Asia Trip: Final Thoughts

Well I think I've covered most of the major parts of my trip but to wrap things up I'll give a short list of random things I haven't shared yet.

1) The Conference

Yeah I didn't go to Asia for 10 days just to go but to attend the 27^th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics. I gave my 30 minute talk on the second to last day of the conference and was a little surprised how nervous I was. I think it was mainly because I hadn't actually practiced my talk out loud once before I gave it and by my estimate I had too many slides for the 30 minute time slot. So I got up there and started talking way too fast and actually finished early. Fortunately I was the only person giving a talk on drag-reducing polymers so no one in the audience really cared...perhaps that should be unfortunately since I really like the Q&A part when people are interested.

2) Friendly People

I was told to not worry about feeling welcomed over there and I see why now. In both Japan and Korea everyone was so friendly and helpful. Once at a Starbucks I was trying to get internet and could so one of the guys working there noticed and insisted on helping me. After working on it for nearly an hour with two Starbuck workers and some random guy that joined in we(they) finally got me internet access by purchasing it through the other guys computer and one of the workers phones and then having me pay the guy in cash...try having that happen in USA.

3) Beware of 2 Barber Poles

I was told (never went to any barber) that in Seoul if you go to a barber that has one barber pole in front it is a normal barber. However, if there are two poles on the front then it means that you get a haircut and a "happy ending". Specifics of what that entails I didn't ask but was amazed at how common knowledge this was...however I never saw one in Seoul, though there is a chance that there was one in the basement of the last hotel I stayed in...it was open at like 10pm, was in the back corner, and had frosted windows so no one can see in.

4) Korean Folk Music

We had a show of several styles of Korean Folk music, which I absolutely loved and kind of totally forgot about until I started writing this entry. Below are some samples of very similar music to what I heard...sadly I couldn't find anything that was like my favorite performance but this is a good sample of the rest.

Pansori

Nong-ak

Gayageum

Samul-nori

THE END

Asia Trip: Touring Seoul

I saw a lot of cool things driving around Seoul, but unfortunately I was unable to find an English map while I was there and that significantly hindered my ability to have any idea what I was looking at. Because of that I really don't have all that much to share though I took a bunch of pictures from our car...but they don't look good and I don't know what they are of. The one exception is the picture below of Seoul Station.

Seoul Station

The one spot where we visited in Seoul that I actually have a decent idea of what I was looking at got some good pictures is Gyeongbokgung Palace. Basically it was the King and Queen's palace during the Joseon Dynasty, and on the back side of it is the current Presidential House, "The Blue House".

Me touring Gyeongbokgung Palace...we got headphones and a map that you just touch the spot on the map and it would tell us what we were looking at.

Video of the changing of the guard cermony at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

One of the buildings that is part of Gyeongbokgung Palace...shown is a reenactment of people taking the cival service exam for Korea in the 1400s.

A pond in Gyeongbokgung Palace with the "Blue House" located just beyond it.

I went running a few times through Seoul and for the most part saw nothing to interesting with the exception of a tomb of some 1400 king and queen. It was located about a mile or so from our hotel and I could see the big opening of trees from our hotel room (see picture below). So not having a map I just ran there (it actually took two attempts because I got turned around the first time I tried) and hoped to actually have a woods to run in. Sadly you have to pay to get in and I didn't bring any money with me on my run...so I was left to just run around the outer parameter of the tomb, which was still pretty nice.

Tomb area of some king and queen from the 1400s as viewed from our hotel room.

Back from Asia

First off I have to give a special thanks to Dem for writing a couple great blogs for me while I was gone...well done!

This past Friday I made it back to Michigan from my trip to Tokyo and Seoul. There are a ton of pictures, videos, and stories to share, but with how busy I am right now I will just give a small taste of what I will write about later plus a few pictures. Highlights from the trip include visiting the DMZ (border between North and South Korea), visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace, visiting the Emperor's Palace in Tokyo, having some meetings at Japan's Naval Research facility in Tokyo (very historical location), attending and giving a talk at the Naval Conference in Seoul, and other miscellaneous stories are coming soon.

Picture taken from the center of Tokyo...near the Emperor's Palace.

View from one of the hotel rooms I stayed in of Seoul.

Me at Dorsan Station.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

So I'm going overseas for the first time in my life...yikes! I will visit the Japanese Navy in Tokyo for a couple days and then spend a week in Seoul, Korea for a Navy conference. I'm excited but a little nervous since I've never done something like this...but hey how can one turn down the chance to travel the world for free. Now I'm going to try to update during my trip, but I have no idea if that will be possible. I've talked with a very close friend of mine that said she might be available as a guest blogger in the mean time. That is very kind of her and I'm glad that there is some one to keep my readers entertained while I'm away.

Where I'm staying in Seoul.