Bloredom

… with an amazing new soundtrack. And I thought his first video was amazing…

In Germany we have a saying, “Wenn einer eine Reise tut dann kann er was erzählen”, meaning that if someone leaves his home to travel to other countries he’ll probably be able to tell lots funny stories afterwards. Same in my case after coming back from South Korea (again) and Shanghai (first time):

(Click on the pictures and read the comments to see what I mean.)

Additionally, something really weird happened after arriving in South Korea. I went to an ATM Machine at Seoul/Incheon airport to withdraw 50.000 Korean Won (around € 31,50) to pay for my bus-ride to Cheong-Ju. I probably should’ve known that something was wrong when the guy in front of me in the ATM-queue told me that he couldn’t withdraw any money as the manchine behaved somewhat strange and didn’t accept his ATM card. I tried nevertheless, inserted my ATM card, entered my pin, requested 50k Korean Won and recieved, …, 300.000 KRW (186 €), a profit of 155 € !!!. (No kidding, I also double checked with my bank account)

And again, as predicted, the spicy food again almost killed me. On two days at our client’s canteen I had to eat plain rice only with soy sauce because everything else was so incredibly spicy. It’s like having plain potatoes in Germany…

Oh, and to explain the title of this post: When I was in Korea I found out that South Korea is among the very few developed countries where eating dog is somewhat common. Read this fabulous article which deals with the question on what’s wrong with eating man’s best friend. Enjoy…

My travel itenary is somehow automatically liked to some kind of emergency warning system, sending me information when I’m traveling to a country that might not be that safe or where “forces majeures” might be an severe risk for your own life. Those eMails can then look like:

“Alert: Storm Aftermath – Central United States”

or

“Alert: Avian Influenza – South Korea”.

What reached me today, however, made me smile a bit. ;)

“[name of my employee] has partnered with iJET Intelligent Risk Systems to provide you with real-time travel and security alerts. These alerts will help you stay advised of developing situations that could impact your safety while traveling.

Worldcue^® Alert
Severity: Informational Alert

Communications/Technology:
Postal worker strike in Germany intensifies April 15, nationwide strikes possible soon. Expect delivery delays.

This alert affects Germany.

This alert began 15 Apr 2008 17:19 GMT and is scheduled to expire 30 Apr 2008 23:59 GMT.

• Incident: Postal worker strike
• Location: In select jurisdictions nationwide
• Time Frame: Indefinite
• Impact: Delays in delivery services by Deutsche Post

Current Situation and Forecast
The German trade union ver.di, which represents approximately 130,000 postal workers in Germany, of which most are employed by Deutsche Post, organized several warning strikes across Germany April 15. Localized, limited strikes have occurred periodically since late March, but the labor action April 15 was the first that affected postal services on a large scale. Several million letters will be delayed by at least one or two days between April 16-18. Ver.di is demanding a seven percent increase, which Deutsche Post opposes, and is using the current strikes to influence negotiations. If talks scheduled for April 18 fail, large-scale strikes at the end of April are likely.

Advice
Expect delivery delays with Deutsche Post nationwide. Consider the use of alternate delivery services.

Err, right. I’ll try not to forget my handgun when coming back to Germany as a means to ensure my own travel security. ;)

Interesting to note: Last December, after coming back to Germany, the system warned me about the subway in Frankfurt as being dangerous at night. Quite alarming, isn’t it?

(And just to make it clear: Those hints can be really helpful, there is no doubt about that. Just in this case, the linkage between “travel security” and “postal strike in Germany” was not that obvious to me ;)

Noooooo, another week of Kimchi lies ahead (yes, the red stuff which you can see on the picture is, as far as I know, all Chili)

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I can already see myself, waking up in my hotel room in Korea at night, sweating to death (not because of the Kimchi like it always happens during lunch-time in the Korean canteen) but because of a nightmare full of Kimchi.

If there’s one country on earth where you probably shouldn’t be going if you can’t eat spicy food (but where they serve Kimchi every single day) it would be Korea. How perfect…

It reminds me of a previous post, praising the good old Schinkenbrot, before leaving for Asia. ;)

After some 24-hour-journey (including a cancelled flight due to a snow storm in Detroit) I’m back in the US. Just a few points to note (also theck the gallery and the picture descriptions):

• The civil servantes at the border control are as unfriendly as usual. Funny, they had this sign at every checkpoint, stating their pledges, including “We pledge to cordially greet and welcome you to the US” and “We pledge to treat you with courtesy, dignity, and respect.

  In fact, the woman who let me into the US did a pretty good job in showing me she couldn’t even care less, …, about people in general.
  Check out the following report, a pretty impressive example of what I mean.

• Funny, in the past two years (since I left Virginia), probably mainly due to the Dollar-weakness, the US really seemed to have become a low-labour country. I only paid 4,33 $ (2,73 € !!!) for a chicken value meal (equivalent to the 5,49 € “Sparmenü” in Germany) at McDonalds in Detroit. Strange world…

V, ich vermute mal es gab eine Zeit, da hätten wir so einige Strapazen auf uns genommen um den sagenumwogenen “StarCraft TV Kanal” in Südkorea einmal selbst live sehen zu können:

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In Südkorea wird beim Autofahren nicht nur fleißig Fernsehn geschaut. Hier gibt es auch einen eigenen TV Kanal, auf dem fast rund um die Uhr StarCraft Turniere auf allerhöchstem Niveau ausgestrahlt werden. Es versteht sich von selbst dass die Akteure hier in Südkorea fast so berühmt sind wie Sportler bei uns zu Hause.

Ach ja, *seufz*, beim Anblick vom guten alten StarCraft kam ich richtig ins Schwärmen. Und weil’s so schön war (und der guten alten Zeiten wegen) und das Posten folgender Links sowieso schon lange überfällig war anbei noch die folgenden heute noch verbleibenden Überreste (in Form von Blogs) aus jener Zeit:

• Heinrich Lenhardt’s (ehemaliger Auslandskorrespondent der PCP) Blog “Lehnhardt Lästert“: Zwar nicht ganz so regelmäßige Updates, dafür aber eine schöne Mischung aus Spiele-relevanten Posts und Themen abseits davon.
• Boris Schneider-Johne (ehemaliger Chefredakteur der PCP): “Dreisechzig.net” – Offiziell natürlich ein privater Blog, …, aufgrund der Tätigkeit als Produktmanager für die XBox360 in Deutschland aber natürlich etwas mit jenen Themen geschwängert. Trotz allem einer meiner Lieblings-Blogs.
• Jörg Langer (ehemaliger Chefredakteur der Gamstar, jetzt für golem.de und sonstige Onlinemagazine als Redakteur tätig): “Jörg Spielt” – OK, zugegeben, der Titel ist relativ bescheiden. Die Artikel dort sind aber mit Abstand die hochwertigsten die man zu diesem Thema im Internet bekommen kann.
• Und last but definetly not least: Volker Schütz, Meister des zynischen Schreibstils und phantasievoller Gleichnisse (mitlerweile vom Spieleschreiber zum Rechtsanwalt mit eigener Kolumne auf gamona.de mutiert)

Besonders letzerer Link ist durchaus ein regelmäßiger Besuch wert. Jene Seite ist nämlich mehr als “nur” eine Kolumne über PC Spiele, sondern vielmehr eine Seite bei der häufiger über das ein oder anderre Thema abseits vom eigentlichen philosophiert wird. So passiert es schonmal, dass sich etwa die Hälfte des Textes um ein anderes Thema als den eigentlichen Test dreht. Kostprobe zum Test von Sony’s “Singstar”, meiner Meinung nach die Definition des Wortes “Brandrede” ;)

Singstar

Karaoke im eigenen Wohnzimmer, mit blendend aussehenden Freunden, Stimmung pur, über 300 Songs, kabellosen Mikros und glänzender Online-Funktion… Hätte Sony zudem behauptet »Singstar« (PS3) führe zu multiplen Orgasmen und produziere saubere Energie, wer hätte widersprechen wollen.

Doch nach der Politikmaxime »Was geht mich mein Geschwätz von gestern an?« versetzte sich SCEE nach dem Europa-Release in selbst bestimmte Demenz. Angekündigte Features vergaß man dabei schneller als eine neu gewählte, afrikanische Regierung das Demokratieprinzip. Während die eigene Community schäumt und wütet, behält Sony die Ruhe und betreibt gezielte Nichtinformation. Denn man weiß: Solange irgendwo eine dicke Frau noch singt, ist die Oper nicht zu Ende.

Es hätte alles so schön sein können. Schön, wie es nur in der Bacardi-Werbung oder halt einem Singstar-Intro ist. Will sagen, mit einer Gruppe strahlender Keksgesichter saufen, feiern, nach Herzenslust rocken, rappen, jazzen und … „poppen“. Fröhliche Menschen, die ihre Lieblingslieder schmettern und dabei allen Spaß der Welt haben. Die Arme und Beine so überhaupt nicht verwickelt in Mikrofon- und USB-Verlängerungskabel, die Chevignon-Jeans am Hintern, weil Singstar-Backgrounds nicht den Monatslohn eines chinesischen Gartenzwerglackierers kosten. Wahres Glück eben.

Doch leider ist Sony das Reich des Bösen, wo Hoffnungen zerschmettert, Wünsche zerfetzt und Träume anschaffen geschickt werden. Wo selbst blutfreie Spiele Gewalt erzeugen. Wer etwa das Singstarkonzept als Positivbeispiel gegenüber »Killerspielen« nennt, sollte bedenken: Auch der 100.000ste Headshot wird nie den Mordtrieb anstacheln können wie ein Belinda-Carlisle-Titel für 1,49 €. Nicht umsonst lautet das vollständige Firmenmotto der Japaner: Made for entertainment (and beating little puppies senseless with a sharp stick). Ok, ok, ich gebe zu, Letzteres ist frei erfunden. Es sind Kätzchen und sie nehmen einen Hammer.
[...]
http://www.gamona.de/article/…

Köstlich.

V, ich weiß nicht wie’s dir geht, aber kennst du eigentlich noch irgend jemanden, der im Alter von 14 Jahren die Redakteure von Gamestar und PCP (siehe hier und hier) als Vorbilder hatte (und damit natürlich eine Zeit lang, ich vermute mal bis sich zwei gleichgesinnte durch Land of Lore trafen) in seinem Moseldorf ziemlich alleine da stand?

Schöne alte Zeit. Siehe auch hier.

Separated by four years and five thousand miles (according to this handy World Distance Calculator), these two girls share the same sentiment nonetheless. One is celebrating Israel’s 56th anniversary on 26 April 2004; the other, 62 years of South Korean independence on 01 March 2008. Charming, aren’t they?

[Update: the Korean photo is Stefan's, of course]

[singlepic=37,180,120,,left]I already had nightmares about this country where no one was supposed to speak English. I already saw myself stumbling through the icy roads of Seoul, alone and with no idea where to go.
But then, two days prior to my arrival, our client sent me a sheet that should save me from my destiny. Have a look yourself.

Interesting detail on the picture for the mindful viewer: Like many people in Asia the Koreans as well cannot pronounce the letter “R”. Therefore the “Ramada Plaza” just became the “Lamada Plaza”. ;)

And btw: Now I realize why it was a probably good idea to bring my winter coat all the way from Germany. Last week in Australia (while it was around 38° on most days) I cursed about carrying this bulky thing with me all the time. Now being here in South Korea with -4° during the day I can see why it was worth the effort.

Update:
As I just found out my room is equipped with a state-of-the-art 5.1 Digital Sound System (Samsung of course), a DVD/DivX/USB/WLan DVD Recorder (god knows why) and a shower that could easily be mistaken as one of those ultrasonic-showers from StarTrek. Oh, and similar to Japan I have again an electronic device in my room and no idea what is it used for. All I know is that it consumes power, has blinking LEDs and funny Korean characters on it. Welcome to Korea… ;)

Taroko (Wikipedia here, nice photos here) is the most popular of the six national parks of Taiwan. Its highlight is Toroko Gorge: steep cliffs rise from a river bed deep down, and far above the mountain road that runs along the gorge. The surrounding mountain are covered by evergreen vegetation, their peaks veiled in clouds.

Taking one of Taiwan’s clean and efficient trains from Taipei to the Eastern town of Hualien takes us about three hours. There, the adventure begins.

Enter our shiny Yamaha scooter. It took us a while to find a scooter rental place with helmets that offer more protection than your average “Hello Kitty” helmet (more on Taiwanese scooter fashion in another post), but eventually we paid a mere 10€ for a scooter, a day’s gasoline, two helmets, and two raincoats. So as you can see in the picture, we were good to go!

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Not exactly fashionable, the aforementioned raincoats weren’t very practical either. On the road they produced a nerve-wrecking noise, which just about drove me insane (and I wasn’t even driving!) — and we still got soaked… well, as you can see in the photos they were at least good for some interesting photos, with Paohui starring as a psychodelic version of Dark Helmet from Spaceballs (Lord Helmchen in German), and me and my backpack as the Hunchback of Notre Dame [update: Paohui thinks I look like a turtle].

Oh, and imagine what fun it is to ride a scooter in the evening along Taroko Gorge! A winding mountain road, on one side a steep stone wall up to the mountain peaks, with signs everywhere warning of falling rocks, on the other side the cliff sharply descending to the river bank at the bottom of Toroko Gorge. Continuous rain, speeding tourist coach busses, and the startingly rapid nightfall combine to produce quite an unsettling experience. Suddenly it made the hotel’s recommendation to stay in town after 5pm look plausible, and us all the more foolish for ignoring it.

Of course, the main attraction here are the many hiking trails, offering great mountain scenery, temples and monasteries.

The most impressive of all, however, was the Eternal Spring Shrine, a haunting reminder of the pioneering spirit that made Taroko into what it is today. After the Japanese defeat in WWII left their plans to connect West and East of the island via Taroko uncompleted, their successors from the Chinese mainland picked up the pieces in 1956. Over the next four years, the toil of thousands of former Kuomintang soldiers carved a road out of the cliffs along Taroko Gorge, which then in 1960 became the Central Cross-Island Highway. The Eternal Spring Shrine was subsequently built to honour those workers (I saw different figures, ranging from 40 to 450) who died during its construction. Visiting the shrine today, the sheer scale and daring of this pioneering work still fills me with awe.

V., I have to make an additional statement about the article about Adelaide which you quoted in your last post, now that I was accidently in Adelaide for work for almost two weeks. In a way the article is right: Glenelg and its beach is just a dream, the weather is nothing but incredible, just considering the people as just nice would be an understatement and the food I’ve experienced here so far is also great.

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The only problem (and that’s the main and only disadvantage I’ve figured out so far) is it’s location: Australia is probably the most remote country in the world (which I believe is also the reason why everyone here is so relaxed compared to, say, Germany), and as soon as you want to leave the country (which could be nice as it’s close to so many interesting Asian countries) you have to get on a plane and prepare at least for 4-hour-flight. Not to mention the distance which you have to travel if you want to go to Europe once in a while. But besides that I love it here. Almost as much as my favorite “second home” Singapore.

Oh, and btw: For the first time in my life I was driving a car (a red Holden Commodore, nice car, unfortunately not available in Germany) on the left side of the street to work… ;) So irrititating, you just drive with this constant fear that someone bumps into you from a direction which you haven’t really paid attention to.

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And yes, I checked it (in case you remember this episode from the Simpsons): Here in Australia not only the sun but also the water in the sink turns the other way round. ;)

And one last thing: Funny how you meet a friend (from my time back at the NUS), which you haven’t seen for over two years now, and already after two minutes you feel as if there were no time in between, …, as if just one day has passed and you were knocking on his neighbouring door at the Ridge View Residence again, asking him to have lunch and a banana ball at the Yusof Ishak House.

The next post will come from Taiwan (again ;) And remember: “No worries, mate” :)