Events

(I promise, no more "Seoul" puns. Promise. Really. Swear.) Yesterday I started my shpatziring at the Seoul Museum of History. Now, if you know about my love maps, you can imagine what happened when I walked into this room: That is a 1:1500 scale model of the city. Every. Freaking. Building. With an electronic system that put a spotlight and a little CCTV camera on whatever point of interest you wanted to see. (Aside: Would it have killed them to do the electronic interface in multiple languages? Sheesh....

Saturday's tour of Panmunjeom was surreal enough. But even before we got to the Joint Security Area, we stopped at Peace Land: The clash of civilisations was never better dramatised than at Peace Land, in Imjingak, on the 38th Parallel. Here, the starving people of the world's nastiest dictatorship can look across the border at capitalism quite literally putting on a funfair. For the Southerners, of course, the North Koreans are the principal attraction. Right alongside the Pirate Ship, the Wriggly Worm...

Yesterday I spent four minutes in North Korea. Proof: That's inside the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) conference building, within the Joint Security Area near the village of Panmunjom. The line of microphones on the desk follows the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) dividing North and South Korea. To my left is South Korea; to my right is North Korea. You have to take an organized tour to get to the JSA. Because, let's review: (a) it's an active war zone; (b) it's a diplomatic base with heavy...

In just a few days, back in the real world, my cousin and I will troop over to Wrigley Field to see if we want to move our season seats. Tribune reporter Josh Noel will not be there: I signed up seven or eight years ago, back in the carefree days of the Cubs hovering closer to the orbit of playoff contender than worst team in baseball. Sure, they hadn't won a championship in nearly 100 years, but (cue the Cubs fan delusion) I'd grown up blocks from Wrigley Field and seen countless games in what remained...

Two years ago this week, I used a bunch of miles and hotel points to go to Tokyo, and had a great time. That was the week that American Airlines—whose frequent-flyer program had gotten me to Japan—filed for bankruptcy protection. Also that week, journalist James Fallows wrote a blog post about to the ban on using small electronic devices on takeoff and landing. Well, on my flight to Korea Wednesday, I could use small electronic devices, because the FAA rescinded the ban last month. And right before the...

Photos from this afternoon. First, a traditional house (Hanok) in the Bukchon district: And a traditional set of steamed dumplings not far away: And, finally, a traditional faux-Irish bar in Itaewon, the expatriate district: Tonight, I am in search of galbi, and then I hope to stay awake until 10pm. Tomorrow, Panmunjom.

Remember how I said prices are pretty good in Korea? And remember how I said I forgot my Lonely Planet guide? Yeah, you can connect the dots here. Lonely Planet: Seoul, December 2012 edition. On Amazon, $17.86. In Seoul, $28.40. That, folks, is a tax on my stupidity. Especially since the Kindle edition is $2.99 because I purchased the print edition. It might have made sense to buy that in Dallas, don't you think? Also, Guinness is not cheap here at $10 per Imperial pint. That, folks, is an actual tax....

In no particular order: These are the politest people I've ever met, and they all really want to speak English. It's like an Asian Toronto. A single LED by the door with a motion sensor makes a lot of sense. A 5 cm step up just inside the door does not. You can't turn off the automatic bidet; best find out how to turn its heater on ASAP. Why get a hotel room when you can get a little studio apartment, complete with British-style washer-dryer by the sink, for $50 a night less? Across from a 7-11, even? I...

Yesterday, on the Siberia side of the Bering Sea: Our flight path yesterday followed the terminator as the earth turned. The sun stayed right on the tip of the left wing for about 90 minutes before we jogged slightly west over Kamchatka.

First, housekeeping. After my last entry I managed to stay up for about 30 minutes, then slept for almost 7 hours. If you do the math you see that means I was up before 3am. So, even thought it's 1pm on Thanksgiving back home, I did some client work to clear it off my agenda for the rest of the week. Now the point of this post: Toronto’s plan to save Bixi transfers the bike-sharing program to the Toronto Parking Authority, turns over management to a Portland-based firm and uses money from Astral Media...