ABP in KOREA

My vacataion with friends to HK and back in Korea

2009-06-17T22:37:00.005+09:00

Recently, I had some friends come through Korea. They spent 5 days here where we ate lots of good food, drank some good drinks, hiked a little, watched some baseball, and had a good time.

After they left, they decided to pack one more thing... me! I was convinced to take a trip to Hong Kong and Macau with my friends. We spent a week there, ate some more good food, played some poker, had some more to drink and then before I knew it the week was over and I headed back to Korea as they continued on their way. When I finally got home and turned on my computer, I found a surprise waiting in my inbox. They were headed back to Korea for another five days!

Very random, very fun. I have some pics and videos up on facebook but I will post a few here as well. Enjoy!

Decent seats
Johnny Walker Blue and some warmed Cashews.
Lobby of the first hotel we checked into.
Awesome Peking Duck
The Bank of China building
The Hong Kong skyline
Getting some tailored shirts with friends

Helicopter?!? View from above

Live Lobster (it was definitely still moving when they served it).
At an Icebar in Seoul
Cheers!

April and the Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-21T15:36:00.011+09:00

So two weeks ago was the time when the cherry blossoms come out. Luckily, Kongjoo and I had time to go to Namsan and enjoy a little hike and enjoy the day.

Namsan is north of the Han river which splits Seoul in Half. It is also the location of Seoul tower or Namsan tower. The top picture shows the Han river splitting Seoul. Namsan tower is located at the southernmost gray circle. The picture below shows a satellite photo of Namsan tower.

This is the highest point in Seoul. There is an observation deck at the top and a neat bathroom where you can overlook Seoul from above all while going to the bathroom. I have visited the tower before but it was nice to finally get to walk around the mountain.

The day was perfect. The weather was nice and there was a cool breeze. Of course, there were tons of people walking around and taking pictures but we never felt completely crowded.

Naturally, because I love food, I have to tell you about the really great strawberry milkshake that I had from this place called the Flower Cafe. It was a nice little spot with a swing bench at one table. We had sandwiches as a light meal before our hike and will definitely be back for the milkshakes and coffee.

Finally, lots of pictures of our day. Enjoy!

Comparing Yangji Resort and Mount Snow

2009-03-28T00:12:00.004+09:00

Honestly there is no comparison. I miss my home mountain! I couldn't get the sizes exactly the same but it was pretty close.

Now the first picture is Yangji Resort which is where I skiied all of this past season. If you notice where all the white is that is obviously the ski area. Now there are other areas that look like they may be trails... well they aren't. They are actually holes on the golf course. Yangji is just that small. The bottom of the mountain is the top left side. The top of the mountain is the bottom right. So if you tilt this picture about 90 degrees counter clockwise you would be looking at the mountain from the bottom top perspective.

Drum roll please....

And here is mount snow. Now I should also point out that Yangji is zoomed in a little more than the picture of mount snow which means the size gap is even wider. None of those trails are golf holes they are all the trails that scatter throughout mount snow. Now I can't imagine a Breckenridge or Whistler compared to these to pictures and I honestly don't feel like going to google maps and looking it up but you can see the difference clearly from these two pictures of what my mountain was like here in Korea.

Another note to make which may be a blog post in the futre is that I used Daum.net maps to get the photo of Yangji. daum.net is kind of like the yahoo of Korea, even though there is a yahoo.co.kr available. The two big players are Naver.com and Daum.net. I must say that the daum.net maps is very impressive. It can even calculate bus routes from one address to another and after all the tests I have done are extremely accurate. Anyway, I can write about this all later.

Happy Friday!

Using Mozilla Firefox with international websites

2009-02-05T14:31:00.003+09:00

Living in Korea is a great thing if you love technology. Korea is one of the most connected countries in the world. Broadband access here is something like 35 million people who are actively connected to the internet which I find quite impressive for a country with only 50 million people. Never dropping a cellphone call and being able to access live TV anywhere in the country is also another great thing to boast about.

There is one piece of technology though that has been held back to near the 1990’s era. I’m talking of course about the near monopoly that internet explorer has on the Korean market. There are very few websites that will run correctly using any other type of browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari). It’s almost ridiculous to think that a country that is about 2 or 3 years ahead of most other countries technology is still limiting their advancement in internet browsing.

Being from the US I have enjoyed the use of Mozilla Firefox for some time now. It runs much smoother than IE and since I am still running Windows XP and refuse to upgrade my operating system until a better form of Windows 7 comes out my IE runs at a snail’s pace. I finally got so frustrated with IE today that I needed something. I had even downloaded Google Chrome today just to see if that would work, but with no avail. That’s why I am so happy that I was able to find this add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419. What this add-on does is it allows someone using Firefox to open an IE tab within the Firefox interface. You can change back and forth between rendering engines and it has so far worked perfectly on many of the Korean websites that I have tried.

I hope this knowledge of the add-on helps people in their enjoyment of other web browsers while still being able to enjoy the viewing of all Korean websites. This is why today was a great day. Today I decided to quit my dependency on opening the full IE browser for running Korean websites

Time to get back on that board!

2009-01-05T17:05:00.004+09:00

Time to go skiing again, only this time I was going to get back on my board. So correction, it's time to ride! This is the first time I have ridden in about two years. I was very excited but was worried it would take some time to get used to being on a board again. Not the case. I once i latched down my bindings I was good to go.

It was nice seeing Yangji Resort at night this time. We went from about 2 pm until 9 pm. It was nice because when we went home this time the trip only took an hour and a half because there was no traffic on the road.

In between riding in the afternoon and night we hung out in the season pass lounge which is only for the premium pass holders. It is nice because they give you free soda and coffee and little munchies as well as free Internet and a warm place to relax.

Here is a view of that triple black diamond again. Obviously it is not a triple black. Maybe almost double black. It was pretty steep but again nothing like Ripcord.

I felt very comfortable riding again. It will take some time until I get full control over my body again but I was able to do a few things on the board.

A friend leaves Korea (for a short while)

2009-01-05T16:49:00.003+09:00

I almost forgot to post this. Taya left Korea at the end of December to head back to the states for a bit. She will return to Ilsan which is just north of Seoul in February. So we got together for a farewell dinner to wish her well in her travels and will await her return. There were some silly photos along the way. What exactly is going on here? I have no idea. Here are Kongjoo, Taya, and Amy.

Me and Taya.
Taya and Kongjoo.
After dinner we had some tea and Paul and Sunny's home. Here she is preparing a flower tea for us. It was light and delicious.
After that, of course, Nore bang. Here Taya is singing her heart out one more time before she heads home.
The dynamic duo otherwise known as Tony and Taya. I swear they act a bit like an old married couple. Their interactions are hilarious to watch and I'm sure they will both miss each other as we will all miss Taya. Until you return my friend!

My New Year and relaxing in Coex

2009-01-04T10:49:00.006+09:00

The new year has come and passed. It's now 2009. I am looking forward to having a very good and successful new year. As some of you already know I am in the process of starting up a new Internet venture and have been busy working on that in my free time. I am still able to get out and about though. Right before the new year I caught a minor cold and had to take some medicine so there was no late night partying on NYE. We got a cake and a little bottle to share and ring in the new year. The funny thing is that it is almost impossible to find a countdown in Korea on TV. We searched around and the best we could find was a countdown to E! entertainment television coming to Korea as soon as the new year hit. Anyway here was our cake that we got at Paris Baguette.

Lots of details go into these cakes which is amazing when you consider that these are all standard cakes that at all of the stores throughout Korea.
A day after the new year we decided to head to Seoul and satisfy one of our cravings for Mexican food. The place is called "Dos Tacos" and actually had English newspapers for everyone to read.
This is a pork burrito which was delicious.
After that we had to pick up a few things at Coex mall. Coex mall is a very large indoor mall located at the Samsung subway stop. Here we are enjoying some coffee at Dunkin Donuts as we watch people pass by.

Winter Sports: Check!

2008-12-30T20:21:00.014+09:00

So last weekend it was Saturday night. We had just gotten back from our day trip to Ehwa University and had a bag full of new ski gear for Kongjoo. What was the first idea to go through our heads? Let's go skiing tomorrow! So we started researching online to see what was close to us and where we could get to easily in order to enjoy ourselves out skiing on a nice little Sunday. Finally from all our research we discovered a little place called Yangji Resort. It is located about an hour and twenty minutes from my apartment and seemed like a descent enough mountain to enjoy.

So Kongjoo and I got up early on Sunday and made our way down to the Sangnoksu bus station where we got on a bus to Suwon. Once at Suwon we were able to pick up a number 10 bus which takes us right to Yangji resort. Don't we look wide awake? It actually wasn't too early only about 8:00 am.

We did miss one bus on our way there. But luckily they came every 15 minutes. So we could have been there a little earlier but I won't complain.

Here is a trail map of Yangji resort. I took this from there website. We spent most of our time on the yellow lift which is all the way down by the hotel. It is a nice little beginner course that Kongjoo was able to ski on and have lots of room.
Here is a picture looking up on the right side of the mountain.
Not your typical lunches at a ski mountain. Here I devoured jajang rice and Kongjoo had eaten a couple large mandu. It was overpriced like usual but it wasn't too bad.
Here is a view down the beginner slope. As you can see it is has a nice slight grade and is very long and wide. It is a perfect place to get some longer runs practicing your pizzaing and frenchfrieing.
Kongjoo was skiing great all day. She was also able to get off the lift all by herself which is very impressive for only her second time on the mountain.

Great shot of us riding up the lift.
At the bottom of the double black diamond areas. They are probably more like in between blue and black back in the states. There is a triple black all the way at the top that is definitely a black but nothing like Ripcord at Mount Snow.
Later in the afternoon the bunny slope became much more crowded as all the lessons started up. Here you can see all of them wearing their rented helmets. Holy little kids Batman!
The rental skis weren't too bad. I didn't check out the model number but I had a pair of Atomics not sure what Kongjoo was riding on.
She definitely already looks like a skier!
On the lift looking down.
Here is a little video from the very top of the mountain.

A view from the top! You can see a city down below. I am guessing that is Yangji or Yongin.
It had definitely been a while since I had skied. I tried doing the advanced courses but found my legs being very tired by the end. You can see me coming down here. I was so tired at the end I couldn't really keep myself up after I stopped.

Where the bus drops us off at the resort. It's nice I can go virtually door to door from my apartment to the resort.
Finally, here is my season pass with two free lessons and a free hotel stay. Not too bad for approximately $340 USD (exchange rate is good right now).
All in all we had a great time are are excited to get back to the mountain about every weekend. I wish I had my ski or snowboard gear but I am very satisfied in the fact that I will be getting out quite often this year. As some of you may know I didn't get out skiing or snowboarding at all last year. So this makes me very happy. Time to hit the slopes!

My visit back to the States

2008-12-19T15:26:00.007+09:00

I figure it is about time to go back through a few things that I have done that I have not yet posted on my blog. There are tons of things so I will start with my time back in the states during the month of October. I was finally back from Korea and able to visit with family and friends. It was a great month being home and being able to see everyone and be with them. I enjoyed being with my nephew, Robby, a lot and can't wait to see him again hopefully somewhat soon. Actually it's his birthday on Saturday so I would like to wish him a Happy Birthday. i hope my presents get to him in time.

So being back in the states made me realize a few things. Americans definitely are on the heavier side, our food is typically very greasy, and you probably can't survive without a car. In my short month home I traveled to Vermont, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and of course Stroudsburg. Here is a condensed photo journal of my time back in the states.

This is Mount Snow. It is located in West Dover, VT. It is my "home" mountain and I have really missed skiing there. I hope to get back there soon though.
Ah, my good old Jeep. It's a 1979 CJ7 which was somewhat restored when I was in High school. I hope to get a chance to restore it completely so that everything on it is brand spanking new. Once I get the time to I will definitely start this project. Still looks pretty good though right?

Here is little Robby's Christening. I am his Godfather and am both happy and proud to be. I think Robby's eyes are saying, "let me dive right into that cake and get it all over me."
While I was back in the states I had a chance to visit some friends I knew from Korea. Here is Mr. Choi and Mr. Chu visiting in New Jersey for their company Saint Gobain. They were very happy to see me on this side of the world. It definitely did seem slightly odd to me that they were in the states but still great to see them.
Robby, a die hard Red Sox fan from the beginning!
Here is Rob and Robby in the snow.
One of my favorite places in Vermont. It's this great farm on all this open land with a rolling hill behind it. I think the view from the left side looking straight on is a little better but I won't complain.
Here was a picture from one of my trips to New York. Here I am with some of my friends I knew from Boston, Eduardo and AJ. Oh and I can't forget polar bear.
Here I am hanging out with a few locals, BJ and Derrick. It was fun to hang out in Stroudsburg again and get some chicken, bacon, ranch pizza after the night was over.
Here we are at Joe's house. He is showing us his new grill which can cook for about a zillion people. That's a huge grill.
One of my favorite pictures of little Robby. This is at Joe and Melissa's house. They had this neat photo because they had a get together "western" style.
Here is a group shot of us all over there for dinner. Sorry that it is not centered, I had to take the picture by placing it on the counter and running back into the picture.
Robby's halloween costume.
Perhaps the biggest cream puff I have ever seen! Also a giant eclaire.
Here is me and Andrew. Yes, he also has the same name. I'm glad I got to visit Mike, Jen, and Andrew before I headed back to Korea. But he sure has grown quite a bit since I saw him last.
Such a happy baby! Robby and I hamming it up for the camera.
My flight back to Korea consisted of a 15 hour layover in Atlanta. Luckily my friend Aaron was able and willing to come pick me up so I could rest up at his apartment before taking a 15 hour flight back to Seoul. Here we are at a bar in Atlanta.
Now for some videos. This is a very funny video of Robby doing the head shake no. When asked if he likes Justin's hair, his reply is of course, no!

Yes we gave in and played some rock band while home. Here are Joey, Warren, and I rocking it out. This game is pretty damn fun. I'm surprised it's not so popular in Korea where Nore bang (Karaoke) is on every street corner.