A Most Wonderful Day!

A cloudy day could not deter the happiness of these kids on Haeundae Beach

Yes, it was cloudy today, and I sure could not get any good photos, especially as I only carried my little Canon SD900 on a short walk to lunch.  Yet I wanted to at least try to capture the bitter/sweet feelings I develop every time I prepare to leave Busan.

I, of course, can't wait to get home, yet I don't want to leave, as each time I do, it may be my last visit.

It's funny how just a few people make all the difference - new friends, coworkers, and even the tall, smiling young man that brings dinner to my room.  Will I see them again?

And a "chance" encounter today makes leaving all that much harder. It made me about as happy as those kids pictured above.  Will I get another chance?

I wish the sun would have been out today and I had my Nikon D200 poised to capture a crystal clear shot.  But all is OK, as it's a most wonderful day!

Hello                                                                                              안녕하세요

August 28, 2007

Nagoya Again

I expect everyone is getting sick of the twisted building pictures, but I love the view from my corner suite at the Marriott in Nagoya, especial this incredible 12mm wide angle shot. 

So this is my routine of late - Busan, Nagoya, Busan, Nagoya . . . I've only been traveling for 18 months and my passport is in need of more pages.  All I can say about Nagoya is that it is still hot and on this short three day trip I only left the hotel complex when I had to visit the partner, a trip which begins on the Meitetsu Line (one of about six distant train lines) that heads into the horizon pictured above.  All other time was spend in the air-conditioned confines of the massive JR complex below the hotel.

Before I knew it, I'm back in Busan.  I left my car in the Gimhae Airport parking lot, just as I would on a brief business trip in the states.  Next week, I return to Nagoya again, hoping for some cooler weather. Then, if all goes as planned, home sweet home.  Being home in Piney Point is like a luxury vacation destination for me.  International business travel is way over-rated!

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August 23, 2007

Viva Mexico

I have to hand it to the Novotel (formerly my home at the Marriott).  They do get inventive, and at risk.  Mexican food is still pretty much alien to Koreans. I had an hour at my "personal" table to watch the events.  So only fat Americans seemed to be loading up at the (excellent) new Mexican food bar.  Koreans pretty much stuck to what they know - raw seafood and noodles.

There was one adventurous Korean woman, middle-aged, who must have traveled to Mexico or South America - as she knew how to load up a burrito!  And one other brave soul, so thin he looked like a bowling ball caved in his stomach - bravo thin explorer - just don't eat this too often or you will end up like all those fat Americans!

   So here's what I'd be driving if my dear friend did not have her baby (and be on leave).  Oh, but I'm so happy she had her baby!  No matter, my Avante sucks about half the gas of an SM7 - a Peugeot Maxima of sorts made by Samsung.  Here I am lost in the Busan Harbor District after missing my turn to the Hwangnyeong Tunnel.  After being stuck in traffic for an hour, I finally catch a glimpse of a sign to the Gwangan Bridge and am home safe a few minutes later.  A wrong turn in Busan always leads to a mini-adventure.

August 15, 2007

Here Comes the Sun

It's a national holiday here in South Korea, and the sun came out to celebrate the occasion.  This is the Haeundae Beach that I remember from last summer.

View of the beach from my room at the Westin Chosun!

For some, that big ocean with all the nasty surf was a bit too much.  I'll create my own little ocean thank you.

I saw a million smiles today!

You didn't have to be on the beach to have all the fun.  This group doesn't look like native Koreans to me.  Of course, Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts aren't exactly native to Korea either.

This is what the beach really looked like today.  To get any good photos, I had to get close to the action.  What really captured the day what shooting video with my new high definition recorder.  Absolutely awesome!

~~~

The sad irony of this wonderful day in South Korea is that in the North, up to 63,000 families are homeless due to last week's flooding from the monsoons, and hundreds were lost. 

The Korean Peninsula is really not a very large place, yet the North and the South may as well be on different continents.

There is a summit between the two countries later this month - the second one ever.

Let's hope some good comes of it, so that some day all Koreans can have the fortune to celebrate their mutual independence day in a beautiful place such as Haeundae Beach.

I actually like what this young man had permanently placed on his body. "Dream as if you will live forever."  "Live as if you'll die today." "Above all else, guard your heart, as it is the well spring of life."  I wonder if his parents know about his philosophical tattoo?

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August 13, 2007

Go Figure

There was an interesting article in the Korean Herald today titled "The dialectic of personalism unfolds in Korea." It seems to have been written to aid the foreigner (me for one) to better understand how Koreans think and interact.  It's not an easy read, but if the article catches your interest, part 2 can be found here.

The traits described in the article are fairly universal among other cultures, but apparently more pronounced in Korean Culture.  The article explores the roots of this phenomena dating back to the farming hamlets and its  current evolution to urban settings. Here's a small excerpt:

Urban Koreans are therefore making efforts to deliberately form and expand personal networks on the basis of a shared lineage, school ties, regional ties, and other ties. It is said that the major aim of such grouping is to maintain solidarity, yet one can always count on others from within the same group or association to promote one's personal interests. In the city, one belongs to a multitude of closely knit personal circles or networks. Within these circles or networks, one count on the help of others in achieving one's personal ends and others are obliged to render assistance when requested.

What's interesting is to see the manifestations of this behavior in the oddest places.  Here today I was leaving KAL just outside a secure road along the heavily fortified Gimhae Airport. This group was bused in on a road that leads them to nowhere and no one to see them!  Are they protesters or just celebrating some obscure event?  I may never no.

August 12, 2007

Home in Busan

Half of vacationing Koreans were on my flight from Narita to Busan. I'm glad they don't allow standing room only on aircraft.  Fortunately it is only an hour and a half flight - in the air anyway.  It seems it took about as long to get to the runway at Tokyo's International Airport. 

Hertz and Avis were closed when I arrived at Gimhae, so a took a "black" taxi to the Westin.  It was the first cab drive I ever took in Busan were the driver wasn't crazy.  I insisted on giving him a 10,000 tip - in a culture where one does not tip.

My friend Cindy was just getting off work when I arrived, so I met her outside of the hotel and walked her back to her car - which was some distance because of the beach crowds.  Midway, we stopped at my favorite bakery and she bought us an icy Korean treat.  I'll have to ask her again what it is called - sweet bean curd over shaved ice.  It hit the spot!

I was sweating by the time I got back to my room, so I stripped down to my shorts, grabbed a towel and did some illegal surf swimming on a very breezy but steamy Haeundae Beach.  What a stress reliever!  Now, the question is after 40 hours of travel, will I be able to sleep?

August 11, 2007

On the Road Again

The SFO Flight Approach on San Francisco Bay

Well, "In the Air Again" anyway.  I arrived in San Francisco last night after too-long-of-a-trip from DC.  All the East Coast routes were booked to Tokyo and Seoul, so I had to turn a 18 hour trip into a 36 hour trip.

It is so pleasant here on the San Francisco Bay, I wish I could stay for a week.  I had a great simple meal last night - lobster bisque, fried calamari, grilled sea bass with asparagus in hollandaise sauce.  I may just spend a week here when I return.

Anyway it's back to the old routine - Busan & Nagoya for a month or so.  Aside from that thing called "work," I'm going to focus on some vastly improved photos.  I'm overdue to move up a tad on my skill level, which seems has been stalled for twenty odd years.  It is summer in Haeundae Beach again, but fortunately the first two weeks of August is over, so there won't be a half a million people (literally) at the beach.

Ok, time to head back to the airport - again   ;-(

August 5, 2007

High Definition Upgrades Complete (well almost)

Denon's new AVR-4308CI AV Receiver

Alright, last trip home, as you recall, I was more excited about my Japanese toilet seat than my new 50" Plasma HDTV.  HD is great when it is done right.  On Discovery HD or PBS quality shows taped specifically for HD it can be truly awesome.  Otherwise, like most programming, it is just a step forward from the mediocrity of 480 lines of resolution we endured for decades.  So, why, I have to ask myself, am I spending all this money on HD upgrades?

Well, for one thing, I can, and for another, recent price reductions and technology enhancements make it a good time to upgrade.  As I've said before, I'm no longer an early adaptor - HD and flat screen plasmas have been around for years.  They just keep getting better and cheaper.

Yet even though I researched my purchases somewhat carefully, I'm not certain I made quite the right choices.  But I'm going to live with what I got, as it's too much trouble to ship all this stuff back and it really doesn't matter all that much anyway.

The hot new wi-fi ready Denon 4308CI AV Receiver and the KEF 5005.2 speaker system are the latest additions to my planned HD upgrade.  I just set them up last night.  Today, I'm going to attempt to mount the speakers and the plasma on the wall.  I'm not looking forward to that task, but it is also the first step in a complete redecorating & refurnishing of my living room since I moved into this house back in 2002.

The Denon Receiver is massive and is so new, it was unavailable until the day I ordered it.  I could have saved several hundreds of dollars by waiting a few days, but I never know when I have to leave the house again, so I paid retail (fool).

I bought it because its predecessor the Denon AVR-4306 got the highest rating from any AV Reviewer (9) and the new CI series has some pretty cool enhancements.

I held out for the new CI series as it has the new HDMI 3.1 connectors, a wireless receiver and hooks up (with options) to my iPod and XM/HD Radio (if I ever get either).

It also has Denon's new graphical user interface (GUI), which made setup last night a breeze.

Does it sound any better than my "vintage" 1998 Sony super receiver?

Well actually no,  primarily because I wanted to get my monstrous Yamaha floor standing speakers out of the living room.  I chose, instead some new KEF speakers which are much smaller and can be mounted on the wall next to the Panasonic Plasma.

The hottest KEF speaker are the egg-shaped KHT-3005 Series.  I just didn't care for eggs in my living room, as they just would not mount on the walls as sleek as the tube-shaped KHT-5005.2's.

The bottom line so far is that I may keep the Yamaha speakers (the two floor standing ones anyway) in the room with the Sony super receiver - just move them to the corners away from the HDTV.  I ordered a black rack mount cabinet for the Denon, as the HDTV cabinet is not needed when I get the 50" plasma on the wall.  There will be plenty of room for the 500 watts-per-channel Sony if the Denon proves unworthy for CD playing.

Rounding out my HD acquisitions is the Tivo Series 3 that I bought last Christmas.  It works well with the HD connector I added to the Slingbox Pro which I use to keep sane when traveling overseas (BBC World and CNN Asia will drive one nuts).

I still get an fatal error code when using the Slingbox predictably after a week and a half on the road.  I'll be working to fix that once I get everything else setup.

Oh, what is obviously missing is an HD DVD Player - either the Blu-Ray or HD formats.  Well as I said, I'm no longer an early adaptor, and the word is still out on which format will survive.  So I'll just wait for maybe the 3rd generation of High Definition DVD Player to be released (and for the price to come down a bit more).

In the meanwhile, I picked up a fairly inexpensive ($229) OPPO DV-981HD.  It has a feature called "up-converting" which, through some magic, improves the resolution of the now lowly DVD.  It has a bunch of other great features which would have cost hundreds more had I chose a similar Denon Model.  It is after all, a transitional piece of hardware that will be retired to the bedroom when a truly affordable HD DVD Player becomes available.

Speaking of the bedroom, the centerpiece of my $7500+ HD investment is the Panasonic TH-50PX77U.  It was just released but a few months ago with a new anti-glare coating and fairly good ratings (for its reasonable price).  It actually looks too small for the living room, but will do nicely for now.  Perhaps in a few years I'll upgrade to a 60", and it too will be moved to the bedroom.

 In the meanwhile, high definition is pretty cool, if and only if, the content was designed for the format and, of course, if it is something worth watching.

All this stuff was pretty much planned as acquisitions over the previous few months and, of course, if I don't have the cash to pay for these toys immediately (at least until the United Mileage Plus Credit Card is due) I don't buy them.

So, I guess I've done my part to keep the economy booming (as least the Asian economy).  No more spending on this trip home.

The next project is to completely refurnish the living quarters of my cozy house.  The stuff I brought way back in California is showing it age, and is destined, oddly, for the California Room I'll be adding as project number 3 for this year.  As great as it is to be home, hitting the road again will be easier on both my free time and my bank account.

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