In Seoul

Arrived yesterday to Seoul. The clean and efficient Incheon airport still amazes me. Took the airport limo to Ylona's place. Found her new place in Yeonheedong without problems. But I was lucky to meet on a street Lucy - an English teacher. Lucy knew where is the Seoul Foreign School. Lucy also helped me with bags. Friendly and helpful Lucy came from US a year ago. She teaches english korean kids.
Ylona looks great. Eleni grew up and is taller than me. The weather in Seoul is sunny but crispy. The city have not changed much in two years and I managed to find a way along kimchi smelling alleys after two years. Korean also came very quickly back. I felt insecure this morning giving taxi driver directions, but I got a confidence boost after he complimented me on my pronunciation. He wanted to have some longer conversation but this I could not manage. For two years I have not spoken korean, and that I still remember something means I had an excellent teacher.
In Itaewon I met the owner of the austrian deli. He and his wife were surprised to see me. I was surprised they recognized me.
Yesterday I had a dinner with Ylona and some friends at Seoul Club where Ylona celebrated her belated birthday and 10th anniversary of her Korean experience. It was a very nice party. Kyong-ok bought a nice cheese cake from Hyatt. It was nice to catch up and we had a great time. We were the last guests to leave and they needed to push us out.
Obama will arrive in Seoul tomorrow (Nov 18th) and the city is nicely decorated with flags. Looks very festive. Surprisingly there is not much police on streets although ratification of FTA is on the agenda.

Today in few hours I fly for Nadi. But I am looking forward to spend few more days in Seoul on the way back from Fiji.

Crimea Trip Photos

I finally got around of sorting Crimea photos from a trip two weeks ago:

• for Crimean landscape and road photos please see: http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/CrimeaRoadPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCOiVnvjK2PKzHg&feat=directlink
• photos of Livadia - the palace where from Feb 4th -11th 1945 Roosevelt stayed and in which Yalta (or Crimean) Conference took place. In Livadia Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin signed communique on formation of United Nations. Before the Revolution the palace was a "holiday palace" of imperial family. Thus there is some logic in a palace exhibition set up: on the first floor photos are related to the Conference and on a second floor photos to the imperial family. http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/LivadiaYalta?authkey=Gv1sRgCMDi4tW479_7Ig&feat=directlink
• people in Crimea love pets; there are everywhere - around stands, in shops, in parks, in hotels. My favourite photos are of Gosha (a dogie) with a cat. They are true lovebirds: http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/CrimeanDogiesAndCats?feat=directlink
• Alupka is a spectacular palace of Prince Michael Vorontsov; the governor-general of New Russia - territory which in imperial Russia included part of Ukraine and Crimea. He is also known as "creator" of Odessa. M. Vorotsov was married to Elizabeth Branitsky, a daughter of Alexandra Branitsky (one of Potemkin nieces and "the lady in waiting" of Cathrine the Great; she made Alexandryvka Park in Belaya Cerkov). Elizabeth Vorotsov allegedly had an affair with Pushkin while he was in Odessa. The gossip is that Pushkin fathered one of Elizabeth daughters. The palace has spectacular staircase in the garden with six lions sculpted in Carrara marble. Each lion is different. My favourite is a sleeping lion. http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/Alupka?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmwxeDox-yjWQ&feat=directlink
• Bakchisaray - was a a seat of Crimean Khans. It is built by Crimean Tatars and according to wiki it is one of three Muslim's palaces in Europe the other two being Top Kapi and Alhambra. The palace is also famous because of marble fountain about which Pushkin wrote a poem. When Cathrine the Great conquered Crimea she gave an order to destroy all Tatar settlements - except Bakchisaray. http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/Bakchisaray?authkey=Gv1sRgCIemjb3Zr8jR_wE&feat=directlink

Debit pass problem

Problems started on Saturday. My ING debit card was rejected by almost every ATM in Kiev. I have sufficient cash on the account. The expiry date of a pass is in 2011. So it could be something was wrong with the magnetic strip. The problem is I have no cash in UAH. In itself while uncomfortable this is not the end of the world.
I did my shopping with the credit card. At the beauty salon they graciously told me they will wait until Monday for me to pay them. Very nice ladies.
I called the ING bank service line but on Saturday could not reach anyone.

This Sunday morning I went to one of supermarkets in Kiev and tried the ATM there. The one I have not checked yet. I put the pass in. Surprisingly ATM asked for my PIN, amount of money and if I want a receipt. I was already smiling with relief expecting to have some cash in my wallet. But than the ATM just stopped working. Screen turned black. Some algorithms started to show on it. And my debit card disappeared in the nasty machine.

I called the bank which manages ATM. Explained what happened. To get my debit card I have to call on Monday and my bank has to fax confirmation that a debit card belongs to me and than probably I can get a debit card on Tuesday. (We will see about that)

By now I developed a headache. I start my four weeks vacation on Friday. If something is wrong with my debit card I should have a new one by Friday. I called ING service center again and this time I have not spoken to a voice mail and a machine. But the lady could not do anything with my inquiry as I have something called “Worldpass”. She told me I have to call a different number but only tomorrow.
Today they can only block my pass. I inquired if the bank can send me a new pass to an address in the Netherlands instead on my correspondence address in Ukraine as I worry if I call A’dam on Monday it is very unlikely that by Friday I will receive a new debit pass in Ukraine. But the answer is “no”. It is not possible to change the address from Ukraine to one in the Netherlands. The lady told me "this is not technically possible". The woman would not even listen. Typical Dutch service minded mentality.

Now I have a full fledged nightmare. On Friday I am flying from Kiev to A’dam. Saturday in A’dam was designated for diving gear shopping. I planned to do it by cash or by debit card as I cannot pile everything on my credit card due to credit card limit. On Sunday I fly first to Seoul from where I will continue to Fiji. In short there is no time to go to the bank. And by the way I have no idea where is the bank branch I would need to go.
So without access to cash for a travel, now I have to figure out how to get some. But even if I manage to get “hands on my money” I am not looking forward to carry a ton of it while crisscrossing Fiji.

I’m sorry I just needed to vent. And the vacation even have not started.