How embarassing

This story made me chuckle, but...

Pilot locked out of Jazz cabin mid-flight

I have locked myself out of my car before and remember (as I was shutting the door) looking through the window to see my keys on the passenger seat. It was quite embarassing. Imagine how you would feel if you were the pilot of a plane and couldn't get back into the cockpit.

And, let's forget about the pilot's embarassment for a minute. Imagine that you are a passenger. You look down the aisle and see the pilot - yanking and then pounding on the cockpit door. Then you hear, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. We are experiencing a small problem. I can't get into the cockpit to land the plane. Please don't worry the First Officer has trained on simulators and thinks he can land the plane." Imagine your discomfort.

The other part of this story that was interesting and far more disturbing was that a pilot locking himself or herself out of the cabin is a "non-reportable" incident. What? How could that be? Are there other serious incidents that are also not reportable?

I'm tempted to say, "only in Canada," but that's probably not true.

Believe it or not

This falls into the category of - "That's really hard to believe". If it comes true I'll really have to eat a lot of crow.

Future Map Puts Korean Economy Ahead of U.S.

The Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Group in the University of Sheffield’s Geography Department and a research team at the University of Michigan have produced a “World Wealth Map 2015”, a collection of maps resizing territories according to their economic power. The map projects Korea as the world’s sixth largest in terms of per-capita GDP in purchasing power parity with US$38,249, surging ahead of the U.S. in seventh with $38,063 and Japan in ninth with $35,694. The two teams took into account data from nine organizations including the World Bank, the CIA and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in creating the map.

Courtesy of the Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Group

Nothing better to do

Sometimes I think that people should lighten up.

TV Presenters in Hot Water Over Sexy Photo Spread

This article was in the Chosun Ilbo. The thing that first caught my eye (after the pictures) was the statement that the..."Guardians of morality also say it is unacceptable for figures on public television, where a certain level of dignity needs to be preserved, to appear in suggestive photographs." Oh please...does anyone look at what is on public television nowadays? These pictures are pretty tame.

Lee Jung-min (MBC) appears in an off-the-shoulder dress, Kim Ji-yeon's outfit shows off her chest, and Kim Kyoung-ran's getup emphasizes her waist.

Who the hell are the "guardians of morality"? Some Christian group? Perhaps a bunch of Buddhist monks? Maybe a bunch of sanctimonious atheists? How can a news service not state who is complaining?

Kim Ji-yeon

Lee Jung-min

Kim Kyoung-ran

No. 6 Line

The No. 6 Subway line almost always provides a bit of interesting diversion on the way home in the afternoon.

Almost every day, there is one middle-aged or elderly person selling something for W1,000 (except umbrellas on rainy days - W5,000). Yesterday, it was interesting to see a man selling a "mini lantern". What he was selling is pictured on the left. He had one clipped on his belt, and then he clipped one on a strap. Finally, he put on a baseball cap and clipped it to the brim. If I hadn't already had a small light for my key chain, I would have bought one.

The other interesting thing was that the Korean sign said "mini lantern" but, to me, a lantern would be a tool like the one on the right.









I've also seen them selling balls, pedometers, pen sets, fans, and hanja books (Chinese characters). The sales people all have identical cardboard boxes strapped to little wheeled luggage racks. The signs are always done on a computer and they are laminated. This is serious business. The people are always neat and fairly well-dressed. I'm assuming that there is a company somewhere that hires retired people, unemployed men, and housewives. I'm always curious to know about the structure and financing of these companies.

The sales people are polite and don't shout. Everyone treats them with respect and there is almost always at least one sale in every car.

I'm back

I'm back in Korea. I'd like to say that I'm happy to be back, but I've already been whining to a colleague (The Party Pooper), and I'm sure that he would add a comment to this post calling me a liar.

At any rate, I'm back. I got home around 8PM last night, fell asleep around 11PM, and then woke up at 1AM and stayed awake all night. I guess I'll be pretty jet lagged today - I think the solution is to go to the gym this afternoon, then to a bar for a burger and a beer or two in the evening, and later go to the sauna. That should put me in the mood for a deep sleep.

I knew that my visa expired on August 31, but it was nice to get a text message from Immigration in English reminding me of this. So, this morning, I went in to the university office, picked up the necessary paperwork, and went to the Sejongno Immigration office in Insadong (beside the police station at Anguk Subway Station Exit 5). I was in and out in 45 minutes with my visa and a multi-entry visa (minus W80,000). The Sejongno office is always fast and pleasant.

After blogging about the great wildlife that I saw on my Canadian vacation, I thought it would be appropriate to post this one that a friend in Dubai passed my way.

Yahoo Photos Beta

I tried to upload a lot of photos to Flickr (which is owned by Yahoo) because I like their sidebar link; however, I am limited to what I can upload free each month.

For years, I've used Yahoo Photo, which has unlimited storage space, but their interface wasn't so great. They've reformatted their site and have a beta version which I have upgraded to. It took about 5 days for everything to be changed over, but it seems to be done now. They don't yet have a cool blog sidebar like Flickr (although I might try to tweak the Flickr one to see if it will display the Yahoo photos). I'm assuming that they will be making changes and adding features to their beta version over the next few months.

At any rate, all of my Canadian photos plus a lot of others are at

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/mbrown_ae/album/576460762304947181#page1

The My Photos link on my right sidebar also goes there.

Canadian Vacation Part 2

After a most excellent stay with my older brother in Kamloops, I returned to Vancouver on Monday. I haven't spent that much time with my brother for many years and I have missed a lot. He is a good friend and a good companion. While, I have gained a world of experience by living and traveling abroad for many years, I have missed a lot as well. I think his dog will miss me, too.

The last night in Kamloops, my older brother, his wife, her sister, and I went to an outdoor concert - country music of course. It was a pleasant evening. There were even horses in the park. The air was fresh and a little cool. It was nice to be sitting on chairs on the grass in a park with hundreds of other people.


Wednesday, I went to Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast and went kayaking with an friend. It was fantastic. I haven't been out in a kayak for at least a year and, as usual, the gentle rocking of the boat and the smell of salt water brought great pleasure. I've kayaked a hundred times in many areas, but, when I went out on Wednesday, I paddled through a few small islands and the harbour seals came closer than I've ever seen them. There were dozens of them on the rocks and in the water. Almost all were females with their pups. A few were close enough to touch with a paddle and they seemed to have no fear. Then I paddled past a Great Blue Heron that stood and watched from about 20 meters away before it lazily took wing. We had beautiful weather for the whole trip. It was incredible (and hope I can remember it whent things get stressful after school starts.

I will try to get out for a few more paddles before I leave on Tuesday. I'd love to take pictures from my kayak, but my camera is a not waterproof.

Canadian Vacation

I always like flying back into Vancouver after a long time away because the sky seems so blue and average people seem so relaxed and friendly. This time back, I had a small shock. When I got in a taxi at the airport, it was tiny. In the past, Vancouver taxis were big American cars with lots of room (requiring lots of gas). This time, I was in a Toyota Camry. It was comfortable and had all the room I needed, but it felt really strange. I guess gas prices have forced that change.

I wandered around in Vancouver for a couple of days before leaving for Alberta. I ate at my favorite vegetarian restaurant (The Naam) and spent hours browsing my favorite hippyish bookstore (Banyan Books) – boy, I love that store. It smells of incense and musty books. Most of the customers wear baggy cotton clothes; the men have beards and long hair, and the women look very Earth Mother-ish. I like to think that I belong, but I always feel a little too uptight and straight. Fortunately, no one seems to judge me. I walked along False Creek and watched people sailing and kayaking. The summer temperatures were a searing 25C with very little humidity.

(July 23-26) Vancouver has a lot of the kinds of problems that plague big cities all over the world – drunks and knifings at the fireworks festival – drugs and gangs; however, in general, Vancouver is a cool cosmopolitan city with a wonderful mix of ethnic backgrounds. It’s also remarkably tolerant. You can see mixed-race couples everywhere, and no one even notices. I like it.

(July 26-August 2) The 1,000 km drive (12 hours nonstop) from Vancouver to Pincher Creek has always been very special for me. Part of it is that my parents and most of my family live in that area, so I get a treat at the end of the journey. I often make that drive on my own, so it’s usually a time for reflection. Whenever people ask me what my favorite place is (not counting Bali), I have to say that it’s Hwy 3 and the southern part of British Columbia. Leaving Vancouver and driving through the dairy farming area of the Fraser River delta is nice, but, when I get to Hope, I ALWAYS relax and take a deep breath. Hope marks the western foot of the Coast Mountains and, as such, the moisture laden clouds coming in off the Pacific Ocean dump most of their rain here. The evergreen forest is lush and deep green. If you’re lucky, you can see bald eagles roosting in the trees or fishing in the river. Then there’s the drive along boulder strewn streams, up to the peak, and down the other side of the mountain and, for hours, past numerous ranches and farms with grazing cattle and horses. Most of the radio stations along Hwy 3 play country music and it entirely appropriate. After leaving the dense green forest of the Coast Mountains and dropping down into the interior of B.C., there are semi-desert hills sparsely covered with Ponderosa and Lodgepole pine, dry grass, and sage brush all stretching for hours.

Usually I stop about halfway through my trip. This year, I stopped at Princeton and then continued on the next day. The halfway mark is usually an appropriate time to stop as the sun is setting and there are often a lot of deer on the road. This year, I saw only two deer – one in a field and one prancing across the road a hundred meters ahead of me (a lovely young buck with 4-point antlers still in velvet). In the past, there have been so many deer and elk at the side of the road that I have had to stop for fear of hitting one. I think that Canadians are incredibly lucky to live in a country where wildlife roams fairly freely over great expanses of country.

The next morning, I was up and eating at a truck-stop highway diner. Everyone was relaxed and friendly. The meal was simple and filling. I carried on suitably fortified.

From Cranbrook on, the highway rose up through the Rocky Mountains. The sky is incredibly blue and it really feels like the top of the world.

My parents live in Pincher Creek, Alberta – a town of about 4,000 people (and one traffic light on the highway, but not on the main street). It’s in the foothills on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain. To the west are the mountains and to the east there’s flat prairie that seems to go on forever.

Small-town Canada was a bit of a culture shock. I was constantly embarrassed when I was out walking on the main street. If I even looked like I was thinking about crossing the road, cars immediately stopped to let me cross. I couldn’t believe it. Even if there was only one car on the road and no one else in sight, the drivers stopped and waited patiently. I always hurried across the road so as not to keep them waiting for too long, but I’m sure they thought that was strange. Strangers waved as they drove by. Everything was slow and relaxing. I had a really pleasant week visiting my parents and various brothers, my sister, and numerous nephews and nieces.

Just south of Pincher Creek is Waterton Park – a beautiful national park with a small town on a rather windy lake. Every year that I have visited the park, I have seen numerous deer sleeping or grazing in people’s yards. A little to the north of the park there is a large buffalo paddock with a dozen bison. They are beautiful – powerful and somewhat dangerous looking. When I look at them and think of what it must have been like when huge herds with thousands of bison roamed the prairies, I’m saddened at the loss and disgusted with the destructive behaviour of humans.

Around Pincher Creek, I also saw mountain gophers, hawks, eagles, and a bluebird.

(August 2-today) After a week in Pincher Creek, I drove back to British Columbia and am visiting my older brother who lives in Kamloops. We get along well, and I’ve really enjoyed spending time with him, his wife, and their friends. Kamloops has about 100,000 people so it is a little more lively than Pincher Creek, but not as happening as Vancouver. I spent quite a few years growing up in Kamloops (Gr.7-12) before I moved on my own to Vancouver, so I also have a few friends still living here.

My brother has a dog, and we’ve been up for a hike at a small lake, and I saw a family of loons, some ducks, and a couple of squirrels. I would like to title this video "Simple Pleasures".

I’m not a cowboy although some of my high school classmates were cowboys. I’ve had cowboy boots, and I like country music. I spent many years hiking, camping, hunting, and fishing in the mountains and lakes around Kamloops. I have to say that I’ve felt really comfortable since I came back. I don’t ride horses, but I love to watch them. I like the smell of fresh cut hay. I love the outdoors.

This morning, I drove out of Kamloops into the hills and saw grouse and Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep (all females and some young ones). I also had to stop once to let several free-range cattle get off the road.

I loved this sign. It’s a warning not to shoot the children, but it’s so polite – “Please refrain from hunting.”

As usual when I’m on vacation in Canada, I wonder why I live in Seoul. That is something I will have to ponder this next school year. After my February vacation in Thailand, I never really got into being back in Seoul. I’m sure that there’s a reason for that. I’m sure it would sound a lot like the whining and complaining that far too many ex-pats in Korea do, so I won’t go there. It might be time to take the advice I would give to friends.