Travel

All Roads Lead to Seoul

by Liz on January 1, 2012

SEOUL SWEET SEOUL!
The definitive girl’s guide to living, discovering, and enjoying South Korea
By Hana Yoo and Elizabeth Shim
Small Planet Publishing

Call me crazy, but I keep hearing little voices that are nudging me to declare 2012 as the year to visit, discover, and frolic in the land of Korea. Perhaps even live there for a year or two, and really get to the bottom of a bottomless intrigue.

Sure, things are a little shaky up North. And everyone’s a tad bit nervous about a 29-year-old, Swiss boarding school-trained neophyte handling the last Stalinist regime standing. I mean, would you hire this guy to run a country? I wouldn’t.

Luckily for us, South Korea is everything North Korea is not. The keywords here would be leisure and entertainment. Many travelers from neighboring China and Japan are now coming in droves to do their shopping, hang out in the cafés of Gangnam, and taste some of that ferociously delicious Korean food. Kimchi, anyone?

Other, rather unexpected events have also taken place that have put Korea squarely on the map, kind of like the way you can see places like London, or New York not just geographically but also symbolically.

First — and let’s just get this out of the way — there’s the K-pop phenomenon. I’m thinking of the scores of websites dedicated to Korean entertainment news, especially this lovely one based in Singapore — designed to quench the unquenchable thirst of K-pop fans for more pictures, updates, and music videos by some of Korea’s cutest, eye-catching, what-have-you stars. This stuff is addictive, I’m telling you, so don’t get sucked in. But if you do, you may find yourself actually traveling to Korea.

And I’m here to tell you that’s not a bad idea. Especially if you are young, Korea seems to hold a few promises for the smart, adaptable person who’s curious to learn more about Asia.

So if you’re headed to Korea, check out Seoul Sweet Seoul! There’s lots of information about shopping, spas, and travel, in a detailed language you won’t find in tourist brochures, or the usual suspects published by Lonely Planet or Moon Guides. It also helps it was written by myself and Hana Yoo, and we’ve lived in Korea for a combined six years.

There’s also information here about expat living and finding a job, but with none of the usual ranting about locals that you’ll find on forums littered with trolls who suffer from some arcane inability to adjust.

The world’s getting smaller. And we’ve all got to make an effort to understand each other better.

And in 2012, as this piece on CNNGo suggests, what better place to head for than the Land of the Morning Calm, in a year when the Mayan Calendar ends?

Mark my words, dear readers. All roads lead to Seoul. So buy the book already.

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China Punk | James Bollen

by Liz on September 22, 2011

in Art & Design,Travel

Li Youran inside the People's University, 1999

James Bollen is a Shanghai-based British photographer whose work was shown this year at SH Contemporary, one of Shanghai’s most talked about art fairs. He recently discovered my blog, and I thank him for this, because if he didn’t, I may never have had the privilege of seeing his portfolio online.

Bollen, while technically not an Asian contemporary artist, represents a growing community of expatriates and foreigners whose insights into China are enriching the larger narrative of contemporary Asia. Bollen’s medium is the quiet lens of photography, and his stage is urban China. And even by the standards of the crowded, Flickr-driven photosphere of today, the results are simply sublime, because as you may see for yourself, Bollen is no ordinary photographer.

Inside the Forbidden City, 1997

Urban Abstract

Ji'an Road, Luwan (All photos: James Bollen)

I’m still not sure when photography is just photography, and when it crosses over into an art form, and no doubt the debate rages on, somewhere within the realms of secluded, ivory towers. But recently I was struck by an interesting idea about the medium, and it’s stayed with me since. I think photography is striking not because it’s necessarily an art form, but its grasp of life is so final, and so absolute, that it reminds our absent-minded selves that life is the ultimate art form. We’ve just forgotten to look around. The best photographers know this very well, and using what they know, they’re able to give us the world anew.

I love Bollen’s photographs because they’re not just beautiful to look at, but because they serve as a valuable documentation of a decade in the life of China. He’s seen dramatic changes in Beijing, where he says many of the places he’s photographed “no longer exist.” He documented the nascent punk scene in China’s capital back in 1999, and it’s good that he did. The Scream Club, a popular punk hangout, was demolished and replaced by a bus depot so that “there’s nothing physical left to remind anybody those places existed in Beijing.” Save, perhaps, for Bollen’s photographs, which gently remind the observer of China’s forgotten moments as the country now races to a “glorious new past.”

Bollen’s impressions manifest themselves in his city walks, so he keeps his equipment light and portable, which includes a 35mm rangefinder, an iPhone, and a Rolleiflex3.5f. Equal parts spontaneous chronicle and unofficial history, Bollen’s work is an archive that I’m sure we’ll revisit several times over, and each time we do, we do it to realize how much China has transformed, mutated, or as is sometimes the case, just stayed where we last left off, always ready to continue a never ending conversation.

Outside the Drum Tower underground station, 1997

Alley running past All For One bar, Sanlitun South street, 1999

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Earthly quarrels

by Liz on September 5, 2011

in Opinion,Travel

A Uighur girl in Xinjiang (via photochoi on Flickr)

Look on a world map, and you’ll notice China is a vast country. Positively massive.

I realize that now, but most of the time I don’t give China’s portly silhouette much thought. I just assume those have been her borders for some time, occasionally contested by an uprising in Tibet or tumult in Xinjiang.

But all’s not well on the western front. News of unrest has become increasingly frequent, as has China’s response to fresh violence, especially in Xinjiang where there’s an ongoing crackdown to buffer against potential riots by the local population.

The natives of Xinjiang are Turkic Muslims whose customs and culture are worlds apart from that of the Han Chinese. Historically, they are a fusion of Turkish, Mongolian and other East Asian migration. They’re completely unique, neither East nor West. I personally find them fascinating, but right now, and depending on whom you speak to, they’re either causing trouble or in trouble themselves.

Uighur children in Xinjiang (via photochoi on Flickr)

Most travelers to China, myself included, first encounter China’s Uighurs in cities like Beijing or Shanghai. Their food is popular, and in restaurants Uighur women often sing and dance in a display of culture that’s perceivably exotic. As a visitor, I thought they were merely a part of the local color, but in China they are becoming increasingly linked to Islamic militancy, a trend of suspicion with a twin in the mirror, and if a twin, a hard-earned lesson as well.

This month marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11, which undoubtedly will be occasioned with fanfare, and for obvious reasons. The day was a tragedy, but what followed was hardly reparation. Islamic militancy became such a blanket term for everyone who didn’t fit in or belong. In retrospect, it was a psychically damaging error that can’t be undone, at least not right away.

I feel similarly about the Chinese approach to Xinjiang, as they deal with a Muslim population that’s sitting on a resource-rich hinterland inside unilaterally defined borders. That’s because whenever Uighurs are treated with disdain, or perceived as a threat to security, it becomes clearer China’s reeling from historical amnesia. In its restrictive authoritarian approach to government, China’s cosmopolitan past seems further away from reach than during the Mao-jacketed era of a few decades ago. An angry China also raises the specter of a scary China, and a scary China is probably an irremediable scenario that can’t be undone, not even by all the Confucius Institutes in the world.

For those of us who want a happy ending to the breaking story of the 21st century, we can only hope a smarter and more sophisticated China will emerge, one that’s worthy of all the Dior swag in Shanghai. Perhaps something even better. What we want is a true leader that will wisely grant Tibet and Xinjiang their independence, restore faith in her neighbors, and treat its own citizens with the democratic respect they deserve.

Wishful thinking, you say? Maybe, but here’s to hoping it’s not.

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Erawan Shrine | Bangkok

by Liz on January 26, 2011

in Travel

There’s one in every major city in Asia. A religious shrine of the Buddhist/Confucian/Shamanist persuasion, right in the center of a burgeoning city of unstoppable skyscrapers. It doesn’t budge, despite the hounding of real estate developers or a powerful government. Its spiritual significance makes capitalism look like a passing fad, and reminds its visitors to look beyond the materialism of shopping malls.

Erawan Shrine is situated in a small corner plot by the opulent Grand Hyatt Bangkok. Once you enter you become submerged in billows of smoky incense, burning by the shrine dedicated to Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. My Time Out Bangkok guide states matter-of-factly it was erected in 1956 to appease the spirits of those who died while erecting the old Erawan Hotel. It also quickly adds in 2006 a man received instant karma after smashing the statue of Brahma. An angry mob reacted, and swiftly beat him to death! Fortunately, the morning we visited there was no such drama: just a small throng of Thais hoping their prayers would waft gently to heaven with the clouds of incense drifting ever upwards. There were even costumed dancers in their silk finery, singing a pious melody that I couldn’t quite comprehend.

A city pilgrim deep in prayer.

Costumed dancers in performance.

Gold Elephants.

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Minsuk Cho | Mass Studies

by Liz on December 19, 2010

in Art & Design,Travel

This post is a tad overdue, as I’ve been meaning to write about Minsuk Cho after hearing him speak at Cooper Union (back in November!) about his architectural firm, Mass Studies. Cho, I recall, was energetic, enthusiastic, and full of firecracker insights about architecture in Asia. His projects were clearly buildings, but I really enjoyed that they also seemed like monuments to conceptual art. And after marveling at the South Korea pavilion in Shanghai in September, I couldn’t wait to learn about Cho’s story: past, present, and future. Here’s what I learned, all valuable lessons:

Bundle Matrix Tower in Seoul

1. Spatial decompression is the new wave. Huh? Yep, it’s all that. But just when I started feeling sheepishly out of place in a hall of black-clad, architecturally omniscient yogis from the hallowed halls of advanced graduate school programs, Cho was kind enough to project pictures of his work. So the Bundle Matrix is the future! Nice work.

Daum Headquarters, Jeju-do

2. Businesses want to be more lateral. Architecturally, that is. That’s a big trend in South Korea right now, Cho confirmed. No more of this hierarchical, CEO-lonely-at-the-top bullshit. We’re all going to sit on the same plane, hold hands and sing Kumbaya. Well, not exactly, but we’re certainly getting there.

3. In South Korea, the 2002 World Cup spurred the development of public space. For those of you not in the know, in 2002 the underdog South Korean team advanced to the semi-finals, becoming the first Asian country to achieve that feat. Leading up to the event, throngs of families and college students would gather in major city centers to cheer on the national team dressed in red and — unusual for socially conservative Koreans — share their joys with complete strangers. Or as Cho put it, “The city became a house, and houses began to be conceptualized as cities.”

Details of the South Korea Pavilion, Shanghai Expo

4. This 21st-century intimacy is reflected in the design of the South Korea pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. So I was actually wondering this myself: the pavilion was decorated with colorful hangul tiles by Kang Ik-Joong, with wisps of Korean thoughts (think mundane: boil an egg for a longer period of time, and it peels better) that seemed like something shared between friends over a cup of coffee. Cho, then, had carefully selected how the pavilion looked: he simply wanted it to feel like a cozy, familiar living room, minus maybe the frumpiness.

5. Wait! More on the pavilion. Cho was actually commissioned to design the pavilion at the last minute, and he and his team at Mass Studies scrambled to put together a tolerable design and concept for the Korean government. He managed to pass, literally, with flying colors. To provide a unifying theme to the pavilion, Cho, unlike other masterminds, plucked the hangul as the design centerpiece for the innerwalls, a colorful choice that alluded to the chaotic display of neon signs in cities like Seoul and Busan. Then he cloaked the outer walls of the pavilion in white, the traditional color of clothes of the Korean people, before they were inundated with designer clothing and effectively became slaves of fashion whim.

And on that last note, I’m only half-kidding.

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36 hours in Singapore

October 21, 2010

After four memorable days in Shanghai, we made our way to tropical Singapore, a thriving cocktail of Chinese thrift and industry, Malay gastronomy, and throngs of colorful, Indian stalls. It’s also tidy (no garbage!), the trains and buses run on time, and everyone speaks English. Added bonus: they’re all very, very nice. In the company [...]

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The New Shanghai

October 5, 2010

I’ve been absent from blogging due to a whirlwind 8-day tour of Asia: 2 days each in Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore, with air travel in between. Almost every moment, I ate, I saw, and captured moments with my Nikon. There’s so much I want to say, but before I upload my other photos, here’s some [...]

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Eat, Pray, Love: The Ashram Vacation

July 29, 2010

Lately I’ve been noticing a lot of buzz generated around the movie adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, “Eat, Pray, Love.” A divorced woman in her thirties, in search for answers, embarks on a trip around the world to find herself, and then…can you tell I haven’t read the book? It sounds a bit too cliché, [...]

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