Spring break in Korea

A few of the ALT's and I had wanted to organise a trip to Korea for quite some time. Spring break presented the best opportunity for us to take and spend a good chunk of time there. incidentally, I had never thought about visiting Korea until I came to Japan. I guess its a lot closer to get to from Japan and also being influenced by Be's stories of visiting there. So it was myself, John and Clarence who set off to become Seoul men.

The morning of our departure was a bit of a shambles for me. I needed to get to one of the train stations here is Ashikaga as there would be a bus to take us directly to Narita airport. I had decided the night before that after about 6mths of studying Japanese, that I should be able to book a taxi by myself on the phone ... how wrong was I to soon find out. I thought, look they'll ask me where I want to go, when I wanted to be picked up and where. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out like that, the taxi guy spat out a whole chunk of Japanese at me that I didn't know. Even when I tried to stick to the game plan of telling him what I wanted to say, he wasn't happy and after about 5mins, he hung up. So I thought I'd ask John for some assistance, given that he knows a lot more Japanese than me. He did his best and said that it was hard but he thought that the taxi was coming at 9.30 ... I had to be at the station at 10.10.

I waited 9.30 came and went, 9.40, 9.45 ... I was beginning to panic. I then decided to walk to local supermarket in drizzling rain and ask them to call me a taxi. It came and I got to the station with about 5mins to spare ... phew saved. The bus ride was about 2 and a half hours. Checked our bags, got through security and immigration fine and then boarded the plane. We were finally on our way to Korea. Even though, my posts about Japan have seem like a holiday to you guys, I assure you is has not been. So I was glad to finally take a break from Japan.

The plane trip took about 2hrs and was uneventful, just the way I like it. It was about 5.30pm and we hopped on another bus to get us to our hotel.

A funny familiarity came over me as soon as we passed through customs and out into Korea. Korea felt more like Asian countries I had been to. Here's the reason, even though Japan has lots of Asian people living in it ... its not the real Asia of everywhere else. Korea reminded me of normal Asia straight away when we were set on by taxi drivers wanting to know where we were going and wanting to take us there, for those who has been to SE Asia, a practice that is very common. In Japan, the people are so polite that no one would ever bother you like that. Their constantly saying sorry for things ... they have lots of little words for apologies. Take a simple shopping transaction ... sorry for touching the things you are buying, sorry for putting them in a bag, sorry for taking your money to pay for them, sorry for giving you change ... and a little bow at the end. They are so polite that when I walk into people or elbow children (not on purpose of course), they would say sorry to me first!

Back to Korea and being more like Asia. Smell of raw sewage and rubbish just lying on the side of the roads. People begging for money (I've never encountered this in Japan). Outdoor markets, bargaining or bartering of items (although, their a little tough in Korea with this and not as easy as say Thailand or Vietnam). One evening while walking back to our hotel there was even several rats that ran across our path, right in front of our feet, maybe only a few centimeters away. But don't let this discourage you, because as you will see ... Korea turned out to be an awesome place, even evoking thoughts of teaching English there!

After some troubles finding our hotel, we promptly set out to explore the magical city of Seoul. Before that we had to divide our money that we had changed. Seoul deals in the currency of won and their biggest note is the equivalent of $10. This meant that we had to carry around fat stacks of money everywhere we went.

I'm rich!

Alright, John getting a bit ridiculous now!

After rolling in our money, the first stop was some food. Seoul has many restaurants called Hofs (taken from Germany I guess), but there are tonnes of these places around and all they serve is fried chicken and beer (favourite thing about Seoul #1 - fried chicken - I love it). We would continue to have fried chicken on several more occasions. With bellies full and feeling pretty hearty ... we set off to the 24 hour shopping district of Dongdaemun. Yes, you read correctly 24 hours, today, tomorrow, everyday ... its doesn't have to be approaching Christmas or anything like that ... just 24 hours all the time. To give you an idea, we hit Dongdaemun about midnight and it was still bustling, full of people and it wasn't only department stores that were open. There were street markets that I'm sure went on until early into the morning. Selling all your usual fake handbags, wallets, t-shirts, jewellery. At one point myself and Clarence were looking at some fake Lacoste polo's and comparing it to his real one he was wearing. When I pointed out all the stitching flaws on the logo to Clarence, the shop keeper took offence and authoritatively said that these were Korean made! That was the end of that ... we quickly left.

Mmmm, chicken, beer, puffy kernel pops ... what more can you ask for.

Streets of Dongdaemun still bustling at about 1am.

Dongdaemun is also home to one of three main gates that made a wall surrounding Seoul during the Joseon Dynasty. Incidentally Dongdaemon means Great East Gate and is the only one left standing in tact. The the Southern Gate (Namdaemun) was set on fire on Feb 10 2008, the West Gate (Seodaemun) was demolished earlier and the North Gate (Bukdaemun), probably not in tact. Dongdaemun's proper name is Heunginjimun meaning Gate of Rising Benevolence. The Dongdaemun gate was not as popular as the South Namdaemun Gate due to the historical significance, but this is the only one left standing. There were lots of police around guarding this after a disgruntled citizen set fire to the Namdaemun gate.

The following day was spent exploring more of Seoul. We had a few things in mind, like visiting the Palace of Shining Happiness (Gyeongbokgung), visiting the outdoor markets of Namdaemun, getting some real Korean cuisine and whatever else we felt like really.

While in the subway to catch the train (trains in Korea are just as efficient and punctual as the Japanese ones), I noticed these posters with instructions of how to put on a gas mask. A little bit concerning to me and showed me that they were ready for any incident that may happen. Gas attacks, leaks, someone letting one rip ... John basically!

This was an example of the masks. Off to the right, you can see little brown bags, these hold the gas masks.

This was entertaining. It was said that those who walk through this Gate will never grow old (or something like that). Woo hoo, I'm never getting old.

So to our first stop of Gyeongbokgung Palace (Palace of Shining Happiness). The Gyeongbok palace was the main and the largest palace built by the the Joseon Dynasty. The palace was originally constructed in 1394. Most of the palace has been rebuilt due to the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598) and then the subsequent Japanese occupation of Korea in 1911. The Japanese demolished many of the original buildings to make offices for their high ranking officials. When Korea reclaimed their country, many of their Japanese building were torn down and the original building reconstructed. There was an English guide to the palace, and it mostly talked about most of the buildings being destroyed and rebuilt ... lots of names and dates, so it got quickly boring. However, the little device was cool as you could point the device on a paper map they gave us and it tell tell us all about it. Amazing, considering there seemed to be no chips implanted into the map ... hmmm.

When we initially got to the palace, they had just completed the re-enactment of the changing of the guards. They seemed to run this show every few hours for the hoards of tourists. So who looks more threatening in the picture??? Interestingly, the guards never moved, so they had security watching over them to stop any people doing stupid poses with them.

Just through the main gate. The palace is set against the backdrop of the mountains. Pretty cool I think.

The main entrance to the palace.

One of the buildings by the lake and mountains

One final shot with my man and the drum they would beat on during the changing of the guards.

After a long morning, we were ready for some Korean food. An attempt was made at trying to make some specific restaurants recommended by the good ol' Lonely Planet guide. This was quickly aborted as we got progressively more hungry. So we strolled down an alley and ducked into a nice little cosy establishment. There were a few pictures on the wall, so it made our decision a little easier as non of us could read Korean. The owner strolled up to us and explained to us in her broken English that it was her restaurant and that they specialised in oysters ... hmm, not what I think of when thinking of Korean food, but ok, why not. She pointed to the pictures on the wall and we selected a few dishes. We were later to find out that the pictures were of the more expensive items. Anyway, the owner was really nice to us and even gave us a free bowl of oyster soup which was awesome.

We started with the Korean staple food of kimchi (some fermented spicy vegetables including, cucumbers, radishes and cabbage). The kimchi is free and are constantly topped up when finished.

Not sure of the Korean name for this but its known as Korean pizza to me. This one is seafood in a flour mixture and fried. Very dericiuos!

Our other dish of Samgyeopsal-gui (grilled side of pork) and Sundae (Korean sausage), stuffed with things that we may not want to know about. Looks like sausages that my parents make and stuff with offal and other bits of animals. Its basically small and large intestines of pigs salted and stuffed with a mixture of pigs blood, rice, green onions, garlic, minced pork, and vermicelli, then steamed. Our hostess only seemed to mention that it contained pork. John and Clarence liked it, so lets not tell them! Also out free soup that we're digging into.

Ah, and after lunch more shopping in Namdaemun. Looks like any normal Asian shopping strip right. I couldn't help but buy some soccer tops (I do have issues, someone help me! But lets hope Ronaldinhno and Kaka don't move anywhere).

While walking to the burnt Namdaemun gate, we passed a lady selling boiled silk worms. Now, John had read about these little critters and just had to try some. He bought a cup, which grandma filled to the top. Go on John, do it!

After having one of the little critters, he contemplated having more ... there were so many and me and Clarence were not going to help him. Plus, the smell was awful ... smelt like toilet! He soon discarded the cup, satisfied that he had At least tried one and not died from the experience. Next up for John, dog soup!

This was the Namdaemun gate that is currently under reconstructed after the fire earlier this year. We had only missed out on seeing this gate by about a month. The Namdaemun gate is located in the heart of Seoul and was officially called Sungnyemun meaning "Gate of Exalted Ceremonies". Before the fire, Namdaemun was the oldest wooden structure in Seoul. The gate was originally used to greet foreign emissaries, control access to the capital city and keep out Korean tigers! You can see pictures of it from the link.

In and around down town Seoul

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