Not easy adapting to Korean lifestyle

I have come to find out that a lot of South Korean hotels hand out condoms along with rooms keys at check in. Interesting, isn't it?

It may sound like a joke, but it's actually true and rather considerate if you ask me. And before I get myself in any trouble, I am simply advocating and championing the cause of safe sex, and maybe the lovely hotel staff here in South Korea knows something that the bright-eyed tourists don't.

Disclaimer: The Daegu Prince Hotel does not issue condoms at check-in (or any other time).

It actually makes a lot of sense because the Daegu streets have their fair share of prostitutes, and I suppose every precaution is necessary.

My Trini friend (remember him from Delhi?) has already had his run-in with a few, who almost forcefully solicited from him. Poor Trini. come to think of it, he never did tell me how that episode ended.

Adjusting to food

Anyway, as you may know (or maybe not, hehehe), The Gleaner's team isn't the only local media representatives here in Daegu, and as we gather on a daily basis as brethren here, one constant topic of discussion is food.

"So wha happen, the man dem naw mek we go find a KFC or suppen?" That was the question posed by one member of the Jamaican media delegation here in Daegu the other day. In fact, it's one that has repeatedly been asked since we got here.

Truth is, the food here is ... let's just say, suspicious, and Koreans seem to think that there is no way you won't like their food, so it's always in your face with very little Western regulars on offering.

I, for one, do not wish to be eating anything that I have to be guessing it's origin while I chew. I'm sorry, but mi nuh run dem joke deh wid food!

So, as a result, I have been on a steady diet of rice; makes me wish I was back eating bread in France. Yogurt and bread do make it on to my lunch and breakfast plates as well, and, though I intend to immerse myself a bit later into the culinary cultures here, I will only do so when I find a nice, exotic meal of South Korean-style chicken, beef, duck, or other Jamaican forms of meat.

Rice is a big deal here, by the way, and I just want to say to my mother, who used to complain back in the day that my white rice was too soggy when I prepared it, that IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE SOGGY. If these guys prepare theirs soggy, then that's the right way to do it. They are, after all, the rice gurus.

Ricardo Makyn and I had a bit of a laugh yesterday as we stopped a taxi only to realise that the car was manufactured by Samsung. I know we are used to Samsung television and general electronics, but Samsung is into quite a lot of stuff. In fact, the company was actually established in Daegu in 1938 and, NO, the car did not come with a remote.

• Digicel Photo of the Day

Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates by looking into the lens of a television camera, after placing first in his heat of the men's 100m at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer