An American Vendor's Odyssey: Wild Things in Korea
by
Dale Cochoy

An American Vendor's Odyssey: Wild Things In Korea

In July 1997 I was a vendor at the BCI convention in Toronto, Canada. The President of the Korean Bonsai Association, the late Mr. Chul-ho Lee , was attending the convention to promote the upcoming 3rd. World Bonsai Convention to be held in October '97 in Seoul, Korea. Mr. Lee was fascinated by the line of wood carving tools that I had for sale and cordially invited me to attend the Seoul convention as a vendor. It seems that bits for power carving tools were not available there. After considerable thought, travel and product arrangements, I decided to attend the convention. I had a small booth in the vendor area for selling power carving burrs, bits and hand-made carving tools. I hired a translator to assist me in sales. My translator was named Innah Hyon and she had spent her four years of high school in Toronto, Canada where she learned to speak excellent English. She was a fantastic help in the operation of the booth and sales. This article contains a few pictures of the sales area and a few of the fantastic trees on display.

During the later part of the show I was invited to see the personal garden of the then 79 year-old Korean bonsai master Mr. Kang Soo Lee. His son Merci invited me along to accompany Chase and Solita Rosade and Mike Baker to visit his fathers garden about 1 1/2 hrs. outside of Seoul. It was a fantastic garden and collection. This article contains several photos from Mr. Lee's garden.

When the show was over I had a few days to see Seoul and visit some Nurseries. I visited the bonsai nursery of Mr. Jae In Kim and his wife. His wife, Kil Ja Lee, also took me to visit Mr. Kim's brothers nursery nearby and to a large retail/wholesale bonsai market where six dealers had trees on display. Please enjoy the pictures of Mr. Kim's nursery and the bonsai market.

A greatly detailed 2-part story of this odyssey can be read below as it appeared in BCI "Bonsai" magazine in issues Jan/Feb 99 and Mar/April 99.

The Seoul, Korea 3rd. World Bonsai Convention An American Vendor's Odyssey

I've been awake for about 26 hours at this point. I need to get some sleep for the long day ahead. Anticipation of tomorrow keeps my eyes from closing in sleep as I lay in an unfamiliar bed. About three hours ago I arrived at Kimpo Airport in Seoul, South Korea. I had some help getting cleared through customs by an English-speaking Asiana Airlines steward. I had made friends with the steward during our 12 hour flight from San Francisco. He lived in Seoul and gave me many helpful hints about getting around the city. We talked at great length after I had asked him several questions about how to correctly fill out the customs entry form, and relayed my fears that I might have some problems clearing customs with my large supply of tools. He was very instrumental in saving me a lot of possible grief. I then made my way from the airport to my hotel via the bus and taxi's he recommended.

After checking-in at my hotel, I cashed some money into Korean Won of smaller denomination bills and coins that I hoped I was going to need for making change during sales the next morning. I then helped my porter drag my four heavy bags into my room, unpacked quickly, gazed out the open window to the streets 13 floors below for a few minutes, then collapsed onto the bed.

How did this come about? I was attending the '97 Bonsai Clubs International convention in Toronto, Canada last July as a vendor when I met Mr. Chul-ho Lee, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the upcoming 3rd. World Bonsai Friendship Federation Convention to be sponsored by the Korean Bonsai Association on October 24-28th.1997. Mr. Lee was very interested in the tungsten carbide steel grinding burrs and handmade jin and shari carving tools and blades that I had for sale. Mr. Lee spoke to me twice during the convention with the aid of his interpreter about the unavailability of these items in Korea and very cordially invited me to be a vendor at the convention.

I was very honored to be the only non-Korean vendor to be invited to the convention by Mr. Lee but told him that the trip was way out of my small companies budget. The thought of attending the convention and possibly paying for the entire trip with sales was very enticing, to say the least, and I thought about the proposal for several weeks. I bent the ear of my friend Bob Stevens quite extensively about it. Bob makes many of the handmade, quality, carving tools that I sell. I began to consider it more earnestly after being convinced by Arthur Skolnik of Shibui Bonsai, Toronto that it would be a good business opportunity and I could possibly do very well in sales. Somewhere in September I began to make serious inquires about costs and customs problems that I might encounter.

I spoke with the carving burr manufacturer and obtained an excellent one-time deal for product purchase after I convinced them that this would be the perfect opportunity to help open up future business in Korea which was not an export customer yet. With a good deal locked in, it was a "Go" situation. Bob Stevens began to produce carving tools, and even came up with some new designs. I stocked up on other related tool items that I knew would be desirable, had some " Wild Things" T-shirts printed , and I was ready to go!

My travel agent got me an excellent round trip airfare from Cleveland, Ohio to Seoul for $950. This was a lot lower than I had originally feared. This October fare rate would certainly help my cause. I also had to pay an additional $96 to the airline for the extra bag I had to check. I was carrying three full-sized suitcases full of tools that were each close to the 70lb. limit. I didn't take very many clothes!

Hotel choices close to the convention site were a little rich for my blood, so it took several calls to, and from, the travel agent before I got a hotel fee I could live with. I was booked into the Seoul Royal Hotel at a daily rate of $108. This was a little more than I was used to paying for a hotel, for certain, but I found it more gentle to my budget than the several, higher priced, hotels nearer to the convention center that ranged from $130 to $250 per night. I'm certain there are less expensive hotels in Seoul, but none were recommended by the Korean Bonsai Association or used by my travel agency. I felt lucky to leave Seoul after eight nights with a total bill of $970.

My first night in the hotel I laid awake worrying about all the things that might possibly go wrong with my sales plans, and believe me, there were plenty!

The next morning I was up real early . I wasn't sure how long it was going to take to get to the convention center, although the desk clerk estimated 30-45 minutes by taxi, or about 15 minutes by the subway once I walked to the station. Well, I wasn't ready to tackle the subway the first morning, especially with three suitcases of product weighing close to 170lbs. total. After the porter and I got the bags to the front door, and I dickered with a less-than-enthusiastic taxi driver, I was on my way. This was the first time I had seen the streets in daylight. I left a little early to also avoid the morning rush. It didn't work. My unenthusiastic taxi driver was an ex-Formula 1 driver, I'm certain! Seoul is a very large city of 10.2 million people, all of which it seems were on the streets this morning. I was very surprised to note that with all this close traffic I wasn't seeing any banged-up cars. All the autos seemed in great condition. Seoul contains almost 25% of the country's 45 million population. The driver had to stop and ask directions to the convention center. I was off to a good start! When we arrived at the convention center he didn't particularly want to spend much time helping me find where I needed to enter or help me with my bags. In the end, he did help, and I tipped him well. I should add at this point that this was the only less than friendly or helpful taxi driver I dealt with over the next seven days.

I got to the display/vending area early. I took a look into the locked display area at the rows or Korean national specimens and my chin dropped in awe. Over the next hour I met the several English speaking young Korean women I had phoned and faxed many, many times over the last month. They were as pleasant as I expected they would be. They showed me to my vending booth which was right next to a large booth containing nothing but many viewing stones, display trays and scrolls. My booth was definitely the smallest area and smallest table I had ever had at a convention , but I didn't need much space for this one.

I had requested that the show staff try to find me an interpreter and they obliged by finding me a young interpreter for $75 per day. This was a fee that I found to be an excellent investment. I met my interpreter at about 9AM . Her name was Innah Hyon. She was a wonderful interpreter , conversationalist and saleswoman. Innah had learned to speak perfect English while attending high school in Toronto, Canada when her father, who worked for Hyundai Motors at the time, was stationed there for four years. Her familiarity with our slang and colloquialisms allowed her to speak like a native American citizen. According to Innah, English is taught throughout most of their Korean school years but it is mostly reading and grammar without much actual conversational practice. She was 23 years old, had graduated from a Seoul university about a year earlier, and had been looking for a job in telecommunications since graduation. It is very hard for a woman to find a good job in Seoul. She was living with her parents in their condominium-type home not far from the convention center.

I don't know what I would have done without Innah. She helped me set-up the booth and make some Korean signs explaining items. At 10AM the crowds began. I was overwhelmed by the response to my product. After the first few hours had passed Innah knew the product, could answer most questions, made change and literally ran the booth. It seems like all I did was pull stock and bag it. Innah also helped the stone salesmen negotiate some deals with English speaking customers. He gave her a commission and gave me a couple of good deals in return. Innah helped me for the first three days of the show. The last two days I had smaller crowds and got the hang of it enough to handle the booth alone.

I had a hard time getting away from the booth for the first three days. I did manage to wander through the exhibit of over 300 trees several times. I saw some of the most beautiful yews, quince, hornbeams, junipers and pines I have ever seen. There were many huge trees, my favorites.

At the end of the first day there was a banquet and an interesting Korean dance and music program. By the time I got back to my hotel I had been awake for nearly 50 hours with only a few catnaps. I slept well!

During the next few days Innah showed me how to negotiate the efficient, clean and safe subway system which costs about 60 cents to take to any area of the city. She also took me shopping in the grocery store in the shopping complex below ground under the convention center. I stocked up on drink and snack items for my hotel room refrigerator. You don't even want to mess with the honor bar items and prices!

I managed to spend some time in the demonstrations by such masters as Masahiko Kimura and Saburo Kato. I looked in on some workshops and walked through the display area several more times. The workshops were done in a different way than I had ever seen. Anyone who was a full registrant, which cost $500 for the five day convention, could enter a workshop and work on one or more supplied stock trees under the tutorial eye of one of the program masters. The trees were not for sale and were returned to their Korean owner after the workshops.

By the fourth day of the convention ( Monday) the mid-day crowd was starting to die down. I closed up at noon and went on a trip I had been looking forward to for three days. I had the honor of visiting the private gardens of one of Korea's masters, the 79 year-old Kang Soo Lee. I accompanied Chase and Solita Rosade and a new acquaintance , Mike Baker , on a trip to Mr. Lee's personal garden about 1 1/2 hours from the convention. His home was in a rural area close to a small town. We were invited by Mr. Lee's son Merci who has lived and worked as a political journalist in New Jersey for seven years. He had returned home for a visit. Merci spoke excellent English. I was awe struck by the hundreds of personal trees belonging to Mr. Lee. All of them were wonderful specimens. I walked through the many rows of trees , each resting on a concrete bench. The most extraordinary trees were on benches closer to the house, with only about ten feet of space to the front door. The small living room of the home was completely faced with glass doors that enabled one to view the entire front of the garden. Mr. Lee's personal garden stretched out from the front of his home for what I estimated to be about 250ft. The width across the rows of benches was about 25ft. There was a low wall down the right side of the garden which was used to display his collection of large viewing stones, each one as beautiful as the last, running the entire length of the garden. There were two large greenhouses with benches nearly filled with bonsai, and a greenhouse full of tropical plants and flowers. There was also a small building near the house which was full of Mr. Lee's stock of bonsai pots. Stretched out before me was a lifetime of work and beauty, created by an extraordinary man. Mr. Lee had four students/workers to assist him. Merci's hospitality was as I had come to expect during my tour, wonderful!

The convention had another very nice banquet and program on Sunday evening. Between the two banquets and several lunches furnished by Bill Valavanis for Innah and I, I spent very little on meals during my trip. The evening meals I had during the other days were at excellent local restaurants that I had just happened to stumble into while doing some evening exploring. My hotel was right in the center of downtown Seoul in an area known as Myong-dong. The large streets were full of traffic and the small streets were bustling with well dressed people on foot. Amongst the crowded streets were the ubiquitous American fast-food establishments. It seems that they were all there available to the throng. The few meals I had in such places tasted exactly as at home. One problem I observed however, there is no such thing as a large coffee anywhere! The Koreans have a word that is used for good morning, afternoon or evening. The word is ANNYONGHASEYO . When someone enters a local small restaurant the patrons and staff sing out this word. It is a wonderful and warming custom.

At the end of the last day of the convention I figured up my total sales and I paid the convention administrators my 20% sales commission and got my $200 deposit returned. The deposit had been wired to Korea earlier along with the registration fee. A 20% fee was a lot more than I would ever expect to pay at a convention in the United States . I knew at the onset of discussions that the sales commission was very high but believed I would do well anyhow considering the interest in my tools. I was offered a reduction from the proposed 30% fee by the organizing committee to help me offset expenses of the trip and probable customs duties. I was very grateful to the organizing committee as this final gesture on their part convinced me they were truly interested in the products and it was the "deal clincher".

I had two days to explore Seoul after the convention. I traveled around by foot, subway and taxi in safety, day or night, without worry. I saw no crime or unpleasant people the entire trip. On Thursday I traveled to the local tourist shopping district known as It'aewon. In It'aewon all of the sales personnel speak English. I purchased some beautiful Celadon pottery for myself and friends, and some jewelry for my wife who was stuck at home watering bonsai. Korea is known throughout the world for it's Celadon pottery with it's subtle beauty and unique bluish-green color. The semiprecious amethyst , smoky topaz, and white jade are popular gift items and available in any shopping area. I also found a wonderful large viewing stone on the floor of a jewelry store collecting dust. I bought it for $35 after the owner hosed all of the dirt off of it. At night I shopped the interesting underground shopping areas of Myong-dong and the Namdaemun open-air shopping area.

On Friday I took the subway to a large retail bonsai nursery owned by Mr. Jae In Kim and his wife. This was a very large nursery with thousands of bonsai of all types, sizes and prices. The trees were displayed on benches, pedestals, posts and the ground. The entire nursery was covered by a lathe roofing that was plastic covered in some areas and open in others. There was a small building that served as office, potting area, and workshop area. The owners wife also gave me a tour of her brother-in-laws nearby bonsai nursery which was of a similar construction. We also took a trip to a local plant market that had one large greenhouse with six bonsai dealers in it. I've never seen so many quality trees in so few hours. At the end of the tour I was taken to a small local restaurant to meet a friend of Mrs. Lee who spoke English very well. We dined on local dishes, including kimch'i ,the Korean dish that accompanies most meals. Kimch'i is the internationally famous cabbage dish fermented in chili pepper sauce. There are dozens of different varieties of the spicy dish. I was told that I was probably the only foreigner to ever eat in this small local place. This was illustrated when I mentioned I had trouble eating with the sharp-pointed stainless steel chopsticks used by all the restaurants. After some discussions with the owner my hosts managed to round up the only fork in the restaurant, a short, child's " Mickey Mouse" fork. We all laughed, but I ate well. After returning to the hotel I went out to wander the streets until the stores closed.

The long trip home allowed me a lot of time to reflect on my exciting visit, the warm and friendly people I met and the interesting sites I had seen in a country I had never visited before. It left me with a desire to return at a time when I would not have to work but instead have free time to tour the country and view all the sites I missed. Until then thank you Korea, KAMSA-HAMNIDA and good-bye, ANNYONGHI GASEYO.

	Me at my humble vending booth in Seoul. I had one 8 foot table. All I needed for this show. Photo by Bill Valavanis.
	The stone vendor next to me.
	My interpreter, Innah, and a magnificent Taxus bonsai.
	Innah next to a Korean Hornbeam owned by Mr. Chul-ho Lee. This was the logo tree  used on the programs.
	A HUGE Korean Hornbeam in a pot  about 6 feet long. An 8-man tree.
	A Huge Chinese Quince , a 4-man tree, at least!
	A large Chinese Quince w/ fruit
	Mr. Kimura wiring a large Shimpaku Juniper. Note: Mr. Ben Oki was acting as translator for Mr. Kimura.
	Mr. Kimura still styling the large Shimpaku. Note the large pine grove in rear, a demonstration project by Mr. Saburo Kato's group.
	Mr. Kimura's finished Shimpaku juniper.
	Mr. Kimura styling a large semi-cascade Yew.
	Me in Mr. Lee's garden.
	Another shot of Mr. Lee's Garden
	Still another photo of some of Mr. Lee's trees.
	A large wholesale store with 6 vendors. Kil Ja Lee ( Wife of Jae In Kim) showing me around.
	Another shot of trees at Mr. Kim's nursery.
	Some photos from the retail nursery of Mr. Jae In Kim.
	A very nice large Japanese maple over a rock at Mr. Kim's nursery.

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