May 10, 2005 – June 1993: Seoul Kimpo to Hong Kong Kai Tak

May 10, 2005 – June 1993: Seoul Kimpo to Hong Kong Kai Tak

June 10th 1993 is the fourth day of a two-week journey I’m on with my boss JA a vice president at our Cleveland publishing company. After a first stop in Taiwan for two days, the second leg of the journey took us to Seoul, Korea. This trip was being cleverly financed as our hotel accommodations were being bartered. Our publishing company has a couple of well-regarded hospitality magazines. Large hotel chains reduced their advertising costs by trading hotel accommodations for advertising space in the magazines. The overnight stays during this trip were charged against this barter credit. Writing this largely from memory, I can’t remember the names of the hotels in Taiwan and Seoul.

We arrived early evening at Seoul Kimpo International Airport and once we had cleared customs and retrieved our bags, we got settled into our hotel in Seoul—another five star winner (traveling with a vice president has its rewards). Later that evening we met with the local reporter for Electronics, Kim N.H. He had been our news stringer for over a year by then. Kim is a terrific guy and a great journalist. He supplied us a wide variety of well-written pieces on the goings on within the Korean high tech electronics community. JA and I met him in a small coffee shop near the front of the hotel’s long shopping arcade. Kim and I recognized one another from the photos we had of ourselves in the magazine. I was surprised at the difference between the two-dimension image I had of Kim and his 3-dimensional face. He was about my height, slim, young, and dark-haired. JA and I liked him immediately as he had an easy gracious charm that made us both feel welcome. He spoke English very well and we had an engaging conversation over dinner at one of the hotel’s many restaurant. Kim suggested one offering Western dishes and we were both grateful, each craving a stake and potato meal washed down with alcohol: red wine for me and gin and tonic for JA. Kim declined the alcohol but joined us in our steak and potato faire.

My one regret of that evening was I learned precious little about Kim as he queried the two of us on all manner of topics: the magazine, American politics—William Jefferson Clinton had just taken office as the 42nd President and Kim was keen to know what changes might be forthcoming. JA provided the republican point of view that all hell would be breaking loose. I changed the subject by asking Kim about the Itaewon shopping district in Seoul, something I knew JA was keen on. At the end of the meal, we were waiting for the waiter to return with the check only to learn that Kim had paid the check. We were his guests he insisted and he could not allow us to pay the bill. I lost touch with Kim after the magazine shut down. I continue to feel in his debt for that wonderful evening.

The following morning, I woke early before 6:00AM and ran through the nearly empty streets of Seoul’s city center. The forest of tall building lining the wide multi-lane boulevards I jogged along, made me feel small and insignificant. I returned from my run 30 minutes later, showered and met JA for breakfast at 7:00AM. At 8:00 we met YS with our Korea sales representative firm BCI in the lobby for our day of meetings around Seoul. YS drove a luxurious four-door sedan with air conditioning and all the amenities a car of that time contained. JA was impressed as he took the passenger seat and buckled the seat belt—unlike his previous experience in the passenger seat, the belt worked as expected.

Our day of meetings produced nothing memorable to recount. We were begging for business. Our hosts were attentive and considerate but not forthcoming with anything other than “we’ll discuss your proposal internally and inform YS of our decision,”—definitely a polite “no thanks.” After our second meeting of the morning, YS had invited our host and his associates to lunch—three altogether plus JA, YS, and me. The restaurant was within a block of the office we were visiting so we all walked, entered the establishment and were seated at a round table in a room that was quickly filling with the lunch crowd. YS ordered for the table, a series of family style dishes, one of which—strips of beef and chunks of garlic is what I recall—was cooked on a grill in the center of the table. JA and I both gamely feasted on all the dishes placed before us. The conversation around the table was mostly of the food we were eating. Occasionally YS would engage in business discussions with our three guests.

Two more appointments in the afternoon were followed by a dinner YS hosted for JA and me. He was making reasonable income from representing the Cleveland Company in Korea. Electronics was one of several magazine YS sold space for in the country. Our sister publication, a technical engineering design magazine, produced far more revenue for him, and he wanted to ensure his relationship with Cleveland remained in good standing. He need not have worried. JA was impressed with YS and his company and wanted not only to continue the current arrangement but find ways to expand it further. By this time JA had had a few G&Ts and I was on my second glass of either wine of beer—I can’t recall.

The following morning was Saturday June 12th and JA was intent on hitting the Itaewon shopping district before our afternoon flight from Seoul Kimpo to Hong Kong Kai Tak International Airport in Kowloon. After breakfast, we got a taxi to Itaewon and JA and I walked along the street lined with shops. We went into several as we walked but JA found nothing that arrested his urge to move on, despite the shopkeepers urging of discounts and special deals. After a couple of blocks of walking we entered a store that seemed to capture JA’s attention. It had a good selection of leather goods, but also a collection of counterfeit designer watches that made you feel as if you were at the jewelry counter in Saks Fifth Avenue. JA had a list of items he had to bring back and watches were on the list. He purchased several then turned to a buying spree of designer handbags. The store clerk was beside himself with glee. After he had sated his hunger for shopping he bargained with the shopkeeper to throw in a carry on bag that he could lug his loot away in, this on top of the multiple item discounts the clerk had extended to keep JA’s buying binge going.

Once he had finished JA turned to me and asked if I wasn’t buying anything. I replied that the only thing I wanted was some new running shoes—I was saving myself for Hong Kong. The shopkeeper immediately proffered me a counterfeit pair of Nikes that were surprisingly my size. I tried both on to make sure and then paid for my purchase. We returned to the hotel, packed away our purchases and gathered up our wardrobe—we would have to get our suits and shirts cleaned and pressed over the weekend—and checked out. A cab ride later and the two of us were checking into the Thai Airways ticket counter for our three and a half hour flight. We were both booked into business class: JA had an aisle seat on the starboard side of the plane; I had an aisle on the port side with the mid-ships service island between us. As we took off, the British captain welcomed us aboard in his proper English accent and I started looking forward to a glass of wine once we had reached out cruising altitude and the fasten-seat-belt sign had been turned off.

The flight was completely routine, our third across the East China Sea since arriving in Asia at the start of the week. It was the weekend and JA and I had lost our ties and were looking forward to dinner at our hotel and a day of sightseeing around Hong Kong on Sunday before business began on Monday.

However, under British rule, the second Monday in June was a public holiday: the Queen's Official Birthday. Monday June 14th 1993 was the second Monday in June and we only had one appointment—with our country sales representative CC, and particularly our contact TG. JA planned to discuss renewing the contract between the two as well as expanding business opportunities. TG had not been happy at having to give up his holiday to accommodate our meeting, but did so reluctantly. He had also arranged for one of his associates to schedule morning meetings for us on Tuesday June 15th before our late afternoon flight to Tokyo. As we began our descent into Kai Tak Airport, I was looking forward to disembarking—the pilot’s calming voice announcing the final approach and requesting flight attendants to take their seats.

In the second after the intercom clicked off, the plane violently lurched skyward; the engines screaming from the full throttled exertion the British captain had force upon them. The 747 Heavy lacks the acceleration of say a nimbler rear engine MD 80, but remarkably the huge beast bade its master’s command and began to climb skyward. The force of its climb pushing us all back in our seats, each of us gripping our seat’s armrests with white knuckled determination. The climb turned into a wide looping left hand turn that took us over Kai Tak and reinserted us into the landing pattern of jumbo jets heading into the man made and natural canyon surrounding the airports two long runways. As the plane’s engines resumed a more normal pitch and the plane recommenced a level flight path, the captain came on with the reassuring stiff-upper lip diction that apologized for the sudden jolt. It was unavoidable I’m afraid (or words to that affect). The air traffic controllers mucked up and had had a plane on our runway about to take off as we began our approach. Not to worry we’ll get it right this time round. And he was true to his word.