Suddenly Tap-dance!!

There's a newly opened cutting edge mall close to where I live.

When I say mall, I mean MALL. It's an American style shopping mall. A good deal fancier perhaps than where I normally shop myself but it's stuffed with familiar outlets for international brands, restaurants, an arcade and of course a cinema.

The main entrance opens into a rather large open area where they hold events. (They had auditions for a reality show here once. Korean Idol of something like that)

There are some bands that play locally (including the worst one in all Asia) and thes guys put on a fairly good show. I like the tap-dancing. ;P

Kyoto Tour- Kiyomizu Temple

I visited the famous Kiyomizu Temple the evening of the Typhoon so it was dark, dank, damp and overall oppressive. (And my camera&phone were not co-operating) I would say the thing that actually annoyed me was that the cloud cover blocked the reputably spectacular view from the stage.

Behold the ticket!!

Kiyomizu (Which translates to something like 'pure water') is built on the mountain. It's fairly steep and rather high up. When you glance off the stage you can see the streets lined with shops. (Of course, nowadays they're all Tourist traps.) The height is about 13m.

 

Now, there is a saying in Japanese that I have actually heard of: 'to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu' which essentially means 'to take the plunge'. What I did not know is that people actually did this in the Edo period (85% survival rate) because the belief was that if you survived the sharp plunge your wishes would be granted. -_- They have a book of records and no, they did not use a bungee.

Here is the view from the stage. It looks down onto a range of shops and temple outlets selling charms etc. The crowds were fierce despite the ominous weather. Who'd be desperate enough to jump from here? You'd use all your luck trying to survive.

You leave the stage by going down some very steep steps and doing so takes you under the base of the stage so you can see exactly how it's being held up.

Apparantly this was constructed on the orders of Ieyasu Tokugawa Iemistu (Yes, of that Nijo Castle Clan) and was built without the use of a single nail.

This is also the site of the famous Otowa-no-taki.

Seeing as this buddhist complex is named after the pure spring water it is unsurprising a sacred spring would be here. From the three sprouts you drink from one for either intelligence, beauty or longevity but it is bad luck to drink from all.

............................I didn't drink from any. =.= Well, for one thing I'm not a buddhist, another I can't put my fate in such things as water I'm likely to drown in. More importantly, the line was HELLA long and I did not have the time to queue up if I wanted to to hit the shops before heading for the bus.

So Kiyomizu, don't jump. If you survive you'll be fined.

Just like Starbucks...

....they're everywhere.

A new Homeplus opened up beside E-mart so naturally we had to go take a look.

Homeplus seems to be owned by Tesco. The presence of Florence&Fred is simply an affirmation of that.

Stephanie and I were amused by the trolley. Not only does it have a convenient spot for your phone (which makes the entire cart vibrate when it rings) but it has an inbuilt pedometer. *cue wry amusement*

 The issue here being that this is a grocery/misc store in SOUTH KOREA. Where, naturally enough, they sell food and brands that the average Korean wishes to stock the pantry with. ;P
They sell noodles, unidentifiable (to me) substances and rice in bags the size of what we'd purchase potatoes in back home.

So why do they take one unit of shelving in the midst of this and label it 'Asian Food'?

-_- I sense...great idiocy. Just look at the content on the shelf.

I sincerely hope I'm missing something. (Although that was the only place with that label....)

Fans

Fans are everywhere over here.
The countries of Asia - much like anywhere else- have a long and tumultuous history but they doo seem to agree on the important stuff.

• Rice is tasty
• Tea is art
• Fans are awesome

Well they have been infamously  famously used for battle and there are countless records of people assassinating/saving lives through the use of a cunning fan. Obviously not the bamboo and rice kind but the prettily painted kind forged by the blacksmith.

Ah but they have so many uses martial arts, slapstick comedy, dance and keeping cool....wait.

Regardless, every other person on the street has some form or another fluttering from their fingers, (Hey, it's hot.) and a coupke of people say 'to hell with that' and seem to carry around electric fans a little bigger than the norm for hand held variety.

All the tourist shops sell a variety of the exact same model - paper, fabric, plastic etc with and without boxes/cases. Sometimes the prices surprised me in that the cheaper and uglier fans were more expensive than the larger ones -weird.

Anyway, most of it was nice but the same guy was probably supplying half Seoul.

In Insa-dong, we found an old guy who had set up a stall at the top of the street (I believe he was actually from a shop further down) painting fans. [see above]

These were decent enough quality fans but he had (and was still)
 painted all of the fans which is what made them interesting.

While there were lots of pretty fans painted with flowers et al I knew that for me it should be nothing other than the teapot and cups. XD

I bought the cover and accessory at a shop elsewhere. (two different shops in fact) Before that though, I had fun fluttering my fan as we walked down the street. It was hot so I really appreciated the breeze I can tell you!

I wrote down my name in English letters for him and he read my name in Korean. Pretty impressive Hangul. On the right is his signature as the artist and on the left is my name. How do you like that? ^_^

Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!

With my new supply of stickers there will be absolutely no resistance to my assault! Victory is mine! 

That dangly thing on yer phone

Naturally enough, the first thing I do with a new phone is find ways to ruin it and generally offend sensibilities. (Since I am doing this from another hemisphere Sean, it is now an art.)

Having made brother #001 splutter in indeignation with my practical plastic case cover and selecting an annoying ringtone I judged it time to attach impractical dangling things.

Hoorah for pretties.



Text me, whatever.

So I returned from afternoon classes to find a delightful gift awaiting my return. I. E -My delivery had arrived early. C:

So after hapy squealing I tore the box to ribbons in order to investigate.

So I received - already set up- a Galaxy S III. To be perfectly honest I thought I was getting the SII but as there's precisely 2'000Won in difference I'm not too fussed.

It's really far too good for me though, I'm fumbling through each step of the way. D:

As for the plastic cover - everyone and their mother puts one on their phones. It's slightly scandalous NOT to protect your investment in such a way.


....................Plus my phone was delivered with one enclosed so I might as well us it no matter how much it "ruins the sleek lines of the design"


EDIT: [ For interest: Here is the relevant site. Apparantly I couldn't get a contract in store]