#Inbound from Seoul

[97-liners]

seungcheol x gn reader

words: 1k

tags: comfort (with no hurt), modern working adult au 😔, feelings for each other but they’re not together

soundtrack: 7pm - bss feat peder elias

[7:03 PM]

You: hey where are you?

[7:09 PM]

Seungcheol: on the subway, just heading home

Seungcheol: why?

You: ah, nvm

You: i wanna leave work soon and i just wanted some company

You: we can catch up some other time :)

Seungcheol: no i’m coming

[7:10 PM]

Seungcheol: i’ll just hop on the inbound train at the next station

Seungcheol: be there in 10. I’ll meet you in your office

.

.

.

The gopchang restaurant that Seungcheol takes you to smells like grease and smoke. It’s August and the air in Seoul is unbearably hot and muggy as ever, even at night. A thin film of condensation creeps at the edges of the glass windows looking out into the street and the inky black expanse of the Hangang, but you’re tucked safely in the small corner booth.

Seungcheol is sweating. Cheeks pink and forehead glistening, he commandeers the grill, tongs in one hand and scissors in the other. His white button down hangs limply off his broad shoulders and the sleeves are roughly rolled up to avoid oil splatters. You sit and watch, listless, with your cheeks in your hands, propped up with your elbows against the table.

“Here,” he takes a small piece of meat off the grill and puts it on your plate. It’s slightly burnt, but it’s just the way you like it.

“Thanks, Cheollie,” you mumble. Taking one hand off your cheeks, you pick up your chopsticks and push the meat around for a second before sighing and lifting it to your mouth.

“No appetite, huh?” Seungcheol is evidently satisfied with the state of the meat and begins divvying it up between your plates, clacking his tongs and dripping grease on the table in the process.

“No, I’m hungry,” you say around a mouthful of gopchang and lettuce, “I had to skip lunch today.”

Seungcheol pauses and frowns at you.

“I know.” You chew miserably. “But my lunch time got scheduled over and I couldn’t miss the meeting. The project I’m managing, the green energy building in Seodaemun, is pushing over budget and late because of the chip shortage, and the stakeholders keep changing their minds.” You close your eyes and press your face into your hands, trying to assuage the oncoming headache. “I’m so tired. I can’t sleep because I keep worrying about this project.”

“Here.”

You look up to see Seungcheol opening a bottle of beer for you. He places the frosty cold bottle next to your plate. He lifts his own beer in a silent gesture, and you can’t help but to grin at the silly expression on his face, a mix of sympathy and understanding, and you click the neck of your bottle with his. The beer is cool against your throat as it goes down, just a little bit of relief from the sweltering Seoul heat.

“I wish I could help you,” Seungcheol says as he starts to load vegetables on the grill. “I mean, just say the word and I’ll go yell at whoever is making your job hard.”

You laugh and lean against the wall next to you. “Thanks, Cheollie. I wish I had you behind me for my meetings. But enough about me, how’s your new team member?”

Seungcheol heaves a heavy sigh. “He’s not the fastest learner, but he’s a hard worker and he has good intentions. I think he’d be better suited for another role, but I’ll give him some time before talking to him about it. I think I’ll just mentor him the best I can until then.”

You smile. You can just see him in the office in his neat suit, hands interlaced atop his desk, a kindly expression on his face. “I bet you’re the best boss ever,” you tell him, idly picking at the bean sprout salad on the table. Seungcheol purses his lips, somewhat embarrassed, and shrugs.

“I try my best.”

.

.

.

After your meal, Seungcheol insists on walking along the Hangang with you to work off some of the calories from the grease-heavy dinner. Here by the water, the air is somewhat cooler and fresher. Seungcheol’s thin shirt flaps in the soft breeze, his tie long forgotten, rolled up and tucked away in his pocket.

When he showed up at your office earlier to greet you and pick you up, you noticed that he was wearing a red silk tie with little burgundy stripes on it— the tie you bought him as a congratulatory graduation gift all those years ago.

“I like your haircut,” you tell him, affectionately running your hand through his freshly shorn short chestnut-colored locks. “You look cute.”

He laughs. “Cute? Don’t I look like a dad? That’s what Mingyu told me, at least.”

“No,” you shake your head, smoothing down his hair, “you look young.”

He looks like how he did when he was in university, where the two of you met. Back when you had ambitions and he had none. You with your purposeful engineering degree, and him with the business degree that his dad made him enroll in. And now, you’re not sure if he’s happy in middle management in corporate hell, but he certainly looks better than when he was a resentful, aimless student.

“Thanks,” Seungcheol flushes. His eyes are wide and his cheeks are pink.

You hold your hand gently against his head, smoothing your palm down the back of his neck, painfully affectionate, and you convince yourself that it’s the soju that’s pulling the blood to his face and not the fact that he’s been in love with you for almost a decade.

In a small moment of indulgence, you place your palm against his neck and stroke your thumb slowly under his ear. He sighs softly and leans into your touch, ever so slightly.

“Thanks for coming out with me, Seungcheol,” you whisper. The two of you are standing right in the middle of Hangang Park, surrounded by fellow pedestrians, but you keep him close, like you’re trying to encapsulate the two of you in this moment, frozen in time. “I feel a lot better,” you smile. “I really needed this.”

“No,” Seungcheol replies, “I needed this too. I always feel better after getting food and hanging out with you.” His eyes are gentle and warm, so soft, all for you.

You swallow the lump in your throat. “You’re a good friend, Seungcheol. Thank you.”

[transuncletaylor]

Gather around, it's time for my Christmas/Holiday story or how I got very lost in Seoul cause I'm a dumbass. (I'm gonna use she/her when referring to myself cause I was identifying as a woman then)

Picture it, it's December 2009 in Seoul, South Korea. Ya girl Taylor has been in the city for about two weeks at this point and the first time I had been to Korea. My sister was an English teacher at a hagwon (after school program) and I largely spent the afternoon and evenings exploring the city while she was at work.

Now before we delve into the meat of the story, there are a few things we need to establish. One, I can read the Korean alphabet and speak a little, just enough to get around. Two, I did not have a smartphone because it's 2009 and they weren't really a thing yet. Three, my sister had written down in my notebook her address, her phone number, her work number, all sorts of important info and key phrases.

So skip to December 24th, it's Christmas Eve and it's cold as fuck and it snowed a little that day. I had lunch with my sister, I think we had gone to a sushi buffet place I think. One of things I had planned to do that day was go to this live taping at a radio station that a few members of Super Junior were going to be at. I told my sister where I was going and what time to expect me back that evening.

We part ways and I go about doing who knows what because the radio show wasn't until like 9pm. Before we continue, I think we'll need a map real quick. My sister lived in Mapo-gu, worked in I can't remember but towards the west, and the radio station was at KBS On at Yeouido Island. Note the Han River cuts the city in half.

My 20 year old self did not have a cellphone actually either, well I had one but I just couldn't use it in Korea. I go on my way and that evening I head over to KBS. I get there, got a little lost where the viewing area was and saw a kpop star, from Beast/Highlight in the wild. But I find the viewing area and I'm just living my best kpop girlie life. (In another post we'll talk about how I had dinner with Yesung from Super Junior's parents)

After a while it's getting late and I know I need to head back because the buses and subways were shutting down early. I head back to the main bus area on the island and find the bus number I needed and hop on, grateful for the warmth. The bus starts going and I just have my headphones on listening to my iPod nano.

So my sister lives on the other side of the river right? I have to cross the river which is wide as fuck and I notice after maybe 30 minutes that we haven't crossed the river yet. At first I thought I might have just zoned out and started paying attention more. But none of the stops sounded familiar to me and nothing was looking like Hongdae, which is where I was going to get off.

Dumbass moment number one was I waited about another 15 minutes before I realized I might have made a mistake. I go up to the bus driver and ask about my stop and he slaps his hands on the wheels and curses a bit. But other than that, I couldn't understand what he was saying. A kind older gentleman rider came up and translated for me and that's when I found out I had the correct bus number but instead of inbound, I went outbound.

Just stay on the bus right? It'll head in the other direction? No. That was the last bus of the night.

The kind gentleman took me to his stop and I followed like a lost duckling and luckily for me he brought me to a police station. So just imagine me, a dumb 20 year old white girl in South Korean police station, there's limited communication and I'm scared and feeling like a giant idiot for getting lost and now bothering these two police officers with my dumbassery.

Surely it can't get worse, Taylor. You have your sister's number, you can just call her and probably get a cab.

Yeah, you would think, but this is me we're talking about, my dumbassery is limitless. I was born a himbo before I even knew it. So you remember that notebook I had with all of that contact information and address? Yeah, I left that at the apartment. I didn't know what her number was much less her street address. I could point it out on a map though so that was close enough.

That's not all though, I didn't have any cash on me and there wasn't Venmo or cashapp these days and debt cards/credit cards didn't often work at a lot of places abroad. I had already spent the cash I had on me that day and so the police officer takes me next door to pull cash at the ATM in the 7-11. Except that ATM doesn't accept my card.

We go back to the police station and they call a taxi company to see if they would take me but without cash and an exact address or a phone number, they say no. They think I will just run out on the tab and the drive was going to be far.

At this point, I have no money, no prospects, and scared. Oh and no way to contact my sister to let her know where I was and that I was okay. What am I going to do now? Take a nap on the leather couch in the police station, of course. I am given a Krispy Kreme donut and a space heater and I just knock out a few hours until 6am when the buses start running again.

The police wave down the bus and explain to the bus driver about the dumb dumb foreigner who got lost and how she needs to get to Hongdae. Actually, I don't even think I had enough money on my bus card but uhhhh, yeah I think people were tired of my shit at this point. So I'm seated on the bus, nice and cozy and... I fall asleep.

I'm woken up later by someone nudging me and everyone on the bus staring at me because the bus driver is trying to get my attention over the intercom. We had made it to Hongdae and goddamn, I feel so bad for the people involved in this because I was such a fucking idiot. Thank you to everyone who had helped me that night and I hope each of them are doing well now.

I get off the bus and start walking back to my sister's apartment and it's about a 30 minute walk. I get back to her place, punch in the numbers into the keypad on her front door and walk in. And it goes like:

Leah, out of sight in her loft bed area: ...Taylor?

Me, at the front door: ...hiiiiiiiiiiiii sister

She comes running down and nearly squeezed me in half from the tightest hug I had ever received. There are tears going down both of our faces and yeah, like she's a 24 year old whose little sister was missing in a big city in a country far far from home. After making sure I was real and not hurt, I told her about my wild adventure and where I was and why I didn't call.

Now what was she up to while I was a toasty little cinnamon roll fast asleep on a couch in a police station? She had gotten home around 11pm from work and waited until midnight for me to return. When I wasn't back by then, she started to get nervous and around 1am she called our mother to say that she thinks I'm missing.

They both then go into action. My sister calls the police and through her tears explains that her little sister hasn't come home and she doesn't know where I am. She gives them my description and two of them show up at her apartment to get a photo of me. From what I was told, that was sent around to police stations and the hospitals were alerted to be on the look out for a white girl with my description.

So end of story right? I'm back home, the police and embassy are told about my return and cancelled the alert. Everything is fine and it's Christmas Day, so let's open presents and eat some tasty food and be merry. Taylor, what else could happen that day? Taylor... Taylor, why aren't you saying the end? Taylor, please. Please, how far does your dumbassery go?

My mother had called the US embassy and told them about my disappearance and so like, plenty of people are looking for my lost dumb ass. But Taylor, weren't you in a police station? Wouldn't they have gotten the alert and replied back that they had you? Good point, but you see, I was not in Seoul at this point. I had sat my ass on that bus long enough that I ended up in Anyang. I tried putting a second map to this post, but Tumblr keeps fucking up and not saving it, so please look at your map app for Anyang.

My mother also thinks I've been kidnapped and sent to North Korea and is just blasting all over Facebook about me missing.

Leah still has to go to work that day, so she gets a short nap in, we'll do presents when she gets home that evening. She's not having to work a whole day, so she'll be home early. I plan on staying at the apartment, though I do venture out to the store to get some groceries for Christmas dinner. An ajumma gave me a wrapped gift on the way back and it was a cute pair of socks and an info slip about the local neighborhood church. I think I still have those socks.

While she was at work, I started cooking which is never a good idea because I have made the fire alarm go off by boiling water. In my luggage, I brought a toaster oven that was my mother's Christmas gift to Leah and a plug converter. I plugged it in, but my dumbass did it wrong cause when I turned it on, I blew a fuse in her apartment. However, I made dinner and she came home and we opened gifts and watched movies.

The End.

[rohanseoewe]

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[jellimac-sims-stories]

Gasshpon Vacation

---

Is it really the holiday season without family drama

It's almost Christmas time in Mt Komorebi and the long-estranged son of the Shin family has returned with his family in tow.

Yuri, the eldest of the grandchildren, watches as the tension between her uncle Yejun and grandfather unfolds.

---

I had been wrapping up a special holiday edition of “How to Spice Up Your School Uniform” try-on haul Livestream when I heard the doorbell ring and saw the unread message on my phone. 

[Seohyun] Lookout. Dad and I are inbound. See you in 10! 

“Shibal (씨발/Fuck),” I swore under my breath, quickly ended the stream and threw on something reasonable. To make a three-generational story short, my Uncle Yejun is the blackest of black sheep in our very traditional Korean family. Granted there are a few (I'm not the snowest white there is and my cousin Youngsol the snowboard model is no angel either) but my Uncle Yejun really pissed off my halmi and halbi (grandma and grandpa for you westerners).

My family is the founder of WestEnd Co; one of the leading export businesses in all of Japan. Yep, that WestEnd Co. The one that you order all of your books, electronics, and upgrade parts from online. Who do you think sends out all the free Hitz Earbuds? Anyway, WestEnd Co has been a family-run business for almost 75 years. Each time the CEO of the company retires, the eldest son of the next generation takes over. It's been like that for the whole of WestEnd Co’s history. Even the branch office in Seoul is headed by my halbi’s youngest brother and his sons. Next in line would have been my Uncle Yejun but he didn’t return home after attending university in America. 

Home is Mt Komorebi; specifically the Wakaba district. My family has lived in this area for the past ten generations. Most have moved back to South Korea or elsewhere on the globe but some still live here. Two of my cousins' on my father’s side of the family live down the road, another cousin lives in Senbamachi, and Youngsol’s family had moved to Osaka after he graduated.

It's not as if it's odd that my Uncle went to university outside of the country. My halmi and halbi had three kids; my mother the eldest, Uncle Yejun, and Aunt Minso the youngest. All three of them went to university out of the country. My mother went to Cambridge in England where she met my father. My uncle and my aunt both went to university in Britechester (that’s somewhere in the states); Uncle Yejun went to Foxbury double majoring in business and technology, and Aunt Minso went to the University of Britechester for law. 

The big difference between my mother and her siblings is that she came back. After my father proposed (with my halbi’s permission of course), Mom came back home to get married and to start a family, i.e. to have cute little baby me. My aunt seems like she plans to come back home when she’s done interning but my uncle continually refuses to come back. I think this is the first time he’s been back home since he left when he was still a teenager.

Uncle Yejun was expected to be groomed to take over from my halbi after he finished school. From what I know, he’s totally uninterested in running the family business. Right now my mother is the Vice President while my halbi is still the CEO. Almost every day I overhear my mother arguing with my halbi asking him when he is going to retire. He usually responds with some sort of grunting sound, basically meaning that he doesn't want to talk about it and he goes off to play the piano. The whole conversation makes my inner feminist rage rise. It’s not like my mother doesn't have an MBA from one of the best universities ever! I know my family is well soaked in traditions but it’s not like my mother is gonna have a “wild female mood swing” and sell the company. Like, okay boomer.

I lowkey understand why my uncle doesn't want to run the company, truly. If and that's a big if I have any sons I'd have no desire to have my children more or less chain ganged into joining the "family business" like their last name was Winchester. Honestly, it seems as if my uncle is doing better now that my halbi cut him off. Oh yeah, my halbi cut him off when it became clear that he wasn't coming back. To make this whole thing worse for my uncle he started a family with a "nyeon (년/whore) that he is still not married to”. Not my words. I’m just quoting my halbi. Let’s also not forget Uncle Yejun covered in tattoos that my halbi also disapproves of. 

Basically, my halbi has disowned my Uncle more or less for living the life he wants for himself and has refused to talk to him for nearly my whole life. The only reason why I even met my cousin Seohyun was from a Christmas visit to my aunt's apartment when I was a kid. Aunt Minseo is G.O.A.T. She’s always snatched, so stylish, so smart, and a really great lawyer. The last time I visited we both got our hair dyed ginger (she kept her hair darker and short while I got mine ombre). My mom blew a gasket when I got home but at least my school didn’t make me change it back. 

Aunt Minseo's also my favorite more or less down to the fact that I didn't know I had any other option until I met the rest of my family that Christmas. Both Seohyun and my Uncle came over for Christmas dinner. It had been my first time out of Japan to anywhere besides Korea. I had been hooked up on Christmas joy and barely paid any attention to the extra people opening presents. I'm never gonna forget how shocked I was meeting a little blonde-haired, white girl that speaks Korean and learning that I had more family in America!

As I raced down the stairs, I could hear the piano from the study. Good, that would mean my halbi was in the study playing the piano. The study was just off of the living room but behind doors so he wouldn’t see Uncle Yejun and Seohyun right away but he’d hear them eventually. I found my father talking to Uncle Yejun and Seohyun in the foyer. My father, the typical professor he is, was just commenting on Seohyun’s Korean when I walked up to join them, “Your Korean is very good but I think it hasn’t been that helpful on your first trip to Japan.”

Everyone laughed andEveryone laughed and Yejun simply said, “Didn't think about that one. Maybe the little one will learn Japanese. I'm sure Hoesung, our second eldest, will learn Japanese in a weekend. He's so smart. Smarter than me I think. Not that you aren't, sweetheart," he chuckled and then continued, "I probably could have been clearer on the 'where I grew up’ location when I told the kids where we were going on vacation.”

"They raised us speaking English and Korean at home and the first place they take us is Japan," Seohyun teased, making everyone laugh again and she came over to hug me. Our fathers busied themselves catching up with each other (Like what? They know each other?) so I pulled Seohyun to the side and asked her what was going on.

"Um, has your dad forgotten that our halbi mostly hates him?" I quietly asked in English. Both of our dads speak English but I exactly wasn't trying to keep our conversation from them. 

"My parents brought us here for a pre-Christmas vacation. We've been here four days and my dad hasn't relaxed once. You should have seen him. The first day we were here he took us on a hike to an echoing cave. It was supposed to be a relaxing meditative walk but he was as jittery as if he had a Denkimushi in his shirt," she whispered back. "Yesterday night after dinner, I heard my mom say that my siblings and I at least deserve to know our grandmother so here we are."

"Why didn’t she come then? Halbi is going to lose his mind once he realizes…" I started to say but just then I realized that the piano had stopped playing. Seohyun had turned her attention to someone standing behind me and was beginning to bow as she introduced herself in Korean...

Read the rest on my AO3

[college-girl199328]

On Monday, as China braced for a new phase in its battle against COVID-19, financial markets strengthened after Beijing dropped pandemic border controls in the latest easing of curbs that have let the virus loose on its 1.4 billion population.

Sunday's reopening is one of the last steps in China's dismantling of its zero-COVID regime last month after historic protests against curbs that kept the virus at bay for three years but caused widespread frustration among its people and severe damage to the world's second-largest economy.

While Beijing's decision to drop quarantine is also intended to boost outbound travel, several nations are demanding negative tests from visitors from China, seeking to contain an outbreak overwhelming many of China's hospitals and crematoriums.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency said the country had entered a new phase of its COVID response, citing its virus prevention experience, the development of the epidemic, and increased vaccination levels.

China's top health officials and state media have repeatedly said COVID infections are peaking across the country, but they are playing down the threat now posed by the disease.

That is in stark contrast to the earlier regime of strict quarantines and lockdowns as China managed the virus as a Category A disease like the bubonic plague and cholera. China's management of COVID was technically downgraded to Category B on Sunday, although many curbs have been dropped for weeks.

Officially, China has reported just 5,272 COVID-related deaths as of January 8, one of the lowest rates in the world. But the World Health Organization has said China is underreporting the scale of the outbreak; international health experts estimate more than one million people in the country could die from the disease this year.

Shrugging off those gloomy forecasts, investors are betting that China's reopening will help revive the $17 trillion economy and bolster the outlook for global growth.

Those hopes lifted Asian shares to a five-month high on Monday, while China's yuan firmed to its highest level against the dollar since mid-August.

China's blue-chip index gained 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.6%. Harrold said he had anticipated having to quarantine and do several rounds of testing on his return when he left for Europe for a Christmas break in early December.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that direct flights from South Korea to China were close to sold out. The report quickly shot to the top of the most-read items on the Chinese social media site Weibo.

However, a spike in demand from South Koreans, who make up the majority of foreign residents in China, and others will be hampered by the limited number of flights to and from China, which are currently at a small fraction of pre-COVID levels.

Korean Air said earlier this month that it was halting a plan to increase flights to China due to Seoul's cautious stance towards Chinese travelers. South Korea and many other countries now require travelers from China, Macau, and Hong Kong to provide negative COVID test results before departure.

Flight Master data showed that on Sunday, China had a total of 245 international flights, combining inbound and outbound, compared with 2,546 on the same day in 2019, representing a 91% fall.

China's domestic tourism revenue in 2023 is expected to recover to 70–75% of pre-COVID levels, but the number of inbound and outbound trips is forecast to be only 30–40% of pre-COVID levels this year, China News reported on Sunday.

[apexart-journal]

GA RAM KIM IN NYC, DAY 30

Wed Nov 07, 2018 - Day 30

The Last day! 

Oversleeping~ 

Cleaning & Laundry & Packing

6:00pm: Opening @ apexart

8:15pm: Dinner @ Petrarca Cucina E Vino

The last supper

Good bye NYC, See you Soon :)

[phgq]

Cebu Pacific cancels Japan flights March 18-April 18

#PHnews: Cebu Pacific cancels Japan flights March 18-April 18

MANILA – Budget carrier Cebu Pacific has canceled flights between Manila and Japan from Thursday until April 18, in compliance with the allowed inbound international passengers limit at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) set at 1,500 for the said period.

Flights between Manila and Narita, and Nagoya are canceled, CEB announced on Wednesday.

"What would be left are (flights to/from) Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Seoul (Incheon)," CEB spokesperson Michelle Lim told the Philippine News Agency.

Based on the Manila International Airport Authority's (MIAA) record, CEB has scheduled flights between Manila and Narita (Tokyo) and Dubai on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, affected passengers are advised to rebook their tickets for travel within 90 days, or store the ticket value in a virtual wallet valid for two years.

They may also opt for a refund, but the process may take up to seven months due to the volume of requests.

The Civil Aeronautics Board earlier issued a directive to limit the number of inbound international passengers at NAIA to 1,500 daily from March 18 to April 18. MIAA has been allowing up to 3,000 inbound international passengers daily at NAIA.

In a related development, Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it will announce any flight cancellations during the period once details are confirmed.

The flag carrier also announced that affected passengers may rebook their flights on the same cabin class with rebooking fees waived; refund the ticket cost; or convert their tickets to a travel voucher.

Another budget carrier, AirAsia Philippines currently does not offer commercial international flights.

AirAsia Philippines spokesperson Steve Dailisan said the carrier continues to partner with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Department of Foreign Affairs for repatriation efforts for Filipinos stranded abroad. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Cebu Pacific cancels Japan flights March 18-April 18." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1133954 (accessed March 18, 2021 at 01:55AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Cebu Pacific cancels Japan flights March 18-April 18." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1133954 (archived).

[transuncletaylor]

🌼

I tell this story all the time, so bucket up it's a doozy:

It's December 2009. I am a 20 year old college student (presenting female at this time) and I'm spending winter break visiting my sister in Korea. Now some facts that are needed: I did not own a smartphone, I can read the Korean alphabet and know enough to get by, I had been there for two weeks at this point.

Now my sister was a teacher at a hagwon and worked evenings, so we would go out and do stuff in the mornings and in the afternoon I would be let loose in Seoul. I had her keycode to her apartment and a tourist book that I would use to get around. Leah had written phrases, numbers, and addresses in a notebook for me just in case.

So it's Christmas Eve and there's a radio show with some of the members of Super Junior at the KBS building in Yeouido island in the middle of the city. This island is on the southwest side of the city and my sister lived in Yeonhi-dong on the other side of the Han river. So Leah knows I'm going down there and it's running late at night so I would be back around midnight.

So I get there, watch the show, enjoy my time. I had met a bunch of kpop stars, I made friends with Yesung of Super Junior's mom at this point. She's cool, she gave me a hug when I had to go home and gave me some photos of her son. But back to the story. So it's time to go back to the apartment and I get to the bus stop and I'm like oh this is my bus. I get on and start riding and after like 30 minutes I'm like huh, we should have crossed the Han by now. I get up to go ask the bus driver and he slams his hands down on the wheel and starts yelling.

I had no idea what was going on, but a kind elder man helped me and explained I was on the outbound bus when I had needed to get on the inbound bus. But this was the last bus of the night. So he walks me to a nearby police station and explains to the police my situation.

They ask me if I knew my sister's phone number and I went to pull out my notebook from my bag, but I had left it at her place that day. I didn't know her number, or her address, but I did know the neighborhood and so that would be enough for a taxi driver.

So we go next door to the 7-11 so I could pull cash out of the ATM to pay, but the ATM was not accepting foreign bank cards. No taxi would take me because I didn't have cash or an address at this point. With no other options, the police pointed to the couch in the lobby and set a heat lamp up and told me to sleep there.

They woke me up at 6am the next morning, Christmas Day, when the buses started running again. The police talked to the bus driver and told them about me and I needed to get to Hongdae at least. Well, my dumbass falls asleep on the bus and I wake up to the bus driver yelling out foreigner in Korean. I get off the bus and walk back to my sister's apartment.

I walk in like "hey Leahhhhhhh."

She proceeds to hug the shit out of me and we swap stories on what happened. She had called the police and was crying to them, showing them pictures of me and explaining that I was missing. My mother called the US embassy and everyone was looking for me. All the hospitals, police stations in the city.

Except I wasn't in the city. I had ended up in a suburb just outside city limits.

So that's the story about Christmas 2009.

Somehow I was allowed to go back next August still without a smartphone.

[multipleservicelisting]

What happens to an airplane after it retires

(CNN) — Deciding when and how to retire an aircraft is a complicated job for airlines, even in normal times. With Covid-19, the world’s fleet has been largely grounded. Many aircraft that might have flown for five, 10 or even more years are being sent to have their valuable parts and systems stripped, and their metals and other materials recycled.

Finnair is starting to retire its Airbus A319 airplanes — small, two-engined jets that it has spent more than two decades flying around Europe to connect to and through its Helsinki hub. Director of Fleet Management Miika Haatio sat down with CNN to explain how it works.

Every individual aircraft has a natural life, Haatio explains: “Each aircraft, and especially the airframe, has a design service goal. In this case, Airbus has designed the airframe for a certain amount of flights, and done all the testing for the structural integrity for that number of flights.”

Some airlines do keep aircraft flying longer, however, for a variety of reasons.

These might include not having a direct replacement newer aircraft, like for the Boeing 767-300ER, a relatively small long-distance, two-engined, widebody plane that many airlines were still operating before Covid-19. Some planes have been put on longer routes, so they have flown proportionally fewer flights. And sometimes it just makes financial sense, even outside a pandemic.

Finnair’s first A319, registered OH-LVA, takes off from Helsinki to be recycled in the UK.

Mikko Pylkko

Calling time on an airplane

As we talk to Haatio just after noon on a cold Helsinki December day — the sun rises at 9:20 a.m. and sets at 3:11 p.m. — there are only nine Finnair flights in the skies of the world: an Airbus A321 heading to Malaga, Spain; an E190 regional jet to Berlin; two ATR turboprops to Oslo, Norway, and Gothenburg, Sweden; and widebody jets inbound from Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai.

Meanwhile, 1,194 miles away, on a quiet airfield in rainy Gloucestershire, a couple of hours west of Heathrow in the English countryside, Finnair’s first A319, registered OH-LVA, sits waiting to be recycled.

The Airfleets database shows that LVA’s first flight was August 25, 1999, and was delivered to Finnair on September 20 that same year. The airline reports that, in its over 21 years of service, LVA performed 32,710 flights across 55,367 hours. If all of the 144 seats on board had been filled on every flight, that would be some 4.7 million passengers transported over its lifetime.

In general, some airlines might prefer from a point of financial principle to spend money maintaining older airplanes such as the LVA rather than buying new ones, although the counterbalance for this is the impressive fuel efficiency gains of newer aircraft. That’s why some planes will fetch quite a sum on the second-hand market.

For LVA, however, the writing was on the wall: Airbus’ A319 is a smaller version of its A320 aircraft, and a “shrink” aircraft often loses some of the efficiency of its larger sibling.

“In the Finnair operation,” Haatio says, “larger aircraft obviously are more efficient and have less fuel burn per passenger than smaller aircraft. We see a shift towards larger narrowbodies other than the smaller ones. That can be seen also, for example, in the Airbus order books for new aircraft: the larger ones are more preferred than the smaller ones.”

Indeed, Airbus’ most recent orderbook data show that only 84 A319neos have been ordered, in comparison with 3,925 of the larger A320neos and of the 3,446 even bigger A321neos.

In Helsinki, Finnair employees painted over the airline’s livery on an A319 bound for the scrapyard.

Mikko Pylkko

Salvaging a few parts

So would LVA have been retired this early if the Covid-19 pandemic hadn’t happened?

“We can speculate,” Haatio says. “Technically, this aircraft could have been flown a bit more, but obviously, due to Covid, there’s a huge surplus of aircraft in the world, at least in the short term, and prices have gone down quite a bit.

“Potentially it could have gone to some other operator for a further life, but in this market situation, there were basically no takers for it. So nobody’s — we could say that very few airlines or operators — are buying an aircraft at the moment, because everybody has too many for the short term.”

And so Finnair appointed AerFin, a company headquartered in Cardiff, Wales, that specializes in end-of-life aircraft, to disassemble LVA, sell the various parts of the aircraft that still have value — and to return the landing gear to Finnair.

“For this particular aircraft, the landing gears are quite new, or newly overhauled,” Haatio says. “So we decided that we want these landing gears back. Once they’re removed off of the aircraft, they go through Safran for recertification then come back to Finnair and we reuse them on our remaining fleet.”

The actual dismantling and recycling process can take place in several different airports. For LVA, it’s Cotswold Airport in Kemble, in western England.

Finnair covered the livery with its signature blue rather than the usual white because it had extra blue paint.

Mikko Pylkko

So long to the livery

Before departing Helsinki, Finnair removed quite a lot of the aircraft’s interior: for example, the cabin curtains can be reused on other aircraft, as can the leather and seat covers — although the seat structures themselves flew off with the plane, for AerFin to try to sell on to other airlines.

The requirements for oxygen bottles and fire extinguishers in the cabin, meanwhile, are based on the number of passengers, and with zero on board these were also taken off in Helsinki.

So, too, were the ovens and coffee makers, so any retiring aircraft’s final pilots had better bring a flask onboard with them.

One of the final jobs before an aircraft takes its last flight to storage or recycling is usually to paint over the airline’s logo, symbols and other branding, known as its livery.

Essentially, airlines like other companies want to control how their brand is used, and once the aircraft is in the hands of the recyclers or being sold on, they’re no longer in control. And nobody wants pictures of their brand being crunched by a piece of heavy machinery during recycling.

Unusually, in LVA’s case, Finnair chose its signature blue rather than the usual white, not for any symbolic reason, but because it had extra blue paint that needed to be used up rather than ordering new white, and thus her unusual stripes on the body and tail of the plane.

AerFin is a company specializing in “aircraft end of life services.” This is a disassembly facility at Cotswold Airport near Kemble in western England.

Courtesy AerFin

Everything (well, almost everything) out, please …

After arriving at its disassembly location at Cotswold Airport near Kemble in western England, AerFin (in this case, in collaboration with Air Salvage International) started splitting out the aircraft components into various categories.

AerFin Operations Director Simon Bayliss explains that, first, anything to be returned to the airline is removed, like LVA’s landing gear, as well as anything to be sold on. That would normally include avionics: systems like those used for communications, collision avoidance, weather, and other flight deck equipment.

“Then,” Bayliss says, “we’ve got what we call the major assets and the structures. That’s things like the auxiliary power unit, the landing gear, the thrust reversers and nacelles. There’s what we call the flight control, that’s basically the flaps and the rudders. Then we’ve got the interiors: everything from the seats, the cabin equipment, the coffee, the tea makers, the toilets, the galleys. Once that’s done, then you’re left with basically the fuselage.”

From there, the flight deck might be cut out to be reused as a simulator, while the doors might also be removed for cabin crew training units.

Everything else is split into four categories of recyclable materials or waste. First is metal (whether that’s steel, stainless steel, titanium, aluminum or something else). Then there are recyclables such as flight deck glass, tires and so on, then hazardous components such as fire extinguishers and batteries, then composite materials such as the interiors and seats.

And that’s the end of LVA’s story: useful systems and parts removed continuing to serve passengers, the rest being extracted for onward sale, and her materials recycled to be used again in something else — perhaps, even, a new airplane that eventually might take to the skies once more.

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/2LnsTbm

[vietnamstar]

Over 100 passengers returning from S.Korea protest high quarantine fees

Over 100 passengers returning from S.Korea protest high quarantine fees

Over 100 Vietnamese passengers arriving in Saigon Wednesday noon on a flight from Seoul refused to be quarantined at hotels, protesting unaffordable charges.

The Vietjet Air flight VJ963 from Incheon International Airport that landed at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport was the second inbound flight permitted by aviation authorities after the Vietnamese government last month green-lighted…

[apexart-journal]

GA RAM KIM IN NYC, DAY 28

Mon Nov 05, 2018 - Day 28

10:00am: Breakfast @ EVERYMAN espresso

Almond Croissant & Cappuccino~ yami!

11:30am: HARLEM TOUR DAY

A teenager threw an egg across the road without any reason, and it’s narrowly missing a passerby who was crossing the crosswalk. (What’s wrong with him…)

1) The Apollo Theater

2) The Hotel Theresa

First luxury hotel in Harlem. I tried to go inside, but the receptionist said that it’s not the hotel anymore.

3) Collyer Brothers Park

4) National Jazz Museum The museum was cozy. I like the old music score, which placed in the piano. (It’s rolling!) And I wrote down some Jazz music playlists which were in iTunes of the museum. Moreover, I met a Jazz musician (a pianist) there. His name is David Durrah, who has been to Korea for his concert. He said that he has a concert here soon, but I said I am leaving soon. And he asked me to find his music on Youtube.

5) Sylvia’s ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “The Queen of Soul food”, it’s the American restaurant with cute decoration. I ordered MIXED GREENS SALAD topped Grilled Shrimp. The corn bread before the main dish was so tasty, and the salad was great! By the way, the waitress was so amazing, she recommended her own dressing recipe and prepared it for me and she made me iced coffee (with a take-out cup) which was not in the list of menu, she knew all that I wanted! +and I was happy that I could listen to the music ‘I’m Not The Only One’ by Sam Smith while I had lunch.

6) Abyssinian Baptist Church

7) Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture I liked the interior of the hall. And they had a good building structure, there was in the exhibition room, which exhibited the archive and several paintings and also shows the library downstairs through the windows placed in the corner of the center.

8) Harlem Hospital Center WPA Mural Look at the wall painting! I’ve never seen this kind of hospital, which has a huge wall painting exterior.

9) 135th Street – Harlem Walk of Fame

YMCA!

On the way to the subway, I found a beautiful park.

5:30pm: NYCCares Beading with VISIONS

It’s a special experience to bead a bracelet with person who is blind or has low vision. The process was to help those people to make their own jewelery. I was looking forward to this volunteering work, because I was confident to do this work, beading and making something. However, it’s so disappointed. First, I met a mean person there. When I was hard to find some beads to figure out the same color, one of the volunteers said to me it’s okay, they do not know anyway. I was really shocked. How so mean. And the team leader of here seemed to be irritable all through the hour, and spoke in the imperative mood. When the work finished, she even said good bye. She was the most unfriendly person I’ve met here, and I thought she doesn’t suit the role of this work. It’s so sad night.

Day 28 What I like: Morning cappuccino, Sylvia’s (the waitress), I’m Not The Only One Challenge: mean people

[bigyack-com]

UK Visitor Arrivals Spending Up 19% in October 2019

Visitors to the UK spent £2.3 billion in October 2019, the highest ever for the month and 19% more than in October 2018. During the month, there were 3.4 million overseas visitor arrivals to the UK, a rise of 3% on October 2018. These latest statistics from VisitBritain show that it was a record-breaking August to October period for both overseas visits to the UK, and for visitor spending. August 2019 was the highest month ever for both inbound visits and spending, and only the third time ever that the four million mark for inbound visits to the UK has been surpassed in a single month. Quarterly data shows strong growth in spending and visits from the US, the UK’s largest and most valuable inbound tourism market.

Visitors from the US spent a record £3.4 billion in the UK between January and September 2019, up 23% on the same period in 2018. A record 3.5 million US arrivals visited the UK during that time, an increase of 13% y-o-y. There were also a record number of visitor arrivals from China between January and September 2019 with 321,000 people, an increase of 8% on the same period in 2018. Spending  by those arrivals during this period jumped 11% y-o-y to £553 million. VisitBritain Director, Patricia Yates, said, “These record-breaking figures underpin a longer-term pattern of growth from our long-haul high spending markets, demonstrating Britain’s continued ability to compete internationally for visitors in a fiercely competitive global environment. The results also reinforce tourism’s importance as a driver of economic growth and its role in promoting a positive, welcoming image of Britain globally. Working with partners we are telling customers about experiences they can only have here, converting the inspiration to visit into bookings and encouraging visitors to discover more of the country, boosting local economies.” These latest figures bring the number of overseas arrivals to the UK from January to October to 32.8 million, up 2% on the same period in 2018 with visitors spending rising 8% to £21.2 billion. Looking ahead, VisitBritain has predicted that spending by visitor arrivals to reach a record £26.6 billion this year, a 6.6% increase on the expected spending in 2019 of £25 billion. The number of overseas arrivals to the UK is forecast to rise to 39.7 million in 2020, the highest ever. Tourism is now worth an estimated £127 billion to the UK economy. See also: What about the UK's outbound market? How did the strength of the Thai Baht and the weak Pound affect Thailand's arrivals from the UK in 2019? Exclusive FHD video Interview with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and What does TAT have planned for TTM+ 2020? See latest Travel News, Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: VisitBritain, Arrivals. Headlines: Football: Pictures from Ascot United FC vs Egham Town FC  Aerobility - The British Flying Charity, Interview with Mike Miller-Smith MBE  ANA and SIA Sign Joint Venture Framework Agreement  Dusit Signs First Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam  SkyWest Orders 20 Embraer E175 Jets  SAS Suspends All Shanghai and Beijing Flights  Kuala Lumpur Int. Airport Trials Single Token Journey Technology  Air Canada Suspends All Flights to Beijing and Shanghai  Korean Air Sets Up Emergency Response Team; Suspends Select China Flights  Mark Radford Joins Trenchard Aviation as VP Business Development  CWT Appoints R. 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[topiom]

British tourist in Thailand is feared to be first western victim of new Chinese coronavirus | Daily Mail Online

A British tourist fighting for his life in Thailand is feared to be the first Western victim of the coronavirus sweeping across China.

Ash Shorley, 32, is in critical condition in a hospital in Phuket after being struck down with a lung infection while visiting Koh Phi Phi island. 

Mr Shorley had to be transported to hospital by a specialised seaplane because his lung had collapsed and he could not cope with high altitude travel. 

Doctors revealed his symptoms were consistent with the Chinese coronavirus – but this has not yet been confirmed.

The unnamed SARS-like virus has killed three people and has infected an estimated 1,700 in Wuhan city since December, researchers fear. 

Some 222 cases have been confirmed. Authorities today said the virus has spread across China, with five cases in Beijing, 14 in Shenzhen and one in Shanghai.

South Korea has also recorded a case today, making it the third country to diagnose the virus following Thailand and Japan last week. 

The spike in cases comes just days before millions of Chinese nationals travel abroad for the Lunar New Year holidays, with airports across Asia and the US to screen travellers. 

Mr Shorley's parents Chris and Julie, from Thornton, Lancashire, have flown out to be by their son's bedside as tests are carried out. 

Ash Shorley, 32, is fighting for his life in Thailand and is feared to be the first Western victim of the coronavirus sweeping across China

Mr Shorley is in critical condition in a hospital in Phuket after being struck down with the pneumonia-like lung infection while visiting Koh Phi Phi island

The unnamed novel virus has infected an estimated 1,700 in Wuhan, China. Authorities said the virus had spread to other cities in China. The total confirmed cases has tipped 200 and three have died. Four confirmed cases are outside China in Thailand, Japan, and South Korea

His father, 55, told The Sun: 'He was two days from death. If he wasn’t so fit, he wouldn’t be with us now. We are now waiting on tests. It is very serious.' 

The coronavirus – which has never been seen before – was first discovered in the city of Wuhan in December.

There were 48 confirmed cases on Friday, but hundreds of infections were reported over the weekend because screening is now possible.

Now, 222 cases have been confirmed including three deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

However, there are growing fears that Chinese authorities are hiding the true scale of the outbreak, which has links to the deadly SARS virus.  

An analysis from Imperial College London last week estimated the number of cases in Wuhan was probably around 1,700 – but could even be as high as 4,500.

A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today the country had 'stuck to a serious, earnest and professional attitude' to prevent and control the outbreak.

It is not confirmed if Mr Shorley has the novel coronavirus. But doctors say his pneumonia-like lung infection has symptoms similar 

Mr Shorley's parents Chris and Julie, from Thornton, Lancashire, have flown out to be by their son's bedside. He is pictured in hospital 

Airports in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and the US have stepped up surveillance. Pictured, an airport in Tokyo, Japan, where one case was identified 

WHAT IS THE NEW CORONAVIRUS SPREADING FROM CHINA?

An outbreak of pneumonia-like illnesses began in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019. 

Its symptoms are typically a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia, a potentially life-threatening infection that causes inflammation of the small air sacs in the lungs. 

Scientists in China recognized its similarity to two viruses that turned into global killers: SARS and MERS. 

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome is caused by the SARS coronavirus, known as SARS Co, and first emerged in China in 2002. 

By the end of the outbreak, the virus had spread to several other Asian countries as well as the UK and Canada, killing 774. 

MERS, or Middle East respirator syndrome originated in the region for which it's named, ultimately killed 787 people and belongs to the same family of coronaviruses as SARS. 

The new virus wasn't a match for either of those two, but it did belong to the same coronavirus family. 

Coronaviruses are a large family of pathogens, and most cause mild respiratory infections - i.e. the common cold. 

But because the SARS and MERS proved deadly, the emergence of another new coronavirus has health officials on edge around the world. 

Like its two dangerous cousins, the new coronavirus appears to have originated with animals - particularly seafood, chickens, bats, marmots - found at a Wuhan market that's been identified as the epicenter of the outbreak.  

The symptoms of SARS, which may be similar to those of the new coronavirus, include:

After these symptoms, the infection will begin to affect your lungs and airways (respiratory system), leading to additional symptoms, such as:

 So far, there isn't a treatment for the new virus or SARS, though the new virus has been sequenced, allowing for rapid diagnostics. 

They said they had 'carried out in-depth epidemiological investigation, released the information related to the control and treatment of the outbreak in time and actively spread related educational knowledge'.

South Korea confirmed its first case on January 20 after a 35-year-old woman arriving at Seoul’s Incheon airport tested positive for the virus. She had been in Wuhan last week. 

Last week, one case was confirmed in Japan and two in Thailand, meaning the total number of confirmed cases outside of China now sits at four.

All of the Chinese nationals had recently visited Wuhan, but it is not clear if Mr Shorley visited the city – home to 11million people – on his travels.   

China reported on January 20 the mysterious virus had spread across the country from Wuhan.

Health authorities in Beijing's Daxing district said two people who had travelled to Wuhan were treated for pneumonia linked to the virus and are in stable condition. 

In southern Guangdong province, a 66-year-old Shenzhen man was quarantined on January 11 after contracting a fever and showing other symptoms.

He had visited relatives in Wuhan, the provincial health commission said. He is also in stable condition.

Shenzhen officials said another eight people were under medical observation.

Suspected cases have also cropped up in Sichuan, Yunnan, Shanghai, Guangxi and Shandong. Tests have yet to confirm the patients have the coronavirus.

'Experts believe that the current epidemic situation is still preventable and controllable,' the Guangdong health commission said.

Five other people have been put in isolation and tested in eastern Zhejiang province. 

Since cases have been identified outside the country, the WHO has warned hospitals worldwide to prepare for a potential global spread. 

Though the known cases of the outbreak so far involve only individuals who have travelled to or live in Wuhan, the WHO has warned that a wider outbreak is possible. 

Fears are growing ahead of Lunar New Year, on January 25, which will see millions of Chinese citizens travelling abroad.

Wuhan authorities said they have installed infrared thermometers at airports, railway stations and coach stations across the city. 

Passengers with fevers were being registered, given masks and taken to medical institutions. 

Airports in Singapore, Hong Kong – where there have been suspected but no confirmed cases – Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and the US have also stepped up surveillance.

Temperature checks are being used for inbound travellers from the Chinese mainland, especially Wuhan. This is how the two cases in Thailand were discovered. 

Over the weekend, 136 fresh infections were reported in Wuhan, bringing the total number of cases China has confirmed to more than 200 

Chinese residents wear masks while waiting at a bus station near the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which has been linked to the outbreak which started in December 

A seafood market is believed to be the centre of the outbreak in the city, but health officials have reported that some patients had no history of contact with the facility

The majority of patients have been traced to the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market (pictured)

The coronavirus, which causes cold-like symptoms including a runny nose, headache, cough, sore throat and a fever, has never been seen before and has not yet been named. 

Officials have described the virus in China, a tourist hotspot for some 595,000 British tourists each year, as 'novel'.  

Tests have so far shown it is a new type of coronavirus from the same family as the deadly SARS pathogen which killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s.     

The first patient diagnosed with the novel strain, a 61-year-old man, died on January 9. The second death, a man known only as Xiong, died on January 15.

Both suffered other health problems, the former from abdominal tumours and chronic liver disease and the latter of severe cardiomyopathy – a heart condition, abnormal kidney function, and seriously damaged organs.

Pictured, Bangkok airport staff performing thermal scans on a traveller

But it is not clear if these were complications of the virus or underlying conditions. 

Details of the third death have not yet been revealed by officials. 

The majority of the infected patients in Wuhan have been traced to the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, which has been shut down since January 1.

The WHO said on Twitter on January 20 that 'an animal source seems the most likely primary source' with 'some limited human-to-human transmission occurring between close contacts'.

Although the genetic sequence of the strain has now been released, scientists are still questioning how deadly it is, and whether it can be spread between humans. 

Scientists with the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London warned in a paper published Friday that the number of cases identified in Wuhan may be the 'tip of the iceberg'.

Researchers calculated cases could be as high as 4,500 in Wuhan city, and if this is the case, substantial human to human transmission can't be ruled out. 

Chinese state media moved to calm the mood as discussion about the coronavirus spreading to other Chinese cities swelled on social media.

Nationalist tabloid Global Times called for better handling of the new virus than that of the 2003 SARS outbreak.

THE NEW CORONAVIRUS IN CHINA TIMELINE 

December 31 2019: The WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. Around 44 suspected cases were reported in the month of December.

January 1 2020: A seafood market was closed for environmental sanitation and disinfection after being closely linked with the patients.

January 5 2020: Doctors ruled out severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as being the cause of the virus, as well as bird flu, Middle East respiratory syndrome and adenovirus. Meanwhile, Hong Kong reported 

January 9 2020: A preliminary investigation identified the respiratory disease as a new type of coronavirus, Chinese state media reported.

Officials at Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reported the outbreak's first death on January 9, a 61-year-old man.  

January 13 2020: A Chinese woman in Thailand was the first confirmed case of the mystery virus outside of China. The 61-year-old was quarantined on January 8, but has since returned home in a stable condition after having treatment, the Thai Health Ministry said. 

January 14 2020: The WHO told hospitals around the globe to prepare, in the 'possible' event of the infection spreading.

It said there is some 'limited' human-to-human transmission of the virus. Two days previously, the UN agency said there was 'no clear evidence of human to human transmission'.

January 16 2020: A man in Tokyo is confirmed to have tested positive for the disease after travelling to the Chinese city of Wuhan.

A second death, a 69-year-old man, was reported by officials at Wuhan Municipal Health Commission. He died in the early hours of January 15 at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan city having first been admitted to hospital on December 31.

January 17 2020: Thailand announces it has detected a second case. The 74-year-old woman had been quarantined since her arrival on Monday. She lived in Wuhan.

Scientists at Imperial College London fear up to 4,500 patients in Wuhan may have caught the virus. A report said if cases are this high, substantial human to human transmission can't be ruled out.

John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), San Francisco International Airport and Los Angles International Airport (LAX) will start screening passengers arriving from Wuhan, US officials said.   

January 20 2020: China reported a sharp rise in the number of people infected with a new coronavirus over the weekend, including 136 more cases in Wuhan city.

The outbreak spread across China, as authorities in Shenzhen in southern China reported one case, and Chinese state media said Beijing had reported two cases. 

South Korea confirmed its first case - a 35-year-old woman arriving at Seoul’s Incheon airport tested positive for the virus. She had been in Wuhan the week prior.

The total number of confirmed cases reached 205, including three deaths and four confirmed cases outside China.   

Details were not revealed about the third death. 

This content was originally published here.

[un-enfant-immature]

Daily Crunch: Tesla unveils its futuristic Cybertruck

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.

1. Behold, the Tesla Cybertruck is here

Elon Musk has unveiled a vehicle that looks like it was ripped straight out of a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie.

The Tesla Cybertruck is made of cold-rolled steel, armored glass (which cracked in one demonstration at yesterday’s event) and adaptive air suspension. The cheapest version — a single-motor and rear-wheel drive model — will cost $39,900.

2. Twitter will finally let you turn on two-factor authentication without giving it a phone number

After countless tales of people having their phone numbers and inbound messages hijacked by way of SIM swapping, it’s clear that SMS just isn’t the right solution for sending people secondary login codes. And yet for many years, it’s been the mandatory go-to on Twitter — you could switch to another option later, but you had to give Twitter a phone number to turn it on in the first place.

3. Y Combinator abruptly shutters YC China

Startup accelerator Y Combinator has abandoned plans to establish a branch in China. The company cites a general change in strategy, but the firm���s silence on the complexity and controversy of working with China right now suggests there’s more at play.

4. Hyundai and Seoul set to test self-driving cars on city roads starting next month

Seoul will provide smart infrastructure to communicate with the vehicles, including connected traffic signals, and will also relay traffic and other info as frequently as every 0.1 seconds to the Hyundai vehicles.

5. Alphabet’s X details a garbage-sorting bot that’s part of its plan to make robots an everyday thing

X — formerly Google X — focuses exclusively on ambitious “moonshots,” a.k.a. tech you’d expect to find in science fiction (a recurring theme in today’s newsletter), not a real product in development. For example: A robot that can sort through office trash.

6. OutVoice officially launches its freelancer payment tools

The startup, which allows editors to pay freelance writers and photographers with the push of a button, has also raised seed funding from content monetization startup Coil.

7. Morgan Stanley’s ‘Teflon banker’ talks direct listings and much more

Michael Grimes, a banker for 32 years — 25 of them with Morgan Stanley — has played a role in the IPOs of Salesforce, LinkedIn, Workday and hundreds of other companies. In an interview, Grimes told us why he supports direct listings. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

[digital-success]

How AirBNB Earns More Than 130 Billion By Adopting Digital Marketing Strategies

Airbnb is a commercial center to rundown, find, and book one of a kind facilities around the globe for the present moment. Convenience incorporates condos, estates, houses, tree houses or even palaces for an alternate travel understanding. Airbnb gives moderate and agreeable convenience to explorers according to their particular prerequisites and spending plan.

 This gives Airbnb an edge over inns, inns, lodges, etc. Based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb was established in August 2008 by Joe Gebbia, Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk. It is exclusive and worked. The organization presently has more than 2,000,000 postings in 34,000+ urban areas and 190+ nations and keeps on developing. It has served 60,000,000+ visitors till now.

Business Objective

At the World Economic Forum, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky referenced that the organization will concentrate on less yet bigger ventures this year. Airbnb now needs to extend past home and room rentals to offer full-support including nearby suggestions to turn into an increasingly comprehensive neighborliness brand. 

The arrangement is to make complete travel arranging guides for the simplicity of explorers. This will likewise help elevate the travel industry to goals that are not all that normal or are hard to plan. It will particularly profit the less created nations like Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and so on which are lovely yet don't advance their attractions well.

Airbnb needs to keep fortifying its worldwide nearness by making every city increasingly open with the goal that more individuals can bear to visit new areas and hosts can gain extra. This will likewise help make a large number of occupations for individuals like picture takers, visit guides, gourmet experts, clothing and so on and will bolster this flourishing new Sharing Economy environment, where everybody can take an interest.

Advanced Marketing Strategy:

Airbnb relies upon two parts: hosts and voyagers. The point of the advertising methodology embraced is to reach and energize most extreme individuals around the globe to progress toward becoming hosts or potentially voyagers. Considering this Airbnb at first executed a shrewd client securing technique:

Inbound Marketing:

Craigslist Integration

Craigslist was being utilized by individuals to offer and search for momentary lodging. Airbnb chose to draw in qualified leads and figured out Craigslist's structure to make the two stages perfect. At whatever point anybody recorded housing on Airbnb, they got a choice to consequently make a posting on Craigslist too. This made extra inbound connections for the client and drove more traffic to Airbnb. 

Google Display Network Partnership

Airbnb chose to make their offers outwardly engaging draw in more clients. They teamed up with Google and put resources into Google Search Ads. This aided Airbnb increment their postings from under 10,000 to 80,000. They executed flag promotion crusade which highlighted pictures of genuine lofts and rooms. This helped them addition even universal crowd that would have been troublesome generally.

Airbnb keeps on utilizing advanced advertising devices to extend their client base. They accentuate on building connections and worth their lodging has. The organization makes applicable substance about the zone by teaming up with the nearby has.

Web based life Marketing

Airbnb is dynamic on all significant web based life channels.On Facebook, it is going to arrive at 3 million preferences. Its Marketing group routinely posts photographs and recordings of their exceptional postings, pulling in explorers to visit the spot. 

They post applicable substance like on World Earth Day, they shared a motivating video to urge everybody to spare characteristic assets and Mother Earth. All their posts are very captivating and appealing. As of late, they have recorded a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed condo in Tribeca, New York. It is a fun spot for young people to have parties. It, for the most part, stays sold out.

 Airbnb posts client created photographs on Instagram, that it ministers from its hosts and visitors. Visitors can impart their encounters to #airbnb and even book a rental spot legitimately from the feed. Its YouTube channel has recordings that show portions of the urban areas that are not normally secured by sightseers. Airbnb advances Living like a Local by advancing 'Don't go there.

 Live there'. Recordings like 'How to be a marvelousAirbnb have' have in excess of 40000 perspectives. Airbnb unequivocally trusts in narrating. They consistently post fascinating accounts of explorers and have alongside photographs and recordings.

Airbnb uses Twitter to advance its blog entries and unprecedented postings. Their hashtag #belonganywhere is very well known. Airbnb has 485900+ supporters on Twitter. They keep their feed refreshed by posting convenient substance like "Where to Stay for the TCS New York City Marathon" which is extremely useful for explorers. In 2013, Airbnb posted a 4.5minute film on Twitter utilizing short video cuts from Vine, a portable video application.

Blog

'Blog.airbnb.com' is a useful archive for voyagers. The Local Lens segment is devoted to singular accounts simply like the Stories area on their site. There are posts on Travel Photographers and their work, about urban communities and their one of a kind societies, must-visits and should dos in every city. 

There are Blogs on '30 best activities in every city'. The Wanderlust segment makes reference to how to feel great and travel like a neighborhood in various urban communities. There is a segment on Airbnb Events.

Airbnb offers significance to voyagers as well as guarantees to profile its intriguing hosts through the entirety of its substance channels, as about the couple in Stockholm who lease an altered 1976 school transport for $98 every night.

Content Management

Airbnb Neighborhoods are the nearby city aides distributed via Airbnb that separate the most famous urban communities by neighborhoods and give point by point data to explorers about them. This has helped increment client commitment. It records the settlement alternatives accessible in every area and voyagers can without much of a stretch book it. These aides give data like where local people eat, shop and gathering other then the standard subtleties on significant attractions and sights.

Pineapple, a print magazine via Airbnb, is intended for footstools in homes. Airbnb calls the lustrous magazine "a substantial gathering of our locale's accounts and inspirations. It is an intersection of movement and humanities; an archive of network, having a place and enhanced space. 

Pineapple's first issue turned out in November 2014. It is a 128 page issue highlighting anecdotes about San Francisco, London, and Seoul. 18,000 duplicates were disseminated to Airbnb has, and a set number of issues were printed available to be purchased. The magazine is about the associations that the network makes where they travel.

Stories is a microsite with video profiles of hosts and voyagers, their accounts about why they lease their place and the inspiration for explorers to leave their homes and travel the world with Airbnb.

Intensity of Images

 Airbnb is cautious about the nature of substance that is posted on their site.Anybody who needs to list their space can demand a free picture taker to come in and take photos of the lodging. For this reason, Airbnb has a system of 3000+ independent picture takers in six landmasses.

 Great quality photographs increment the engaging quality of the space and its odds being leased turned out to be higher. Pictures clicked via Airbnb picture takers have a "Confirmed Photo" symbol that consoles voyagers that they are getting what they are paying for.

Video Contest

Airbnb once propelled a challenge for which current convenience hosts needed to make a 15-second video about their preferred neighborhood spots and post it on Instagram. This energized host commitment and they felt like a basic piece of the network, 

Airbnb got heaps of unique client produced substance to survey and they advanced it on different internet based life channels utilizing hashtags. This helped them increment their perceivability and mindfulness, they spoke with competitors and supporters legitimately, and spread out the organization's general way of thinking.

Make Airbnb

Airbnb experienced a huge rebranding exertion in 2014. They made another logo and named it Bélo. Anyway they accept that the Airbnb experience is too assorted and particular to be spoken to by one customary logo.

So they gave imaginative control to the explorers and hosts. Clients can visit Create Airbnb to modify the image by changing its shading and shape, including symbols, or meshing designs into the current logo. They can even draw and paint an image that mirrors their experience. The image can even be acquired home type of product like mugs, notes to say thanks, trinket stickers. This fortified the customer and brand bond.

Referrals

Airbnb urged its clients to allude new individuals to Airbnb through email welcomes. They compensated the referrers with a $25 travel credit when new individuals finished their first outing and a $75 credit was offered when they acted has just because.

 Along these lines Airbnb changed over new leads and needed to pay out for referrals simply after new clients paid. This permitted Airbnb to develop in an economical way.

Results Achieved

Airbnb has progressed significantly since 2008. The organization's currently esteemed at over $25 billion. It is the undisputed pioneer and the most confided in network commercial center for room rentals. This model for communitarian utilization has totally changed the movement business.

Computerized promoting has been working very well for Airbnb. It has 470000+ devotees on Twitter, 2750000+ adherents on Facebook just to make reference to a couple. Airbnb has disturbed the Travel Industry. It has reclassified how individuals interface with each other when voyaging. 

Explorers need alternatives with individual touch. They no more need to see the world like a visitor rather they need to encounter it like a nearby. Airbnb is tending to this need. It is attempting to give a far and away superior travel involvement for its clients by associating them with nearby gourmet experts and different traders utilizing their online system.

In 2016, Airbnb has its nineteen workplaces in Amsterdam (Netherlands), Berlin (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Beijing (China), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Ireland), London (UK), Milan (Italy), Miami (Florida, USA), Moscow (Russia), New Delhi (India), Paris (France), Portland (Oregon, USA), São Paulo (Brazil), San Francisco (California, USA), Seoul (South Korea), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Tokyo (Japan), and Toronto (Canada).

Learnings

Advanced showcasing is a regularly evolving scene. To keep up one needs a bespoke blend of aptitudes and administrations – adjusting after some time to meet their one of a kind objectives and difficulties. When Airbnb at first began they didn't progress nicely. In 2009, Airbnb nearly became penniless. 

They started improving the picture nature of their postings and this acted the hero. Airbnb found a few different ways to endure, yet additionally, develop exponentially. They embraced a computerized advertising procedure well in time and executed it appropriately. 

Business advancement and innovation add to the brand's gigantic achievement. Web-based life Marketing has helped Airbnb get huge media inclusion, has expanded their following and has helped them convey their image message unmistakably. Computerized narrating methodologies have expanded Airbnb's effort and aroused energy in individuals to travel like a neighborhood.

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AirAsia celebrates its first route between the Philippines and Japan

AirAsia launched its first-ever route between the Philippines and Japan from Manila to Osaka, which commenced last July 1, 2019.

The launch celebration was held with the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) in the Philippines and AirAsia Philippines President and CEO Captain Dexter Comendador.

AirAsia Philippines President and CEO Dexter Comendador said, “We are excited to celebrate this milestone and add Japan to our growing network. This will surely pave the way for us to connect more international cities to further promote Philippine tourism.

“Japan is one of the top inbound tourism markets in the Philippines, with 57,724 arrivals recorded in the first quarter of this year. With this new route enhancing bilateral connectivity, we hope to continue promoting the Philippines as a must-visit destinations for Japanese tourists and bring Japan closer to Filipinos.”

AirAsia Philippines now flies to 13 international destinations from Manila to Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Bali, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Kaohsiung and Seoul.

For the latest AirAsia news, activities and promotions, follow AirAsia on Twitter (twitter.com/AirAsia), Facebook (facebook.com/AirAsiaPH) and Instagram (instagram.com/AirAsia).