Latest / bit of a Rambler / 128 Ramble On

Transcript

128 Ramble On · bit of a Rambler

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: My name is Kai, and I am a bit of
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: a rambler. I like to travel, learn and tell stories.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And today I want to keep talking about Busan. I
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: gotta say this is one of the prettiest dang cities
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I've ever seen. Okay, so I mentioned how incredibly weirdly
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: clean all of the buildings are, and they are, and
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: that's strange because they're salt spray from the ocean and
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: it's a human place that's right next to the coastline.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: But everything is just so clean. The streets are clean,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: the buildings are clean, the statues are clean, the sidewalks
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: are clean, the walls and Jimmy quitment are clean. It's
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: just a very clean city, which maybe I'll get to
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: today because I found out why according to a cop,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: But that'll come up later. Oh, you know what I
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: should talk about, Expedition thirty three. I finally started playing
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: that and had a ton of fun, but I it
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: reminded me so much of another game, and it was
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: very strongly a feeling of deja vu, and I could
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: not figure out why exactly or what it was about
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Expedition thirty three that reminded me of this other game.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: But in my head.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I was certain I had played an identical game almost
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: to it, at least fundamentally, like a lot of the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: underlying themes of the games are the same, like a
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: weird amount, and I was getting this feeling the whole time.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I was playing Expedish In thirty three for way too
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: long and burning out of my eyes because I was
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: having a fun time. I really like being able to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: defend and push B at the right time, so you
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: can defend and not get hit as bad or whatever,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: or dodge the attacks. Great mechanic anyway, almost, I don't know,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: maybe not half way through the game, but like three
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: cours of the way through it hit me. Alice American
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: McGee's Alice. I don't want to spoil anything, but if
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: you liked Expedition thirty three and you can handle graphics
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: far more rudimentary, you'll probably love Alice. It's quite similar
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: and Alice madness returns. I also love. I love those games.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I know American McGee is still trying to make the
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: third game, and I'm all for it. Where are they?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: They've been making it for like a decade and a
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: half now, and there is a development team working on it,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: but they just don't have like corporate funding to make
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: it within a few years like other games. But they
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: were working on it forever. So let me check. Well,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: it looks about three years ago. EA unequivocally told American
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: McGee that despite all of the pre pro that they'd
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: done on the game and all the design and all
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: the models, wow, they built so much, EA was not
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: going to fund the game, was not interested, and if
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: he kept working on it, you know, he'd be infringing
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: on their intellectual property rights, which you know, could open
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: American McGee and his business up to legal action. So
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: no surprise, EA is still terrible. I just watched the
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: farewell video he made for everyone, explaining that, oh what
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: a bummer, that game would.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Be so good.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: He suggested taking the game design bible that they have
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: produced and just using all of the elements and asking
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: AI to make the game for like, just make the
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: game from that design bible, because everything's in at the
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: levels and everything weapons and models and everything.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I'd be interested in doing that. I love that world.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I love both the first and second games of that,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and they're very similar to Expedition thirty three. If you
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: like that game at all, I think I don't know.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: You might you might be interested. I'd be curious if
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: you if you end up playing Alice or Alice Madness
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Returns because of this episode, let me know, man, I could.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: I could play those games again. I played the first
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: one so many times. I think I played the second
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: one like two or three times. I like Alice in
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Wonderland anyway. Those books in that world are fascinating to me.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: But it's a very grimy, bloody, violent game working through emotions.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: It's very unique. That is a very unique world that
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: American McGee built, twisted around the cinder block foundation of
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Alice Fantasy. It's a lot like Resident Evil Alice in Wonderland.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: So if that sounds good to you, I highly recommend
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: American McGee's Alice and Alice Madness Returns. Anyway, I had
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: fun playing Expedition thirty three. I definitely stayed up too
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: late working on it, but I really was not doing
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: anything except just eating most Actually I didn't even.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Eat a ton of food food.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I was just eating so much high tie because I
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: found a couple places that did have nori, and that's
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: like my favorite snack. So I was having beers and
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: nori and then playing Expedition thirty three for a week
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: straight and it was a really fun time and I
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: beat the game, and yeah, probably another game i'd recommend,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: but I probably liked the Alice games even more, except
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: you'll be hard pressed if you're used to modern graphics,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: because American McGee, I don't know, looks like one twenty
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: eight bit graphics or something. It's like twice as good
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: as Super Mario sixty four. That can't be te It's
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: like PS.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Two level graphics. I guess, well, the.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: First one's probably PS one. It came out in like
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: two thousand and one.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I didn't have any consoles except the N sixty four,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: so I don't know what the dates were. But Expedition
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: thirty three was a fun thing and reminded me a
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: lot of America McGee's Alice games. And if you play them,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: you'll see why I charged my interview MIC. I am
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: ready to interview my friends in Beijing. I have several
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: close friends still in Beijing, and I've charged the MIC.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: It'll be simple to pull it out and I can
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: just ask them a few questions and at least get
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: something in one.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Of these episodes.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Because I want to start. I think I'm ready. I
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: think I'm ready to start interviewing people. I got my
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: first one hundred thirty episodes or whatever out, and now
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I kind of want some outside input. So it's not
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: just a perspective whole I'm screaming into with my own views,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: because it's that I love talking to people while I'm traveling.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I like talking to people in general, and it's always
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: so it's still it's always surprising to talk to people
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: and you have real conversations with someone, and that's much
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: easier for me to do while I'm traveling. Like if
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: I'm in the US, the person talking to me usually
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: just assumes I have some US American basis, except I
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: guess you know, now with politics, they're probably.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: That assumed.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Monocultural perspective isn't quite as strong as it was ten
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: years ago. Even but traveling everyone nobody knows anything about,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: so you get straight to the heart of a bunch
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: of matters very quickly in conversations. And I'm always interested
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: to hear what people think about just the world, how
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: they see the world, because I, obviously, as a traveler,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: understand and see it so differently than so many other people,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: and my friends in Beijing are are in Beijing. I
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: gotta go to chalk Shaw because I have friends in Changshaw.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I got friends around.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I gotta Yeah, I gotta travel to more cities next time,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: But this time I'm just going to go to Beijing,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: see my Beijing friends, and hopefully get a couple interviews
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: on Mike. I walked so much in Busan going around
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: because I was eating so much high thie which are nori,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: which makes you bloated me, which makes me bloated, and
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: drinking beer with it, which makes me way more bloated.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: So I spent three to five hours every day at least.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Even while I was playing Expedition thirty three, I'd make
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: sure to walk at least three hours a day because
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: I'd go to the all you eat buffet and then
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: I went home and had a whole bunch of norri
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: and beer. And I don't think I got any show too. Actually, well,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I was in Busan, but there's so many more Seltzers
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: now everywhere than there were a decade ago. And I
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: prefer those two beer because they taste good, because it's
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: just tasty. It's not like sour yeast byproduct tasty fruit
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: juice that gets me a bit tipsy, and I can
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: eat my norri play video game.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: It was a good day.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: And then I just walk around in Busan and it's
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: such a nice at least the district I'm in, Heyende
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: is such a nice district to walk around. And there's
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: so many trees. No matter where I am, even in
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the middle of the district or the more touristy parts,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: there's always some green pathway, giant rivers, beautiful bridges. There's
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: exercise gems, green grass and like native plants, not just
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: boring grass like monocultured grass, and all kinds of different trees.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: It is a beautiful city. I really like Bussan. Oh,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: and exercise parks. I mentioned that I love exercise parks.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: I love being outside and just happening upon a pull
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: up bar and being able to do my exercises for
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: the day. I also am still doing some kind of
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: arms exercises, some kind of abs exercises, and then I'm
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: walking and I like jumping up on walls and stuff.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: So I assume my legs are getting enough exercises.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I just do basic calisthenics every day, some amount of calisthenics.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: And it's a lot easier when if I'm walking around
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: a city, there happened to be adult jungle gyms, exercise
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: parks all around the city, just waiting for someone to
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: strengthen their body. Calisthenics Is that the right word? Strength training?
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Bodyweight that's what Yeah, bodyweight exercises, that's calisthenics, right, Yes,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: I just checked to make sure that I was using
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: the right word and I wasn't saying something like I
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: don't know aerobics, calisthenics, body weight exercises. How long has
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: it been now, it's been years since I started doing
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: this Where I was I think I started with like
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: a daily reminder on my phone do like twenty push ups,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: twenty setups and yeah, and as long as I did those,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: then good. And it really made a difference in my life.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I was getting frail because all I did was play
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: video games and walk around every day still even go running.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: But I was spending a lot of time. I was retired,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: so I was just not I was reading whole books
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: for the whole afternoon, or reading a comic, or playing
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: a video game or watching movies, and then it'd be
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: time for dinner. And then i'd go back and be like, well,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: I'm still kind of fit. Whatever, it's not so bad.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: And if I need to lose weight then I would
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: just go running and eat less for a few days.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: But I didn't feel as strong as I usually did,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: so I started, yeah, started making myself do some amount
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: of push ups and steps every day. And now that's
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: just arms, abs and legs daily. Just do something and that.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I don't know, it's really been helping me. I feel
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: much better these past few years since I started doing that.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: When did I start doing that, I don't know, A
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: few years whatever, who cares. So I really enjoy walking
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: along the coast of Bussan, specifically hand Just. I liked
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: the beach a whole lot. That first night, like I said,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: the water was super violent and crazy and the ways
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: were crashing, and I was wondering if that's what the
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: ways were always like. But every other day I was there,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: they were pretty calm. Maybe it was a nighttime thing,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: because I walked during the day out all across the
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: entire coast of Handay and it was always pretty pretty calm,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: to the point that I saw people swimming in the bay.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: It was still chilly, but it was perfectly comfortable, and
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: it got hot a couple of the days that I
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: was there, so spring was coming and people were happy
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: to go swimming in the ocean. And it looked pretty nice.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Smelled pretty strongly of kelp, but that's not a terrible smell,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: and I think there was a bunch of buoys out
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: on the ocean. I was wondering if there were some
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: kind of kelp farm or something. Yeah, I have no idea,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: but it was. It's just so pretty. There's a really
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: nice ocean, and then right on shore there's green everything.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: There are hills sloping up all around, and there are
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: clean freshwater rivers and so many paths to go on,
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: so many hiking place to go on. And then it's
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: still busan. It's still the city. So the all you
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: can eat bffets right there, and crabs seafood restaurants are
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: all around, and there's a huge shopping mall that was
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: really nice and just absolutely beautiful city and a beautiful
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: district of the city especially. Oh and I mentioned it
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: was cherry blossom season, so there were cherry blossoms like
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: everywhere for the first four or five days, and the
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: petals were falling, and there were enormous piles that the
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: wind naturally sculpted into, you know, in corners or around corners,
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: and it just looked so pretty. All the sidewalks looked
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: beautiful because there are cherry trees everywhere, so the cherry
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: blossoms were everywhere. It was a lot of fun walking
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: around Buson all the time. I like walking around Busson.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: I kind of want to go back, but I don't
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: know any Korean, so I probably will start studying that
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: at some point, which will be difficult, but not actually difficult,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: because after you learn a second language, it becomes very
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: apparent that well, if you learned a second one, then
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: you can learn a third one and then go on.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: And I like to self study with languages, and due
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Lingo offers Korean as well as ever a bunch of
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: thirty other languages, so I can at least start on
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that and see how I feel about it. I don't
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: understand their writing system at all, but I didn't understand
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Chinese or Japanese before I started studying those either, and
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: I like writing systems. Cherry blossoms. The whole city absolutely beautiful.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I had Okay, I'll say it again, I had more seltzer.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Almost every day, I had one or two cans of
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: lemon seltzer, and then I would get a huge, like
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: two liter bottle or two one liter bottles of Seltzer water,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: just pierce sparkling water, and then I mixed that in,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: so I only had two beers really, but I had
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I split those into like six different beers so that
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I could keep drinking just a little bit.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: But it was mostly water.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: And then I was eating all the norri I could
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: possibly eat, and I loved that stuff. And the mall
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: I mentioned was really nice. That's where I found the
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: first seaweed, at a supermarket inside the mall. But the
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: mall's constructed with an open roof like half the time,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: so there are hallways and the hallways are roofed, but
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: it's open. There's a bunch of open courtyards and spaces,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: and there's outdoor markets in between the regular shops and
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: the mall, and it's all open air, so it feels
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: it's a very comfortable place to walk. And of course,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: like every well has some busson. It's completely clean and beautiful,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: and there's cobblestones in some places, but mostly paved stones,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: and it's huge. It is enormous. It's like city block
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: sized this mall. So a few times I just walked
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: around that mall and like, instead of walking, if I
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: was out during the day and the sun was really bright,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: I could walk in this open air mall, mostly shielding
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: myself from the sun, but just walking around and looking
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: at all the hand crafted soap stalls and whatever they
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: were selling. And it was large enough that I could
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: spend a couple hours walking around without having to go
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: in like the same circuit of the same indoor area
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: of many traditional malls. It was very well constructed and
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: very comfortable to walk around, and there were bathrooms everywhere
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: and free water from filtered water dispensers everywhere in the mall.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: So yeah, very comfy spot. And there's a supermarket right there,
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: and they still had a bunch of prep ready meals,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: but I didn't get any of those because I was
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: eating nori all day every day. Okay, I talked about
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: the perfect Bussan buffet that was, like I would be
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: happy eating there every day for months. Probably I would
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: just go there anytime I wanted food. I mean, six
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: dollars for all you can eat rotating dishes at a buffet.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Everyone's nice because they're like, oh, here comes that foreigner
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: who loves Korean food, and people love it when you
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: love their culture and food is a huge part of
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: so many cultures.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: That it was.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a friendly, wonderful cafeteria to go to
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: every day and eat as much as I wanted and
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: rotating dishes. So some days they'd have like this meat
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: that I hadn't had before, and I would just be like, Okay,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I guess I'm getting six plates of this meat before
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: I go walk around for three hours. And because I
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: don't know when I'll have it again, and I don't
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: know if I've had it before, it might just be
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: a call be like a very normal thing, but I haven't.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: I certainly haven't had this type of meat in South
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Korea before. I have had the egg with meat inside it,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: and it's never tasted very good, and this one was
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: super tasty, even unheeded, which I wish that was.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: The only proble.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: If they just just the meat dishes, just heat those
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: like three dishes that you have, and it would have
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: been perfect. Four point five stars out of five. But
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: it's impossible to complain about this place because I loved it,
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: and I went every single day. Oh you know, it
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: was interesting. My last day in Korea, I don't even
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: know if I was there seven I think I was
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: there seven days, but it might have been six days.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I was there quite briefly.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Because my plan was to go on to Mongolia. My
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: friends in Beijing asked me to stop and go hang
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: out with them in Beijing for a couple weeks on
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: my way to Mongolia, since I have to fly through
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: there anyway, and that is a great idea. So I
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: decided to do that. So Korea. I just it had
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: been so long since I'd been in South Korea, and
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: even though I never liked going to Seoul, except for
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: the cartoon museum with Rocks, I always want to give
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: another chance. I always, and there's always something more to discover.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: So I'm so glad I stopped in Busan for a
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: week because now South Korea is a very interesting country
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: to me again, which because I had only been to Seoul,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I was judging all of their cities and also just
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: the country on my poor experiences in Seoul. Really, my
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: bored experiences in Seoul. It's not a disgusting city or anything.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: It's just it did not hold my interest. But I
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: also went there in the very beginning and I was
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: only there for two days at a time, and I
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: don't know. I bet if I went back to Seoul
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: now I would like parts of the city. But now
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: I'm very interested after spending time in hand day, going
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: to smaller towns around Korea and just just maybe landing
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: in Korea and just walking around backpacking through Korea like
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I like to do, because that seems like a fun
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: place to do that. I think they have public baths too.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure, but there was definitely some public baths
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: listed in Korea, so I got to look into that
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: if I go back, cause I love that I have
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: all of Japan to do that. I can backpack across
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: a country and stay clean because they have the public
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: baths everywhere. But if there are two countries that do that,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: if I can also backpack across South Korea and use
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: the public baths to stay clean and launder mask to
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: wash my clothes, that would be that would double my happiness,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: my backpacking happiness. Okay, so that was mostly. I usually
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: don't drink beer or anything the day before I leave
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: a place because I hate to I hate to be
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: hungover at all, or I just don't like to feel
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: that at all before I get on a plane. If
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: I feel good, planes are perfectly comfortable. But if you know,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: if I feel a little bit nauseous or just cloudy
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: in my head or anything, I want to make sure
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: I'm doing all the entry procedures right. I just want
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: to feel comfortable, basically, And if I drink a bunch
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: of beer, I know I'm going to be like sweating
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: out alcohol, so I'll be that stinky guy on the plane,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: which I don't want to be. And I just don't
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: want to feel crabby if I have to wait in
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: a line for customs or something, which that was not
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: a problem at all in Bussan. That was five minutes
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: and I was right through and it was the same
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: one I left and got on the plane to Beijing.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: So let's go over the last day in Korea, because
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: it was very interesting. I decided to go to the
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: buffet again. No surprise, I went there every single day
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: in Bussan. I thought, maybe you'll get tired of it,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: let's see. But after a week and rotating dishes every day,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: like a third of them were rotating every day, just like, no,
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: why would I not go here every day for my
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: main meal.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: It's perfect.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Six dollars all you can eat, delicious food with all
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: the koreanside dishes I can want, and a different main
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: dish each day. It's perfect, and the people are nice,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: and there's windows, and it's next to it's not loud,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: it's a quiet cafeteria.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: It's just great, just a great place.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: So I went there again, and then on the way back,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: I was like, you know what, you're in Korea. Just
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: get your favorite snack, nori. Just get it again. Have
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: some nori the day before you go. It's only a
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: two hour flight to Beijing. You'll feel fine. So I
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: grabbed one seltzer and some sparkling water and some norri,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: and then I asked a guy, Oh, they were out
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: of the lemon seltzer that I'd been taking. I think
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: I took all event over that week. And he looked
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: and restocked it, and then he was like, hey, so
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: where are you from? And he started talking to me,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: and he turned out not to be an employee of
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: that store. Particularly he supplied all the stores. He drove
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: the truck to supply everywhere. And he looked at the
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: seaweed I had and he was like, hey, if you
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: like that, I have seaweed that's technically expired, so I
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: have to pick it up from all the stores and
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I can just give you free Norri. And I was
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: like what, And I was like, give me five. No.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I wanted to just be like, well, give me everything
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: you have and I'll just eat it over the next
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: twelve hours. But of course I'm not a troll, so
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I didn't ask for everything. But he was like, yeah, man,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: just like pay for this stuff. Put that seaweed back,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: go outside around and the truck right next to the
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: store right now, that's my truck, and I'll just give
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: you a bunch of Norri.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: And that's what I did.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: And I was like, am I living in a dream?
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: And I went out and the guy I paid for
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: the beer and I think I just got the beer,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: and then that he had just restocked one outside saw
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: the truck and the guy was rooting around in there
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: and he came out with a sixteen pack of Norri
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: and gave it to me, and I was like, thank
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: you so much. And we talked a little bit and
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I told him I was traveling and he was.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Like, that so cool.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: I'm driving a truck and I was like, that's cool too,
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: And it seemed like a pretty nice job, especially in Korea,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: and he seemed very happy. Oh and he gave me
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: an extra snack too. He gave me a sixteen pack
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: of Nori, but he also gave me a pack of
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: like fish flavored crackers that seemed very popular in Korea.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: And they were fine, but it's a bread, you know,
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: it's flower snacks. I don't eat a lot of cookies
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: and crackers and stuff. But that's okay because I had
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: the Norri and I could see he had like hundreds
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: of these sixteen packs that he was taking back to corporate,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: I guess because the expiration went and I was like, what.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Are you doing with that food?
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: But that's how production works these days. So that's how
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: I spent the last day in Korea. I went back
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: to my hotel room that was nice, opened the window,
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: let the fresh air go over, me ate a bunch
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: of norri, drank that one seltzer and sparkling water mixed
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: drinks that turned into four mixed drinks, and then and
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: then it was only like eight pm, seven pm as
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: I was like, I guess I got to go back
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: because I need more nori if I'm already having my party.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: And I went back and bought more nori this time,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: and another Seltzer and another big thing of sparkling water.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: And it was really fun last day in Korea and
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: I had a great time. Oh and then I had
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: to get back to the airport the next day, which
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: was not super easy because the instructions were in Korean.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: There were too many options to register for the bus. Okay,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: it was easy to get back to the airport from
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: where I was, and that the transportation in Busan's amazing,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: and a whole bunch of it was translated into English.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: But there were several QR codes to scan, and it
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: said I had to register for the bus before the
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: bus came or they wouldn't let me on, and it
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: said like super important, very strictly followed. And then I
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: was trying to register and it just was not happening,
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: and the poor English translation wasn't helping on any of
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: the websites I was on, and there were several websites
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: to try, but it my registration for this airport bus
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: just didn't work. But then the bus arrived and I
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: just showed him the error message on the phone and
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: he was like, do you want to pay? He said
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: something cree. I was like, I don't know, and I
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: just pulled out ten thousand one or whatever it is,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: I don't can't remember and gave it to him and
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: he was like, oh, cash, yes, and he said cash.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I remember that.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: He was like, oh cash, yes, yes, and he just
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: took the cash and I got on the bus. So
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: you don't need to register for the airport shuttle, and
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: I didn't need to register for it when I came
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: into the city, so I was confused why the sign
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: said that, But it said very strictly, you must register.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: It's all cash lists. You're not allowed to use cash.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: It said that explicitly. But when he showed up, he
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: asked for cash, when I said I don't. I didn't
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: pay for an online. I just gave him cash and
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: got straight to the airport super easy, got on that plan.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Actually, you know what.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: I got there early, a few hours early, and I
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: was walking around the airport and it's been like a
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: couple of years since I've properly been in Beijing by myself,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: and I would be traveling around just seeing my friends
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: like I used to do. So I was kind of
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: excited and I was like, going to China. But I'm
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: in the Busan airport, so you know, I'm looking around
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: and I don't really know who's Japanese or Korean or Chinese.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: And I was like, I wonder where we're all going,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Like which of these people in the waiting area is
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: going to come with me to Beijing and we'll land together.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: And then I looked. I looked over and there's this
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: girl with you know, lacquered nails. They're longer, like a
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: like very tasteful makeup done. She's wearing a fancy little
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: skirt and tights and she has like fluffy fake fur
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: a coat and a handbag and boots and she looks
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: like super fancy, except that one of her manicured nails
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: is stuck up her nose and she's just like rotating
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: it and trying to scrape out whatever is up that
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: nostril with her with her finger. And I was like, Eh,
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: she's going to China. There's there's the Chinese, there's the China,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: I know. And if that doesn't ring a bell, I
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: might I think I mentioned this but like I'm sure
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: I did. Like my first day in China or whatever,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: the first work day in China, I got on the
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: subway to get to the middle of the city where
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: the school was, and I saw this beautiful girl and
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: I was like, Holy crap, she's gorgeous. And I mean,
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: I'm I think that every time I go literally anywhere,
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: but I was on the subway and I was like, Wow,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: she's so pretty. And then this beautiful girl on the
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: subway right across from me, and it's not an empty subway,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: there's tons of people, just very casually, without turning her
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: head or anything, same thing, large nail sticks. Her sticks
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: her finger straight up her nose right in front of me,
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: opens the nostril and just starts excavating her boogers and
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: like looking at him and wiping her finger and then
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: just going right back in. And in all other ways
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: you'd be like, wow, I wonder if this girl's a model.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: But in China, digging your noses so culturally appropriate that
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: people still because this happened right before my flight, like
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: two weeks ago, that I saw this girl doing it,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: now fifteen years later, that beautiful girls who otherwise take
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: a whole bunch of care to the appearance they're giving off. Apparently,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: stick their fingers up their nose and just dig them
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: right in front of you, which is icky. I don't
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: like if anyone's digging their nose in front of me,
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: but it's always you can tell how much work they
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: put into their appearance, and then they just shatter the
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: entire image by shoving their fingers knuckled deep up their
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: nostrils for for not like a oh, I'm wiping maybe
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: her nose, was it? She No, her finger is knuckle
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: deep in her nostril and she's excavating what is in there.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: It's such a crazy thing. But it was so funny
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: because as soon as I'm charged, I was just charging
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: my phone sitting on the floor and one who's going
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: with me to Beijing, and then I saw this girl
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: and I was like, Ah, that's China. She's gone. She's
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: gone to Beijing for sure, because that's not a Korean
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: or Japanese thing. That's not that's not a Southeast that's
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: not an other Asia thing. You're not gonna see that
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: in other countries. That is a specific Chinese behavior, or
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: at least you want. I'm sure there are a small
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: percentage of people in other countries who don't care about
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: what they look. But the only country that I consistently
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: see people who take so much care of their appearance
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: and have no problem digging their nose or like coughing, spitting,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: that's that's China, baby, especially Beijing. So I saw her
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: and I was like, welcome back to Beijing, and I
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: felt fine. I only had a couple few seltzers, like
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: I went that. I had like three trips of nori
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: and seltzer the night before, but it was one seltzer
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: each time that I'd mixed with a bunch of water.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: So I felt fine. Got to the airport early, excited
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: to go back to Beijing, see some friends I haven't
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: seen in a while, and just speak Chinese again, because
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: I can speak Mandarin, and I've traveled to so many
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: countries and I don't speak the language when I land,
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: so it's always nice when I do get back to
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: China because at least I can speak the language. Kind
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: Of like going back to the US, like tons of
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: things I don't like, the not fresh food and no healthcare,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: transportation all that, but at least I can talk to
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: people and speak comfortably and easily, and China is kind
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: of the same way. My Mandarin is certainly not as
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: good as my native English. But when I land in China,
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: every time I visit, I'm like cool, at least I
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: can talk to everyone again, and I'll be able to
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: get around very easily, and turns out very easily. There's
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: so much to talk about in Beijing.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, but I.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: Didn't finish Korea. Wait, there's like a couple more things
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: in Korea. We'll start with Korean melons. South Korean melons
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: are this yellowish orange thing with rind stripes along the fruit,
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: and they're like, I don't know, orange sized dish, but
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: they're a little more ovoid and they tasted like a
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: light bubble gum ice cream candy.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: To me.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: They were crazy, but I hadn't had them that I
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: could remember, so I was going to get some and
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: I just grabbed them because I was like, I don't
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: even know what this fruit is, Korean melon, I'll just see.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: And it was really expensive. It was eight dollars for
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: a box or something, but I was like, whatever, it
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: was more than I thought I was getting. But there
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: were no smaller boxes and I never tried it, so
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: I wanted to try it. And then I rang it
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: up and went outside and there was a Korean guy
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: and he saw he saw me holding the Korean melons
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: and he's like, oh, do you like those? In English?
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: And I hadn't met. There were not a lot of
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: people that spoke English in Busan, but this guy did,
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: and so I was like, oh, I don't know, this
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: is my first time. He's like, oh, they're great, and
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: they're really only in South Korea, like sometimes we export
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: them to other countries, but they're very they're only popular
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: here in South Korea, and in South Korea we all
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: love them because the taste is so unique and it's
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: very sweet.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: It's delicious, and I was like, this is.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: All sounding great.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what I got or how to eat them,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: and he was like, yeah, just open them and eat it.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: That's all the white flesh on the inside, that's the
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: good stuff. So I said, okay, thanks, and then he
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: asked me about why are you traveling?
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: How long are you hear? What have you seen?
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: And I think it's some point I mentioned, like, yeah,
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: part of the reason I love South Korean like detective
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: movies and South Korean movies in general. I love this
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: Korean cinema scene. And he was like, oh, I'm a cop.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: I'm a policeman.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Actually.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: I was like, wow, that's cool. And we talked a
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: little bit about that he was a new cop. He'd
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: been working for a year ish something like that, or
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: maybe it wasn't even year.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: I think it was.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: I think it was like six months or something. He
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: just started work as a cop. Maybe that's why he
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: was still so abuliant and gregarious. And I told my
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: I love the buffets and all the Korean side dishes
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: and food, and Busan was such a beautiful city, and
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: he was like, yeah, that's why I moved here. It's
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: so nice. And I asked him if he had any
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: recommendations for South Korean cop movies, and instead he gave
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: me two recommendations for like South Korean family dramas, but
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: not even dramas.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: It's just like a.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Kid's movie, is how he described it. But it explained
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: South Korean culture really well. And I wrote down the
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: names of them, but I lost both of them, and
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: they really sounded very boring. He even said, like the
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: the movies are super boring, but you'll understand South Korean
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: culture pretty well, and I was like, I don't need
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: I'm not in a lecture course, you know, I'll glean.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: I like to glean.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: I like to throw myself into a country talk to people.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: I like to watch the movies and eat the food
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: and watch people how they behave, and slowly learn learn
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: the language and get the feel for the culture.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: That way.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: I don't necessarily want a specific perspective from one director
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: in this movie to tell me how South Korea works.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: And I have watched many South Korean movies, including just
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: family dramas that I think explain to me fairly well
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: at least some of the basics of family, hierarchy and
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: authority and sort of do it your selfness that seems
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: so strong in South Korea. Okay, but this was interesting.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: I finally, this was the first South Korean who could
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: speak such good English. Actually, besides that seaweed guy, he
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: spoke really good English, but I didn't talk to him
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: that long. The guy who gave me the free seaweed
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: and fish crackers, thanks again, guy. But this cop spoke
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: very good English and was clearly interested in talking to me.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: Want to ask all these questions, so before we stopped talking,
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: I asked him why is this city so clean? Why
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: is Bussan so clean? Like the buildings don't have water stains,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: the statues are clean, there's no bird crap anywhere like
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: the people have, there's no trash on the streets. This
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: is a weirdly clean city. And I don't know why.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: And he told me that it's similar to the fruit
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: I was holding. And there's a Korean saying that I
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: wrote down and then I forgot or deleted because I
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: don't have it now. And it's basically, if it looks good,
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: then it tastes good. Or if it looks good, then
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: it's good. If it looks good on the outside, then
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: it's good on the inside. And he says that this
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: is what he told me, that the Korean that's part
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: of the culture for everything. So if the building looks
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: crappy on the outside, then the business inside is no good,
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: or the hotel inside is no good, or whatever inside
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: is no good. So even my dingy little hotel I
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: was at it looked like the white paint it was
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: just boring painted white building, but the it was clean,
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: like the whole outside of the building was clean, which
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: that might be the first shared apartment or private apartment,
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: shared facility place I've ever lived in that actually was clean,
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: and their toilet was always clean on the inside, and
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: the showers were always clean, and all the rooms were clean.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: So it was really interesting to hear that because I
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: hadn't heard that, and I certainly I think if I
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: went back to Seoul, I didn't get that. When I
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: went to Soul so many times, I never got the
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: impression that it was abnormally clean or well maintained. But
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: that was one of the first things I noticed about Busan,
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: that that everything was clean and maintained. And there's no
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: reason not to believe him because because that's the only
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: explanation I heard for it, and that that makes as
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: much sense as anything else, because every building I went
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: into was immaculate on the outside and the inside. Actually,
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: the supermarket I went to was kind of stinky, but
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: I assume that's because all the meat and kim chi
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: was all around. But yeah, actually the smell was only
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: from the back area. There's one supermarket I went into
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: to get nori, and every time I walked past the
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: room to the back area where they cut up meat,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: that part was not as clean, but that part was
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: not meant for customers. I mean, it was still clean,
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: but you could just smell that's where they butchered the
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: meat that they butchered, which don't smell like roses if
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: you've never butchered meat. So, yeah, I finally got an
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: answer to why Busan was so clean, and it's a
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: pretty satisfying answer, and it makes South Korea sound pretty amazing.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: And I'm not sure exactly how true that is if
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: you are from South Korea or have been there and
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: have more insight than I do who I've been there
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: multiple times, but the total amount of time is probably
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: still less than a month, even though I've been there
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: ten times over the years, probably add up to a
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: month or so. So if you know why Busan is
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: so clean, is it just that the cop is correct
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: that if it looks good on the outside, then it's
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: good on the inside. So they have to maintain a
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: good facade or nobody will believe that whatever's inside the
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: building is any good. That's very interesting. I loved that answer,
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: and I hope that that's correct because then, yeah, I
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: definitely want to go back to other cities in South Korea.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: It's also interesting because it's very clearly you should judge
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: a book by its cover, like that's the message of
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: that saying. But it's a very common saying in Korea.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: According to this cop I met.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: You know, one thing I.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: Forgot to mention. There was this little shack I never
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: went to. The day before I left, I went there
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: and had a beer there and I couldn't not because
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: it was constructed entirely out of beer cans and soda cans.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: So they were fleeced like parallel to the ground and
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: connected somehow I don't even know, and it was just
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: they made so they're okay. So there was a seven eleven.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: There was some convenience store. I think it was a
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: CU actually convenience store, which is the Korean convenience store.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: So that's one The outside wall of this convenience store
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: is one of the four walls of the next structure.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: But then the other three walls were completely made out
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: of beer bottles and beer cans, connected and just hanging down.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: And they seemed pretty sturdy because there was a lot
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: of wind and they didn't blow around or make a
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: lot of noise, but it was But there was a
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: beer can outside eating and drinking area. After you ate
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: at CU, or you bought your stuff at CU, you
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: could take it out into this outside eating area. And
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: there was a bar and guitars hanging on the wall,
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: and a bunch of statues of Korean people, and hardwood
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: benches to sit at, and desks and a keyboard, and
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: the whole hut was constructed out of coke cans and
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: primarily beer cans, Asahi and cass and all the different
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: Korean beers. I know, Asia's Japanese, but a bunch of
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: Korean beer, a bunch of beers, and it looked so cool.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: So I took a picture of it, and then I
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: resolved to have.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: A beer there one day.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: And I got to go in there myself a couple
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: days later and had some kimchi and a beer and
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: it was fun. And I was inside this bizarre creation,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: that this amazing creation was so cool, all right, And
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: then my Busan trip was And then that's everything I
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: remember off the top of my head from my wild
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: week in Busan, in beautiful Busan, and then I got
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: to the airport that girl dug her nose. I got
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: on my airplane and I landed in China and I've
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: only been here a couple of days.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: I will get back to you soon with.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: What's been happening in China, in Beijing, seeing all my
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: friends again, looking at this weird city I haven't been
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: to for years. That is different. Thank you for listening.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: You can talk to me a bit of a rambler
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: at gmail dot com. I am a bit of a
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: rambler on Blue Sky and Lemmy and I'll talk to
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: you soon