free caesar

when we stayed at the busan lotte hotel, there was a tiger on display at the hotel coffee shop. a real live tiger named “caesar” behind a glass wall, so you can see him while eating your omelet and silver dollar pancakes. his living quarters are small, cramped and sparsely furnished – much like my first NYC apartment. he must be bored out of his friggin mind because all he does is pace back and forth. he has no playmates, no sexual partner, and very oddly, he has no tail. just a small, puffy stump.

a sign in the coffee shop says that caesar was a gift to the hotel from the russian government. he was born in 1992 and has been with the hotel for several years. grace asked the coffee shop clerk why caesar has no tail. it turns out he was stressed out and chewed his tail which got infected so they had to amputate it. because he was so stressed, the hotel had to remove caesar from the show they put on – some kind of siegfried and roy act but without the gay subtheme.

is anyone else out there saddened by this? i did some research about caesar and i guess other guests were worried about him too. i found this web site that has a form letter to send to the hotel and your korean embassy: free caesar!
(just substitute the part about his being in the show with the fact that he was so miserable he ate his tail.)

please help free caesar if you care about animals or just like to harass people in high places.

our trip to busan

went to the fish market and saw these pig heads. they look pretty happy for being dead. their souls must be in hog heaven.

we had spectacular weather, still hot but at least there’s a sea breeze. checked out the beach, made use of the hotel facilities (pool, massage, ear candling) and basically chilled. loved the cleaner air and not being shoulder-blocked by people on the street. and from the pictures, i apparently spent a lot of time looking at grace and hae-sun’s backsides.

busan may be the 2nd largest city in korea but it still only has 2 subway lines, only 8 starbucks (which were invisible to us), no coffee bean and a noticeable lack of girls in slutty outfits. now we’re back in seoul where grace can get her iced vanilla latte in a plastic cup with a lid, i can be sandwiched by ajummas on the bus and hae-sun can go back to wearing her dong-ko cheemas and tube tops. yay!

at jagalchi fish market

browsing through aisles and aisles of fish vendors. saw humongous live octopus writhing about, giant clams, and lots of shiny silvery fish. pretty cool to look at but maybe not on a hot day when the market is especially stinky.

tourists looking at tourist map. this is in dalmaji hill where it’s good for moon gazing.

climbing the hill at dalmaji.

at haeundae. this is the beach. i was shocked to see how clean it is. i’d just assumed it’d be littered with cigarette butts and soju bottles but busan-ites seem to be a fairly conscientious bunch.