Imaginary Cities | PC Bangs

Fifty days in the land of the morning calm. Forty nine nights in a city that breathes like a dragon. Forty eight days drinking cold coffee from cans. Forty seven nights without an Australian radio station. Forty six days stepping over puddles of spittle in the street. Forty five nights with a mosquito and a ceiling fan buzzing in my ears. Forty four days crossing roads and counting seconds till the lights change. Forty three nights eating dinner alone in a city where everyone else eats in large and noisy groups. Forty two days staring up at a sky of a different blue. Forty one nights staring at holes in the bottom of empty soju glasses. Forty days in which the season is on the verge of turning. Thirty nine nights where old men sit in the park on newspapers. Thirty eight days as humid as bowls of bubbling soup. Thirty seven nights watching Koreans dreaming on the subway. Thirty six days thinking about my faraway family. Thirty five nights like revenue stamps from the immigration departm...

There are statues all over Korea dedicated to Admiral Yi, who was famous for attacking and defeating the invading navy of Japan in the late 1500s using a flotilla of iron-clad "turtle boats". This one is my favourite and can be found in the park at the base of the Pusan Tower. What a guy. Of course, this dragon did not really belong to Admiral Yi who, as far as I can tell, possessed no pets. But it's nice to dream sometimes. I love dragons.

Ronnie Mac gets overwhelmed by pushy Pusan teenagers eager to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars at the Pusan International Film Festival. The girl everyone went berserk for - can't remember her name but she is huge. One boy asked me to take a picture of her - "just her" - because I was taller than everyone else there. Andrew and Jueun try hard to look natural on a bus on the way to an outdoor movie. Their kindness in putting me up at their house will never be forgotten. The huge outdoor screen on which trippy graphics were played while a string/rock fusion group played a medley of cinema music. The film, "The Two Brothers", was eminently forgettable. But the occasion wasn't. A car covered with the distinctive calling cards of Korean call girls forms the centrepiece of a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the Sex Trade Prevention Act organised by Sallim, a supporting NGO for women victims of sex trafficking. The area where the Film Festival...

no news is good enough for your news is death's excuses humbled vehicles fall off sharper ledges cliffsides bridges cantilevered collapsing news broadcasts live on a rusted wing caboose jerks behind news crew facades pummels the van's idling engine room as coffee pre-heats the bagel juice wraps & rehearsals all in the can the news is not new but ancients blue & old lies guttered nightly spewed-up & eaten by television by the news man hanging on words woman's too good to cry or to lie to be a subject of documentaries on bad news/hair she's the vixen toxic air's too convenient we're violent on those who betrayed my lungs (some new tests demonstrate the possibility of shadows appear in the ad break of our news veneer

Well, after the trauma of last week I can say without a doubt that the last seven days have been much better. Here's a quick rundown of my patented seven step program for transformation from gloom and doom merchant into street-strutting writer in residence. STEP 1: Go to the zoo The photos from this highly amusing little jaunt were pretty funny (see previous post). Sure, the African animals looked out of place. Okay, the kangaroos were just lying around doing nothing. I accept also that the millions of school kids shouting "Hello!" and "Where are you going?" was a bit much to put up with. But the sight of a bear having a swim or a couple of giraffes hanging out - ah, it warms the cockles of me heart. That being said, it was difficult to decide whether the zoo was for wild animals or for the fields full of wild kids I saw during my traversal of the zoo. STEP 2: Get invited to an art exhibition I got the call from Moonsun at the Australian Embassy informing me of ...