Asian Tiger

I have been searching a long time for a house that I can call a home. I’ve been to owners direct and through property agents but none of the houses seem to interest me at all. Basically, the houses that I’ve seen are all previously rented out and the conditions leaves much to be desired because tenants seldom care for rented properties.

I’ve seen a lot of houses; you name it, I’ve probably seen it. Semi-detached, terrace, corner, end lot, two and one half storey, double storey, single storey — I’ve seen them all. Maybe I’m picky but hey, I’m not going to part with my money easily.

Last week, I viewed this corner, single storey house. It had a large garden and a big kitchen (both wet and dry). There were 2 automatic front gates — one for each car and the 3 bedrooms are quite large. It should be perfect for me to call home, minus a few repairs here and there.

The price offered was also quite reasonable and as with most Asians, we negotiated. To my surprise, the ‘owner’ agreed to lower the price and that raised my suspicion. I proceeded to check the property records and found out that the real owner was a ‘deceased’ man. I inquired with the neighbours and indeed the poor old man passed on in that very house.

I’ve passed the offer to purchase that house and it’s back to square one for me. Time to go searching again.

I am currently in the midst of a project where a brand new office is being setup in Jakarta. The office is situated right smack in the middle of Jakarta’s Central Business District; also where traffic is the heaviest (based on my experience).

Though my scope of work is quite limited to information technology consultancy, I was drawn to their interior designer’s proposed office layout perspective. Call me curious or call me a busybody but one thing stood out like a sore thumb — the computers are to be placed on top of the workstation desks right next to the LCD monitors.

I tried minding my own business but eventually, I had to inform the owner that a simple device like the CPU dolly can easily help enhance the overall office aesthetics especially when the office is located in the CBD and corporate image is important. I’m glad that my client was open to such comments and immediately got her interior designers to include the cheap apparatus into their designs.

A little investment goes a long way.

If there’s anyone of you wanting to book some cheap flights from Seoul to Jeju Island, you can do so on:

1. Jeju Air - www.jejuair.net
2. Hansung Airlines - www.gohansung.com

Note that both websites are in Korean and I am unable to find any English translations. Also note that both airlines flies from Gimpo Airport to Jeju International. Only Hansung flies from Cheongju Airport to Jeju International.

To get from Incheon Airport to Gimpo Airport, you have a choice of bus or train.  Both takes about the same time (40 mins) unless the traffic slows the bus down.

Good luck in your quest. I’m taking out my Korean dictionary