So You Think You Know... Dennis Kim
Tiffany Coe
Issue date: 1/24/06 Section: Voices
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Sure, many of us have traveled, studied, or worked abroad at some point, but how many have been to 48 countries in total? I don't have statistical figures regarding the student body's travel habits (and, trust me, I'm not going to be running any regressions for insight), but I would think it's on the rare side to be quite so well-traveled. Especially for one hailing from Northern Virginia. It makes Epcot look like child's play. Oh, wait…I guess Epcot is child's play. Anyways, if you need any advice about traversing the Tran Siberian, sunbathing at Copacabana, or surfing in Bali, Dennis Kim is your go-to guy. I had the chance to sit down with him over some green tea and hear of his tales.
After growing tired of the often staid and mundane corporate world, Dennis and one of his high school friends decided to devote the latter half of 2003 to being vagabonds. For the trip, he crammed some stuff into a single backpack-not one of those big hiking backpacks, mind you, but a normal school-sized backpack-and set off. (I thought I could pack compactly, for a girl at least, but this puts me to utter shame.) I suppose a lighter load, however, is useful if you're going to have to be ducking behind hotel counters because of gunfire (we'll get to that later…).
The grand journey began in Eastern Europe. Word to the wise: if you stumble upon the president of Serbia-Montenegro playing basketball and want to photograph this vignette, definitely try not to get caught. Apparently it is highly frowned upon to capture such a moment on film. I can't imagine that the president is Amish-but for some reason, the authorities will hunt you down if they catch you taking souvenir snapshots (as Dennis found out). Perhaps the next time Mr. Kim catches high-level Serbia-Montenegrins on the court, he can foster international relations with a friendly game of pick-up, huge basketball fan that he is.
So maybe you're thinking of planning a spring break trip to the United Arab Emirates…unlikely, but possible…well, here's a public service announcement: pack sunscreen. And I don't care if you claim to be one of those non-sun-burning types because apparently the temperature in Dubai can reach a brutal 119 degrees Fahrenheit with 81% humidity. Talk about a recipe for a bad hair day. Dennis describes such weather conditions as "pretty hot." I would say so. Escaping the heat and experiencing the opposite climatic extreme, Dennis spent three days hiking Mt. Kenya. Getting to the peak is arduous at best, and the sight of a crashed plane atop the mountain-almost in movie set fashion-speaks to the harsh realities of others' adventures gone awry. Luckily, Dennis made it back to solid ground where he bartered with locals in order to get rid of the heavy coat he would no longer need. A staunch supporter of the informal trade system, Dennis advocates that the practice of bartering should be accepted and utilized more widely. Perhaps the U.S. economy could profit by heeding his advice.
After growing tired of the often staid and mundane corporate world, Dennis and one of his high school friends decided to devote the latter half of 2003 to being vagabonds. For the trip, he crammed some stuff into a single backpack-not one of those big hiking backpacks, mind you, but a normal school-sized backpack-and set off. (I thought I could pack compactly, for a girl at least, but this puts me to utter shame.) I suppose a lighter load, however, is useful if you're going to have to be ducking behind hotel counters because of gunfire (we'll get to that later…).
The grand journey began in Eastern Europe. Word to the wise: if you stumble upon the president of Serbia-Montenegro playing basketball and want to photograph this vignette, definitely try not to get caught. Apparently it is highly frowned upon to capture such a moment on film. I can't imagine that the president is Amish-but for some reason, the authorities will hunt you down if they catch you taking souvenir snapshots (as Dennis found out). Perhaps the next time Mr. Kim catches high-level Serbia-Montenegrins on the court, he can foster international relations with a friendly game of pick-up, huge basketball fan that he is.
So maybe you're thinking of planning a spring break trip to the United Arab Emirates…unlikely, but possible…well, here's a public service announcement: pack sunscreen. And I don't care if you claim to be one of those non-sun-burning types because apparently the temperature in Dubai can reach a brutal 119 degrees Fahrenheit with 81% humidity. Talk about a recipe for a bad hair day. Dennis describes such weather conditions as "pretty hot." I would say so. Escaping the heat and experiencing the opposite climatic extreme, Dennis spent three days hiking Mt. Kenya. Getting to the peak is arduous at best, and the sight of a crashed plane atop the mountain-almost in movie set fashion-speaks to the harsh realities of others' adventures gone awry. Luckily, Dennis made it back to solid ground where he bartered with locals in order to get rid of the heavy coat he would no longer need. A staunch supporter of the informal trade system, Dennis advocates that the practice of bartering should be accepted and utilized more widely. Perhaps the U.S. economy could profit by heeding his advice.