All change please!

Something that amazes me out here in Asia is the speed with which shops change. Literally one day a shop is open, then the next it's closed and empty and within a couple more days it's undergone a complete refit and is open selling completely different fare. Case in point: Last Sunday I noticed that my nearest bakery (where I used to get my weekly loaf and often some macaroons as a treat) had closed. On Monday the unit was empty and filled with wood, paint pots, and other paraphernalia for a complete refit. On Tuesday the front facade had completely changed and I could see it was going to be reincarnated as DAB, an underwear shop. By Thursday the shop was completed and they were moving in the new stock, and Friday it was trading as normal. What amazes me is that it is possible to totally change a bakery, complete with ovens and the such, into an ordinary clothing shop within a couple of days. In the UK you would probably need to wait weeks for permission to begin selling something completely different and even then builders take a lot longer than 3 days to refit a shop. Or at least it seems that way. In fact nowadays the unit would probably stay empty for at least a month before anyone decided to open a new shop. This leads me to the question: is the work done over here completed so quickly because it is done haphazardly and corners are cut, or are we just overly slow in the UK??

Monday. The last remnants of Bbang Goom Teo.

Thursday. Moving in the stock.

Friday. Business as usual.

Another Korea observation. Most cars here are either Hyundai or Kia (Korean brands) and of these 2 car makes, the only colours you ever see are; Black, silver (grey) or white. There is the occasional red car, and some taxis are orange. So imagine my surprise when outside my local 7/11 I spotted a pale blue Hyundai! I always have my camera on me, so as strange as I probably seemed to any Koreans nearby, I snapped a picture!

Fairly unusual car colour.

A couple of posts ago I put a picture of my new flower. Well here it is now. Dead. This apartment doesn't get enough natural sunlight, and flowers don't survive here. I have to move next year!!

and lastly, some pretty flowers outside my apartment building! :-)