say something along those lines has never really been in a very different culture, so they don’t have an appreciation of how difficult it is to learn a new language. I just couldn’t envision anyone here ever saying to me “This is Korea, learn the language or get out”. I spent all of yesterday saying “Ham-Sa-Ham-Ni-Da” to everyone rather than “Kam-Sa-Ham-Ni-Da” (which is the correct pronunciation of “Thank you”). It was basically the equivalent of telling everyone “Pank You” in English, which I’m sure would ruffle some feathers, but when I butchered the basics of their language, it didn’t bother anyone here, they appreciated the effort.

Anyway, I left the office about 6:30pm Monday and was pretty near zombie state from the jetlag and the long day at work. I knew if I went to my hotel room I’d pass out immediately, so even though it was very cold out (probably about 30 degrees) and I only had a suit jacket, I decided to wander around the city. First I walked down this stream that goes through the center of the city, called the Cheonggyecheon. It has all this large Korean style paper statues, lit up on rocks in the river, along with stepping stones every 30 yards or so, for crossing the river.

From there, I made my way down some of the market streets. I was shocked at how alive they were, given the freezing temps. There were lots of outdoor vendors, the car-less streets were very crowded, but not over-crowded, and there were lively atmospheres at all of the restaurants and bars. Eventually by about 9pm, I was cold enough and thoroughly lost, so I wandered my way back towards the hotel, but stopped off in a little Chinese restaurant for a bite. That’s where I had a bit of a slip up. I ordered my meal fine, even using the Korean numbers to pick the dish I wanted. I was asked what I wanted to drink. Wanting to enjoy the local flavor, I saw that there was Soju on the menu. Soju is a Korean vodka that is quite by far the most popular adult beverage here. I knew that it sometimes came in a 16 ounce sized bottle, but saw that the price was the same as the beers, so figured it was a smaller version. When I ordered it, the waiter gave me a confused look, but accepted the order and came back with one of the full sized bottles and a shot glass. I immediately understood his confusion and was a bit embarrassed. So I laughed about it, had about a quarter of the bottle along with my meal and went back to the hotel.

Yesterday I got into the office at about 7:45am and didn’t realize until at least an hour later that the typical Korean work day starts at about 9am, much like London. So I was alone in the office for a good hour. That day for lunch, a couple of us went to a traditional Korean restaurant where they serve Bi-bim-babs, a big bowl that has a layer of rice at the bottom and is topped with layers of vegetables and pork that are neatly arranged in quadrants. You get a long spoon and mix up all the ingredients. Igo a kimchi jumul luck bebimbab and it was incredibly delicious and quite spicy. This evening or tomorrow evening, we’re probably going to go out for Korean bbq, which I’ve really been looking forward. Friday night we’re supposed to have a big night out with the office, a combination of my leaving drinks along with welcoming drinks for a girl that just started this week.

I was at the office a bit late again on Tuesday night, but remembered to bring some extra layers of clothing so I could do some exploring that night. It was a crisp, cold night, but I certainly couldn’t just go back to the hotel room (the forecast this week is for highs in the lower 40’s all week. Last week was in the 60’s, next week will be in the upper 50’s. Oh well). I can’t stress enough how friendly everyone is here, both in the office, and even out in public. The Koreans are a little reserved, so I definitely get a warmer reception at the office where people know a little about my background and why I’m in Seoul. As I was packing up, everyone was shouting out their recommendations for what I should do and see that evening. I mentioned that I needed to buy my train ticket for my trip to Pusan on Saturday and one of them quickly shut their computer down, grabbed her coat and walked me to one of the train stations. It’s just how people are here, extremely nice and helpful, no questions asked. She knew that both a) I’d probably never find the ticket booth (and she was right) and b) the guy at the booth would speak very little English (also true), so she ordered the ticket for me and saved me an immense amount of trouble, confusion, and frustration. There are two reasons why I never would’ve found the ticket booth. First, it was small and tucked away, and secondly, there is an intense network of underground subways, shopping areas, market, restaurants, etc, all below street level. My Aunt Jody gave me a heads up on the setup, but it was much more advanced than I imagined.

Once I got the ticket, my colleague was on her way and I went over to the Deoksugung Palace, which like the Tower of London, was the home of the royal family through much of the 1500’s to 1700’s. The grounds also host the national art gallery. It was almost chilling to walk through the area for a number of reasons. I was basically the only person on the campus other than a few guards. It was a eerily dark, chilly evening with a crisp breeze. There was ancient Korean music piping out of speakers throughout the park. And it’s nestled in a downtown area, surrounded by skyscrapers, making it very surreal to walk and look at these old palaces. The structures are very intense and immaculate. I took a bunch of pictures, but I forgot my USB to get them uploaded, and my camera doesn’t take the best night pictures. So you’ll have to wait until I get home to see them.

Being that it was late and I didn’t want to get a full meal, I wandered into a 7-11, yes a 7-11, got a little Korean ramen cup to go and an Asahi and went back to my hotel room to crash. Anyway, I need to head off to the office now.

Phil

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I typed this up Monday morning, but just have access now. I plan to follow it up with another post relatively soon
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It’s 6:30am Monday morning, and I’m sitting on the 23rd floor of the Koreana hotel watching the sun rise over downtown Seoul. I’ve actually been up for about 2 hours, hit the gym, ironed all my clothes and generally just unpacked. I’ve been in Korea for about 10 hours now, so I don’t have too much to describe at this point. It’s really just been 25 hours of traveling from the moment I left my condo in Chicago to when I arrived at the hotel here. Travel is travel, not all that fun and exciting, especially when it spans such a long period of time. I flew from O’Hare to San Fran to Incheon Airport in Seoul.

Incheon is a very high tech, upscale airport. However I didn’t want to spend any time to check out any of the amenities, rather I focused on finding the place to pick up a bus ticket and where to jump on the bus that would take me to Seoul’s city hall area. Not surprisingly, like most other cities, the airport had cabbies trying o talk everyone into skipping the bus for the much nicer (and 10 times more expensive) cabs. To get these guys off your back, you just have to walk around with your head down and say no before they get too deep into their pitch. Unfortunately, that approach stems enjoying the atmosphere at the airport

Fortunately I read in one of my Korean culture books that the people who work at airports and hotels will be quick to grab your bag and be super helpful (often polite strangers who are sitting on public transportation will grab your bag and put it on your lap if you’re standing). Without knowing that, it would’ve been tough to have the right reaction when someone I didn’t know snagged my suitcase and asked which bus I was on. He was an employee of the bus line, incredibly polite and took my bag to the right stand and told me which bus number to wait for.

I did try to study a bit of Korean while I was on the plane, but it’s a bit of a tough language, and I was too shy to even take a stab at the basic phrases. I’m hoping to ditch that reservation soon as like most other international cities, just studying a little bit of the language and trying to apply it, results in people treating you even friendlier. Of course, English is pretty readily spoken here, and many signs are in both languages. However one of my favorite moments in international travel is when you enter somewhere and someone approaches you ready to speak English, and you’re able to say a little something in their language, their reaction is so appreciative.

The ride into the city was unfortunately during darkness, so I couldn’t get a good feel of the commute from the island airport off the western coast of Korea to the center of the city. Plus I was desperately fighting off sleeping as I was beyond exhausted. There were many stops so I had to focus on when we were approaching mine. I didn’t really want to end up on the outskirts of the city and have to find my way back with all my luggage. As we were leaving the airport we started to pass a very large and brightly lit open field. It wasn’t until we got closer that I realized it was a night golf course. I remember reading that Incheon airport had a very nice golf course, but didn’t realize it was a 24 hour course. It was pretty cool to see.

We had about an hour of highway driving before reaching Seoul. The two most notable items, as we made our way through the city streets, were the South Korean flags lining the streets and how alive everywhere was. Despite it being freezing out, lots of stores and market style shops were opened up onto the streets. I wish I had the energy (and proper clothing) to head out for a little bit last night, but I was exhausted and cold. So I just went straight to the hotel to check in. Again, the second I walked through the revolving doors, my suitcase was grabbed out of my hand, with no conversation from an otherwise smiley and unassuming bellhop.

My room has a great view of the center of the city (and as I mentioned, the sun rising over it right now). The one bizarre thing, and I don’t know if it’s common, but between the room and the window looking outside, there’s a mini, closed air balcony, which is locked, and has plants in it. While it’s cool looking, it also steals some of the view. There are a lot of Vegas-esque video boards on the sides of the buildings. By the time I was checked into my room and unpacked, it was past 10pm and I was barely holding my eyes opened, however I did want to at least check out the hotel. The friendliness of everyone here almost makes it difficult to wander aimlessly. I just wanted to peak into each of the restaurants/bars and the sauna/spa, but people at each insisted on showing me around.

The spa is pretty cool, a big open room with large community baths, some massage rooms, and a barber. I’m a little bummed I got my haircut Friday evening while I was still at the office, because I later read that getting a haircut here is a cool experience. The bar has a big karaoke setup, which as you may know, is huge here and in other Asian countries. I’ve been warned by books and former Seoul residents to expect to have to sing a couple nights this week. Some of you know that I’m an awful singer, but from what I’ve read, it’s very rude not to do it. So a couple bars this week might have to sit through some awful David Bowie renditions.

Anyway, I’m going to grab some breakfast before heading off to the office. As I mentioned before, I have very little concept for how this week will go, how little or how much will be planned for me, which made it a little tough to research stuff to do. One of the former associates from this office said to expect to head out each evening, but I didn’t want to skimp on planning, in case that didn’t happen.

I’m not sure how many more times I’ll post during this trip. The main reason I’m doing it now is that it’s way too early in the morning to do anything else, but I couldn’t sleep all that well. I saw that Iowa almost pulled off a miracle in Columbus, only to fall in overtime in yet another down to the wire game. I also saw the Fire lost in a penalty shootout in the MLS semis and I saw the first leg results of the final playoffs for the 2010 World Cup. Looks like the Irish have an uphill battle needing to win in Paris on Wednesday, and that the Greeks have some work to do too.

I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to get into my work email, so if anyone wants to reach me, send an email to Loftus.Phil@Gmail.Com. My phone works out here and I have an international plan, so have handled some texts (thanks bandwagon OSU fans/Hawkeye haters).

Have a good day,
Phil

Hey all,

As most of you know, I’m heading over to Korea and Japan for the next couple of weeks.  I have very few details on the next two weeks.  I’m heading to O’Hare tomorrow (Saturday) morning, departing at 8:30am on a 4 1/2 hour flight to San Fran, then after a 2 hour layover I’ll be heading straight to Seoul, South Korea, via Incheon Airport which has been named the best airport in the world by Airports Council International.  I will be landing at 7pm Seoul time and heading over to the Koreana Hotel to check in.  The ironic thing about it is that this will technically be the shortest weekend of my life (46 hours between leaving the office Friday evening and starting work in the Seoul office Monday morning, which is about Sunday at 6pm Chicago time).  However, given my antsy-ness on flights, the shortest weekend of my life might feel like the longest.

I’m not going to get too far into details, but I’ll be working a week in our Seoul office, along with getting a feel for the city of Seoul and the country of South Korea.  After that, I’ll be heading down to Japan for 6 days.  In typical fashion, I’ll be making my way from Seoul South Korea to Tokyo Japan without using air travel.  My flight leaves Tokyo at 6pm on Thanksgiving, landing at O’Hare at 2pm on Thanksgiving, just in time to join my family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Given that my flight leaves O’Hare in 9 hours, and I’ve barely started packing, I’m not going to have too elaborate of a post.  I honestly have no idea whether I’m going to be able to make many, if any updates while I’m away, but I’ll give it a try.  I just thought I’d make an honest effort to keep anyone interested in the loop on my trip.  I was very flattered to return from my time in London to find out how many people were keeping up with my blog.

If you want anything cool from Korea or Japan, let me know!

Thanks,

Phil