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Post by HappyFan on Apr 24, 2019 2:47:16 GMT
Right after the ANA, I went on a little vacation. Can you guess where I went? Here is a photo taken from my hotel window. Is there anything in this photo that will tip you off? If not, the next photo I'll post will DEFINITELY give it away.
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Post by IceCat on Apr 24, 2019 5:29:10 GMT
The haze in the air is sadly now a telltale sign of the city it often hangs over: Seoul.
Most days when I'm listening to Arirang Radio I hear about the fine dust that comes across the peninsula, much of it from China but augmented by local pollution sources. A good quality face mask has for many become a necessity, so some have turned it into a fashion accessory. There are apps you can download onto your mobile device that update you on the current levels of fine dust in whatever part of the country you're in.
Kevin
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Post by HappyFan on Apr 24, 2019 18:46:21 GMT
Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Yup, I was in SEOUL, my first time ever in Asia! I spent a wonderful week there during the KLPGA's Centrion tournament; I think there might have been some PGA event in Georgia happening then as well, but from what I hear, nothing much of note happened there. The pollution wasn't all that bad; we brought masks, but I never wore one. It generally was smoggy in the morning but cleared up by the afternoon. It was cool to get up in the morning and watch TWO different golf channels on TV; obviously the signs of an advanced civilization. One morning, one of them was showing a repeat of Jenny Shin's 2016 win in Texas. Yup, that's right, they were repeating a three year old LPGA tournament won by a Korean. Another morning they showed Inky's win at Reignwood; that one had a better leaderboard than I recalled. I saw a ton of golf commercials on those stations with KLPGA and LPGA stars. There were just a few I hadn't seen before. The So Yeon Ryu ad for the Give n' Drive campaign that I posted a few days ago was one. I also saw the Sung Hyun Park/Tiger ad, which prompted me to seek it out on YouTube and post it for you all. There was an A Lim Kim ad for clubs I hadn't seen before and two different Hye Jin Choi commercials. The funniest ad I saw featured a bunch of PGA golfers, including Tiger, saying 'it's good!' ('cho-ah') in Korean. It was really them, too, they actually shot Korea-specific ads. At the end, Tiger returns and says 'Daebak!' and 'it's the best' in Korean as well with a big s***-eating grin on his face. Incheon airport is beautiful. Immaculately clean. The day I flew in, they had a K-Pop performance going on there (no lie! I think it was a talent contest, though, not an actual group). Then, a little later, there was a parade of people dressed as Chosun-era royalty. In the airport. That was pretty cool. Welcome to Korea: just a typical day at Incheon airport: I didn't see any athletes anywhere in normal non-sports channel commercials other than Yuna Kim, the figure skater, and even she only appeared in one ad and in a banner that was plastered on the side of a New Balance downtown. What I did see was absolutely endless shilling by K-Pop singers. Every tschotke shop had K-Pop postcards, the sides of buses had large photos of very effeminate men, and random video screens about town played constant music videos. Weirdly, it was mostly the guys; I would guess by a 4 to 1 ratio they were more popular. I went to one mall where there was a bookstore and a library (!). The libe had a bunch of golf magazines, but I stupidly didn't swipe one. I did eventually buy a Golf For Women magazine as a souvenir, but it wasn't the one with Gyeol Park alas. I did grab a few photos of the library's mags, all of which were full of interesting KLPGA and LPGA content. There were a lot of these sorts of articles: Hye Jin Choi and A Lim Kim. Ayean Cho. This magazine was really glossy and beautiful, like Vogue or something. I bought a copy! I did catch one fun show for a few minutes on one of the golf channels. It looked like a golf reality show. It was shot at a resort in Thailand and featured 6 stunning young ladies; since I only saw the one episode, I don't know if they were in all the episodes, or if it was a Big Break type thing where they were eliminated one by one. Anyway, I had never heard of any of them except Mi So Lim, whom I'm sure you are familiar with from her frequent appearances in the photo threads, so I'm guessing they were Dream Tour talents at best. Cho A Ran was another of the contestants. Reading on her Instagram page, it looks like she was 'Miss Korea Philippines' (doesn't she have to choose?) so I don't think she was any kind of golfer at all? https://www.instagram.com/p/BvdKfBIFJro The challenge I watched was hilariously gratuitous. The six ladies warmed up by jumping into the resort pool and stretching in their wet clothes while standing waist deep. They then split into groups of two. Each group went into the pool and swam a certain distance. The pool was built like a lake; it wended its way around the resort, and even had bridges over it. So they swam probably about 200 yards. They reached a spot, climbed out and grabbed a putter. They then had to putt a ball into a cup and have the cup stand itself up from the impact. Once done, they ran off and recorded a time. Best time won. So basically it was an excuse to watch the ladies flail about in the pool, then struggle to make a putt while dripping wet. One of them was stymied by the swim; she literally dragged herself out of the pool exhausted at the end. Another just couldn't make the putt. But the rest seemed to enjoy themselves. I didn't get a chance to go out and watch the golf live, but that's on my bucket list next time I come to Korea. I did watch some of the Centrion live as it happened on TV, though. My Korean trip was a blast! Hope to do it again soon. Hwaiting!
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Post by tonyj500 on Apr 25, 2019 17:36:19 GMT
Thanks for sharing!
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Post by HappyFan on Apr 26, 2019 10:36:26 GMT
My trip wasn't finished in Seoul! I hopped on a jet plane and before long was in another beautiful Asian city. Where in the world was HappyFan NOW?
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Post by IceCat on Apr 28, 2019 4:37:00 GMT
This one's a toughie, in part because there's no traffic on the road, only pedestrians, but a few telltale signs do provide some clues. The kanji looks more Japanese than Chinese, and more telling is the position of the stop light just before the intersection - it's over the LEFT side of the road. That places this urban scene squarely in Japan, but sadly I can't be more specific.
Kevin
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Post by HappyFan on Apr 28, 2019 10:34:00 GMT
Well, no traffic you can see, anyways! Here is another photo that should definitely give it away:
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Post by philknj on Apr 28, 2019 11:32:49 GMT
First of all, YOU go to the ROK did not attend any live golf? EPIC FAIL!!!
As for the latest photo, that's Tokyo's Ginza district ... I see a Mizuno sign at the bottom of the THK building ... did you go into any of the golf-related establishments? If not, you are an EPIC FAILURE!!!
I looked up this exact location on Google Maps ... the street level view shows two guys in blue uniforms scrubbing down one of the sidewalks with wet brooms ... still waiting to see that scene on my rare trips into NYC.
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Post by HappyFan on Apr 29, 2019 10:19:50 GMT
Tokyo is the correct answer! We stayed in a much smaller hotel there (it's much more expensive than Seoul) located right in the heart of the city. No joke; the pole they use to measure distances from Tokyo was just a few blocks from our hotel. Like Seoul, Tokyo was incredibly clean, and the subways were super efficient and quiet; no one spoke above a whisper except for the occasional idiot on his cell phone. We went by some of the incredibly crazy shopping areas, but despite all the people, traffic and lights, they were not as noisy as you would imagine. I did see one drunk guy lying on the sidewalk in Shibuya while his friend tried to get him up, but that was about it for outrageousness. A few observations. I noticed in Seoul that every shop, coffee shop and restaurant that played music played exclusively modern music, usually but not always K-Pop. In Tokyo, I heard all kinds of music, including Beatles and Stones, a lot of big band, 80s pop, and only a little modern stuff. I went into the Tower Records in Shibuya, because how wild is it that they still have a Tower records in Tokyo? They had an entire floor dedicated to K-Pop, but only a small part of another floor dedicated to J-Pop. I walked through the K-Pop section. It had a huge video screen showing non-stop K-Pop. The screen with the guys on it had about ten teenage girls in school uniforms huddled around pointing at various dudes and giggling. There were four aisles, three dedicated to boy bands, one to girl bands. Also, people seemed much more eclectically dressed. I went to Harajuku (of course) and didn't really see too much crazy fashion there (a few Lolitas, look it up). In Seoul, everyone seemed really formal, even in the University district, but I actually saw some punkers, nerds, and even people wearing jeans in Japan. And there were far more American and western tourists in Japan. In Seoul there were a few, but most of the tourists seemed Chinese. I heard English and French everywhere I went in Tokyo. Japan was far harder for me because I can neither read nor speak and Japanese. I can read Korean and in Seoul was able to speak Korean several times to store clerks and waiters, and they seemed to understand English better as well. There were at least three times in Tokyo where I'm not sure what we ate, but it tasted good so hopefully OK. In Tokyo, there was a barista who didn't understand 'grande latte' at Starbucks! It was in English on the menu and I pointed at it, and she said 'grande latte!' exactly like I had. What did I do wrong? I went by a few golf stores in Ginza and elsewhere, and there were a few photos of what were probably JLPGA players, but I don't really pay attention to that tour so I couldn't tell for sure. No Bo Mee Lee or Ha Neul Kim that I saw. Didn't stop by a Japanese book store, but we have a great one in Seattle, so if I need a Japanese golf mag I can get one here. In Seoul, I did drop by a Descente store and several athletic stores, but never saw any golfer photos. Never found a golf equipment store, although I did see a golf section inside one of the big department stores (no KLPGA golf photos there, either). (I didn't go to a tournament, because it would have been tricky to get out to one without a car and I didn't want to deal with the hassle. Also, I don't think my wife would have been happy if I had burned a day doing that. ). There was also a Golfzon in Seoul I could see from my hotel room, maybe three blocks away, but I never got around to visiting it. I definitely will check that out if we stay there next time.
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Post by HappyFan on Apr 29, 2019 10:24:50 GMT
Also, my hotel in Seoul had a virtual driving range and even golf pros to help you with your game! I got a very nice woman the one time I tried that out, probably in her early thirties, but I didn't recognize the name (they had a big photo of her with her name in the entrance) so she was probably not a former KLPGA pro. So, I did get a pseudo-Golfzon experience without paying for it!
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Post by jumpcut on Apr 29, 2019 13:40:54 GMT
In Tokyo, there was a barista who didn't understand 'grande latte' at Starbucks! It was in English on the menu and I pointed at it, and she said 'grande latte!' exactly like I had. What did I do wrong? I had a similar experience in Tokyo years ago. I went into a McDonald's and ordered some stuff, including a cheeseburger (as it was written on the menu board) and just got a blank stare. After I pointed to it, the guy said, "Ahh, chizzibaggah!!" I learned later that 'cheeseburger' is a katakana word (borrowed from English) with its own pronunciation. The real question is what were you and I doing going to Starbucks and McDonald's when there's all this great food and drink in Tokyo?
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Post by legitimategolf on Apr 29, 2019 14:32:18 GMT
Tokyo is the correct answer! We stayed in a much smaller hotel there (it's much more expensive than Seoul) located right in the heart of the city. No joke; the pole they use to measure distances from Tokyo was just a few blocks from our hotel. Like Seoul, Tokyo was incredibly clean, and the subways were super efficient and quiet; no one spoke above a whisper except for the occasional idiot on his cell phone. We went by some of the incredibly crazy shopping areas, but despite all the people, traffic and lights, they were not as noisy as you would imagine. I did see one drunk guy lying on the sidewalk in Shibuya while his friend tried to get him up, but that was about it for outrageousness. A few observations. I noticed in Seoul that every shop, coffee shop and restaurant that played music played exclusively modern music, usually but not always K-Pop. In Tokyo, I heard all kinds of music, including Beatles and Stones, a lot of big band, 80s pop, and only a little modern stuff. I went into the Tower Records in Shibuya, because how wild is it that they still have a Tower records in Tokyo? They had an entire floor dedicated to K-Pop, but only a small part of another floor dedicated to J-Pop. I walked through the K-Pop section. It had a huge video screen showing non-stop K-Pop. The screen with the guys on it had about ten teenage girls in school uniforms huddled around pointing at various dudes and giggling. There were four aisles, three dedicated to boy bands, one to girl bands. Also, people seemed much more eclectically dressed. I went to Harajuku (of course) and didn't really see too much crazy fashion there (a few Lolitas, look it up). In Seoul, everyone seemed really formal, even in the University district, but I actually saw some punkers, nerds, and even people wearing jeans in Japan. And there were far more American and western tourists in Japan. In Seoul there were a few, but most of the tourists seemed Chinese. I heard English and French everywhere I went in Tokyo. Japan was far harder for me because I can neither read nor speak and Japanese. I can read Korean and in Seoul was able to speak Korean several times to store clerks and waiters, and they seemed to understand English better as well. There were at least three times in Tokyo where I'm not sure what we ate, but it tasted good so hopefully OK. In Tokyo, there was a barista who didn't understand 'grande latte' at Starbucks! It was in English on the menu and I pointed at it, and she said 'grande latte!' exactly like I had. What did I do wrong? I went by a few golf stores in Ginza and elsewhere, and there were a few photos of what were probably JLPGA players, but I don't really pay attention to that tour so I couldn't tell for sure. No Bo Mee Lee or Ha Neul Kim that I saw. Didn't stop by a Japanese book store, but we have a great one in Seattle, so if I need a Japanese golf mag I can get one here. In Seoul, I did drop by a Descente store and several athletic stores, but never saw any golfer photos. Never found a golf equipment store, although I did see a golf section inside one of the big department stores (no KLPGA golf photos there, either). (I didn't go to a tournament, because it would have been tricky to get out to one without a car and I didn't want to deal with the hassle. Also, I don't think my wife would have been happy if I had burned a day doing that. ). There was also a Golfzon in Seoul I could see from my hotel room, maybe three blocks away, but I never got around to visiting it. I definitely will check that out if we stay there next time. Enjoying the compare/contrast between Korea and Japan. Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear there's a thriving Tower Records. Japanese are such great curators of all kinds of culture.
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Post by HappyFan on Apr 29, 2019 17:08:06 GMT
Heh heh. My one inarguable need is coffee in the morning. It was actually pretty interesting to go into a Korean Starbucks; for some reason, none of them had sugar or any sweeteners at the little table with the stirring sticks. The Japanese ones did. You also had to explicitly ask for a to-go cup or they would give you a coffee mug. I probably went to an American coffee shop about half my mornings, and the rest of the time managed to find a coffee at a cat café or some such. As far as American restaurants, the only one I slipped into was a Subway because my daughter was craving one of their breakfast sandwiches. But there were plenty of them, from McDonalds to Wendy's to KFC, that we skipped. I regret that I was not able to find a Kyochon Honey Chicken store. As you know, they sponsor a tournament on the KLPGA, and I always was curious about it. Even the KFC here sold Korean-style fried chicken; the ad showed Colonel Sanders wearing a Korean-style hat and explained that KFC actually stood for 'Korea Fried Chicken'. Well, I never tried that, but I did try some street food Korean friend chicken, and it was pretty awesome.
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