Seoul – Pleasantly surprised to discover a city with soul

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Wednesday 24th August – Friday 26th August 2011– Unearthing a pride

It is 9 months since my last blog, and almost two years since I visited my last new country. Today I am travelling to South Korea, which will be the 45th country I have visited out of the 196 countries officially recognised. To think I travelled for a year and a half and I’ve still not seen 25% of the countries. It truly is a life’s pursuit like I stressed in my last blog. Being an intrepid traveller almost two years is too long to have gone without adding a new passport stamp to the tally, but that is not to say I haven’t travelled.

I spent my first year back from my travels – 2010 – chasing a certain young lady around the world. Seattle and Shanghai were the destinations, but the US and China were countries I had previously visited, although Seattle was a new city for me, and one of which I was really impressed with. I also visited India on business and had the opportunity to do a few days travelling at the start of the trip, seeing Mysore Palace in the process. 2011 has seen a change of landscape as I swapped the market town of Hertford, 45 minutes North of London for the bustling metropolis of Beijing, one of the world’s largest cities. I’m not a city person, and this was one strand throughout my previous blogs as I travelled the world, so why swap a sleepy town of 30,000 people for a mega city of 20 million? The answer lies, in the achievement of a dream, namely to work overseas. You may recall that one of the things I was looking to achieve post travels was to work overseas. Well 14 months after I returned to the UK, I got my opportunity. I spent 10 months working in the UK for Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, and one of the world’s leading multinationals in this sector and a company with the capability of sending me overseas to work. It is great when a strategy works, and I’m honest enough to admit that the main reason I went to work for Tesco was the opportunity to work overseas. They said it would take 3 years at least in my interview. I never listen to what others think too much, especially when it involves my future. I proved them wrong as for the last 7 months I have been working in Beijing for Tesco’s Chinese Property business.

It’s been a whirlwind 7 months, and I would summarise a year working in China is equivalent to 5 years elsewhere. I have been challenged culturally (despite having travelled here for 3 months in 2009), linguistically for certain and technically in my job. I have survived two months of anxiety attacks and mild depression when I hated life, and another two months of the most horrific hours as my company attempts to achieve on a micro scale what China has done over the last three decades, namely the most fast paced development you can imagine. What doesn’t kill you certainly makes you stronger and I have learnt over the past few months that life in China is a rollercoaster. You have to just strap yourself in and enjoy the ride, the highs and lows will be much more pronounced than life in the UK but it’s certainly exciting! I have signed up for another 18 months, so I get the chance to fully live my dream of travelling deeper and truly experiencing another country’s culture.

Not that I’ve made the most of my opportunity to fully experience China’s culture now that I’m living here. A busy job and a relationship have been the priorities. One of my friends asked me what Expat life was like in China. I don’t think I am best placed to answer that after 7 months, although I hope to be able to answer that better in another 7 months. So, on to that relationship…. I finished my last blog with the words ‘The next chapter is a life together with Xuelan, hopefully working overseas. My hope is that life is in Shanghai. This is my dream now. Live your dreams is one of my motto’s. I intend to.’ Well as I’ve already covered above I managed the working overseas part, however my aim was astray and I ended up 1000 miles to the north of Shanghai in Beijing, and as a consequence myself and Xuelan are still striving for that life together. That’s not to say there hasn’t been progress however. The skies between Beijing and Shanghai have been kept busy as we’ve managed to see each other every two weeks on average, a huge improvement on every 3-4 months when two continents separated us. However, barring a trip to Yangshuo in South China, and Hong Kong on two separate occasions there has been little time to travel and see China or Asia. One visit to Hong Kong was at least memorable as we got engaged. So I guess I’ve been fairly successful in living my dreams. Anyway, back to the point of this blog which was to write about my trip to South Korea.

I start my day by having to do a morning in the office as there is the ever typical 101 things to do before I even think about getting on to that plane. For some reason I think my flight is a couple of hours later than it actually is, so I end up doing a mad dash to the airport and the check-in has still closed by the time I get there. Nevertheless, with half an hour to go to take-off I am allowed to check my baggage in and then hot foot it through the terminal to make sure I reach the gate in time. I don’t know why I bother as the flight is typically delayed by an hour. Not that I notice as I spend my entire time in the plane catching up on some much needed sleep. On arrival at Incheon Airport in Korea, I am met by a driver from Tesco and one of my colleagues, James who I last saw in a drunken night in Hong Kong 5 months ago.
Tesco have just opened a training facility they call their Asia Academy, it being the main training facility in Asia. It is situated on Muui-Do, a small Island a short drive from Incheon Airport. It is only reachable by ferry and because my flight has been delayed we are running late for the conference I am attending. With the relaxing setting and sea views as the sun sets it doesn’t seem to matter though. I’m not going to cover the detail of my 3 day stay in the Asia Academy as conferences don’t happen to be the most captivating topics to write on. What I will say though is that I was very impressed with Tesco’s Asia Academy. With a purpose built accommodation block looking out to the West Sea with Incheon Bridge in the distance you could be mistaken for thinking you were on holiday in the Mediterranean. The gardens are equally as impressive, as are the facilities which include numerous training and meeting rooms, a library, a museum, a Tesco Express store, a restaurant and a pub! I can honestly say that I was honoured to have the opportunity and equally as proud to work for Tesco. Anyone who knows how I struggled with the corporate culture back in the UK will be very surprised to hear me utter those words.

Saturday 27th August – A night in a Hanok

I decided to stay an extra night in Tesco’s Asia Academy as it’s a relaxing place and it also benefits from its proximity to the airport, not that I’m considering leaving Korea just yet. Rather, I am meeting Xuelan at the airport. Good fortune has it that Xuelan also has to be in Korea on business, albeit a week later than me, so we are taking the opportunity to do some sightseeing in Seoul in between our two business trips. One of my colleagues – Sarah – is flying back to the UK this morning so I jump in the car that is taking her to the airport for a free lift. Shortly after arriving at the airport, Sarah realises that she has left her bag containing her passport in the car, thus starting a frantic hour to try and contact the Academy to get the driver to come back to the airport. Eventually we manage to contact them and no harm is done as Sarah manages to get her flight on time. With that drama out of the way I walk to arrivals where I meet Xuelan off her flight and then we head back towards the Tesco Academy as I’m keen to let Xuelan see it. Tesco are tiny in China at the moment, consequently Xuelan thinks I work for a second-rate company so I am keen to show her the new investment in the training facility. Suitably impressed, we get a late lunch on Muui-Do before catching the ferry back to Incheon and then take the subway from the airport to central Seoul which is approximately 50km away.

We arrive in central Seoul in the early evening, and with a booking in a traditional hanok guesthouse already secured thanks to one of my Korean colleagues’ help yesterday we jump into a taxi with a rough idea of where we need to be in the city. We are dropped next to a street party, where approximately 200 people are enjoying freshly cooked food washed down with the local brew. We forget finding our Hanok, especially since the owner has called to say she isn’t at home and instead join into the street party, enjoying the food and atmosphere. It is a great start to our experience of Seoul, and totally impromptu. An hour or so later our host finds us and invites us to follow her to her nearby car and take the short journey to her hanok.

Traditional residential homes are called hanok, and they are fast disappearing in South Korea. There are now less than 10,000 hanok left in South Korea, and just two generations ago there were around 800,000. Built from wood, stone and plaster, a hanok has a tiled roof and an open courtyard providing ventilation and light to the surrounding rooms that are separated by wooden screens often with paper panels. They also use an under floor heating system known as ondol. An area in Seoul, known as Bukchon is home to 900 such hanok, including our home for the night. Our hanok is all of the above and once we have dropped our luggage off and set our bed up for the night (a mattress on the tatami mats on the floor) our hosts kindly drive us down to the nearby Insadong area of the city for an hour to look around.

Although I’m dying on my feet as a result of a tiring few weeks at work catching up with me, I am enchanted by Insadong - a traditional street containing a mixture of historical buildings surrounded by modernity and it is a unique area of Seoul that represents the cultural history of the nation. We walk up and down its length past teahouses, restaurants and mainstream coffee shops, popping our head into several shops selling traditional Korean handicrafts, which I am particularly impressed with. There are numerous traders who have set up stalls along its length selling DVD’s, Korean snacks, Turkish (?!) icecream. There are also several fortune tellers and we walk into a baseball alley which is full of Koreans having a swing at a simulated pitch in what is their national sport. It all adds up to an initial positive experience of the South Korean capital, which is built upon over the next few days.

Sunday 28th August – Seoul’s palaces overshadowed by their traditional spas

The night in the hanok was very comfortable one, and it is nice to sit out in the early morning sunshine as our traditional Korean breakfast is being prepared. Breakfast is salad, an egg, orange juice and some strange looking Korean rice cakes. My opinion is its better than traditional Chinese & Japanese breakfasts that I remember from my travels, but still a long way short of an English breakfast! Never mind, it rounds off an enjoyable experience of staying in a hanok, which for the equivalent of £50 was good value. It reminded me very much of staying in a ryokan in Japan. We walk through Bukchon Hanok village and flag a taxi down to take us to a hostel we have just booked which ends up being a big come down from the hanok. I can’t wait to drop our stuff off and get out and do some sightseeing after a spot of lunch.

We decide to start our sightseeing of Seoul with two of the city’s five major palace complexes, which seem to be top-listed in most tourist literature. Firstly, we get a taxi to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It translates as ‘Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven’ but it seems that the God who is handing out the blessings has a wicked sense of humour! Founded 600 years ago, it was burned down in 1592 by the invading Japanese and lay in ruins until 1868, a project that virtually bankrupted the government. In 1895 an Empress was murdered in her bedroom by Japanese assassins. During early 20th century Japanese colonial rule most of the palace was again destroyed by the Japanese before being restored in 1990. The complex consists of various palace buildings with gilded roofs but it suffers in comparison to a Forbidden City or even the temples of Kyoto. It’s nice but seems to lack any real soul, character or history.

From Gyeongbokgung, it’s a short taxi ride to Changdeokgung, which was originally built in 1405 as a secondary palace to Gyeonbokgung. When Gyeonbokgung was destroyed by the Japanese invasion, it became the primary palace until 1896. The highlight of the palace is supposed to be the Biwon or the Secret Garden but its delights remain secret to me as the second and final guided tour of the day in English has already finished and you are not allowed to visit it unescorted. Nevertheless, we pay another 3000 Won (£2) each and wander around the palace buildings which are similar to Gyeonbokgung albeit with blue gilded roofs and not as impressive as the earlier palace complex.

I had wanted to see the changing of the guard in Gyeonbokgung (every hour until 4pm), the Secret Garden at Changdeokgung and the Jongmyo Shrine which are among the major historical & cultural sights of Seoul, but we weren’t organised today and wasted the morning changing accommodation. It brings it home to me that successful travel does still contain an element of planning, at least for me and my personality it does. We get another taxi (they being cheap in Korea) to Gwangjang market, a vibrant market containing the city’s largest food alley. We sit and enjoy a nokdu binda-etteok (mung bean pancake) at one stall before wandering through the market inspected the various meal options and fresh seafood before Xuelan decides she fancies a seafood soup, which is more to her taste than mine.

We finish the day by taking the subway to a Jjimjilbang which is a traditional Korean spa, similar to a Japanese onsen Baths, but in my opinion better. In Japan I chose to visit the Imperial baths of Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, and in Korea I choose Dragon Hill Spa, which what it lacks in history makes up in facilities, being the largest Jjimjilbang in Korea. It’s a mix of Las Vegas bling and Asian Chic packed on seven floors with an outdoor swimming pool, ginseng and cedar baths,charcoal saunas and crystal salt rooms. This is without mentioning the golf driving range, cinema, arcade games and rooftop garden with an Indian Barbeque Village. Then there’s a sauna shaped like the pyramids and also a bamboo forest lit up with neon green lights! It’s all very cool, and we end of spending a relaxing evening in the Jjimjilbang, exiting at approaching midnight. That doesn’t matter as the facility stays open all night, and you can even sleep there is one of the dormitories if you wish. This all comes at the reasonable cost of 12,000 Won (£7), and the next time I visit the city on my own, you can be sure that this will be my accommodation, it’s a bargain!

We struggle to get a taxi home, with a number of taxi drivers not wanting to take us for some unknown reason, which is one of the only episodes of unfriendliness from the Korean people we experience. Generally we find them very warm, helpful and friendly.

Monday 29th August – Heading South to Suwon & a folk village

Having seen the best of Seoul’s historical sights, today we head south out of the city to take in some more culture. Whether we are technically out of Seoul is another matter as although we take the subway to Suwon, a city of 1 million, we never seem to leave the giant metropolis of Seoul. Greater Seoul which I guess would include Suwon, some 50km South of Seoul city centre, is a city of some 25 million, or half of Korea’s population. Apparently it is the world’s second largest city in population terms behind Tokyo, although Mexico City, Jakarta and Manila, all being 20 million+ could all dispute that claim.

It takes about an hour and a half to reach Suwon, where we grab a cultural lunch of Burger King before boarding a free shuttle bus to a Korean Folk Village a 30 minute drive away. Around 250 thatched and tiled Korean traditional houses make up the folk village. It is set around a river and includes a temple, Confucian school, a market, a magistrate’s house. Artisans wearing hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) make masks, create pots, make paper, make brushes, work in a blacksmiths. By far the best part of the Folk Village are the shows that start every half hour, featuring traditional Korean Music and Dance and a mock traditional Korean Wedding which for one has Xuelan enthralled. A couple of hours wandering around is enough to see most of interest before we get the courtesy bus back to Suwon.

Suwon is famous for its fortress walls which encircle part of the city, stretching 5.7km. With command posts, observation towers, entrance gates it makes for a fascinating two-hour historical walk. It is constructed out of earth and faced with large stone blocks and grey bricks and completed in 1796. The Western section starting from Paldalmon involves a steep climb, during which Xuelan complains incessantly between mouthfuls of sweetcorn and pigs trotters! Once the climb is over, you are afforded great views over Suwon city. As dusk falls, the wall if anything looks even more spectacular as it is illuminated. Despite Xuelan wanting to stop walking the wall and go back to Seoul, I manage to coax her to the end, before we get a taxi back to the train station, have a terrible Vietnamese meal and catch the subway back to Seoul.

Tuesday 30th August –Mission failed but a spot of retail therapy soothes the pain

We arrived back in Seoul quite late and tired after a busy day, so we take advantage of a lazy morning. We are meeting Xuelan’s manager Maeri for lunch near the World Trade Centre, in the city’s business district. It takes around an hour to get there as Seoul is a big city. It is however quite accessible and the subway is easy to negotiate and taxis are cheap enough to fill in the gaps where the subway isn’t practical. The main purpose for meeting Maeri for lunch is to try and persuade her to let Xuelan relocate with her job to Beijing. In many ways, this would be the last piece in the jigsaw of trying to forge a life together. We’ve come a long way in the last two years since we met in Japan, two people from very different backgrounds, leading very different lives, me travelling the world, Xuelan working for a huge multinational corporation. We enjoy a tasty Chinese meal – I seem to have been in Korea for the best part of a week now, but not really enjoyed much of its cuisine! Anyway, despite much persuasion we can’t get Maeri to acquiesce to our request and it looks like we still have to find a resolution to the last piece of the jigsaw. Never mind, we have a pleasant lunch otherwise chatting about our experiences of Korea and the Korean people and the country in general.

After lunch and coffees we say goodbye to Maeri and walk the short distance to the COEX shopping mall where we indulge in a bit of retail therapy to heal the disappointment of the lunch meeting. It certainly brings a smile back to Xuelan’s face! A subway trip back across the city takes us to the start of Cheong-gye-cheon, a stream running through northern Seoul, north of the Han River. A recent urban renewal project in Seoul, the result is a beautifully landscaped oasis flowing past footbridges, waterfalls, and a variety of artworks where the citizens of the city flock to dangle their feet in the water and escape the urban hubbub. Towards the end is a free laser show which is spectacular but the highlight is just strolling alongside the stream escaping city life whilst the neon lights from the surrounding skyscrapers look down.

After our evening stroll we head towards the all night Namdaemun market which hasn’t fully got into swing yet, before we suddenly have a bright idea of going up the N Seoul Tower to finish our last evening in the city. Alas, after consulting our guidebook we realise we’re already too late as it’s now 11pm. That will have to wait to the next visit, as we get a taxi back to the hostel.

Wednesday 31st August – Learning about the Korean War

Xuelan has to go to her business meeting this morning, but I have the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon to do some more sightseeing. I decide to head first to the War Memorial Museum, and if I have time I plan to go to National Museum of Korea. I don’t make it to the National Museum as the War Memorial Museum is so engrossing. After learning about Korea’s early history in the Three Kingdom Period (57 BC – 668 AD) before Shilla emerged victorious on the peninsula ruling until 1392, when the Joseon Dynasty took over. Joseon ruled for another 500 years, although the Japanese defeated the Korean’s several times in this period, until in 1910 it formally became a colony of Japan, with the agreement of all the world powers at the time. It was a strange colony, coming after most of the world had been divided up, and after progressive calls had emerged to dismantle the entire colonial system. It lasted until 1945 when Japan was defeated in the Second World War.

In the immediate aftermath of the obliteration of Nagasaki, Japan, some American’s in the War Department drew a fateful line at the 38th parallel in Korea dividing a nation that had a unitary integrity for millennia. The American’s were concerned about the spread of communism and the influence of the Soviet’s in the peninsula and on the post war security of the region. The US then set up a 3 year military government in southern Korea. By 1948, the American backed Rhee Syngman and the Russian backed Kim Il-Sung had both established separate republics and by the end of the year Soviet troops had withdrawn never to return again and the American troops departed in June 1949. On 25 June 1950 Kim Il-Sung launched a surprise attack and Seoul fell in three days. The American’s returned along with other UN forces but they were soon pushed back to a small pocket around Busan in the very South East of the peninsula, until they fought back strongly and pushed the North Korean’s back almost off the entire peninsula, when support for the North arrived in the shape of the Chinese. By Spring 1951 stalemate had ensued with the lines drawn roughly where the border between the North and South lies today. Truce talks dragged on for two years until armistice was signed by the North Korean and US forces. South Korea, though did not sign, so interestingly it is officially still at war with the North, although in reality the two countries continue to eye each other uneasily over the De-Militarised Zone (DMZ) around the 38th parallel.

It seems to me on reading all of the history that it was a very unnecessary war, largely caused by the actions of the US and Soviet Union in dividing the country. 60 years ago the North was stronger on almost every economic, social and military measure, but successive decades of disastrous central planning have left its infrastructure in a state of advanced decrepitude. The present communist government are set on investing in its military capability and little else: North Korea spends an estimated 25% of its GDP on military expenditure when most of the world’s leading countries are spending between 1-4%. Even the US, with an economy over-reliant on defence spending, invests only 5% of its GDP on its military capability. Another measure which illustrates this is the size of North Korea’s active military. 1.1 million strong, it ranks fourth in terms of size behind China, the US & India. These three superpowers are the three largest countries in terms of population and North Korea is number 48. Essentially, 5% of North Korea’s population are involved in active service and if reserve troops are included, North Korea has the world’s biggest army totalling almost 10 million or 40% of its population. By any measure North Korea’s army is at least 5 times bigger than it needs to be, and perhaps up to 10 times bigger than is required.

I guess the question is whether Korea will ever be united once more? I believe Germany is a good guide, I think it will happen but not for another generation. Many in the South see the economic concerns in uniting but this didn’t stop West German’s pushing for re-unification. However, the economic disparity between the two countries is huge. GDP per Capita is $30000 in the South and not even a tenth of this in the North. Nevertheless, the historical and cultural bond is too strong and many families have been separated by the split on the Korean peninsula. It will need political systems to change in the North and that doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon but one day it will.

After an absorbing morning in the War Memorial Museum I head to Insadong to wander around the handicraft shops, have lunch in a trendy coffee shop before finishing my 5 days in Seoul with a walk around Bukchon Hanok Village, where it all started on Saturday evening. I find myself comparing Seoul to Tokyo. Mega cities in Eastern Asia, commercial and financial superpowers, both have hosted the Olympics, both cities intertwine history and modernity, both have rebuilt themselves successfully after war in the 20th century. Seoul edges it for me, I leave it after 5 days still feeling I still have much to see and experience in this city. Although the cities have much in common maybe the biggest difference is that I didn’t travel to Seoul alone, whereas in Tokyo I was on my own. Travelling with others and sharing experiences enhances the whole experience.

As for Korea I’ll be back. Whether it be for another conference, training or for personal reasons, there is much I still want to see in Korea, both North and South. It’s just a two hour flight from Beijing and I for one don’t think Korea is boring.

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