Burton World Tour Hit Seoul
The Burton World Tour finished up in Japan and headed over to Seoul, South Korea for two days. This would be the first time that the tour had ever had a stop in Korea, it would actually be the first time that anyone on the trip had ever been there including the Japan crew. The riders on the trip were Shaun White, Jeremy Jones, Trevor Andrew, Nicolas Müller, Mads Jonsson, Tadashi Fuse and Takaharu Nakai and none of them really knew what to expect, little did they know that they were in for a real treat.
When we arrived at the airport in Seoul we were picked up by four black Burton vans that would be our motorcade around Korea for the next couple of days. We had drivers, translators and Burton staff including Bigguy and TJ (our Burton distributors in Korea) meet us. After the one hour drive from the airport into the heart of Seoul we pulled up to the Imperial Palace Hotel where the riders were greeted by the flashes of Korean media which provided a quick glimpse into the life of Paris Hilton. All of the riders have traveled the world and stayed in a lot of cool places but this hotel was said to be one of the nicest that they had ever stayed in, needless to say, the trip was off to a good start. The first day was busy with interviews and photo shoots for local magazines, followed by a traditional Korean dinner. After trying some interesting new tastes we all got in the vans and headed over to the party. We pulled up to the Club with hundreds of fans lined up outside and dozens of photographers with flashes ready as the riders all walked the "red carpet" before heading into the party. All of the riders met up with their own personal bodyguard with the full deal black suit and earpiece and were led through the crowds into the VIP section. The riders were brought out on stage to give away their signed boards and were blown away by the crowd and their enthusiasm. "Trouble" Andrew played a surprise set of three songs and the crowd was pushing so hard that the stage was moving! The rest of the riders were stage diving and crowd surfing while the crowd screamed for the songs. The event went late into the night and a great time was had by all. The next day was again filled with media in the way of a press conference, followed by an autograph signing at the Burton Store in Seoul, another great group dinner at a Korean Bar-B-Q and a small VIP party at a little bar overlooking the city that was owned by our distributor, Bigguy.
Thanks to the entire crew in Korea for making this such a great stop on the tour. Just as everyone was unsure of what to expect when they were getting on the plane to Seoul they are just as sure that they are ready to go back next year.