Brr it is Cold in Seoul

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31 March 2006

Brrr it’s cold in Seoul! But I must say that the two days in Seoul have been more interesting and more fun than I had anticipated. We landed at the airport at 6:30 pm, went through customs and immigration with no problem, but then had to wait 30 minutes for our shuttle bus (called a deluxe limo there). It then took us 90 minutes to get to the Holiday Inn. When we arrived and told them how long it had taken, the response was: “well that’s Seoul for you”! The Holiday Inn was beautiful - the most beautiful Holiday Inn I have stayed in, but more about that later.

The first day we went on a tour to the DMZ (de-militarized zone between North and South Korea). It was fascinating. There were three of us from the hotel (more about that later, too) and our Korean guide - a darling girl whose English was as good as it gets for a Korean (they apparently have a lot of trouble with English. We met several who had lived for years in the US and we only understood about half of what they said).
The DMZ is 4 kilometers wide, with two kilometers on each side of the demarcation line, which is the “official” boundary between the two countries. South Koreans are not to have anything at all to do with anyone or anything from the North. But the south is really counting on eventual unification, they just don’t know when. They have built an industrial village just over the border where they have built 15 factories of different kinds to help employ some of the North Koreans who need jobs and also to save on labor, as the price is much lower than in the south. They have an immigration station there and they drive the South Korean management in every morning and out every evening.
Driving up to the DMZ she explained to us how you could tell the South Korean mountains from the North, as the north has chopped down all the trees (they needed the wood) and have not re-planted -for a couple of reasons: they don’t really want vegetation where people could hide, and they can’t afford it, and they don’t care.
The first stop was called the Imingak tourist resort - but it was not a resort in any way shape or form. It was full of monuments and memorials to the Korean War and lots to the US military. It was there our guide bought our tickets to go further. From there we had to go on a special bus that left once an hour. We had to sit in assigned seats on the bus, and show our passports to the Korean soldier who boarded the bus to check us all out. The next stop was the “third infiltration tunnel”. Sometime in the late 60’s or early 70’s there was a North Korean defector who told the South Korean government that the North had dug many infiltration tunnels toward Seoul, hoping to re-take the city. Not knowing whether or not to believe him, they figured they had better check it out. Sure enough, they have found 4 to date, and there are at least another 12-16 tunnels that haven’t been found yet. This tunnel was discovered in 1978 just 52 kilometers or 40 miles away from Seoul. It is over 1600 kilometers (1000 miles) long and 2 meters (6 feet) high and 2 meters wide. This is the longest of the 4 tunnels discovered until now. The South Koreans have built a couple of access tunnels now and so tourists are able to walk down into the tunnel and along some of it. There are three barricades set up when the tunnel was found to make sure it couldn’t be accessed by the north again and we were allowed to walk until we came to a barricade. We were given hard hats which was a good thing, more for most others who are taller than I, but also because water still drips. Once in the tunnel we could see the holes where they blasted dynamite always pointing right to Seoul, and where they had painted the rock dark because the excuse given for the tunnel was that they were mining. There is also a man-made lake at the North Korean end where they collected the water that drained out - there was no lake there before.

The 3rd stop was the Dora observatory, which was just the highest point on the southern side where they had set up big binocular viewing stations. From there you could see into the north - the propaganda villages the north has built which are empty buildings so that tourists will think the northerners live well, and there is the highest flag pole in the world from which waves the North Korean flag.

From there we went to the Dorasan train station which is the last train station before North Korea. It is totally new, totally finished, and totally empty because there are no trains going to the North - but the station is ready. That’s what I mean about being sure that they will be unified one day.

Our last stop was the Unification Village. The South Koreans have about 300 people living in a village in the DMZ who are mostly farmers growing rice, soy beans and ginseng. The products are excellent quality and are selling well and the farmers are making a lot of money and paying no tax as a perk for living there.

The 3rd person from our hotel was an Austrian man who was in Seoul with his wife who was at a conference there. He was retired and was enjoying following his wife around the world. He was a very fun man who recommended that we eat dinner that night at the fish restaurant next door. So we did - we took off our shoes, and sat on the floor. No one, and I mean no one, at the restaurant spoke any English, but they were so nice, we really had a great time. All the fish were swimming around in tanks and we just gestured at the fish and got some sort of fish stew cooked in a big pot with vegetables on our table. The head was in the pot, the tail was in the pot along with all the bones, fins and what ever else the fish had. But it was fun and a good adventure.

The next day we joined a ½ day city tour. This time we were joined by two families/couples. The women were sisters and were originally from Seoul but had lived in the US since around 1970 married to Americans. One of the sisters had never been back and the other had only come for the first time last year. They said that most things were so changed they didn’t recognize much of anything, but one sister found her old high school.

We drove by the “Blue House” which is the seat of the government, so called because the roof is blue. Then we went to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, built at the beginning of the 15th century by King Taejo but destroyed during the Japanese invasion in the mid 16th century and rebuilt in mid 1800’s. It is a large area with lots of buildings and on the grounds is the folklore museum, which we also visited. It was small, but well done. The morning ended with a visit to a ginseng factory and outlet where we were told all the wonderful medicinal benefits of ginseng. Our guide convinced us that two months of ginseng had lowered her high cholesterol problem caused by the junk food she ate while living in Queens, NY. They had ginseng extract, ginseng powder and ginseng capsules all very expensive, and of course totally necessary for our good health. We ate lunch with the two other couples; again sitting on the floor in a restaurant they knew where we got Korean barbecue which was quite good.


The subway system is great. It is well organized, with all the lines being numbered and color-coded. The stations are clean and bright and safe. We took the subway to the new Korean National Museum which just opened in October 2005. Apparently they had never before had the space to exhibit all the national treasures and so now all of them are there to be admired. The building itself is beautiful. There is a pond and fountain in front, a large exhibition hall, a special exhibits hall, a children’s museum and a theater. The exhibits are well laid out but got rather repetitious. How many old Korean pots and bowls and costumes can anyone enjoy looking at?


We spent both evenings with our new Austrian friend Florian, and met his wife and a couple of her fellow conference attendees. She works for a university in Salzburg dealing with foreign students and intercultural exchanges, so we had a lot to talk about. They were also going around the world, but in the other direction from us.

I know that you probably don’t think this blog is the place for a toilet discussion - but here goes anyway. Our hotel room had the same type of toilet we experienced in Japan in 2003. That means that the toilet is fitted with controls for the different “features”. There is a temperature control for the seat, controls which turn it into a bidet with both bidet and “wash” features (I had a little trouble feeling the difference between those two) an angle-control feature, so that you get washed in the right place, and a drying feature. I do have to tell you that I tried it all - more than once.

Saturday the 1st of April saw us on a plane to Beijing.

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Photos

Seoul
Lighting incense in front of a Buddhist Temple

Seoul
Another Temple

Seoul
Another Temple

Seoul
Having lunch with our tour friends - sitting on the floor for real Korean food.

Seoul
Inside the new national museum

Seoul
Inside the new national museum

Seoul
Outside the new national museum

Seoul
Isn't she adorable?