it was a bitter cold day, but i took a walk around yeouido island (where kbs and most of seoul's big financial services bldgs live) the other day to check out the new park that wraps around its edge. this was the huge park that they totally dug up to make a... new huge park (it's really obvious that korea's current prez is a former construction executive).
there's a curious lack of trees and the extensive concrete work looks pretty shoddy up close, but there are some OK features, too. but it was also a reminder of how managed korean public design is these days. e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g--- m-u-s-t--- b-e--- m-a-n-a-g-e-d-!-!-
29 December 2009
yeouido park is cold.
12 December 2009
puppytime
here's me awkward with my dog, big red.
actually, no. i'm at the hongdae puppy café with the king. but mark marsha's words, come january travels back from jesusland, it's puppy time!
i'm preparing the newspaper for patricia the rescue shitzoo as we speak!
10 August 2009
snapshots #22+23: guro-gu
when you're feeling overwhelmed by seoul's urban revitalization projects, i suggest heading over to guro district, where dilapidated housing doesn't get razed and where freeways still stand in the middle of polluted stream beds. still makes for pretty, eh?
21 July 2009
snapshot #21: pimatgol fare
in lieu of actual content, another pix.
a coupla weeks back, a new friend prospect and ate us some fried fish, bindaetddeok (빈대뗙) and some delicious makgeoli rice wine in pimatgol, a lil stretch of 600-year-old alley that's being rapidly destroyed. created to avoid the main drag, where commoners had to stop and prostrate themselves every time a fancy man rode on by, today's seoul apparently has no room for ugly and wonderful "avoid horse alley"s. r.i.p.
13 June 2009
komos, part 1
it's that time of year again. i arrived at the 10th annual korea queer culture festival cranky and ready to have all of my korean homo pathologies confirmed. but then i saw the boys and girls of rateen, the korean teen queer group did their very naughty dancing on stage and the 50-something guy who looked just like any other cranky ajussi (middle aged man)... except for his bright red lipstick and 50-something boyfriend.
back in love.
[photo removed by request of someone on behalf of someone else on behalf of someone else else who thought those pictured probably wouldn't want to be identifiable. welcome to korea.]
restored my faith in (korean) homo humanity. founded 2 years prior by two homo teens, the 2,000 member strong youth queer group rateen is helping ensure the next generation of komos won't be as messed up in the head as the last!
ok, time to get ready for part two: bootyshaking with the ladies at the pulse after party. wish my special man could come ㅜ ㅜ
05 June 2009
the seoul of design
here's a video of various design projects (including the previous post's bridge) seoul city has embarked on, via my kbs show, seoul scene.
04 June 2009
snapshot #19: pretty bridge
i'm the worst blogger in the world.
anyhow, after two dry runs, on the third time i made my way down to the banpo bridge 'tis what i saw.
29 May 2009
rip president roh
on may 29 the state funeral for former president roh mu-hyun was held at gyeongbok palace in downtown seoul. after an aggressive, politically-tinged investigation into an alleged bribery scheme, mr. roh leaped from a cliff near his home in the korean countryside. in the days since, millions have paid their respects, including hundreds of thousands who came to the came to the area around city hall, donning yellow, the color from his 2003 presidential campaign.
in familiar korean fashion, mourners lamented their detachment, even disdain for the man while in office, but a collective grief has overtaken a nation now grateful for the self-described "idiot" president who brought true democracy and championed the causes of society's less fortunate. as a self-educated attorney (no college but passed the bar), he fought for the rights of abused student protestors. as president, he worked to improve relations with north korea and was just one of two south korean presidents who isn't described as being a dictator. many agree that the current president, lee myung-bak, is moving toward the bad ole days.
suicide is viewed differently here. i don't know enough about fmr president roh to offer a balanced critique of his presidency. in my first months here, i recall the heavy critique and embarrassment many voiced about it. but overnight, roh's image has been transformed into self-less hero. i've heard korean fathers say his suicide was a logical response to a husband and father who felt he could not protect his family, as the prosecution's probe widened to his wife and children. many others are fearful for the future of soko's young democracy.
a couple of days earlier, my kbs co-host abby rhodes and i interviewed a few mourners for our show. listen here
24 March 2009
she spots
as reported on today's edition of "seoul calling" on kbs with abby and matt, seoul city is creating 7,500 parking spots just fer tha girls. sure, they'll be close to elevators and be lit 24-hours for security's sake, but my favorite explanation is this quote from the korea times:
the spaces will be painted pink with emblems of women [arguable] in the center. the special parking lots will be longer and wider than normal parking spaces. [emphasis and commentary mine]i assume they mean "slots" or "spots" not "lots." anyway, ummm... why? cause women can't drive? i haven't noticed any significant difference in driving talent by sex in korea. i have, however, realized that asians drive so much better in asia than they do in the usa. it must be the racism.
06 February 2009
snapshot #18: gyeongbok palace. still pretty in the dead season
04 August 2008
01 August 2008
30 July 2008
field trip #13: bukchon (북촌)
in joseon seoul there was both a north village (bukchon) and a south village (namchon). while namchon stretched from the cheonggyecheon south to nam mountain and was home to lower ranking officials, bukchon was built between gyeongbuk and changdeok palaces, and was historically home to fancy palace officials.
the palaces were built on what was considered seoul's two best plots. according to korean baesanimsu (배산임수) principles (similar to feng shui), their location is auspicious since it sits on the slopes of a mountain (bugaksan) with water (the cheonggyecheon and the han river) in the front. situated in-between, bukchon also enjoyed the area's positive yang energy. while little of namchon remains, bukchon is seoul's last neighborhood with a high concentration of traditional homes, called hanok (한옥). according to peter bartholomeu, there were over 800,000 hanoks in seoul just thirty years ago, but today only some 12,000 remain with 900 concentrated in bukchon.
hanok are typically single-story structures made of clay, wood and stone with ondol heated floors topped by curved tile roofs called giwa (기와). in this part of korea, they usually take the shape of the korean letter "geok" (ㄱ) or "deegut" (ㄷ), which create a nice central courtyard. in the cold north they are often square shaped to help retain heat, while the warmer southern region's hanok can have an open "I" shape.
today there are about 2,300 homes in bukchon, but back in the day there were probably no more than 30 villas here. but when japanese annexation brought the joseon dynasty down in 1910, social and economic forces conspired to divvy up of the old villas into hundreds of compact lots. unfortunately, what remains is only about 40% hanok (down from 55% in 1985), and very few of them date from the joseon period. most were mass produced in the 1930s, and space restrictions required shorter roof eaves and the average hanok in bukchon is only about 25 pyeong in size (about 83 sq m / 900 sq ft) although there's one 150-pyeong monster hanok.
bukchon hasn't escaped a government policy to tear down hanoks, or the desire of many koreans to abandon their "inferior" traditional housing for the sea of ubiquitous "apateu" tower blocks that started ravaging seoul's skyline in 1962. while just 10% of seoulites lived in community housing in 1970, a generation later (by 1994), nearly 60% did.
it's only recently that the city government and tourism officials realized bukchon's value and moved to protect it. unfortunately, their preservation plans have been plagued with snafus. while the neighborhood has been better preserved than most (this isn't saying much), it's nearly impossible to find a view uninterrupted by ugly, new-ish, multi-story brick homes. for example, even though the gahoe-dong neighborhood was designated a hanok preservation district in 1973 and put under special care of the city, less than half of its hanoks remain.
by 2000 there were just two streets in gahoe-dong filled entirely by hanoks. in 2001, the seoul metropolitan government launched its "bukchon project", investing 84-billion won ($90 million) to encourage residents to register and renovate hanoks via grants and low-interest loans. the city undertook a detailed architectural survey and worked to improve roads, street lighting and tourist signage while changing zoning laws and imposing new height and design restrictions.
the problem, however, was that large areas in west bukchon were excluded. through 2007, while 200 neighborhood hanoks were renovated, many others were demolished and replaced with 4-story+ commercial buildings. furthermore, while bukchon maintains its tenuous definition as a primarily residential neighborhood, its population is only about half of what it was in 1976. furthermore, in 2006 alone, 33 homes were converted into commercial establishments.
while the number of hanoks in bukchon continues to fall, there's also new hanok construction going on. living in a hanok is becoming cool, and the city is working hard to promote bukchon as a top tourist destination. the rise of wine bars and art galleries in trendy, next-door samcheong-dong, brings a lot of foot traffic, not least of which is japanese housewives on "yonsama" pilgrimages. "yonsama" is the japanese name given to bae yong-joon, the (gross) star of the very popular korean tv drama, "winter sonata", which was filmed in bukchon.
not your thing? then pick up a neighborhood map at the bukchon cultural center and partake in the new "bukchon museum freedom pass". for 10,000-won, you get access to five museums: the gahoe museum, hansangsu embroidery museum, dong-lim museum, museum of korean buddhist art, and my favorite, the seoul museum of chicken art.
as hanoks continue to be demolished in other parts of seoul, at least one neighborhood's clumsy efforts to preserve them is gaining traction. let's hope bukchon's sea of arching tile roofs and winding alley roads stick around to see seoul's next iteration.
getting there:→ take subway line 3 to anguk station (exit #2) and walk north. the area's museums are typically open 10:00-18:00, closed mondays.
more info:
"the bukchon plan" (in korean)
"the bukchon plan" translated into english
28 July 2008
look who dragged in the cat!
on sunday my social prospects improved dramatically when miss cindy arrived in seoul. born here but away for the past 30 years, she's back to fulfill a 2-year teaching contract (not english!) and to connect with family and the motherland. we go way back and our tandem goofiness knows no bounds. 
nearly 7 hours of sunday was spent fetching cat #2 and a missing bag from the korean air cargo and passenger terminals. each of the subway, shuttle bus, airport limousine and taxi legs and pit stops in-between were smooth thanks to cindy's papers being in order and very pleasant airport personnel. along the way, we took the "arex" airport train for the first time between gimpo and incheon airports. it was a little slow, but clean and well-done. yea korea.
now that my sister of another mother has landed, let the circus begin!
18 July 2008
14 July 2008
snapshot #11: sunset on the cheonggyecheon
as if you couldn't tell, i haven't been feeling particularly motivated to post of late... and when i do, it's kinda been garbage. sorry. hopefully a change of diet, a 10-degree temperature drop or one of my weekly electroshock treatments, might help. thanks for your patience.
13 July 2008
big rain and manplan progress (of a kind)
i complained about the lack of rain so jangma (the monsoons) responded last night with a spectacular deluge. perhaps this korean weather phenomenon respects that i come from a hometown well-known for rain (seattle). one friend suggested jangma has performance anxiety. (beyond the fact that weather isn't typically intimidated) this is unlikely since my town specializes in drizzle, not real rain.
so, after an early birthday shindig for my friend abby (more on that later), hoon and i had the strange idea of walking from the hookah joint (that's not a creative spelling for a prostitute) to the han river with no convenient route available. in what could only be described at times as a biblical downpour, we were quickly rendered head-to-toe wet. our wet walk's soundtrack was mariah, rihanna and clazziquai (gay!) on a shared ipod while under one or two umbrellas -brellas -brellas, just in case the rumors of korean acid rain causing baldness are true.
a coupla hours later we reached our destination, a particularly attractive stretch of riverside park near banpo in seocho-gu. it was the rainy wee hours of a sunday morning, so i was surprised to see a few older couples walking the path with us, but less surprised to see a parking lot chock full of young things' flings in progress. during an unusual let up in the rain we made our own naughty alongside a dead, floating carp. ominous messages, or more proof that jesus loves homos? please vote.
10 July 2008
i'm melting.
this past week the korea meterological administration issued heat warnings for much of the country. we're into our second week of high heat and humidity, which, from what i'm told, is thanks to a north pacific anticyclone from the tropics. perhaps the worst of it is the absence of sane temps once the sun goes down. what is typically a very pleasant, breezy summer evening in seoul has been replaced by sticky tropical nights, when the daily low temps are still in the upper 20s (low 80s F). it's hard to make progress on the manplan front when bedded skin-on-skin contact is excessively soppy.
of course, this pales when compared to the oppressive daylight hours, as parts of the peninsula have seen temps in the high 30s (100˚ F). the real kicker is when the heat combines with humidity, which is called the heat index. lately we've seen heat indexes of 41. too bad the kma says heatstroke can occur among the physically active when the index is as low as 32.
this explains why a 22-year-old female college student collapsed and died on monday. she was participating in a 1,133 kilometer (704 mile) x-country trek from seoul's cheonggye plaza to tongyeong in south gyeongsang province and then back to seoul. the trek was cancelled yesterday. she's not the only one who's succumbed. nine others drowned over the past few days as they tried to cool off in local swimming pools, lakes and rivers.
and speaking of water, where's the shiz that's supposed to fall from the sky? it's jangma (monsoon) season, but i haven't seen nary a drop since the inaugural squall back on june 17. this could be the worst leg-viewing season in recent memory. plus, my patio planters are in shock.
07 July 2008
discovering korea #11: incheon: gateway to northeast asia
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
today we hop on seoul metro and go west to the port city of incheon: the city that's striving to be the gateway to northeast asia (read it here).
