Travelogue around Asia Pacific

Seoul - Before lunch my channel partner took us up a nearby mountain for a scroll.  Namhansanseong (literally "South Han Mountain Fortress") is a park at an elevation of 480m above sea level, immediately to the southeast of Seoul. It is located on Namhansan ("South Han Mountain"). It contains fortifications that date to the 17th century, and a number of temples.     NamHanSanSeong - South Gate Tony and OB Kwon Info on NamHanSanSeong

Seoul - Koreans are the world's largest consumer of garlic and most notably they would make everything from garlic. I had alcohol made from garlic tthat helps blood circulation and rules out insomnia and hypertension.   Tony, Young Jin and I had dinner with Dr. Na in a Korean Sashimi restaurant - the sashimi was not good because it was served frozen.  But we had 'fish tear' liquor  with a very fishy taste.    Young Jin drinking his Fish Tear Liquor Tony knocking back his Fish Tear Liquor

Tokyo - Landed in the evening and it was cold 3 degress and was raining. It was the wind and wet that was miserably very cold. It took just 1hr for the Limo bus to take me to TCAT and then took a taxi to Hotel East 21. I settled into my new room got the internet access up and running - it's cheap considering it is Tokyo - just US$6 for 2 days. Today, I hanked for sushi..yummy. When outside of the Hotel to a sushi chain and sat at the counter - they had a promotion on tuna 50% discount...hmmm excellent. I had a good meal and also added a plate of shishamo - I love shishamo.

Singapore - The Merlion Statue, which was slightly damaged in a lighting strike yesterday, is only one of many structures hit by the frequent lightnigh storms that zap across Singapore each year. Singapore has the dubious honours of being one fo the highest rates of lightning activity in the world as its hot tropical weather is ideal for the formation of storm clouds. An average lightning strike carries a current of up to 200,000 amps. In comparison, a 100-watt bulb carries a current of about 0.4 amp. Between 1982 and last year, the NEA Meteorological Department detected lightnihg on an average of 186 days per year. And lightning hits each sq km of land 12 to 20 times each year. Because of this, lightning rods on buildings have been mandatory since 1979, as they help intercept lightning bolts.