Live octopus is pretty good, but not nearly as good as live sea urchin. You crack them in half and scoop out the insides with a spoon (half of it is yellowish brain textured stuff and the other half is brownish-black snot textured goop). It has a pleasant taste and doesn't fight back like octopus. The halved shells will walk across the table of their own accord for a long time.

Sea cucumber is weird...and i ate some things in Korea that i couldn't even identify except that they came out of the ocean.

Old news for old Korea hands...i've tried it, and i can tell you that it is disgusting. But the kids love it.

Hey, thanks for the links that have cleared up a little mystery in my head now eight years old...

When i lived in St. Petersburg, there was a smaller version of this just behind my dorm. I looked at it every morning through the window. I knew that it was attached to the Technological University's high voltage lab, but i never saw anyone working. Then again, it was the late 90's in Russia, not many people were working.

When i lived in Korea there was a story about about a guy who had rented a cabin in the wilderness for vacation. In that cabin he found a ginseng root and couldn't resist...he ate the whole thing. Turned out that the cabin was owned by a wild ginseng hunter who had recently discovered the find of his life: a c. 300 year old ginseng root that he figured to worth nearly $500,000.

No word on why he would have left such a valuable thing around for the renters, especially Korean renters who just can't say no to ginseng.

Besides for a fascination with poo, one of the other great things about teaching in Asia is the "talent" show. That's right folks, people will pay you good money to dress their kids up and make them do stuff like this.

You would not believe how many "poo" books you'll find in a S. Korean bookstore...they could almost have their own section. I actually brought the original book of "doggy poo" home with me, the art work is wonderpoo.

And yes, Koreans have a thing for ddong (as they call it). Korean kids play a game called ddong jim which consists of waiting for an unsuspecting friend to turn around (and maybe, if you're lucky, bend over). Both fists are clasped--as if in prayer--and the two index fingers extended together. Then you jab the index fingers as near as you can figure to the friend's rectum and cry "Ddong Jim!". Boy, is it a hoot. I try playing with people here in America and they don't find it so funny...