The Tailors of Hong Kong

I doubt there is a more spectacularly situated city than Hong Kong.  Maybe Rio, but I haven't been there.  I began my visit by having dinner with an old friend and former colleague.  On my way to dinner, I walked about 20 minutes from my hotel in Kowloon (the peninsula) to take the 5-minute Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island.  I soon found that I was apparently as approachable in Hong Kong as I had been in Seoul, although this time I was popular with a different demographic: middle-aged tailors.  6 tried to stop me during my 20 minute walk and let's just say they are a persistent bunch.  I was wearing a suit jacket, but more likely it was my Western appearance that drew them to me.

Anyway, the best 35 cents (US) you'll ever spend is to take the Star Ferry ride from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.  Sit on the left-hand side of the boat and marvel at the dramatic skyline.

The view from Star Ferry looking south -- a little smoggy.

If Kowloon is a bit ramshackle (in a good way) with night markets and more of a southeast Asian feel, Hong Kong Island is all business (well, not all business).  After a great tour from my friend of some historical aspects of the city that they don't really include in the guidebooks, I came back the following day to the island for some more sightseeing.  There is extremely high population density in the city itself, with 60-story apartment buildings as far as the eye can see.  On the southern end of the island, there is a little more space to stretch out and Repulse Bay was beautiful.  I did take part in about the most touristy thing you can do in Hong Kong -- take the Victoria Peak tram up to the highest point in the territory.  Be sure to sit on the right.  And if you're ever in Hong Kong and need a tailor, I have a few cards for you (though I'm sure they'll find you).

My 2 Minutes in North Korea

I've always been morbidly interested in North Korea.  Just the idea that a nation like that can exist in our modern world is amazing.  Anyway, the main purpose I fit in a stop in Seoul on my way to Hong Kong and beyond was to visit the DMZ.  You can go there for about $75 -- you just need to send in a copy of your passport a few days in advance for "approval."

So today was my day to visit North Korea, however briefly.  I purchased my tour from tourdmz.com.  Of about 40 people, I was the only American.  Most Americans probably take a tour sponsored by the USO.  Anyway, after a visit to the War Memorial of Korea in downtown Seoul, we drove north.  Eventually, the heavy traffic of Seoul thins out as you leave the city, until you realize you're on a eight-lane expressway (4 lanes in each direction) with hardly any traffic at all.  At that point, you can start imagining what such a wide road could potentially be used for, though if you're optimistic, I suppose some day the Koreans will need a nice expressway between Pyongyang and Seoul, and now they're about half-way there (signs along the road even tell you how many kilometers it is to Pyongyang).

Facing north.
The boundary line bisects these blue buildings.

Once we reached the Joint Security Area, at two separate checkpoints, S. Korean soldiers boarded the bus and checked our passports against the approved guest list.  After a 15 minute briefing on the history of the DMZ and various violent incidents that have occurred over the years, we were brought outside of the U.N. Security Forces' building to face the North Korean side.  We were repeatedly told not to point at the North Koreans, and not to take any pictures of South Korean military positions.  Next, we were brought into one of the little blue buildings where any talks between the two countries take place.  Half of the building is in South Korea and half in North Korea and by crossing to the other side of the room, you're able to enter North Korea without a visa.  Just don't walk out the door on the other side, because you won't be coming back (not that the imposing South Korean soldiers in the room, such as my friend here, would ever let you out anyway).

Standing on the northern side with a southern officer,
but don't go out that door!

One of the most confounding problems of our time is what to do about North Korea.  The Korean Armistice that ceased overt hostilities was signed in 1953.  With each passing year, it's harder to imagine how reunification can happen in our lifetimes.  At the very least, it would require the Chinese to withdraw their support for the Kim dynasty, and while they clearly find the Kims exasperating, there's no evidence they want to deal with the unknown consequences of what could happen next.  In the meantime, the tragic stalemate continues.

On Briefly Believing I Was a Korean Celebrity

After a tour of the city, I took the Seoul subway to a neighborhood called Itaewon.  The only confusing thing  about the subway is that when you're done with your ticket, you can get a 500-won rebate.  Why they don't just take 500-won off the original price, I don't know.  And before you get too excited and plan to retire on all those 500-won rebates you can earn, you should know that 500-won is about 50 cents.  I'm sure almost all of you reading this are thus Korean millionaires.

Anyway, Itaewon is known for its proliferation of non-Korean restaurants, and it tends to draw an international, or at least American, crowd.  Now, before you mutter with disapproval at my seeking out a Western haven in Seoul, know that after days of faithfully eating local cuisine, I just craved a cheeseburger.  This is Korea, though.  So they even managed to make my cheeseburger spicy.

On my way to dinner, I was stopped by two teenage boys.  One began reading off a script about how he was a high school student, etc., etc.  I was about to tell him that, no, I was not interested in buying chocolate bars to fund his school field trip, but he said he was studying English and as part of an assignment, he was to interview an English speaker.  This probably explained why he was in Itaewon.  Everywhere else I went in Seoul, I was maybe the one Caucasian out of 200.  In Itaewon, though, it was more like one Caucasian for every 8.  After he asked to interview me, I responded that it was a good thing that I spoke English.  Apparently, my humor is a bit too subtle for the high school-level English classes of Seoul.

At the end of the interview, he asked me to pose for a photo (I assume to prove to his teacher that I was not a figment of his imagination).  While his friend was taking several photos, there were two teenage girls looking on and whispering to themselves.  After I said good-bye to the guys, they followed me and after about 5 seconds stopped me.  Honestly, and as stupid as it now sounds, my first thought was that they thought I was some celebrity being stopped for a photo. I was all ready to explain that, no, I am not Edward Norton, when it turned out they wanted to interview me as well.  This is apparently a common teaching technique in Seoul, because they told me they weren't in class with the guys I met.  In any event, I was happy to oblige with all interview requests, even as a random American.  The student's assignment was to videotape a discussion of hobbies.  I talked about playing the piano.  She talked about taking pictures of food and posting them to Facebook and Instagram.  Kids these days.

Seoul's Smog

Here in Seoul today, I took a tour of the city.  Since it has been destroyed by a few invasions over the centuries, and then again during the Korean War, basically all of the palace sites in the city have been rebuilt in recent years.  Still lovely to look at, but I hate to admit that it takes a little shine off of it when they tell you it's 10 years old.

Anyway, a fairly thick layer of smog hung over the city today.  I haven't dealt with a lot of smog in my life, so it's hard to compare, but this is probably the worst I've ever seen.  3 different locals assured me that it was "Chinese dust" wafting over from Beijing and its environs.  Such a shame.  By the end of the day, I was feeling it a little bit in my lungs.  And maybe I'm imagining things, but when I got back to my hotel, my face just felt dirty.  Having to deal with more of this smog is all the reason I need to skip Beijing on this trip.

Here's a picture of central Seoul taken around noon.  At one point, I saw a very red sun trying to peek out amidst the dust.  The sun was so dull, one could look directly at it without any discomfort.

Shinjuku on a Sunday Night

After stumbling off my 14-hour flight from Dallas, I was ready for some Tokyo immersion -- and that means seeing the city when it really shines -- at night.  I'm only a here a short while, so there was no point in waiting another day.  After taking the train to the center of Tokyo and my hotel, I set off to navigate the subway and take a 30-minute ride to Shinjuku to have dinner.  On the way there, there was an empty seat next to me and two 30-something year old women travelling together were eyeing it.  I could tell they couldn't decide who would get to sit and whom should stand, so I offered my seat.  One of the women said something to me that I couldn't understand and just stared at the seat and then back at me, as if giving me a chance to change my mind and reclaim it.  After I smiled and shook my head, she bowed rather deeply, right there in the middle of the subway car.  That doesn't happen on the CTA.

My only other trip to Tokyo was 10 years ago and Shinjuku is a neighborhood I didn't get around to seeing then.  Even though it was 9 PM on a Sunday night, the warren of streets around Shinjuku Station were alive with neon and throngs of people.  Now, not every part of Tokyo is like this, but this is the Tokyo I wanted to see again.

Apologies for the poor photo quality -- this was not a misguided effort on my part to appear artistic.  Worse yet, it doesn't really do the scene justice.

As for dinner, there was practically a restaurant or cafe (or 2 or 3) in every building.  My choice had no English menus, so I went with the point-smile-and-nod method of ordering, and it turned out fine.  Tomorrow, I'll be seeing friends of mine here -- both from work and from Iowa.

An Open Letter to the Toilet Manufacturers of America

I'm staying at a rather modest, inexpensive hotel in Tokyo.  So imagine my surprise when I found this model of modern ingenuity in the bathroom.

Hard to tell, but among the caution warnings
is a drawing of a youngster throwing a bucket of
water onto the toilet seat.
The control panel is below.

 Let me walk you through the features:

1) Upon my entering the hotel room, it automatically starts warming the seat.
2) There's a control panel on the wall.  If the bidet option is a bit much for you, you can choose a gentle "spray" for when you're finished.  You can select your water pressure on a scale of 1-7.
3) After you flush, it automatically applies a "deodorizer."
4) There are some hilarious caution drawings under the lid.

Why don't we have this in America?  If we do, why hasn't anyone told me?  So, dear toilet manufacturers of America, get to work.  And step aside Snapchat, the Driverless Car,    and Google Glass: here is modern technology I'm ready for.

And ... We're Off

I'm off on my Big Trip 2013 (a/k/a Operation Maintain Airline Status) and it wasn't without a little drama right off the bat.  While flying down to Dallas to catch my flight to Tokyo, there was a medical emergency on the plane.  There's nothing quite like hearing the flight attendant call out "Is there a doctor on board?"  We landed in St. Louis and, thankfully, the woman involved was alert and responsive as she was wheeled out past me.  I've had planes diverted due to severe weather and mechanical issues before (complete with a line of emergency vehicles lined up as we landed), and I even once had a woman sitting across from me removed in handcuffs for disorderly conduct (not at my request, mind you), but this was the first such medical emergency.  All things considered, if you have to experience one of these events, I'd choose the disorderly conduct.