Thailand Trouble

BOOKED:
Korea to Hong Kong - December 2nd
Hong Kong to Bangkok - December 4th ... maybe.

As many of you know, I finish my contract tomorrow - ending a year of teaching English in Seoul (and waking up early for 7am classes!) Vacation time! My plans to return to Canada involve a three-week trip to Hong Kong, Cambodia and Thailand. Then Home for Christmas.

BUT... If you have been following the news, you may have noticed the increasing political unrest in Thailand. Protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have been occupying the Thai Government Offices for the past four months, and have now upped their intensity yesterday, storming and closing down Thailand's International and Domestic Airports. Thousands of Thais and tourists are stranded in the capital, with rumors of a military coup occurring tonight.

PAD, composed of royalists, educated middle class, and business people, wants the current government and Prime Minister Somchai to step down, as they say they are too similar and close to the former government that was ousted by military coup in 2006. What will happen next is uncertain. I continue to check cbc, bbc, the ap and Thai News for breaking news. Check back here for updates.

What will I do? Will it all be sorted by December 4th? Steve and I are going to our travel agent tomorrow at the USO (United Service Organization - helps American troops stationed overseas, but also helps all foreigners!) and sort something out. Maybe we will fly direct to Koh Samoi (Thai Island far from the capital) dropping Hong Kong, or fly somewhere else - Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines....

Any suggestions? Isn't life fun?

Bush vs Zombies

In honor of today's Zombie Walk Seoul 2008!

"Laser..."

Hee hee!

Please Vote

Today is the day. Please vote in the Canadian Election.



Please take away the sentiment from the video. You don't have to register to vote in Canada, just go to the polling station. If I can vote from Korea, you can vote from Canada.

Please vote.

Damon on Palin on Dinosaurs

I don't usually delve into politics, but it seems it's time to get a little political.

I've been following the American election closely here in Korea - by reading the newspaper at work, checking in with BBC.com and watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report online.

In fact, I find the American election much more interesting than the Canadian one (yes, Canada is having an election too!)

Republican John McCain's pick for Vice President surprised and shocked me. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska with no experience - at home (mayor of a small Alaskan town and less than two years as governor) or abroad (she "can see Russia from her home!")

Is it just me, or can nobody else see that Palin was only nominated because she is young and she can get all the disgruntled Hillary Clinton voters and the scary right-wing gun-totin' voters. Come on!

Internet rumours also ask the question: Does Sarah Palin, a creationist, believe dinosaurs existed 4000 years ago?

Apperently this is a major concern for non other than Matt Damon (Jason Borne!) Check it out:




"Crazy. I mean, did she, I mean I really need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. That's an important...I wanna know that, I really do. Because she's gonna have the nuclear codes. You know, I wanna know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. Or if she banned books, or tried to ban books. I mean, this is...this is...we can't have that." -Matt Damon

As a teacher, I believe it is incredibly important that leaders are well educated. The thought that she might actually think dinosaurs lived with humans, or that she might have banned books scares me.

To be honest, I absolutely want Obama and Biden to win. Oh man, do I want Obama to win! If I was American, I'd be a Democrat. And I don't just want Obama to win because he might become the first black president, but because I am scared of McCain and Palin. He is old (72!), and if he dies, she would become the President of the United States. And that is scary.

Time to lighten up this post! Here's a recent segment from the Daily Show about Sarah Palin:

Korea's US Beef Protest - Part 3 of 3

VIDEO FROM THE PROTEST
The Peter Bond Travels - Seoul: Episode 3: The Protest



And if you are bored, check out other videos in the Peter Bond Travels series:

• The Peter Bond Travels - Seoul: Episode 1: The Walk to Work
• The Peter Bond Travels - Seoul: Episode 2: Food Attack
• The Peter Bond Travels - Munich Adventure
• The Peter Bond Travels - New Year's in Munich
  
• The Peter Bond Travels - Oktoberfest
• The Peter Bond Travels - The Flight to England
  

Korea's US Beef Protest - Part 2 of 3

IMAGES FROM THE PROTEST
by Peter Bond

Korea's US Beef Protest - Part 1 of 3

As you may have heard, South Korea is currently in the news for its ongoing nightly protests against the importing of American beef. The Korean protesters are angry at the new president, Lee Myung Bak, for resuming the import of USA beef, which was banned since 2003 after an outbreak of BSE, or mad cow disease. This week, the entire cabinet resigned because of the controversy.

Tonight is the 20th anniversary of another important protest in 1987, so tonight's protest is expected to be the largest yet. The number of protesters marching the streets of downtown Seoul in candlelight vigil tonight is expected to be over a million people, with over 20,000 riot police standing by to step in if things get out of hand. So far the protests have been very peaceful, with some violence between protesters and police. Hopefully, tonight will be uneventful...


Being Canadian, protesting is an almost foreign concept for me. Protests in Vancouver tend to dissolve into riots, usually revolving around the Canucks loosing or Guns 'n' Roses canceling a gig (re: 1994 Stanley Cup Final against the NY Rangers and 2002 G&R no-show at GM Place. Ugh!)

So protests are a new thing for me and I had to check it out. After work last Wednesday, I took the subway downtown to City Hall Station and, armed with my digital camera and my umbrella (protesting wet sucks!), I saw my first real protest...


Check back soon for my photographs and videos of the candlelight march through the streets of Seoul!

Politics

Today, there is a new President of South Korea.

His name is Lee Myung-bak, or Mr. Lee (as Korean family names are put first) and he used to be the Mayor of Seoul. As mayor, he helped "green-ify" Seoul by creating the Seoul Forest and reviving Cheonggyecheon, a stream passing though the downtown core. Mr. Lee is the conservative leader that 48.6% of Koreans want to fix their economy.

Yesterday, all Koreans had a day off from work so that they could vote. Over 60% of Koreans turned out to vote, which is the lowest in South Korean history. My classes also had the lowest turn out yet, as I was still working. Talking with those student who did show up, I found out much about Korean Politics.

Here are some interesting facts about politics in Korea:

-Did you know Korea has a President and a Prime Minister? Well, the President is the highest post one can achieve, while the Prime Minister is appointed by the President and assists him.

-There were 12 candidates for yesterday's election! Each candidate is given a number to campaign with: 1-12. Lee Myong-Bak was Number 2.

-The Number 8 candidate, Hun Kyoung-Young claimed to have an IQ of 430, promised to "transport" the UN Building to Seoul from New York, and would pay thousands of dollars (millions of won) to anyone who got married. Yeah. Mr. Huh also said he had the support of long-dead ex-president Park to marry Park Geun-Hye, an former female presidential nominee! Mr. Huh received 0.4% of the vote, which, amazingly, was higher than three other candidates...

-The official residence of the President of Korea is the Blue House. (Not to be confused with the White House!)

-Yesterday's election was marred by scandal, as Mr. Lee (the front-runner and eventual winner) was named in allegations of stock market fixing while he was head of the Hyondai Company.

End of KOREA FACTS! Ah, Politics....