St. Patrick's Day

One wouldn't think Seoul to be a hotspot of St. Paddy's Day activities. But there is actually a parade (which lasts about ten minutes) and then a cool festival with Irish music afterward. The festival is a neat mix of expats and Koreans themselves who get into putting on green and wearing stupid hats.


So here's a few pictures from the day.

Me and the Guinness man.


Koreans marching in the parade.


It's not St. Patrick's Day without the Korean chapter of Hell's Angels.


Very few countries would let foreigners use their military for a prop. Fortunately they let us use them for a picture with our friend Matt.



OK. This is really wrong. Marissa, our friend MinJong and I standing outside a bar called Texas on St. Patrick's Day in Korea.

The picture you've all been waiting for ....

From the Hobbit House Bar in Manila.

That was the best beer I ever tasted ...

and what made this beer so good?

It was brought to me by a midget. Yes, a midget.

For my last night in Manila I patronized an institution called the
Hobbit House.

The wait staff and servers are all midgets or dwarves. (They have a
normal size bartender, but I think that's just for logistics like
reaching.)

It was incredible. Words cannot describe the joy one gets in a
restaurant full of midgets. They're walking around everywhere with
their little hands and legs, bringing drinks. It was AWESOME.

It's been almost 24 hours now and I'm still feeling high.

The Hobbit House itself was pretty cool. It's a large hall-style room,
with wood fixtures and furnishings. Scenes from Tolkien, one of the
most prolific authors in the fields of Midget Fantasy, adorn the wall.

Wait til you see the picture of me and all the wait staff. They all
come up to my waist. I've never felt so tall.

And if any of you think this is exploitive, walk through the streets
of Manila and see the poverty that exists. These midgets have it good.

Right now I'm on Mindoro Island, at Sabang Beach. There was just a
power outage, but fortunately, most of the bars have generators.

More to come.

--

http://loughriedoeskorea.blogspot.com

I won ten dollars ...

in the most honorable manner one can while in Manila.
Cockfights.

Yes it was day three and I was overdue, so I headed to the cockfight
arena and placed my bets.

I'll have video posted here when I get back. But take my word for it,
if you ever get a chance to partake in a cockfight, do it.

--

http://loughriedoeskorea.blogspot.com

Hitting the road ....

Yes folks, I was given a grand opportunity and I'm going to take it.

My school district offered me a free flight to anywhere in the world as a bonus for renewing my contract. So I'm going to the Philippines. My flight leaves at 8 a.m. Friday morning, Korean time, and I'll be gone for three weeks.

I might dispatch a story or two from the road, but don't come here for much entertainment over the next three weeks. (And if this is one of your primary sources of entertainment, you should find the nearest gun and put yourself out of your own misery.)

When I get back I'll be nice and tan having been in warm weather for three weeks. (It's bloody cold here in Korea.) Golf, snorkeling and laying on the beach await me in less than 24 hours.

Ciao, see you back here on the 1st.

Who I WOULD HAVE voted for ...

had the Republicans let me vote.

Then again, when I received my ballot, I would have voted for Rudy Giulliani. But that ship has sailed.

So who would I vote for if I were in the booth Tuesday, for Super Duper Extreme Mega Tuesday ... McCain. Even though I hate his stance on immigration, he's going to win the nomination and he's the least scary of the other three dudes.

Mitt Romney was a cool governor of Massachusetts because he didn't give a damn about how people live their social lives. He flip flopped and tried to make himself conservative overnight, which is worse than the militant conservatives who genuinely believe it.

I was impressed by Mike Huckabee's performance in the debates and on talk shows, but then I heard a clip from a speech given to other religious whackjobs.

Huckabee said, "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

OK. Now we're done.

And Ron Paul has been great. He has integrity and doesn't mind calling it like it is. But he's also a little crazy.

So I'm left with McCain, who will win anyway.

Now, I normally don't vote for Democrats unless they are Horton Scioneaux (a kamikaze candidate who ran for California State Assembly against Sharon Runner in 2004.)

But this time, there's a Democrat I kind of like. Barack Obama.

The politics of failure have failed. It's that simple.

For one, he smokes.

But he has a good message, he's upbeat and it's a change. America needs some change right now. Obama could be much like Ronald Reagan in 1980, coming in with a positive attitude to fix things. Will he be as great as Reagan? No, absolutely not.

But America is not in good shape right now. The economy is tanking, worldwide hatred of America is at an all time high and it's time for a younger voice to get in and shake things up.


But I could stomach him, which is more than I can say for Hillary Clinton.

Democrats listen to me. This is yours to win, but you have to listen to me. There are a lot of Republican and independent voters out there like me, who will vote for Obama. There are a fewer, if any, who will feel energized at all to vote for Clinton. If you nominate Hillary, you can blow what should be an easy win. You will have the right energized and ready to fight. They hate the Clintons and they especially hate Hillary. It will get them knocking on doors, writing checks and voting on election day.

Now, My Super Duper Mega Extreme Tuesday predictions:
Obama and Clinton will take about half and half. Clinton will be hurt by California not being Winner Take All.

McCain walks away the clear winner.

I ate a dog.

Yes. It happened. I told y'all it would and when better when my old friend Chris Amico was in town to go and chow down on man's best friend.

The most popular dog dish in Korea is called boshintang and it's served as a soup.

Koreans typically eat it in the Summer as a method of cooling down. (I don't get it either, but they eat soup and sweat to cool down.)

It was great seeing Chris again and even better catching up over a bowl of Fido.

For the record, dog tastes pretty good. It's chewy and stringy, but has a nice flavor to it. I'd like to get some of the meat itself and try putting some nice dry rubs on it, or maybe a few different marinades, but I doubt Marissa would let me.