Greetings from Taegu, Korea! I finally figured out how to get online via our sales office, but the hotel room does not offer data ports, so my access is very limited.

PRELUDE 9/24

I stayed up late packing and tying up loose ends, so I was only partially awake when I left the apartment at 8:30am. I'm parking the car at my local dealership. Saturn of Santa Ana offers parking and shuttle service for Saturn owners to SNA, maintenance on the car is optional. It's great if you're not in a rush. I had them drop me off at my office instead, which is blocks away from SNA, since the office manager put me on a "shuttle" from the company to LAX for my flight.

The "shuttle" for LAX arrives at 11am, its actually a Lincoln Continental with leather seats! I'm not sure its cheaper than United Express, don't know how they do the numbers.

45 minutes in the carpool lane on the 405 and we arrive at terminal 2 in LAX. There was no line for the business check-in, so the three of us got done in no time, all seated in the upper deck. We get our lounge passes and head to the security gates. I'm carrying 2 laptops, one personal and one business, and the security person needs them out of the cases for x-ray, no need to power them up. She would yell "laptop!" each time one is about to enter the machine. This is new to me.

We reach the lounge by 12pm, a full 2 hours before departure, lots of time. The lounge actually belongs to Air New Zealand, and there's one agent representing Asiana. Doesn't matter, the place is STACKED! There were bottles of liquor on the self-serve bar, and the refrigerator stocked 3 kinds of beer! I grab a Bass Pale Ale and some Lays Baked Chips and sit by a nice large window overlooking the alleyway between terminals 2 and 3. An Access Air 737-200 pulls up to the gate directly below me, and did not leave the gate for the next 2 hours, looks like a mechanical. The lounge soon began to fill up, mostly with Air New Zealand passengers. I got myself some Peppridge Farms cookies, a Coke, some water, and more baked chips - they're good! I watched our plane land, and we took bets on whether they can turn it around in an hour and a half. I lost - the boarding announcement was 15 minutes late. I can hear announcements of first and business class boarding only, but a gaggle of people clogged the entrance anyway. A security-looking guy was posted before the gate agent to filter out the wrong passengers.

[This message has been edited by Indurain (edited 10-10-1999).]

LAX-SEL OZ201 9/24

My first experience on OZ. Upon entering the aircraft, I was greeted by no less than 4 separate crew members. The area leading to the stairs has economy seats, not business. I stow the roller and a laptop in the closet, and settle into 14B. The cabin is a little dated, and rather disappointing. The seats are comfortable, but the upholstery shows its age. No individual screens, no laptop power, no phone, and the center console is loose. The tray table sticks and is encrusted with vintage sauces. In comparison, the Korean Air flight on the last trip had a much newer cabin.

The crew, on the other hand, is top notch. I'm offered a drink right off the bat - I choose orange. There were smiles everywhere, and that just brightens things no matter what. I asked the FA with dimples (Ms. Kwon) if I can visit the cockpit. She says yes, and asks me to follow her to the cockpit. I was momentarily speechless at the sight of all the buttons and gauges. There were three cockpit crew (one relief pilot), and we spoke briefly. I mentioned that I am I student pilot, and it livened things up a bit. They're ready for push back, so I was asked to return to my seat, but was they invited to visit once airborne! WOW!

The safety video had sign language in addition to English and Korean, and used a mixture of animation and real people. Taxi took a bit longer than usual, and upon rotation, there was a rather disturbing shutter throughout the entire cabin, which continued until we broke through the marine layer.

In-flight service began about 10 minutes after takeoff. I got a hot towel, then a lunch menu. I know most FT'ers light up at the mention of food, so I'll spend some time here. The appetizer was seared tuna, duck breast with oyster sauce and lemon wedge. The tuna was rolled in a fashion similar to sushi. It was very tender, and I like the smoked flavor. The duck breast tasted dry, and I don't think I could taste the oyster sauce. The mixed green salad with oriental dressing had slices of bamboo sprouts (very good!) and cherry tomatoes, all of which were perfect as my obligatory daily green intake required by my better half. I didn't use the dressing, I prefer plain salads, but the dressing tasted pretty good - its very light, and there are sesame seeds in there.

Main course was a choice of beef short rib "bul-gal-bi" accompanied by fried rice, bok choi and baby carrot, or grilled cod fillet fish served with blackened sauce, presented with vegetable rataouille and tomato rice. There is also a Korean specialty choice, but I won't attempt to describe what I don't know. The FAs took the orders from the front, and by the time they got to me, only the beef and the Korean specialty were available, so beef it is. It was served on a VERY hot plate, and the rice is the Asian sticky kind, not the Uncle Ben loose rice. The beef was cooked longer than I like, but the sauce was very good. The baby carrots were steamed and kept too long, so they were too soft for my liking. The main course was followed by cheese and fresh fruits. Two kinds of cheese were available, but I don't know what's what. There were berries, fruit preserves (fresh fruit?), and very sweet grapes. Last but not least, a carrot cake for dessert. I've got a huge sweet tooth, so this was obviously my favorite dish. Oh, I was also offered port wine, which I've never tried before. I thought it tasted like low octane cognac. One last thing, there was a set of porcelain salt & pepper shakers in its own little tray with the Asiana emblem on them. However, they didn't find their way to my coat pocket by accident. In fact, they were collected from each tray and stored separately, so it would be obvious if they were missing.

The crew of 3 is very efficient, and the upper deck was fed and cleared rather quickly. Then the FAs began peddling duty free stuff, and I waited anxiously for them to finish so I can ask about my cockpit visit. The lights were dimmed for the first (forgot the name) of 2 movies. I wasn't interested in this one but "October Sky" is the second movie, and I heard it was good. However, at this point I was even more interested in heading up front and seeing the September Sky for myself! I even went back to the closet to dig out my camera with the help of Ms. Kwon, whose dimpled smile reminds me of my ex (it a good thing).

Unfortunately, when she asked, the captain said they are changing crews in 2 hours, and it would be better after the change. Oh well, what's a little more waiting, UA mileage statements have trained me well for that. I returned to my seat and closed my eyes. By the time I woke up, both movies were done! I went back to get some water. While I was drinking, the other FA told me the captain says I can visit now! I grabbed the camera and followed the FA. The flight deck was much brighter than the upper deck cabin. There wasn't much to see out the front windows, clouds had smeared out the horizon. The captain, Mr. Park, and the first officer were very friendly and we spoke of their flying experience, my flying experience, and the cockpit instruments. Captain Park was an F-4 pilot with the ROKAF, but the first officer came through ab-initio training. They were very patient in answering my questions - transoceanic navigation is by IRS, similar to INS, communications at this point is via HF, the navigation computer shows waypoints by coordinates, they don't use GPS for navigation! I also asked why we headed west so early, near San Francisco instead of Portland like my last trip, and they explained that we needed to do that to avoid the jetstream further north. As is, we had about a 50kt headwind. The FA tried to take pictures for me in the cockpit, but I didn't set the film properly, and it took the captain to correct it! The first officer even let me sit in the right seat, and took a picture for me! I would hate myself if these pictures don't turn out because I screwed up the film! I was in there for a total of maybe 10 minutes, what an experience! I tried to nap after that, but there was no way. I ended up watching America's Funnies Home Videos and Tom and Jerry on the overhead monitor.

There was snoring all around me, and later in the flight, there seemed to be a problem with odor control in the aft lavatory. Over Japan, a "snack" was served that put US domestic meals to shame. Appetizer of smoked salmon, scallops, and marinated vegetable salad with Italian dressing. The salmon was excellent in both quality and quantity! The slices felt like they just melted in my mouth. The salad had sliced red and green bell peppers as well as zucchini, and the dressing tasted like it had a little too much vinegar. A choice of lemon chicken with fried rice or vegetable Lasagna with broccoli and cherry tomatoes was available. I chose the chicken. Very well done, the chicken was very juicy, not dry, and the sauce was excellent. Desert is tiramisu cake, one of my favorites, and it was heaven. Meanwhile, there was a Korean sports show on the monitors, and one of the segments featured '99 TDF champion Lance Armstrong! It is a very good show.

I noticed many of the passengers weren't wearing their seatbelts, even though the flight was rather bumpy most of the time. After cleanup, there was a short stretching and exercise video, with Ms. Kwon doing the demo. I thought it was a good idea to have stretches before arrival. We land just about on time, and roll into the gate quickly.

SEL-TAE KE1519 9/25

We were in a panic, we had about 50 minutes to go through immigration and customs, make the connection, and domestic flights are in a different terminal accessible by bus only. We breeze through immigration and customs, get some Korean currency, and head for the shuttle stop. The bus showed up after 5 minutes and brought us there pretty quickly. Check in was pretty quick at the English agent, and I decided to check my roller just in case the flight was full. Enter the boarding pass-required gate area, go through yet another x-ray and metal detector, and gate 29 was right in front of us. When all was done, we had about 10 minutes to boarding time! I hand my boarding pass to the gate agent, and she says they require a passport number on the boarding pass. No problem, write it down and try again. I have seat 49A, but they don't start with 1 on the MD-82, instead, the first row is 28 - go figure.

KE1519 has an all-coach configuration, and its about 60% full. The seat pitch is better than United Shuttle. The aircraft is very old, but clean. I have the exit row over the wing, and I notice there is no extra room! In fact, my seat would actually obstruct parts of the exit if an emergency were to occur! The one good thing, consistent with all Asian airlines, is the courtesy of the crew. I must have been greeted by every single staff except for the cockpit crew, and as I examined the safety card, an FA came over and turned on the overhead light for me. However, I do question the capability of these FAs to handle an emergency. I suspect they emphasize customer service, while US airlines emphasize safety. Why can't we just have both? Domestic flights in Korea are bilingual, with all announcements repeated in English. The safety demonstration was very brief, consisting of a demo of seat belt operation, and please review the safety card in front of you. After push back, the ground crew stood in a line and waved goodbye to the entire aircraft. We depart on time, the flight was brief, cruising at 17,000 feet, with a total time of 45 minutes.

It is amazing how an efficient crew can serve drinks to all passengers and clean up within 40 minutes. Once again, lots of passengers unbuckled their seatbelts before the light was turned off. We arrive on time, and I can see some F-4s in the hardened shelters. Exiting was done at the front and rear of the aircraft - there were no jetways. Baggage arrived on the belt shortly after us, talk about efficiency! We exit the airport only to be hounded by taxi drivers with exorbitant fares.

[This message has been edited by Indurain (edited 10-10-1999).]

Excellent detailed reports! I'd love the kind of cockpit visit you were allowed.

Very nice report. No kimchee to eat on entire flight? I'd have been disappointed. http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Great report... http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks for the great report Indurain.

Very nice 5-star report!

Yet another conference call back home, and my return has been pushed back a week to 10/8. For my troubles, I managed to move my flights to UA, and I'm a semi-happy camper now. I'll have the details for my stay in Taegu shortly. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to get me some more kimchee. Now, if only I can find a place that serves souju...

Super trip report, Indurain. Looking forward to hearing more.

Are you really having a hard time finding Souju?.

Try the local 7-11 or LG convience store.. The stuff in the blue glass bottle isn't bad, but the souju in the drinking boxes are much cheaper!

If you're looking to go out for Souju and you have some time in Seoul, take a cab to Iteawon and then head up "the hill". to get there you walk down Iteawon road towards the hannam bridge make a right at "Inca" and then take your first left up "the Hill". It gets pretty wild at night so go with a group of your friends. It shouldn't cost you more then 6000W for a 2 Litre Souju Slurpee at any of the kettles on your way up...

If you have any problem getting to the hill just ask your friendly US MP (they are all over the place at night) and they'll point you the way!

Are you enjoying the commericals on AFKN? I like the one that teaches you that you should drink water when you are out shooting stuff!

Also if you have free time in seoul try going to technomart (On the subway it's green line stop No#14).. Or if you have your price club card you can see the huge one on the purple line at "Yong dung poo gu office station" (make sure you get off at the one title "office station"!) It's just like back home but they have a large sea food section!

Enjoy the ROK...

-Ty

Thanks for the recommendations Ty. I'm staying in Taegu, and commuting to Gumi (Kumi) daily. The way things go, I will probably not see Seoul other than Kimpo airport. We have not found Souju because we eat at restaurants that cater to tourists, and they make more money selling the more expensive stuff. I'm posting the experiences for the first few days shortly, and the remainder will come at the conclusion of next week.

[This message has been edited by Indurain (edited 10-01-1999).]

TAEGU 9/25-9/29

Haggling with the airport cab driver is not uncommon, and not unexpected. However, this time we haggled with the taxi equivalent of a "pimp," who directed us to a cab after we talked down the cost from the airport to the hotel from $20k won to $10k. The drive lasted no more than 10 minutes, but the driver insisted on $15k when we got to the hotel.

Its warm here, with high humidity, but its much cooler than early August. In fact, compared to the last trip, the weather is rather pleasant. Check in at the Grand hotel was very quick, we got rooms at the 11th floor, just under the top floor containing the karaoke bar. The hotel was built in '93, but signs of age are very apparent. It is rated as a four-star hotel, and the staff certainly shows four-star courtesy, but the moldy hallways and low ceilings do not convey that quality. My room is average sized for a Holiday Inn, and there is a high-priced mini bar. The only 110v outlet is in the bathroom, built into the hair dryer wall unit that has a vacuum cleaner-like hose attachment. Doesn't matter, I brought adapters for the power outlets here. Once inside the room, you need to insert the key card into a slot in the wall to activate electricity - an energy-saving feature no doubt, but I like the air running to keep circulation during the day. The phone does not have a data port, but the front desk says I should be able to connect to the laptop via the phone cable directly. No such luck. I'm not even sure if the pin configuration on the phone jack is the same as the US standard. Oh well, no Internet access, and no FlyerTalk… There are several Korean channels on TV, an sports station in Chinese, plus the Armed Forces Network for US servicemen.

First impression of Korea is construction. There are lots of construction of apartment highrise buildings, roads and express ways. Everywhere you look, you'll see either Samsung, LG, Hyundai, or Daewoo. About 99% of all cars, trucks, trailers, construction vehicles have Korean brands. People here are very friendly, and most can speak a word or two of English. I don't know why, but most people here say I look Korean, and some go out of their way to replace my English menu with a Korean one! Drivers are more aggressive on the roads, but they also exhibit certain courtesies like turning off their headlights at the stop light, or turning on emergency flashers momentarily when there is a sudden stop in traffic.

The work days for me begin with an 8am wake up call, a conference call back to the home office, and the bulk of the day at the customer's site, return to the sales office for some emails, and head to dinner at 9:30pm. We had breakfast the first few days at the hotel, which is nothing to write home about, just your typical continental breakfast with O.J., eggs, bacon and toast. Lunch is always at the customer's cafeteria, a place I've heard horror stories about, both in food and operation. It consists of typical Korean cooking with generous portions of kimchee. One thing worth noting is the stainless steel bowls, plates, chopsticks, and trays. The place is an assembly line in perfection! The only comparison I can make is with a military chow-line.

Dinners have been more interesting. There is a TGI Fridays near the hotel, which we're all aware of, having been here once before. It has become the de-facto place for dinner because the other guys are not used to Korean food. It's the typical TGIF décor, but with a slight Korean twist that's hard to put into words. I had the mushroom steak mushroom, medium rare. There were fried mushroom balls and a cheese covered steak, with mushrooms underneath. I've never had cheese on steak, and it was quite an interesting taste, which is not bad, but not really what I want on steak. It was washed down with a poorly mixed Long Island Iced Tea. There is no smoking/non-smoking sections here, so I came back to the hotel smelling like cigarettes.
The second night, we went to a local Korean barbeque place, which had no chairs. We had to sit on the floor, with a short-legged table. There were lots of traditional Korean dishes, with plenty of kimchee. Slabs of beef were cooked on the table top heater, and cut down with scissors. You dip it into a garlic vinegar sauce. There was another dish which was heated over the other stove, with beef strips, and assorted vegetables. The sauce was rather sweet. The most interesting dish, however, is fried silkworm. That's right! SILKWORM! I've had bugs in survival training, but I don't consider them a delicacy. I finally gave into peer pressure and tried one. Lets just say its does not taste like a nut, and you'll end up tasting it for the rest of the evening. We finished the night at the bar within the hotel, and the bartenders were really nice. I had 2 Long Island Iced Teas, which tasted like cough medicine because of the extra Rum in there. However, I was feeling much better.

Tuesday is similar, with breakfast at the hotel, lunch at the customer's, and dinner on our own. We ended up going to TGI Fridays, and I had the filet mignon. I have a feeling we'll eat there a few more times before the week is over. The Oak bar at the hotel was packed tonight for some reason, and the lady behind the bar apologized profusely, and asked us to come back in a half hour, but we called it a night instead.

TGI Fridays again on Wednesday night, and I had the grilled salmon this time. We stopped into the Oak bar, and it was empty. I had a Red Rock and a Belgian beer at TGIF, and continued with a Long Island iced tea and a bottle of Cass, a local brew that's very light. The buzz put me to sleep right away, and I slept like a baby. The others had hangovers during the conference call, and I was feeling a bit more sleepy.

We found out on Thursday that we need to extend our stay by a week, now returning on 10/8. I called to reschedule my flights, and to put me on United this time. I've not figured out how get the new tickets, or what to do with the old tickets. For Thursday 's dinner, we thought we'd try something else, since TGI Fridays is getting a bit old by now. We wanted to try the American style restaurant at the hotel, but it was closed by 8pm. There were some other restaurants on the same floor - Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. We chose the Chinese one, and the name on the door says "Phoenix City" in Chinese characters. Not being familiar with Asian cuisine, my colleagues let me do the ordering. We had shark fin soup, which had mushrooms, shrimp, crab meat, sea cucumber, and shark fin slices, fried shrimp balls, with a very good brown sauce, lobster chunks with vegetables, and kung pao chicken. All that was washed down with a half-liter bottle of Lager beer each. Lager is a local brew, similar to light beer. We turned in early, deciding to do the bar thing every other day. The dial up from the hotel room is still not working, and I'm just about given up on it.

[This message has been edited by Indurain (edited 10-10-1999).]

Looking forward to the next installation of this excellent trip report series!

TAEGU 10/1-10/3

The novelty of being in a foreign country has worn off a bit by now, and I'm feeling the effects of a combination of work-related issues that we've all experienced at one point or another. We've had very little rest, and are running out of restaurants the other guys can stomach. As a result, I'm feeling a bit homesick, and am not looking forward to another week here. However, this is a trip report, not a gripe forum, so I'll end the whining here.
Our local rep told us there is a "festival" in Taegu this weekend, and all the hotels are fully booked. Since we already have rooms, we were able to extend our stay to next Friday. However, another colleague arrived on Friday, and he had to be booked in another hotel, Young Han, for the weekend. It is just across the street from the Grand, and facing a giant jumbotron screen. These jumbotron screens, 3 of them within the area, are super bright and very clear. The problem is, however, rather obvious if you had a room with a direct view to one of these tanning machines. We jokingly asked the colleague if he had brought sunscreen. Luckily for him, the screens go dark at night.

We have been leaving work around 7pm of late, and getting back to Taegu around 9pm. As a result, there are not many restaurants to choose from. In addition, the others are not receptive to the local cuisine, and that leaves us with less than a handful of choices. Tonight we decided to try the restaurant at the Young Han hotel, Yuppie, which has photos of steak on its posted menu. The restaurant is very nicely appointed in marble and wood, with a stage opposite the bar which featured live singers. I order my usual Long Island iced tea, but the waitress didn't understand the order, so I end up getting a Manhattan, which I've never had before. For dinner, I had the salmon and halibut filet with garlic toast. The Manhattan turned out to be more like cough syrup than the Long tea, but it did have a cherry in it. The garlic toast arrived with a little basket of jam and butter, and the toast was hard as a rock. The main course was decent, but I've had better. The two pieces of fish, which were rather dry and rubbery, were prepared in a mushroom sauce, with some baby carrots and a cheese-covered potato on the side. The first singer was a Korean man who sang songs by Meat Loaf, Billy Joel, and the Eagles, but he was butchering the lyrics rather badly at times. He did play the guitar and the piano rather well, and I'll give him credit for that. Another man played the sax in a few instrumentals, and then the apparent headliners appeared. It was a duo of Korean women, one of whom was considered rather attractive by our table. Some of us also thought one of the waitresses in a red outfit (they had red and black outfits, don't know the significance) was tall, attractive, and had a killer smile.

The dinner was overpriced, but the others apparently had much higher regard for the place than I. Some of us ended up returning to the bar later, to have a few more drinks and to check out the scene. I had three more Heinekens, and felt largely ignored by the red waitresses, who were paying way too much attention to another man at the bar. 9 or 10 Heinees cost us nearly $100k won, almost as much as the dinner itself. I felt unsatisfied and burned, and wanted to stop by the Oak bar in our hotel after walking back, but found that it closed at 2am, instead of 5am as the barmaid had told us. The night ended on that note.

Saturday was another work day, and any thoughts of coming back early were quickly erased when we got there. The weather had also turned on us, with a light drizzle almost the entire day. However, it also cooled things down quite a bit. We didn't leave work until 8pm this time, and the cab ride brought us back after 9pm. I should also mention that since the arrival of the 4th colleague, we no longer fit in one car, so we had to travel by cab from time to time, and the "deluxe" taxi is highly recommended. They are usually black, with leather seats, simulated wood trimming, working air conditioning, and a much more courteous driver. Some of the deluxe cabs even have candy in the arm rest console, and a LCD TV screen for the back seat. The other guys wanted the Yuppie restaurant again, so we walk over there after putting things away in the rooms. We noticed there were quite a few attractive, and tall, ladies hanging out in the lobby, presumably here for the "festival." After some investigation, I think the so-called "festival" is some type of textile show, and that Taegu is known for its textile industry. Oh well, I think I'll pass. By the way, the crosswalk to the other side is about the longest I've ever seen, since the street has 5 or 6 lanes on each side! If you don't catch the green light when it turns green, its best to wait for the next one because you'll probably never make it across!
When we got there, we discovered that the place stopped serving dinner at 9pm, and we've not had a bite since noon! They do serve "snacks" with drinks, so we end up ordering 4 plates of these "snacks" which included salmon slices and shrimp, chicken, beef, and a combo plate. Each plate also had a little side salad, which was very fresh. As it turned out, the slices of salmon were FROZEN! That was interesting to say the least, and none of us had salmon like that. The food was ok, which was my opinion the previous night, and they were washed down with 3 bottles of Heinee each. The red waitress for our table is not the cute one from the previous night, but she also had a very nice smile. The ladies in the live band sang "My Heart will go on" by Celine Dion this night, but they also screwed up a few lines. Nonetheless, they drew applause from most of the crowd, undoubtedly here for the "festival."

The table had a little button, which makes this musical tone when pushed, and the red waitress would come over to serve us. We contemplated pushing the button just so we can say hello and see her, but decided against it, since she doesn't speak English well, and may not appreciate something like that. Oh, speaking of musical tones, I've gotta say, I've heard enough of them here to last me a lifetime. Everyone had a cell phone, and every phone had a different tone (makes sense to tell them apart) and everyone gets calls all the time! Lets just say its annoying and leave it at that.

After the dinner and drinks, we return to our hotel and head for the Oak bar once again. One of the barmaids (the oldest one) recognizes us and comes right over to sit and chat with us. Her English is bad, but I managed to learn a few Korean words to add to my vocabulary. So far I've learned, "yamoseyo" is "hello," "kamsahamida" is "thank you," "anyohaseo" is similar to "aloha" "chunbane" is "you're welcome," "hankuo" is "Korea," "meekuo" is America, and "yunsehjung" is receipt. I probably butchered the pronunciations, so I apologize in advance.

I order my Long tea, the others got white Russian and Heinee. The lady than stayed with us to chat, and drank from the Heineken bottle! None of us have had that happen before, and we were rather shocked. Needless to say, our drinking stopped shortly after that, and they close at 2am anyway. My clothes were once again filled with the smell of smoke, as smoking is rampant, anywhere and everywhere!

Sunday is our first day off since arriving here, and the guys elected to visit some temples instead of sleep in… sigh! We gather at 10am, grabbed a quick bite, and headed out on the deluxe taxi reserved for us. It was a great deal at $150k won for the whole day! The driver is very courteous, speaks some English, and somehow he would always be ready for us when we're ready to leave! The first destination is Pulguksa Temple in Kyongju, which is an hour and a half south-east of Taegu. It sits on a mountain and was constructed some 15 centuries ago. The entire complex is very large and tourism has replaced the original spiritual purpose as the focus these days. Admission is $3,000 won and you follow the stone paths for a tour of the whole place. Upon entering, you're met with a large and well maintained Koi pond, then a gate guarded by some very menacing statues, and then you'll come upon the main entrance to the temples. There are separate temples for the deity where you enter and pray. There is also a temple set aside to display various souvenirs and statues that are for sale. There are many visitors, including some that are obviously US soldiers stationed here. I enjoyed the walk very much, and found the serenity spiritually replenishing, especially given the week I've had so far. I also noticed that in some areas of the temple, there are these stone arrangements, which are stacks of flat stones about 5 or 6 high. Turns out, they are wishes from visitors, for a baby, or to get married, or health, things like that. By the main entrance to the temples, there is a huge bell which is made into miniature replicas offered for sale at the store by the entrance. I picked two of them, one for my parents, the other for the parents of my better half.

The cab driver was already waiting for us when we walked to the parking lot. A scenic, winding drive to the top of the mountain and we reach our second temple, the Sokkuram Grotto. This temple was constructed around 751a.d. and certified one of the world's best Buddhist shrines. Admission is another $3,000 won, and you have to hike for about 20 minutes on dirt trails to reach it. There was a large group of children all dressed in yellow when we arrived, probably part of a tour group. It was an interesting sight, like a sea of Pokymon or something… The shrine itself is very small and simple. The area is enclosed behind glass, and photography is not allowed. I'm not of the Buddhist religion, so I'm not fully aware of the significance of the shrine, but many visitors were very serious and offered prayer there.

It was around 2pm by this time and hunger is high on the priority list. We hit the tourist trap at the bottom, and do I mean tourist trap! There are people placed strategically at intersections to direct traffic to stop. Shop and restaurant owners would literally come to the street to actively solicit to the cab driver and offer parking spaces. Whatever the driver asked was exactly what they offered! Some places even have guys come with you on a moped to make sure you haven't left by mistake! We finally choose a Korean restaurant and made sure it had chairs. I was recommended "buo go gi" and I went with it. We also ordered a bottle of Souju just for kicks. Buo go gi is Korean barbecue which is slightly sweet instead of salty. It came with a bowl of steamed rice, and a bowl of vegetable miso soup in the typical stainless steal bowls. The meal was quite tasty for two out of four of us. After the late lunch, we hit some other tourist shopping spots in Kyongju so we can all pick up something for our significant others to make up for all this time away.

The drive back to Taegu is a blur, I slept the whole way. Dinner is once again at the Yuppie, don't ask me why. I had the filet of beef and king prawns. The hockey-puck-sized cut of beef is well done, not medium rare, and there are two fried prawns with the head still attached. The garlic toast was better this time, and the salad is very fresh. I gave my liver a rest today and only ordered Coke. So, once again, dinner was only ho-hum, and if they suggest the same place again tomorrow, I will protest.

The TV in my hotel room is on a Korean channel showing music videos around the world. What's cool is that the songs have subtitles in their native language, which is mostly English. Gotta get up early tomorrow, so I'm calling it a night.

[This message has been edited by Indurain (edited 10-10-1999).]

Hi folks! Just got home for the first time in 2 weeks. I tried to post a note earlier today while I was at the RCC in SFO, but it didn't work for some reason. Anyway, I will be adding updates for the last week sometime today, since I'll be in SNA, LAX and SJC in a few hours. In the mean time, gotta step in the office and pay some bills! Oh, and I apologize for the long posts, and those to come, I didn't realize how long-winded I've been! I'll try to keep them shorter in the future!

TAEGU 10/4-10/8

Monday, another long day at the customer's facility. Lunch at the cafeteria as usual. The weather is considerably cooler than when I arrived, I think I'm here right smack in the transition from summer to fall. It went from hot and muggy to cool and breezy. The trees have begun to change colors too.

The local sales guy decided to treat us to an authentic Korean barbecue dinner. The restaurant is within walking distance from the Grand Hotel. It is a traditional Korean place where you sit cross-legged in the separate, raised, compartments. There are 3 tables, each with a hot plate, but we only occupied two of them. The meal consist of many different dishes, including marinated beef in long, slotted strips with sesame sprinkles. There were also small dishes of kimchee, pickled radish, boiled vegetables, seasoned dried fish, and water kimchee, which is made from radish and carrots instead of cabbage.

We were going to order beer until I suggested we try the drink featured on a poster in the room. It is Soujumei, which in Chinese translated to "Cherry Blossom Plum in snow," and it's a type of Souju, supposedly more upscale than the stuff we had the night before that smelled like the markers used on white boards. These are in green bottles with a strainer at the spout to prevent plums from pouring out with the drink. It tastes like plum wine, and is very smooth, much more pleasant than the ordinary Souju we had a day earlier. The barbecue beef is marinated in the typical sweet brown sauce, and was excellent. The side dishes were also good, except for a bowl of leafs and green peppers. You're supposed to dip the green pepper into a small dish of reddish sauce, and it was making the most seasoned of the group sweat. I decided to try a tiny little nibble off the side of one of the peppers, and it didn't hit me until I swallowed the little thing. It was HOT! I emptied the water bottle, the Soujumei bottle, and ate whatever I can stuff in my mouth just to drown out the burn! One of the more seasoned spice experts rated the green peppers at 9 out of 10, which meant 50 out of 10 for an amateur like me!

They also brought a bowl of rice with dried plums, and a traditional stone bowl of congee, which I skipped. We finished the night at the Oak bar again, and I had my usual 2 glasses of Long Island iced tea.

Tuesday turned out to be a most interesting day. We were invited to join the customer's team at dinner. The restaurant was somewhere in the outskirts of Kumi, and it's another Korean barbecue restaurant. The food with similar to last night's, with the addition of dishes of RAW cow liver, stomach, and beef. I had a taste of each, and thought they were okay, until my girlfriend reminded me that hepatitis is still rampant in this region. The interesting part came after they brought out the Souju. This was an opportunity for us to bond with our counterparts, and there was a lot of "kam-bei" going around. We also got a first-hand view of the initiation for their newcomers. A drink is set up, consisting of a glass of Cass beer with a pair of chopsticks placed on top of the glass in parallel. On top of the chopsticks is a shot of whiskey. The new employee first makes a small speech, proclaiming his loyalty to the project manager, etc. etc., then assumes a kneeling position and slams his head on the table. The banging is supposed to drop the shot glass into the beer glass, and the guy would down the whole thing while the others cheer on. I was told that another tradition is for the newcomer to down a bowl of Ssouju. I had more "kam-bei" with my counterparts, the team leader, and the manager. By the end of the dinner, I was pretty plastered, but a colleague was in much worse shape. He still can't remember much of the cab ride back to the hotel.

Wednesday is another usual day with the exception that we were all a bit slower because of the drinking last night. We left late once again, and took too long at the sales office. Most restaurants close by 9pm, and two of us decided to turn in early and skip dinner, so there were only 3 of us hunting for a place to eat. We ended up at a local deli, smaller than most convenient stores. In California, the place would have received a "C" or "D" grade for cleanliness. We ordered "mandou" which is similar to dumplings, one of my favorite dishes. It was not too bad with soy sauce, very similar to the Chinese dish.

I called American Airlines international reservations to check on signing my ticket over so I can take the rescheduled United flight, and was placed on hold for quite a while as she checked with her supervisor. I'm not sure if she realized it was an international call which is not toll free. She finally informs me that they can't do anything about it, and I'll have to check with a city ticket office or at the airport.
The nearest ticket office is in Seoul, and I'm better off going to the airport on day of departure. I already knew that, but just wanted to call and make sure there won't be any hiccups on the day of the flight. If all else fails, I can always pay for the new ticket, and get a refund. This has become the mess I was anticipating.

Thursday, my last day in Korea for a while, or so I thought! A call from the boss, and I'm scheduled to return sometime next Monday! Oh well, I'll make sure I'm on the right flights this time.

One of my counterparts invites our group to dinner, and to his apartment for some beer later. We went to a Chinese restaurant in Kumi, Nanjing Restaurant, which was quite good. We ordered fried shrimp balls, which they screwed up and turned into a different fried shrimp dish, but still quite good. The 2nd dish is a fried fish of some type, maybe carp. It is presented with the head and tail in place, but the meat is fried in sections and very tasty. Then came fried rice, which had little shrimps, eggs and calamari. It was one of the better dinners we've had, too bad it happened so late during my stay.

We then moved the conversation and drinking to his apartment, which was our first experience in a Korean home. The apartment buildings are bland on the outside, but very nice and spacious inside. He is a newlywed, so there are few furnishings, which made the place appear even more spacious. The 5 of us split 4 bottles of Cass, and I was ready to call it a night. Unfortunately, there is still packing to be done.

[This message has been edited by Indurain (edited 10-10-1999).]

TAE-SEL OZ950 10/8

Had the wake up call set for 5am so I have enough time to get to the airport. Checkout took way too long because the data terminal was broken or something. I told the cab driver what I thought is Korean for airport ("kong hang") and he actually got us there! Of course, the ticket counter has not opened by 6am for the 7:15am flight. I should have known because that was the same thing that happened the last time I was here. I had to check my bags because I'm going home with more bags than I came with, so I'm rather nervous.

Go up to the departure area and wait, since the gate is not open. There are some rather large framed paintings for sale, and I wonder how many they sell, since its rather difficult to transport those things, and when you're up here, you've already check in.

6:30am the gate opens, and you need passport number on the ticket to enter. The security area is right behind the gate, followed by a flight of stairs down to the tarmac. Our 737-400 looks quite old, but the crew is courteous as usual. There are 3 rows of first class, similar to UA short haul stuff, but the first row of economy is actually row 10. I'm in 16A, but there is no window. There are 2 rows that have blanks instead of windows, how disappointing.

We taxi over a gated area to the military section of the airport, and taxi the length of the runway and turn around for takeoff. The safety demo was in Korean and very rough English. One notable thing is that they actually turn on the emergency lighting when they go through that section. It's the first time I've seen those emergency path lighting I've heard so much about. Not having slept much the night before, I fell asleep as soon as we were airborne and didn't wake up until the plane landed. Very uneventful.

SEL-KIX UA8252 10/8

Kimpo airport is a mess! At the baggage carousel I find that my luggage tag had been broken, then a long wait for the bus to the international terminal. Terminal 1 is for international flights on ANA and UAL, but when I arrived I remembered why I didn't need to get here so early - the UA counter opens at 9am, and the ANA counter at 9:25am. I paid for my departure tax at the currency exchange, $9,000 won, and waited for the counters to open.

This being my first flight on ANA, a new Star Alliance member, I was pretty excited and eager to report the experience. Sadly, the experience is mixed. Once the ANA counter opened, it was a zoo! It seemed very disorganized, and people were walking past me to check in, while I waited in what I thought was the line. I explained to the agent that the ticketed flights had been changed, and my travel agent told me I can get the new tickets issued at the airport. She was able to check my baggage all the way to SNA, and issue my boarding passes for all UA flights (way to go Star!), but she was not able to trade in my previous tickets on AA, and said I have to pay for the UA tickets in Osaka. I checked with the UA counter next, and was asked to wait for quite a while as the agent checked with the supervisor. She finally came back to tell me I need AA to endorse the tickets, or get a refund, as they has some sort of restriction on them. Oh well, handle it in Osaka I will.

Go upstairs to departures, and stand in line for security. They put you through the metal detector AND someone waves the wand over you, they're both required. Next is the line for immigration, and it is LONG! An American serviceman and his family bypassed the line, claiming they are late for their flight. Many others were waiting in line for the same flight, and you wonder why Americans sometimes have such a bad reputation.

There was a gate change for the flight, and announcements were made in 3 languages. I didn't pay attention to when boarding began because I was too busy watching Sandra Bullock in "The Net" on a digital widescreen TV. I think I was the last batch to board. The plane is a 767-300ER, which had a very clean exterior, in contrast with the dirty KLM 747 in the next gate. The interior also looked quite new, except for the seat fabric. All placards are in English and Japanese.

I'm seated in 15G, a window seat just behind the closet. The boarding process seemed very smooth, and the doors were closed shortly after I was seated. The safety video is in both Japanese and English, with Korean subtitles, and sign language. It is mostly computer animated stuff, but realistic, not cartoon-like. Soon after departure, I was handed a hot towel. This is economy? It is a lunch flight, and I was given a boxed lunch and a cup of coke. The lunch consists of a small ham and cheese sandwich, a tuna sandwich, and a tomato and cucumber sandwich, all of which were quite good. In addition, there are two sushi rolls, and a smoked salmon salad. I'm a big fan of smoked salmon, and this was fresh stuff! Desert is a glazed layer cake, which is a big bonus. Also included is a sealed cup of mineral water to wash it all down. Did I mention this is in ECONOMY?? Makes me wonder what was served in business class.

Most of the flight was smooth and uneventful. I waited for the duty-free shopping cart, so I can get a model of the 747 with Pokeymon, but there was no cart. The descent is a bit bumpy and the seat belt sign stayed on most of the time. Each time we hit turbulence, the purser came on to ask everyone to buckle their seat belts. The one downer for this flight is an occasional strong odor from the lavatory.

They played a short video introducing the Kansai airport, which was interrupted from time to time with other announcements. It would have been quite useful if I was staying here, as it detailed the various modes of transportation to and from the airport, and the hotels nearby. I was looking out the window during landing, but maybe I should have looked at the screen because later, as the aircraft taxied to the gate, I noticed the screen showing the view from our aircraft's nosewheel! It would have been spectacular to see the landing from that vantage. Overall for this new Star partner, a B-.

[This message has been edited by Indurain (edited 10-10-1999).]

Thanks Indurain. Better a luggage tag broken then something more valuable! Nice time A+, we hope, just like your report.

Indurain, this is a most wonderful, informative trip report.

Just as a favor next time, could you use paragraphs to separate out your ideas? Easier to read on line. I don't want to miss any of this story, and this will make it easier to catch every word! Thanks again, the detail is very interesting!

Thanks for the advice Richard, I've gone back and done just as you suggested.

KIX 10/8

Here is where the fun begins! As I expected, the UA and AA gates are on opposite ends of the terminal. For those not familiar with KIX, it is a man-made island with a runway and an elongated terminal that almost span the runway length. You need to take 2 "wing shuttle" trams to get from one wing to the other.

Also, there were no agents from AA for some reason, only from its partner JAL, even though an AA agent was supposed to be there by now. I'll skimp the details of my journey, suffice it to say it took nearly an hour for me to find the right people to talk to. The JAL agent didn't know if she could endorse my AA tickets to UA, even though I've already confirmed from AA, UA and the travel agent that I can do that and UA will accept it. After 2 more agents arrived, and several phone calls, it was determined that my tickets are: 1. not transferable, 2. there is a 25% penalty for change, 3. its not refundable, despite one leg being business class, and the other in first.

Meanwhile, I'm starting to feel dizzy because the entire airport smells like cigarette smoke - ventilation is awful. Since I already have boarding passes for the UA flights, I decided to find the lounge and wait things out here instead. I took the opportunity to call the travel agent, and the rep advised me to pay the UA tickets, and return the unused AA portions for a refund, which takes TWO billing cycles! Lets just say I've learned an expensive lesson and I will no longer buy tickets on an airline other than my intended airline of travel. The lounge is pretty full, and the laptop cubbys are a rare commodity. I found a secluded one in the corner and set up camp. There is some kind of beer on tap, doesn't matter which, it is hitting the spot. Lets hope I've bottomed out here.

After finishing that last paragraph, things made a turn for the better. I was paged by the front desk, and had no idea what was waiting there. A JAL agent had been following up on my situation even though I told them I was going to purchase the new ticket and get a refund on the ones on hand. She informed me that the tickets are indeed full-fare and are transferable, and she will process the transfer and advise me of the fare difference. I was a bit skeptical, but went for it anyway. She left and I waited. Time for another drink, and I downed the whole glass in one gulp this time.

I got paged again, and this time was told I need to go to the UA gate so they can issue me a new boarding pass after accepting the AA tickets. I hurried over, and the gate was alive with activity. The gate agent told me I'm going to be on the flight, and she'll give me a new boarding pass as soon as the JAL agent takes care of the fare differences and returns my receipts which had my checked baggage receipt also. The JAL agent calls, and was going to take down my credit card information. I asked what the fare difference was going to be, and after checking, she said NONE! Cool!

Meanwhile, the gate agent issued me a new boarding pass, with seat 1F. Odd, I thought that's in first class. She pointed it out to be and said I'm being upgraded for the trouble. Wow! You should have seen the smile I had at the time! If only I had one of those Service Certificates… This is why I go out of my way to fly UA, somehow, in some way, they seem to bail me out time and again! I still had to wait for the JAL agent, but I didn't care at this point. Nearing the end of the boarding process, I received my ticket receipt and boarded the flight using the first/business class fork in the jetway.

Coming up, my first experience on UA trans-Pacific FIRST CLASS!

Great tip report, and I concur... UA makes plenty of mistakes, but they're better than most at making it right. Enjoy First Class! http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

KIX-SFO UA 810 10/8

By the time I learned of my upgrade, pre-boarding was done, and general boarding was well under way. Didn't matter anyway, I've got 1F and I'm giddy. This is the first time I get to take the left fork on the Jetway, and the first time I turn left to the front of the aircraft. I put my roller in the front closet, taking up the last bit of space remaining. I was greeted right away by an FA taking my drink order - orange juice. I eased into the seat, amazed at how much room there is for everything. I lean the laptop case against the bulkhead and got no complaints. The seat felt slightly wider than in business, and everything was powered! The first thing I did was to inflate the lumbar support and start the massager, felt great!

The safety demonstration was by the FAs, not a video, which was surprising for a 747. The FA in our section burst out laughing when all 4 passengers in the first row pulled out their safety cards and held it up for inspection in unison - it's gonna be a fun flight! We were airborne rather quickly as there was no lines like NRT. However, the ride got bumpy almost from the get-go, and the fasten seat-belt sign chime started to annoy me after about the sixth time. The captain kept apologizing for the bumpy flight, and said it'll remain that way for a good part of the flight. The good news is that we'll arrive about 15 minutes early.

The menu was handed out early, and I took notes. '*' are my selections. Here are the choices:

APPETIZERS-
1.Crab lotus rolls, smoked duck and vegetable terrine, shrimp nigiri, sauteed mushrooms, namasu cornet and warm escargot boruguignonne in brioche.*
2.Garden fresh salad accompanied by oriental vinaigrette or Caesar dressing.

MAIN COURSE-
1. Filet mignon with a pearl onion and artichoke ragout, accompanied by herbed green beans.
2. Sea bass wrapped with leek and mushroom duxelles, offered with sugar snap peas and herbed vegetables.
(above entrees served with your choice of basil mashed potatoes or steamed rice.)*
3. Seared chicken breast with Thai chili sauce, complemented by saffron rice and baby bok choy.
4. Japanese bento selection..An appetizer of broiled rare tuna, minced chicken, rolled salmon and buckwheat noodles with herring. A main course of simmered beef and taro potato, eel rolled in egg, broiled mackerel, simmered cod roe and rice with salmon. Dessert - wagashi (Japanese sweet cookies) served with green tea.

DESSERT -
1. World's finest cheeses with fresh fruit and SAndeman's Porto
2. Vanilla and praline ice cream accompanied by chocolate sauce, whipped cream and almonds.*
3. Godiva chocolates

PRIOR TO ARRIVAL -
1.Western omelet with tomato coulis and a fresh fruit appetizer served with Cheddar and chive rosti
potatoes and grilled chicken sausage
2. Seasonal fresh fruit plate with creamy yogurt.*

I've never had escargot, so I HAD to try it. The crab rolls are great, smoked duck and the sauce were excellent, but the shrimp fell short. The escargot was wrapped in a small roll, so I never got to see what I ate. Can't be worse than fried silk worms. The appetizer was accompanied by a glass of Chardonnay, Bridgeview Rogue Valley. For the main course I chose sea bass with steamed rice. The first class section still have salt and pepper shakers with the main course. It was ok, the sea bass was rather tender, and the leek and mushrooms were a good combination of flavors. The vegetables were not bad, although I didn't care much for the herbs. However, looking at those around me with other selections, it seemed filet mignon was a better choice. Later, my girlfriend also said that Japanese bento should also be a good choice, as they usually have a lot of good stuff in there. Desert was the much anticipated ice cream with a generous amount of chocolate and whipped cream. I like vanilla over praline, but both were great. What can I say, I love ice cream! I think in the course of the meal, I had about 3 glasses of Chardonnay and 3 glasses of water, and the bumpy flight had most of us holding our wine glasses so it won't spill.

After dinner was the first time I took off my noise-canceling headsets. I was amazed at how quiet things are in the front! It seems even more quiet than the upper deck, and I can carry a conversation without much effort. A few movie choices were available, and there were some channels with TV shows and other programming, but Air Show was out of service. Nothing really interested me, and I thought I'd request a movie on tape, since the seats have tape players built-in. I asked for "Instinct" with Anthony Hopkins, but the FA couldn't find it. She apologized and asked if I had another choice. I was getting drowsy anyway, so I decided to sleep instead. I must say, although they weren't the sleeper suites we've heard so much about, these seats were very comfortable, and I got the best 5 hour nap I've ever had! When I woke up we were about an hour and a half from landing, and the fruit plate arrived without yogurt. That's ok, the fruits were quite fresh, including grapes, kiwi, water melon and apple. Sometime during the nap the flight smoothed out, and the cabin was even more quiet! Our approach was from the north, heading south over the peninsula. We turned base and final just after the Dumbarton Bridge, and had a smooth landing.

I applied for an INSPASS just before this trip, and one of the reasons I changed to this flight was to try out the kiosk at SFO. There were 3 of us in that line, I was second. Everyone else quickly backed up the regular immigration lines. The lady ahead of me didn't have the right card and couldn't figure out how to use the kiosk. She let me ahead, and I inserted the card. The card is ejected and I thought it was rejected, but then the screen asked for my hand on the scanner. It passes on the second scan, and I take my receipt. That's it! Simple! My "Star Priority" tagged bags were rolling on the carousel before I got there, and I breeze though customs with nothing to declare.

SFO-SNA UA184 10/8

Immediately after customs is a check-in counter for connections. I check the bags in again so I won't have to bring them through security again. I get 4B for this flight, my first domestic first class. There's some time to kill so I go to the RCC in the mezzanine - its closer to my gate. The place is packed, I can't even find a place to sit and check email. I decide to try the other RCC in the terminal. Its also full, but not as bad. All stalls for laptops are taken, but there is another section behind the luggage storage area with phones but no outlets. I check email there, and a few others quickly followed my lead. I had a quick rendezvous with my girlfriend, who took a long lunch break just to see me.

Boarding was already under way when I got to the gate. I still had the boarding pass issued by ANA back in Seoul, and the boarding agent asked me to get it reissued. No problem. I take my seat, which is similar to business class on international flights, but with far less seat pitch. I had the Jamba Juice my girlfriend brought me, and the FA laughed as she came by to take my drink order. SF Fleet Week was taking place this weekend. I listened to channel 9, and here's a transcript of something I heard:

Oakland approach: Blue Angel 10.
Blue Angel 10: Blue Angel 10, go ahead ma'am.
Oakland approach: Blue Angel 10, say your request.
Blue Angle 10: Just want to go up and check things out over the south.
Oakland approach: Blue Angel 10 roger. Maintain climb rate at or below 10,000fpm until FL270
Blue Angel 10: At or below 10,000fpm until 270, Blue Angel 10.
Oakland approach: Just out of curiosity, what's your maximum rate of climb?
Blue Angel 10: About 33,000fpm
UA184: I want a ride!
Oakland approach: Yeah, can I get a ride?
Blue Angel 10: …

Not much else to report on the flight as I fell asleep just before takeoff and didn't wake up until final approach. Oh, one thing to note is that my seat back kept reclining slowly by itself.

Upon arrival at SNA, I went to the RCC to call Saturn for a pick up and check on possible schedules for the next trip, but it didn't look too good. I'll probably have to stick to OZ for both flights. There were still a few people waiting for baggage at the carrousel, but I can't find mine. I was starting to get worried when I noticed a few rows of bags in front of the baggage handling office. Guess what? My bags were there! I don't know why, but it didn't matter. Overall, a great finish to a shaky start on this trip!

Excellent trip report Indurain! Looking forward to your next one. http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif