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These are recent stories - the rest are in my latest book,"Walking Through Adversity."

Stories about Asian Trips (2)

Rob bryant
2006-01-07 11:18:24

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Beginning a 35,000 around the world trip - I flew west 3-1/2 hours to San Francisco. Due to a late flight I only had minutes to roll my chair from the domestic terminal to the international terminal on the other side of the airport. I was the last one onboard after a mix-up at customs with my passport. Then we flew 13-1/2 hours west to Seoul Korea. Rusty, a test pilot (and new friend) picked me up at the airport and took me to Osan. I was awake 30 long hours and don�t even remember laying down for six short hours before going to work.

Contrasts in Korea - Over the next week, I was taken to six bases around Korea - it was so gorgeous and it is so awesome to work with the US Military here that is ready for a North Korea offensive. One morning we were on the road by 5:30 AM and we drove to a US Army Base close to the N. Korean Border. We drove three hours over incredible mountains to the town of ChunChoen. Just as the sun was rising, we drove over the top of the mountains and saw the DMZ from our lofty height literally in the clouds. It was a postcard view! The very next day was a stark contrast and was very dark when a sand storm blew in from the deserts of Mongolia. We experienced many contrasts in Korea in the areas of: cultures (Korean, Russian, Chinese, Malalysian, Indonesian, Indian, US and European), temperatures (from 30 to 70F), topography (sea level to 8,000'), weather (clear, rain and sand storm) and over ten major languages.

Is our meal really moving? We worked all day and shopped each night. Our hotel was surrounded by blocks of colorful shops where I bought Korean gifts for family and friends. Each night we ate different meals from countries such as Korean, Philippine, Japanese and Indonesian. Our favorite meal was Songipsu which consists of ten different spicy vegetables with beef served in a leaf of lettuce - the Korean version of a ...