Biking in Mongolia

This previous weekend (sometime in May) I was finally able to go on my first bike ride in Mongolia. I had just brought my bike from Korea and was really excited to hit the trails. But before I describe the actual trip I should describe the pre trip arrangements like how I got my bike here. For those who dont know, you can actually bike from Korea to Mongolia, assuming you are willing to take the risk of getting caught in North Korea and "interviewed" as a suspected spy. Dont worry, I didnt invest much time investigating that option as the weather was not terribly conducive. I opted for the slightly less adventurous method of flying. Unfortunately I do not have the ingenuity and entreprenurial skills of the Wright brothers, so I made use of a standard commercial plane. Assuming a bike is dismantled with handle bars and pedals removed, and placed in a bike box whose length, width, and height do not exceed 277 cm (Korean Air standards-other airlines may be different) with a weight under 32 kg, then it can be checked in as your one piece of luggage.

But about the bike ride itself:

45 kilometers, roughly 1/3 of which was spent in the mountains, going up and down rocky dirt roads. The most dangerous and difficult part of that is not going uphill, but rather the steep slopes going down hill on loose dirt. By the time I got to the road, the wheel was wobbling so bad that as soon as I lifted the bike up, the wheel fell down. No problem, just tighten it back up and go on. After the bumps and jars of the mountain road, the "paved" road felt like a ride on butter. A ride on butter very suddenly and frequently interrupted by large and dangerous pot holes. Had the potholes been experienced during the mountain ride, when going a reasonable pace, it could be avoided. However on the road, I was matching the pace of the cars, reaching upwards of 55kph (overall there is a drop of 100m between the site and UB, aiding in such speeds). Hitting a pothole at that speed can be quite painful. Despite those potholes, and the final climb up into Ulaanbaatar, it was very refreshing to get out of the construction site. After only 2 hours, Ulaanbaatar comes into view and the final stretch, a freshly paved road, wide with very little traffic.

Only problem with biking into Ulaanbaatar was that the goal was to bike to Ulaanbaatar. Great. I made it. I left early in the morning. Arrived around 10:30. No energy to bike back, nowhere to go in Ulaanbaatar. So now what? Perhaps I may wayt to plan a bit better in the future.

French Cuisine

What exactly is "French Cuisine"? 
Baguette?
Escargot?
Foie Gras?
Sure, those are all foods served under the heading of "french cuisine".
While I am most certainly not an expert, after enjoying a truly fine french meal, it was so much more than that. It was a highlight of tastes, an explosion in the mouth feeling.

Since I have been away for such a long time, I wanted to treat my wife to something truly memorable for our 2nd wedding anniversary. Last year was a one table restaurant, where I re-inforced my vows to her. This time, I took her out to the top restaurant in Korea, Pierre Gagnaire's.

Im not going to tell you the price of the food there because you wouldn't believe me, and if you did, you'd think I was absolutely bonkers. Suffice it to say that I am bonkers, and you should have realized that earlier. That being said, the price was worth it for the experience. And here is why:

 The first dish to be delivered to our table came before menus were even given. I didn't even know this existed before. Its not appetizers, but amuse bouche, small bite size tidbits that come out before appetizers. I started out very diligently writing down notes on my cell phone of what everything was, but was very quickly overwhelmed, and decided to simply enjoy the tastes of the moment. The one that I do remember is that the drink was some kind of melon taste. The one that looks like a tomato top actually was two very delicious herb leaves on top of some gelatenous substance with a delicate cookie underneath. One of the others featured foie gras.


 The second thing to come out was breads. The large one was a piece of traditional french bread, followed by two italian breads and an english muffin. We weren't really sure  how we were supposed to eat the breads, as immediately after they came out, the appetizers came out, as shown below.

Jiyoung's dish was surrounded by a gelatin with a distinct beef gravy taste to it. I cannot remember entirely what was on the plate, but as you can see, much of it was soft dips, as is the next picture, which led us to infer we were supposed to eat the bread with the creamy sauces.

 My first appetizer was absolutely amazing. On the top, as a cover was a very thin crispy wafer. When removed, below could be found a clear gelatin followed by foie gras below that. When the wafer was crushed and mixed into the gelatin and foie gras, it resulted in a remarkably creamy explosion of taste with crispiness to compliment. I believe the gelatin was of a fruity nature, adding some refreshing taste to the whole thing.

 The second appetizer that I was treated to was this green soup. Or at least I thought it was until i dipped a spoon in to discover it was also two layers of creamy escargot and something else (perhaps egg). The consistency was of whipped jello. The taste... I cannot be sure of for now, but it was creamy, light, and delightful, and was especially good spread over bread.

 The third appetizer for me was a crab salad composed of small bits of crab, celery, a light gelatenous substance, and very few fresh greens. It was perfect for refreshing the palatte for the next course.

Jiyoung's 3rd course consisted of a kind of steamed fish (at least that was her opinion) drizzled with an absolutely to die for creamy white sauce. If I had to pick one individual dish that stood out, I would have to say it was this one for us. I really wish I had asked more details about that sauce because it just complimented the meat so perfectly.

 My 3rd course consisted of two dishes. The first was a beautifully created tuna wrap. The colors themselves were a work of art. The wraps were unfortunately so small that I couldn't get a full appreciative taste of it.

 The second dish of my 3rd course was a pear and gorgonzola icecream with vodka granite (slushy ice) topped by caviar. I can now say that yes, I have eaten caviar, and its not particularly my favorite thing in the world. It is like a tiny soft little ball of super salt coupled with a bit of fishiness. Despite the small bit of caviar, the rest of it was delicious and refreshing.

 And now we have finally come to the main course. Jiyoungs consisted of two small fillets of beef cooked medium rare placed over a well formed base of foie gras. In between the steaks was delicious carmalized apple that blended so magnificently with the steaks.

Jiyoung's second dish for the main course. Apparently she did not share this one with me, as I do not remember tasting it at all.

My main course started with some cuts of lamb meat, cooked also to medium rare. Because I had just come from Mongolia, I wasn't too thrilled to have to eat lamb, but I am glad that I did. It was like nothing I have ever tasted before. Definitely not like the lamb in Mongolia. As a unique twist, the lamb was topped with a light sprinkling of fresh ground dark chocolate. Below the lamb was a base of, well, perhaps it was turnip confit puree, but I cannot remember for sure.

The main course was complimented by a dollop of foie gras with something on top. Unfortunately, by this time, I was simply too overwhelmed by all of the explanations, all in Korean, many that Jiyoung didn't know either. So I couldn't remember the topping for this dish. However, after eating this and Jiyoung's main course, I have come to realize that foie gras, while a very adaptable food, generally speaking does not suit my taste.

 The last disy of my main course was a light salad. the central white dish shown in the pictures is actually not a dish, but rather ricotta cheese formed into a delicate dish.

Dessert has finally come. Jiyoung received two deserts. The first was a meringue, complete with the traditional burning alcohol flame show at the table. The second was an ice cream topped with an frothy coffey flavored cream and cubes of blueberry.

 My dessert consisted of two dishes as well. The first one was explicitly created just for me. It might as well have been called "Brett's Dessert" At first it looked like a freshly baked upside down cake of some kind. The fresh baked smell was heavy in the air as it was brought to me. However, putting a fork in it, I realized that it was more of a pudding. A nutty pudding with almonds and peanuts. It was so amazingly creamy as a pudding, and the nutty flavors complimented the textures to perfection. The second dish, unfortunately, I do not know the details of in terms of what it actually was. However, the taste was a kind of bread perhaps soaked in alcohol.

So, we have had amuse bouche, appetizers, 3rd course, and main course. All of this was wrapped up with dessert, right? Nope, not finished yet. Lastly, to come out was Petit fours. What exactly are petit fours, I did not know until that moment. Apparently they are the counterpart to amuse bouche, small tidbits at the end of the meal. One was an apple and banana gelatenous dessert, one was a kind of roll, one was chocolate, and there was a fourth as well. After all of that was eaten, with tea or coffee, we were to drink the last shotglass of liquid, something to completely clean our palatte. Jiyoung did not like that part, but I found it remarkably like Han-yak, the traditional korean herbal medicine, a very earthy taste.

The remarkable thing was that after the meal, I did not really feel "full" so to speak. However, my mouth was still an explosion of tastes, like little pop rocks candies bouncing around inside. The next morning as well, I was still not hungry (despite not feeling full the day before) and felt very light and fresh on my feet. It was a truly remarkable meal. Certainly not one I could afford again, but a great experience.

2 months in Ulaanbaatar

It's been a while since I've been able to post anything here. Part of the reason is that working for Samsung, people tend to disappear off the face of the planet for years at a time. But that is especially true if you work in a country that has no dependable electricity and internet. Roughly once a week, rarely with any advance notice, the lights in the office just suddenly go out. No internet, no printing, you can't even make phone calls because the office phones all require power to work. It is a bit inconvenient, to say the least.

For roughly one month, I stayed at a hotel, unable to unpack because I never knew when I would have to leave. When I eventually did get to move out, it was to a brand new apartment with a large bedroom and sufficient living room/kitchen. I have no roommates, which allows some needed freedom. However, I also have no cable, no internet, no heating, no hot water.  That's right, in a country that has already seen its first snowfall, I have no hot water or heating. Turns out that the apartment is so new that they still haven't installed hot water.

You see, Mongolians have a very special pace. Its not your pace, and its not my pace. And if we try to force it into our pace, we will only succeed in gaining a lot of stress. You just have to accept it.

Despite all of the inconveniences that one can encounter in Mongolia, there are some unique qualities that can barely be put into words as well. It is a total liberation from restrictions. I visited a national park and stayed in a ger for a night (Americans call it a yurt). There is nothing around you. Just you, the neighborhood cows, the rushing of the water overflowing the banks of the nearby stream, and a long valley between two mountains. There are no roads, no routes, and no schedules to follow. Those books I used to read as a child come to mind. the ones that talked about the prairie life of pioneers when America was barely a speck on the world map. Or maybe even before that, with the Indians and their teepees and wigwams.

It's an odd feeling, this feeling of total liberty.

In the city, this feeling can still be found, but in different manifestations. The random tire along the side of the road, the unkempt city hot water pipe, installed 20 feet in the air because it was faster at the time to do that than to put it in the ground, the random willy nilly roads that apparently were carved around pre-existing housing, housing with utterly no concept of urban planning or forethought. It is indeed a strange country. A strange country, but filled (not literally) with kind, warm hearted, and open minded people.

A week in Mongolia

As the title suggests, its been a week now since I've arrived in Mongolia. Many people ask me, how's Mongolia? The answer, sadly, is that I don't know. I haven't been to the downtown area of the capital, UlaanBataar. I've only been to the outskirts. I haven't seen any horses or anything like that either. I haven't even really eaten much Mongolian yet. I'm so disappointed in that.

However, I have seen some really beautiful plains. Particularly one river bed that is covered in bushes taller than a man on a horse. Except the bushes aren't clumped all tight together like a bramble bush. They are conveniently spread out such that a man on a horse could easily wander around them, getting lost in them, enjoying the sound of the breeze blowing on the leaves and making that calm rustling sound. Even the color of the leaves, a blue-ish green, perfectly captures the emotion of calm and serenity.

From what I can gather from the fellows around me is that Mongolians are more western than their southern neighbors in China. They are more eastern than their northern neighbors in Russia. And sadly, they are entirely surrounded by those two countries so there is no separate comment for their east or west neighbors. Perhaps it is because of their neighbors to the north, but in most respects, they have a similar attitude to Americans. Now, bear in mind that I have only been here a week and have had very little exposure to Mongolians, other than the ones that I work with, but this is my first impression. While I cannot say many good things about the food yet, the people are nice.

I must make it short for now, just wanted to drop a word and say hello, let everyone know I'm still alive. Must get some pics up next time! Toodles!

Last Day in Korea!

I never thought that it would come to this. My departure from Korea has finally come. I leave many good friends, many fantastic and vivid memories, and most importantly, I leave my wife behind. But I mislead you, intentionally. I am not returning to America, though the desire to do that does indeed grow stronger daily. Rather, I have been dispatched to a construction site overseas. To the fun and happening country that hosts the Gobi Desert, the country that is most famous for Genghis Khan, horse riders, and nomads, the country of a thousand winds, Mongolia.

Very sudden, isn't it? It is for me as well. While we knew almost from the beginning that we would be sent to a site, recently I had raised my hopes that I could actually be sent to a local project. Our official dispatch notice, however, crushed those hopes most effectively. As it was only less than a week ago that we received our dispatch notice, I am still recovering from the whole experience.

Today is my last full day here. I believe that me living apart from Jiyoung has not yet fully sunk in. Leaving Korea has not fully sunk in. It feels mostly like its a dream. It's not all a nightmare, mind you. The opportunity given to me is a great one for a potential career in the aviation construction field. The big question is then, can I return to the design field and use that experience. The simple answer is, I have to.

Words cannot really describe my feel right now. A dream... as the time of departure approaches, that dream becomes darker and darker...

Wish me luck!

The Blue Festival

Ten thousand people in the audience. Fifty people performing a play. One key role, played by yours truly. 2nd place! What am I talking about?

It started about three weeks ago. I received an email asking me to join a Task Force Group. What the ultimate purpose of the task force was will come later. The important thing is that it meant that I had to learn how to dance. Me. Dance. Once again, Me. Completely inept at dancing. When I was younger I used to hide at weddings so that my mother wouldn't make me dance with my sisters.

Despite my pleadings not to be sent to my own personal dance hell, it could not be avoided. So I was sent to a resort, where I joined with my team who had already been practicing dancing for four weeks. I was given two weeks to do my best to learn the art of dance. Honestly, I started entirely with the wrong mindset. Constantly thinking that it was crazy for me to be there, that it would be impossible for me to learn the dance steps in enough time, much less actually move like Im dancing, and not just a robot. Partially because of that mindset, the first week was torture. Morning joggings followed by intense exercising and the afternoon and evening into the late night practicing dance.

It wasn't until after I realized that this was more than just a dance. It was a performance telling a story. A story to improve the culture of the company, Samsung. All it took was a small change of mindset. A team working together to paint a picture of the future. The second week went so much better, being able to see how the constant practicing in dance came together into a real story. I actually learned how to dance... at least the two dances that I had to learn. While I can't actually dance them like a real dance, I can at least simulate it. And after all that hard work, my twisted two and a half weeks took an interesting twist. The story was all about a global employee, Ademola. Ademola was an actual employee at Samsung that came to join us for the play. The thing is, he is actually of the class of 52, while this play is part of the Blue Festival for the class of 53! As a celebration for the class of 53, it would not be very practical to have someone from the class of 52 as the lead role. The upper management agreed, and commanded us to do something about it. There was a total of 5 foreigners in our group. 3 of them were from the class of 52. 1 was a chinese girl. The last one was me. There really was no choice. I had to step up to the plate and become the lead role, two days before the performance.

But what performance? What is this performance all about? Every year Samsung hosts The Blue Festival for new employees. It is a very large festival to celebrate and show the energy and passion of the new employees. The festival ends with a performance from various teams representing each different Samsung company. It is a totally different experience from any thing in America, practically unfathomable for its impracticality. More than 250 new employees spend six weeks doing nothing but dancing and getting paid for it. Imagine! Why? Well, as I mentioned, to show the energy and passion of the new employees. It gets the employees fired up and excited to work for such a company as Samsung and gets the other employees inspired and recharged seeing the new employees and remembering when they were new employees. It also helps to bond the new employees together and teach them about overcoming the impossible, accepting challenges that they never thought they could overcome.

To the Han River

In January, I had a dream. It wasn't quite to grandiose as Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream, but it was my dream, and that's good enough for me. Before I began work and was swallowed up by the man eating machine known as Samsung (<-actually you could probably insert any large coorporation here), I wanted to go on one last adventure. As if living in Korea isn't adventure enough. My dream was to bike to Busan. That is roughly 600km away from Seoul. It was the middle of January, but it was starting to get warm, so I was really preparing mentally for such a trip. Luckily I was saved by a night of heavy snow that quite abruptly ended postponed that dream. That's right, its still going to happen some day.

Last time I met my wife's extended family, and last time I met her father as well, I heard comments about my belly. As everyone know's I am thin as a bean stalk. I don't have a belly. Or at least I didn't, but thats what happens when you sit all day every day listening to lectures with no chance to move around. So I decided to do something about it. Of course, to be honest, every day I decide to do something about it, but somehow by the time night comes, the sit ups and crunches that I plan to do end up being done in my dreams. But, last weekend, I was finally able to really get out and exercise, so I biked about 30km (18miles). That was the longest I have biked in Korea, I am sure, though certainly not the longest I have biked in Chicago. I went twice the length (60km, 37 miles) with the return trip fighting a headwind. I was beat upon arriving at home. Thank goodness I didn't try to go to Busan in January, because that would have been a really tough journey. I know I would have made it, but it would have been a very tough challenge.

Must build up endurance to go roughly 150km a day before I can think about heading to Busan.