Für Elise cont.

I just have to continue the sounds of Asia stories. I thought when I left Korea to go to Taiwan I had heard "Für Elise" for the last time this trip. I was wrong. As I was writing the last text I heard a faint melody being played. It sounded like they had hidden speakers somewhere playing the radio on very low volume. But when I listened carefully it was just a short melody that was repeated, quite annoying actually. You know when you hear a faint noise and it irritates you to dead but if you don't listen you don't hear it. I could not figure out where it came from and was just hoping it would be gone by the time I would go to bed.

Later when we were sitting at the window in the restaurant next door to the hotel, I suddenly heard the melody again! I looked out and saw the garbage truck driving by. I had heard a truck in my hotel room on the 22nd floor emptying garbage bins in the neighbourhood. This means that it is played quite loud. Poor guys that have to do that job all day. I can imagine that kind of treatment being used as torture.

This afternoon we got stuck in the weekend traffic coming back from customer site and guess what I suddenly heard!? "Für Elise". And guess what it was!? The garbage truck. Good thing that they work during the day...

A box of chocolates...

I might just have checked in to my new favourite hotel, The Ambassador Hsinchu, Taiwan. The room is large and very tastefully decorated in the Asian simple but beautiful kind of way. The colors and materials are very nice and the bathroom luxurious. But what really made it was the content in the little box in the picture... Mmmm, they know exactly what I need after a long day of travelling and work.

Now it's time to find out what kind of food my colleagues decide to have me eat today. I'm hungry!

Für Elise

If you're in Korea and you suddenly hear "Für Elise" being played for no appearent reason with a very loud, digital, metallic sound, you should watch out. I know, it can be very confusing. What could it be? Someone's mobile phone? Public speakers warning for earthquakes? You never really can tell over here. But in this case it is that small type of van that is mostly found in Asia. The kind that is smaller than the average american car and seems to fit better in a playground than on the motorway. And it is reversing so be careful! Nothing in my mind would automatically make me watch out when I hear a piece of music being played. Bummer..

Asian photo pose

Have you seen asians (well, at least from Japan, China and Korea) when they have their picture taken? Have you noticed how popular the v-sign is? It seems to be impossible for them to do anything else in front of the camera. I have seen it in Asia, all over Europe and even in front of the train to Stockholm at the station in Gothenburg. And of course I had to try it too. Check out my authentic pose from the garden in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Does it not look good? :-)

I also got a picture of our taxi driver and a guy who was hanging around the Great Wall. As soon as they saw the camera they automatically raised their hands in a v-sign. Aren't they cute? Did you notice the pipe that the guy to the right is holding?

What's wrong with this picture?

This is the castle in Prague. Would you have guessed by looking at the picture? You just can not escape, can you? You might have to click the image to see what I mean. :-)

Temperature problems in Korea

During the winter in Korea it gets really cold and it's a humid kind of horrible cold. But the Koreans seem not to have grasped this at all. At the bus stop you can see girls waiting in short skirts and thin jackets, they do shiver but do not seem to understand that you can do something about it by putting more clothes on. I guess it is not fashionable.

They have totally missed out on the invention of winter tyres and traffic is therefore catastrophic whenever it is slippery or snowy. They simply can not go to work if it is snowing! (imaging trying that with your boss in Sweden..)

Also they have a huge insulation problem which means that they have some difficulties heating the buildings. But when they do succeed with this they are persistent to keep about 30 degrees. This all means that you need to bring a lot of clothes because you do not know if your meeting room is going to keep 15 or 30 degrees. The Koreans usually where their winter jackets inside even if it is 30 degrees (how does their thermostat work??)! Often you end up sweating or getting a cold shock because without warning the temperature changes by 20 degrees and you are still inside! Is this why their major soft drink is called "Pocari sweat"?

I am starting to understand why it is so popular to grill your own meat on the dinner table. It is the only way to keep warm while eating (before they get drunk enough not to notice that is) in the constant draft of the poor building constructions.

If you visit the old temples in Seoul they are very proudly showing the advance floor heating systems they built hundreds of years ago. Koreans seem to have a very bad memory...

Tomorrow...

...I am leaving Korea and am going to Beijing for the weekend before returning to Sweden on Tuesday. I have never been to Beijing and am very excited to be able to visit the Great Wall (weather permitting, it is cold in these parts of the world now!) and the forbidden city. I have finally finished work for now and can concentrate on going to China tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it! (And the best thing is that when I return to work on Wednesday I have only three days to go to my three week holiday of diving with hammerheads in Costa Rica and cruising around Key West!!)