PoD - 12/8/2011 - It DOES Exist!

Ok, so we've been through San Francisco (and actually gone into the city, not just stayed at the airport) at least 5 times in the past year or so.  And this is the first time I have actually SEEN the Golden Gate bridge.  I was beginning to think it was just urban legend, propped up by some pretty fancy photo-shopping.  And I know this isn't a great picture.  You can still barely see it.  But at least it's not so utterly shrouded in fog that you can't even tell there's a bridge there.  

Well, goodbye San Fran!  This may be our last visit.  :(  I really have enjoyed this interesting city.  If you ever get a chance to go, take it!

Picture of the Day 12/6/2011

This trash can is outside of Emart, which is like a Walmart Supercenter in Korea (except minus the "super" part).  Ok, I know this is just supposed to be one picture per day.  But I took the liberty of zooming in for you, in case you didn't catch what this one said.

That's right - fire.  As in, "in case of fire," use this bottle of water?

You have GOT to be kidding me.  It just doesn't get anymore low-tech than this.  

Although honestly, it's not too surprising when you consider the "fire escape" for our apartment is a box with a couple ropes in it that we can attach to the metal arm that bends out the window.  You know, so we can scale down the wall FROM THE SEVENTH FLOOR!  At least we're not on 15.  Maybe we should keep a couple bottles of water there, too.  Just in case.

Picture of the Day 12/5/2011

Cheonjiyeon falls, Jeju Island, South Korea

Cheonjiyeon means heaven and earth meet and create a pond.

We visited Jeju with my mom back in early July.  Dad was supposed to go with us the weekend before, but a tropical storm changed our plans.  I had heard quite a lot about how beautiful the island is but tried to keep my expectations low just in case.  But I was pleasantly surprised - it really is a beautiful place.

Picture of the Day 12/4/2011

This is Momma Puppy.

She lives at the Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) place near work that we go to every so often.  She is a sweetheart and always seems happy to see us.  She also always seems to have at least one puppy or two from her most recent litter, which is how she got the name Momma Puppy.  If you look to the left behind her head, you can see little, white puppy bodies.  So sweet!  That was one of the first litters we ever saw.  I'm going to miss Momma Puppy when we move back home.

Picture of the Day 12/2/2011

Ok, since I decidedly FAIL at being a stable, dependable blog poster, I'm going to try something new.  I've been going through all of our travel pictures lately, working on photo books of our trips, and it has made me want to share some of these shots with you.  Ironically, lately it's been working on the photo books that has kept me from having time to post blogs, but that's a catch-22 that might just work in all of our favor because it was just the inspiration I needed.  The hardest part of blogging for me is deciding what to include in a post.  I want to show you EVERYTHING!  I want you to see, hear, taste, smell, feel what it was like to BE there.  But I'm already limited to words and pictures (I'm convinced that some day you'll be able to upload other things to your blog to share.  Aren't you glad they hadn't perfected some sort of blog-scent-sharing technology before my "no free lunch" post?  If you're not, you should be!).  And as anyone who has every traveled with me (or looked at my pictures afterward) knows, I take waaaaaaay too many pictures.  Digital storage is so cheap these days, I just can't seem to keep myself to a minimum.  So of course I can't post all of them here, and believe me, you wouldn't want me to.

But that is the beauty of my new idea: "Picture of the day."  Just one picture - that's it.  And there's no sense stressing about which one to use because I can post another one tomorrow.  And the day after that and the one after that and...  Ok, you get the idea.  Oh, yes, and also it should be hard for to drone on and on about just one picture.  (Notice I said should - this is me we're talking about.)

I'll still try to put up "normal" blog posts every now and then, but, with my track record, at least you'll get a few dozen pictures in between my bi-monthly posts.


And without further ado

the first Picture of the Day

 for Dec 2, 2011 is...

This is Uluwatu Temple in Bali, Indonesia.  Absolutely gorgeous.  We went there last January, and that just shows you how behind I am.  As you can see, the Hindu temple is set on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean.  It was so beautiful.

The Grand Tour

So I'm a little embarrassed.  I thought myself a better hostess than this, but it was brought to my attention today that I have yet to give you a tour of our apartment.  I thought I had done it months and months ago, but oops.  I guess not.

Oh well, here's the tour now.  And yes, I cleaned up extra special just for you guys.

...

So...  Ok, here's the thing...

After searching my portable external hard drive, I can't find the pictures of the apartment.  And I'm SURE I took them.  I mean, I remember taking them.  I think.  Then again, I thought for sure I'd posted them already.  So who knows.  I'll have to go hunt our main back-up hard drive to see if I can find them.

But for now, at least I can show you the awesome views we have and the apartment complex.

We live right across from the water, beyond which you can see one area of the city and some mountains.

And as you can see, we get gorgeous sunsets.

The complex itself is pretty nice, even by US standards.

There are a few playgrounds for the kids.

There's no pool, but there's a beach right across the street.

But watch out, it does get pretty windy...

And we have nice views from our apartment windows.

Including our friendly, if a bit talkative, cow neighbors (Moozilla and company - see previous post).

They decorate for the holidays, which I love!

And the foliage is really beautiful, too. Even in the winter.

Sadie loved making friends.

And running with her dad by the water.

But not so much "going potty" in the snow.

Guess she's probably pretty happy she gets to spend this winter back in Baton Rouge with her grandparents.
Well, that, and my mom spoils her absolutely rotten.  When we were in the States last month, we found out she'd already gained 5 lbs since moving back in July. 5 lbs in 3 months.  Mom says she carries it well - insert me shaking my head.  Love you, Mom!  Thanks for keeping my dog, um, well fed and cared for.  :)

Anyway...

All in all, it's a pretty nice place to live (you know, discounting the fact that it's in Yeosu).  Just kidding.  Mostly.

And I'll see if I can find some pictures of the actual apartment to share.

Hello Kitty Cafe

While we were in Daegu this weekend for a little (read:  3-month supply of Western perishables) Costco shopping, we happened upon this little coffee shop, and I just HAD to share it with you.  Now I know that Hello Kitty has quite the following - in America and especially in Asia.  But I really had no idea...

Wow. It's just... so... PINK!


So much to poor Blake's chagrin, I couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to document (photographically speaking) this unique little twist on Starbucks.  I have since discovered that there are a few more of these located around the world, but c'mon, how many have you ever seen?


And I have to admit, while I'm not really a Hello Kitty fan myself, they really did an amazing job.  Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against her.  She's a cute little cat really, but I'm more of an Eeyore kind-of girl.  And before you go knocking Eeyore, let me just say that he is not a pessimist, he's a realist.  Besides, pink has never really been a driving color in my life - my favorite color is blue.  So it works.  But I digress...


It was hard not to be impressed with the myriad ways they managed to include her head and/or bow in their decor and even their beverage options.  I would imagine that any Hello Kitty enthusiast would be thrilled to enjoy an afternoon sitting in this shop, sipping a caramel macchiato flaunting that feminine, feline face in its foam.

I took several minutes for me to explore all of the areas, and really only one thing gave me pause...

The men's restroom.


Do men actually come in this place?  Even as I was snapping this shot, Blake stood on the curb outside waiting for me to finish.  He wouldn't even come in long enough for me to take pictures!  And the place was full of girls and women of all ages.


But then I remembered that this is a country where daters often wear matching outfits while out together (and not for Sadie Hawkins) on a random Saturday night.  Or Tuesday night.  Or Thursday.  And it's fairly obvious which gender chose the outfits on pretty much every occasion.  So, guys, the next time your significant other asks you to hold her purse while she's in the bathroom, quit you're griping, hold it like a man (between index finger and thumb at arm's length, like it might burn you with its powerful female magic), and be thankful you're not wearing her blouse.


And then I wondered how many poor guys have sat in this place wearing Hello Kitty t-shirts identical to their dates', while this little cat with a bow stared mockingly at them from their mugs.  Poor fellas.  No wonder Blake didn't want to come inside.


Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I did.  It's amazing what a little imagination and a whole lot of pink plastic and pleather can do.

No Such Thing As Free Lunch

I'm sure you've all heard the old saying.  But it's been given a new meaning, at least for me, by my experiences here in Korea.

Because every workday our company provides lunch for all our employees, from the plant manager to the operators.  We're a fairly small operation right now, and we don't have our own cafeteria or anything like that.  In fact, until this summer we didn't even have a sink.  But now we do, in the small kitchen in our new "sea can land," as Blake likes to call it.  And we have the coffee maker, microwave, and small, dorm-style refrigerator, that we had at our initial site.  But those conveniences still obviously aren't enough to produce  the hearty meal that is provided each day.  Wait, did I say hearty?  Ok, that's probably a little too generous.  Well, it's a meal at least.  I think.

 

The lunches are provided by Cham-mat, a local catering company near the industrial complex.  They deliver the lunches each day directly to our sea cans.  They consist of smaller containers of food, larger containers of short, sticky, Korean white rice, and some sort of soup in large silver pails.  Sometimes they also bring rice water, which comes in the clear plastic pouches you see above.

My understanding is that there are different levels of meals from which a company can choose.  I believe they serve the different levels in specific colors.  Our lunches come every day in yellow containers.  Hence, we call them "yellow box" lunches.

I think the yellow box is the lowest level available.  I can't imagine anything worse being available anyway.

I'll start you off with one of the easier days.

That's some sort of pork cutlet with a kind of pasta salad.  Please notice the use of the terms "sort of" and "kind of" - I'm using them very loosely.  And kimchi.  There's pretty much always some kimchi.  And I think that's actually 2 different kinds this day.

These are pretty representative of our everyday meals.

And here are a couple soups. Mmmmmm.  And that's not a wow-this-is-really-yummy 'mmmmmm,' but more of an I'm-keeping-my-lips-pressed-tightly-together-so-I-don't-puke 'mmmmmm.' 

Actually, that one with sprouts is really one of the better soups.  Keep in mind "better" is entirely relative.

These are quail eggs, soaked in some kind of beef sauce.  But I don't think that "meat" it's sitting on is beef.  Blake claims that it is, but I don't think it looks like beef.  And it certainly doesn't look like beef that I eat.  'Cuz I don't eat that.

Of course, at least that was questionable meat.  There is also the wide variety of soy products that don't even have the decency to pretend.  And what is that pattern on the outer edges?  Ewww.

And normally I like fish.  In fact, in the States I love fish.  Seafood is a common choice of mine when eating out, and I also like to cook fish at home.  But fish here is another story.  They're tiny, and they taste very fishy.  Now I know what you're saying - it's fish, shouldn't it be fishy?  But trust me, "fishy" in the US and "fishy" in Korea are about as far apart as, well, the US and Korea.  Here is a lovely example of an often served dish.

You see, they like to fry the whole fish.  The WHOLE fish.  Skin, bones, head, eyeballs (even teeth, if you look really closely at that picture) and all.  And you can see from Jason holding it (he's one of the other Albemarle expats), that it's not very big.  So by the time you pick all the gross mess off the meat, you have maybe two bites of some pretty nasty tasting fish.  It's almost not even worth the effort.  Actually, I take that back - it's definitely not worth the effort.

I guess when I say I like fish, I mean like grilled fish covered with crawfish etouffee (and just for the record, that is the correct way to spell crawfish, I don't care what spell-check says.  and it doesn't even have etouffe.) from Harrington's in downtown Baton Rouge, or a fried catfish po-boy from Brewbachers (which also is not in the spell-check dictionary - man, what kind of Yankee wrote this stupid thing...), or even a Captain D's 2-piece meal (or 3-piece, you know, depending on how hungry I am).  I'm not into this whole "me caveman, me hunt fish, me cook fish on fire" thing.  Then again, who am I kidding?  When I cook fish, I go to WalMart and buy the frozen, 2-3 lb pkg of tilapia (no tilapia, are you kidding me?  c'mon, spell-check, now you're just being silly), pre-cleaned and fileted and ready to go.  But that just shows how refined I am.  Ha.  You can pretend you didn't notice that classy Captain D's reference a few sentences back.



Anyway, suffice it to say, this is the best part of the meal every day...

So this, ladies and gentlemen, is the free lunch they said didn't exist.  And you couldn't pay me to eat it.

Liars and Tigers and Boars, Oh My! - Day 2 cont.

So back to the tigers...

After we walked the medium-size tigers away from the pavilion, and Blake recovered from his near-death experience (ok, so maybe that's a little exaggerated...), we got to help "bathe" some of the larger tigers. Which basically means we rubbed a little soap on them and sprayed them with hoses while the volunteers distracted them with toys, milk, and/or chicken.  And interestingly enough, they smelled not unlike wet dog.

After the baths, they let us into a fenced play area.  In this area were trees and a rock formation with a small water feature.  They gave us all bamboo poles with different things tied to the ends, like empty dog food bags or colorful rags.  Then they let the tigers in!

I have to admit, it was a little unnerving.  Less because of the dozen or so tigers, and more because of all the people with poles, shaking them vigorously much too close to you and other people.  But there were so many volunteers in there with us, almost as many volunteers as tourists.  And they worked really hard to keep people from putting other people in the line of fire. 

And they were so much fun!  They ran and jumped and frolicked and flipped and plotted and tried to sneak up on their "prey."  There were so many people waving so many different things, it was actually harder than you would think to attract a tiger's attention.  Blake actually got pretty good at it.  Guess I shouldn't be surprised, since he's always able to do the same with our Mo cat and his toys, even though I can't ever seem to do it quite right.

After the playtime, we got an opportunity to take pictures with the biggest cats there.

And then we got to take turns "walking" (i.e., holding a leash attached to a very large tiger while he walks wherever he wants and you walk with him, unless he decides to run or chase something, in which case you let the leash go) a large tiger down to this old quarry, which they've turned into an exercise area for the tigers.  The workers took all of our pictures with our own cameras while we did this...

...and Blake and I got lucky and got a bunch of shots...

 ...because the tiger had to go to the bathroom right as it was our turn.

I mean, c'mon, look at the face.  You know what he's doing.  Such concentration!  I almost want to get him a magazine or something.

And let's just look at that first shot of Blake and me with him again.

 Yeah... You see the red circle?  That's tiger poo.

Thankfully, we didn't step in any.

Eventually we all made it to the old quarry, where several of the larger tigers were chained up, waiting for their playtime.

 You see the worker giving water to that one tiger and kissing him on the head?  I wish!  Amazing!

The workers ushered us into a small area surrounded by about chest high chain link fence.  Which actually was pulled back in one corner.  I tried not to think about why that was.

And then they let the tigers off the chains and ushered them into the play area, which was dominated by a water feature large enough for them all to spread out in.  The workers all had bamboo poles, most of which had bags or other dangling, tiger-tempting objects attached to them, and they would wave the poles around just like we tourists had all done with the younger tigers earlier.

It was quite hot, even though it wasn't even noon yet, and some of the tigers simply enjoyed lying in the water.

And some tigers played with each other.

While others ran and jumped and tried to catch the objects on the workers' sticks.

And sometimes they succeeded...

And some of the workers were crazy enough to get the stick back!  If one of those guys had taken a stick and bag from me, I would have let him keep it!

This one guy was absolutely CRAZY!  He would get in the water and walk around in there with them, while the other workers at least kept some distance between them.  One time he even rode the back of one for a few seconds!

I think he probably knew about 10 English words.  And 4 of them were, "I am tiger man!"  He had a huge tiger tattoo on his chest, and yeah, he was pretty much nuts.  He made me think of the Disney cartoon I watched as a child, Jungle Book.  I imagine that's what Mowgli would have looked like all grown up.  And Shere Khan, come to think of it.

Anyway, after the playtime, sadly, our time at the Tiger Temple was over, and we had to leave.  It was such an amazing experience to get to spend just a few short hours with these magnificent animals.  I will always remember that extraordinary day.

Tiger Temple is so far from Bangkok that the tour companies encourage you to combine something else in the area for your tour.  You could choose from a few different places or experiences, including riding elephants or viewing wild monkeys, but we chose the Erawan Falls, which are a series of 7 different water falls.

The 6th and 7th falls were pretty high climbs, and by this point of the day we were fairly exhausted.  So we only made it to the first 5 falls.  But they were still beautiful.

And after the falls, we dropped the guide back off and headed straight back to Bangkok.  Well, we did make one stop at 7-11.  Thailand has fountain cokes in their convenience stores.  Fountain cokes!  With ice!  You just don't understand.  And I know you're not supposed to drink the water in Thailand, and ice is made from the water.  But we just drank our coke really, really fast before the ice could melt.  I mean, some things are just worth the risk.

And 3-1/2 to 4 hours later, through achingly slow traffic, we finally made it back to our hotel and passed out incredibly early after our truly spectacular day.