Monument

This Saturday was awesome.  I heard about a new art space in town called The Arc.  It's pretty isolated from town, and out by the river.  Since Beth has a car now, we decided to drive over and check it out.  Getting there by bus would have been impossible.

The center focuses on conservation, rehabilitation of natural resources.  The center of the interior is lined with these small blue figures, all bowing.  Maybe they are bowing to nature?  Not really sure.  It feels like a cross between the end sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Flight of the navigator.

On the top floor there is an observation deck.  You can see the beautiful mountains and the not so beautiful apartment buildings.

The spot turned out to be a perfect spot for kites.  Beth and I bought kites in The Philippines and in Bali quite a while ago, and we finally got to try them out.

Another great weekend in Korea.

The Tambourine

Tambourines are used for two things in Korea:  assisting your singing room (aka Karaoke) session, and making teenagers fall and get sick.  

This little carnival ride is in most downtown hubs.  There is a DJ/Operator that spins and taunts the teenagers, whose only chance of not falling on the floor is gripping the chrome pole behind him.  As the operator pops the hydraulics and spins the wheel, he laughs this really seedy laugh (think of a cartoon dog's laugh) and spotlights the person he decides to pick on.  Once he's decided this, he does everything he can to launch this person out of their seat.  There is no way this would pass even the loose standards that most State Fairs' follow; with no seat belts, no roof, and no helmets required/provided this would be a lawsuit nightmare in America.

Bodies fall.  After about two minutes, the middle schoolers get the courage to try and stand up in the middle of "The Tambourine."  Fatal mistake.  They crash and burn, gripping onto their friends ankles in an attempt to crawl back up to their seat.  The ride lasts about 6 or 7 minutes, and it's amazing that everyone doesn't get up and barf afterwards.

I haven't been able to convince anyone to ride it with me yet.

Bike Cops

Isn't this the most non threatening police bike you've ever seen?  It probably only exists to go for a quick coffee run.

I love the lack of police presence here.  Never have I been woken up by screeching sirens or blue and red lights flashing outside my window.  I never feel intimidated by the police here and I rarely see them.  It's not to say that they don't exist...in fact, there are plenty of police offices and buildings around.  They just aren't out.  Sometimes they direct traffic and help people find stuff they lost.  The only thing I ever see them actually arresting people for is drunk driving at one of their random traffic stops on the weekend.  And I only see that through the window of a taxi.

It's nice to not be fearful of law enforcement.  They actually seem like they are around to serve and protect, not to persecute.

Get Ya Shine Gone

No one is bald here.  Seriously, I find myself taking a double-take whenever I see someone without hair on their head.

Initially I chalked this up to genetics, but the abundance of wig shops has made me rethink this.  Normally, a subject this blasé wouldn't warrant a post, but I saw a few weird wig shops this week.

The Sides Wig

When your completely confident about your top side bareness, but above your ears needs some beefing up, go for the "sides" wig.

Hand Hair

This wig is more understandable.  My younger students always want to touch my arm to feel the hair on it...to them it doesn't seem real.  Most Koreans have little to no arm hair, so wanting to use a wig to amp up your hand hair makes perfect sense.

Bottled Water

Sure, you can buy bottled water just about everywhere here for about 60 cents.  But why?  Water is free everywhere.  Filtered, hot and cold water is in almost every public space.  The art museum, E-Mart (the equivalent of Target/Walmart), school, library, post office, mall...you get the idea.  They have these little paper sleeves that serve as cups, so you usually need a few refills.  Or you can just carry your own water bottle around and fill it up throughout the day, wherever you are.   It makes 8 cups a day no problem.

This one is in The Daegu Art Factory.

Baseball

I've now completed my quest to see all the baseball stadiums in Korea.  All 7 were completed over Chuseok, the Korean equivalent to Thanksgiving.  With my trusty partner Beth we traveled to Seoul on Sunday to catch the Nexen Heroes lose to our hometeam, the Lions.  Then, down to Daejon to see the newest stadium in the league, Hanbat stadium.  These were the last two on the list.

Mokdong Stadium

The stadium is comparable to the Texas Ranger's stadium in that it feels very far away from the city.  Nothing else is really around it.  We were pleasantly surprised to find hotdogs being served here, an unfortunate omission at most stadiums.  

We bought our seats ahead of time, before I even knew what teams were playing.  Later I learned that the Lions (from our city, Daegu) were playing, so I suited up in my Lions shirt.  When we got to our seats, we were smack dab behind the opposing team's fans.  We opted to go to the Lions cheering section, which was way more fun.

Cheerleaders are a huge part of every game.  They cheer the entire time the team is up to bat.

This Lion is a real show stealer.

Beer sales prove to be different at each stadium.  Most just have cans at a convenient store inside the stadium while others have a guy walking around with a keg on his back.  This one poured the draft beer into reusable plastic bottles, and gave you cups with it.

Hanbat Stadium

I didn't know what to expect at Hanbat.  This team is over 20 games behind first place, and we were there for the last regular season game.  I thought the place would be depressing.  I was so wrong.  The crowd was awesome, and the field was really nice.  Daegu will get a new stadium next year, and I hope it's like this one.

They have the only high definition jumbotron in the whole league. 

They had hot dogs, Pizza Hut, and other goodies here.  The most popular food was the dokbokki, there was a huge line for it.  Beth was salivating just thinking about it, and after she saw this big red pot she wanted some (but she resisted the temptation).

The crowd participation is just amazing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  The Korean baseball experience is so fun.  Taking a train to get around the country, and paying about $6 on average for tickets is awesome.  The games are really engaging and the fans are neurotic.  I hope to do another baseball trip in the summer, any takers?

Mashin' Out

Earlier this summer we took a picnic to the park to enjoy the weather.  Under a shade tree we had sandwiches and played Mille Borne with our friends Chris and Mandy.  A good time was had by all.  We noticed that there were a ton of Power Wheels out that day.  Turns out that parents take their toddlers to the park, rent a Power Wheels for them, and tool them around the park.  That's right...the kids have no power over the cars, the parents just remote control them wherever they want.

                                      

This little one's father thought it would be funny to ram her car onto the curb and onto our blanket.  She did not find the humor.  I immediately thought of The Simpson's episode where Homer's brother invents something that could translate what toddlers are thinking, before they can speak.

What's the deal with the beach...it's where dirt meets water.

I've never understood the appeal of the beach.  Sand, sticky water, the sunburns, no bathroom to clean up in...I could go on.  The title is taken from a Bill Hicks bit that I immediately identified with.  If it weren't for the fact that it's outdoors and you might see some cool fish I would probably hate the beach.
 
Clearly I am in the minority.

I've never seen anything quite like Haeundae Beach in Busan on the busiest travel weekend of the Korean summer.  To spend time on the beach on this particular weekend you need $7.  This gets you an umbrella and a mat to sit on.  Once you've gotten under your umbrella you feel like you're under a giant low-hanging shade tree that reaches a few football fields in length.  Seriously, look at these pictures and see if you can see an end to it.  I already tried and you can't.  

Take note that this is both the right (above picture) and left (below picture) of the beach.

                                      

Under this canopy were families and couples, but also old women walking around hunched over trying to sell fried chicken.  You tell them your tent number and they'll bring it to you.

Borneo & Beyond

We had a day layover in Ho Chi Minh, just enough time for a few photos.

 

Then off to Malaysia.  We flew into Kuala Lumpur and spent a day there walking around the incredibly modern city.  Tons of skyscrapes, a stark contrast to our destination the following day:  Borneo.

Malaysia has two parts:  Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.  The parts of the country couldn't be more different.  Borneo is more remote and is host to amazing rainforests and spectacular diving.  We focused on the wildlife, taking river cruises and getting rings around our eyes from the binoculars being on them so much.  The camera I brought couldn't capture all of the critters unfortunately, but here are a few pictures of where we were.

Orangutan Reserve

This place is a haven for orangtans that have been found in adverse situations and brought here to be nursed to health and hopefully released back into the wild.  Their aren't a whole lot of these left so their work is incredibly important.

We spent an entire day bird watching in this rainforest.  

The next stop was sleeping in the rainforest.  We hooked up with a really cool place that does conservation and tours.  You sleep in the rainforest, get fed, get a few river cruises, and plant a tree to replenish burned areas of the forest.

The conservation group also set us up with a homestay, which is a host family giving you two meals and a bed.  They were pretty interesting to talk with, they wanted to discuss American politics.  This happened over an awesome dinner of curry, which they ate entirely with their hands (rice and all).

Malaysia.