Keeping your duck(boat)s in a row

Down by the Han River at lunchtime(click on the ducks for the full size pic).

Yeouido is a regular filming location for TV series wanting to get a couple of nice riverbank shots. I've seen camera crews on quite a few occasions but never had my camera with me to capture the moment... until today. My resolution to carry it everywhere I ride is once again paying off.

The female character looks pretty pissed in the second shot. I'm sure if I'd stayed around another while there'd have been some wailing and weeping; and about a 40% chance that it would have been mr. preppy, rather than her, who was providing the waterworks . Korean melodramas, as I've noted before, are short on testosterone and long on crying into one's pastel-shaded shirtsleeves.

I hear the train a-comin'

The first cross-border trials of the rail network in more than 50 years will take place later today. The initial test run, in which trains will cross the DMZ at two points near the east and west coast. is a big step towards normalisation of relations between the two Koreas. South Korea hopes to use the railways for cross-border trade, exporting goods made in the Joint industrial complex at Kaesong, and for tourism to the Mt. Geumganson resort.

Eventually, it is thought that the rail system could be linked up with the Trans Siberian Railway, allowing the possibility of travelling from London to Seoul without leaving good old terra firma. However, I wouldn't start packing an overnight bag for the Pyeongyang-Paris express just yet. Negotiations to get even this far have been stuck in the sidings ever since the barbed wire and minefields along the rail routes were first cleared back in 2002, and there have been numerous last minute cancellations. A similar test, due to take place last spring, was called off just one day before the scheduled date because the North's generals "could not guarantee the security" of the train. [From whom exactly? Themselves? ]


Dorasan Station, December 2004

There's an article on the trials at the Korea Times.

Lake Park

The weather's been really kind recently and the city is looking about as green as it ever gets.I took my camera up to Lake Park on Friday to get some snaps and show you what I see on my regualar lunchtime cycle jaunts to Ilsan.

Down and out in Haebangchon....or "How I almost dated a homeless chick"

Being informed via text message that your house is about to be demolished is not exaclty the most tactful way to deliver the message but that's exactly what happened to Alexis and her fellow Scots on the first of the month. They've already found a replacement abode so I managed to avoid dealing with the ethical quandaries of dating someone who lives in a cardboard box under Banpo Bridge.

On Sunday afternoon the gang moved to a new house next to the US Army base - according to the estate agent it's the "#1 best house in Haebangchon" and was formerly occupied by a major or colonel. Now, when I say next to the base, I mean right next to the base. Alexis now has a lovely view of some Humvees and the re-enlistment office of the Yongsan garrison, enabling any member of the household - should they fancy exchanging business English for the business end of the War on Terror^TM - to get drafted faster than a pint of Guinness in Gecko's*.

*Which is pretty fast. Useless sods wouldnt know a 3-minute pour if it bit them on the arse.

Rain man

Korean pop sensation Rain was named as the public's choice in the Time 100 Poll, which lists the most inluential people of the year; proof positive of the power of the Korean netizens, who played a -ahem- "small" part in sending him to the top.

Comedy Central's second-favourite fake news anchor, Stephen Colbert, came in at number two in the online poll. Conceeding the top spot to Rain, the inventor of "Truthiness" made the following mock pop video:



"Kid Jong Il"...heheheh.

Black sheep

One for the Kiwis: