Pictorial of our trip to Jeju Island in Korea

Last weekend we went to Jeju so that Suzanne could speak at a conferance on building. It also gave her some great networking opportunities. We met some great people on a professional and personal level and we look forward to expanding those relationships. Below are a few pics from the trip. The video is not related to Jeju but highlights a significant issue at the Kimpo airport when using the subway.

Events and goings on

Last friday I got myslef up to Seoul and met the lads at Storck bicycles. We left at about 4 for the qualifier for the Tour of Korea Amateur race. It was quite a caravan with two teams, two team vans, and a bunch of support. The B squad and A squad loaded into their respective vans. Both teams are sponsored by Storck and Harley Davidson of Korea.

After arriving on the East coast we checked into the hotel, with well appointed rooms for a mere W40k or about $30. I bitch about a lot of stuff but this really was a sweet deal. We had some dinner that we had brought and hit the hay.

The next day we got up and readied ourselves and took a drive around the qualifier course. There was loads of debate about approaches but we all knew the pack would likely (A) crash a lot and (B) break into splinter groups. Both came true. I'll spare the details but it was required that we average 30kmh (18 mph) over the 63km. That sounds slow but the walls we climbed along the ocean front put that into perspective. I felt pretty good in the first 10-15km but then my git-up-and-go got-up-and-went. No amount of hope was gonna help my gasping. WTF? My legs felt pretty good and I managed my way up a hill or two in sight of the the wee ones. On a flat section of the second loop I realized my average was about 33kmh and I was pretty safe to roll in at my own pace while still qualifying. The rest of the team qualified as well.

After arriving at the finish I was immediately cold. I scurried back to my room to shower and refuel. Still cold. Later, on the ride home the sinuses started cracking and popping. My muscles also had a weird resistance to releasing (Mg+ deficient?). I crashed at a friend's place that night in Seoul. I woke up to a packed head of snot and bilateral earaches. "This should be fun for my 10k run in the Incheon Marathon this morning". Stranger yet, the legs felt great.

Suzanne and I ran the Incheon Marathon (she hates the pics so I'll respect that). She dusted me by 5 seconds and I have to applaud her effort put into training. It make me so proud of her when she does something good for herself like this. We then got blind drunk on beer and Chicken at my runner/bandmate friend's house. Good times. Ok, not so blind drunk. Tipsy maybe.

Now, I've been sick for 4+ days and the lungs are just disgusting. I'm off my training plan for the Tour of Korea until I feel it's safe to resume without progressing to pneumonia. So I did not do a good job of sparing the race details, I WILL spare you the lung cookie details.

Dining in Korea

Lard have mercy! There is no one thing that seems to connect a culture, country, family, or others than food, that culinary binder that makes us miss home like nothing else. Suzanne and I have done pretty well in South Korea considering its distance from home. We have also done well despite being so far from places one might consider "culinary epicenters" such as New York, San Francisco, or Arnold, Missouri. However, there are certainly things that baffle us when we eat as the locals do. The point of this post is not to demean Korean food in any way but to point out differences. So don't get all bent out of shape.

• Even upper mid-level Italian restaurants provide sweet pickles at the beginning of your meal. They're not to be confused with antipasta, they are sugary sweet pickles. Don't be surprised if you also see them on your Subway sandwich too. Heck, the sweet pickles on a Subway sandwich were part of the motivation for Stanwiches International.
• Asia is home to Avian flu. Oh boy! So why is it OK to serve raw eggs on dishes like bibimbap and others? More people have died from avian flu than BSE (Mad cow disease). Several dishes are served in VERY hot ceramic bowl which is great for winter meals AND frying the egg against the side. They give me the "WTF?" look when you cook the egg against the bowl.
• Because I am a "Lazy American" I cannot yet comprehend all Korean writing. I can read some but have no idea what most of it means. Korean menus sometimes have pictures or bits of English, and this is a good thing. By no means is the the rule though, even in a town like ours which was built for the sole purpose of attracting foreign investors. Maybe they just want the investment and not the people?
• If you have an allergy to crustaceans (shellfish) it can be a tough place. I am allergic and often carry my epi-pen. However, there are stories of the careless server who has no interest in your well being. Call it carelessness or complacency, it's still a risk. Many non-seafood dishes have noodles that were boiled in the same water as the clams or shrimp.
• Vegetarian may not...DOES NOT mean there is no meat/poultry/fish in the dish. We've found bits of beef in lots of things and, like the noodles, you may get exposed to meats/shelf fish in the most unexpected places. To be fair, some restaurants are known to be vegetarian by their customers yet it's not claimed anywhere.
• Food prep is fairly extensive here since many small dishes are offered with each meal even when you don't want it. Food prep need not take up precious kitchen space since it can be done out in the public hallway on the floor. In other news, I spent the first 4-6 months in Korea having a new morning constitution experience every day.
• Chopsticks have their own history in Korea. A former leader of Korea had been on the receiving end of an assassination attempt. The vehicle for the poison was a set of wooden chopsticks. Silver chopsticks became very popular after that as they tarnish in the presence of some toxins. Today most chopsticks are stainless steel. Chopsticks have their place however and are not intended for use on rice where a spoon is the tool for the job.
• Speaking of rice, Korean rice is a short grained, glutenous white style of grain. It's shape is very much like a football with blunted ends. This rice works well when added to very wet dishes or with meat when wrapped in greens such as lettuce or sesame leaf. The markets offer many different brands, prices and package sizes but I must admit I see little difference in the actual product. When speaking strictly of a white rice there is very little in the way of options outside of this style. Basmati and jasmine rice are not to be found but in specialty stores for foreigners and the cost can run run about $10/pound. We eat very little rice so this treat is acceptable for our budget.
• There are things missing from the normal markets that I have to really hunt for or do not get at all. Limes and lime products are a no-go. You may think this is not an issue until you try to make Asian meals from other countries. Thai food depends heavily on limes and it may be our favorite food. Thai food also uses a great deal of cilantro (gosu in Korean) but the Koreans claim they dislike gosu and it gives them a headache. Hey, there may be a conspiracy here. I'll go sit on my grassy knoll and figure this one out.
• What is my favorite meal? It has to be samgeytang. Not just for flavor but for the experience that surrounds our meals that our cooked by a little old Korean woman with a gold grill (gold plated teeth). Suzanne and I like to hike at Munhak mountain near our house. We generally hike there for 2-3 hours then grab a flimsy plastic table at "Grandma's". Grandma's is a metal piped structure with canvas walls and dirt floors but features a full kitchen. Sounds questionable and it likely is outside the law but the samgyetang is amazing and downing a few crappy beers along with it makes life a little better. Samgyetang is simply a whole young chicken cooked in a pressure cooker then the juices and broth are put in a large shallow metal bowl, placed on a portable flame and then centered on the table. The bird is stuffed with Korean sticky rice, Jujubes, garlic, gensing, and ginger. The chicken sits in the juices and is surrounded by misc. veggies. The table is provided a set of scissors and tongs to take the little beast apart. There is enough for about 3 hungry people and, as ALWAYS, comes with kimchi and other goodies. Although I am careful about kimchi since it usually contains shrimp sauce, I do enjoy this one. There's never a spec of food left...EVER. if you come to Korea, you will be taken to Grandma's.

There is so much more to eating in Korea and what I wrote does not do it justice. I will do my best to write more, especially the more positive experiences.

Camping and cycling in Korea

Yuppers, that's me in my glory. I'm a picture of vitality I tell you!
Last weekend we went to central Korea and camped, rode some insanely cool trails, drank some adult beverages and tried to stay dry.

Dirt
We pushed our scooters up, and up, and up rarely stopping to do anything other than clean the blue air out of our ears that Suzanne was spouting. Girrrrrrrl was mad about the pushing. I was a little poopy-pants too until we finally hit some horizonal dirt singletrack.

When all of our groups convened we pointed our sleds down. Someone took off and practically disappeared over this cliff. I inched up behind to look over and see him wrastling a tree. At that point the spectators looked to me to be the next victim. I reluctantly dropped in down the rutted and twisty trail. Peer pressure. The rut caught the rear tire while I worked the front of the bike. The result was this kick-ass sideways skid with a change-up mid-skid for about 40-50 feet total, the first half of which was full of fear then a calm overcame me as I realized that the hill was so steep my upside hand was merely a foot or two from the ground. Totally terrorized I yelled back up the hill, "it's cool, come on down, the water's fine!".

We all met at the bottom and returned to camp. Some previously not grumpy people were now grumpy and visa-verse. Look at us sitting on the concrete. in the picture to the right. We are contemplating life after the descent.

Back at camp we regrouped and headed out for a second loop that saw us ride up a nice fire road to the top of our original push up. As we headed into the singetrack the rain came and it was getting serious. The loose rocks were a bit more stable with the moisture and provided a great ride down,. The final 1k was a freaking blast with swooping diving singltrack. Just lovely!
The party
Set up tents, beer, Jerry's Biafran stew, beer, Jeagermeister, chips, try to stay dry, sleep. Good times.
The next day
Not happy inside. Nobody rode and nobody was sad for that. We had pressed our luck the day before.

Studio Terra

Not long after arriving on Fantasy Island, I was introduced to a Korean artist named Yong-no. He spoke fantastic English and we really connected. Our conversation touched on numerous topics such as art, education and life in Korea. I made a commitment to drop by his ceramic studio in the following days. Unfortunately, I dropped the ball.

Fast forward to last night. Suz and I went for a walk and saw Yong-no leaving his studio. He was happy to give us a tour of his place and wares. We were impressed. So much of his work is multisensory, being visually appealing and pleasant to the touch. We bought a couple pieces that immediately caught our eyes. One piece, which we did not buy, sat under a shelf all by it's lonesome. It has a patina green inside and sand colored exterior. It reminded me of a gift we received for our wedding. Someone else will get to experiance that bowl, maybe you?

Yong-no can be reached at goomax@naver.com . He can ship to the West with no problems.

New Songdo City

For the last year Suzanne has risen each morning to build a new city in South Korea, West of Seoul. It's hard work but someone has to do it. Yesterday she was swinging hammers and today she'll operate a crane.

"In July, 2001 Gale International negotiated a joint venture agreement with POSCO E&C and the City of Incheon, South Korea, for the master planned development that is Songdo City. Located at the site of General MacArthur's 1950 landing, Songdo will be the first "new" city in the world designed and planned as an international business district. Songdo is rising as the "Gateway to Northeast Asia," a geographical hub just 40 miles southwest of Seoul and 25 miles from the North Korean DMZ industrial area.
Built on 1,500 Acres of reclaimed land and soon to be connected to Incheon International Airport via a new bridge, Songdo is the most ambitious undertaking of its kind..."

Full website access here.