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Just got home from 17 days in South Korea

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Lucas Wiseman, Sep 10, 2006.

  1. Lucas Wiseman

    Lucas Wiseman Well-Known Member

    As some of you know, I spent the last 17 days in Busan, South Korea, for business and man was it a totally different place. Outside of the hotel we stayed at, virtually no one spoke English, which surprised me a bit. It was great trying to tell the cab drivers where I wanted to go. Fortunately, I had a card with some instructions written in Korean to tell them the main places I wanted to go.

    One night, I look down on the street from the 31st floor of the hotel and I see hundreds of guys in black outfits running in formation down the sidewalk. A few minutes before, I heard someone saying something in Korean on a loud speaker. Traffic was a nightmare down there and I saw several police cars. I thought something fishy was going on, but didn't give it too much thought. Found out the next day that there was a major protest against the "west" two blocks over... a thousand protesters and a thousand riot police. Talk about a wake-up call.

    A few days later, I was walking in the downtown district and saw about 25 protesters down the street... couldn't tell what they were protesting, but needless to say I walked the extra block around them just to be safe.

    In all, it was an interesting place and an interesting experience. Asia is not exactly my cup of tea, but it's not a bad place. I'd take a trip to Europe any day over Asia, though. :)

    Words cannot explain how happy I am to be back home! And if you sent me an e-mail or PM and I never got back to you, I'll try to take some time to catch up. If you don't hear from me, send me another note.
     
  2. imjustagirl2

    imjustagirl2 New Member

    Welcome back, Webstar!
     
  3. DyePack

    DyePack New Member

    Was Father Mulcahy there?
     
  4. Annyong haseyo!
    Don't be nervous, Webby. There are student demonstrations every couple of days in SK. There were four big ones during the Olympics.
     
  5. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    Welcome back, Webby.

    Through all my travels I've never been happier than when my feet hit U.S. soil. Yes, it is fun, enlightening and interesting to travel abroad, but there's truly no place like home (even if it is somewhat screwy sometimes).

    I've only felt uncomfortable outside the U.S. once, in Pisa, Italy, shortly after the U.S. finished bombing during the Bosnian campaign. I was stationed at Camp Darby (a huge ammunition storage area), where Italians protested by the thousands during the war. We went downtown to goof off one evening, and I started to see some anti-American graffiti on the walls; "Assassinate Clinton," and other stuff like that.

    We carried on with the outing, but kept a more suspicious eye open the rest of the trip, because, honestly, it wasn't really hard to tell we weren't from around there.
     
  6. DyePack

    DyePack New Member

    ... And boy, are your arms tired!
     
  7. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    The protest was so the 4077th could get an incubator.
     
  8. DyePack

    DyePack New Member

    Are we involved in germ warfare?
     
  9. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    21 crashed the site, but don't worry. Douglas fixed it.
     
  10. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    No, the protest was for lousy food. But don't worry, they order takeout from this little rib place near the Dearborn Street station in Chicago... Adam's Ribs...
     
  11. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    WE WANT SOMETHING ELSE!
    WE WANT SOMETHING ELSE!
     
  12. BigDog

    BigDog Active Member

    Was the protest about Damon Allen being excluded from the Pro Football Hall of Fame? And were any of the protesters shot on sight?
     
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