5:45 AM, sunrise in Gyeonju

The thermometer slowly declined down to zero degrees over the last week. We headed up to the roof to see the sunset in the clean frosty sky, I realized that this was not the first time we were going up for a view.… Continue reading... | 1 Comment

Saturday stroll through rainy Changdeokgung garden

After weeks of sunshine it started to rain in Seoul today. We had a day off and decided to have a look at the Changdeokgung palace, close to our home.… Continue reading... | 2 Comments

[Pictures] Han river in Seoul

Some pictures I took of the Han river during the last months here in Seoul. The total length of the Han River is 514 km. Although it is not a long river, the lower Han is remarkably broad for such a relatively short river. Within Seoul city limits, the river is more than 1 km wide.

We visited the second skyscraper on the left of this picture and decided to cross… Continue reading... | 1 Comment

A peek inside the British American Tobacco factory in Korea

Korea is the 10th biggest cigarette market on the planet, not so weird because you see smokers everywhere. I visited the British American Tobacco (BAT) factory in Sacheon together with the DBCK last week. The flight to Jinju was already scheduled at 07.30 AM, took a cab at 5AM. We gained more knowledge about the tobacco industry and had a tour inside the factory during the day. It was… Continue reading... | 1 Comment

[Pictures] View over Busan city from hotel

We decided to head out to Korea’s second largest city – the harbor city Busan. Very moist and clear upon arrival, but dark and foggy when we woke up. I was curious about Busan because I like cities next to the sea, we spend some time on the beach, had an interesting night.… Continue reading... | 1 Comment

Paragliding at a Korean army base

Want to join paragliding this weekend? - off course! that’s a no brainer! In reality, the relaxing chair and the calm speed got me disappointed, I should have thought of bringing a good book to read. Some people manage to stay up there for a long time! As the first foreigners at this Korean army base, I had some joy in getting a good overview of the ’secret’ weapons on… Continue reading... | 1 Comment

What do you get when you combine a cinema, pool and cheap hotel?

We visited a jjimjilbang in Busan last night; The jjimjilbang concept comes close to a bath-house, it is a combination of sauna, hotel and gym. I just spend a night there for $10, and I am excited, what an experience! I slept on the marble floor but had a massage in return!

Imagine a 24 hour serviced building with cinema room, hot baths, sauna, bars, restaurants and pc/tv rooms. You walk around in… Continue reading... | 3 Comments

Living abroad? Think about your (future) wife!

Ask yourself this: What things would you consider if you had an opportunity to work abroad? For many top executives and engineers, its not only the job they are thinking about. The main challenge is usually their free time, wife (or husband) and family. Ask yourself the question: if I will work in this country how will my wife and family been taken care of by the company in… Continue reading... | 6 Comments

Video-conference with a former president

15th Korean president and Nobel peace prize winner Kim Dae-Jung visited us at the Korean Development Institute today. Amazing, what a circus! Our university is already surrounded by a 4 meter wall, and security posts. Today I noticed FBI style security guards on rooftops and entrances! The event was well organized, interesting approach on the day was that not all participants of the event were actually inside our school. With the help of video-conferencing, students… Continue reading... | 2 Comments

Learn to read and pronounce Korean Hangul in 2 days

You don’t need a black belt in Taekwondo to master the Korean language, actually… reading Hangul (Korean writing) is surprisingly easy!

That’s the main point I am trying to make in this post. While the Korean characters seem complex at first, they are easy to read within one week. Skip the touristic English metro maps, and start learning the way the correct way!

Truth is that this information applies for… Continue reading... | 12 Comments