The Three Jewels of Korean Mountain Climbing.

My girlfriend Fee shared with me one day early in our courtship last year the fanciful idea of climbing all three of Korea's highest mountains, namely: Halla-san, Jiri-san, and Seorak-san. Being as I had already come close to climbing two of these, I hastily agreed that it should be a goal for us in the time we had remaining in Korea. Over the next year though, we would struggle with finding, adequate vacation time, the logistics of getting to these places, and quite a bit of fun and mishaps along the way. So here's the story...

Living in Korea Life Hacks

It occurred to me as I was attempting to reset VLC media player to play Korean subtitles, that there are likely a huge amount of life hacks for living in Korea that most Waygook have not figured out, or are too busy to try. Here are a few in no particular order.

Make an appointment at immigration

While this seems to be an absolute necessity if you happen to live in the countryside (and I sure hope your employer helps out with this) You don't need to do this if you live in Seoul. However, if you don't like to either wake up stupid early to get there or wait for ages in a queue, you can reserve an appointment to expedite the proceedings.

If you tried to make an appointment with my previous point on immigration, you may have found some difficulties if you tried to do it without Internet Explorer and ActiveX installed. Indeed Korean commerce seems to be enslaved to this, making it very difficult if not impossible for Waygook to do commerce online (Don't worry the appointment reservation system should work for you). Even if you do use these things, download the correct security certificates for your bank, you're bound to either be required to use a citizen ID number (where your Alien ID number won't work) or you'll inevitably have to attempt doing some of this in Korean (as the required partnered websites won't have an English option even when your bank does). So you might want to either employ a Korean liaison, or forget shopping at sites like yes24.com, auction.co.kr, or even gmarket.co.kr. All this about commerce however brings me to my next point.

Don't but clothes in Gangnam or Apgujang

Indeed, these areas are places where the latest fashions and the best brands can be found. Granted this also means paying prices that are far more inflated than many other countries, and potentially getting fakes, or shoddy quality items at those same prices. You can... Scratch that, WILL get seriously ripped off at these places. Consider any shop in COEX, Apgujung's Galleria, Apgujung-rodeo, Gangnam-daero, or Taeran-ro
 to sell at absurd markups. Come to think of it, anything in Sinsa should be equally suspect.

Instead, do what the old folks do: go to dongdaemun, or outlet stores. Insa-dong is ok, despite being a tourist hub. Good quality can be hard to come by in Korea, but low prices are not if you look in the right places. Don't be afraid if you find something that doesn't fit properly either! A lot of clothes in Korea will not be sized for western body types, regardless of how fit you are. If you find something you like, just buy it in a larger size if available, and then take it to the local drycleaners(컴퓨터 세탁). These can be found everywhere, especially in residential areas. They will be happy to tailor any clothes you have for a very small amount of money. And while we're trying to keep it local:

How to Clean/Rebuild a Motorcycle Carburetor

I was actually trying to avoid making this post mainly as there are already many detailed write-ups floating about the internet about how to do this procedure, but seeing as how I've had several requests recently for carb fixing (to pass the new emissions tests in Korea), I figured I ought to put together my own how-to for the newbie shadetree mechanic.

Disclaimer: This will require both a degree of physical strength and delicacy in manipulating the parts on your motorcycle. It is likely that various rubber bits have hardened and the aluminum carburetor bodies have experienced some light corrosion causing many of the screws to be stuck in place. Simply put: you will need to be dexterous. Even then there is no guarantee that you will not damage parts during their removal, so be prepared for your bike to experience some downtime before you embark on this.

Tools Needed: A FSM (factory shop maunal) for your bike that lists the specifications for your carburetor, Screwdrivers (short and long, flathead and phillips/JIS), potentially an impact driver, a stiff brush, carburetor cleaner, lime juice, water, a pot & stove, and a bucket or two.

A cat may also be needed... for what I'm not yet sure...