Airport lounge, Seoul, Korea

View from the lounge at Incheon Airport.

Breakfast of French Toast, coffee and fruits and then off to the airport. The taxi which I picked up in the street was just by hazard a "Foreigners only" taxi. I think that means just that the driver speaks foreign languages. He was a very nice retired tailor. He had travelled all over Asia looking for materials to make his clothes. I noticed he was very well dressed with sharp creases on his sleeves. He spoke good English, a little Chinese and a little Japanese. There were stickers on the windows announcing the G20 meeting. He said he usually drove for US soldiers at the base in Seoul. I didn't even notice the base as it is behind high walls. The radio he had tuned in was Armed Forces Radio, so I listened to a travel publicity for servicemen and women to site see in Korea and Asia as well as the latest hits in the US.

What I am looking at right now!

The journalist has all the pictures in his computer and now has the big job of writing and editing the two stories we did. That seems to be the biggest job, because the filming is usually the most fun. Meanwhile, I go back to Luxembourg for two days and then head to Astana, Kazakhstan for the next shoot!

Seoul, Korea

This last day in Korea has been a busy one, getting a few last interviews and shots. I had a scare this afternoon when the camera gave a message "Please restore media". I had to read the manual to try to find out what that was all about. It seems somehow the files (images) on the memory card were in some way damaged and had to be restored. I hesitated to do it, so just switched cards to finish shooting. When I go to the hotel, I made a copy of the damaged card and then did the restore operation which worked perfectly and all the images were there. I will have to read more to find out what actually happened.


We are going through the interviews in Korean to pick out the interesting parts and get those translated word for word. It is a long process as well. Then we will finally get something to eat!


I got news today Euronews wants me to come back here at the end of October for 20 days to do reports leading up to the G20 to be held here in November. So that will be a lot of fun because I will also have some days off to discover the city... sit in cafés and watch people! I can't wait! I do a lot of travelling, but mostly just a few days at a time. It will be nice to stay here a bit, maybe learn a few words of Korean!

Design Week in Seoul, Korea

Even a Starbucks mobile café!

Japanese room. The shiny black is water over pebbles.

Another long day in Design. The event is held at the 1988 Olympic stadium here in Seoul. There is everything from building materials to furniture to Iphone holders. It has been a beautiful day which means good pictures! Design Week attracts some 2 million visitors from all over the world. Today there were a lot of school classes. The kids are always very polite and ask "Hello, what is your name?" That is usually about all they know, but a few can speak pretty good English. A few little boys even asked us for autographs and were so thrilled when we signed their little notepads!

Hagwons in Séoul, Korea

We start the day working on a story about Hagwons. Hagwons are private schools in Korea. 80% of children go to these schools after regular school and therefore have very long days. The girl we followed got home at 21:30. It was an exceptional day, but the rhythm is still very difficult.

The reception at the IP Boutique Hotel.

On one hand, the debate is whether children should have time to play, in other words, time to create, to be children. Or should they study hard to get that extra competitive edge to succeed in life. On the other hand, the debate goes further saying that the Hagwon system is harming the public school system in that students are bored (or tired?) in regular school because they already covered the subjects in Hagwons. It is such a sensitive subject here that after trying with 6-7 Hagwons, no director wants to give us an interview.

My room on the 10th floor.

Parents are the force behind insisting their children get the best education possible, but it seems it is a question of "a time for everything". 11 and 12 year olds studying 12 hours a day can't be all that good for their overall development. But, extra study can help those with weaknesses and interest those with particular talents.


Tomorrow we start the report on Design Week, with the idea of how to make a mega city like Seoul and others more human, more liveable. Already our hotel is very design!!

KLM Lounge, Schiphol airport, Amsterdam

Schiphol is the best airport in Europe if not in the world. The walk between terminals isn't long and the personnel is always friendly. As opposed to Frankfort airport where smiles are almost non-existant, here at Schiphol, even the police smile and wish you a good trip when checking your passport. My last trip through here in July with my nephews, the security personnel even joked with my nephews making them feel more at ease going through the controls.


I will be taking China Southern Airways to Beijing now. I have never flown them and am excited because... well, some of you already know about my odd collection... I will hopefully get a new sick sack, or barf bag, for my collection!


Oh, one other great advantage to having a frequent flyer card: At the passport control today, there was a huge line, but absolutely no one at the line reserved for card-holding members. So I just brisked through!


Next stop: Beijing; arrival tomorrow afternoon!

Luxembourg-Séoul, Korea

On the road again. Heading this evening to Seoul via Amsterdam and Beijing. It is Design week in Seoul and we will be doing a story about that and about Hagwons. Stay tuned to find out what that is all about!


This flight is a long one because of the long wait in Beijing... almost 6 hours! But it shouldn't be too bad. The airport in Beijing is very modern and I hope they have a nice business lounge. I am flying economy of course, but have a gold card on Sky Team of which China Southern is a member, so I should be able to use the lounge.


Got a traveller's surprise yesterday in a packet from Lufthansa. I had just made the silver level with Star Alliance! Their silver level is about the same as the gold on Sky Team, meaning I can check-in business and use the lounges. That makes a huge difference in the travelling experience. Plus the card is good for two years instead of just one year at Sky Team. My next trips will be on Lufthansa, not because of the card. The television buys the tickets and looks for the cheapest fares of course. So when I get back from Seoul next Thursday I get ready to leave for Astana, Kazakhstan the following Sunday. Back from that trip I have almost a week before taking off for Los Angeles on the 15th of October. So, lot's of air miles in 3 weeks!

La Traviata à la japonaise!

This is the result of our work in Japan. A great editing job in Euronews... have a look!!!


http://www.euronews.net/2010/09/22/taking-la-traviata-to-tokyo/

Report on 3D art from Greece, Paris and Brussels

http://www.euronews.net/2010/09/08/cultural-heritage-a-new-dimension/

Tokyo, Japan

Last day in Tokyo. We filmed a temple, an interview with the main singer of the opera and then some shots from a boat and more nighttime shots of the city. It has been very easy to film here as no one has bothered me and people are usually happy to be filmed. You also see a lot of people out with their cameras as well as other crews. I remember there was a book written judging countries on their openness, their level of democracy by how free the press can work. It must be very high here, because I have had no problems either coming into the country or working in it.

Tonight we had dinner at a sushi shop where the small plates go around on a small belt and you just grab what you want. If you've never been to a place like that, the waitress comes around when you are done and counts the number and colors of plates you have left to calculate your bill. Green tea comes from a spicket along the counter and is free.


I feel bad leaving Japan so quickly and would love to discover much more. But maybe that will be for another day.

Yokohama/Tokyo, Japan

Michael, me and Jiro at the Opera in Yokohama.

Yokohama is about an hour, hour and a half drive from Tokyo. But you really never see the territorial division because it is city the whole way. Jiro and Michael are the Japanese team we are working with on this shoot. Jiro was born in France. Michael's father is German and he lived in Germany for his studies and speaks German with a south German accent. I was born in Japan. So it is a real international mix. 


Filming at the Opera house was a bit stressful, even if it was just a dress rehearsal. We could only film the first act and then had three interviews after that. The forth with the main actress/singer was cancelled because she had to go see a doctor. We're hoping to do that interview tomorrow if she feels better.

The Yokohama skyline.

In the evening we filmed a bit of the city of Yokohama and then on to film one of the most famous night spots in Tokyo, the Shibuya Crossing, where hundreds of mostly young people in the latest fashions walk around on a Friday evening. When the report is ready on Euronews, you'll see what I mean.


One thing interesting, smoking can be against the law on the streets in some neighborhoods. You can see smoking areas on certain corners with 10-15 people standing around, smoking in this open designated area. But... you can smoke in restaurants!

Dinner was tempura!  Even shrimphead tempura dipped in curry salt. MMMM!!

Luxembourg-Tokyo, Japan

Back in a familiar place… the airport. It’s a cloudy, cool day, but the planes should be on time. Today I am off to Tokyo via Frankfort. I will meet up with Luca, the journalist from Euronews at Narita, the airport in Tokyo tomorrow morning at around 7:30 Tokyo time. We are working for a report called Musica and will be filming the Royal Opera House as they perform La Traviata in Yokohama. It should be interesting. We can’t film the performance, but will film the repetition beforehand. We will work with two cameras, having hired a Japanese crew as well.

One of the best things about being a cameraman is that you are always doing and learning new things. Yesterday, I filmed for the local Luxembourg TV in the north of the country. An association there won two prizes for their hiking trails and organisation. You can go there and they will lend you all the gear you need, boots, pants, jacket, backpack, everything ! And for free ! And the area is very beautiful. I’ll have to go back for a hike !

The double decker A-380.

Frankfort Airport:  Still very difficult to make a Frankfort airport employee smile. Even my excitement about flying on the new A-380 only managed a quiver at the corners of the employee's closed mouth.

But the most important is that I get to fly on the A-380! An unexpected treat! With 526 seats, the boarding has to be organised and organised it is! There are three different corridors to reach the huge plane. 72,5 m long, 24,06 m tall and 79,75 m wingspan. There are 8 first class seats, 98 business and 420 economy seats where I am at 54A near the nose! Talking to two stewardesses, they said working on the A-380 was easier in that there is more cabin crew (21) and it is larger, easier to get around. Even in economy, the seats had good legroom and the windows are much larger than in other planes. And the individual video screens are wide-screen! It was a smooth flight and a pretty good landing to arrive in style in Tokyo!

Bruxelles

Arrived on the TGV (the fast train) from Paris. There was even internet on the train but only free for 1st class. Another beautiful day to be travelling in Europe.


Today we go to the Electrical Engineering department of the Catholic University in Louvain. Here they are doing much the same work as in the Louvre, but with simple cameras rather than with lasers. They have a website where you can take 10-50 pictures of an object and upload them and they will send you back a 3D model of what you took. When the report is on Euronews, you can see how that works.


Took a small tour of Louvain, a student town with very nice pedestrian streets, a fantastic town hall, but not very good ice coffee.

Belgian beer, mussels and fries in Brussels!

In the evening, Anne and I did the typical Brussels tour. It was her first time in the European capital. We saw the sights and had a delicious waffle (with chocolate, bananas and strawberries... don't drool on your computer!) and then ate moules/frites! Mussels with french fries!