On yer bike!

Spring is  in the air (and half the Gobi desert, but that's another story), so it's been a time to dust off the bike, brave the clouds of Yellow Dust(TM) outside, and go cycling again. The weather, unfortunately, has tended to dither back and forth between glorious spring mildness and the bollock-freezing dregs of a Siberian winter like an uncommitted . I've  put off several morning bike trips due to unfavorable conditions..and my own lingering laziness from a winter of hibernating indoors (not to mention that I'm  a complete pussy when it comes to cycling any further than work in cold weather). Beginning, as they say, is the hardest part.

Still, I have managed to drag my reluctant backside up to the mouth of the Tancheon a few times to take in the splendor that of mildly smoggy days on the Hanggang. 

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I even went as far as joining everyone's favorite Kiwi for  a 60-km jaunt around the peripheries of Bundang on Saturday. Highlight of the circuit was when Jared showed me a stretch of almost-finished highway  down by Suji. It's only a few km long but there's something infinitely cool about having your own private 6-lane bike path; coasting along the meridian without a car in sight.  I suppose this is what it must feel like to be in one of those post-apocalyptic survivor moves, minus the twin downsides of marauding  cutthroat bandits and inevitable legions of undead zombies.

Koreans say the funniest things: #481

The spelling in this first offering is just too terrible to be anything but deliberate....right?

 

Jolly Pong- for the happiest flatulence in Asia.

St. Patrick's Day 2008

 

Some overdue updates of this year's parade. I actually got to take part and march in the parade this year, thanks to Keiran, Dairin, and their football team, Goyang Locomotive FC.

There was wheaten bread and Barry's Tea, for which the Koreans lined up for in droves.  Mmmm, tastes like home.

For their entry, Guinness employed a towering inflatable and some dancing K-girls in shoulderless pint dresses, along with several dozen locals who'd filled out a form on their website and got some free T-shirts and balloons.

Me & Ruth

Reflections.

More Guinness-based malarkey.

The after-concert was rather good this year. We only stuck around for an hour or so as there was a pretty chilly breeze whipping along the Cheonggyechgon, but in that time we managed to catch part of the excellent set by Korean song-smiths Bard, a four-piece who specialize in Irish trad music . They wowed the crowd with, among other numbers, a powerful rendition of the Oscar-winning number from the movie Once.

Anyone can play guitar

I recently picked up a copy of casual-gaming favorite, Guitar Hero. Now I too can enjoy strumming a plastic Fisher-Price guitar and rocking out to the sounds of The Who , Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Guns n' Roses and a whole host more, basking in the adulation of a virtual crowd.  Fun and very addictive, but I think it's going to be slightly cast aside now that the warm spring weather has arrived and I can finally, finally get back on my bike for a morning jaunt along the Tancheon.

For a funny take on the subject, check out this lightning fast, profanity-littered review from Zeropunctuation, the worlds fastest-talking games journo:

 

Sub-standards

 

KORAIL would like to remind you that -shock! horror! - groping passers-by whilst on the subway is a no-no. I

 

Furthermore, they would also like to remind amorous couples to restrain their passionate clinches because it irritates old ajossis who aren't getting any.

Beck of the net

There may have been 11 men on the Galaxy squad last Saturday, but everyone was there to see just one.

The match itself was a bit dull, as football games go. I know it was a friendly but they could have put a bit more effort into it. Maybe the cold hampered the stars of LA's finest a little, accustomed as they are to Californian sunshine.

Goal-less for 90 minutes, David did eventually get a chance to shine, slotting in Galaxy's only successful penalty kick in the post-match shootout, which finished 2-1 in favor of  FC Seoul.

Lock-picks?

Have you ever had a craving for Tupperware, or woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because you don't have enough containers for your kimchi and crackers.

Well, if you happen to live near downtown Bundang, then rest easy, for the Lock & Lock store in Seohyeon has more Tupperware than even the most imaginative kitchen freak could possibly find a use for.

I'm sorry, I know that a good business should try to carve a niche for itself, but I just don't see the need for an entire store dedicated to airtight plastic lunchboxes that are freely available -at a lower price, might I add -in any supermarket in town.