Saturday, November 22, 2008

Loudspeaker Fruit Trucks Video in South Korea: A Pleasant Way to Wake Up in the Morning--NOT!!!

Anyone who has spent time living in Korea will be familiar with the loudspeaker truck phenomenon.

Trucks outfitted with loudspeakers often come into apartment complexes and drive around slowly while the Korean message plays over and over and over and over at HIGH VOLUME. Often the trucks will come EARLY IN THE MORNING (6am). If you are trying to sleep it becomes impossible. It is something that foreign English teachers in Korea find hard to adjust to . . .

A coworker and friend of mine, Liz, LOVES THEM--NOT! Her apartment happens to be facing the parking lot where the echo seems to be acoustically perfect for projecting the sound right into her bedroom. I'm sure this will be one of her fondest memories of Korea.

Enjoy,
J

2 comments:

Garrett said...

So, so, sooo glad that we live on the 24th floor. I have to open the window and lean out to hear these guys. Only the larger political protest trucks have the volume to penetrate, and I have yet to see one of them operate in the morning.

Elise / 종은 said...

I love the communist fruit trucks. haha of course I don't live in an area where I can hear them in the morning but my brother does so we argued about it. I love them -- there is one here in Anam that is so distinct, the man's voice cracks at the end of every listing and my friend says he sounds like a pubescent boy.