Taking a break in Seoul

I finally took a bit of time off in Seoul, a day spend with Moka and Alexandre trying some of the things one has to try in this city. We started with a trip to Dr. Fish, a weird bathtub-like hole in the ground crowded with little fishes (Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus) eating anything that looks like human skin. It is one of the weirdest sensation I have experienced, and even if the treatment aspect is not that obvious this was worth the try.

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Then a fabulously clear day made us go to Seoul Tower where the clean air allowed us to see miles away:

Tomorrow work resumes and I will start the day with Swiss chef Roland Hinni to discuss the logistics of organizing a Helvetic lunch at Lift Asia. Aside from being a chef and university professor, Roland also has a TV show on Korean Television and I look forward to hear from him what we will be able to serve our guests. We received a grant from Présence Suisse, the organization promoting Switzerland across the world, and therefore are able to bring Gruyère and Salami to Korea!

Then Tuesday will be a key day. Our partner Daum is launching a major promotion campaign, and we expect the ticket rush to start. Koreans register for events extremely late. It is a cultural habit due to the fact that in this country things can change radically from one week to another, so fixing your schedule too much in advance can be a bad idea. We will see. First year registration patterns are always weird.

And for those of you still hesitating about coming to Korea: as last month’s Wired taught us plane tickets tend to be cheaper between eight and two weeks before departure! So if you haven’t booked your flight for Seoul you can still do it at a very low price, Finnair still having seats from Geneva at 1286CHF. I start to know this city quite well and promise personal advices to all the westerners who will dare coming to Lift Asia!

Hi from Seoul

I am back in Seoul for the final preparation of Lift Asia. Things are going very well, with cool partners and participants signing up. In Korea long term is one month, so the registration boom is still ahead of us and should come next week with an intense promotion campaign on the various Daum websites. As I get to know more and more people here, Seoulites take me to amazing places, the latest being Koraebul, a mythical sashimi place serving whale and live shrimps. See for yourself, this country has pretty amazing dishes to offer. The shrimps are less spectacular than live octopus, but slightly better.

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As I am a fan of Thalassa, the french TV show that profiled Koraebul’s boss, we got to try ten years old oysters, and it was another fabulous dish that you can not find anywhere else. This kind of experiences abound here in Seoul, and I am looking forward to share a few addresses with all the foreigners who will join us at Lift in the early days of September.

PS: and if you speak Korean we now have a translated version of the Lift website!

The 7 GPS guy

No idea why this guy, seen in Milano, has seven GPS in his car. Has he a very, very bad sense of orientation? Is this a secret Google project? Or simply an italian cousin of Dan Dubno?

Flying to Seoul

I am heading to Seoul and Jeju Island for ten day to work on LIFT Asia. The BBC reports a tensed political situation but I hope it will be business as usual out there. This trip should be an occasion to try to pass level three in local food tasting. After octopus sashimi and rotten fish I was promised there was something even more… original waiting me for. Keep an eye on my YouTube account ;)

^{Taking off from Seoul Incheon airport}

If you are around Seoul send me an email! My phone works when I am at my hotel so sms if also fine.

America

I just came back from two great weeks of vacation in the US, the first time I went to the country as a tourist, took time to meet people outside of my professional world, and went outside the cities. A few observations:

• Americans have a very different relation with money than we do here in Europe. Having or loving money does not seem to be shameful. Two examples: a friend was explaining me how, during the Christmas dinner of his company, a young intern started to talk to the boss in front of the whole company, saying in substance “tell me what I can do to make more money and I will do whatever you ask me, I want to make a lot of money”.
  Also, homeless folks appear to be thanking those who don’t give them money with sincerity, as they do not show any jealousy towards those who have money. It seems in America and contrary to what happens in Europe you don’t hate those who made money, you look up to them saying to yourself “it will be my turn one day”.
• Americans have a different relation to their country (not surprising I know, but read the rest). If something goes wrong they do not seem to start by blaming the system or the government like we do here in Europe. I say this after seeing homeless folks going around an American flag on their caddies (they all carry caddies around). This is unthinkable in France. If you are homeless, unemployed, or not making enough money, it is the government responsibility, and you hate your country. Very different mentality.
• Americans are the most productive people on earth which is absolutely amazing when you see how much this country is wasting in not value adding activities. After Iraq, one main area: disclaimers. Buy a camera, it comes with 20 pages of useless legal disclaimers (mine came with “do not put heavy objects on the camera as they may fall and hurt others”…). Everything is secured via stupid legal texts that take hours to both write and read. The worse case is what drives the creation of every process, and I wonder how much time it costs to this society every year. One example: the Dallas Forth Worth airport train. You step into it.
  - alarm stars ringing
  - a voice says “be careful, doors are closing”
  - doors close
  - a voice says “sit down, train will start”
  - train starts
  This process has at least two more steps than the Paris underground. It might look like a detail, but every person in this train loses 10 seconds per stop. Millions of stops and travelers later, it makes a different. And everything is like that in the US.
  
• Americans are micro entrepreneurs. All of them have at least 1-2 side businesses, small activities they have beside their day job. I don’t think they make a huge amount of supplementary money this way, but it shows how entrepreneurship is deeply embedded in their genes.
• Bush is a source of national shame. Again, never forget that more than half this country never voted for him, and it shows in every discussion. California is different from the rest of the country as are most coastal states, still it was a surprise to see the hate level, and how they now admire France who has “a president that can speak of politics one on one”.
• Life is built around cars. To an extent that is quite fascinating. Example: when you go to a restaurant there is a whole ceremony around the valet parking. Cool dudes arrive with they Porsche cayenne, give the key to the valet who parks the car. Then when they come out, the valet screams “a white Porsche cayenne” and the driver, all proud and full of himself, grabs the key in front of the waiting crowd. Cars are your social status, and therefore it is almost all of the time the main element around which social places are organized. Amazing. I don’t even have a car!
  
• The US has solved one issue: tobacco. Nice move. The war started 20 years ago and now the results are here. If you want to find foreigners when you go out it’s easy, look in front of the bar, they are the ones smoking a cigarette outside. Now an even bigger fight is coming: the fight against the food industry. My god, it is hard to make a step in this country without behind tempted by food or sodas. You always, ALWAYS have food in sight, and when it is not your eyes that are tempted it is your nose, with many shops carefully rejecting their ovens’ odors to the street. There is a problem there, a large one, Supersize me is a prophetic documentary.
  
• This country is huge, beautiful, offers a multitude of activities, and is one of the easiest place on earth to move around. Recommended, and I think that they are now conscious that you should not treat visitors as terrorists. Going through the customs was easy and smooth (a friend traveling with us got tons of questions because she had an Algerian stamp on her passport after shooting a movie there, but she went through), unlike the time I went to Washington with a broken leg and ended up with two inspectors checking out my orthopedic cast with rulers (a true story…).

Happy new year!

I am taking a few more days away from work/phone/computer etc… and will be back next Monday full speed, with one month to go before the third LIFT conference. Happy new year everybody (and thanks for the messages).

The Dick Cheney of car companies

Here in Los Angeles we see a lot of Hummers. Looking for a bit of information about this wheeled aberration, I stumbled on this quote from the Time’s list of the 50 worse cars ever:

“[The Hummer H2] contributed to GM’s emerging image as the Dick Cheney of car companies.”

Link

The “Dick Cheney of car companies”. How does it feel when your name becomes a dirty word?

Michelin crowns Tokyo world’s new culinary capital (replacing Paris)

Tokyo has unseated Paris as the world’s culinary capital.That’s according to Michelin Guides, the French bible of gastronomy, which announced a Tokyo edition Monday – its first outside Europe and the United States. Michelin’s Tokyo guide awarded 191 stars to 150 restaurants in the Japanese capital, the most number of stars awarded in any city. Previously, Paris had the most stars, at 65.Link

Somehow my dear readers will have to recognize the great magnanism of the French who create guides to shoot themselves in the foot. Time to kill a few more pre-conceived notions ;)

Picnicked

I am back from Picnic, already feeling like I was suddenly put back into an motionless environment after three days of intense visual, mental and social stimulation. I saw the future of digital cinema, rode a segway, met Alex Steffen, hugged LIFT07 speakers like Adam, Ben, Sugata or Stefana, discovered Uffie and Man like me (two live acts that you should really attend if they come to a club near you), saw walking aliens and giant chickens, had a drink on the supperclub boat, etc etc… I owe Guido, Monique, Bas, Marleen and all the organizers a big box of chocolate for taking such great care of us.

Pictures by Guido Van Nispen (more).

Next conference is Stream, then Sime, Leweb and we’re up!

A look at North Korea

One thing that is not apparent when you come to Seoul is the fact that South Korea is, at least technically, a country still at war. There are a few bunkers visible in Seoul, sometimes choppers will erupt above your head, you will get across armed vehicles every once in a while, but overall it is hard to feel any sort of insecurity or anxiety associated with a conflict situation.

But a trip to the demilitarized zone is an stark reminder that the two Koreas are fighting since 1950. This zone is the effective border between the north and the south. Both countries are separated by a 3km strip occupied by UN forces.

I went there today, and it was an incredible mix of contradictory things. I saw soldiers and tourists, mines and merry go rounds, watchtowers and souvenir shops, free and restricted areas. The DMZ is a place where tragedy and prosperity cohabit, and it can’t leave anybody indifferent

South Korea is already preparing actively for an hypothetic reunification, having built a railway station (strangely empty and boasting “Trains to Pyeongyang” signs) and a highway to connect to the north.

This country fascinates me a bit more everyday. That’s a good thing, it seems I will have to come back here quite often in the coming months.

For more pictures click here.