I recently came across a number of games on Korea's official tourist website - er, one of them, at least. Start by going to the Korea Tourism Organization's page of games:



Bear in mind the target audience of this website: tourists looking for information about Korea. Now, go to the KTO's main page and see if you can find the link to the aforementioned page of games.

What, you say? You can't find it? (If you do, comment with the path of links you clicked on!) OK, search for 'games' - the first thing you'd expect to find on a tourist website - and you'll eventually come across it.

Click on any of the 6 flash games playable within your browser. Try not to laugh too hard at any of them:

Swing Swing: As a tourist, you should know your job on your bus is to give your seat up to older people. Your job is to try and stand on the bus. Move your mouse left or right to keep your person standing up. Good luck getting past a second.

Helpful to tourists: F - it implies that Korea's buses will toss you about if you're standing up... which isn't too far from the truth.
Game's grade: F - with little time to comprehend what to do, the game is over, and you're left to retry with no more knowledge on how to play.


Jumble Library Book Pile: For centuries, Koreans have been stacking books. Why? Who knows? Just click on the moving book to make the tallest stack in the allotted time.

Helpful to tourists: F - what does stacking books have to do with tourism?
Game's grade: C - the game itself is too easy once you've figured out how to click on the moving book. It also ends after you've stacked 10 books, whether there's time remaining or not.


Dance Dance Rhythm King: similar to any rhythm game you've ever played, hit the arrow keys and the space bar to the arrows. The song? An inoffensive K-pop song that isn't identified.

Helpful to tourists: D - The first game with an Actual Connection to Korea! If I wanted to listen to K-pop, however, Youtube has a much larger selection.
Game's grade: C - not bad. With exactly one level, it's either too easy or too difficult. At about 70 seconds long, the one song ends before the arrows are finished raining down.


Mole Pow Pow Pow! - similar to any 'hit the animal when it pops out of the hole' game you've played before. Use your mouse to click on any of the offending animals before they throw some ink at you.

Helpful to tourists: F - what does whacking moles have to do with visiting Korea?
Game's grade: D - functional. That's about it.



Today School Nurse Sugar! - losing points for its nonsensical name, your objective is to catch the objects, but to avoid the bombs - and the edges. Apparently, running into the sides makes you lose a heart as well.

Helpful to tourists: F - what does catching toilet paper and other unknown things have to do with visiting Korea?
Game's grade: F - between losing hearts for running into the side of the screen and being blown up way too easily, it's hard to win and not very fun.


Auto tour in Korea - because as we all know, tourists will attempt to drive in Korea. Move left and right to visit Korea, but avoid visiting Other Countries! Korea is apparently the only place worth touring.

Helpful to tourists: F - because telling prospective tourists that you're insecure about them visiting other countries is helpful somehow? You'll choose a place to start from, but that doesn't change the view of the game at all.
Game's grade: D - there's a connection to Korea, but it's over too quick and you haven't really done anything except swerving left and right. You've also been taught that visiting other countries is Bad For You.

While it's unclear what the KTO hopes to gain from these new features, these games are better hidden underneath layers of the website's better materials. Hopefully those materials are worth the tax won we all paid to develop them.


© Chris Backe - 2010

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

Tonight is our last night in Palawan. In the morning we fly back to Manila, chill for a night, and then head back to Busan on late Saturday/early Sunday. It's been a hell of a run and the last two days were the perfect way to cap this particular time out.

Coron and Busaunga Island are historically important because this area is where The Battle of Coron was fought. On September 24th, 1944, a large group of US bombers launched from Admiral Bull Halsey's carrier group suprised a group of Japanese supply ships that was attempting to reinforce the Philippines. It was a surprise attack resulting in the devastation of the Japanese flotilla. To this day these ships lay where they were sunk, and are open for exploration by divers.

We did four dives in two days. Yesterday we hit two large freighters, "Olympia Maru" and "Morozan Maru." It's ironic that the first bears the same name as my hometown. We were with our German divemaster and a young French couple that live in China (when asked what they were doing here, the vaguely answered, "working."). The wrecks were amazing, in 26 and 25 meters of water, respectively. We spent time on the face of the ships, as well a lot of time going inside, which really was the best part. After sixty-plus years on the bottom, the ships have become coral reefs in their own right and are teeming with tropical sealife. We took in lion fishes, a crocodile fish, a big sea turtle, and thousands of others bright swimming things whose names I remain ignorant of.

Today we dived the "Moroza Maru," an aircraft tender, and the huge tanker "Akitasushima." They both were fantastic, with the tanker really standing out, if just for its size alone. The current was strong outside of the wreck, and after diving bow to stern - mainly inside though some dark and tight passages - we floated back to the bouy-line along the lip of the wreck, barely having to swim at all. A huge wall of coral-encrusted metal shot straight down to the bottom, and loads of huge fish lingered in the sheltering outcroppings that now were host to all sorts of life. It was psychedelic, awe-inspiring, and just straight-up fucking awesome. Definitely one of the coolest things I've done in my life, as far as pure thrilling experience goes. We got down to 35 meters (over 100 feet), which is almost double our qualifications as Open Water Divers, but as long as you're with a good divemaster they don't seem to be so strict about these things over here.

So tomorrow it's back to the swampy, crumbling environs of Manila, where I'll try to assemble my thoughts and prepare myself for yet another sememster on The Peninsula. There have been some great characters and stories on this trip that I've only touched on so far, so hopefully I'll be able to process them into a couple of good pieces for this here blog or more glorious outlets, with a bit of luck.

Firstly, we reviewed this restaurant mere days after returning from our trip to Vietnam. Secondly, their Vietnamese food is really, really good.

The Pho really gives you the atmosphere of an upmarket restaurant. As part of "The Terrace" (which also includes "The Pan" and "The Cafe") it has an interesting street view while seating you comfortably back from the foot traffic of Nampo-dong.

Service is excellent. The staff are quite professional and even brought us lap blankets!

The food is excellent value and surprisingly authentic. All the dishes we tried were very similar to what one might find in Saigon and the presentation is excellent. The dish sizes are pretty big though, so if you order, for example, a large Pho you might want to share it.

Generous amounts of tea are also provided free with your meal, which does encourage one to linger under their gas-fired heaters.

After finishing your meal, you can enjoy a Vietnamese-style drip coffee (Ca Phe) - but first-timers may be suprised by the ultrasweet condensed milk at the bottom of their glass.

The Pho is without a doubt my new favourite restaurant in Nampo-dong, and I can't wait to get back there.

Phone: 256-8055
Location: Nampo-dong, near the main roundabout & police station.

English Menu: Yes. And English-speaking staff.

Vegetarian Option: Yes. The staff even asked us if we were vegetarians (did I forget to shower today or something? Maybe its time for a haircut.)

Spring Rolls: 4,000
Medium Pho: 8,000
Fried Rice 8,000

Source: my previous post on the Filipino Market.

In a move seemingly designed to placate the locals and remind foreigners of their secondary role, the Filipino Market in Hyehwa may be closing in the near future. I've blogged about this excellent once-a-week market before, while Extra Korea, Buhay sa Korea, and ZenKimchi have already weighed in. Since we're all quoting from the same Korea Times article, let's start there:

Jongno District Office in Seoul has told the Filipino community to stop holding a market in Hyehwa-dong, citing complaints from passers-by and residents.

The marketplace, dubbed "Little Manila," first emerged in 1997, and takes place every Sunday for Filipinos after attending a mass at the Hyehwa Catholic Church. About 1,200 to 2,000 Filipinos gather at the marketplace, which some consider as a fine example of Korea's racial harmony. There are about 46,000 Filipinos in Korea, forming the fifth largest ethnic group, following Chinese, Americans, Vietnamese and Japanese.

Father Alvin Parantar, chaplain of the Hyehwa-dong Filipino Catholic Community, who acts as a representative for the ethnic community, confirmed the district office's request, adding that it was like the district kicking them out for its own convenience without providing an alternative site for their gathering.

"The reasons they gave up us was one, they received complaints from neighbors and pedestrians in the area; two, there were concerns about cleanliness and order; three, they want to redevelop the sidewalk and include a waterfall wall in the area; and four, they want to transfer the market to a new multicultural market," the priest told The Korea Times over the phone.

Hmm... If you want 'cleanliness and order', don't go to a Korean market, especially the back alleys of Namdaemun. They can get away with it because it's far from tourist eyes, and that area is unlikely to be redeveloped anytime soon. The shops in Dongdaemun that face Cheonggyecheon push out onto most of the sidewalk, and tend to be more crowded all 7 days a week. Even in the Nowon area the street vendors take over half of the sidewalk most afternoons and evenings. How many fruit sellers does one block really need?

Assuming this new 'multicultural market' is in Jongno-gu and provides a better place for traffic control, you might think that's alright. Unfortunately, Seoul has a history of relocating markets into different areas - anybody remember the Dongdaemun Flea Market before things were relocated to the Sinseol-dong 'Folk Flea Market'? There's nothing 'folk' about a two-story building with modern lights, a warehouse-style ceiling, and a handicapped ramp:



Source: my previous post on the Seoul Folk Flea Market.

What about the piano keys road in Jongno-gu?

Image credit - Skypaday (my pictures of this scene aren't quite as good)

Gone - In the name of new design and a 'market', the unusual design / stage was replaced by a number of boring shelters designed to collect rent from street vendors.

The followup story, also from the Korea Times and Cathy Rose A. Garcia, mentions a signature drive to save 'Little Manila':

Father Alvin Parantar, chaplain of the Hyehwa-dong Filipino Catholic Community, said they have written a petition urging Seoul City Mayor Oh Se-hoon to retain and improve the market.

"We are not in favor of the relocation of the Filipino market. We are appealing that the present Filipino market should be retained with policies regarding order, cleanliness, pedestrians and traffic, and that the development plan of the area should integrate the promotion of multiculturalism," the petition stated.

The petition also highlighted the Filipino market's contribution to multiculturalism in Korea. While the majority of market-goers are Filipinos, there are also a number of Koreans and foreigners who are visiting the market to sample Philippine food such as barbecued meat, stir-fried noodles, fried banana and rice cakes.

While signature drives have been effective at getting a referendum question on the ballot or a recall election in other countries, both of those efforts were grounded in laws that granted such a petition. Unless these drives are a means to some specific end, they'll simply be perceived as pieces of paper displaying people's wishes, not something a government actually needs to consider when deciding what to do. Whatever happens, the privilege of the locals has no business trumping the rights of foreigners.


© Chris Backe - 2010

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.