Nothing much about Nothing

Haven't really got a lot to say, just trying to get at least 5 blogs in for October feel a little guilty about doing only an average of one a week, the fact that I'm finishing it off in November is not the point i started it in October so I'm going to post it as an October post. That being said I'm probably just going to waffle on a bit about nothing in particular so sorry if it boring. To any American that happen to stumble across this blog by the way waffle in this case means to talk a lot about not much and it's nothing to do with anything you eat.

I've had to work the last couple of weekends much to my disgust, at least i get paid for them so it could be worse, but think i would rather have the time off, hopefully will have this weekend off.

Actually I'm thinking about a quick trip to Korea as i still have my bank account over there to sort out if it wasn't for that would probably not go back for a while.

Not a lot's been going on although we are getting a few more people at site now, in fact in our office we have Germans, English, Japanese and Americans so quite international flavour to the office.

Just changing the subject was talking to my youngest son Joe the other day and he asked me why i'd only put a photo of the back of my head in the last blog to show my hair cut, so just for you Joe here you go.

Talking about international relations about every month I've been to to a little get together at what they call the international center over here, actually its a room they hire in the Utsunomiya library building for a couple of hours ever month but international center sounds better i guess.

It's basically gathering of expats, foreigners working over here and Japanese people, they have a few drinks snacks and organise events it's a pretty good way to meet people and it's not as bad as it sounds although i was pretty dubious at first as it just didn't sound like my kind of thing. I probably wouldn't have gone to the first one but my mate Razer who lives done the hall from me asked me to go and check it out with him. It turned out to be OK though the drinks were mostly soft like coke and green tea but the food was good, found out later that everyone is supposed to take something to snack on but we didn't know, maybe next time.

One good thing about these get togethers is that you can find out plenty of local knowledge and stuff from the Japanese who go and all speak English, helps with finding out the everyday mundane things like what you do with your rubbish. Talking about rubbish everyone recycles here and i mean they do it with everything, seems like a dustbin wagon come round ever day, one day they pick up food waste the next paper and cardboard, the next bottles and plastic the next scrap metal tins and stuff, lo and behold if you get caught throwing the wrong thing away, a foreigner can probably get away with it on account of not speaking Japanese though.

The other thing that never seems to stop over here is the post office or getting mail delivered. Not sure how many mail deliveries we have in the UK now probably only one or two a day but over here seems like they do it 27/7. The other day i bumped into the guy posting mail in the boxes in my apartment and it was 10pm on a Sunday night, Ok Ok i may be exaggerating a bit it might have been 8 pm but it was Sunday night and they do that all the time it wasn't' like it was a one off event.

The other big event this week has been the fact that I've finally gone and bought my self a gas grilling thingy so i can do some cooking. Have been after one for a while but been trying to get one second hand without any luck though, so i bit the bullet and went and splashed out on a new one much as i didn't want to pay full price and it went against the grain. So like i say finally decided enough was enough and went to the local home center and bought one, 17,800Yen band new about 100quid at today's exchange rate. So got it and took it home unpacked it but didn't realise that i needed a gas pipe to do the hook up to the gas supply. Off i pop back to the home center for a gas pipe it was only a few hundred Yen but it took me over about 3/4ters of and hour to go and get back again because of the traffic so i was a bit frustrated when i finally did get back home.

Anyway I'm back with my bright orange gas pipe and my gas burner now it's time to hook it up and see if it lights. Over here and in Korea for that matter they don't have big ovens in most houses like we do the norm is usually a couple of gas hobs and a fish grill which you hook up yourself.

In the UK you would have to get a Corgi registered gas fitter to hook anything up to a gas supply for you (in theory you would anyway) would cost you plenty and you would have to wait for the privilege. None of that rubbish over here just push the connecting hose on the end of the supply pipe and on at the burner end fit the clips they send with it turn on the supply valve and Bobs your uncle you have a working gas hob. Actually it was as simple as that took all of about 5minuets to connect up and it lit the first time, next thing to do is to get some food for a meal and see if i can remember how to cook.

Men In Red N Bran Flakes

Well I've been back in Japan over two weeks now since my trip to Korea, must say it's quite nice to be back have got used to my little apartment over here, where i can just go and chill out after work and relax. I'm looking forward to going back to the UK at Christmas though, was hoping i could fit a trip in before then but won't be able to, work and all that.

looking forward to some good old English food when i get home, lots of people knock English food but i happen to like it, think if it's done right it's good. Problem is most tourists eat in pubs or places like that, nothing is home made in the majority of places it's all frozen and just doesn't do anything justice. The people cooking or preparing it are probably all worried about what they will do after work rather than cooking, but there again you can't do a lot with a frozen meal just zap it and serve it. Anyway the word goes forth English food is not the best and it gets a bad reputation, that's my opinion anyway for what it's worth, but you know what they say about opinions, everybody got one. It's a bit like the stereo type of the UK where it rains everyday, i know it rains a lot but not everyday, or have i just been away too long.

It's not that there's anything wrong with Japanese food just the opposite it's good, just different to ours and i guess like anything you tend to like what you grew up with or at least miss it a bit when you're away for a long time so a nice plate of roast beef and YP wouldn't go amiss right now, a full English Breakfast would go down well as well to say the least or at least a bacon butty.

Changing the subject from food to driving just like that, when i first got here it thought all the drivers were great, been here a while now I'm not so sure. Driving standards here are good the thing that really gets me though is how slow everybody drives out on the road or turns into a entry or round a corner, not that i want to be racing around but there's slow and there's slow if you know what i mean. Everyone seem so cautious when driving here well at least the 99.8% of the drivers I've come across on the roads in Utsunomiya are, the other .2% are just nut's, not really but at least they drive faster.

The biggest thing to watch out for here is pedestrian crossings though, they're all right at cross roads or junctions and i mean right at the corner, so for instance when the traffic light to go straight turns green the pedestrian crossing lights on the left and right fork of the cross roads turn green at the same time. So if you're turning left for instance and not going straight on you turn onto a pedestrian crossing that's green for go, people just walk or ride out onto the crossing in font of you with out a care in the world as soon as it goes green. It's not like in the UK when you use a crossing you still look, well at least i do can't relay on British drivers to stop for a Zebra crossing now can we. Here though everyone seems to have blind faith that the drivers will see them and stop what trusting souls. This crossing thing took me a bit of getting used to, nearly cleaned a few people up when i first got here as i wasn't used to it. All in all the way crossings work here seems like a bit of stupid system if you ask me, but it works and when in Rome as they say do as the Romans do or in the case Japanese. Guess this is why everyone seem to take so long turning corners all being really cautions and watching for those pesky pedestrians, problem is everyone really slow when there's no crossing in sight, course it could be that i just drive too fast.

It's starting to get quite busy at work now, in fact i worked last Saturday and Sunday and that's the first time I've done that since being in Japan. Check out this photo though have been driving past these guys everyday on the way to and from work ever since I've been here, have always been meaning to stop and take a photo of them but never got round to it. Going past the other day though i noticed that their caps and stuff had been changed, it had always been red but the old stuff had faded to pink and now it's bright red again, so just had to stop and take a piki.

Not exactly sure what they are or why they are there but as you can see they are all doing something or holding something different so i assume there is a reason for this but don't know what it is. You see these guys a lot at grave yards, they're always dressed in red stuff, dressed to kill or to die should i say, some kind of a religious thing I'm sure, don't know why the red either though, will look it up when i have time.

Went to get my hair cut again yesterday, don't know what's going on but i seem to be getting it cut shorter and shorter, next stage is a shave. Went to a different barbers this time asked for the same size clippers but they seemed to cut it shorter to me, but do like easy maintenance, haven't used a comb since I've been here.

Barbers sort of reminded me of an American barber shop not that i know what one would be like just what i have seen on TV. Anyway walked in the shop there was about 10 chairs for punters and what seemed about 20 people cutting hair, everyone sort of looked up and chorused hello at the same time i walked it's sort of strange but seems to be the norm over here when you walk in a shop. Anyway as soon as i walked after the hello chorus i was shown to a chair, had three people do a bit on my hair, first guy did the cutting then another one came up and gave me a shave the last guy sort of did the finishing off and checking sort of fine tuning so to speak, finishing off with a neck shave and cutting the hairs in my ears thank you very much. The whole thing cost me 1430 Yen about 8 quid at today EX rate, not bad but it cost a little more then the little old lady who cut it last time, but there again i did have three people work on me. Here's a photo of the back of my head, trying to spare everyone the front view after complaints last time, short ain't it..

Also been out shopping today looking for a gas grill to finish off my kitchen, trying to find a second hand one but not having much luck. I'll probably have to bite the bullet and buy a new one even though it goes against the grain, it's not like they're real expensive about 100 quid new but if i can get one for twenty that's even better. I'm either going to have to throw it out or give it away when i leave like most of the things I've bought for the apartment so no point wasting money is there. Like i say not had much luck at the second hand places so probably will get a new one much to my disgust but i least i should be able to do some cooking, did buy a few cheapo utensils at the 100Yen store though in preparation for when i get it.

That's it for tonight going to make myself a cup of char and get to bed, got to get to work early in the morning unfortunately.

Oh one other discovery i made the other day food wise, thought i would go and buy some cereals for breakfast. Decided to get some bran flakes, Kellogg's bran flakes to be precise, so off i pop to my favorite supermarket to get them. Next day for breakfast open the pack and I'm looking forward to some cereals for a change, well knock me down with a wet piece of Sushi they were coated in sugar and tasted more like Frosties than Bran Flakes. It was a bit of a shock to the old system that first mouthful you know when you're expecting one taste and get another, guess Japanese people like sweet things. I've never come across sugar coated bran flakes before though but obviously I've led a very sheltered life up to now.

Out and About

It's been nearly two weeks now since i got back form Korea, time soon goes. Started this post as a draft a while ago as you can see from the post date and have just added this bit on the start of it. Wish i could say that I've too busy to finish it off but the truth is just been a bit lazy, just couldn't seem to get round to finishing it of.

There was one other thing that sort of got me out of the mood to finish it and that was what the hell going on with the economy in the UK, listening to the news here it sound like the whole world is going down the toilet. Talking of the toilet guess I'll paper the walls of it with my HBOS and LloydsTsb share certificates, they sure ain't worth much now.

So back to the post, as i only had one weekend in Songtan thought i would split it up and try to see all the bars i used to go too. After eating at the Sam IL where i had a good meal, the owner and her husband seemed pleased to see me, at least they remembered me it had been a long time after all.

So after eating it was time to see what was going on it town, was still fairly early about 8pm so thought i would go and have a couple of games of pool sort of let the food go down over a slow beer then round the bars and see who i bumped into.

Won't go into the night much as to be honest i can't remember a lot, did go down the Golden gate again to give it another try like i said i would, still not impressed didn't feel the same. Won't say i'll never be going there again but i'm in no rush, the atmosphere has defiantly changed.

Friday night turned out to be a bit of a blur met a few people i used to know had a few chats about old times and what was going, turns out most things a pretty much the same.

Saturday was much the same did the gym thing bit of shopping and food, this time went for something to eat with some people i used to know also met up with someone from my days working at the Brush. He lives over here now with his girlfriend and still works for an English company, not the Brush though. When you work in software you can pretty much be based anywhere i guess, another one of the benefits of the Internet, good for him i say.

Now for a bit of an overview of Songtan which is where I'm staying, it's about 45kms south of Seoul and has a big American air force base right at the top of main street and i mean literally at the top of the street. Check out the photos you come through the main gates and straight into the main road, Sinjang Shoppimg Mall, American or what.
Shopping is good though you can get all sorts of things, some of the most popular are tailor made suits, leather jackets, blankets, bags basically anything you want and a few you don't. A lot of the things like the bags and stuff are fake even though i can't tell the difference. Before you ask how do i know it's fake then, you don't Louie V or Gucci bags for $20 do you, even i know that.

The blankets are good quality as well check out the photo, i know you can't tell from a photo but have bought a couple of them in the past and they are
good. No i didn't buy any with anything on, just got old fashioned plain ones, I'm told the ones with things on go down well though, but it's not for me. I can definitely vouch for the suits, I've still got a couple that are going strong mind you that may be because i don't ware one very often, on the plus side though i can still fit in them.

The photo on the right is of my mates bar, the Bulldog, well it was his he's just sold it, it was the only bar in Songtan owned by an English man, probably the only bar owned by a westerner for a while. Most bars that westerners are involved with seem to be in the names of wife's or girlfriends.

Popeyes next door which is one of my favorite American fast food chains, they sell chicken by the way, it's much nicer than the Colonel's if you ask me, that KFC for those that don't know.

Am struggling to finish this now as it's been so long, will just add a few photos of out and around town and down in the market, a Kimchi stall, a view looking up the main street early evening, not in any particular order.

So anyway that pretty much it for the Korean experience for now, I've got one more day left than I'm catching a flight early Monday morning, means i have to leave the hotel at 5am, two hours by bus to the airport then the 8.55 flight, then to work, oh my God. Will have to come back over here again though in the no to distant future as i really need to get my bank account sorted out, if it wasn't for that probably would not be back for a while. All in all things seem to have changed a bit, the flight to get here is only 2 half hours but with all the traveling to and from the airport and waiting for the plane, took me about 10 hours door to door bit of a drag really.

Changes

It's Friday now, was going to say Friday morning but to be honest i went out last night and didn't get back to the hotel till pretty late so you can guess i got up late. When i got up i found out it was a bank holiday in Korea this totally screwed up my plans for the day. One of the reasons i wanted to come here was to sort out some money in a bank account i have here, so much for the plans of mice and men.
So it was on to plan B, wasn't sure what that was when i found out about the banks being closed, so came up with one quick. Get some dinner do some shopping and go to the local gym not necessarily in that order and then out for the night.
Shopping first didn't really need anything but just wanted to have a look round and see what had changed. Not a lot has really changed but the dynamics of the town have changed it just doesn't seem the same, there been a few new restaurants and bars opened up and a few old ones either closed or changed their names since the last time i was here but basically it's the same.
The biggest changes i have found so far have been that Mr Kim from the Young Chon where I'm staying had retired, the Mamasn who ran a bar called the Golden Gate (GG) in the center of town has either sold up or leased it out, found this out last night as it was one of the places i went.
Now the GG had always been one of my favorite bars in Songtan and i always thought of it sort of like a bell weather of the town. When i first came here many years ago the GG was always busy every night of the week, it was standing room only at the weekend. It always had the best looking girls working there, the best music not the best beer as everywhere sells the same, anyway it's steadily gone down hill over the last few years but i still liked it.
Now it's changed hands to me it just didn't seem the same being in there, in fact it was dead but there again it was Thursday. I'll give it another chance tonight and see how it is, the curfew for the US air base at the top of the road is three o'clock at the weekend instead of the usual midnight in the week so there should be a few out. Amost forgot couple of other things had changed i noticed one of my favorite places has vanished, a cloths called Chasecult, now i don't know if there is one still in town but not in any of the place i went. Used to like to shop there they had some nice stuff, with this and the other two change the town had definitely changed for me a bit. Photo on the right is of the shop that's taken it's place
Did find my favorite sock shop though, yes i know it's sad but got back to the hotel with a few pairs of new socks and some J shorts.
The other change was i when i got in a Taxi to take me to the hotel Thursday night, the meter started at 2,000Won, about a quid to you or me, cheap yeah i know, try getting that in the UK and 2,000Won takes you about 2.5Km. It was basically 25% more than it was a year ago though, inflation and all that. On the plus side beer is still the same price 2,500Won for a bottle of OB that's about about 1.40 UK, OB is a Korean beer and it stands for Oriental Brewery.
That was pretty much if for my shopping and sight seeing trip around Songtan, time to check out the gym i go to when I'm here, it's called O2, needed to get this out of the way get something to eat then get ready for what the night would bring.
So off i pop to O2 for a hour or so. when i get there every thing's the same, same bloke in charge same price, same machines. Now the machines are a little old but everything works so no problems, the gym provides free towels and free shorts and T shirts if you want them, all you really need is a pair of trainers and socks then off you go, not bad for 5,ooo Won or just over two and a half of the UK's finest pounds. Didn't do an awful lot there a little on the tread mill and on the bike and a few free weights, about an hour and a half, and Bob's you uncle i was in the shower and it was time to out of there.
That's the gym out of the way after that it's was out for some food to one of my Favorite restaurants in the town, the Sam IL Bulgogi house, at least that was still the same.
Had sort of arrange to meet some one last night, a bloke i knew from before i might add but you know how it goes had only been in town one day and i wanted a bit of space, just wanted to walk round by myself make my own mistakes and take everything in. I knew the people who owned the restaurant so it was no problem to go there by myself. Had a Koren dish called Samgyeopsal (not sure of the spelling) but It real popular here, basically is bacon that you cook on the table in font of you, like a lot of the food food here. You get a lot of little side dishes lots of Kimch which you add with the bacon wrap it in lettuce make a little parcel and then eat, don't sound great but it's good i promise you. I like Korean food probably more than Japanese food the main difference is that Korean food is quite spicy and Japanese food isn't, i like spicy food, you also get a lot of sushi over here just like in Japan but I'm not a big fan of it, think it's over rated and a bit bland, but will say this it's healthy.
So that was it for the day now to get ready for the night, so paid the bill 9,000 Won about 4 and half quid, cant beat it, i left more than i ate and still ate too much.

In Transit

Well got back from Korea earlier today then had to go work so feeling a bit tired right now but "onward and upward" as some one once said, which sounds to me like it's mountain climbing related jargon, just looked on the net and apparently Abraham Lincoln said it at some agricultural society address way back when, enough of this on with the blog.

So It's Thursday the 2nd and I'm planning on getting the bus to Narita airport as for once I'm ready in plenty of time, bus takes longer but it a one stop deal on the train you have to change in Tokyo which means carting your bag around the train station until you find the right platform.

As I'd got plenty of time off i trot to get my bus ticket, unfortunately I'd not looked into it and the next bus departs too late and won't get me there in time. So on to plan B get the train, by the way It was a hot day Thursday and I'd already walked past the train station to try and get a bus ticket so by this time i was sweating and swearing a bit under my breath as i was walking and carrying my bag with me, but not to worry don't get frustrated that's what i told myself after all i was going away for the weekend to the "Land Of The Morning Calm" AKA Korea

Finally get to the train station and got myself a ticket, i was early but decided to go anyway wasn't really worth going back to the apartment even thought now i was getting the train I'd be at the airport at least an hour earlier than i needed to be.

I get on the train and as usually happens everything runs like clock work or in this case high voltage electrical train works and on schedule.

Train ride was nice and smooth Shinkansen to Tokyo then change to the Narita express and on to the airport and the next thing i know is I'm there with about three hours to kill. After checking in at the JAL desk and going through customs i think a drink maybe a McDs or Burger King some kind healthy food of that sort are in order that wasn't to be though, in Japan there are what seems like thousands of MacDonald's almost one on every street corner, but not at Narita airport no sir at least not at terminal 2 i can tell you cause i walked around it about twice. Just went in a little cafe to get a drink and a snack, that was pretty much it next stop Seoul in about 2 and half hours.

It took about two and a half hours to get to Seoul we landed on time, the first thing i notice on the way to the customs counter was that the neat rows of Japanese standing on one side of the escalator's so the people in a hurry could get past had changed to a sort of disorderly stand anywhere you want sort of thing. Think I've sort of got used to the ordered way in Japan, but i soon got back into the swing of things had just forgot what it was like.

It was then on to customs and the usual wait but luckily i some how got there in the first rush of people and it didn't take that long, then down to get the bag from the carousel and try and get a bus to Songtan.

Oh another thing i noticed during the transfers at Narita airport i had to get a shuttle train to the gate on another part of the concourse. The same thing happened in Korea at Inchon airport, i was flying JAL and had never done this before but the thing i notice was the speeds the trains traveled at. Both were unmanned trains, computer controlled in other words programmed to do the same thing all the time. The difference was the speed the one in Japan went at a sedate maybe 30 kph while the one in Korea seemed to accelerate really fast to probably about 60kph, remember you're in a narrow tunnel and it seemed fast even to me. What made me laugh to myself was the reaction of some of the Japanese passengers, they sort of when whooo-arrh that sort of sound anyway and laughed a bit thinking it was going to fast, it didn't come off the track or what ever it was on though and it wasn't driven by Lewis Hamilton, just welcome to Korea i though.

So got my bag, had been pretty lucky up to now with getting my bags fairly quickly but tonight had to be different, just had to didn't it when I'm in a rush. My bag was one of the last off thought I'd miss the last bus but just managed to catch it or him him before he pulled off. Then it was on the bus and on my way, it would be another two hours at least before i got to the hotel though.

Photo above is while I'm waiting for the bus just out side the terminal.

By the way Inchon's a great airport tho old one Gimpo sucked a little bit, this one is brand new, well it was about 8 or 10 years ago but in airport terms that still pretty new i think.

Got to the hotel about 11.30 pm and checked in, first thing i noticed when i got there was that Mr Kim who i knew fairly well and had been the night manager for years had retired, was this the shape of things to come i wondered.

Got my self checked in met the new night manager another Mr Kim surprise surprise, Kim's a very popular name in Korea it seems. Then it was out for a couple of beers, did bump into some one i knew and had a bit of a chat about what the town was like, seems it's pretty dead in the week and it sure was on Thursday night i can vouch for that, maybe Mr Kim retiring was an omen after all

On looking back I'd been travailing for almost 10 hrs the flight was only 2 and half of those the rest was getting to and from the airport or waiting there, not sure if I'll do it again for such a short trip unless i have to, but may feel different tomorrow or after the weekend, but tomorrow after all is another day as they say.