little korea - the korean

manila sunrise - good morning


little korea


korean street


korean provision shop

rose up early and went to the top floor(34th), was mersmerised by the sun rise over manila. the dog barked, the cokd crowed, the streets below woke up from sleep and began it daily hussles and bussles like they do every day of the year....

morning walk in the vicinity of makati ave. he was quite a surprise to find that a little Korea had sprung up in the area of glorea st and kalayaan st. you have restaurants, barber shops, provision shops, entertainment places ... all with korean sign boards, catering to the koreans. he knew korean presence had become more of a phenomenon in the philippines quite sometime ago when he was told of the golfers in many of the clubs in and around manila were koreans. but he did not realise that they were that prominent in the heart of manila.

koreans are very progressive people, they and their government have been actively penetrating into markets all over the world, in a systematic way - first their investments and cars, electrical appliances, then their aids, then their tv series, movies, and songs, and now their little koreas in every corner of the world.

and the ladies has taken over golf in a big time.

he has a korean fren, who is very proud of his ethnicity. he comes from a very prominent family of the surname han, which accordingly was royally related. he's the elder of the his clan, so he goes back to korea every autumn to lead the ancestor worship ceremony in the chuseok festival which falls on the 15th of the 8th lunar month, and which is the most important festival.

he told him, "we koreans are very traditional in our outlook on life.... very thoughtful of our ancestors. and very proud of our traditions, like the we eat certain food during certain festivals, we respect elders...."

"how about not giving so much respect to women? are you still holding on to that?"

he said, "bro, we respect women as our mothers, as our sisters, our wives..... otherwise...."

"what?"

"we invest our time in them when we can afford to, just like what you would do."