Sunday Afternoon in Seoul

It has been a relaxing weekend, with Saturday spent either sleeping or relaxing at home. Had a big night out on Friday, so needed to catch up with rest on Saturday.

Today, Sunday, we went to the hotel for breakfast at Grand Cafe. Always a sensational breakfast. We bumped into some friends and mentioned we were going to shop in the afternoon around Dongdaemun. They also wanted to shop, so we met around 2pm and headed to Dongdaemun. It was super busy, of course we did a heap of walking, and a little bit of shopping!!!
Finished up with a lovely dinner in our favourite dim sum restaurant Din Tai Fung in Myeong-Dong.

anyway below are some photos of the day with our great new camera.

Shot of the Cheonggyecheon Stream which only re-opened earlier this year.

Another shot of the stream. If you have the time, a great place to walk.

Chef and the ladies posing for the camera. See the camera in chefs hand ... Its the same as mine. We bought it within days of eachother.

Shot above is the East Gate of Seoul in Dongdaemun.

Here we are walking through the streets of Myeong-Dong. Fantastic area for shopping, and eating. In the centre of Myeongdong there is a new Krispe Kreme! You know where we had our dessert tonight!

We did not have our dessert here, but this ice cream shop was awesome. Check out the cone display! Next time!

Football Game FC Seoul vs FC Tokyo

Yesterday we decided to go to the FC Seoul vs FC Tokyo Football (soccer) Game at the World Cup Stadium. We went with some colleagues from work, family, and some colleagues who are working for our company in China.

Thankfully, I was able to convince our hotel to give us a bus and driver for all of us to get there, so at 5pm we left the hotel in the convenience of an Air Conditioned bus which is much needed with the 34degrees weather and high humidity at the moment.

After the regular Seoul traffic we got there in 1 hour and to our complete surprise the banquet staff from the hotel had organized a private box for us!! (Our hotel also caters for all the VIP boxes at the FC Seoul Games at World Cup Stadium) So we went through the VIP section, up the elevators and placed in our own Air Conditioned suite with a lovely table, bathroom, and enough food and drinks for about 30 people. To top it off you can sit outside the room in about 20 chairs to watch the game even better.

As you can imagine we had a wonderful time enjoying the game, the private box, and the food! Before I forget FC Seoul Won 3-0!

We got back about 945pm after a very enjoyable evening.

Have attached some photos of the night. One thing to note is the wild Korean fans! They are fantastic. I promise for the full 90 minutes the main FC Seoul fan section never stopped with singing, dancing, and celebrating. A lot of fun.

Seoul Korea

Often people ask me what I think of Korea. What are the good things and what are the bad? Why do people always want to know the negatives? When a person visits Australia I never ask them what are the bad things? But it happens a lot here. Are people here just enthusiastic to find out what is wrong so they can fix it, or are they just baiting me?? In any case there is good and bad, but now is not the time to point them out.

What I can say is there are a lot of people in the business world trying to make Korea an easier place to do business, and make it easier for foreigners to be here. I participate in a group called CICI who are trying to bridge the cultural differences. Lets see how it goes.

Well, got to sleep as have to finish a presentation in the morning. Also not really sure why I am doing a post, maybe because I know I am neglecting my blog!

Weekend is Over

This really was a weekend that I did not want to end. Wasnt like it was an amazing weekend or anything, it was just relaxing, and enjoyable.

Had a nice dinner Friday evening in Hakone Japanese Restaurant in the Hotel. Then headed back to our place with a few friends and drank a few beers!
Saturday morning was the usual sleep in until 1030am, and then I devoured my two eggs on toast with 4 pieces of bacon, and a cup of tea! Damm what a perfect way to start the weekend. We just lazed around the house all day, then had a fantastic dinner at Table 34 on top of the hotel. Table 34 is as close as you can get to fine dining, and the food is great. The prices .... well lets put it this way.. "it aint cheap"!! We ended up back at one of friends rooms, drank maybe a bit too much wine, and we walked home around 2am.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed around 1000am, with no headache. The same could not be said for Clariza who was suffering a lot more than me. Its ok, I made her a lovely breakfast! We left the house around 1pm for Hyewha where we went to church, did a little shopping, and of course hung out with our friends. We got back just in time for the first Grand Prix of the year which just finished. Alonso 1st, M Shuemaker 2nd, and Raikkonen 3rd. Our aussie man Webber had a very respectable race coming in 6th.

So thats the story of the weekend. No complaints, though it has got well below zero again today! Would winter please leave! 3 more days until Thailand!

Pasta & Beer Night

Well, Saturday's are always a great day to unwind, and yesterday was no exception. The day was extremely uneventful, hanging around the house, watching movies, eating, and playing on the Net.

We met up at 7.00pm at the hotel (InterCon), and had a great Italian Dinner at Cafe Esperesso. We were going to eat in Hakone, but it was full thanks to a 1000+ wedding that had overflow guests. Pasta as always was very good, the wine of the month was some South Australian wines, and the cheescake desert was to die for.

We then headed over to O'Kim's Brauhaus which is in the COEX Convention Centre. It is run by the Westin, and is always full in the evenings. Besides regular mixed drinks, though they didnt have Bacardi last night, their specialty is some awesome Home Brew! Three variaties of beers. Very nice beers. I tried all three. We were joined by two other friends and all of us enjoyed the eveninig downing drinks, and being entertained the Bulgarian six piece band. Sadly they emptied the place at 1130pm, and we headed back to the InterCon. Great night, and I dont even have a headache this morning. Got to go, where off to Hyewha.

The entrance to O'Kim's. Get there early as sometimes you have to wait for a table. We waited 10 minutes!

James Brown in Concert

"Its great to be back in Shanghai" ! The quote was like someone running their nails down a blackboard! This was one of the first things James Brown said last night in his concert here in Seoul! I actually felt a little embarrased, but he did try to cover it up, and would be interested to see if others thought it was a joke or a f... up!

Anyway I should not let that take away from an amazing concert last night. What a fantastic band, great sound, lots of fun, and a crowd that really got into it! The concert was almost two hours long, and we were entertained from the greatest Soul Man of our times, and his band, and back up singers who were outstanding.

It was held in the Jamsil Indoor Stadium, with a crowd I reckon of about 3000. They played a wonderful variety of songs, from the classic hits, to lengthy jazz / soul numbers with the sax player at times stealing the show. He was just unreal. I closed my eyes and was just mesmerized by his skills on the sax! Wow!

Its funny, I never thought that I would see James Brown in concert in my lifetime and listen to some of those classics like "I feel good, I knew that I would", that I have listened to since I was so young. Good one you Seoul, and the promoters for bringing such a great concert here.

This guy above was the MC for the show. He really only spoke at the beginning of the show, but you could tell, he was most likely James Brown right hand man. He had the Soul groove going on!

The Soul Sisters! These ladies had voices that could have stolen the show if they were allowed. The danced and danced, and sung back up like they have been doing with James Brown all of their lives.

This guy on the saxaphone was just fantastic. I just loved every solo that he did, and he just drove the crowd crazy. Amazing talent, and was privelaged to hear him play.

Seoul Orphanage

On Thursday Clariza and I joined the Charity Club from the hotel to spend the afternoon at an Orphanage in Seoul. We both thought that it would be important to represent the hotel, as well as a personal thing to be a little more involved in the community. I know we were both a little nervous going there as we had never been to an orphanage, and we did not know what to expect.

After a 30 minute drive in the lovely Seoul traffic we came to the orphanage. On the way the head of the hotel charity group explained to us that this orphanage consisted of around 80 children aged between 1 month old to 10 years old. All are normal children with no disabilities or problems, but were abandoned by their parents. Most he explained is un-wed mothers who dump the new born babies on the street, or in front of a police station.

So we entered, met the manager of the house, changed into something that look like a chefs jacket, but yellow (this helps the children identify visitors) and we had to empty all of our pockets.

The first hallway we entered consisted of two rooms, on the left side that house babies aged between 1 month to 18 months old. There was about 13 babies. They were taken care of by two ladies on a shift that work for 24 hours, 9am to 9am. On the opposite side of the two rooms were two bathrooms, and a small kitchen to prep the food. We hung out with the babies for about an hour holding them, trying to make them smile, and just giving them some extra human touch. It was so weird to be there looking at these babies, and holding them knowing that they have no parents taking care of them, just the helpers, and the volunteers that came to the orphanage like us. After an hour I treid to go into the room of the 18month old to 3 years old. When we entered the room, the 10 kids or so just started to freak out and once one cried almost all of them cried. I was not sure what to do, so I left and went back to the babies. I thought better to take on that room later.

We then went upstairs where there was about 5 rooms and 5 helpers with children aged between 3 to 7. Most of these rooms were conducting classes with their helpers, so apart from one room where we played with one or two kids for 30 minutes, we really didnt hang out with the others. On this second floor there was about 40 kids.

We then went over to another house behind the 1st building which housed the older children. It was a nice house with communal sleeping area and kitchen on the second floor, and 1st floor was where there was like a games room and study area with computers. The head of the charity club explained that last year the hotel donated 20,000,000 won ($20,000) to redo the entire interior of the house. It looked very nice. Anyway here we were attacked by about 10 kids aged between 7 to 10. We went to the play room and the girls kind of kept to themselves, but the boys stuck to me like glue. They wanted to sit on my lap. hold my hand, throw them around the room and more. I could so feel how these kids just wanted to have some affection and attention which I am sure they could not get much of.

So after an hour of exhausted work with the boys we went back to the babies and the 3 year olds whom I freaked out before. This time I played with a baby outside of their room door, and they just watched me through the glass. I figured if they saw this they would realize I was not a threat. So after 15 minutes I put the baby down and entered the room. They were very hesitent, but I just moved to one corner of the room and sat on the floor. I pulled faces at the kids, and clapped, and made funny noises. Finally after a few minutes one of the older boys ran over and jumped on me. From then on the tension eased, and over the next 45 minutes some of the others warmed up to me. During the time we fed some of them dinner with the helpers, and at 6.00pm all volunteers had to leave, and we bid our farewells.

Clariza and I have discussed this experience a few times since then, and we plan to go again next month, the third Thursday of every month. It was a powerful experience and I will never forget it. I think it could be very hard for some people, but I think it is a humbling experience to take yourself into such a differant world and try to make a small differance to these children. Sorry for the long message, but I thought it would be nice to share the experience.

Korea Information

After now living in Korea for over 8 months, I have to say that the bulk of the information to assist us in our stay has come from some outstanding websites. I am going to detail below most of these websites and hope that if anyone is ever going to travel here, or lives here, it may assist. Of course some are better than others, but overall the quality of these sites regarding information is fantastic.

I am using the logos for these websites and I hope no one gets offended. Actually maybe I should be paid to promote their websites! Haha I dont have that many people looking at my site. In any case, enjoy, and hope that it helps.

If you want to know so much more about Seoul and Korea, and I mean really getting out there and exploring, well this site is for you. Join an international group who travel practically every weekend to differant parts of Korea for what I feel is very attractive rates.

Wonderful website with extensinve information about Korea, on what to do, where to go, where to eat, and just so much more. Will take time to fully explore this website, but well worth the tour!

Is a monthly English written magazine in Seoul. The website, gives a lot of up to date information on what is happening in Seoul, and then some. I read the magazine always, and have it in our hotel rooms. I also use the website for a quick find.

A great website with a lot of community information a job line, but overall is a good website for those new to Korea with help targeted for foreigners.

A think a hidden secret. Seoul Metropolitan Government has got this most amazing map website. You will need to do a small download for it to work, but please do so. Once you got it, then play with the navigation and you will be able to see any street, church, hospital, hotel, school in Seoul. It is a great site.

Really cool site, written by expats living in Seoul. Lots of updated information on the places to eat, the places to shop, and so much more. A great website to put under favourites. I have found some good information over the past months.

Another very detailed website on Korea, that has so many links to great information. Another one I am sure used by a lot of people.

Since I seem to be fixated on the cold weather of Seoul as I can never work out really how cold it is, I always go to this weather site. It seems to be pretty accurate, and is the only weather site I use in Korea.

Community forum Board on Korea. For me, is pretty good, but not as many users as Dave's ESL. In any case it focuses less on jobs and more on the overall questins and answers about Korea. Keep it in favourites.

Dave's ESL Cafe, the undisputed champion Korea forum website, with hundreds of expats in Seoul using in on a regular basis to ask the questions and give the answers we really want to know. For those in the teaching world, then it is a must to check this one out on a regular basis. But even me, who is not a teacher, reads this site at least three times a week.

A very good website if you want to know what is really happening in the news. It focuses on the main articles in the various newspapers, including Korean, and gives it to you in English. A must read for me a few times a week.

So if you are a Aussie / Kiwi, this is the group for you. I am guilty of the fact that we have not joined but will do so this year. They seem to have a lot going on, and seem to provide heaps of activities for the ladies.

Now, I am sure I have missed a few other key websites, and would appreciate any feedback if I should add some. Have a great weekend!

Busy Social Schedule

It's Saturday morning and the Seoul freeze continues. Its about -12 outside, and was a cool -18 last night when we came home around 10pm.Let me back track to Thursday evening...

Thursday evening Clariza and I went and watched Memoirs of a Geisha. Our hotel had rented out one thetre at the COEX Megabox, and we hosted about 400 of our key bookers. I had read the book several years ago, and of course the movie was differant, but some of the acting as well as the scenery was fantastic. I highly recommend that you take the time to see the movie.

Then last night (Friday) we went and watched a Live Performance called Paris Can Can. It was held at the COEX Convention Centre Auditorium, and had a cast of about 15. It was a very lively show, from tradional Can Can dancing, french classical singing, to a comendy skit that was very funny, to a few acts that reminded me a little of Circ De Soliel (spelling?) Overall the 1 1/2 live show was great, and again worth going to. We had a few tickets from our hotel, but the show would have otherwise been quiet expensive.

Then Saturday night we really actually paid to go to a performance, which was STOMP. Stomp is a great live performance doing many differant skits using everything from brooms, matchboxes, rubbish cans, to plastic bags, to make unique noises, and dance, or perfectly choreographed together. It was about 1 1/2 hours long, and was a great show.

This is how their website describes the show -

Music, Dance, Theatre, Choreography or Performance Art? All of the above! Or is it none of the above. Well, both are sort of right...In a way. Confused? read on...
STOMP is a movement, of bodies, objects, sounds - even abstract ideas. But what makes it so appealing is that the cast uses everyday objects, but in non-traditional ways.
There's no speech, no dialogue, not even a plot.
So why go see STOMP? Well, have you ever composed a symphony using only matchbooks as instruments? Or created a dance routine based around sweeping? You may have done this a little, but get a group of rhythmically gifted, extremely coordinated bodies with definitive personalities, and you have the makings for STOMP.

Freezing Seoul

One of the long standing jokes in my office every morning this winter is when I come crashing into the office covered 5 times over with clothes crying about how cold it is outside. 90% of the time, reactions are from outright laughing to lectures on the fact that -2 or -3 is not really cold! Can you believe it! They just don't understand that where I grew up where 10 degrees Celsius is cold, or when I lived in Hawaii for 8 years, where cold was 16 degrees Celsius.

Funny enough as the winter has drawn on, I have actually started to feel what is cold or what is really cold. This morning I had a breakthrough..

After stepping onto the road in front of my house I knew it was bloody cold. There was some wind also, and after a minute I actually had tears in my eyes. I quickened to Olympic sprint pace to get out of this cold, but sure enough I was caught at the main road traffic lights! I stood there absolutely dying, and as it appeared around me, so was everyone else. I contemplated crossing 10 lanes of traffic, but luckily that reality side of my brain had not frozen over yet! Finally after what seemed hours, the lights changed and I jogged the last 300 metres to work! As I entered the hotel all I could think of walking into the office, and everyone would be laughing at me complaining about the cold. As I flung open the office door three of them were standing there, they burst out laughing, but all said "its really cold..Yes??!!" Victory! Finally they agree with me... But who wouldn't when one tells me the radio man said that wit the wind chill it is -20 degrees Celsius, or for you Fahrenheit people -3! I went online and checked the weather site and it said -14 Celsius, with wind chill -19.. At 7am.

Have a warmer day!

Chinese eyes

If you cannot decipher anything, then try pulling the corner of your eyes outwards as if you were Chinese. And no I am not trying to be racist, just a way to explain it ok! Not looking for hate mail...

Anyway, the weather has taken a U-Turn in Seoul and it fell below the zero mark after a week or so of weather hovering around 2 0r 3 degrees. It was -7 this morning, and should hit -11 tonight! No snow in the city, but they say the mountains are covered in snow in the North. Would be nice to see.

One of my work mates was telling me yesterday that what would normally take him 3 hours to drive back to Seoul from his parents house in the South, took him 9 hours on Monday evening! Amazing, and you here this story all the time. You know, this is the only problem in Korea, the traffic. Or should I say too many cars, or should I say the infrastructure in regards to roads. You know the subway system around Seoul is fantastic, and cheap. The Country railway system seems to be very good, and sometimes I see more buses on the roads than cars! But traffic is unreal. I have no real solution, so will not bitch too much, but heck if the economy is doing so well, why wouldn't you spend a bit more on fixing this never ending problem! Work mates say they are just used to it, and plan accordingly. And the final thing on this .... There is no road rage!
It works!

Love Long Weekends in Seoul

Well the long weekend has hit us and we are having a wonderful relaxing time. The weather is a little warmer, hovering above zero, but that made little differance through the day yesterday as we just lazed around the house watching the last 4 episodes of LOST, on the box set for the first season. We are loving it, and now we would do almost anything to be able to start watching Season 2. Where not holding our breath though, as it seems it is not showing in Korea.

Anyway, last night with met up with some friends, and hoaxed them into coming to one of our favourite downtown restaurants that we had mentioned before i think in September post. Dintaifung is an awesome modern Chinese dumpling restaurant with open kitchen, modern design, and pretty good service. We had a fantastic meal as expected, only 75,000 won for four big eaters, and our friends were very impressed. And he is the Executive Chef at the hotel! So glad that he and his lovely wife enjoyed it.
http://www.dintaifung.co.kr/

We then decided to chance a 15 minute walk to the Downtown Lotte Department store, where hiding in the basement is a huge Krispy Kreme. http://www.krispykreme.com/
The reason we were not sure if it would be open is it is the largest holidays in Korea, but thankfully as we peered around the last corner, lights were still on, and as always with a KrispyKreme, it was busy! So we devoured a few donuts, had a coffee, then decided to walk around the streets in this area where there were hundreds of the night street vendors selling everything from fake DVD's, fake Gucci watches, to little puppies for sale (they were real!) I think this particular area is called Myondong. (Sorry for the spelling) We then caught a taxi home and had a humurous 20 minutes with out taxi driving, trying to practice our Korean on directions. He was having a great time, I think, but then again, when you have a 6foot 10 inch chef sitting next to you, you should laugh at anything he says!

Well its Sunday, time to go to the Gym, have lunch at the hotel, then heading to a function in the afternoon. Speak soon!

Its cold!

So few words over the past weeks, but happy to report that we are both back in Korea, and trying to survive the back end of the winter season. This weekend is the Chinese Lunar New Year, so a three day weekend. What does that mean for us?.. well we are just going to hang out in Seoul, eat some good food, hang out with friends, but just spend lots of time relaxing... oh yeah, and maybe go to the gym a couple of times! Hey dont laugh, I am trying to keep the weight in double digits! What to do?

At the end of this month we hit the 8 month barrier in Korea. It really is going fast, and actually we are so excited about this year. We have set some big goals, so at the end of the year we will let you know if we achieved them!

Tommorow is Australia Day. I think I will have a nice lunch with the chefs in the hotel, then in the evening Clariza has promised me she will eat a juicy aussie steak in the Australian Grill with me! Ahh, the sacrifices she has to make married to an Aussie! Aussie, aussie, aussie! Of course we will have a nice bottle of Aussie wine, (this will win her over!) and I will beg the pastry chef to make a Pavlova or even a Lamington! (In my dreams)

Still need to download our photos from the Christmas trip, so when that is done we will have a few more pics for the site.

And a big -kai- to my Beta Brothers. There seems to be a bit of momentum going amongst a lot of the brothers catching up, and sharing emails, and laughs. We even have a nice blog beginning. http://epsilonrhorongo.blogspot.com/
For those that do know, or dont, in 1990, my first semester in college in Hawaii, I was dragged along to a cocktail party that ended up being a recruitment drive for the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Somehow, I made the decision to be a pledge for the Betas, and then from that day, my adult life has been shaped in part, or significantly by my days in the fraternity. I would have to say, one of the best decisions I ever made. To this day, my fraternity, and my brothers are still very much part of my life, even with the great distances that seperate us. There is almost nothing I wouldn't do for my brothers, even today, over 15 years since I joined. Enough of that stuff... but in any case great to be able to share my life with them too.

Well thats all for now. Its getting late, and I got to work early tommorow. Words and photos soon!

First Snow In Seoul

Hot of the press - "First Snow in Seoul" Yes folks, here I was complaining to everyone that I had nothing to blog about and suddenly in one day I have two blogs. We heard that it was going to snow today, but you just never know. So around 10pm we stuck our head out the window to see the snow falling. We waited a little while and with the snow still falling we went outside and took some photos! Great ha! We are so excited.



Clariza saw snow on the ground last year in Victoria, but this was the first snow fall. And of course the first time this is right outside our home!















Dont you just love my outfit! Hey there tracksuit pants are confortable! No designer clothes babe!

I love my sleep too!

Found these pictures below on another blog. Thought they were pretty cool. My weekends are spend with a nice sleep in every Sunday. Got to do it at least once a week.

On Saturday night after a nice evening at Cousin Larry's in Hapgeong, we caught the last subway back to Samseong. My recommendation is dont get the last subway! We knew it was going to be crowded as our station was busy with people, but as the train arrived I could see inside that there was almost no way we were going to fit. But we were not going to give up, so as the doors opened we pushed our way in as did the others behind us, and we then spent the next 40 minutes squashed amongst hundreds of other commuters. It was so crowded that at some stops people just gave up and got off.

Anyway... enjoy your sleep!

I sure hope it is a new shoe! Or is he trying to climb in?

I guess it is more comfortable than the floor!

I cant believe I'm saying this but she actually looks comfortable!

Hasn't your mother always told you "never sleep with a mouthful of food"

I sure hope someone doesnt turn on the heater.

A week passes in seconds

This past Monday was supposed to be a holiday, but as it so happened the hotel was bursting at the seems, so I had the pleasure of hanging out at work all day! Had a great lunch though in our Marco Polo restaurant in the KITA building next door. Our Chef makes the best Mediterranean food I have had in a long long time. As the restaurant is on the 51st floor, the views are amazing.

Anyway the rest of the week followed suit, busy as hell, and no slowing down. Nice that the hotel is busy after refurbing 12 floors now in the hotel and 16 to go!

Highlights - My bank, down in the COEX shopping centre was Korean First Bank, but overnight it is now Standard & Chartered Bank, with the KFB name stuck in tiny font on the bottom. I had a moment of panic when I went to the bank as saw how the signs had changed, but all the staff are the same.

Highlights - Near the TGIF in the Coex Shopping centre there is a Candy store that also sells foreign goods. Even has Australian Cadbury Chocolate! Also in the basement section of Hyundai Shopping centre they have also set up a little foreign goods section of food.

Clariza and I had a nice dinner in the Grand Kitchen on Thursday evening. This is the buffet restaurant on the B1 level. One of the most extensive buffets around, with a dessert buffet to die for. Love the chocolate fountain! We then went up and met the new Filipino band in the Hunters Tavern. They hadn't started playing yet but went and said hi anyway. Also there is a new Jazz trio in our lobby lounge from South Africa. The guy on the Saxaphone is fantastic. Well worth a visit if your n the neighbourhood.

Ok, its Saturday, and I am resting at home as have a slight headache from a night out with the staff. Korean BBQ house, followed by Noribang! I sang the first two songs before most people got there, so I did my part! Next Monday, we have our annual Spring Picnic for the Front Office Department. Next posting I will give the details, but I think its going to get ugly!!!

Take care everyone!

Night Out with the Ladies!

Late afternoon yesterday I was invited to a Housekeeping party as one of the ladies was retiring, and one was promoted to a new position in our other hotel.

So I set out in the pouring rain around 630pm to a Korean BBQ place not too far from the hotel. When I entered, our housekeeping team took up the entire restaurant with about 60 staff. So let my paint a picture here, as sorry I have no photos!

Our housekeeping is 90% female staff, with the average age around 50 years old. No I am not joking. Our hotel has been open for 18 years and almost all of them have been here since the beginning.

So I sit on the floor and enjoy a wonderful BBQ Pork Dinner, lots of beer, and thankfully avoided the Soju. The ladies were in great moods, slamming down Soju like water, eating for a tribe, and laughing and shouting as if it were all a comedy show. I have been out with our Front Office team, whom are half their age, and thier parties are more subdued! Then the speeches came, more drinking with every toast, lots of crying for Mrs. Lee's retirement, lots of cheering for Ms. Kim's promotion and I even made a speech that they all just laughed at, as most did not speak English.

I thought we were all done, but I and a few of the other male managers (all Korean) were strong armed by the ladies and taken to the closest Norebang(Kareoke), were I, 4 men, and 30 ladies dance and sang for almost an hour and a half. I begged and pleaded that my voice was never meant for singing, but I had no choice, so I sang a dreadful interpretation of Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton. I was then thrown from lady to lady as their toyboy for three minutes of dancing each!, then finally, someone got smart and said it was time to leave. Dont get me wrong I was laughing so hard and having so much fun. Even when I was dancing with one of the ladies I told her my age and she told me her eldest son was the same age as me! She had a cheeky grin on her face. (God help me, what is she thinking!!)

Anyway, we all left, said goodbye, I trudged off in the pouring rain to my wonderful wife, and the ladies went home to see their husbands, children, and for some, their grandchildren.

I think, seeing these ladies at work will never be the same. And I mean that for the good things. Really though I have so much respect for the ladies whom have worked the majority or all of their lives cleaning rooms 6 days a weeks, then heading home and taking care of their families.

For now.....

It's Been too long!

Since Mum left, our social calendar has dwindled! Sad isn't it, we have more fun we mum is around! You rock mum!
Anyway work has been weeks of budget reviews for 2006 and the hotel has got a lot busier. This is when hotels finally get higher occupancy after a average summer. But then suddenly we are stuck in the middle of the largest three day holiday in Korea called Chusok. Translated it is similar to Thanksgiving. Once Friday hit, there is an exodus from Seoul into the provinces where everyone visits their families and celebrate this period.
We chose to stay in Seoul, and it has been extremely quiet on the roads, the subways, and no work! Fantastic yes!
Friday night, we had dinner at home, then took the subway out to where Clariza's cousin lives, Larry, and we got together had some beers, and chicken. We then all went back to our Villa around midnight.
Saturday we spent the entire morning imprisoned in the Villa as it was raining more than cats and dogs! It bucketed down for hours, so we just relaxed around the house and enjoyed the day off. Finally when the rain let up a little we headed down to the hotel, had some lunch, then back over to Larry's house. We then decided to check out Carrefour at the World Cup Stadium as we had never seen it, and did a little shopping. I picked up a basketball as we have a basketball court close to our house and I need to do some exercise! Ha, we will see! (Did I say that!) Anyway, dinner at Larry's then subway home after watching Le Grande Blue (Great French Movie)
Sunday (Yesterday) Clariza and I lounged around the house all morning, had a nice breakfast and in the afternoon we taxied over to Hyehwa-Dong to join the Batangas-Korea 8th anniversary celebration. The organization had rented out a large bar / restaurant and to sum up the evening it was a hell of a lot of fun, lots of filipino food, heaps and heaps of beer and soju, singing, games, and speeches. I joined the beer drinking contest as any Australian should and came in a close second! I also was asked to do a speech, so spent two minutes talking about the region of Batangas and my experience. I guess as the only non-filipino there it was expected! Oh well, it was a fun night and we bid our farewell around 11pm.
So its now Monday and with another day off for the holiday we are again just relaxing around the house, and should head down to the basketball court in a little while!!! (You think??)

Here is a recent article about Hyehwa where Clariza and I visit every Sunday. Nice article!
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/09/16/200509160025.asp

And here is a better definition I took from the internet on Chusok -

Chusok, the Harvest Moon Festival, has been called Korea's equivalent of the US's Thanksgiving. It's held on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Lunar Year, which is usually in September or October by the Western calendar. In 2004, Chusok will take place on the 28th of September.
As with most major Korean holidays, most people travel home to pay their respects to their parents and ancestors, and tend to the gravesites of the dead. At these tombs and burial mounds, Koreans make offerings of new rice, fresh fruit, and other freshly harvested foodstuffs. Special foods for the holiday include songpyon, crescent-shaped (for their similarity to the shape of the moon) rice cakes filled with sesame, chestnut, or red bean paste, and songi (mushrooms).
Like Thanksgiving, Chusok is a time of great feasting. Americans have their football games, and Koreans also have traditional holiday games: Kanggangsuwollae (traditional dance), tug-of-war, and Kobuk-nori (in which two men dress up as a tortoise and go from house to house; each household is expected to give them food and drink). Some people in rural areas still hold to the old custom of climbing the hills and swinging lighted torches in circles to greet the harvest moon.

What a week! Bee Gees Concert, Nanta Show, Itaewon, and Great Food

I know we struggle to get new updates done on the blog but thanks to a 5 day visit from mum morley there is lots to mention.

Mum came in Tuesday evening and Clariza and I suprised her at the airport. We have a limousine company at the hotel who so very kindly offered to pick up mum for free, so we had a lovely limousine ride back into Seoul and went home.

Wednesday I headed off to work and Clariza and Mum spent the day visiting Namdeamun Markets, a few palaces, and Insa-Dong. Then in the evening the three of us were supposed to go to the BeeGess concert via Robin Gibb, but unfortunantly Clariza ended up with a migraine early evening so it was mum and I to rock on! We teamed up with three other guys from the hotel and went to the concert at the COEX.

I just got to say I am so glad we did not have to pay for the tickets. (Our hotel had the group staying with us) We had in our hand 165,000 Won tickets but we sat in an open convention floor that was not only not carpeted, but we sat on plastic lawn chairs! Man, if I was in Australia paying the price we were paying for the tickets, there would have been a riot!

So the sedated crowd sat for the first hour as we had all predicted and finally when the concert was over, and when the encore began did the crowd finally stand up and begin to boogie! They did about another 5 songs and it was over. It was a fun concert, glad we went, but all of us said we would have never paid that price if we had too.

Thursday, Mum & Clariza shopped all day at the COEX, including some manecures & pedicures! (Oh, the hard life!) and in the evening we ate at our hotels buffet restaurant, the Grand Kitchen. I tell you it has to be the best buffet in town. I know it is my hotel, but still we have eaten at a few buffet restaurants and this is the best by a mile,

Friday, Clariza and Mum did some walking around Gangnam area where the hotel is, COEX mall again, and visited the temple across the road form the COEX InterContinental. In the evening I had a early function to attend at the hotel and then we met up at the COEX InterContiental and had dinner at Asia Live Restaurant. A great restaurant as has a huge menu with Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian dishes.

Saturday, I got to sleep in, and then we headed into Iteawon. Of course we took the subway and in 45 minutes from our station (Samseong) we were there. Actually after being here three months now it was the first time that we actually went to Iteawon during the day time. We started as everyone does at the Hamilton Hotel and worked our way around the streets of Iteawon. We found a few clothing places in the back alleys that had great womens black market clothing and Clariza spent about 100,000 on some great winter jackets that had the cut out Italian labels! We then ate at the Outback SteakHouse, had a great meal, and then walked around a little more.

Now for the expats, especially the Americans and Canadians I found the store that sells all the foreign foods like Pop-Tarts, etc.. If you stand at Hamilton and look across to Burger King, cross over there to the Burger King side and walked down the street that is where burger king is and walk past a few antique stores and after about 250 metres there is a clear glass door with a red painted frame with no sign and you walk in and it is a very small shop with all the stuffs you need.

Anyway we then walked to the main road and took a taxi to the Nanta theatre for our 4pm show. The theatre is very close to the City Hall. Nice theatre, very mixed crowd. We took the 2nd level tickets which were 50,000 won. It was a 90 minute show and was a lot of fun. It was, loud, funny, lots of dancing, performing, heaps of food thrown around, great drum work with all the cutlery etc.. We walked out and all said how much we enjoyed it.

We then walked down to the Seoul City Hall, and onto our most favourite Dim Sum restaurant called Dintaifung. It is only about 6 weeks old and we have eaten there twice. It is a modern Dim Sum concept, dont take reservations, and is a quick meal, but excellent. Again I highly recommend. www.dintaifung.co.kr
Seoul City Hall .. sorry small photoThis is the Dintaifung Restaurant interior. Very modern and open windows to kitchen!

After dinner we took a stroll to the underground shops nearby, and finally took a taxi home.

Sadly we bid mum farewell at 6am this morning as she had a flight to Japan at 9am! We look forward to her coming back so that we can have as much fun again.

Shopping at Wal-Mart

Funny enough US giant Wal-Mart has several stores here in Seoul and even Costco is here. Reminds me of my days in Hawaii. So anyway we were shopping yesterday doing our grocery shopping and still buying odds and ends for our new apartment and I have to tell you the funniest thing.

In Wal-Mart and most large grocery shops here in Seoul, they have heaps of display people cooking small amounts of food for people to try, and then push them to buy the product they are displaying. Now in Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon there must be at least 50 displays in the store. Can you see where I am going with this....

Well Clariza went to go buy some extra stuff we had forgot, so I planted myself in one place and was just looking around the place. At first I did not think it was strange that these two older Korean ladies were munching away at some sample cake, but after they had gone past their 10th piece each I started to find this pretty funny. I watched these ladies for almost 10 minutes. After about 5 minutes they casually walked over to a lady giving samples of fruit juice, chugged down a few mouthfuls and then headed back to the cake table. Again they stuffed their mouths with a few more pieces, and then obviously decided it was time to move on. Of course they passed the drinks lady for a few more mouthfuls and moved on. As I do I watched them a bit more as Clariza had not returned and sure enough they parked themselves over at the SPAM table. By the time I had counted their 5th piece Clariza returned and we left. Now this all may sound dull to you, but really it was highly entertaining. I guess these ladies were really getting their money worth in Wal-Mart today!