This was what I was looking at in deciding whether or not to take the plunge. It’s 14,900 won for take-out before 10pm. The same pizza delivered is 18,900 won. After 10pm, add another 1,000 won late-night surcharge. I was awaiting anxiously.

While I was waiting for my pizza, I thought it might actually end up looking like the disgusting pizza above. It’s actually a Pizza Hut advertisement for one of their premium pizzas. I had my fingers crossed. The typical Korean style pizza has lots of random goodies like shrimp, potatoes, fruit, and corn to name a few.  I really didn’t want any extra goodies on my pizza. I was nervous.

The typical pizza also has lots of colorful sauce (usually bright colors like neon yellow) sprayed all over (I always ask for sauces on the side when I can, an attribute I owe to growing up with my mom). The pizza above was delivered from a Dominos’s pizza in Korea. Yes, that is a Star of David.

That’s what I was looking at 20 minutes later. It was Jun’s Pizza’s 2nd day, and I was his first customer taking advantage of his credit card payment service. He couldn’t use my Korean bank card because he hadn’t finalized the contract with them.  I was on the phone with Eunmi, who was translating for me. She said, “he’s going to come back tomorrow to get payment.” I ended up just using my American card after 5 uncomfortable minutes of looking at a Korean pizza delivery guy at my doorstep struggling to process a payment.

Part of his opening promotion was a oven-baked spaghetti dish for an extra 100 Korean won (about $0.10).  You’re looking at a Korean made Italian dish. Tasted a little weird. Strangely sweet, but not bad.

You’re looking at 45cm of Korean-Italian goodness.

That’s my hand holding the first piece of pizza. I couldn’t eat any more than 2 pieces. It wasn’t bad. It looked similar to the pizza on the flier. It tasted similar to delivery pizza in the states.  It was close enough to get the job done.

For 20,000 Korean won, I got a 45cm supreme pizza, a spaghetti dish, and a free liter of Coke, delivered. Decent value, decent taste, and a decent blog entry.

Korea has the fastest internet speed in the world!

Eunmi told me she downloaded an entire show in just a few seconds. She says that you can download 1 gigabyte movies in just 10 minutes in Korea. I told her that can’t be right.

She looked around and found an article that shows South Korea ranking 1st in internet connection speeds.  It turns out that South Korea has the world’s fastest internet, with average connection speeds of 11 Mbps. That’s the average.

I tested the speed of the internet connection at my place in Seoul, and my download speed was 45 Mbps. Thats ten times faster than a cable connection in America. A study states that Korea has the fastest connections, with the US placing 18th in the world.

That means that I can download a gigabyte in less than 3 minutes. Insane.

With integration of wireless technologies such as the WiMax egg, watching streaming HD movies wirelessly anywhere in Seoul has become a reality. Just imagine what will happen when WIFI is available via iPhone when it finally arrives this fall.

Look below, that is a screenshot of an internet speed test from speedtest.net on Eunmi’s laptop at my place.

I have a theory: the way someone parks their car is partial evidence in how they drive. As you can see in the photo above, if my theory is correct, this driver should not be on the road. They are probably a terror on the road.

Eunmi warned me that Koreans are crazy drivers. After driving in Seoul, I’ve realized she is absolutely right. In fact, it’s a little scary at times when driving here. It’s hard to capture this on film, so you’ll have to just believe my theory in parking vs driving.

Driving in Korea is a pain. Difficulty in parking and crazy Korean drivers are just part of the story – the traffic is unbearable. The freeways were a parking lot at 7:30 pm on a Saturday night in Seoul. It took us over an hour to go 40 kilometers to “Global Gathering” near World Cup Stadium. It was no different than driving in Los Angeles on the 405 on a weekday afternoon. Seoul is similarly sized and populated as Los Angeles.

Unique to Korea, you have to leave your phone number on the dashboard of your car. Due to lack of real estate, parking is often difficult in Seoul, so you are inevitably going to block someone else in or out with your car. Everyone has their phone number on their dash out of necessity – some even have customized/fancy plaques with their number on it.

Phone number in the dash. Sounds old-school and ridiculous, but it’s effective.

This is the Daewoo I rented this weekend. I’m pretty proud of my parking job. Notice how people park both ways on each side of the street, instead of just in the direction of the traffic.  I remember getting a ticket in Minnesota for parking the wrong way, even on the correct side of the street.

Eunmi found a guy who owns a car rental company, who happened to live near my neighborhood. We met at a grocery store to sign the paperwork. He said, “Go to my house tomorrow… my father will have the keys for you. It’ll be parked in the garage below.” I asked, “What about the gas tank? Do I return it full?” He replied, “Just bring it back with a little left in the tank.” I guess this is how business is conducted in Korea sometimes. Small-neighborhood feel. Much of Seoul actually feels small-town. I kind of like it.

Decent parking job, but still needs work.

Me and Eunmi on a rental scooter in Seoul.

That’s me unleashing the power of my 2 horsepower (I’m serious) monster. The scooter I rented was a Honda Ruckus, or also called Honda Zoomer in some countries. I rented it from a place called Scooter Tazo.  It was a great deal. It cost 30,000 Korean won to rent for a day. If you want insurance, it’s another 20,000 won. Rental of 2 helmets was an additional 5,000 won.  I didn’t realize it until after returning the scooter, but you don’t even need to return the scooter with a full tank (I did anyways since I just assumed it was like renting a moving truck in the US).  And when I did, the guy there offered me a can of iced coffee. Nice people.

I ended up returning the scooter 2 days later with no damage to the vehicle or our health. I had called around to rent a scooter when I was living in California, but its not legal for some reason. The Honda Ruckus we rented is a 49 cc scooter. Any scooter that is less than 50 cc does not required a drivers license, and doesn’t even require registration in both Korea and the US.

It was so much fun. It’s a bit like the feeling of going skiing on a medium difficulty hill (blue square hill, not black diamond) since you’re completely exposed to the elements. I have wanted to ride a scooter for the longest time. My parents, especially my mom, have always said motorcycles and and scooters are a big no-no. But, I had to do it. Seoul, South Korea is probably the last place in the world to try riding a scooter for the first time. Not only that, Koreans are absolutely terrible drivers – me included (as far as observing speed limits).

Crossing the Han River in Seoul. Its a big bridge over a big river. It was a little intimidating when a huge bus drove by. I realized that we were mosquitos to the buses on the freeway. If you look towards the end of the video, I was able to get the scooter to 60 km/hour, which is about 40 mph. I was trying to see if you can ride this scooter with two people, but certain sources suggest a limit of 200 lbs.  Beyond that, sources state that you’re limited to 40 km/hr with two people, but I was always able to get it up to at least 50-55 km/hour.

Eunmi posing with her beast.

One of my new words I’ve learned in Korea is “nado,” which means “me too.” While we were on the scooter, I said “nado chuseo” which means “me too, please” to the family inside the blue van in the picture above.  Two parents and 3 kids all eating really nice-looking (a little weird looking) peaches. The mom signaled her husband to stop the van immediately as if it was an emergency and instructed one of her kids in the back to grab a peach for me. I couldn’t believe it. I was just joking around. It’s amazing how nice some people are. It’s also amazing what you can get when you just ask for it.  I ate it at home the next day.

That’s the peach the family in the blue van gave me. Definately doesn’t look like the peaches I’m used to eating. A little less sweet than American peaches, but more crispy, which is just the way I like it.

Having fun on the scooter.

Two Korean men on a pink scooter.

I could not stop laughing when I saw this ajushi (Korean for “old man”) on the subway. This man was probably about 60 years old and was passed out with his head down. You see this in Korea everywhere – Koreans who are clueless what the text means in English, but because it’s English, they wear it. Some of the most random stuff. This was the funniest one I’ve seen so far though.

It was sort of a bold move taking a pic of this guy, but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t.

Better angle of the graphic on the hat.

Behold, the new 50,000 won Korean Note!! Just put into circulation, I exchanged my 600 Chinese Yuan from my trip to Shanghai for two of these babies.

These are the highest denomination notes by five-fold, just put into circulation this week. For almost 40 years, the 10,000 won Korean note has been the highest denomination bill, which is worth less than 8 US dollars.  You basically have to walk around with stacks of bills if you need cash for traveling, or if you want to buy anything over a couple hundred dollars with cash.

Several interesting features about the new 50,000 won note:

-First Korean note to feature a woman – the great Shin Saim-dang from 16th century – famous painter and author, but most notable as the mother of the philosopher Yul-goke

-Heightened security with an anti-counterfeit metallic strip that runs across the top and bottom of the bill (in the photo I took above, notice the metallic strip along the left side of the first bill)

-Slightly larger in size than the 10,000 won note

-Looks very similar to a 5,000 won note which has almost the same colors and almost the same numbers – has already drawn many complaints

-Issues with the security strip separating at the end of the bill – possible problems with ATM machines

-Issues with small shops needing to keep more change for the higher denomination bill

-Current surge in demand for counterfeit note detectors

My opinion of the new 50,000 won note? I think it’s terrific. Much easier to keep count of my cash, and my wallet just got a lot thinner!

source 1, source 2

Did you know that kimchi is a low-calorie cancer fighter, with 4x the valuable lactic acid bacteria of yogurt?

I recently visited the Kimchi Museum located at the COEX Mall in Seoul, South Korea.  I didn’t realize there was so much information about kimchi available.  Most of the information I have gathered below is from the museum.

6 Powerful Health Benefits of Kimchi

1) Kimchi contains lots of vitamin A and C, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. Antioxidants in kimchi bolsters our immune system in addition to age-delaying and cancer prevention. At one point, kimchi was being considered as a possible cure or treatment for the Asian flu (although this has been disputed).

2) Kimchi is a low calorie food with lots of fiber in the vegetable ingredients. A particular element called “capsicine” in the red pepper of red kimchi helps weight control by burning fat.

3) Kimchi contains loads of lactobacilli(lactic acid bacteria) produced from the fermentation process. Lactobacilli cleans the intestines – helps prevent large intestine cancer.

4) Different agents present in kimchi also are proven to lower LDL-cholestrol.

5) In one part of the Kimchi Museum exhibit, they explain the “Efficacy of Lactobacilli in Kimchi.” Lactobacilli, or commonly known as ‘lactic acid bacteria,’ is a powerful micro-organism that helps our body fight off toxins. The same micro-organisms are found in yogurt and cheese from the fermentation process of producing such foods.  The sourness, which is also found in yogurts and cheeses can also be tasted in kimchi,  contributes to its unique flavor. It is during this fermentation process that harmful bacteria and micro-organisms die off, and health-preserving micro-organisms such as lactic acid bacteria are formed.

6) Kimchi has four times as much lactic acid bacteria as yogurt! Lactobacilli helps clean the colon, prevents other harmful bacteria from growth, prevents cancer cell growth.

Wanna live longer and healthier?

Eat kimchi!!!

Video of the cleaning lady at COEX. Notice the admirable shot she made tossing the bottle into the garbage can without getting out of the scooter (behold, the power of the ajuma). I actually had to run despite a few laughs from strangers to videotape her in action. After noticing she was being taped at the end of her run, she politely greeted me and smiled. What a sweet lady! This has to be one of my favorite moments in Korea thus far.

I don’t know exactly what this means, but I have a pretty good idea. The illustration is hilarious. I noticed it on the subway wall going to Noryangjin. I would imagine it’s either a warning to would be perverts on the subway, or a precautionary measure for any ladies out there that may not be aware of perverts on the train.

I have not personally witnessed a pervert in action, or violated myself, but I guess this would be good information for anyone reading my blog that’s interested in visiting this otherwise civilized country.

If anyone can translate the Korean, let me know. I’m very curious to know what the sign says.

As you may know, golf is quite popular in South Korea. Its also extremely expensive. A round of golf in Korea will cost you over $200 US. So for now, I’m limited to periodic visits the Home Plus driving range across the street from me.

Here are some videos of me and Sam hitting balls at the driving range at Home Plus, officially called Golfdom.

We split one of the stalls which cost 16,000 Korean won for 1 hour – somewhat reasonable. Its huge, and its really nice. The bathroom, front desk, communal areas are all top notch.

The automatic ball dispenser saves your back. You’ll notice the backdrop is a huge 2d golf hole – adds to the experience.

Video of me swinging away.

Sam swinging away…. I got up close to the automatic ball dispenser in this video. I don’t know if you can see it, but there are buttons on the machine that let you raise and lower the tee.

Trendy Golfdom bathroom….

Trendy lounge area at Golfdom….

You can get a glimpse of the golf hole backdrop. The pin is in the middle of the silk screen….