September ArchivesMain page is here. |
September 26 2006 Coming Home After a late late night at Nevin's, we returned to the hostel to find the front doors were chained shut. The chain was loose and there was a space between the two doors, so we decided to slip in. Jung squeezed through while I pried the doors apart. Then this happened (see picture). The top half swung down like a guillotine blade, nearly giving Jung's uterus a side entrance. She got cut on her thigh, but I think it may have been from scraping against the bottom piece rather than being chopped by the falling piece. So we snuck in and went to sleep. In the morning they knew it was us and we had to pay 200 yuan, which is not much more than 20 bucks. No wonder the door broke so easily. The flight home was less pleasant than the flight there. We had TV screens on the backs of our seats, but to make it even worse we were locked out of using them the entire flight. We returned to Korea just in time, a little earlier than when we went to Tokyo last year. That night we picked up Millie and Buster at Grant's. They were all getting along and Baekdu was sad to see them go. But on Friday, Grant is himself leaving for China, and Baekdu is coming to stay with us. |
September 25 2006 Paddleboats to Tiananmen: The Search for Mao So as you may have figured by the movie title, we decided while we were at the Old Summer Palace to go back to Tiananmen Square and see Mao's body in the mausoleum. According to the Lonely Planet guide, it was open in the morning and then in the afternoon from two to four. We arrived at 3:40pm to find that the sign was different from the book and it was closed all day. So just like in Quads to Busan: The Search for Hitler, we were once again unsuccessful. Oops, I should've warned you about that spoiler. |
September 25 2006 Paddleboats to Tiananmen: The Search for Mao I decided to embark on my second major movie project. You may remember my first attempt with Verv and Mark. That one grossed over $900 million at the box office on opening night alone. I think I've discovered the secrets to making a successful movie: 1. As many colons as possible in the title. 2. The title should explain the entire plot of the film so everyone knows what they're in store for. And that should be enough. I thought of naming this movie Quads to Busan 2: Paddleboats to Tiananmen: The Search for Mao, but neither of the stars from the first were returning and the marketing department couldn't decide whether we should use a 2 or a Roman numeral II. In the end, we basically spent the day wandering around. The original plan was to go to the Great Wall, but early in the morning when we woke up it was raining heavily. Just our luck it cleared up and we had a beautiful day. We spent the morning and early afternoon at the Old Summer Palace. |
September 24 2006 Sunday Show The second MR27 show was empty, either because it was a Sunday, the club was in a remote location, or it was the day after a bigger show. It was still a good place to drink anyway and had the atmosphere of a countryside compound on the outside. Also I learnt a great new game from Adam. By the way, I just realised that the guy in the fez here played in all three bands that night. |
September 24 2006 Tiananmen Square On Sunday we decided to see Tiananmen Square. Korean pronunciation of Tiananmen is Chun-an-moon, which is easily translated to thousand-year-gate. Basically my entire trip I resorted to calling it that, as it just rolls off the tongue easier. After a late start, brought on by the fact that Jung and I had to check out of our hotel near Tiananmen, check into a hostel in Wudaokou, and find the McDonald's near Tiananmen, then wait for Adam and MR27. There were lots of aggressive people selling things to tourists, such as kites or rides on rickshaws. One old homeless man with one foot approached us and was a little more aggressive than normal. We hurried away, with Megan saying "Let's walk a little bit faster." I pointed out "He's only got one foot. He's not gonna keep up." Then we got drunk and had a nice little photo op with Mao. If you're wondering where we got the idea for a lesbian kiss, look here. |
September 23 2006 Joyside and the Scoff So today I'll show the two Chinese bands we saw, the Scoff and Joyside. The Scoff were pretty good, but I don't remember Joyside well enough. Both bands probably had a lot more in common with indie rock than punk music. |
September 23 2006 MR27 in D22 MR27, D22. It sounds more like a game of bingo than a punk show. In Asia for some reason it's not a horribly bad mistake to have a band name with a number in it. Shows in China start much later than Korean shows. This first show wasn't going to begin until 10:30. Also, there were only three bands on the bill. A little different than what we're used to. D22 seems more like a cafe on the inside, with a bar and a small stage at the back. There's also a second floor with lots of comfortable places to sit. Anyway, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time a Korean punk (although you could contest both of those words with MR27) band has played a show in China. Next you'll see the Scoff and Joyside. |
September 23 2006 Arriving in China The planeride to Beijing was probably the smoothest flight in my entire life. There was only one bit of turbulence, about five seconds after Jung and I agreed it had been exceptionally smooth so far. Actually the worst thing about the trip was that we didn't have those TV screens at our seats. Instead all we could see was a big screen showing CNN at the front of the cabin. As I watched, it showed a helicopter being blown out of the sky and numerous terrorist attacks. Not great. When we came out of the arrivals gate, the first thing we saw was a Starbucks. Megan's flight was arriving around the same time, so we waited too long for her before she realised we were in different terminals. From the moment we came into the airport, we were overwhelmed at all the loud Chinese people trying to take our money. It lasted all the way to the hotel room where we locked ourselves in and I had a nap for several hours. After that, we headed toward Wudaokou for the MR27 show. |
September 22 2006 Leaving Home In order to get away for four days, we needed to find a place for the cats to stay. The perfect arrangement worked itself out, as Grant was also going away to China the next week, and would need someone to look after his cat. So we did a trade: he gets Buster and Millie for four days, and we get his cat for a week. The trip down to Anyang was difficult. Millie hated being in a taxi and howled at me. On the subway they sat inside their carrying case and stared out at all the Koreans who thought they were cute. When we got to Grant's they were pretty nervous even before they met his cat. Millie started hissing at Buster, and both of them hid. It was not going to be a pleasant stay for them. |
September 19 2006This site is suffering from not having a guestbook feature. I get almost 100 unique visitors per day, and almost none of them say anything. We can try out this feature to leave comments.Also if you're interested in celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day, you can simply click here to turn this site into pirate-speak. It will mess with the images though. |
September 17 2006 Sunday Night I wanted a break from another viciously drunk Saturday this weekend, so I settled for a Sunday show. It was a small show that reminded me of what it used to be like in Skunk when it was new. There weren't many people but it was still a lot of fun. Also there were a lot of new people out who I'd met online, coincidentally all who are (or were) skinheads. So there were a lot of new faces. In fact, they outnumbered us regulars, so the atmosphere of the show was a lot more...respectful than usual. Just what I was looking for. |
September 9 2006 For the Dogs (and Cats) With this gallery, that's it for this week. It was the longest show in a while, and had the most people since the Champion tour. Paul and Jesse raised something like 1.5 million won (rounded up I think). A lot of homeless dogs and cats are going to be thinking "I don't care if Korea's punk scene gets flooded with white guys." |
September 9 2006 For the Dogs (and Cats) Today I have all foreigner bands. First the Waking Party, then more of Sun Radio, and Jet Echo, who I couldn't identify in the gallery. All that's left now is Suck Stuff, and it looks like I took a lot of pictures. Also, Suck Stuff's big tour to China is nearing. Jung and I are going over to Beijing one week early with MR27, so we'll give you an early report of what it's like. We're also meeting up with Megan, who went colossally out of her way to get to Beijing at short notice. We couldn't make it for the Suck Stuff tour because it looked too inconvenient to travel during the big holiday. |
September 9 2006 For the Dogs (and Cats) Here's part 2. For now we get Join the Circle, 13 Steps, the Strikers, and one foreigner band who I'm pretty sure is Fan Death. |
September 9 2006 For the Dogs (and Cats) Paul and Jesse decided to throw a charity show. So they got a whole bunch of bands together and charged 10 000 won, or 5000 won with donation. Today's gallery features Sun Radio warming up the venue and Gukdo, who recently changed their name from Bootbois Anthem. I like the new name a lot more, and I was impressed by their set. Myunghwan has a lot more stage presence than I remember. There's lots more to come. |
September 2 2006 Downhell This Saturday I went to a metal show. Jung's new brother-in-law is in a metal band called Downhell, so I wanted to see what they were like. I stopped off at Skunk first and drank a whole lot of beer on an empty stomach. I participated in all the usual hijinks before heading off to FF to see Downhell. I did a brilliant drunken fall coming down the stairs and landed in the middle of a group of people standing around, not touching any of them. I was pretty well out of it while the band played, but you don't need to be conscious to take good photos. Afterwards we went out for supper. I ate a whole bunch of sausages that made me feel a lot better, then I passed out in the restaurant. It was a strange "I know I'm drunk" type of drunkenness. |
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Please remember that these photos are all copyrighted to me. If you want to use them in any way, there's a 90 per cent chance I'll give you my permission, and be able to give you a copy with a higher DPI.Copyright Jon Dunbar 2004
Photos taken by
Nikon CoolPix 950
digital camera.