the robot would like to offer greetings and observations from a limited experience in South Korea. thus far, dealing with this country and culture has led the robot to several conclusions:
the Koreans are the true tech mecca of the east. Sure, Nippon has Sony and all the flash and pizzaz... but Korea is where almost all the stuff is made. it's dirt cheap for almost any OEM tech thingy here - CDMA cell phones, anything PC related, TV's, appliances, blank recordable media, high-capacity batteries, anything cable or AV related, and so on. hot and fresh from the factory door. not to mention the glorious games they have here. in addition to the largest per capita online PC market in the world, they are also staring to boom in the console market as well. which has a slightly grey underbelly; almost any game shop will sell you a mod chip, modded console, or bootleg game over the counter. hmmm.
the Robot spent the better part of the day investigating the endless tunnels and mall-sized buildings comprising Techno Mart. it's not just the main mall building, as there's also two Grand Central Station sized complexes crammed with booths selling anything you would every use with or near electricity. if you've ever owned a calculator watch, or said "neat" at a CGI movie scene, or played a game boy even once, you'll almost cream your cheese when you see this area. truly impressive.
not to mention, as the robot is consistently pleased to discover, almost everything in Seoul is extremely affordable. a subway pass that's served the robot for the past three days was approximately 8$. a fancy dinner is 10$. electronics, as stated, are only pennies above actual cost. I had to catch myself when I realized I was haggling aggressively over a 70 cent price difference (1000 won).
in addition to technology, Korea seems to have fast food and junk food down to a science. the snacks are even more tasty than some Japanese ones. and the best part - all convience stores are eat-in. they have a little counter with a hot water dispenser where you zap your instant Ramen and slurp it down. the robot did just that with some Kimchee Ramen and washed it down with a "Pine tree bud drink" which tasted like Pine-Sol with lots of Honey.
fast food aside, Korean food is, in the robot's opinion, the best stuff on earth. the Korean family housing me is doing wonders to perpetuate that belief. the robot was recently given a sugar-boiled and frozen persimmon to gnaw on. it was like a little slice of mechanized heaven.
finally, faced with a completely foreign sounding language (the robot is accustomed to the sound of Chinese, even if the meaning is elusive) upon hearing Japanese even in the background, it comes through as clear as english. this is pleasing, and today at the DMZ I had to catch myself when I realized I'd engaged a fellow tourist in conversation not noticing it was in Japanese.
that is all for now. in sum, the robot highly recommends anything having to do with Korea. be sure and visit here, eat Korean food, and congratulate the Koreans you know on their recent table tennis gold medal over china as often as possible.
