Makiyaki a few months later. A foster cat success story.

The Papertainer at Olypmic Park

From an early age, Koreans learn to be candid for the camera. It's a skill that only gets more refined with adolescence, peaks between 25 and 35, and then drops off in middle-age.

Couple that with a propensity for high-quality Japanese optics and you have a culture obsessed with appearances and memorexing EVERYTHING.

O-Mo-Ri, Jamsil Station

O-Mo-Ri, named for the three-year-old Kimchi in its signature dish, Kimchi-jiggae, is the best place to get homemade noodles. These knife-noodles are slapped against the counter until they're tender, thudding loud enough to make you jump and spill soup all over yourself.

Line 2 to Jamsil Station, take exit 3, walk straight for 5 minutes, it's on the right at the 2nd intersection. Look for the yellow sign.

For more photos click on the "Travel Pictures" link to the right.

The Great Wall

...inspires Haiku

Alas, The Great Wall.







That pretty much says it all...

People on the wall.

The Forbidden City

As Olympic athletes from around the world are pumping up on vitamins, chewing on organic spinach, and getting themselves in top condition to compete in Beijing in a little over a year, the Chinese government is making last minute efforts to clean up its capital city. It's taking the sickle to bad signage, persecuting bad grammar, planting trees, and establishing no smoking areas within city limits. You think they'll be ready?

I can just imagine the first of the athletes stepping off the tarmac and taking in a big whiff of Beijing's house blend.

Shanghai

During Chu-seok, Korean Thanksgiving, we celebrated by going out for Chinese. The Shanghai sky-line reminds me of Sim-City. Maybe it was the holiday, but the atmosphere (despite high concentrations of CO2) downtown was cheerful. People seemed happy to be with their families and were enjoying the evening. There wasn’t that tenebrous feeling you expect from a country shrouded by the red flag. Denizens of Shanghai on average have the highest standard of living in China, so there might be something to that…can the RMB buy happiness?