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It doesn't get any better

Sorry folks, I can't put into words the emotion that this video invokes. Strummer's soulful voice does it all I know it has been awhile but please forgive mes. Your Uncle Tom Loves You and hopes that you love this video....... Canowine, thanks for all your musical knowledge I am a better Padawan because of you (that's all hetero folks so, thank you very much happy readers!!)

Uncle Tom is back with a short post/tribute to Sugarduck

Greetings all!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, not much has been happening travel wise for you Uncle Tom. I do have a new video for everyone though. But first let me tell you a story. I hope you are all sitting down with your milk and cookies and are ready to be blown away!

Before your Uncle Tom was able to wed the beautiful Sugarduck a mating ritual occured. Well it was a lunch date but come on, I'm trying to set a scene here. Imagine this, a young handsome Uncle Tom eating a lunch of a sandwich, fruit, and some yogurt. He purchased an elegant meal/cheeseburger and french fries for his date. The topics ranged from what they both did for work and also about 80's pop culture! Can this be true, was this beauty that worked in the same building interested in those great films of the 80's that your Uncle Tom grew up with?!?!?! Yes, my happy readers, it was true, she spoke of her love for the Muppets, MacGyver, Legend(okay that one's a lie), and most importantly "RAD". For those of you who remember, "Rad" was a film far ahead of its time. Sure there were skateboard movies out there. Who could forget Gleaming the Cube, or Trashin. But a movie about BMX! With Lori Loughlin that hot chick from Full House!!! It was at this moment, the planets aligned for Uncle Tom and even Handels "Messiah" could be heard. So my happy readers, I give you one of the GREATEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME!!! Sugarduck, I can't wait to dance on a Huffy with you....

It's been two more years and I'm better for it

Today's video is dedicated to the following... Canowine for turning us on to all kinds of great music one band being, Bloc Party, RC666 for going to the show with me at one of the greatest concert events of my life at the Black Cat (another shout-out to Canowine for showing us how to see a real show), Sugarduck (this was our first concert together and my personal favorite although Beck was amazing and unfortuanatly unforgetable as well), and also Keoki for first finding this new cut and sharing it with all of us. No other post today because I can't post pictures on to blogger. But I hope you all enjoy this video. UPDATE: Still no A/C

A New Addition (and no Bobby Brown)

Good Morning again my happy readers. Today I bring you something new. I don't want to pretend that I am even remotely close to having the musical knowledge that my good friend Canowine has, but starting today I am going to try to have a daily post of a music video that I like or, depending on my mood hate. We all know (well those of us with decent taste know) that Michael Keaton was the best Bruce Wayne/Batman (Keoki is shedding tears right now). But in honor of his amazing skills as the "Batman" I, your Uncle Tom present to you...... Siouxsie and the Banshees' REALLY SEXY AND HOT song from the soundtrack to Batman Returns which on a side note is THE BEST BATMAN MOVIE EVER "Face to Face" And there is no Mud Boggin in site.

Hotter than the Earth's core and Uncle Tom can still hang out!

Happy Greetings my readers! Uncle Tom here with another travel report/food review. This past weekend I was able to Suwon City. The only disadvantage was the fact that the temperature was about 50,000 degress. The tops of my hands were actually sweating, what the heck is that!?!??! We took the subway and were dropped off at Suwon Station which is not only a subway station but also a 8 story mall. Lunch was at a restaurant on the 8th floor. It was a great little Korean place, I had what's called a Pork Cutlet. Check it out:

After lunch I wanted to check out the local sights and hopefully see the fortress that surrounds the entire city. What really made the day was the hike halfway up to the top of the fortress walls. Here are the steps that I think numbered in perhaps the million billions:


It really wouldn't have been that bad. The heat just wore you down. Once halfway up, there was a "Happy Suwon" trolley that wound halfway around the fortress. I took that but you have to check out the front. How cool is this?

Yup, that's my ride! It left at 4pm I boarded at about 3:40. So that meant 20 minutes of mind numbing sweat inducing heat that melted my core. This is where the hand sweating began. We finally took off and basically just drove around. The comfort from the wind feathering my sweat soaked hair was like kissing the heavens. Keoki, it's basically like your neck of the woods right now and I hate it just as much. When the tour ended at the halfway point, we had to get a taxi back to the subway station but before we took off, we saw that the fortress has an archery course!! Holy Crap, how cool is that? The next time I go, my lovely readers, your Uncle Tom is going to throw down some arrows. Well, that's it for tonight, my A/C is out in the room and I'm tired and just want to get to bed. I will post about my return to the subway station and the crazy food that I ate (some sort of meat product that a lady handed me) So my happy readers, Jo un Haro Dae Seyo (Have a nice day)

your Uncle Tom Loves YOU!

Uncle Tom chows down with some Journey, Chicago, and even Bonnie Tyler

Hello my happy readers! Uncle Tom here with another post about another dining experience from Songtan City Korea! As you can tell from the picture above, an OB was needed to get through the meal. Dinner was at "Filipino Restaurant" (yes, that is the name of the place). This was a new restaurant for Uncle Tom since the previous one that I went to "Subic Bay" has a little problem with tiny roaches making their way into the food that is served. Gross right? So anyway, the restaurant has a first floor and also a basement dining area where in addition to having a fine ethic meal, one can be entertained by the soulful singing voices of the towns finest juicey girls/karokie professionals...... We will get to that in a minute so please be patient. The meal started with the traditional appetizer of lumpia which is always a good thing. I didn't get a picture of that because well, if you look in my previous posts you can see that lumpia was already showcased. The main course was a spicy chicken dish whose name escapes me right now. I will have to edit this post at a later time so that I can tell you the name. But here is what the dish looks like:



Of course no picture of food can look good without an Uncle Tom tasting it so here you go...



Ahhhh how your Uncle Tom loves to try new things!! Now back to the music shall we. It was apparent that the local juicy girls were off for the night. Well at least the 5 or 6 that were at this place. Their table was located right next to the karokie machine. The sound was uber-loud. The volume must have been at an unreasonable "11". We did ask them why not just make "10" louder, but they came back with a resounding "but it goes to 11" AHHHHH touche' So dinner was served while we listen to "Open Arms", "You're the Inspiration", "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and various Korean ballads that I'm sure had some deep emotional meaning to 16 year olds. I felt like I should either:

1. Be at a high school dance hoping to cop a feel on a girls butt all the while my hands are on her waist and her hands are around my shoulders (in the meantime, the principal is glaring at us for being too close).

2. It is a Friday night and I'm at the skating rink hoping that said girl will allow me to drag her around during "couples skate"

3. Said girl and I are driving along in my Trans Am on Saturday night and I'm wearing some kick-ass jeans, a t-shirt and leather jacket (Canowine you know what I'm talking about).

But no, none of these things was actually occuring, instead I downed my beer, ordered another one an enjoyed my food.

Uncle Tom OUT!!

Uncle Tom kicks it with Menudo and Ricky Martin is nowhere to be found!

GREETINGS EVERYONE! I know what you are all thinking and yup your Uncle Tom is back and readying to blog some more. So, after a brief hiatus to Hell's Waiting room (or Texas as the rest of the world calls it) I'm back in Korea. My recent trip to the motherland was great. It felt good to be back in the states and I was able to spend time with the Keoki and his family and Sugarduck flew in to see me after 2 months of not being in each others company. The picture that you see above was taken at a little hole in the wall restaurant called Taqueria Guadalajara. I had a small bowl of menudo and a plate of Carne Guisada (Beef tips in Gravy!). Sugarduck ordered some Bistec Tampiquena. Our order is below:


The beef tips were so good but my love of gravy can make me biased on some things. Now that I am back, my happy readers, I hope to be writing some more. I still have to post about my current room and also I will be going downtown to sample some more goods. One of the recent foods that I've tried is Jellyfish which to be perfectly honest isn't so good (surprise surprise). I want to offer you a preview of what I hope is my next post. Behold ladies and gentlemen, the shower that I wash in:



I know that if the Keoki were here, his head would probably explode or he would be speaking in tongues saying crazy stuff like "Coke and Pepsi taste the same" On a serious note, if you are ever in the area, feel free to stay the night, just be sure to bring some shower shoes!

UNCLE TOM OUT!!!

Digestion + A Slide = a great blog opportunity for your Uncle Tom!

Good Day everyone! Uncle Tom here with a quick follow up about the trip to the War Memorial. It seems that in order to entertain the local children and perhaps even in a effort to education them about Shighella the Memorial has an exhibit dedicated to health issues. The image above is (and your Uncle Tom would never lie to you) a picture of a slide!!! Yes folks that's a slide that is part of a health exhibit/fun house for the kiddies over here. What better way to teach our future than to have them slide out a gigantic butt! What's even better is that surrounding the enormous backside is this:

You guessed it my faithful readers, the target is nothing put a huge pile of... well you fill in the blank. Also, if you look closely enough you can see random piles of the mess that can be thrown and tossed and laughed at!?!?! I'm all for education in the form of fun, and I love learning about new cultures. It's just that if my kid were to go down that slide and them someone calls him a turd. Well what am I as a father supposed to do then? How am I to explain to Uncle Tom Junior that no, you're not a turd, you just happened to slide out a backside. Anyway, I am dedicating todays post to my friend RC666, as this post is pretty much up his alley and dude I wish that you were there with me to see this. I would have paid the extra Won (that's Korean money) to have sent you down that slide. Take care folks, I will be stateside shortly and will be able to see The Keoki and his family, all of whom I miss dearly. Best of all, Sugarduck and I will be reunited as well. I can't wait to see you sweetie! I will try my best to post again before I head out but if I don't, take care and...........

Uncle Tom OUT!

Uncle Tom, O Uncle Tom, Where for Art Thou Uncle Tom

Yoboseyo happy readers (That's how to say hello when answering a telephone) Greetings everyone!! Now I know that your Uncle Tom has been away for awhile and I do apologize for that but I've been really busy with work and to be quite honest, your Uncle Tom gets tired and wants to relax so cut me some slack!! But here's a quick update.... I've been to the Korean Memorial and Kyongbok Palace in Seoul which I will post about in a minute. I've also tested and earned my yellow belt, please hold the applause. The best part is that I didn't have to fight Johnny for it in a Tri-county tournament (thank God but again where is Elizabeth Shue?) although to get my green belt it gets a little scary. I also went to a Korean orphanage which is a whole different post that I will try to get to at a later date and sadly don't have any pictures for that trip. Most recently on the 4th (I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Independence Day because your Uncle Tom missed you) I traveled again to Seoul and toured the beautiful Seoul Tower, 63 Building, and did a boat tour of the Han River. I will have to post about those trips at another time as well (I told all of you my 5 readers that this was a quick recap) Now that you are caught up let's go back to the memorial and palace trip. The first stop was the memorial. There were many display areas that showed Korean life throughout the ages and also throughout all the wars that the culture has participated in. The picture that I want all of you to check out is this:

aaaannnndddd this:

What you are seeing in these pictures is as follows. The room is a huge cylinder; at the top there is a hole that catches sunlight and reflects in a single beam of sunlight that reaches the fountain in the center of the room that you can see in picture number 2. The caption for the monument reads as follows:
"The fountain symbolizes the convergence of sun light and water at the t'aeguk (the ultimate cosmic entity) on the hemisphere. This represents 'the Creation of the Cosmos' generating new life force."
To be completely honest happy readers, of all the exhibits there, this was probably the best one. I know some of you may saying to yourselves "Uncle Tom, what about the actual memorials to those who have fought and died for freedom and injustice?" Well I say to you my unhappy reader, what better way to celebrate death than to celebrate life? Yes folks that is going to be the most profound thought that you will ever read on the blog, if you want profound please read Milfie's sight, her words are so much more than the excrement that you find at this site....
Okay let's get back to business shall we. After the memorial, sadly we went to Yongsan Army Base for lunch, which means fast food but I was able to eat at one of the most incredible hotels I've ever been to. If you don't believe me, check it out. GO ARMY!!! . The lunch was all right it was just chicken and rice. No Pics but deal with it folks you've all seen chicken and rice. We then went to the Kyongbok Palace. A really neat area that was huge. We walked around the whole thing and we were told that the royal family lived in houses that were apart. The queen lived in one area and the king in another. The king also had residences for his "other women". This was because rulers had to be male and if the Queen was unable to produce a son then other actions had to be taken (ummmm now may not be the time, but Sugarduck I've always wanted a son....) The whole palace was beautiful and if you click on the link above you will be able to see some more pictures and read a little more history than what I can provide. Here is the last picture that I will leave you with, it's me with an awesome tour guide!


In the background is where the King and Queen would enjoy going to have tea. It's actually really neat and reminded of my trip to the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco with my beautiful wife.... Well, I hope that you all enjoyed this one my happy readers. I promise that soon, I will add some more content to this. Your Uncle Tom hopes you are all well and he dedicates this post to his wife. Sugarduck, I can't wait until this travel page isn't just about my travels but it's about ours.....

Uncle Tom was kung fu fighting.....

Hey there happy readers! Otdoshimnika? (How are you?) Well it's Thursday night here, I am currently relaxing and resting from last night's punishment at the hands of Master Kim my Tae Kwon Do instructor. Allow me to paint a picture for you my loyal readers. Imagine yourselves lying on a mat in an already humid gym. A 72 year old 9th degree Tae Kwon Do instructor telling you to do 50 three count flutter kicks. Not too bad right? Well follow that up by 100 (yes that's 100) bicycle exercises, next it's lying on your back with your legs over head being opened and closed(another 50) then its push-ups but with your feet spread as far apart as they can go without making yourself unable to procreate. After those excerises, it's 100 punches followed by another 100 cross over lunges. Ahhh how the first 45 minutes of our instruction can sometimes be the cruelist. After our "stretching" we get to partner up to perform some basic movements. I was lucky to 1. be a white belt so I need a little more instruction and 2. I was placed with a black belt!!! Are you kidding me?!??! Seriously though he was actually really helpful and did some one on one tutoring that will benefit me in the long run. We next went through side kick exercises, followed by roundhouse kicks and then front kicks. Those were about 4 or 5 one way up the room and the same back. So the first hour is up. Water Break for 10 min and then comes the sparing. This time I was with another white belt so that's cool. It was honestly a great time. It's my 4th class so far and I plan on going at least 3 times a week. However let me offer some insight into this.....

Now, when I started this whole martial arts thing I was expecting a couple of things which I shall name and then compare with what really happens.

1. An old Asian male instructor would hopefully impart some wisdom from time to time, become my best friend and then on my birthday give me the keys to a kick ass classic car.
Reality- Old guy, check. Wisdom, sometimes but at a painful cost. Best friend, that remains to be seen. Classic car, well my birthday is in a couple of months.....

2. "Cruel Summer" would somehow become my new anthem as I would have to prove myself against the mean "in-crowd" either on a beach, the soccer field, a dojo, or the final tournament.
Reality- No Beach, soccer field or final tournament. Although the dojo will be interesting......

3. Elisabeth Shue and I have this quircky on again off again relationship because I come from the wrong side of the tracks.
Reality- Ummmmm do I really have to explain this

4. I was going to have to compete against some dude named Johnny whose friends keep telling that I should be put in a body bag.
Reality- No Johnny but the Black Belt dude sure was intimidating and at least I didnt' get beat up by a bunch of skeletons

5. At the final battle, my legs would be swept and I would have some jacked up ribs but my wise old Asian friend would massage me to good health.
Reality- No final battle yet. I just started come on now happy readers, what do you expect you can't learn that crap in under 2 months.

Well lastly folks:

At least if my life leads to a sequel I can look forward to having "Glory of Love" be a part of my soundtrack. Sugarduck, I would always be the man who will fight for your honor and glory and I am really depending on Canowine or The Keoki to post some kick ass Peter Cetera songs right now!!!!



Uncle Tom, Sore and OUT!

Uncle Tom, what the PHO is going on?!?!?!?

It's your Uncle Tom again folks with another fine dining review. Today's post is dedicated to our good friend Canowine. He was the first person to introduce me to the amazing cuisine from his country of Vietnam (yes it's his) and for that I am indebted to him. Yes folks, Pho is a serious dining experience and one that should be shared with all your friends and I think that RC666 knows what I'm talking about. So here you go folks, tonight's dinner was courtesy of the following restaurant that was located in a back alley:

Tonight was all about have some good soup and some great spring rolls. We ordered some fried spring rolls, some fresh summer rolls along with the "small" bowls of the Pho. After about 5 minutes from the time of the order, the waitress brought to the table, a heaping bowl of bean sprouts that were to go into the soup, she also brought the two types of rolls and also a side dish of pickled radish (a kimchee that's really good). I was able to take a picture of everything at once I hope that all of my 5 readers can make out what's what.....

As you can all see, there is a lot of food, also here is what a SMALL bowl of soup looks like.

So... yeah tons of food right? Now for those who aren't familiar with the religion of eating Pho, first you have to add the bean sprouts, next comes some tasty bean paste and then some SIRACHA which is some hot stuff. Now I like to add some chilis to my soup. Everyone else I know thinks that I am crazy including my stomach. But the kick that they add to the beef is awesome. Once stirred the once brown liquid turns to a dark red color and as the noodles absorb the sauce, they too take on the spicy liquid flavor. My personal favorite type is with all the meats, tendon, and tripe and without the onion and ciliantro (same as RC666 and my younger brother although Canowine is more hardcore and gets it all). They don't offer that here, just brisket, flank and tendon. Whenever Sugarduck and I would share a bowl, she would also let/force me eat the tendon and tripe although one day I am sure that I can convince her to try it! The soup tonight was tasty although the siracha was a bit "fake". It wasn't the real stuff, I don't know what it was since it was in a ketchup server but it didn't have the familiar flavor that I know so well. The fried spring rolls were horrible, they literally looked like they were the ones bought in the freezer section. The sauce that it came with was actually a Korean soy sauce and not the tasty Nouc Mon (spelling?) that I enjoy so much. But then again, I miss the spring rolls from Tahn Tahn (is that the correct spelling?). The fresh rolls weren't too bad except the peanut dipping sauce was actually peanut butter, heck it might have been Jiffy! At least I had the Pho and honestly that's all I wanted. It brought me back to a time where a bunch of good friends would go out to have some hot soup on a cold day and just have a good lunch (I'm all man baby!!). It also reminded me of my wife whom I miss dearly. I would have loved to have shared this bowl with her and I know that she knows that too.... Take Care folks, tomorrow night, no food because I am going to get my ass kicked at TaeKwonDo. Ahhhhh Good Times, Good Times. Uncle Tom Out!

Steamed Uncle Tom

Greetings Everyone! Uncle Tom here with some more food pics and another restaurant review. As you can tell from the above picture they like their Ramen STEAMING HOT in Korea. RC666, I could only think of you man while I had dinner. But this ramen was AWESOME. It was a spicy broth that had clams and bits of squid in it, much better than that crap that you used to eat in the office. The first part of the meal that came out was the kimchee as all meals do here. Their were 3 dishes of the kimchee, one was just the cabbage, one was cucumbers (super cool) and the other was pickled radish. Here you can get an idea as to what the look like:

Right after the kimchee came out the waiter brought out the Fried Mandu. It's sort of like a fried dumbling that you dip in a spicy soy sauce. It is one of my favorite dishes from here:

Pretty much all the meals here in Korea are served quickly. Dinners and appetizers are supposed to be shared among everyone so they bring out everything pretty much at once. I was able to have dinner with another one of my co-workers. She ordered a dish that I had tried last week when I was at the same restaurant. It was honestly the spiciest dish that I have ever had. When I had it by myself, I almost didn't finish it (Sorry Canowine and Keoki but I'm still all man baby). It was a Spicy Ramen with Fish and a Hard Boiled Egg. Check out how red and mean food can look:

My dish, well you can see from the first pic that Uncle Tom is happy. I will have to post another blog with a pic from my bowl. The food here is good so for that I am thankful. As soon as I know what trip I am taking this weeked, I will be sure to let you my loyal readers know. Have a wonderful day and Your Uncle Tom Loves You!

Lumpia and a really big OB

Good Day everyone! Uncle Tom here with an all new restaurant review. Yesterday I was able to take in a filipiniana restaurant downtown with a couple of chicks that I work with. We were the only 3 people in the place so our service was really quick which is always a good thing. The first item that I ordered when we sat down was a huge mug of another beer native to Asia called OB (which stand for Oriental Beer hee hee).

We all ordered a plate of the lumpia but because one of the girls that I went with had actually eaten lunch at the same place earlier in the day, our waitress gave us a free plate of chicken fried rice which I though was really cool. The lumpia was awesome!! I took a picture of it so here you go:

The best part about being the only 3 customers in the place was that we had free reign over the music selection. All the bars in downtown Songtan (the city outside the gate) have their music stored on computers and the customers are able to pick and choose songs to their liking and the bars/restaurants don't mind. Again since we were the only ones we were able to pick our playlists. The first musician that we listened to was R.Kelly.... There is nothing better than enjoy a nice cold draft, eating some great lumpia while the music of a weirdo is being played at an obnoxious level. But after about 6 or 7 R. Kelly songs we were able to move onto some Mary J. and then unto some Lil' Jon, and Nelly and even someone named T.I. Finally we listened to some Marvin Gaye where the discussion revolved around what song/album of his is the best (What's Goin On!! Right? Keoki and Canowine). I did get to listen to Needle and the Damage Done by Neil Young... that was a great 30 seconds until it was changed to Borderline by Madonna where I was able to watch a sing along by my co-workers. Let me tell you, beer never tasted so good. All in all it was a good night because I was able to take some pictures, I will let you all know about my day on Sunday where I just basically relaxed, played the guitar and did some cleaning around the room. Oh wait I think I just ruined that post...... My next post will be about my room/living conditions. I will also have to attach a picture of the waitress from last night on my next post.

Take Care everyone.

Uncle Tom Out!

One Month

Well, it's been a long month and your Uncle Tom is finally settled in a dorm room!! Yup 30 yrs old and back in a dorm setting (good times, good times). So, what mysteries will I unravel here you ask? Well, hopefully nothing too scandalous. Although they do enjoy drinking Soju and coke, and Soju Kettles, and Ammo Bowls here (don't ask)!! I actually have just recently moved into a dorm room so I am quite happy that I am no longer living out of a suitcase. The picture that you see above is one from a trip that I took to Sokumo Island and Bomun Temple. The picture at the bottom of the link is a carving of Buddha that is a the top of many many steps. A Monk is stationed in the center in a small wooden box from where he can worship the image of Buddha. I didn't take any photos up at the top or inside the temples because there were people worshiping, I asked a native to Korea if it would be okay to take pictures next time and they assured me that it wouldn't be a problem. So the next temple that I go to I will post some pics of that as well. I have been able to go Deep Sea Fishing already and I took in a baseball game in Seoul. I will post those pics next as well as pics of some food that I've been able to eat. I look forward to adding to this and I hope that you can enjoy my travels through these pictures.

-Uncle Tom