Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Punching Machine

In the small, isolated, heavily conservative Kyrgyz mountain village of Arslanbob, predominantly comprised of strict Muslim Uzbeks, there is only ONE source of entertainment. THE PUNCHING MACHINE. Having spend some years in South Korea, I am well familiar with this great invention. In cities such as Seoul, gangs of frustrated office workers regularly hit the bottle after slaving through hours of stultifying overtime work, and then ... head for the nearest PUNCHING MACHINE. Taking turns punching or kicking the machine, while obviously visualizing their boss, they then compare scores, and perhaps head to the batting cages next. Some of the Korean punching machines have a human form - specifically, they resemble American soldiers.

Being a great fan of the punching machine, it was a delight to find one (a model i had never seen before) in such a far flung place as Arslanbob.

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