The Worst Motorcycle in Laos by Chris Tharp

Author:Chris Tharp
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Signal 8 Press
Published: 2014-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

90% NORWAY, 10% BANGLADESH

South Korea, 2011

Korea, Sparkling!

This slogan was recently trotted out by the nation’s tourist board, to the snickers of the more jaundiced expats on the peninsula. Over cold mugs of Cass and Hite, we shook our heads, rolled our eyes, and once again thought, Must they try so hard? CNN International was bombarded with commercials featuring lithe, leggy girl groups strutting through the streets of Seoul, while b-boys twisted, popped, and busted moves along the banks of the mighty Han River; pop star Rain flashed his six-pack abs while lauding the virtues of bibimbap in stilted, awkward English; lasers shot from atop gleaming skyscrapers and fireworks showered over packs of smiling youths who wildly danced, leapt, and celebrated the fact that not only had Korea stepped into the future, but it was now its new standard-bearer.

And you know what? Maybe they weren’t trying so hard after all. Perhaps they were right. After all, South Korea really is a land of über-modern marvels. Cutting-edge technology permeates the society in a way that I have yet to see matched in any of my other travels—and this includes visits home to America, that great land of ideas and innovation that birthed such luminaries such as Apple, Intel, and Google. Korean companies are leading the pack when it comes to hi-tech output. Look no further than their microchips, cars, computers, televisions, and smartphones, which are sold the world over. And throughout the country this stuff is everywhere you look. 3G and 4G smartphones are omnipresent; the 2G versions, which just a few years back were held up as technological miracles, are now laughed away as “grandmother phones” by anyone under the age of forty. As the most wired country on Earth, the Internet is rarely more than a spit away. Dirt-cheap PC rooms are almost always within eyeshot, and wifi is available in most public places, including the country’s trains and subways. Crazy stuff. Take that, Japan.

When I first arrived in Korea I was astounded by the modernity—by the buses, reader boards, high-speed trains, and multicolored neon signs that hypnotized me on my nightly strolls. These people are really riding the crest, I thought. Korea is a twenty-four hour gig, with decked-out restaurants, stores, cafes, bars, and clubs whose doors are open until the early morning. Some never close at all. The sidewalks pulse with throngs of well-scrubbed young folks sporting straight-off-the-rack clothes, and the streets are full of shiny, new, immaculate cars (most Koreans don’t do secondhand). In these ways and more, it made good ol’ Seattle—home to modern giants Microsoft and Boeing—seem provincial.

But despite this well-constructed veneer of modernity, you don’t have to look too far to see the older, shabbier, less-glamorous Korea. There are cracks in Korea’s glistening new pavement, with the old country oozing right back up to the surface. Despite all of the attempts at chic modernity, Korea still keeps one toe firmly planted in the Third World. Dog soup restaurants, while technically illegal, can be found serving up steaming bowls of Fido on sketchy side streets.

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