Kimchi Land

Took the red eye flight last Saturday night because there was a meeting on Sunday. Did not sleep much and managed to catch Priceless and half of Jack Neo's latest movie - Just Follow Law. Audrey Tautou wore many pretty gowns that showed off her good figure in this latest movie. Weather in Seoul was nice and cool upon landing.

"Home" for the coming 2 weeks is at a local hotel in Suwon, a small city approximately 30 kilometres south of Seoul as it is nearer to the office. The rooms are small and the worst thing is, there's no gym, only a man's sauna, whatever that means. I wonder why there is no lady's sauna.

We visited the factory in Asan today. Asan is another city about an hour's drive from Suwon. At the main entrance, the friendly factory dog welcomed us by sniffing my knee. I caught a picture of the friendly dog. While having lunch at the factory canteen, we noticed that most of the workers are male. The plant manager explained that in a small city like that, it is very difficult to employ young female workers. The young female workers prefer to work in offices "with computers and paper" in the Seoul. Oh i see...

For dinner, my colleague and i went to this traditional dining place where everyone sits on the floor on small mats over pots of spicy boiling stew. It actually reminds me of the shop owned by Kim Sam Soon's mother in the drama. As both of us do not eat beef, i tried to ask the lady what kind of meat they serve, in English, of course. The lady did not speak English, but she turned to 2 young customers and asked if they could translate. Luckily, they spoke some English and told us that "it's pig and very delicious!". We ordered by pointing to what the young couple was having as the menu was in Korean. It turned out to be big pieces of pork ribs, vegetables, bean sprouts, potatoes and rice cakes in spicy red stock, not forgetting the ubiquitous kimchi.