Korea - Day 4

Day four was all about visiting Hyundai heavy industries.  For those who do not know (which included myself before this trip) there are multiple Hyundai companies.  Hyundai was founded by Chung Ju-yung and some of the other parts which you may know (such as the car branch) are actually run by members of the founder's extended family and are not connected to the original company.  The Hyundai that we visited is the Heavy Industries company which means incredibly large ships.  Once again, because Joonhaeng is a total pimp, we were picked up in a first class bus.

• Top left: I am amazed at how awesome our bus is.
• Top right: Hyundai has a department store?  This is old-school business where the company runs an entire town to support their enormous factory.
• Bottom right: Also a Hyundai hotel.

After arriving in a fancy dining hall (which we later learned is typically only used for VIPs) we were treated to a 7-course meal that was pretty much the fanciest meal I’ve ever had while we chatted with an MIT alum (who was in charge of all R&D at Hyundai and a director).  We could not take any pictures inside the facility but I can tell you we were all impressed.  The sheer size of these ships and engines were unbelievable.  The cam-shaft for the diesel engine must have been 15 meters tall and 6 meters wide.  I wish I could say more about the factory but we really got more of an executive level tour than the detailed tour we typically take with LGO.  This was mostly due to our time constraint but it really did not allow for us to ask detailed questions about how they do operations.

• A view of the factory from the luxurious building where we had lunch
  

After a long bus and train ride back to Seoul we discovered that it was snowing.  Luckily this did not prevent us from having Korean BBQ (where you cook your own food over coals at your table) followed by shenanigans at the tent-bar.  The highlight of the tent-bar was the group eating octopus that was still wiggling as people ate it.

• Bottom middle-right: Joonhaeng is a master chef.
  

From 3-17-10 Ulsan and Seoul Korea