Category Archives: General Mutterings

More cool stuff about Seoul


We’ve been here almost a week – and I’m still amazed at the stuff I see/hear/do here in Seoul. This is one incredible city. In fact – I’m beginning to think that it rates right up there with Laos for coolest place to visit. There are great museums, wonderful parks, excellent shopping, and friendly people. What’s not to love?

And it’s easy on the tourist. The food is great, the place is clean – there are lots of toilets – and no you don’t have to stay in hostels – there are lots of very fancy hotels if that is what makes you happy. And the shopping is so good – we’ve run into tons of Japanese who come here just for that.

Anyway – enough of the Seoul travel agent – here’s a list of some more cool stuff about Seoul.

1. There’s music on the metro. They use different tunes at each station to announce an incoming train. It’s rather neat.

2. Shop keepers will sometimes give you free tastes – this lady was determined we try 2 each of her cookies – and even gave a bag full to take with. They were great for lunch – and we’ll drop back tomorrow to get some for the ‘road’.

3. I’ve mentioned before and I’ll mention again. It’s amazingly clean. We were even here on garbage day – so yes – there were piles of garbage on the street when we went to bed – but it was neatly stored in bags – and gone by morning. But it’s not the lack of garbage – it’s the lack of trash in general. People don’t drop stuff on the floor – I saw a lady on the metro turn around and dust off her seat when she got up! She was leaving and cleaning up. It’s a bit hard to find garbage cans – but it might be that I don’t recognize the pattern yet. Oh – and they are big on recycling – even in the hostels.

4. There are no sidewalks on lots of streets. The major streets have huge sidewalks that are beautifully paved (and they get snow here – pay attention Montreal) – but off the main drags – the streets are extremely narrow (one parked car, one moving car – max) – and there are no sidewalks.

5. Water filters are everywhere – hot and cold. It’s neat.

6. It’s not super common – but you will see severely bent over elder men and women. Jill thinks it’s the lack of dairy in the diet – and I have to say – I don’t see milk, yoghurt, or even cheese really. Plenty of protein, lots of fruit and veggies for sale – but diary is not that common. That said – the younger Koreans don’t seem to suffer from the problem – so it could also be from the restrictions during the Japanese occupation. Hard to tell, and of course – impossible to ask.

7. Cross walks are not at the corners on the major streets. Instead they are up a bit – about 5 car lengths. This gives cars room to get right up to the intersection – and I think makes it a lot safer for pedestrians. I’m impressed – Good idea there, Korea.

8. I knew that Cherry Blossom time would be done when we got here – but no one warned me about the Azalea Season. The flowers are simply outstanding. I’ve attached on of my favorite shots – Jill in front of a Japanese maple (red leaves) and a flowering Azalea. It doesn’t get close to capturing the size of the azalea bushes – they can be easily house size – but it does capture the wealth of color.

9. Last but not least – no one ever mentioned Rush Hour. The term ‘Moving against the Tide’ so richly describes the impact of attempting to get to a metro car just as the car has arrived at the station. The flood of humanity that leaves the cars has to be seen to be believed. There is literally nothing you can do but put your back to a wall and wait. Once the flood passes – you can continue moving forward. I’ve been in Japan and seen rush hour there – and I’m telling you. This is impressive.

So that’s it for now – after we visit the DMZ tomorrow – we head out of Seoul for the country side. I’m sure there are more surprises in store.

Signing off – The Soup Lady and her side-kick – the Intrepid Traveller.

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Getting Flushed in South Korea – More then enough about Seoul Toilets!


Little old ladies pay attention to Toilets – you just never know when you are going to need one – rush. So here’s the down and dirty on the toilet situation in Seoul.

In a word – it’s great. Seriously. We should take a lesson. There are toilets everywhere, even in the metros! I mean who ever designed the Montreal Metros as a toilet free zone should be eternally cursed with diarrhea – it would serve him right.

And there are always western (flushing with seats) toilets available. And at the Lotte Hotel – the public toilets even have bidet’s attached. That’s service.

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Sometimes both the stand up kind and the sit down kind are provided – but I’ve never seen just the stand-up kind in Seoul.

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And that includes in the metro, in public parks, at the Museums, in the restaurants, even in malls. Toilets are plentiful, Western Style, have Toilet paper, are clean, and are easy to locate. Amazing. And perfect for traveling ladies of a certain age!

Even better – they think about the kids.

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I know if you are a parent – you’ve had this problem. Your underage son has to pee – and you (the Mom) definitely don’t want to take him into the boy’s room. What to do? Well the Korean’s have 3 different solutions that I’ve seen so far.

Solution 1: A kids only bathroom in the lady’s room. Is this the cutest thing ever. And don’t worry – Jill wasn’t going to use them!

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Solution 2: A completely separate bathroom – labeled for families. I didn’t peak inside, but Im guessing there are miniaturized toilets for both sexes inside.

Solution 3: This cracked me up – a mini kid sized urinal in the lady’s room! The entire thing came just to my knees – prefect for a little boy – and hardly offensive to the ladies.

My discussion wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t discuss the Toilet paper. There is always toilet paper in the stalls and it is soft – a miracle I think. I’ve never been to an Asian country that took their toilets this seriously. But if the dispensers in the ‘chambers’ should run out – there is a dispenser on the wall by the entrance – you just help yourself before you enter – or ask someone to hand some over.

One tiny complaint – they put the dispenser for toilet paper a lot further back toward the rear wall then we are used to. That means you have to twist to get the paper. I don’t know if they notice the difference – but for me it’s just a bit awkward. Maybe they can get away with it because Korean women are more flexible than us. Who knows?

One more curiosity related to toilet paper – they love to use toilet paper for paper napkins on the tables of the hostels. Gross – but there you are. The cute thing – they don’t just set a roll on the table – there are dispensers that look like onions designed just for the purpose of hiding the toilet paper. Too funny. And trust me – a bit of a surprise the first time you ask for a napkin and get pointed to an onion.

Good job Korea! You win the Montreal Madame’s seal of Approval for taking public toiletting seriously!

Great Knees and Low Matresses


How Low can you go?

In South Korea – the answer might amaze you. Korean’s have the best knees in the world, at least as far as we can tell. They sit on the floor to eat (which totally sets my knees to flame). Chairs are low to the ground – even sofa’s are inches above the surface. And I haven’t even mentioned the beds yet.

Right now I’m sitting in our guest house kitchen – and in the living area, our host – Lex – is watching TV. He is lying on the floor – propped up on what looks like a beach chair – and the TV is set about my waist height. Low, low, low! There are 5 more ‘chairs’ in the space – all basically flat to the floor. The same thing was true at the Namu – the chairs in the living space were basically on the floor – while the chairs in the dining area were standard western height. Very interesting..

And Jill – who claimed the lower bunk – is basically on the floor – probably at most 3 inches above it. While my bunk – the top bunk – sits at my shoulder level. Easy to make, I’ll tell you.

We’ve eaten out every night so far – and 2 of the 4 restaurants have made us sit on the floor – tonight it was Korean BBQ with pork – and we sat on the floor at low tables that held the grill (Food was yummy) – and the first night in Korea we ate at a tradition soup restaurant – again sitting on the floor. We keep this up and my knees are going to be ‘bump’ ready come January.

So – I figure – to get up from the ground all the time – the Koreans must simply have the best knees in the world.

12 Unexpected (but cool) things about Seoul


1. I didn’t expect people to make a fuss about The Intrepid Traveler and myself. I mean people are constantly coming up to us – asking if we need directions, if we know where we are going, asking where we are from. We finally figured out that the issue is that we’re alone. No tour group. I gather that ladies of a certain age (ok – over 65) – just don’t wander the streets of Seoul alone. It’s not that we’re in danger – it’s amazement that we are the kinda folks that would do that.

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2. I didn’t expect there to be so few ‘North American’s’. In the Namu – our adorable hostel, there are no other North Americans. There is one guy from Edinburgh, (you are not allowed to call him English) – all the other folks are Asian or Indonesian. Interesting eh? We were waiting for a light in the Financial District – Downtown Seoul, and standing in a crowd of 30 to 40 people. Only one other person was Caucasian, and I didn’t ask where he came from.

3. I didn’t expect all the help. We went to a Korean BBQ restaurant – and they literally fed us. They spoke no English, we speak no Korean – so they gave up trying to explain how to cook the food – and did it all for us. That and wait on all the other tables. They even had to demonstrate how to take the leaves they gave us and wrap the cooked meat in them – my favorite – Mint leaves I think. And the BBQ sauce was yummy. Actually – the meal was Delicious – and would have been 5 stars if I hadn’t felt a bit like a 5 year old learning to eat!

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4. I didn’t expect everyone to be busy. In most of the other countries we’ve visited – there are always groups of people, generally male, just hanging around. Playing board games, smoking cigarettes, lounging here or there. But not in Seoul. Everyone – from 2 years old to 81 (we asked – he told us) is busy, busy, busy.

5. I didn’t expect all the food stalls. I think I should have – in Bangkok – that was one of the things I most remember. But here they take it to an entirely different level. We have seen Fish counters – with ice chests full of fresh fish – set up on the shopping street around the corner. The gal doesn’t lack for customers either. Trucks drive along playing songs and selling food – right off the truck. We saw a chain of street stalls – vendors wearing identical uniforms (beige jackets – cute hats) and pushing carts with bottles of yogurt and milk. And there is the cooked food. In many cases – they actually cook to order while you wait. Fried dough, sauteed fish, I saw one cart that had deep firers with fish on skewers. You ordered a skewer – he dunked it into the firer for you. Now that’s cooked to order. We even spotted a lady with a machine for making creme filled Doughnuts while you waited. I even saw an ‘Expresso’ Van, a Coffee House on wheels.

6. Speaking of coffee – I totally didn’t expect all the coffee houses. Reviews from a year or so ago mentioned the challenge of getting coffee in the morning – while not any more. There is at least one coffee shop a block – a smattering of Dunkin Doughnuts and Starbucks (we export the best, eh?), but mostly clearly Korean owned and operated. Signs that say ‘Best Standing Coffee’, ‘Coffee by Stand and Drip’, ‘Coffee and Bean’ speak to local control and sign making. And they are expensive – signs outside announce prices in the 2500 to 4000 Won ($2.50 to $4.00) range – pricey even by our standards.

7. I am intrigued by the gender roles. In our guest house – the cleaner is the male host – he washed the dishes and vacuumed the floors. The guides at the museums are all women, the waitresses all female, the cooks all male. I don’t know if I’m drawing a conclusion based on insufficient observation or not – but it does appear that while everyone is super busy – there are assumed roles.

8. Did you know that Koreans take off their shoes when they walk into a house, a restaurant, etc.? All the traditional places, including our guest house, provided a space for you to put your shoes before you enter the house. I’m really glad I brought my Slippers. And I went out and bought seriously cute socks to put on if I don’t feel like carrying my slippers.

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9. All (99.5% at least) of the women wear long sleeves. Now it’s fairly cool in May here – 70 degrees during the day – but the school girls are all wearing long sleeve shirts – and short short short skirts. So it’s not the weather. Even walking around downtown, we never saw a woman’s elbows. Beautiful suits, drappy skirts with uneven hemlines, plenty of short skirts with or without tights underneath – super nice fashion – but always long sleeves.

10. I didn’t expect all the English in the Museums – and the audio tours have been fantastic. All the museums and Palaces we’ve toured so far have English signs on many of the displays – and they all offered an audio tour – sometimes free. These were excellent. And they clearly post the times of English tours. We’ve taken 2 – once was just us – another was with about 20 other people – from a tour group of course. But not a ‘North American’ tour group – They were clearly Asian. So the languages here seem to be Korean – and English. I have seen signs in Chinese and Japanese – it’s easy to tell which are Korean – but always there is English.

11. The cars are amazing – not just the number of them for a city with tiny roads and NO parking – but the size. The two biggest brands are not surprisingly Hundai and Kia – but there are BMW – 7 series no less – and SUV’s. I mean there is no parking. None. People put cars everywhere – if there are rules – I couldn’t figure them out – it’s amazing. Very few bikes, not many motorcycles – just cars and buses everywhere.

12. The metro system is wonderful. It’s modern – there are elevators at every station – there are signs in English – the exits are numbered – and put on the maps – so it’s easy to figure out where you will be when you take exit 5 for example. Just Outstanding. Montreal – take a lesson. Interestingly – there is a wall of glass doors between you and the metro cars. When the metro arrives – the doors on the train line up with the doors on the station – and they both open. It’s rather like the subways in the airports. I know there is talk of doing something similar in Montreal – and frankly – I think it’s a good idea.

Ok – that’s enough cool stuff for one Post. Tomorrow I’ll continue with more cool things I’ve discovered about South Korea.

Signing off – The Soup lady and the Intrepid Traveler.
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Best new wine – Ever!


Best new wine – Ever!

A single glass of this new wine could mean a peaceful, uninterrupted night’s sleep. New wine for Seniors, I kid you not!

Clare Valley vintner in South Australia, which primarily produce Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Grigio wines, have developed a new hybrid grape that acts as an anti-diuretic. It is expected to reduce the number of trips older people have to make to the bathroom during the night. The new wine will be marketed as

PINO MORE

Surprise – There’s a Science of Happiness! Who Knew?


Backpacks to Briefcases – Free Workshops for Concordia Students and Alumni

I don’t generally attend these workshops – the price is right (free) – but the topics generally are not that thrilling. I’m pretty sure my resume is about as good as it’s going to get, and I have a tough time getting all worried about how to be interviewed.

So imagine my surprise when I realized that one of the series was enticingly called – ‘The Art and Science of Happiness’. Interesting, eh? I didn’t know there was a science to happiness – but I’m willing to give it a listen.

The workshop – really a lecture with some audience participation – was run by Gillian Leithman – a phD student in the field of Postive physiology. Bet you didn’t even know there was a field of Positive Phycology. Well live and learn I say.

Turns out – at least according to Gillian – that our brain is hardwired for negative behaviors. We scan the world looking for issues to give us time to avoid them – and often miss seeing the positive things around us. If that sounds a bit like “Stop and smell the roses” it’s not a surprise – because that thought is one of the basic tenements of the field. We just don’t stop often enough – and spend too much time being on the alert for disaster to really be happy.

Gillian started us off by getting us to list 10 (if possible) things that make us happy. She then proceeded to explain the 3 different general types of happiness producers – pleasurable activities (like taking a hot bath), “Flow” (like losing ourselves in a book – or a blog), and Meaningful activities (like volunteering, or caring for our kids). The best is to have a mix of the different types so that you aren’t putting all your happiness eggs in one basket. I tend to “Flow” activist (writing is one of those), over Meaningful activities (I’m great at the grand-kids – but volunteering isn’t my strong suit).

At the end – her message was that you can change any behavior permanently if you can do it for 30 days. So she had us set a goal of being happier in 30 days by just picking an activity that corresponds to one of the above types of happiness (different from what you naturally do today) and just do it. To make sure you commit – it’s important to announce your intention. In my case – I’m trying to blog every day – and trust me, it is getting easier to keep it up after 30 days. In fact – this is my 54th blog. In 65 days. Pretty cool, eh?

The key question, however, is – Is writing a blog making me happier? Maybe. I am taking a more observant look at the world around me because I know I’m likely to be writing about it shortly. I love thinking about what I’m going to be saying – and I adore checking my visitor stats. So far my greatest number of visitors in one day was 111 – and that was just 2 days ago. How cool is that? And I do love writing – surprise, surprise.

So I think I’d have to say – Gillian – you were right. “Flow” activities – done regularly – do make for a happier outlook.

(Want to contribute a guest blog…. All in the name of making you happier of course… Just let me know.)

And if you want to get in touch with Gillian – her website is:
http:www.lifeskillstoolbox.ca
and her phone # is 514-824-1967

Life in a Double Wide – Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it!


Some of our best friends bought into a ’55+’ community in Florida called the Brookridge Golf Community – 2500 double wides strategiclly located around a club house – an 18 house golf course – and a huge swimming pool.

And we dropped by for a visit.

Confession – while I’ve been in moblie homes before – generally at country fairs where it’s popular to set up a visitation center, I’ve never been inside a double wide. In fact, I’m not sure I knew before today what the difference was between a moble home and a double wide.

Well – I’m here to tell you – there’s a ton of difference. A double wide is a whole lot nicer and has a lot more potential than the fanciest moblie home I ever saw. Its actually really large and open inside. There’s a full size kitchen – and in my friend’s case – an island in the middle for prep work, there’s a very large, very open living room, with a proper media center (a 47″ flat screen TV for starters), 2 full sized bedrooms, 2 reasonably sized bathrooms, and 2 oversized walk in closets. In the master bedroom – which stretched across the entire width, the walk in closet even had his and her sides.

And with this comes a lani or florida room, a garage for 2 golf carts (you need 2 golf carts – this place was huge), and a covered car port.

There’s not a lot of land per home – which means little mowing or gardening, but you aren’t too close to the neigbors either. And the gated development on the whole has lots of green space with fully matured trees. Many of the streets are actually divided parkways.

The community offerings were wonderful. In addition to golf (of course) there is line dancing, arts and crafts, an RV club, even a drama group. In a community of 2500 homes – there’s a ton of variety of owners and ample opportunities to find friends. A monthly magazine is required to keep everyone up to date.

I have to admit to a touch of envy. I don’t know my neighbors – and they knew people on every corner. We even played a few holes of golf (they played – we watched) and ran into some of their buddies.

As my friend said – you have to think of it as a house on a lake – without the lake. I loved it.

Pretty cool. Next time you are doing the open house tour thing – Check out the double wides. You will be amazed.

Hip, Hip, Hurray for Street Food!


If you ever go to Toronto – one of the pleasures in that city is its street food. Those trucks with open sides that park here there and everywhere – open up and start serving delicious food. I’ll never forget having a sausage in a bun with the works (peppers, onions, mustard, ketchup, and even relish) at 2:30 in the morning just after dancing my little feet off at this fab salsa club my daughter and her friends had dragged me to.

It was yummy.

But here in Montreal – we are much less fortunate. During festival season – roughly June 1 to August 1 – the area around Quartier des Spectacle will suddenly blossom with very upscale street food vendors – not carts mind you, but full-blown restaurants with table cloths – carefully vetted by the authorities of course. And during street fairs – the St. Laurent street fair during Gran Prix weekend is a good example – there are tents up and down the road selling all kinds of things – some of it edible. Even restaurants get in on the fun – putting up tables outside their doors to sell ‘street’ ready food. Some go over-the-top and have lounging and seating areas. So – well – Montreal.

But in general, in Montreal – street food is a no-no.

Why I hear you wonder? I mean what is a city without street food?

Well – in 1967, just prior to the opening of Expo ’67 – Mayor Jean Drapeau decreed that street food was unsafe, unsanitary and unsightly. And banned it. Popular Montreal Rumor has also held that he decreed that garbage bags be only the new green type so they looked nicer when sitting on the curb. This was a Mayor with a mission. But our street food was gone.

Since then various groups have tried hard to convince the city government to change that rule – citing examples of cities like Toronto, Shanghai, even Brussels that manages to hang onto to not only their street food – but their citizens and their restaurants. It’s been a no go. Until this week. Finally – the city councilor have decreed that this summer there will be a street food pilot test – and by the summer of 2015 – if nothing goes wrong – Montreal will have street food.

Oh joy – oh pounding heart.

Wonder what Jean Drapeau is thinking of this turn of events?
Wonder what I’ll have first – Fries or a Souvlaki? Knowing it’s Montreal – probably a Prosciutto and Brie Burger.

Can Obesity-Prevention Programs Backfire?


You might have missed this news – it was on page 7 of my local newspaper – and I had to do some multiple google searches to find the Canada AM video interviewing Dr. Leona Pinhas from the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. (I’ll save you the headache – search Leona Pinhas Schools – look for the link “Canada AM”)

I also managed to find the original research – entitled “Trading health for a healthy weight: the uncharted side of healthy weights initiatives.”

You can find it here: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Leora_Pinhas/publications/

In her article, and during the video interview, Dr. Pinhas explains that in her opinion, some of the school based initiatives are perhaps going over-board. Not that she did research – nope – she’s just gathering anecdotal evidence from 4 kids that showed up at her clinic to support her ideas that kids with a tendency to over-compulsive behavior can hear the message ‘eat less sugar’ and translate it into “eat no sugar”, with the resulting potentially negative results. So she’s putting forth an argument for putting our emphasis, and money, on positive behavior modeling rather than on ‘lectures’ pointing out what foods to avoid. Sound like a great idea if you ask me.

Unfortunately – no where in the video does she mention that she only studied 4 kids, and definitely no where in the 32 point headline that read “When obesity-prevention programs backfire” do you discover the shaky ground on which her argument is built. The sub-heading: “The push for ‘healthy eating’ at schools has triggered disordered eating in some children” at least contains the word ‘some’, implying that the problem isn’t universal. But did you think 4 when you read some? I didn’t.

But despite my issues with the study – the fact remains that sending positive messages is an awful lot harder than can be imagined by people outside of the classroom. In the words of positive physiology – it takes 5 good positive comments to balance just one negative. Can you imagine how many positives are needed when faced with a child with a negative body image? Impossible. And that’s if they even hear the positives at all.

So I’m suggesting that we try everything – from making 32 oz soft drinks illegal (sorry – I think that was a great idea New York City), to teaching everyone how to stop eating when they are full, to bringing cooking classes into schools so no kid can use the excuse – my parent was to busy to make me lunch.

Yes – will power is hard. Yes eating insanely fills the need for company. Yes – it’s easier not to chew. Yes – chocolate bars are cheaper than apples. But unless we want to come face to face with the reality pictured in Wall-E, we can’t take the current obesity problem in North America sitting down.

7 Unique and Lip Licking ways to Enjoy Maple Syrup


Hey – I’m from Montreal – and Quebec accounts for over 75% of the world’s production of Maple Syrup. That’s an awful lot of Maple, people! You have to assume that over the years we’ve come up with some pretty creative ways to use the stuff!

1. Maple Fondue: Talk about gilding a lily. Like Chocolate fondue wasn’t good enough. Nope – take your fondue up a notch by adding a splash (or two or three) of Maple Syrup. Yummy

2. Spicy Maple Almonds: I adore almonds, and the thought of combining them with the heady taste of Maple is just delicious. And it’s easy. Preheat oven to 350. In a skillet melt 1/4 cup of butter, remove from heat, add 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 of cayenne (for a bit of a kick – optional of course) and 3 tbs of Maple Syrup. Mix well. Add 2 cups of whole almonds and stir gently until the nuts are covered. Now just spread the nuts on parchment paper, put on a baking pan in the oven for 15 minutes. Season with salt as desired. Yum.

3. Maple Milk or Dark Chocolate: Melt good quality Chocolate in a double boiler and spread it on parchment paper. Sprinkle with maple flakes. Cool and Crack into pieces.

4. Maple Vinaigrette: Quebec’s quintessential salad dressing! Make your standard vinaigrette recipe, but just a bit of Maple Syrup to add that sweet delicious kick.

5. Maple enhanced Jams: Buy any commercial jam – preferably a savory one like Onion – and just blend in a bit of Maple Syrup. Use on a cheese plate to take something ordinary on an elevator trip to the sky!

6. Maple Beer: No seriously – can you believe they take beer to the edge of disaster by adding Maple Syrup. It’s too sweet for me – but if you want to go crazy…

7. Or better – just pour it into your baked beans, add it to a cream soup (I adore maple syrup in Pea Soup), or make an omelet and pour it on top. Or do a tire! Get some clean snow, heat up your syrup to near boiling and pour a thin strip onto the snow. The syrup will start to freeze, and you can create your own home-made Maple Lollipop. Now that’s sweet.

The season is so short, the maple syrup so delicious – why not just Sweeten your life – it’s Spring!