Trip to Korea / Soul searching in Seoul

First of all, let’s do a little test: What comes up in your mind when you hear „Korea“? Is it North Korea? Korean War? Samsung, Hyundai, KIA? I believe that in the eyes of outsiders, North-East Asia is dominated by China and Japan in terms of culture, society and economy, and poor Korea, tucked between these two giants is neglected and overlooked. That’s despite a population of over 70 million between the North and the South, third largest economy in Asia and a very long history. Last week I went to find out a bit more about this country, through a 5 day trip in Seoul and around.

The first thing that hit me upon arrival in Seoul was the language. Mostly because Korea uses its own alphabet, which I couldn’t understand a word of, and clearly speaking or listening comprehension was also impossible. This wasn’t generally a problem in transportation, as the bus from the airport as well as the very extensive subway system are English language friendly. Sights all had English signs, guides etc. However, it was a lot more challenging to order food. Not only did I know very little about the Korean cuisine (other than the prevalence of Kimchi and popularity of Korean barbecue), I couldn’t even read the menus. Usually they didn’t have pictures in the menus either, so at the end, I had to eat at food stands (where I could point at things) or just take my chances with something completely random. From my limited understanding I can now assert that Korean food is quite different from Taiwanese – while steamed rice is the staple, it is usually accompanied with vegetables (often pickled), seaweed, is generally quite spicy and usually does not have a lot of meat – except for Korean BBQ, obviously.

FOOD
The most ridiculous eating experience I had was in Nandaemun market in Seoul. I sat down at one of the many food counters in the market. There was a long, narrow table with a small, open kitchen on the one side, and stools on the other side, and three women in the kitchen. One of them spoke very basic English. Since I couldn't understand their menu, they just haggled for a while to decide what shall they give me to eat. Then, they proceeded to pile up a large number of bowls and plates in front of me, probably around 10. There was rice, soup, soup with noodles, seaweed, kimchi, many types of pickled vegetables and some other things which I couldn't identify. The women tried to explain to me how to eat the food (with gestures), but quickly proceeded to a more effective method. One women simply took a spoon, put some rice and something else on it, dipped it all in one of the soups, and hand-fed me the food. Soon, another woman took some rice with chopsticks, put that into the seaweed, and fed it to me again. I felt a little embarrassed, surrounded by three middle-aged women watching me eat, at times feeding me, with the one who spoke a little English exlaiming things like "This veeery delicious!! You beautiful, charming. You are young man. Welcome to Korea." I felt truly welcome in Korea, but figured that my cultural experience won't get much better than this. After I endured about 30 minutes of this and was about to leave, an elderly woman sitting nearby told the staff something, and they brought me a cup of coffee, probably to keep me around a little longer. They asked me to come back the next day, too.

I'll take advantage of pictures to walk you through my program. My first day in Korea was Friday, when I did some official things (like getting money out of the ATM, which was surprisingly difficult), familiarized myself with the fairly complex Seoul metro system:

and then went on to do some touristy things. First was a little hill with old city wall, Buddhist monastery, nice rock formations and decent view of the city, albeit quite hazy:

There is this urban myth about Korea: Some foreign tourists were walking around Seoul, and they came by a shop, with very cute puppies in the shop-window. The children loved the puppies, so the parents decided to buy one. They walked into a shop and pointed at one of the puppies. The staff took it into the back of the shop and soon came out, with the puppy cut up into portions..

It is true that they eat dogs in Korea, but all the guidebooks point out that this only happens in specialized, gourmet restaurants, and that the dogs are bred specifically for this purpose - the people won't just eat any dog off the street. One way or the other, just as I came down this mountain, I ran into a shop with some cute puppies in the shop window... I didn't dare to try to buy one.

Seoul has 5 different royal palaces. They are nice and all, but there's only that many palaces one can see within several days without getting completely bored with them. I saw two - the biggest/oldest one - Gyongbokgung, and then the best preserved/prettiest one - Changdeukgung.

All the palace buildings are wooden, and therefore prone to fire. Indeed, most or all of the palaces at some point burned down and had to be rebuilt.

A group of very bored palace guards.

The secret garden of Changdeokgung.

Other than the palaces and ancient gates (one of which also recently burned down), downtown Seoul is a modern, glass, concrete and steel city, with little appeal. This stream, recently uncovered and cleaned up, is a bit of an oasis in the city, partially isolated from the bustle everywhere around.

On the second day, I joined a tour to easily one of the most surreal places in the world, the demilitarized zone (DMZ) which divides North and South Korea. The hostility between the two countries is still very much alive, with North Korea playing around with their nuclear program and all, and the border is also the most heavily guarded/armed area in the world. Despite all this, there is one place on the border which is accessible to tourists (as part of a group tour). This place, called Panmunjom/Joint Security Area is only about 60 kms from Seoul and easily done as a day trip.

On the way towards the border on the bus, our tour guide was giving us a great overview of "South Korea is good and rich, North Korea is poor, stupid and evil." Propaganda was present throughout the trip. The highway from Seoul to the border runs alongside river the whole time. The moment we left Seoul, a barbed wire fence with guard posts and bunkers appeared - the entire length of the river is protected like this, because several decades ago, some North Korean soldiers sneaked into the South with a submarine and tried to assasinate the South Korean president.

Getting close to the border, the bus went through numerous checkpoints and controls. Signs warned us that there are mine fields on both side of the road. When there were no mine fields, there were ginseng fields - apparently, the DMZ ginseng is one of the best in the world (and most dangerous to grow I guess). There are actually several villages and people living in the DMZ. Among other things, they have to adhere to a curfew, be at the village before nightfall and can't leave the house after midnight (as they might be kidnapped by the North Koreans). On the other hand, they enjoy a number of benefits: Every one gets some land for free from the government, they don't have to pay any taxes, the children are free to go to any high school and university of their choice with the tuition waived.

Then we arrived at this observatory, to take the first peak at North Korea. Areas where pictures could be taken were strictly limited, so as not to reveal the defense systems of the South. Nevertheless, this place provided a good view of the surrounding countryside with a fence running in the middle - the border. Behind it, the most evil country in the world. We were told that all hills in North Korea are brown, because they cut down all the forests (for firewood). The fact that South Korea has more advanced ways of heating than using firewood was pointed out.

Next stop was a huge, new and deserted train station. South Korea built it in the DMZ, hoping that one day trains will be running up North and beyond.

We were told that the South would love to transport their products by railway all the way to Europe. The tracks are all in place, but the evil Northerners won't allow it.

Next stop was the 3rd infiltration tunnel. Some time in the 1970's, North and South initiated peace talks. At the same time, South Korea accidentally found out that the North is digging tunnels under the fortified border, so as to launch a surprise attack. The tunnel was however uncovered (they already made it under territory of the South), and is nowadays accessible. It's not much else than 500 meters long tunnel 80 meters underground, with a thick concrete wall at the end (and some more landmines behind the wall, so that North Koreans don't try this route again). We were lucky enough to visit the tunnel at the same time as dozens of Korean elementary school children, who were particularly excited about meeting bunch of foreigners in this tunnel.

Clearly though, the highlight of the tour was a trip to the border itself, to a place called Panmunjom (Joint Security Area), where Cease fire treaty was signed at the end of the Korean war. Everything is absurd and surreal here. The one-hole golf course in the military camp has been voted the most dangerous golf course in the world. When the U.S. army wanted to cut a tree here once, they brought in an aircraft carrier, put dozens of airplanes in the air, half of the army was on the highest level of alert. When a stone fell from South Korean side of the border over to the North, several meetings were held to negotiate what to do with the stone. We are strictly warned not to stay behind the group, as North Koreans might grab us and drag us into their country.

Here's the border itself. The blue buildings are administered by South Korea. The gray one behind is North Korean. That stone slab running between the blue buildings is the actual border.

Inside the blue building - this is the table where negotiations between the North and the South are held. Sometimes, the negotiations can be long and painful. Apparently, one time the discussion went on for over 11 hours straight. Both parties were drinking tea the whole time, but not a single person left the room to use the toilet for the entire duration (I guess that would make them lose face or something). This memorable event has since been called The bladder war. The border runs through the middle of the table - I'm now standing on the North side (this is the only place where it's possible). The tough guy in the middle is an elite soldier of the South Korean army, who apparently holds the 7th black belt in Taekwondo and several other martial arts. He's also wearing the sunglasses to intimidate North's soldiers. (In the military camp, I saw other soldiers like this, except they were coming home from a shop with a Hello Kitty bag. They didn't seem nearly as intimidating then.) We were told that soldiers from the North occasionally come by, making vulgar gestures and trying to provoke a response from the tourists, for propaganda purposes and to stir an international incident. They didn't come when I was there though.

This is the so-called Propaganda village, on the Northern side of the border. North Korea built it to show how wonderful life there is. They also have huge loudspeakers, screaming the same message, hoping to persuade some people from the South to come over. However, noone actually lives in the village, and the houses are not real - it's actually a Potemkin village. When South Korea built a flagpole on their side of the border, North Korea responded by building their own flagpole, almost twice as high (160 meters), hoisting one of the largest flags in the world.

There was no propaganda on the way back to Seoul, so I spent the trip reading the direction signs by the road, and actually figured out how the Korean alphabet works, and can now read it - badly and slowly. It is no use anyways, since I don't understand the words.

In the evening, I went to check out Itaewon - the tourist district of Seoul. There wasn't anything too interesting or memorable, other than several hookers luring me into their lairs.

The next day, I went to Suwon, a large city about 50 kms from Seoul. The Seoul subway system actually goes all the way there. The city is famous for its UNESCO fortress/fortification.

Martial arts display in Suwon.

The fortification is a wall about 5.5 kms long. It is possible to walk on the wall for the entire duration - it is a really nice, peaceful walk, partially in the forest, partially through the city. Really good especially as an escape from the metropolis.

Excellent English sign

Nandaemun market - quite busy even in the rain.

Korea prides itself in producing some of the best ginseng in the world. Here it is on sale in Nandaemun market, one of Seoul's old markets.

A submarine on display in the War museum.

A plaque on the sidewalk in the Itaewon district of Seoul. I couldn't find the Czech one (not sure if they have it or not).

Few other random tidbits I noticed about Korea. Most men in Seoul wear suits and ties. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as the city is one of the business and financial capitals of the world. The suits are usually great, smart, fit well. There are also loads of people cleaning and polishing shoes everywhere, so even the shoes look great. But there is one flaw: The socks. One time, I was sitting at a bench in a park. Opposite to me, there was one of those suit-and-tie men. He took his shoes off, to relax I guess. Both of his socks had a huge hole on the heel! Another time, a man on the subway, wearing a nice black suit, but also socks in a really strange shade of green.

Unlike Taiwanese people, the Koreans enjoy the social drinking. There are pubs/bars everywhere, where people go after work, drink some beers, eat some snacks and just chat and socialize. Even fairly late in the evening, there are tables on the streets outside the bars, people sitting there and having a good time. This is relatively close to our Czech pub culture, which is completely absent in Taiwan.

One last thing that is hugely popular are public baths and saunas. I didn't get to try one of those. Other travellers report it is a unique experience, hanging out with a bunch of naked Koreans, who might naturally express some interest in the lone foreigner.