Adventures in Asia

As I walk down the street, heads turn. A woman coming out of a shop does a double take. A group of older men, resting in the shade, openly stare – and keep staring. A student riding a bicycle is so distracted he nearly causes an accident. A mother nudges her kindergartener, saying, “Look, a foreigner! Practice your English. Say ‘Hello!’” The child looks up at me, entranced, silent. “‘Helloooooooo!’” coaxes Mom unsuccessfully. A man waiting for the bus casually lifts his phone – I know he’s taking a photo. Strangers come up to me and offer teaching or modeling jobs. Sometimes someone is gutsy enough to ask to take a photo with me, instead of just sneakily doing it. Whispers of “So tall!” and “So white!” echo as I make my way through the mall or to a table in a restaurant. It’s just a normal day as a foreigner in China. And I am not exaggerating. There are certain places where it’s heightened, such as tourist spots crowded with people from all over the c...

Wow! Hard to believe it’s the ONE YEAR anniversary of me posting my random thoughts about Korean TV and living life in Asia on this blog! I was to say a huge THANK YOU for taking the time to read my sporadic posts! In celebration of One Year, let’s play a game: Name That Korean Celebrity! Below are some of the famous faces I see on a regular basis while I’m picking up groceries, eating out or shopping. Can you identify them?? (See answers at the end of the post.) 1. Some dastardly handsome cardboard cutouts at KFC, who happen to have magical powers. 2. You know you want this adorable stuffed animal from Caffee Bene. 3. Nothing like a Chinese Pizza Hut. 4. Happy Lunar New Year! 5. Stylin' with some potato chips! 6. Chocolate... Ooh ooh... 7. More chips! This time, tomato flavor! 8. I scream, you scream, we all scream for Oppa! 9. I'm starting to see a chip trend here... ...

“My Lovable Girl,” “My Lovely Girl,” “She’s So Lovable,” “You Are Cute for Me”… Whatever this drama is called. Rain’s new drama. That one. Yeah, I watched it. For the noobs that may be reading this, I’ll give a brief explanation on Rain. Rain is pretty much the first South Korean actor/singer to gain huge international success. He debuted in the kpop world in 2002, and since then has used his stage name Rain as a pun in as many album/song titles as possible. His most famous music video has got to be “Love Song,” which involved him body rolling shirtless. The album, Rainism, was deemed inappropriate for listeners under the age of 19 for being so shmexy. The term “chocolate abs” became rabid among kpop fans around this time. Rain has released a lot of music and done multiple dramas and movies, but the only other Rain drama I’ve seen is “Full House” (2004), which I unfortunately decided to marathon when I was sick last spring. Unless you actually like soap operas, I don’t recomm...

I can’t even… my feeeeeeeeeeeeeeels! I don’t usually watch recently aired Korean TV shows, but after thoroughly enjoying “Man from the Stars” I decided to go ahead a watch another drama from within the last year: the highly-anticipated, star-studded, the one, the only, “The Heirs”! Written by Kim Eun Sook, who also wrote “Secret Garden” (my favorite drama), and starring Lee Min Ho of “City Hunter” (also another favorite). Also starring… a ridiculous number of Korean celebrities. Where to begin? Here’s my rendition of the cast list: Mr. Terrible Sweater (Kim Tan): Lee Min Ho (LMH) of “Boys Over Flowers” and “City Hunter” Miss Lost Puppy (Cha Eun Sang): wide-eyed Park Shin Hye of “You’re Beautiful” and “Heartstrings” Creeper (Choi Young Do): Kim Woo Bin – Okay, IDK where he came from, but he should def stick around (Apparently he’s a model) Best Friend (Yoon Chan Young): Kang Min Hyuk of “Heartstrings” and band CN Blue Miss Ditz (Lee Bo Na): Krystal Jung of ...