Muses along the way…

One of the first things you’ll notice on your first trip here to Korea, is that there are many neon crosses all over the place - Christian and Catholic churches.

Incidentally, if you read Korean, you’d probably see just as many motel and ‘love rooms’……

Here’s a picture of the first motel I checked into, prior to getting my apartment in Suncheon. It came complete with the discrete ‘enter from the back’ carpark, suggestive bedroom red-lights, kinky 5-piece combination shower and jacuzzi, as well as the wee accesory I found by the phone cabinet - GO FIGURE!

Now, I pissed myself laughing (again) when I checked into a motel during the weekend in Pusan. It came with this:

and also the instructions……

I guess I’d continue staying in one of these during my travels because its rather inexpensive, and very clean - just put aside the unhealthy image. Whether you want to use the ‘accessories’…… That’s all up to you.

p.s: It just occured to me there might be minors reading this site, so I editted the pictures…… mail me if you want the originals.

Haeundae beach, Pusan…… not exactly a beach I’d want to go to, unless I enjoy the company of ‘500,000 of my closests friends‘! (quote from Lonely Planet - Korea). Took this on last weekend’s trip.

Was in Pusan again this weekend. Went around to Haeundae beach, and Beomeo -sa (temple). Was a pretty good trip up to the temple. Though I’m not into the Buddhist teachings, I thought this little piece I found on a leaflet was worth a ponder. Hope yous can read Korean or Mandarin! If not, take home these few thoughts:

2. Life’s biggest failure, is to be too proud.

8. Life’s biggest admiration, should be to improve oneself.

9. Life is bankrupt when you loose hope.

10. Life’s most immense wealth is health.

Went to New York City one winter and saw this guy playing on the street.

I pissed myself laughing and had to take a picture of him. Its a scanned picture prior to my digital camera days - excuse the shoddy quality.

Found out later he was pretty famous. I think he’s been on the Howard Stern show too! Visit: www.nakedcowboy.com

Got inspired to post this when I recently spoke to this girl who happens to be in the Middle East, and I remembered this piece…… I took some pictures while visitting an exhibition of Middle Eastern caligraphy at the Al-Makthoum house in Dubai (UAE). I thought they were really quite unique….. at least compared to the caligraphy I’m used to!

Was walking around Pusan’s Jagalji market on Saturday’s trip, and decided to take a picture of the ‘lucky pig’s head’.               Warning: Picture might be offensive! ->                                                                                                     

Usually reserved to be used during big occasions as offerings, it is readily available at certain markets around Korea. Apparently there’s a whole section at Namdaemun market in Seoul that’s devoted to selling these.

Incidentally, last week was a pretty big deal for us, where we started up our power plant’s first newly installed gas turbine (refer to picture). The main contractor at our job site had the pig’s head laid out with incense, cakes and fruit for the initiation ritual.

I guess the pig head is better than splattering blood off a dead goat’s head all over the machine, like they do in some parts of the world…… as I have heard.

Digital fish: Ever seen the plasma TV displays where fish swim around?

For me, this combination is a first.  I mean, to have digital fish displayed on an LCD screen submerged in a rock-lined pool beneath a cascading stair of water, it is just….. artistic. Saw this in Pusan yesterday while snooping around.

I honestly think the Koreans have got it all figured out. I mean, what can be cooler than a Xylitol (chewing gum) dispenser? No more dirty wrappers, clumsy boxes……

Dude, this thing rocks!

Usually, traffic lights down here in the south of Korea are pretty much for reference only. People run lights, go into emergency lanes, cut queues and go into the wrong lane to make a turn. Alright, here’s what I get a kick out of all this…… The dangers are real, and people realise that. Hence, they call for extra safety measures - hazzard lights.

I suppose the idea is so that other cars coming from other directions can notice your small/wee blinking hazzard lights?? Or maybe its to build a strong enough force-field around your vehicle??

Nah…… BAD idea!

Well, I thought we were doing pretty good with web-logging (blogging), until I saw the Korean version of a "Hompy" and "mini-Hompy". Here’s an extract which I found while doing a little bit of sniffing around on the subject.

"According to articles in the press, there are 5-6 million blogs. These are not to be confused with hompy. Hompy (a derivative of home page) are personal home pages with photo albums, guest books, avatars, background skins, and background music. There are approximately 10 million hompy pages. In a city with a population of 10 million and a country with a population of 45 million, that’s quite impressive. Companies seem to be making money selling background music and items for hompy pages. Most of the posts are focused on photos and one line comments on pages of friends. They are generally closed communities and are focused more on real-time presence-like communication rather than diary or dialog."

I kid you not, the Koreans I know are crazy over it since the last 3 years or so. People update their hompy over lunch, shop way too often with it, chat, get hitched… etc. Dude, its a lifestyle!

Some of the main hosts are such as nate and cyworld. Check out some of my friend’s hompies. You’ll get an idea.

Look here: Mr. Song’s hompy + Clara’s hompy