a little history

Met an middle aged dude waiting for the bus. 54. Kinda wierd that this is closer to my age than women I include in my dating pool. Guys got a sister in Wisconsin, son in vancouver and wife used to live in LA. He invites me for drinks at an old-timers joint near his place. He orders several bokolis, which is a milky slightly carbonated whisky drink. It's light when we enter the hole in the wall that looks less like a business, more like one of those Italian clubs frequented by mafioso, that you used to see in little italy before it got renamed Nolita. Can they actually make a living selling a bunch of their cronies booze? Guess it depends on how much the geezers put away. They cooked up a bunch of fish, sardine like things that were tasty, though u have to ignore their poor fried heads. Some gristly fatty meet too, with Chinese cabage and some dark purple sauce to dip it in.

But its not all whisky and bbq, i do a few touristy things. Visit a big US warship and north Korean submarine in a display named Unification Point. It's basically a big f u to their northern neighbors who are clearly still a threat. The entire gorgeous coast is behind barbed wire, and under surveillance by many camoflauged military posts. Flood-lit at night, like a Mcdonalds in poor hood, not as a public service to beach-goers which there are none.

I walked thru both vessels, enticed more by the weird 40's era equipment and less by the huge guns. interesting that drugs and guns are both measured in the universal metric. u could still sit in them like a gunner and crank around to spot enemy airstrikes in the crosshairs. Korean boys and their dads seemed to enjoy this immensely.

While the american warship was retired, the north Korean sub fared less well. All but one of the 25 crew on the tiny subway sandwhich were killed. Soldiers on board the disabled sub killed the crew when it got stuck on the rocks. They tried to make an escape, but all were "mopped out", the official sign proclaimed.

I realized that with my complete lack of understanding of the language around me, I cannot tell a "stop, or we shoot" from a "hi, howaya?". A sign on the coast might have read, "next gas 200 meters" or "beware of land mines". I proceded gingerly. At the temple up ahead, did the sign say "ticket office", or "must wear long pants".