KBC 2012 Done^^

Gosh, time flies so fast that I could not even believe it. It was just like yesterday when I started joining the Korea Brand Communicator Program organized by the Presidential Council on Nation Branding. Indeed, it was such an overwhelmingly insightful program that I joined.

On December 17, 2012...it was finally coming to a close, well for good reason. I am sure that next year more juniors or the 5th batch of communicators will be selected. As for me, having been selected to be one of the communicators in this wonderful program has been a  blessing in itself. 

Surely I would miss my friends and fellow communicators who have been with me for almost a year..travelling, blogging, chatting, discussing, talking, arguing, meeting, sharing...and more and more ...ING in the process of its program.

Gosh, gonna miss you guys. But, hey time goes on and we all have other things ahead of us to do and challenge ourselves to be a better person, right?

Now, this is a picture we took on our last trip to Yangdon Folk Village at Gyeongju. It was a bright day in the last day of Autumn or the first week of Winter. Being one of the two villages, along with Hahoe Village at Andong, this UNESCO designated heritage was indeed a worth-visiting village. 

...a single-look at our care-free and carpe-diem kind-of-attitude 

while having a rest on a rest-area en route to Gyeongju.

Bye, friends. I know that we are still together in Korea, but the fact that there won't be 

any more programs make me sad...but...the best things are yet to come, so they say.

So, I am looking forward to hearing more of you are doing.

Been a great pleasure being with you...

Gyeongju & Pohang Steel - POSCO trip

A simple-looking yet sumptuous meal--at least for me being a vegetarian. Served fresh with the protein-rich rice. Oh....^^it was my dinner at the hotel..

Now where was I? I was taking the picture of the night we had the last meeting on our November field trip. 

We lit the candles and said our prayers, wishes, remarks, memories, nostalgia, and things we wanted to share...

While holding our candles, we were expressing our thoughts and feeling of what we've been through as a group for one year...

Morning lurked in....and as I was so curios as to where I was staying, I stepped outside of the hotel only to find out this kinda-deserted but-actually-not-since-it-was-still-morning kind of atmosphere...^^

I love Gyeongju. If only this would happen in Seoul at least once a week.^^ hahaha.

Isn't this lovely..since it would cleanse away the pollution for one day--at least...^^See the barren trees on the roadside? Yes, it was late Autumn, no..it was the first days of Winter...

I guess..I was only one among very few people who must have been awake...at that time. Ready to explore the city? I would love to...but...we were not to.

Another angle of the street at Gyeongju during the morning rush-hour (what rush hour? ^^)

Even an alley near the hotel I stayed in...was also like an empty lot. But, hey..I simply loved it since it was so much different from what we have in Seoul.

The morning sun ray was blazing right into the window of my hotel room. I could not stare at it directly of course. So, this is what it turned out as I took the picture. The silhouette looked so amazingly bizarre. 

Another dark-looming projection from the lenses of my camera managed to capture the morning silhouette..

Now...we were in POSCO. One of the world's biggest steel companies. Look at the bright color on one of its buildings. 

Now, the history lessons first. We visited the museum where it all started. It was the real first placate of the company when it was first erected by the late President Park Chung-Hee. 

Even, we could see the rendition of statues of the president and other dignitaries during the inauguration of the company. 

Even, we could see and touch the real company building which was reassembled inside the museum. The facade indeed tells a long worn out history accompanying the company striving for the best.

Oh, another picture of the president Park Chung Hee officially opened the factory.

Another one. I was impressed by the fact that Korea --thanks to his perseverance--managed to build a steel factory although the raw material was not available that much in Korea. In fact, I was so..

flabbergasted with awe....to find the fact that it took a president's rigorous and persistence in realizing the dream of a nation in the making.

It looked like a UFO or stuff like that. Well, it was like an incinerator or kind of thing that became the major part of steel companies. it looked indeed so impressive.

The commemorative mold firstly created by the president to celebrate the first steel-related products from Pohang or POSCO companies at that time.

Pohang City at night. Although I did not experience it directly, I guess what the company gives back to its people surrounding the area was really a worth-mentioning fact. I am sure the people living in Pohang really loves POSCO.

 

Chinmi...in front of the comic or graffiti like wall posted on the POSCO museum office.

Another look at one of the POSCO's sections. The green+the modernity...

Bye - bye...everyone's going back to the bus and ready to another place of fieldtrip.

What I remember most: Natural Resources are limited, but Creativity is NOT.

Hyundai - Hyundai Heavy Industries, etc

These are my pictures when I was having a field trip with Korea Brand Communicator at Gyeongju, POSCO and Hyundai Car Company.

First, the first picture above was when we were at a seminar about Nation Branding's Strategy and Policy held at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. 

As usual, Kumar Bushan was around.^^

Now, let me jot down the pictures one by one. First, the green car above was called TIROL. Though it was my first time seeing this, I could learn Hyundai from its historical perspective. Let start strolling down...

Wait...it is not at Hyundai (sorry for the inconsistency of organizing the pictures^^), ok...I was walking right in front of my hotel at Gyeongju. The street was a bit deserted ...I mean not many people were visible during the morning wee hour ...to top it off..it was a bit windy...so,I guess that's pretty much the reason as to why not many people were around..

Right in front of the hotel. I wish I remember what it was....see the blue bus? that's what we were using for the 2-day trip to Pohang, Ulsan and Gyeongju.

One of the pictures at the ASAN memorial Hall describing the Hyundai's founding father's historical achievements for the visitors like us...to understand how it stood us as it is today.

This is a mini-scale of the whole Hyundai Heavy Industries whole lot...well, since we could not go inside the real factories...the mini scale version of it at least gave us a clue of the size this company has.

Then..oh..Chanmi and Lee Min Ki were visible on the picture. What were they looking at?

It turned out to be the major clients of Hyundai Heavy Industries. Well, who would've known or suspected that now HHI has become the major global player in heavy industries...

Now..back to Hyundai Motor Company. It was at the Hyundai Museum where we could see the whole projections of various cars imaginable. be it the real ones, the old ones, the new ones, or even the prototype ones...not yet available on the market. 

Why not take a pose at one of the old cars that Hyundai used to make...

what a bright color it does have.

Chinmi was spotted looking and busily taking pictures of the cars. See the car behind her? Presto? quite a unique name, isn't it? what does it mean? I know 'ikan presto' but..I wonder if it has the same meaning.

This is a compiled version of pictures made by my friends Chinmi. She loves taking the pictures and make them into one like this. Quite an impressive rendering of what they might look like supposed they were combined in one show-room.  

This is the real PONY II--a car that made Hyundai its' past glory. Well, back in 1982 Korea had even started its own projects of manufacturing their own cars. Imagine that.

I love this slogan. " New Thinking. New Possibilities" 

and this one,too. But..although I would say...Really? 

Of course Hyundai sells cars. But the way it emphasizes on the notion that it does not sell cars but 'ideas' is...an intriguingly interesting fact to know--at least to ponder and make me smile. Cool, eh?

Being in the museum, I kind of learned as to how Hyundai Motor Company has come a long way to achieve its current status as one of the strongest car companies in the world.

With its displays...right here...I also learned a simple fact that passion and perseverance in 'creating' something like cars, for instance, has become one or two of the driving force that has brought Hyundai to its current stance.

Now...let me put this picture right here: Parvina (my friend from Uzbekistan) & Chinmi (from Nepal) who have accompanied me for the past year in going around Korea as Korea Brand Communicator. Love them both since they were always cheerfully kind.

and...the last picture (on this entry): 

Hyundai's current slogan and Hyundai's past creation 

indeed show how Hyundai has transformed itself into once again a must-watch car company in the world.