Archive for April, 2008
Last night was my last Saturday night in Daegu, so I went out with some friends for dinner and to Billibow. Very fitting to have Galbijjim at the very first place that I tried it, in east Samdeok, near Kyungpook Hospital. This was the same restaurant that inspired the name of the site, as at that time, Galbijjim embodied my love affair of Korean food, which embodied my love affair of Korea, as a whole.
The site was going to be a community portal with a slant on food and restaurants, but it since has grown from that. Only now, after we’ve added thousands of articles, forums, job site, blogs, etc…have I began to return to the grassroots with a renewed focus on restaurants and food.
While I was in the east Samdeok area, I took the time to walk amongst the streets that I first called home upon arriving in Korea. Walking past my first hagwon, my first apartment building. Looking inside the windows of the restaurants that I used to frequent, to notice that the same mom-and-pop owners are still cooking day in and day out. Daegu doesn’t change much, for the most part, and I’m grateful for that. It always instills a sense of comfort that even in a huge, growing city of 3 million+ people, you can always come back and feel just as at home as you did 6 years ago. Seoul, on the other hand, is quite different. Last month, I walked through Apgujeong and realized that our restaurant articles for the area are outdated, as many places have closed. Sinchon, Hongdae, and Itaewon are no different. Really hard to stay on top of everything.
Daegu will always be underrated, as one can find almost all of what you would ever need as you would if in Seoul, but things don’t change at the breakneck speed of the northern metropolis.
Still chipping away at adding all the Sinchon content. Before spelunking in Sinchon, I did happen to once hear about a bar named Bluebird, which is famed for its laidback atmosphere and great live jazz. Not to mention a very good wine selection.
On any given night in Sinchon, Hongdae, around Gangnam Station, and some other popular nightlife areas, you’ll find hordes of people gathered around a small hotdog vendor selling hotdogs and sausages. Mr.Wow kiosks have attracted numerous reviews on food programs on Korean television, in addition to creating line-ups of dozens of people on weekends. Worth a visit, if you see a kiosk and have the patience to wait in line.
Not much activity on writing for Daegu since I moved north, but upon Navering, I did uncover a downtown Italian restaurant that I must have missed previously. I’m also going to re-categorize the Restaurants in Daegu list tonight to separate Indian and Pakistani places from Middle Eastern. Upon reviewing our ranking for Daegu on Google, we are still showing a diddly squat rank of #19. Which is really disappointing given the amount of Daegu content we have versus something like Hongdae, where I haven’t begun writing a lot for, yet we are ranking #4 there. Not sure what that’s all about. I might need to spend time for link-building for the Daegu article, as from a SEO formating POV, I don’t know how that article might be failing. Anyways, I’ll be finished my P/T gig up here on Friday and also now that I’ve covered the streets of Itaewon, Hongdae, etc…I’m coming back to Daegu this weekend and will stay until mid-week, when we fly to Canada. I’ll try to scout downtown for any new places or any closures, before I get too drunk.
368 is the amount of profiles I now need to write wiki profiles for, covering the areas of Itaewon, Haebangchon, Hongdae, Sinchon, and Edae. I just spent 8 hours yesterday going through places that I missed in my first sweep through Edae, Hongdae, and Sinchon, and finishing up Itaewon and Haebangchon. Big fat blister on my foot ensued, as well as chafing from pants on my inner thighs to the point of nearly bleeding. At least I can now heal my body in front of computer for awhile, uploading images and prepping content templates. But I suspect that it’s take me no less than a few months of getting all profiles written up. And will likely take the rest of the year to follow up with the owners of each establishment for them to supplement with more content and their own images. And I bet my blisters that when I do another thorough walk-thru of the areas again after coming back from Canada in a year, that 30-40% of the establishments will be closed, given the frenetic turnover rate in these areas.
One thing that I’m currently doing now and will continue to do, is SEO optimization for Galbijim and MyESLJob. An area of focus of late has been developing more content for Sinchon and Hongdae, and I’ll be in Itaewon and Haebangchon this weekend, to gather more on that area.
But for now, I’m taking a time out to see how we are ranking in certain areas:
Hongdae. (Our wiki is ranked #3 for ‘Hongdae’ on Google; #1 on Yahoo)
Hongdae bars. (#19 on Google; #5 on Yahoo)
Hongdae clubs. (#10 on Google; #1 on Yahoo)
Hongdae restaurants. (#4 on Google; #1 on Yahoo)
Of course, there are a lot more keywords that I can run for Hongdae, but this shows a good start, considering we haven’t done much serious work yet on Hongdae and have done no SEO or link-building. Same as Itaewon.
Itaewon. (#7 on Google; #2 on Yahoo)
Itaewon bars. (#5 on Google; #2 on Yahoo)
Itaewon clubs. (#7 on Google; #14 on Yahoo)
Itaewon restaurants. (#4 on Google; #7 on Yahoo)
Sinchon. (#13 on Google; #8 on Yahoo)
Sinchon bars. (#1 on Google; #2 on Yahoo)
Sinchon clubs. (#3 on Google; #5 on Yahoo)
Sinchon restaurants. (#4 on Google; #2 on Yahoo)
Haebangchon. (#6 on Google; #1 on Yahoo)
Haebangchon bars. (#2 on Google; #1 on Yahoo)
Haebangchon clubs. (#12 on Google; #2 on Yahoo)
Haebangchon restaurants. (#1 on Google; #1 on Yahoo)
Manokamana is winning rave reviews from Koreans who congregate in the Sinchon area and are into Indian flavors. A great menu, surrounded by beautiful interior to help create the exotic mood.
Photos from Polpol74′s blog
Photos from Menupan profile
Today, I went to Hongdae and covered the area. About 65 profiles and images to upload. There are still some streets closer to Seongsu Stn that I didn’t have time to get to, so I plan to go back on Sunday and finish everything there. There are also some places in Sinchon that I couldn’t find in my first wave and I also want to cover more 하숙 locations. And I need to do the East side of Edae. Once that’s all done, the whole area from Hongdae to Sinchon to Edae will be documented with over 150 profiles on restaurants, bars, DVD bangs, board game cafes, and movie theaters. If I add 하숙 and 고시원, then it could easily go over 200, but I doubt I’ll have much time for that, as I need to move on to covering other nightlife areas before heading back to Canada. I’m going to need all my free time next week to cover Itaewon, Haebangchon, and Hannam.
I spent about 3 hours this Sunday walking all over Sinchon and most of Edae, taking pictures of businesses, restaurants, and bars that would be relevant to expats and English-speaking Koreans. I have about 100+ photos to upload (That reminds me. I need to look for a mediawiki extension that allows for multiple uploads at the same time.). I found about 80% of the places that I had already planned to write wiki articles for. I need to do some more Navering or check Cocofun to find better directions to the ones that I’m missing. So, I’ll be back in the area at least once more, before I move on to doing the same in Hongdae. I have a few more streets I need to go through around Edae, as well.
Everything has grinded to a halt on all fronts. Sick as a dog, with a bad cold. Every time I plan to come online and tend to an array of things that need doing, I lapse into complacency and revert to my stubborn habit of combing the net for the latest news on the US Democratic Nomination campaigns. Being Canadian, I know that its wierd to follow it so closely. But I’ve always been fond of US politics and the role that US policies have in influencing world policy. Some hate them for that. But their influential position always leaves hope within me, if their influence is wielded right. Hence why I’m intriguided by the departure of Bush politics, the massive voting turnouts for the Dems, and emergence of Obama, a statesman from our generation, who talks our language.
I find my time glued to certain political blogs. I, naturally, start my day with Drudge. The whole world seems to get reported on Drudge before anywhere. Then, I’m usually reading Politico and First Read. And I finish my most frequented sites with Mark Halperin. Once I run out of material to absorb, I find myself going between HuffPo, DailyKos, and TalkingPointsMemo. Then, I make my way to mustering up energy to do wiki work, server BS, and MyESLJob maintenance. I’ve become a janitor for a collection of websites. No fun. I want to fastforward this year, to where I’ve been in Canada to clear my mental slate and ready to come back, refreshed and ready to launch Project X and turn the page on the past 3 years of web development and web janitor detail. When things become fun again. And the adrenaline and excitement of potential returns to the overall project.
Although we still have to add links on the wiki and forums to point to the new dating site, and I need to add the logo to this blog, all the sites are finally stable and the never-ending cycle of development and tweaking has passed. I’m fucking exhausted and have no energy, time, money, or interest in moving everything into the marketing phases that we now need to undertake. I need to get high for a few months and not think about online stuff for awhile.
