I took a trip to South Korea!! I was there from March 18-21. It was a really good time and I really like Seoul! All of the Korean people I encountered were pretty nice and Korea is much cheaper than Japan. We stayed in a hostel in the Hongdae district which is where all the college students hang out. Honestly, the streets were really dirty... a lot of trash, but I still like Seoul. There are SO MANY American food places - Outback Steakhouse, Quiznos, Subway, Burger King, Dunken Donuts, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays, Coldstone, etc etc etc. Not just 1 or 2... but every couple of blocks. The only non-Korean food that I ate while I was there was Mexican food. I'm pretty sure all of those food places mentioned above can be found in at least Tokyo - but I actually haven't spent much time in Tokyo outside of various inbound and outbound orientations. I'm actually going to Tokyo this coming weekend, so it'll be interesting to compare.
Anyway, I'm not sure if I liked Seoul because I'm just not used to being in a large city... or because it was actually really awesome. I think if I were visitng from America I'd still like it, though. Korean food is REALLY good. I actually had no idea what Korean food was before I came to Japan. It's really spicy... and delicious! Besides eati
ng Korean food, I managed to see quite a bit of Seoul including Itaewon, Namdaemun Market, Gyeongbokgung - the main and largest palace of the Joseon Dynasty, Insadong Market, a tradition Korean performance at a theater, and I even made it to the Ice Bar! Namdaemun Market was really cool - it's HUGE and you can find a lot of cheap knock off name brand things. I don't really care about name brands... at all... so it didn't really bother me that the bag I purchased had a hilarious name trying to imitate some well known name brand... actually, I kind of like it more that way... but anyway. Check out these pictures from SEOUL!!!!!Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Besides Seoul, we also took a tour to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This was REALLY interesting and really made the trip I think. If you ever go to Korea - this is something worth going to. You can only go if you're with a tour. It is the most heavily armored border in the world. I actually learned quite a bit on this tour. At some points along the border, North Korean and South Korean soldiers stand pretty much face to face. The South Korean soldiers have to wear sunglasses. This is mandatory. They don't want the soldiers to make eye contact with the North Korean soldiers because they don't want them to have any kind of connection what-so-ever. There used to be an American presence on the border as well, but that was taken away because conflicts kept arising due to American and North Korean conflicts. Now the United Nations has stepped in and there is a United Nations presence. There is still an American military base in Seoul. Our tour guide was really cool. She was probably in her late 20s and was dating an American English teacher who teaches in Seoul. She was telling us about how there are a lot of American soldiers and even more American English teachers living in Seoul and that the American teachers and soldiers always get into fights - especially at bars. The way she put is was something like this "there are a lot of American soldiers there who haven't gone to college and aren't educated yet and the American English teachers who have degrees have a lot of disagreements with the way the American soldiers act and they end up fighting."
But anyway, back to the DMZ. We also stopped at Imjingak Park which is home to the Freedom Bridge. You can also buy North Korean beer there - the only place you can buy North Korean beer outside of Nor
th Korea... so of course I purchased some. We got to go into the Third Tunnel - which is 1 of 4 tunnels the South Koreans have discovered - the last being in 1990. They believe there are about 20 tunnels total. Our tour guide was telling us how she remembered when they found the 4th tunnel in 1990. She was a little girl and said that she remembered everyone had to be in early and at night they had to keep their lights off... she said it was creepy. The tunnels were dug by the North Koreans and run from North Korea into South Korea for the purpose of moving troops during the war. The North Koreans tried covering up that they were the ones who dug the tunnels. One tunnel was coated in coal because they wanted it to look like they were mining for coal - there is no coal in that area to mine for. They tried saying the South Koreans were the ones who dug the tunnels - but the direction of the explosives are in the direction from North Korea to South Korea. There are other clues which prove that the North Koreans were the ones who dug those tunnels. They are still looking for more.
Another intersting stop was Dorasan Station. They hope to make it a regular passenger stop once North and South Korea reunite... I have a feeling that won't be anytime soon... but what do I know? It's just an empty station now. I think the tracks are used for supplies. We also went up to Dora Observatory. You are supposed to be able to see North Korea from there... but the day we went it was so foggy you seriously couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. Stupid fog. It was still pretty cool though.
But anyway, back to the DMZ. We also stopped at Imjingak Park which is home to the Freedom Bridge. You can also buy North Korean beer there - the only place you can buy North Korean beer outside of Nor
th Korea... so of course I purchased some. We got to go into the Third Tunnel - which is 1 of 4 tunnels the South Koreans have discovered - the last being in 1990. They believe there are about 20 tunnels total. Our tour guide was telling us how she remembered when they found the 4th tunnel in 1990. She was a little girl and said that she remembered everyone had to be in early and at night they had to keep their lights off... she said it was creepy. The tunnels were dug by the North Koreans and run from North Korea into South Korea for the purpose of moving troops during the war. The North Koreans tried covering up that they were the ones who dug the tunnels. One tunnel was coated in coal because they wanted it to look like they were mining for coal - there is no coal in that area to mine for. They tried saying the South Koreans were the ones who dug the tunnels - but the direction of the explosives are in the direction from North Korea to South Korea. There are other clues which prove that the North Koreans were the ones who dug those tunnels. They are still looking for more.
Another intersting stop was Dorasan Station. They hope to make it a regular passenger stop once North and South Korea reunite... I have a feeling that won't be anytime soon... but what do I know? It's just an empty station now. I think the tracks are used for supplies. We also went up to Dora Observatory. You are supposed to be able to see North Korea from there... but the day we went it was so foggy you seriously couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. Stupid fog. It was still pretty cool though.
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