Byung Kyu Park's Personal Website

(If anyone asks why it took me 2 days to write this, I’m claiming that it’s taken me that long to recover from the trip.)

Last Saturday was my first weekend in Bangalore; no one else was coming to the lab (and I’m not … supposed to touch the equipments without a chaperon); so I decided to take a short tour around the city. There were some organized tours advertised on the Internet, but this being my first week (and my not being too familiar with the city’s public transportation system), I decided to venture out alone.

After a quick Google search, I had my primary objective: Vidhana Soudha. Well, long story short, I didn’t do much touring of the place (the gates looked so forbidding; I wasn’t sure if tourists were welcome in that place), and this picture was all I could take away:

But I did take a walk around the parks, both near the city center

and near the Raman Research Institute

which was nice. And I also sampled the local drinks, including one moosambi juice (bars weren’t open in the morning, unfortunately).

If I had to pick one striking difference in India so far (what some other people have been calling “culture shock”, although I wouldn’t call it that—let’s call it … a vague nostalgia, for me at least) is the different … character of road signs. I’ve been warned about lanes well before I came to India, but I wasn’t told about these:

Oh. And here’s one traffic rule I found out while walking around:

P.S. I got around this time on bus—both to the city center and back—despite the fact that I couldn’t find good information on the bus system online (or on the supposed route map at some bus stops). It turns out when you have a GPS (that instantly lets you know when the bus has taken a “wrong turn”), taking a random bus going in the approximately right direction works out fairly well. Also, it helped that I was willing to walk a fair distance (and the day pass was fairly cheap; only 32 rupees).

P.S. Oh, and haggling is very much … in fashion here. I was able to haggle a map of Bangalore down from 150 rupees to 100 rupees, and a hat from 100 rupees to 80 rupees by simply saying that original price was “too much”. Of course, the map was rather imprecise (and not as useful as my GPS) and the hat was cheaply made, but well, I bought them as souvenirs, not practical purpose (which was why any price was too much).

… and as someone who would like to return to that wonderful country several more times in the future, I do hope that we remain allies.

Just 3 more years, Poland and other American allies. Can you hold out for three more years, please?

I’m sorta ashamed that I didn’t know this already:

There is a grain of truth in every legend. One of those legends is the story of Nawojka, who is a good example to follow for young girls with academic inclinations. Nawojka is considered to be the first female student and teacher in Poland. It was about 1407 when she, disguised in boy’s clothing, entered the Kraków Academy in violation of all rules, laws, customs and tradition; defying everything that was expected of women at that time. This fact was recorded about 1429 by Martin of Leibitz, an elderly abbot of the Benedictine order in Vienna.

This is the front of the dorm (they have a bar and cafeteria within the same building):

And this is a sign for the cafeteria that’s been there forever (at least since 2007):

I don’t know why I am only now finding out about the 9/11 memorial donated by Russians to commemorate those perished in that awful attack on American soil in 2001.

Why wasn’t there any significant media coverage? Was there so little coverage when the French donated the Statue of Liberty as well? Or is this lack of coverage just another indication of their bias against covering anything related to Islamic terrorists unless it puts America and her allies in bad light?

Regardless, now that I know (thanks to this essay), this is one place I want to visit in some near future (the World Trade Center memorial would be another place, if it existed).

Airlines are raising checked baggage fees again.

Let me say first that, in principle, I have no problem with this. I like traveling light (I’ve come long way in 5 years of traveling) and I like the principle of everyone paying their own way: checked baggages do incur extra cost to the airlines, so there is no reason I, a traveler who always makes sure that he can carry everything on his back, should subsidize them.

But as with every change, there are unintended consequences. Some people, instead of packing light to make sure that they can carry everything on, simply carry on the bags (especially the medium size rollers) that they might have checked in. At least this seemed to be why overhead space was so scarce on my last flight from So. Cal. I was sitting relatively far in front (in fact, as far front as I have ever sat in airplanes that have 6 seats across), but I couldn’t find an overhead bin for my backpack: I had to trek about four or five rows further before finding a room in the corner somewhere.

Not being an airline manager or even a flight attendant, I don’t know how much this costs, in terms of potential plane delays and personnel costs as some carry-on bags have to be checked in later (and from what I’ve seen, they don’t seem to charge the fee in these instances). But if the airlines are jacking up their checked-in baggage fees, I hope they included the cost of more frequent and severe occurrences of incidences like this into their calculation.

In any case, I am not buying airline stocks any time soon, at least not until they shut down TSA.

The Poland trip this summer, I think, turned out to be relatively fruitful. Of course, how fruitful it was will be … apparent in a month or so, when the products of last two trips to Krakow will be finished. Here’s the abbreviated itinerary and impressions of various places visited during this trip. A fuller version with illustrations might be coming over the weekend (depending on how much free time I get).

The main thing about this trip is that it was scheduled in a series of round trips. Round trip from SFO to FRA. Round trip from FRA to KRK, and finally, round trip from KRK to LED. It was done to get the cheapest tickets available, and although now I think scheduling them in a somewhat different way might have been cheaper and gotten me home earlier (i.e. round trip from FRA to KRK, returning early enough for another round trip from FRA to LED for the UCN conference which was ostensibly the main purpose of this summer’s eastern European trip, I am satisfied with the result, given that it gave me an extra half-day in Krakow, my favorite city in Europe.

The trip to Krakow was mostly uneventful. I didn’t like the layover in Frankfurt as the airport appeared to have been designed specifically to eliminate power outlets that people might use for their laptops, but it was only a few hours. And my week and a half in Krakow was also mostly uneventful. It was productive, and no sight seeing was done at all at least this time around. Then, June 7th came along, and it was time for the UCN conference in St. Petersburg.

I have to say that I am rather surprised by my St. Petersburg experience. I liked the place, and compared to the reputation of, say, Moscow being one of the most expensive and dangerous place to live, St. Petersburg appeared safe—with cheap and good food (if in meager servings, at least compared to what I get in Krakow). There were some quirks, of course (the water smells funny, which I am told is due to the chlorine in the tap water, and the pollution … makes walking around unpleasant, at least in the eastern part of the city where we were staying), but overall, it didn’t look like a communist hell hole. The newspaper I read on the plane (St. Petersburg Times, English version) even had inklings of real free press.

The workshop, which went relatively well, ended in the dawn of June 14th, so I had a full day to explore the city on the Sunday, as I had assumed that we would have a full day of schedule on the 14th and scheduled to leave for Krakow on the 15th. I tried out the colonnade on the St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and then walked around the city following the rivers and channels. I have to say the river Neva (and her many channels) is my favorite thing in the city.

On returning to Krakow on the 15th, I stayed at a place called “Mama’s Hostel”. Again, this was done mostly for reducing travel expense (as hotels are, I think, at least 5 times more expensive), but I also wanted to do it for, well, the experience—if it turns out to be unpleasant or unsafe, at least it’s better done while I’m still young.

But the place turned out wonderful. It was one of the old buildings in the city square which I liked very much, the bed was clean and the room I was staying in was only half-occupied, and the common area was lovely. Oh, and when I checked in, a very cute girl was staffing the front desk, so that was nice.

I didn’t have much time to do anything on the day I arrived, but on the next day (I had to leave for airport at around 12), I took a walk along the river near Wawel Castle and managed to accomplish my personal objective for these trips since the first time I was in Krakow: to obtain the plastic “expanding ball” toy. And I finally did it this time.

And then I flew to Frankfurt for my final return trip. While this segment of the trip was mostly uneventful, this day (and the morning next) was the most … unpleasant part of the trip and will be detailed in an illustrated entry which I’ve tentatively titled “Frankfurt, the toilet of the Europe”.

And then was my 15-hour journey back to U.S. I was very tired by the end and the little kid crying in the seat behind me was extremely annoying, but at least I was glad to be in the U.S.A. again (oh, and to have bought the T-shirt that says “I love my country; it’s the government I am afraid of” during my 1-hr layover in Washington D.C.).

Anyways. Pictures with fuller story of each segment of the trip will be coming, hopefully over this weekend.

So, even though the trip to India couldn’t be made as planned, Dima encouraged me to make the remainder of the trip to Poland and Russia. I didn’t have as much time for planning as I would’ve liked, but thanks to the swine flu, I could still get tickets at a relatively reasonable price—provided that I made the trip in a series of round trips, like this:

• Round trip from San Francisco (SFO) to Frankfurt (FRA)
  • Leave SFO at 8:46 am, May 24, and arrive FRA at 9:55 am, May 25
  • Leave FRA at 12:20 pm, June 17, and arrive SFO at 7:10 pm, June 17
• Round trip from Frankfurt (FRA) to Krakow (KRK)
  • Leave FRA at 6:20 pm, May 25, and arrive KRK at 8:00 pm, May 25
  • Leave KRK at 3:50 pm, June 16, and arrive FRA at 5:30 pm, June 16
• Round trip from Krakow (KRK) to St. Petersburg (LED)
  • Leave KRK at 6:00 am, June 7, and arrive LED at 2:45 pm, June 7
  • Leave LED at 3:45 am, June 15, and arrive KRK at 9:50 pm, June 15

Surprisingly, the most expensive segment is the last segment to and from LED, but overall, the trip cost even less than last time. I’m a bit worried about the series of round trips that are booked separately (for one, if one flight changes the rest may have to be changed as well), but hopefully it will all work out.

Update: Apparently there was one other way to schedule my trips that might have been cheaper (at least by $150 or so): use Frankfurt as my “hub”. i.e. roundtrip to FRA from SFO, then roundtrip from FRA to KRK, coming back early enough for a roundtrip from FRA to LED.

Oh well. The tickets have been booked already, and this potential saving probably isn’t worth the hassle—not to mention it would be wiped out by the time all the ticket change fees have been paid for.

Ony Daily Cal Clog:

Critics quoted in a Contra Costa Times watchdog column attacked “UC Berkeley’s best-kept secret,” on Sunday, and perhaps for valid reasons. In light of budget cuts, how can our fair university afford to keep a research station in the South Pacific?

You can argue that UC Berkeley affiliates travel to the Richard B. Gump Research Station on the island of Moorea for the love of science. Unfortunately, what may start out as a legitimate research destination always ends up abused by cheap, wanderlusting yuppie students who like nice university subsidies on their globe-trotting lifestyles.

That’s completely false!

I can solemnly swear that I am traveling to Krakow, Poland, entirely to pursue scientific research and scientific research alone. It has absolutely nothing to do with visiting such historical places as Jagiellonian University (Collegium Maius, in particular) and the nearby Auschwitz, or enjoying international cuisine and learning more Polish language and culture, which, in so far as science is concerned, is inconsequential, or wandering around in the historic old city.

Oh, and did I mention that there is this castle, Wawel, about 20 minutes’ walk away from the old city center that looks as if it just popped out of a fairy tale? (see right)

in any case, I solemnly swear that my visit to Poland has absolutely nothing to do with these tangential activities, and, oh, getting the University (through an NSF grant, I think) to pay for my plane ticket.