Seoul Searching

Yup, I did it. I just used a cheesy soul cliché in the title. Watchya gonna do?

For fun these past few nights I've been cruising the streets around the ol' Dormy in my size 9's checking things out. I thought it'd be hard to find places to eat, what with not being able to read Korean and all. Fortunately a good deal of the restaurants have pictures on their menus so I can point and grunt for what I want. It's been great getting my fill of real Asian food. Even so, there are a Pizza Hut, Buger King, Outback Steakhouse, three 7-11's, two Dunkin' Donuts and of course Starbucks that I've found so far within walking distance if I get sick of the kimchee and bulgogi.

Walking, even on the sidewalks, is a dangerous affair. Traffic here is INSANE. When it gets really bad the scooter and motorcycle delivery drivers spill over onto the sidewalks. They rip on by at 90 miles an hour within inches of anyone walking along. Unfortunately the washing machine in my unit is all in Korean, so I haven't been able to wash all the soiled shorts from many an encounter with the insane Scootermen of the Apocalypse.

Ask my wife, I don't have much of a sense of smell. Regardless, a casual stroll through the streets of Seoul is a constant bombardment on the olfactory sense. With the myriad restaurants and street vendors the smells are varied and mostly pleasing and/or interesting. Occasionaly, though, a smell will hit your nose with a slightly off tinge. Must be a spot where a particularly startling scooter encounter occurred.

Here's a shot from my hotel window:



And bodgy stitched together photo of the full view:

Jet Laaaaaaaaaaag

I was supposed to leave Portland on Saturday at 10:20, arrive in San Francisco at 12:07 and catch my flight to Seoul at 1:39pm. The flight from Portland didn't leave until 11:30-ish. I landed in San Fran at 1:23, deplaned ASAP and sprinted for International in hopes they would hold the plane for the 3 or so people on the flight from PDX. I hit the terminal at 1:40 and the doors were closed, but the plane was sitting right out the window. Once the doors are closed, they don't open.

Fortunately the fault was with United and I was flying business class, so they hooked me up with a hotel, meal vouchers and a few extra frequent flier miles. The downside was the earliest I could fly out was 12:57 the next day to Narita airport in Tokyo. I had a 4 1/2 hour layover in Tokyo then a 2 1/2 hour hop to Seoul to finally land at 11:10pm on Sunday 2/24.

Total transit time was supposed to be about 16hrs. From the time I left Portland to the time I landed in Seoul totaled a whopping 44 hrs. Granted a chunk of that was spent sleeping in a hotel in San Francisco, but it still translated into a hefty case of jet lag.

Leaving on a jet plane

It's official. I leave for Korea on Friday at 10am. A quick 2 hour hop to San Fran, hour and half wait and 13 hour jaunt into Incheon airport. Fortunately Nike treats their employees well and I'll be livin large in business class. "Hot towel for you, sir?"

I'll be staying at the Dormy hotel, trying to make up for a college experience spent without one room living. My room has a small kitchenette, clothes washer/dryer and a bidet. You know you're living the high life when you've got a bidet. It'll be nice having some small conveniences since I'll be there for 3 weeks.

Things will get all twilight zone on the way back. I leave Korea on Saturday 3/15 at 2pm and arrive back in Portland 2 hours before I left. Weird. I guess the return flight passes through the Bermuda Triangle.

4 Things

4 Jobs I've Had
1. Autobody paint prep
2. Scraping dried donut icing from the floor of a bakery (and washing the pans)
3. Houseman at Sundance Ski Resort
4. Squeegee monkey and graphic designer at a screen print shop

4 Movies I Watch Over and Over
1. Star Wars ep IV, V, VI
2. Ghostbusters
3. Big Trouble in Little China
4. This is Spinal Tap

4 Places I Have Lived
1. Springville, UT
2. Beaverton, OR
3. Vancouver, WA
4. Auckland, NZ

4 TV Shows I Like to Watch*
1. Austin City Limits
2. American Gladiators
3. The Biggest Loser
4. Heroes

*Would Firefly qualify even though there's only one season on DVD?

4 People Who Email/IM Me Regularly
1. I could list about 5 names, but I'll just say "Developers", the people downstream from me in my workflow
2. CNN Breaking News
3. Miscelaneous purveyors of erectile enhancement medications
4. Becky

4 Favorite Foods
1. Mushrooms
2. Caesar salad
3. Potstickers
4. Baked Spaghetti

4 Places I'd Rather Be
1. Living in a home I own
2. In the arms of my wife
3. Moab
4. outside

4 Things I Look Forward to
1. The onslaught of screaming yard monkies when I walk through the door every night
2. Snuggling my sweetheart
3. Tax returns
4. My pending trip to Korea