How to Empty an 11th Floor Apartment

Almost everyone here lives in a high rise. Beth and I have (conservatively) estimated that each one of these buildings, at 18 stories high, holds about 400 people. I can see at least 17 of these buildings off of our porch, and thats probably about 3 square blocks. That's a lot of Koreans.

We found that to move things in and out of these high rises they don't use the slow, small elevator. Instead, they prop a crane on the side of the building and send a plank up and down that carries whatever the apartment is removing/adding. We'd seen this from a distance before, but last week it happened directly underneath our 12th floor apartment. I recorded some video, check it out:



They don't use any guard rails or tie-downs, they just throw the stuff on there. In the video they are just moving simple stuff (various media) but we've seen them throw couches, chairs, and small trees onto these things. Its really pretty crazy.