Monday, August 01, 2011

New Age Famalies


Counting my losses I decided to go to Gyeongju – the ancient capital of both Koreas.  It is similar to Kyoto as an old capital but a lot less revered.

It is really a marvelous place and was recommended to me by Saito sensei (a teacher at Hamada High School who has travelled to Korea many times).

On my arrival I checked into a pretty cool hostel, Han Jin Hostel, all be it a little rundown.

Now nobody can say Korea isn’t a highly technological country.  Everything is digitized.  There are even huge information points in the metro stations that display Google Maps among other techno wizardry.  But I find it a little off putting when 12 year old kids are walking through a museum playing on their brand new Samsung Galaxy tablet, not paying any attention to the amazing displays around them.  Even more disturbing are kids’ moms watching as the kids’ progress in the game.  I don’t expect the moms to chide their children.  This is a new age we live in.  But couldn’t they themselves appreciate their own culture a little more?  New meaning to the term family outing.

I met Satoshi at the hostel in the evening.  He is a really cool Japanese dude and we got on well from the moment we met.  He is cycling all the way from Japan to London.  Go for it Satoshi.




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