HALF-WAY RETURN TO SEOUL

11March2011 was a pivotal day for Japan. It is probable that the country won't completely recover for many decades yet to come. The Great Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and nuclear cataclysm might have forever changed the destiny of the nation. While the tsunami killed most of those who died, the subsequent Fukushima nuclear catastrophe will cost a TRILLION DOLLARS and take perhaps a half century to clean-up.

This is my third nostalgic Tuesday on this subject, and I'm not sure when this series will end, for I arrived in Tokyo from Bangkok the day after the event, then soon thereafter felt it was too dangerous to stay, so I escaped to Beijing, which was my posting of last week. After a couple of days, I thought the radiation problem was not as serious as earlier thought, so I thought I would carefully return by first staying a few days in Seoul.

It occurred to me then, and it weighs heavier today, that, while the entire populace of Japan was suffering, my style of reporting on this disaster seemed to focus on my good life. Cuisine, tours and shopping. On Day 10 the confirmed deaths passed 8,500, with 12,000 still missing. I showed a photo.

On 19March2011 I had my best Korean brunch ever, at my hotel, the W on Waker Hill, which I enjoyed with Professor Kiryun Choi, the co-founder with me of Project Green Enertopia. The feast lasts for 2.5 hours and includes free champagne and wines. My first course was a salad, kim chee and hot and cold noodles, with a Pascual Todo Cab from Argentina. You walk around to various stations to fashion your entrés, while appetizers and soups come around for your picking pleasure.

The prime choices are at the special cooled cabinet holding a variety of meats and seafood. In small sealed packets are a variety of beef, lamb, chicken pork, fish, shellfish, etc., and the average person chooses three to six for the kitchen to prepare according to your wishes. I picked a tenderloin, kalbi and red snapper to be grilled to accompany two eggs over easy on rice.

The dessert bar was a fantasy, with a chocolate fountain, so I had a chocolate fantasy.

Next week, still in Seoul, awaiting my return to Japan.

Our flight to Bangkok is less than two weeks away. Here is one way I won't ever consider to board a plane:

Don't believe this? Here is how it was made.

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