Visiting North Korea in Seoul

We went to Seoul this last weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8/14-8/16.

The trip was a simple visit and relax with friends. No plans, and no motives except to visit with two friends, Summer a long time friend who is always wonderful to visit and spend quality time with...this time chilling and in Seoul (i tae won to be exact.) Summer showed us the 3 hills and all the best places to eat in Seoul. And after sampling the local Mexican food I can agree Seoul has some truly amazing restaurants, because they actually reminded me of home.

Next we hung out with an old friend of Miranda's Mandy McFarland (and her husband.) If you have read Miranda's post you know how amazing this couple is. They are truly blessed with the gift of hospitality. Yes, Miranda had a distant relationship with Mandy, which I had no idea it was going to be so connected, but we were still practical strangers. Yet, they welcomed us in as family and treated us as such. I immediately hoped this friendship will continue to grow, as I believe I can learn much from them, and I want the opportunity to share our hospitality with them. They are a wonderful couple.

While in Seoul the only real 'attraction' we saw was The War Museum. This was one of the most amazing museums I have seen. It went throughout the entire history of war in Korea. Every battle, every weapon, every major war and its impact on Korea and the world. It amazes me to realize that Korea is literally a country defined by its war, and even more incredible that Korea even exists after all the strife and pain it has gone through.

I feel I do have a better understanding of the Korean War, and where the country is with North Korea and reunification. Imagine if the South succeeded in the civil war and we still had two countries with large rifts and division yet is made up of torn families and loved ones. That is North and South Korea. The museum is something anyone who visits Korea should see. However, the museum has one odd note, on one wing of the museum is a child's play area with moon jumps, human hamster wheels and much, much more. It is truly a bizarre feeling hearing children laughing and playing next to imagines of war and conflict.

It is funny, I have heard most people end up in Seoul if they stay in Korea for very long. And perhaps we may end up in Seoul, but right now Miranda and I both feel that Seoul isn't the place for us. It is too crowded, and really too easy. You can totally live outside of the Korean culture and experience. Do you need to learn Korean....not if you live in I Tae Won...you can just coast with your English.

So, for now we are both happy with Gwangju and we can't wait to see where our next holiday takes us in the wonderful country filled with adventure.

Weekend in Seoul

This weekend was South Korea's Independence day. My Korean history isn't that great but I believe they're celebrating their independence from Japan. To celebrate, our Hagwan took Friday off, giving us a 3 day weekend.
Being the lucky people that we are, we happen to have two friends who live out in Seoul, and figured it was a good time to go out and say hello. We left early Friday morning (5:00 AM) so that we would be in Seoul in time for lunch with our friend Summer. We pulled into the station only to find that everything was labeled Central City. This definitely confused us because we haven't been to Seoul yet, and I think both of us figured it would be labeled Seoul, not Central City. Central City is apparently the name of the station/shopping mall that we pulled into, but we didn't find that out until we'd asked some European backpackers if we were indeed in Seoul. They definitely rolled their eyes at us when they told us yes. I haven't encountered that much attitude off of anyone outside of the pre-teen category in a long time. So we rushed off to find a Taxi to take us to Iteawon where our friend Summer lives.

The beauty of spending time in Iteawon with Summer is that she's been in Korea for like 6 years, and in Iteawon for 2 or so. We definitely got the all access pass to the city, learning about everything from where to buy curry, (which I did) and books (we spent like $30 but it was totally worth it) to where the hookers and transvestites go to drink. We took it all in and even had time to eat some very good Mexican food (which doesn't exist in Gwangju, good or bad) and hang out at a nice coffee house. We didn't take many pictures with Summer which is a darn shame, but one that will be remedied the next time we head out to her neck of the woods.

Being that Summer was on a tight schedule for the weekend, and we had another set of friends to see, we then called it a day with our good friend and headed to the military base that is right by Itaewon. It was a short hike to the base and after a few minutes of wandering and asking directions, we managed to make it in and made it to Mandy and Gayer's house. The crazy thing about our trip out to see them is that I've technically known Mandy for years because we went to high school together, and in fact were in Girl Scouts together in Elementary school, but I haven't seen her in years. We had been chatting off and on for the last few months on line because we both live in SK now. I say all of this first of all because I was totally blown away by the immense hospitality that we received while staying with them, but also because I'm beginning to see how strange and interconnected our lives and friendships really are. It seems like more and more I'm finding people that I haven't talked to in years, and finding great connections with them that I would never have guessed would be there. Anyhow, enough of my soap box. Mostly, I can say that it was amazing that they would be so gracious and friendly to people that they in some senses really didn't know.

At the army base, we soon found out that there was central AC, carpet in the houses, American electrical plugs, and Honey Nut Cheerios. I pretty much felt like I was back in the states, other than trying to talk to the guards at the front who kinda spoke English. I had forgotten about all of these things because I suppose the human creature is just pretty adaptable on the whole.

I felt like such a bumpkin the whole time we were there. "You mean you have an oven? You can bake? You have carpet? You have a dish washer? You're towels aren't hand towels?" They even had a car. We got to ride in a car with someone who wasn't a Taxi driver (which basically means we rode with safe drivers.) But besides the strange oddity of having all of these old comforts placed back in my life for a few days, experienced the strange realization that I didn't really want them all that much any more. I mean clothes dryers are way cool, and some days when I realize the shirt I wanted to wear is out on the rack and won't be dry for another day, I wish I had one, but I've learned to cope (and how to use the hair dryer and shower curtain rod. It's rather amazing what you can do with an iron and a hair dryer.) I've learned how to love kimchi, which I didn't think would happen so fast. I'm used to sleeping without sheets because it's just too freakin hot and I'm not going to run the ac all night, not that it would even reach our bedroom. I don't crave Mexican food, or cookies (although I must have had like 10 while I was there) and I enjoy riding the bus and walking except a couple of times when it's been pouring and I've forgotten my umbrella.

I guess the strange thing that I learned this weekend is that for the most part, I don't miss America at all. Now, don't freak, because I miss every single person that I knew back home, and by the way we have a Skype number now so you can actually call me from your cell phone if you want to talk, assuming I have the computer on. But I don't miss the conveniences. I don't miss having a car, or having carpet, or being able to put dishes in the dishwasher. And my body loves not eating fast food all the time. I'm even learning to love coffee, which I never thought I would, but gosh darn it the Korean's have won me over. I've learned that I really enjoy not having much because stuff seems to be a drain for me. It was weighing me down. It was just strange to find that out.

Oh, and the other very strange thing about Seoul is that most of the Korean population speaks some English in the Iteawon district, since that area is mostly foreigners. So we would go into restaurants and I would begin with my broken Korean to order, and they would politely interrupt me in English and ask me if I wanted the large meal or the small meal. I found it rather comical, because you could tell that they thought it was really funny that I was speaking such bad Korean. And Steve and I were really amazed at seeing all of the Waygukens. There were foreigners everywhere especially because of the military base. Here in Gwangju we might see a foreigner outside of ECC once every two days or so. We saw them pretty much every moment of the day in Seoul. It was really funny to be surprised and thrown off guard seeing so many people who looked like us. So on a whole, a better trip could not have been asked for.

The foggies are very thick...

So we've just returned (well a couple of days ago) from our first vacation in Korea. We got a break pretty early into our teaching time which was kind of nice because it gave us a week after our first month to recoup before going back in for round two, but because we haven't been here long we really didn't know what we wanted to do. Our boss Alex told us to try out the city of Gyeongju (견주), it was at some point the capital of Korea, and has all sorts of historical significance.

Before I go farther, I would like to mention that going to historical places in countries where you don't really understand the background history is a little strange. Like all good Texans I can tell you all about the Alamo, and how everything in American history somehow relates back to the fact that Texas can fly it's flag at the same level as the US flag and what not. I have the basic gist of what went down from the time of 1492 on in our friendly little county. But in Korea, there are many stumbling blocks to my immediate understanding of what I see. For one thing, their history goes back significantly farther than Columbus, and often is discussed via dynasties. This was built during the so and so dynasty and was destroyed during this and such dynasty. I suspect it makes better historical sense to the Koreans who understand when all of these dynasties happened. Also, I have no idea how all of this history relates back to Texas... and that of course, kills the history for me... ok, so I'm joking on that. But I don't have good reference points in the history of Korea to follow. When I go to a historical site here and read that it was built by a monk who was during such and such dynasty and that soon after he built it it became the central temple for such and such years it doesn't strike a bell in my mind that says, "oh yes, that explains why such and such happened at later date." All of this is to say, the historical information in this blog is going to be a little... sketchy perhaps.

We left Gwangju at 9:40 on Wednesday morning. We rode an express bus, or Limobus which ever you prefer, for four hours till we reached Gyeongju. The 4 hours of the trip were pretty uneventful other than the mountains, which still captivate us continually while we wander this beautiful country. There are some pictures taken from the bus, I think you will be able to tell them apart, you can see parts of the highway in them. I was amazed at the amazing size and presence of these giant chunks of rock. At the end of our journey we made it to the Gyeongju bus terminal, which was very small but otherwise similar to our terminal in Gwangju. After a few moments with the ladies in the info booth, who did speak English, God bless them) we set out to find a hotel for the night.

Just moments after leaving the info booth we were approached by a girl named Sharron who was traveling alone for the first time in Korea, and was looking for traveling companions. We were more than happy to add to our ranks, so we gladly agreed to travel together for the day. Sharron really wanted to stay in a Hostel that was near by, and we had also harbored thoughts of going there because the info desk ladies said that Mr. Kwan that ran it spoke good English. It is one thing to haggle with street vendors in broken Korean and use good hand gestures and the like to convince them that you really only want one peach, it is surely another thing to try to explain 1 night or another pillow when you know very little Korean. Mr. Kwan's possible English abilities won us over almost immediately. We spent a bit of time wandering trying to figure out where this fabled Hostel was, and finally did find it.

If you have never stayed in a Hostel, it is a hotel for poor people, or young travelers. Often the English teachers out here stay in them when traveling because of the low price, but also because it is where other foreigners are, and this is always a draw. Steve and I were able to get a room to ourselves which I am not sure is typical of hostels. It was not what I would call clean or especially comfortable, but it did fit the bill of keeps people from watching me while I sleep. If you look carefully at the pictures you'll notice that orange tape is running around the top of the room. I assume that this is either left over from when they were hanging the wall paper and they just never bothered to take it down, or it may actually have been holding the wallpaper up. Steve and I also postulated that it might actually be holding the walls up. But the important thing was that we were boarded and could therefore explore the city at our leisure.

Mr. Kwan proved a rather eccentric older man who advertised that while staying at his Hostel we should watch his Martial Arts show and the scorpion show. Very unfortunately neither of these happened while we were staying, but there is always next time. He gave us maps of the city and showed us several good places to eat and several places to visit while we stayed within Gwyeongju. He several times admonished that under no circumstances should we loose the maps that he had provided us. We did adhere to this guideline.

Now the city. Gyeongju featured many of the same things as a city as we have grown accustom to in Gwangju. People selling things on the street, brick sidewalks that are continually being taken up by the Koreans and put back down, funny smells that range from "hmm I wonder what that is?" to "Oh man we need to walk a little faster", and of course large quantities of Korean people who view us as amusing, strange, and annoying depending I think on their mood and upbringing, and perhaps time around foreigners. The buildings ran up about 3 stories each, with all sorts of things being advertised to be inside them. The one that threw me off was a sex shop. It was advertised in English, and it was right off of the main street. Now I was not brave enough to enter this shop, for so many reasons, but it shocked me mostly because I have never seen 0ne in Gwangju. While looking at the shop I was a bit taken aback to see an older gentlemen approach and enter it with 2 young girls on his arms. They were probably 20 something, he was probably coming close to 40 if he was not already there.

With Sharron we went to the Gyeongju Museum. It was very interesting I'm sure, although I didn't read very much about the different artifacts that were laid out before me in the glass cases. I did enjoy looking at all of the strange and beautiful art work that had its beginnings in a time that is earlier than any of my American history. There are some pictures of this as well. There was a giant bell and some nice pagodas to look at, and then we had completed this museum.

After the museum we wandered into a large park like area where there were funeral mounds. These are like giant hills that seemed to be every where in Gyeongju, and inside are apparently a bunch of dead people. They were very pretty. There was a strange forest area near the park area, and it was very pretty especially, I think, because we caught it at twilight, and you could almost pretend there was some type of magic in the place. After the forest and the funeral mounds we found the Cheomseongdae observatory, one of the oldest of its kind in Korea. There were apparently a lot of neat facts about this observatory, although we will probably never know what they are because the man talking about it spoke in Korean. One neat thing we experienced here was the little children with paper lanterns. I guess some street vendor was selling them somewhere, but it really helped you feel like you were in a different time. Looking out and seeing the little round balls glowing about created a very surreal experience for me.

At the end of the night we went back to Mr. Kwan's and wandered upstairs to the roof to meet the other foreigners who were spending a few nights in Gyeongju. All were fairly interesting, although we did bump into one girl from Holland who pretty much hated Korea, but this was no big deal for her because she was simply on a college holiday. I'm not sure, but I sort of think most of her dislike for the country arose from their lack of good beer. This I'm told is very true, apparently the Korean beers are rather unfortunate in general, but I have been spared that pain as I'm not much of a drinker. After an hour or so of conversation with the other inmates of the place we crawled into our bedroom and prayed the tape would continue to hold the walls up.

The next day we caught breakfast with Sharron and then parted company with her for the day, she wanted to take a bus tour of the city, and we didn't desire to be fettered down to a schedule. We instead chose to catch a bus up to Bulguksa temple and wander its grounds for an hour or so. I suspect that the temple itself is not unlike any of the others of its kind you may find in Korea, it held several Buddhas and beautiful grounds to walk. From Bulguksa we decided to attempt the hike to Seokguram, a temple high up in the mountains that houses a giant stone Buddha. The hike itself was not exactly difficult, but it was none the less wearing to two Texans who have prior to this been used to flat fields. We did eventually reach the top, and truly enjoyed looking at the Seokguram Buddha. You will not find him in any of the photos as it is not appropriate to take pictures of Buddhas in temples. I suppose if you want to see him you will have to go to him, for I doubt that you will find pictures of him any where.

After the Seokguram Grotto, Steve was filled with a great yearning to climb to the peak of the mountain we were on. I was a bit less ecstatic on this front as we had been dragging ourselves up the mountain not long before. He however felt that it would be a crime to be this close to the top and not complete the hike. The signs said the peak was 2.1 km away, so we went to information and asked them how we could get to the top. She gave us directions and a brief warning that there were "foggies" on the mountain. After a few moments of contemplation I realized that the foggies she was talking about were just fog.

I will say that I have never truly experienced fog before our climb and that may be why I was unmoved by the information lady's warning. Fog in Texas can get bad in a sense, but it typically only happens in the morning, and rolls about the plains around you and does not typically cause much of an impediment of your sight. The fog that we climbed through was thick, and did at times make the hike seem more perilous than it actually was. The other thing it did was give the experience a very surreal feeling. I could not help but think that we were hiking through some magical and ancient place filled with fairies and gnomes perhaps. There were spider webs everywhere as we first began our hike. I took some pictures of them, but I am unsure if you can truly grasp the number of them. There were hundreds of them, all wet with the fog. I will say that it was very cheering when we finally passed a fellow hiker on the trail.

The hike itself was very nice. The fog was a strange addition, but it set a very calm and surreal mood to the experience. As we reached the top of the mountain, the fog began to disapate and suddenly we were out of the forest and in fact standing several feet above the tree line. The heat was marked on the mountain top, I suppose partially because of the dark and gloom of the forest, and also possibly because the air was thinner on the mountain top. The sunlight itself was brilliant, and colors and shapes seemed much clearer on the peak. We walked down a path running between tall grass that came up to our chests and suddenly we were on the peak itself. We could see everything. The whole area was stretched out before us looking beautiful in the sunlight. We took pictures but I don't think you will truly be able to see the awe that was inspired by this amazing hike. We stayed on the peak for some time taking pictures and just taking in the beauty of it all. Steve and I realized that the fog we had been walking through was actually a cloud that we had eventually walked above. We could see it from the peak, as well as other clouds that rolled by us. The peak was indeed amazing.

We hiked down, and once we reached the Grotto, hiked down again, until we came to Bulguksa temple. From there we caught a bus and got a nice view of the rest of the area as it caught all of it's stops.

After the temple and the mountain we took a short break to rest our legs. I thought we would be sorer than we were, but I felt only slight stiffness, and Steve was not in much worse shape than I was. After our break, we wandered over to some flower gardens. There was a huge pond filled with Lotus flowers. It stretch on for a full block I think, and was quite relaxing to wander through. There are plenty of pictures of it, we had a hard time restraining our picture taking because it was all so beautiful. After the lotus flowers were the Rape flowers. I'm told that this is their actual name, and I will admit that Steve and I spent a good deal of time making very inappropriate Rape garden jokes. They were very pretty despite their name. In the pictures they are the bright orange flowers. We wandered through these gardens for a long time.

After all of the flowers we found some food and finished our day in that way.

The final day was a rather lazy one. We were too tired from the previous day to do much in the way of attractions, and indeed we had seen most of the things we would have wanted to see. We took a bus out to the Folk Arts village and wandered through the stalls looking at all of the pottery. After an hour or so there we took a bus back and spent the rest of our time at a little pond that was at some time attached to a palace of some sort. It was such a nice day, and it was a very pretty pond. We spent an hour there just sitting and taking in how pretty it was. At the end of that time we made our way back to the bus station and took the Express Bus home.

Steve mentions in his blog that Gwangju doesn't feel like home yet, but I would say that for me reentering Gwangju was a simple relief from the traveling, and while I am still in many ways a stranger to this place, I do feel strangely at home. We easily caught a bus to our apartu and were home in no time.