Korean business trip.....

I had to go to the Philippines on Friday for a meeting with one of our customers. I got up early at 4:15am, and got the shuttle limo to the airport and caught the 8:30 flight to Manilla. Economy flight was OK, with usual plane fare offered by Korean Air. Either Bibim-Bap or Chinese-ee pork. I chose the pork - I didn't fancy anything spicy, as it tends to play merry-hell with my tummy especially when out and about for any length of time. Landed at 11:30 local time, and headed out for an arranged pick-up. This was when it all started going wrong....

Upon exit from the baggage area, through the sliding doors, there were several people holding up cards looking for their charges. I looked for our names, or at least the company name that I was going to visit. nothing, no-one there. We headed out to the pavement, in case the driver was there, again, nothing. We tried to head back into the arrivals, but were blocked by a security guard. He told us to go around and go through proper entrance, where we had to x-ray our bags again! Hung around for a few minutes and made a call to Korea to contact customer to ask where driver was. We were looking a bit sorry for ourselves, when a skycap came over and suggested we go to arrivals waiting area #2. What? They have another wating area? We headed out the building once more and crossed the road, downstairs to a side road, and sure enough, our guy was there. This is where all the families meet up because they are either not allowed inside the terminal, or are too cheap to buy a parking ticket.

We headed to the plant, some 15 miles away, and our driver told us it would take maybe 2 hours! What? 2 hours to do 15 miles - was this guy crazy? As it was, the trip only took 45 minutes, but it did rain cats and dogs on the way.

We met at the plant with our hosts, and had the meeting. The building was old and dirty, but inside the production lines looked well cared for and modern. I couldn't say the same about the conference room - old, dark and dismal - spare chairs were of the plastic garden variety!. They know how to look after you and make you feel welcome - Not! My colleague popped out for a pre-meeting coffee with our host. What he told me made my jaw drop! He asked a bit about the Philippines in general, size of population etc. All the usual small talk. "Is the Phillipines safe?" asks my colleague, "Oh yes!" says our host with a really sincere look on his face, "Everyone has a gun!"

So the moral of this story is, that if you kill someone, their family will go out and find you, kill you, and then your family will.....etc etc etc and so it MUST be safe. And I thought Korean logic was screwed up...

We headed back to the airport as this was a one day trip only, and it took us the best part of 2 hours to get back. As soon as we hit the outskirts of Manilla, it was a foul-up with traffic. We fought through and got to the airport around 8:00pm for a 00:30 flight, but no desks were open to check us in. There were no restaurants or bars to sit and enjoy a relaxing glass of beer, so we just stood around and waited. This was a pit of an airport. We found the desks which were going to be opened and waited around there. Security guards told us to wait at a certain point on the floor and began to arrange and herd us like cattle into 2 lines. Korean couple, (bless them) with usual obliviousness to others around them, decided to park themselves at the check-in desk and wait until it opened. What with a long day, and even longer night flight back home, I let rip! "Oi, Yeogio!...Haji-mah!" which roughly translates into "I say, You there, Please don't do that" Couple duly obliged, but decided that to stand in front of me would be a sutiable compromise. Not likely! A quick flick of wrist with thumb pointing behind me, sent them scurrying off to the back of the line. As it was, we had to exit the line anyway, as I noted a sign though the departures gate which had a booth collecting cash for an exit tax! We asked how much this was, and were told to change some money at the money exchange. We offered up 20,000 Korean Won(about $20 USD) for around 750 Pesos, but were told this was not enough! "What's the exchange rate?" we asked. This was where I swear the guy pulled up his hankerchief over his face as a mask and started waving around his pistol. "We buy at 0.041 to the Won, and sell at 0.023!" What? "Almost a 50% mark up - are you kidding?" "That's the rate - take it or leave it" said Dick Turpin. We left it. Money was extracted form hole-in-wall machine, and we headed back to the line. The back of the line! Behind the Oblivious Koreans!

The desks opened, and we shuffled like old men towards the desks, waiting our turn. The girl on check-in looked at us, and I asked for 2 aisle seats. She must have seen the dejected and tired look on our faces. She got up and spoke to the supervisor. we got bumped up to business class! Result! We just had a weight taken from our shoulders, and looked forward to the extra glass of Scotch and tasty sandwiches in the business lounge. I have to go back in October for a follow-up visit, and I have to say, I'm not looking forward to it. I have decided I don't like the Philippines!

We got back at 05:30 on Saturday morning, but the travelling had sapped my energy, and the weekend felt like a lost one. I'll try and make up for it next weekend.

Korean wildlife....

I had a close encounter this morning...

I knew Korea had a Stag Horned beetle amongst it's flora and fauna, as I've seen these in little plastic cups on sale at E-Mart and other such pet store around Ansan, but this morning I met up with a fearsome warrior of the insect variety.

I got to work around 10 minutes before the hooter goes off to start the daily grind, and was enjoying a cup of "coppee" round by the smoking hut (I don't smoke any more, but that's where the drinks machines are!) I put my "coppee" down on the wall for a minute whilst talking to someone, then reached around for my cup of Joe. There was a beastie having a boxing match with my cup on the wall - on closer inspection it turned out to be a Praying Mantis! I never knew Korea had them! A poke with my mobile phone ( I wans't going to dare using my finger!)soon sent the thing flying off to seek sustenance elswhere.

This is also the season for Dragonfly, many different coloured varieties, and in their thousands too! I love dragonflies. Our neighbour is absolutely terrified of them. What a shame they only get to fly around for a few days just to mate then die off after spending a couple of years as voracious pond feeders.

Korea, you amaze me!

I was in Shanghai the other week on business, and sitting in a traffic jam, which is not unusual for the middle of Shanghai at 6:00pm after work, when I saw something that literally made me speechless!

We are stopped at a red light waiting for it to change, and I looked over to see a middle aged gent out walking his dog. The dog performed the ritual circling around it’s owner then squatted down doing it’s business around a tree which was rooted into the pavement. The tree had one of those fancy wrought-iron gratings around it’s base, which helped contain the soil, and prevent people from walking in it.

Gent was fumbling around in his pocket, and found a large tissue – good I thought! He’s going to pick up the mess on a rather busy pedestrian thoroughfare, and take care of it responsibly. Prevent the spread of nasty canine diseases and stop people from getting it on their shoes.

OH NO that would be too easy! – He bends over and wipes the dog’s ass, then crumples up the tissue and chucks it next to the poo at the base of the tree! Oh my God! My Korean colleague and I looked at each other in the cab and our jaws dropped! Had we really seen what we saw? Is this normal practice for Shanghainese? Unbelievable!

Korean logic....

It defies me every corner I take.

Take this lunchtime, when nature called me to expunge yesterday’s lunch of Kimchi and rice. I took a short but hasty trek along to our works restrooms which have 5 cubicles or “traps” as I like to call them as they resemble the racing gates at a horse race. Trap #1 is occupied, but 2-4 are vacant with all doors ajar. I opt for trap # 3, so there is a gap between me and Mr Stinky in #1.

I let go, sit back enjoy the ride. I hear the door of the restroom open, and in pops one of our other work colleagues and he makes straight for trap #2 – directly in-between the both of us in residence already.

Trousers down, and I’m sure I felt the floor rumble under me, as he let rip a fart and a splash that the disaster movie 2012 would have been proud of. It must have measured at least 6.9 on the Richter scale. Why did he have to pick the middle trap between us? Is there a level of exhibitionism that I am not aware of? Do we have to listen to rumblings from other peoples bottoms? I think not, or is this just another example of Korea’s obsession with all things pooh?

Next time, I’m going for the furthest away trap, maybe he’ll get confused!

10 things I miss while in Korea....

1. Famous Grouse Scotch whisky
2. Proper baked beans (Korean brand “Sunshine” has way too much sauce)
3. Roast Beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding & gravy
4. HP Brown sauce
5. Proper Cheddar cheese (Costco brand doesn’t do it for me)
6. Restaurants with proper toilets
7. Hot water and soap in the restrooms
8. “News of the World” on a Sunday (Just for a brain-dead read!)
9. Fish and chips from paper wrapper beside the seaside
10.Malt Vinegar for when we do home made chips (Not the Korean drinking variety!)
11.Famous Grouse Scotch whisky

(O.K, so it's actually 11 things, but the last one I really miss, I had t say it twice!)

Korean public holidays....

They have days off here in Korea, and celebrate such things as Bhudda's birthday, which reminds me of a novelty tee-shirt Sue brought back from UK last week - emblazoned on the front of it is the wording "I HAVE THE BODY OF A GOD!" and in small print "shame it's Bhudda!" What is she trying to say? I dont get it! Anyways, Holiday such as above, Chuseok, which is like Thanksgiving/Christmas rolled into one, and we get 3 days for that one along with a smattering of other single days, which in total come to about 5 or 6 days in total during the year. The problem? If the said holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, thats your day off! They dont believe in making the day fall on the Monday or Friday, so in some years, you could be very unlucky and only manage 1 or 2 days during the working week! Oh well, thank goodness my ex-pat status allows me the luxury of 25 days off plus local days too!

Korean freebies.....

I’ve blogged about this subject in the past, where it is customary, (and expected!) to receive something extra when you purchase something. This can be a simple plate of fruit appropriate during a meal, or a packet of tissues when filling up with petrol at the local gas station.

I was somewhat taken aback when last night when working late at the plant, we ordered in a Chinese take-away meal. The order was simple enough, sweet and sour pork accompanied by egg fried rice and some dim-sum rolls. Held tightly under the cling-film wrapping of the usual accoutrements of sliced pickled radish and raw onions, was a brightly coloured packet which resembled a large ut flattish match box. I extracted said item from under the film wrap and pushed open one end. It was full of individually wrapped wooden tooth picks. Nothing strange with that, in that I would expect to have to extract some wayward pork from between my now ageing teeth. What took me by surprise was opening up from the other side, I discovered a bunch of double-sided cotton buds. Who on earth sits there relaxed after a good nosh-up Chinese and de-meats their teeth with a toothpick in one hand cleaning their ears of wax with cotton bud in the other? Strange place Korea!

What year is it.....?.

I thought Korean’s were up to date with all the latest electronic gadgetry?
Everyone fights to get the latest must-have wizzbang product with all the bells a whistles on. Step onto a train on the subway, and you will find people partaking of the national sport of a) sleeping, b) watching DMB TV on their gadget, c)texting on the latest I-Pone or Korean clone version.

There is one industry which refuses to follow suit – this is the national car makers of Korea, such as Kia, Hyundai, or Ssang-yong. I got into a brand new taxi the other day, smelling of that lovely new car smell, along with fake leather vinyl seat covers and noted something strange. It had a glove box full of cassette tapes. I looked at the head unit in the dash, and saw it only had a cassette slot! Where was the CD player? The head unit looked like it was out of place, and belonged in a 1980’s ford escort, not in a latest model 2010 Sonata. What was going on? I know car prices are much cheaper than the equivalent European prices, but a steam driven radio cassette player? Come on! Get with the technology, we need to see MP3’s USB slots, Power sockets. Not this rubbish!

Lack of posts.....

My dear friends, I’m sorry. Some of my followers, (I have 4!) or rather one of my followers, (Yes you Mr Baekseju!), has complained about my lack of posts lately – this is due to a number of reasons:

Firstly, I have been really busy at work, what with on-going preparations for another quality accreditation but this time to ISO14001 and OHSAS18001. For those of you unfamiliar with these standards, they are Environmental responsibility and Health & Safety respectively. Both of which are concepts that are alien in Korea! Take the numerous blogs from other K-bloggers, who write about motorcycles on the sidewalk, or pavements, whilst pedestrians are walking along the road, or taxi drivers watching TV whilst hurtling along at 70MPH, or construction workers dangling of roof-tops with little more than a plank of wood separating them from instant death, or the wearing of flip-flops while handling highly acidic chemistry! Even going shopping present mortal dangers, and god forbid you ever meet an Ajumma head-on in the subway!

Secondly, I have been really busy at work – this means when I get in from work, the last thing I want to do is put my brain to work – it’s addled, and will remain so for some days to come.

Thirdly, they have restricted our internet access at work to only work priorities! What? They expect me to concentrate on work all day long? They must be joking! I need my web time to chill during those tedious business meetings, where all I do is facepalm all day long!

What do if it all goes wrong....

I found this today, and it made me smile as it represents exactly how I feel trying to work with some of my Korean colleagues. I printed it out and it sits behind my desk and chair on the wall for all to see.

















This one is for when it REALLY goes wrong....

The "holy Teddy Bear" award....

Some of you may have been wondering about the lovely cuddly teddy bear noted in the picture above. Wonder no more! It was a gift from a good blogger friend of mine, who claims to be from some "Old Country" and shares the same sick sort of taste in black horror/gore comedy movies, such as "Sean of the Dead" and "Lesbian Vampire Killers" (it's not what you think!)and numerous other such rib-tickling/hide-behind-the-sofa movies.

I simply suggested another couple of titles, the likes of "Black Sheep", "Dog-Soldiers" etc and for my hard-pushed effort, got rewarded with his nibs above. Normally, this is a very prestigious award, only given after numerous commenting on his blog - I posted once with my suggestion, and Bingo! Cute isn't he? I shall name him Fred - as a tribute to my Uncle, who had the tenacity to tell me a joke about 'Fred Bear! I cringed.... I was 35 years old.

Why I dont blog every day...

A couple of my friendly American readers (Hi, S and B!) pointed out that I don't blog often enough! Fair point, although sparks of creativity do take a little time to mature in my greying faster than before matter.

If I was so inclined, and wanted to write every day, I could write up a whole load of negativity about Koreans and Korea, but that would just be poisonous to both myself and the country who has welcomed me with open arms. Besides, there are a number of other "bloggers" who do that very well. Therefore, I write about my more pleasant and humourous adventures in the land of the morning calm. Please be patient!

Korea has celebrated Lunar New Year, AKA Chinese New Year. This takes place dependant on moon phase (as the term "lunar" applies) and is celebrated by many Asian countries along with their expat's in a huge number of others. In Korea, it also means that each person becomes one year older!

Let me explain: When a Korean is born, there are officially one year old. When New Year happens, they then get another year older. This adds another year onto their Western age, so when the are Western aged 1, they are actually 2 or 3 years old depending on when New Year falls. Understand? No, neither do I. One of the more interesting but common questions you will be asked when in Korea, is how old you are. This as previously blogged, will determine the both level of respect you deserve, along with pecking order. It also proves interesting, when you ask back, and are asked in response "proper age or Korean age?" It has a couple of benefits, including one for which my Son was very worried about, as he was due to come over for a vist: the national drinking age - which is 19 here. It's Korean age, so he would have been ok for a small glass of Soju when out with us at night!

So Happy Birthday to all Koreans! You'll be over the hill at least one year before me!

Phew...

Here comes the weekend, and not a moment too soon!

We have just finished a tough 3 day Quality audit from one of our customers. This is not an audit where they come and look at the books, and balance the chequebook - Oh-no, this is a kill-or-be-killed approach, where the auditors pour over the Quality system and documentation to international accredited standards, such as ISO9001, ISO14001, OSHAS18001, TS16949 etc (Yes,we are accredited to all of those standards!.

We have to first say what we do in a rather large and cumbersome manual, of which ours is database type but still no eaasier to access, and then prove we do what we say. Sometimes there is a mismatch between the two, and this upsets auditors big time!

Think of auditors as small rat-like dogs, the kind, which if allowed to get hold of your trouser leg between their teeth, are unlikely to let go until they either get booted off, or get a taste of blood.

What makes the audits intense, is that even if you dont have a particular clean answer for them, you can usually bull-shit your way through to an compromise (I am told I'm good at this, but I dont beleive a word!) , but in Korea, getting a straight answer from the shop-floor operators or even the managers can be vexing! Remember some blogs back I talked about how the Koreans LOVE to tell a little story, before you actually get anywhere about what you actually asked for! It becomes even more complicated because I have to use a translator to work between us all. A non-technical translator can be a nighmare!

So, audit over, and a few minor non-conformances to deal with, we can now suply all global locations of our customer. A small headache has appeared in my frontal lobe, and I can feel the muscles in the nape of my neck tensing. Methinks a tot of nice Famous Grouse will help remedy those tonight - if I had some! Damn you Korea - where can I buy my favourite tipple?...

There's cheap...and then there's me being cheap...

Remember my cheap find of the century a few posts back? The one where I found the Queen size sleigh bed? The one which cost not a bean? Well, It's about too!

I have been looking around for a nice comfortable but cheap-ish Queen sized mattress to go with it, but on-line shopping with free delivery turns up only full size beds complete with mattresses - not what I want! I have tried local shops here in Ansan, but again, only full beds complete, or Korean style mats for the floor. I want whoever sleeps in it when they visit to sleep comfortably, as they are all used to Western styl-ee sleeping arrangements. I also dont want second-hand ( I dont know what shennanigans heve been going on someone elses mattress, and I certainly dont want to lie on it either).

So, although a little off-topic, does anyone know where I can get a good quality Queen size mattress for and pay as little as possible? (delivery included)

If I jump, I rattle....

Many bloggers, including my self have written about trips to see their local Korean doctor's to assist in minor ailments, such as back pain, twisted knee's, Man-flu disguised as H1N1 (how do you know it wasn't?) etc. The first reaction of the doctor is to stick needles in draw blood (but I only came in with a bad knee!) spend several thousand Won on tests you never knew you needed, then tell you about high cholestorol, no Hepatitus B immunity yadda-yadda-yadda... The second reaction is to fill you full of pills.

Take my own case in point - I went to said doctor at the beginning of January with a badly twisted knee, the story of which is a long one, but suffice to say it involved our Canadian friend from across the way. I was helping to lift some furniture, and I found my self on the heavy end of a rather large wardrobe defying gravity whilst his end was carefully on the ground. He shouted at me to drop it as he couldn't hold on any longer, but with 6ft of solid wood between him and me, I kinda lost the message and wondered why it was bearing down on me like a giants boot onto a pesky 'roach. It didnt hurt at the time, but next day I was hobbling for the Olympic Gold medal.

Doctor feels up my leg, and suggests a needle plus meds for the pain - "no thanks" said I am hyperdermic-phobic, and would prefer just the tablets. I get a prescription for 5 days of anti-inflammatories, and pain killers. I take 'script to chemist and get presented with 15 individual little sachets each with 4 different tablets inside. Looking at the tablets gave no clues as to the type of medicine, nor tha manufacturer. I suspect due to the "low" cost of the meds, that they were of Korean origin, as Western meds are "very" expensive from the chemists.

6 days later, the knee was no better. I left it for another week just to see if it would improve. No. Back to Doc's for second try. Another 5 days meds, same types. day 6 no better, back to Doc's and another feel-up session. try another session for 10 days he say's, but with different meds. Much better now, either that or the pain meds are working better than before. We'll see how it feels in 8 days time.

Anyway, my point is, I am endlessly amazed at how the health professionals just chuck a general course of meds at you - it's the scatter gun approach to health care in Korea, hopeing that one bullet will hit it's target. Those, my hypertension and Cholestorol tablets each day, are making me sound like I'm rattling! Listen carefully for me coming round the corner....

It had to happen at some time....

Sue got sick at the week-end. She got food poisoning from eating from one of our favourite take-away places, the Chikin & Lib restaurant. We (that is, I) ordered the usual items we get either on Friday or Saturday night, portion of garlic chicken and 2 portions of "pong-lib" which is BBQ coated pork ribs, which taste delicious. I always go down to the shop in person: 1. because I still can't speak enough Korean to get my order across, and 2. I like to pay in advance, so I know how much it will cost me, and not get into an argument at the door with some moped-driver with a crash helmet on. I'd lose. Or at least, hurt my hand.

The meal duly arrived, after the requisite Ship-Oh Poon (15 minutes) and was accompanied by the usual can of coke and packs of pickled radish cubes. It was delicious. We then headed of to bed, and expected the normal heart palpitations and weird dreams which also usually accompanied the MSG rich BBQ sauce. Sue suffered around 4:00am, and was in and out of bed several times, retching and flushing, with me doing little to help, even though I offered to rub her back, as she likes to be alone in these sort of things.

The morning was little different, still retching badly, and being followed by several bouts of having to run to the loo urgently. She spent most of the day on the couch with the duvet for comfort, and the heating turned up full. Shivers and hot/cold flushes were order of the day. This carried on through into Monday, so I decided it best to take the day off and look after her the best way I could. Monday saw gradual impovements, even to the point of a piece of toast being held down, along with a couple of cups of tea. I headed off to the corner shop for bottled water and the veg man to get some makings for a nice home-made vegetable soup. We both had a nice bowl for our dinner. By early evening, all was much better, but she complained her stomach felt it had been in a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson, and lost.

It will be some time before we pluck up courage to go back to our local chikin & lib shop, and if I knew how to curse them out, I would be down there like a flash, but I suspect it would do little good, and just give them an excuse to growl at me each time I walk past the shops.

I was fine, but then there were 2 portions of "libs" and it must have been pot luck who got the dodgy one.

Whacky (sick( adverts....

Adverts on TV over here take on a complete new meaning! I mean, I just watched the recent remake of H.G. Well's Time Machine and half way through as is typical with Korean movies on sattelite TV, there is a 15 minute break which shows the same 3-4 adverts over and over again, just in case you didnt get it the first time round.

The particular advert in question would have been pulled in about 30 seconds back home, as it did nothing but promote the virtues of both orange juice drinkers,black arts and pedophiles in one fell-swoop! Imagine the scene, little kid in bath of clear water, and bum facing camera...he let's out a fart and it bubbles to the surface, the Dad get's in said bath and soaps up kids hair to look like demon horns! Cut to bottle of Del Monte orange juice...WTF!

Another advert is the animated radish in the MOO card series! One is a skit on "The Ring", but said radish is at an ATM in what looks like a dungeon, then weirdo girl from "The Ring" swipes the card down the crack of his bum hoping to get payout! I hope she had plenty of credit! Another in this series shows same radish in a taxi (Radishes take taxis now?) trying to pay with 5o,000 won note, but driver cant help him. Radish then ges out and asks Salvation Army guy with charity bucket for change! The sense of humour here is strange to say the least, but what worries me is the level of accpetability in the so-called modern society. Ah well, I'm in Korea!

Look out for the bird in yellow doing the "Eel Pal Pal Ee Ship Oh" advert!

Working Korean styleee....

I was going to rant on about how working with/for Koreans can be a frustrating business! I even wrote 2 or 3 paragraphs, but on reflection, that wouldn't be a good idea. I will just resign myself to the fact that it happens, and go with the flow! 'nuff said!

I am not alone......

I found out there are other people blogging in Korea, besides me, and some of them are actually not American! (note: I have nothing against Americans, it’s just I get called one all the time here, as it appears we all look alike!) One chap hails from what he calls the “old country” somewhere between Germany and UK, South of Belgium, and North of Spain. Geography lesson over, he writes about his exploits in Korea, is married to a Korean lady, makes his own home brew beer, drinks a lot of Baekseju, has a gorilla for a Father. He also enjoys “B” movies like Shaun of the dead, Lesbian vampire killers and the such. He also gave me a virtual teddy bear just for suggesting a gore/slash "B" movie called Black Sheep. I like his style!

Another blogger claims to be Scottish, but drinks Rum – what’s up with that? However, he has managed to brainwash into his class room rug-rats, that everyone in UK now wears the Kilt. Fantastic! (Or “pure dead brilliant by the way”, in Glaswegian vernacular) He also has a itch that needs to be scratched about some guy who writes for the Korea Times. Here was me thinking that journalists only ever wrote the truth! Lol!

There is also an “Idiot” who is married, or should that be enslaved to a Korean woman, and gets given pocket money to spend each week. He eats only chicken from what I can gather, and also drinks copious amounts of what he calls Toad Juice, made by the wonderful Jinro corporation (Original of course).

Each of these blogs are fascinating in their own right, and I wish I could just lift some of what they say in their writings and drop it straight into mine as it’s all true!

Korean snowdays.......

It snowed in Korea on Christmas day, just a light sprinkle late in the day around where we were celebrating in the Hilton Grand. It looked lovely, and gave us all the proper feeling of a white Christmas day. When we got back to Ansan, they also had the light sprinkle, and most of it was gone the next day. New Year’s was seen in over at our Canadian friends apart-uh, and then the temperatures plummeted. We were lucky if it got any warmer than -5oC most days. What with the folks being over from back home, it was decided that venturing out onto the icy pavements and braving the Arctic conditions was best left to Polar bears and Eskimos. We hibernated. At least until the folks went back home. We used a call van service to transport them to the airport, and used said service to run us both back to our snug and warm apart-uh, but the journey was less than pleasant. The driver took us back via the new bridge and highway, which I understand is the 7th longest bridge in the world, if they count the elevated section of road leading and trailing from it at 18Km’s. Once we hit the normal highway heading back to Ansan, we came to a slow snail’s pace, as the traffic had built up quite a distance. We soon found out why. The van was travelling along at a merry 20Km/hr when we started to go sideways. In front was a typical Korean Bongo flat bed van with it’s brake lights fully lit, and also travelling perpendicular to the traffic lanes. We stopped just in time, but it was cause for concern, and a quick check for that sudden “brown trouser” moment. The rest of the journey was taken steadily, thank goodness, but towards the end of the journey, Sue looked at me and asked of the driver was nodding off! Sure enough, his eyes could be seen closing and his head nodding in the rear-view mirror. I was about to shout at him to wake up, when he seemed to feel our eyes burning into the back of his head. He soon came round, and got us home in one piece. I also decided that he should drop us off in the centre of Gojan so at least we didn’t have to negotiate the slippery back roads with a half-asleep driver. We headed into Homeplus (Tesco store) for some much needed supplies, as we hadn’t been out for a few days, then grabbed a taxi back home. We also hibernated for the next 2 days, until I had to back to work on Monday 4th January.

Monday 4th January saw me waking up to about 15cm of snow dropped onto the ground overnight. A quick peek outside the window saw traffic at a complete stand-still even down the side roads from our apart-uh complex. I also saw something which never seems to fail to amaze me. There was an ambulance trying to come out from one of the complex exit roads and make it’s way onto the main road. It’s blues and two tones were going full pelt, but no-one even bothered trying to make a hole to let it in, or pass. I swear he sat there for a good 7 minutes lights flashing, and horns blaring. I pitied the poor hapless sod who must have been in the back, and needed open heart surgery or something equally urgent. I don’t understand the reckless disregard for any emergency vehicle here in Korea. I hope they don’t have to get to hospital in a hurry themselves.

I wrapped up warm and headed out to my usual spot where Johnny-cab waits for me. Odd, he hadn’t turned up! I figured that a short walk to the taxi rank would enable me to get into a cab and head off to work. It became clear that about 12 or so other people had the same idea. However, snow on ground plus lack of anything moving on the road = no way am I getting to work on time in a cab. The idea of just sitting in a cab while the fare piled up sitting in a traffic jam didn’t appeal. Both me and my Canadian chum decided that heading back to the apart-uh and a nice hot cup of coffee would do the trick. I kept watch out the window for any let-up in the traffic or conditions, whilst relaying information back and forth via mobile phone to my mate.

We decided that around 11:30, the traffic had died down enough to warrant a second try at getting to work. Usually the cab fare is around 7,000KRW, but this time it came to 20,000KRW. Traffic was at near stop all the way into work, which looked like a ghost town. Even our COO had to turn back. One of our guy’s the sales director turned in at around 3:00pm, having taken 8 hours to drive in from Seoul. I would have given up after 2 hours and headed back home – trooper that he was! Getting back home was also an issue – cabs were unwilling to make the journey, as they could easily clean-up with short trips around town. We had to call up a black cab, which is more expensive, but at least they came over to pick us up. Journey home was even trickier, as it was also dark!

Next few days has seen the snow being crunched down into sheets of ice, and blindingly low temperatures – it has dropped to around -16oC each night and when the wind blows, it feels even colder as it bites into you. Roll on Summer, and we wont even dare to criticize the humidity and sweltering temperatures!