iglidur commences the Korean side of the world wide tour

For more information on igus parts in the iglidur car, see here: http://bit.ly/1kOWYZ4

iglidur has already covered in total more than 10.000km on not only conventional but also dirt roads, passing numerous landmarks and sites such as the Indian desert, seashores and stunning mountains. Of course, our bearings are still in a perfect shape. They are used to run much longer.
iglidur is now embarking on the Korean side of the tour where we are to cover a minimum of 2000km more.

Spring is evidently on the way with trees starting to bloom and blossom, although it is still unmistakably cold.

We left from our branch in Incheon the day after I had arrived and headed towards Asan. With me now becoming accustomed to Chinese dimensions, I would say that Asan with its 290000 citizens is a nice and small village.

We have customers everywhere in the world. Thus, also in the small town of Asan. There we visited the company Leepack Co., Ltd. Leepack is the leading Korean company for intermittent rotary packaging systems. Their product portfolio ranges from filling units and vacuum packer to rotary fill and seal machines.
As their machines are dealing with groceries, they need products that are in particular corrosion free. igus® products not only offer this, yet moreover have other advantages. Mr. Lee Sangkun, vice president of Leepack, is extremely pleased with the service and products provided by igus®, relying upon the company for numerous years.

Having dinner in Asan also gave me the chance to enjoy a real Korean barbecue and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A grill in the centre of the table surrounded by meats, fish and vegetables really made me get a sense of the culture and way of life.

One of my new favourite dishes is kimchi. Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish that in its basic form is cabbage soaked in a salty brine, accompanied by anything such as meat.

It is a new experience for me that iglidur® is ready for driving when I arrive. This time everything went really without any problems. No sitting for two days in the customs office like in previous times and no struggle to get a driving permission.

I expect everything to continue as smooth as it has begun. igus® korea set up a shaman ceremony for the car. Thus, we are protected against any kind of bad luck.

To protect iglidur® on tour we prayed to several gods in both heaven and earth. Actually, to all gods that are controlling life on earth. To gain divine support we had to hold a ceremony that is called “Gosa”. A typical “Gosa” ceremony consists of a memorial address by the ceremonial master, in form of country manager Ernie Kim, and a special table.

The table is laid out with various foods, such as fruits, dried fish, rice, and most importantly, a pig’s head. The pig head represents money and fertility. This idea originates from that pigs can breed up to 15 at a time and a Korean word that comes originally from China. The word “Don” means in Korean both pig and money.

To gain support of the gods, it is tradition to place money in the ears and the mouth of the pigs head.

After this, you then kneel down and bow to the pigs head to show your respect and wish for good fortune.

When the ritual is over, everyone eats and drinks together (also the pig head is part of the meal). The neighbourhood was also invited to join us at the table, again a real cultural and community feel.  After the ceremony a traditional band topped off the program.

Feeling protected, iglidur will commence this side of the tour at the weekend.

For more information on igus parts in the iglidur car, see here: http://bit.ly/1kOWYZ4.