The Future is Korea

Sky scrapers pierced the clouds like titans standing guard.  I stood motionless as an ant in awe of mans achievements.  Here in Incheon's new city I felt for the first time in my life that I was a mere time traveler from a distant past.  Korea, having been a baby to the world, has finally achieved it's man hood and taken rank among the mammoths of industry.  There is a vision of the vox populi that has driven this pinnacle city into creation where public conveniences mesh with future ideology.  Fascinating bows and oblique beams formed fashionably into architectural miracles.  I have never seen such beauty in buildings.  It was only fitting that the area be named the world of tomorrow.  I strolled into the information hall, both doors automatically parting with a smoothness that tingled my ears.  I entered into an enormous lobby like area.  Pillars of lights that changed colors fluidly, gave a soothing and tranquil atmosphere.  A subtle ambient like music whispered gently to every inch of the first floor.  I was directed to a free tour portraying the new architecture that the city would soon give birth to.  This tour also included a glimpse of the robots that would soon run the thousands of manual labor positions required for the up keep of these giants.  My future lore has been to this point composed of only movies, books, and dreams but only now have I seen first hand what is to come.  The first room on the tour was a replica of a standard middle to upper class living quarters that will be implemented when construction finishes.  The paintings that cluttered the walls were reminiscent of giant i-pod touches.   In the center of the living room sat a table top mainframe or the brain of the house so to speak.  From here one could essentially change the mood, pictures, music, scenery, and any other decor.  I have placed a video of me operating just one function of the brain that I thought was a lot of fun. 

  The next room had a 3D TV in it where you sat in the center of a black ring like bubble and watched your favorite characters come to life jumping off the screen and onto your lap or shoulders.  If I was to ever lose my mind I'd imagine that watching 3D TV would be spot on to what my day to day hallucinations would be like.  I also found out that I can watch a penguin dance on my hand while speaking in Korean for around twenty four hours before getting bored with it.  The only way I can think of describing the next room is by comparing what was in the center to the black plateau from 2001 space odyssey except you could walk inside it.  Once inside it measured your weight, body heat, health, strength, and pretty much the size and color of your underwear.  You told the inanimate lifeless robot what you would like your body to appear like and then it sent data and information to a tread mill next to it and also gave you a schedule of your cardio exercises you would need to commence.  The tread mill although being indoor let you walk in a virtually created environment.  It greeted you in an affectionate tone by name and even gave the eerie appearance of being capable of small talk.  It stuck with the mundane socially retarded conversations such as how are you feeling today?  Or it has been awhile since you have done this hike...do you miss the mountains?  The machine was trying to make this activity as naturalistic as possible to give you the false comfort of actually thinking you were walking outside.  Even though you are truly indoors away from everything that is really human in the world.  The kicker to this whole experience is that you are linked online to millions of other joggers and walkers to where you can walk with someone from the other side of the world on a virtually created mountain.  Hopefully they will implement this technology into the World of Warcraft massive multiplayer online game so that the hours that they spend walking from quest to quest on their character are actually used exercising.  We would have professional gamers that looked like they could have starred in the movie "300".  Honestly then gaming wouldn't be as much of a waste of time as working out would be.  One quick tangent i promise...I really hate socially retarded people that keep coming up to you after you show them a bit of kindness....they hang around starring at you blankly waiting for you to talk to them.  During these times I fantasize about having magic abilities.   Only so I could turn those people into dogs and then pat them on the head and say "good dog" and then go back to work.  Dogs stare at you for hours on end but they are so cute and the reason why they aren't speaking is because they can't.  Back to the Future though, the final room had a white egg looking seat with an LCD touch screen positioned at eye level centered directly in front of you.  A camera sat in three different places surrounding your head and it would digitally recreate your face into a virtual environment.  The reason being that you can test new hair styles, clothes, accessories, and even tattoos if you'd like.  Instead of taking the leap this machine allows you to get an idea of what fashions and styles would look good on you.  I just messed around with the facial reconstruction software.  People in Korea are obsessed with plastic surgery.  I would say about fifty percent of the woman have gotten their eyelids done.  Apparently Asians don't have double eyelids like the rest of the women in the world so they get a surgery to have it.  You wouldn't notice it until someone tells you about it once and then you see it everywhere.  Nose jobs and eye jobs are about as common as churches in Korea.  If one were to leap from a plane to kill themselves in South Korea there is a ninety percent chance they will land on a church, in fact I bet there is a fifty percent chance they would be impaled on a cross.  If they don't land on a church then they land on a plastic surgeons door step.  Anyways with this new nifty little device they can try all the operations they want on their face and body.  

I did a couple of virtual reality tours that were really fun and very involved to where you had a hand device that acted similar to the 3D TV.  At one point there was a virtual fire and an extinguisher appeared in my hands that I had to use on the fire to help out.  It was a lot of fun and you got to use a lot of other cool tools like a fishing rod, a flashlight, and a gun.   I took a picture to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

After the tour was over I took a look at a lot of the robots and what their purposes were.  It was a lot of fun and they even had insect robots too.  I posted pictures below.  

At the end of the tour I decided to take the stairs up instead of down to where an exit sign caught my eye.  The hallway was dimly lit from the flickering neon like sign.  I walked through an almost transparent door that led to a terrace on the roof looking over the entire city.  The night covered my body and my pupils enlarged adjusting to the void of light.  The wind brushed cold against my face but I took no notice to its ploy to pull me from the moment.  I was only operating one sense at that time and I deadened my body in meditation.  All around me were those same titan buildings looking down upon me.  I stood surrounded.  Only at night do they truly show off their true beauty.  Florescent greens and blues climbed their sides decoratively.  It looked like beams of light were raining down from the clouds.  Streams of data being sent from other worlds fell like rain pounding upon the earths surface.  Bridges in the distance looked like communication beacons sending people and coded messages to distant planets in dancing rays of light.  Then I looked at the spectacle below me, it was as if the cities underbelly had been painted with Christmas lights.  They twinkled and shined as if they were an entity of some sort communicating with other light creatures.  In this one moment I simply smiled and exhaled knowing the reason why I had traveled again.  We rarely escape our instilled realities.  We are so consumed with superficial identities that we become them.  Then for some reason we stop searching and journeying.  In these moments that we throw caution to the wind we are perfect and complete.  We are happy like children and filled with laughter that now only whispers within us.  Our joys are sharing these moments with each other and with ourselves.  I hope my blog gives you that extra nudge to leap and free yourself to do what you want.  I hope you find the courage to make the change you've been wanting.  I hope you all have good travels and make great friendships.  Most of all I wish that you find love and happiness wherever you are.  Only when we step back from the rush of our lives do we truly understand what is important.  I'm lucky to have everything I have in my life especially my loving parents who are still happily married and the best brother I could have ever imagined.  I also have the most amazing girl on earth as a girlfriend.  Sorry to get very emotional but I had a dream the other night about my grandmother and it was the first time I actually woke up and cried.  My grandma was alive and walking around a farm.  I was following her close as a baby duck would its mother.  I knew she was getting close to dying and I felt scared and deathly afraid of losing her.  We had a giant goose that had characteristics of a grandmother too.  It really loved my grandma more than it loved anyone on the farm....it was actually now that I think about it mother goose.  She had beautiful grey curly hair and wore glasses that hung on the tip of her bill.  She kept on nuzzling her head onto my grandmas side because she loved her so much and she wanted her to be happy in her final moments.  The goose kept on helping her if she had trouble walking.  Finally I thought it was so amazing and adorable that I asked my grandma if I could take a picture of her doing it.  I started crying really bad knowing it was a fleeting moment and that I would never see her again.  She just looked at me and smiled warmly....but the goose got very angry when I took the picture.  The goose would show up as a stuffed animal bear and my grandmother didn't look the same either, her face was distorted in the picture.  I was so consumed with trying to capture the moment on film that I wasn't enjoying every second of it.  I think the dream was saying that you can't capture beautiful moments like this, so experience them as fully as possible so that they stay with you forever.  I love you all.  I hope everyone is doing well.

This was a TV in a balloon that kids could hit like a pinata.  It was pretty much indestructible 

Guam My Love

It was Tuesday afternoon after my second class when my boss informed me of my travel plans to Guam to pick up my work visa.  Normally I would care about this flight itinerary given to me at the last second, but seeing as though I was flying to an island paradise during my normal work schedule, it didn't bother me in the least bit.  I packed what I could and headed to the airport Wednesday afternoon.  Fortunately on the flight they sat me next to a Chinese guy that I was sure had the swine flu.  He couldn't stop coughing, so I kept a pillow over my face until we landed.  I dont know why I did that because I should have welcomed the swine flue.  They would have had to quarantine me in the most beautiful paradise I have ever seen on American soil called GUAM.  I found it humorous that the minute I got out of the airport I took a picture of the first palm tree I saw.  Why is it that when we have been away from a beach for so long that we find such comfort in seeing the palm trees?  I think it is a symbol of freedom and peace from the rush of society.  I was hoping that no one saw me take the pictures of the palm trees but if anyone did I definitely outed myself for an extra 20 dollar charge for the taxi.  I only had to spend literally an hour in all to take care of my visa and then I had two whole days and nights in Guam.  This is a paradise that not many people know about.  The island is littered with vacant beaches, waterfalls, beautiful flowers, palm trees, good food, and luxurious resorts.  I rented a beach bomber which was around 25 bucks per day.  The car was beaten down by the millions of previous occupants.  The steering wheels ragged rubber had been eroded by the sun's rays and the seats were torn and tattered.  It sat comfortably as I imagine those lazy boys do after years of being worn in by their owners.  It was as if it was a grandfather of vehicles and had provided many people with joys and adventure throughout its time.  Now I sat snug as a child would upon this grandfathers lap for one more horsy adventure ride.  It was just what I needed, knowing that I would be wearing soaked board shorts half the time.  Plus one could essentially drive around the whole island in two hours so gas wasn't an issue.  Let me say first off that if you are going to plan a good island trip from Korea, you should go to Guam.  I would even go so far as to say to enter the country illegally in the hopes that you will have to be sent to Guam to get your visa.  The island was honestly built by the gods themselves.  Everyone speaks english and it still operates without safety regulations, meaning they haven't closed off everything fun and wild to the tourists there.  Everything has the beautiful sign saying "venture at your own risk."  That simple phrase is like a symphony to the travelers ears.  I started off my journey by asking locals about hikes that solo travelers were able to navigate.  Every person I met though sadly told me that without a guide finding eighty percent of the paradises was near impossible.  I was told about two that were maybe doable and also to take a journey around the south side of the island for beaches.  I bought a map for five dollars and started on route to the tarzan waterfalls.  The weather in Guam was around 85 degrees and the temperature of the water felt like the baby pool during the summer after hundreds of kids had peed in it.  I also noticed that it rained for five minutes at a time every couple of hours but storms passed as quickly as they appeared and the sun would once again bestow perfect weather upon the island.  I found the entrance to the hike on the side of the road with only one other car parked there.  I threw on my saudi sandals and my backpack and started on the trail.  I found the reason why most of the locals told me that hikes were hard to accomplish solo is because the trails fork every ten feet or so.  I was lost after about five minutes with a two hour hike to the waterfall still ahead.  Surprisingly the horrible action of littering is what helped me navigate these forks...the path that had the most beer cans and garbage was the path that I took.  So I guess in some cases littering can be a blessing for others.  I would like to tell you that I made it to the waterfall and it was wonderful but the litter led me to a giant pile of more litter at an area that more locals went to.  It wasn't the tarzan waterfalls but more of a river with pools in it.  It was beautiful none the less and I took a swim in the warm fresh waters of the island.  My body rejuvenated in the holy waters of the island.  I felt like a true jungle man and or a local of Guam swimming in the pools.  It was just me and nature so the next logical step was to get naked with that nature.  So I began jumping off cliffs and swimming in the nude hoping that Guam wasn't home to any of those friendly parasites that swim into your body when you urinate.  I imagined also that since I was upstream of the tarzan waterfalls, that the tourists who were most likely basking in the cascading waters were enjoying a little extra warmth.  I decided my hike had been a success and that I needed to continue my adventure, so I gathered my belongings and headed back the way I came.  Of course I got lost for two more hours but finally made it to the road.  The locals told me to leave all the doors unlocked and the windows down so that robbers wouldn't break my windows to dig through my car.  I had nothing of value inside anyways so I wasn't really scared of someone giving a look inside.  The sun was getting close to setting so I decided to take a drive down south to where all the beautiful picturesque beaches were.  I have never seen so many perfect coves and beaches in my life with no one on them.  They were completely deserted and I stopped at to many of them to count.  I would swim around and then jump back into my car, wet like a dog, and continue to another.  I enjoyed the sunset in the nude on a beach that reminded me of the movie called the beach.  It had a sandbar that went a hundred feet or so out into the crystal blue water.  The water was reminiscent of the waters in Greece or the Bahamas for the visibility must have been a million miles.   I laid on a quality inn towel I had taken from my hotel enjoying the last few minutes of the suns warmth and the islands beauty before continuing on my way.  The roads were dark and windy and just like my old honda civic the rentals lights were awful.  They barely lit the road five feet ahead of me so I drove cautiously and tailed other cars with working headlights as often as possible.  I sat snug against their rears as a baby duck would its mother.  Finally I got to the more touristy part of the island thats streets were lit with the blinding lights of the resorts.  I figure if your going to ruin the spectacle of space that we rarely take notice to anymore these days with light pollution then it might as well be because of a luxurious resort.  I had heard that Pacific Island Club had one the greatest pools so I decided to sneak in and take advantage of my skin color.  I walked through the lobby without question and followed the signs I saw to the pool.  I walked a concrete path that was lit with tiki torches over a bridge and into the most enormous pool grounds I have ever seen.  I should say I entered into a water park because that is what it resembled.  It had pools as far as the eye could see with water slides and waterfalls everywhere.  There was a water polo game going on in one pool and a water basketball game going on in the other.  I threw my clothes off and headed toward a stair case that hugged tight to one of the waterfalls.  At the entrance were hundreds of boogie boards that anyone was free to take as they pleased.  I grabbed one and headed up the tiki lit stone stairway with the roaring sound of a water slide near.  I reached a plane with two whirlpool hot tubs and an entrance to a water slide but curiosity wouldn't let me end this journey prematurely.  I was like some sort of beast  or vampire thats hunger could only be filled with the most radical water slide the world had ever seen.  I located another set of steps that led even further up which I excitedly sprinted up girlishly laughing the whole way.  I arrived at the top where I stood in awe of the resorts beauty.  I felt like I had just found the home that the swiss family robinson had been building since their last movie.  I sat on a smooth man made impersonation stone, enjoying that nights spectacles of cultural fire shows, dances, and songs as I soaked in the moonlight.  I was completely at peace, the beautiful and intoxicating rhythm of the songs of Guam could have put me to sleep like a baby if it wasn't for the raging sound of the beastly water slide that sat to my rear.....WATER SLIDE, oh my god I had forgotten my main objective of finding the water slide.  I quickly jumped to the floor, boogie board in hand, as i stared down into the belly of the beast.  No lifeguard sat safely beside this colossus.  It was like an untamed, unclaimed, and undiscovered water slide.  I launched myself with all the energy I could muster from my quivering limbs and down the slide I went.  I felt like I had just found the water slide from the goonies.  I barreled down it on my jet like boogie board pulling Mach 2 around every turn and feeling the G's.  All of that pizza and insular behavior was really my body in training for this sole moment.  Some may call me overweight and disturbing to look at.  The SR-71 Blackbird was also said to be ugly on the ground with it's corrugated skin but the aircraft was designed to fly and not be observed and judged superficially for only when flying above the world does it truly show it's beauty.  It's skin expands and it's body elongates allowing it to fly.  Water slides welcome the obese and in their world the bigger the better so therefore on this water slide i was king.  In America many people see others resembling whales at water parks and quickly assume that they don't take care about themselves and that they should be embarrassed wearing those bathing suits.  Ahhhh to the untrained eye they do appear as lazy obese souls that let themselves go long ago but they are truly wolves in sheep's clothing for only on a water slide do you see what their body was truly intended for.  Only then do you see how beautiful they really are.  You wouldn't call a sumo wrestler a fat lazy talentless Japanese man.  No because just as they have crafted their body to fight the whales at water parks have crafted theirs to slide.  So now I soared over and over again down this heavenly water slide until I had proved my dominance over it.  After wards I bathed my victorious body in the waterfalls and whirlpools of champions that the pool provided.  I finished off the night by playing a game of free putt putt, sleeping for an hour in a hammock under the stars, and laying out on a lawn chair covered in towels.  I finally left back for my hotel for a good nights rest for tomorrows exploration.  

I woke up early and set out to explore some of the touristy spots seeing as though it was my final day on the island.  I started off by traveling up to "Two Lovers Point."  I recommend it to anyone that travels here.  

"The legend states that when spain ruled Guam, a proud family lived in Agana, the capital city.  The father was a wealthy Spanish aristorat and the mother was a Chamorro (the locals of Guam), whose father was a great chief.  They owned land and were held in high esteem by all, Chamorro and Spanish alike.  However, the best reason for their pride and dignity was their beautiful daughter.  She was honest, modest; her charm so natural that her beauty impressed everyone around her.

One day, a powerful, arrogant Spanish captain came to ask the father for his daughter's hand in marriage.  The proud father decided that the captain would be his daughter's husband.  When the girl discovered this, she was so disillusioned that she ran from the house and wandered along the shore where the sea soothed her with its silence and peace.

While walking along the shore, she met a young, gentle, strongly- built and handsome Chamorro man from a very modest Chamorro family.  He was lost in his own solitary thoughts, his gentle eyes seemed to be studying the lonely stars and seeking some meaning to his life.  They fell in love, sharing their thoughts and desires.  When the father of the girl learned about the two lovers, he became angry and demanded that she marry the powerful Spanish captain.  No one could keep the father from announcing the date of the marriage to the Spanish captain.  That day, at sundown, she stole out of the house to meet the Chamorro boy who loved her.  She joined him near the high point where they had first met and watched the stars appear. 

When the father discovered that his daughter was gone, he told the captain that his daughter had been kidnapped by the Chamorro boy.  The father, the captain and all the Spanish soldiers pursued the lovers up to the high cliff above Tumon Bay.  The horsemen slowed down their pace as they neared the high peak because they saw that the lovers were trapped.  The lovers knew there was one thing left for them to do.  The boy shouted a warning for the men to stay back, and the father signaled the men to halt and to watch.  The couple stood at the very edge of the cliff. The boy and girl took the long strands of their hair and tied these together into a rope-like knot.  The two acted as if they were absolutely alone.  They looked deeply into each other's eyes and kissed one last time.  In that instant the young couple leaped down the long, deep cliff into the roaring waves.  

When the father looked down over the edge, all he could see was the floating hair of the lovers.  Too late, the father understood the meaning of their hair tied together.  Since that day, the Chamorros look to the jutting peak by Tumon Bay with a kind of reverence.  They are paying respect to the young couple who showed them that real love comes from the entwining of two souls, true to one another in life and in death.  And, forever after the high point on the cliff has been known as "Two Lovers point.""

It is like a Romeo and Juliet story in Guam.  Regardless of what you think about the story though you should see this view.  If I decided to take my own life I would definitely choose to do it off Two Lovers Point for only there upon that cliff do you truly feel that your words will be heard by the heavens.  I have never seen such a beautiful view in my life.  I put some pictures of it below.  

Next I traveled down around the southern tip of the island again but this time with more daylight to guide my way.  I stopped at all of the historical spots and then found the priests pools.  The first warning sign I had seen on my trip was stationed like a scare crow at it's entrance.  It was a government sign saying that the bacteria content of the waters was deemed unsafe and non-swimmable.  Normally I might have heeded it's warning but but seeing a concrete pillar with a concrete slab on top resembling a diving board with a rope ladder leading to the top made me throw caution to the wind.  I put a video of it below.  Enjoy.  I had to jump in three times because the Japanese people I had met had no idea how to take a picture so I finally figured they couldn't mess up video footage.  

I jumped in my car once again but this time covered in flesh eating bacteria and seeing as though lately I have had terrible problems with bacteria infections (strep throat twice and a terrible ear infection) I knew that I needed to find a waterfall to wash off in quickly.  The closest one that I knew would be a for sure success was the touristy Talofofo falls.  I took the trip knowing that it was going to cost 20 dollars to enter but I figured I should check it out.  Luckily I realized that I only had 10 dollars so when I got to the cashier at the entrance I told her about my predicament.  I joked with her briefly and persuaded her to allow me to enter.  She was very kind and waited for the tourists walking by to leave and shortly after told me that it was fine.  I got onto a gondola that led down into the depths of the jungle.  It stopped right next to the waterfalls with beautiful scenic views the whole way down.  A man let me off and I was surprisingly the only one there in this paradise.  I don't know how to describe the emotions and feelings that overcame me because I feel like I wouldn't give this spot justice.  Here is a video and some pictures that might help.  I hope you enjoy. 

I stayed in those pools until the falls closed at six o'clock figuring that the flesh eating bacteria had been completely washed from my body and all of it's orphases.  I rode back up and got into my car.  When I was exiting the turn off I noticed three Chammorians playing volleyball and seeing as though they were short one player I thought that a game of volleyball with the locals would be the perfect way to spend the sunset.  I stopped and asked if I could join in and they happily welcomed me.  They were around 18-20 years old and what they lacked in size they made up in skill.  It was the best game of volley ball I have had in years.  Spikes, digs, bumps, and sets galore.  I thanked them and they thanked me and I went on my way being proud of myself for experiencing the island fully in all of its splendors it had to offer.  I finished up with yep you guessed it Pacific Island Club once again.  I wont bore you with repetition so Ill just say that I entered in a Beach Olympics, soothed myself in rejuvenating waterfalls, and rode the beast of a water slide many times again.  I left Guam sad but happy at the same time.  I wish and hope that everyone gets a chance to visit there and I hope you have just as much success as I did.