Know your ABC's

Possible contributors to the infamous ABC, or Asian Brown Cloud...

Read more about this menace to the world's most populous continent here...
I first heard this term a few years ago when the BBC declared it a threat to Asia, and that millions would die of respiratory failure if something wasn’t done to reduce it.

Have you been to south East Asia? The nations across this vibrant region have polluted the shit out of the skies, and apparently it’s all fault that pilot’s horizons are bleaker, browner and thicker than ever before.

Before the essential American and European white media points any more accusatory fingers at Asia, they should think, in a difficult, non-sensationalist way, how to SOLVE the problems they report upon.

Making us afraid of the ABC hasn’t made cars in America more fuel efficient, hasn’t reduced the growing desertification in northern China, and last time I checked there is a HUGE American Brown Cloud hanging over the Santa Anna, San Fernando and Simi Valleys.

When it comes to smog, LA wrote the book, made the term and lives the reality. This article (link) annotates that wood cooking fires are the major contributor to the ABC, though I would, in my less-than-expert analysis, point MY finger at Sumatran and Borneo slash and burn, the neo-Japanese concretization of China’s east coast and all those scooters in Ho Chi Mihn City.

Weekend Photos for May 12-13

This is my Monday face, sans coffee.










This azalea has cool flecks of purple in it. Go azalea, it's your birthday...










Above: Buy one of these charms from this temple in Uji, Kyoto and salvation is yours, for around $4.75.

Below: Is there anything Doeraimon can't do? Here, he is hawking custard nuggets shaped like his head, at a Buddhist temple near my in-laws' house.

A head of the game…

Two friends from different continents are headed to Seoul this week, so as I was sweeping off the dust bunnies from long-forgotten image folders I stumbled across these photos from our old neighborhood in Seoul. Though it’s been almost 19 months since I was last in Korea, a flood of memories came back from my days perusing our local Shijang (market) in search of whatever fruits, veggies and treats were on special that day.

There was the fruit lady, whose bookkeeping was based on a plastic pail full of that day’s sales income; Won bills of all shapes, odors and condition lay in the bucket. A hand would enter, my change would come out of its visually impermeable innards.

Then there was the fish and butcher areas of the market, tucked away off the main strolling path. And from there you can see basically what happens. Basically, pig comes in, chops and bacon out. Not too surprising, really. Carve or starve, eh? The head seems to be the hardest part of these self-sacrificing swine. Pig heads anyone?

The world renounces Koreans for eating dog. Now it is one of those cultural traits that produce westerners to take up tag board-ridden protests to rescue these downtrodden doggies from the stew pot. So if you want to see dogs for sale for non-pet purposes, well have a subway ride on down to Moran Market, where old Korea comes to admire the area’s modernity and trade their wares, brought in at 5-day cycles. It is one of the biggest traditional markets I’ve seen, anywhere. And hey, how often can you boast to friends back home that you shopped at the moran market?

Mountain Madness

Taking the reigns as a hiking guide, I led several friends and coworkers on a three day two night hike in Shikoku, the least-visited of the four main Japanese islands. The story will take time to post, but while that gets developed, here are some photos!

The high point was the summit of 1955m Tsurugu San, or Sharp Sword Mountain and 1896m Miune, or Three Peaks.

We had fantastic weather as you can see. There was a range of great sunrises, sunsets and tastes to be had in several prime trail mix containers.

I enjoyed a great adventure and saw some team members grow greatly doing things that were hard for them. Need to get out and do this kinda stuff more often.