South Korea: A country seeking unification

We came to Seoul four years ago and, to be honest, I did not love it then. We were very jet-lagged that time and the country was pretty much a blur.  This time... we had an extra day here and I really enjoyed the leg.  We worked super hard and did a ton of stuff.

Views: The scavenge was to eat at this fancy restaurant “Top Cloud.”  Of course we didn’t know it was posh so we arrived in our zip-off travel pants and sweaty T-Shirts.  They seated us next to the kitchen behind a huge pole (as hidden as any table of diners could be).  But the restaurant actually was lovely and had amazing views of Seoul.  Even the bathroom –which had a large communal, circular sink – was floor to ceiling windows with panoramic views. It made you just want to hang out in the restroom and watch the world below.

Spaceships:  A wow scavenge … sometimes the A+++ challenges just sneak up on you unexpectedly…. And this was one of those surprises.  We had to visit the Dongdaenum Design Plaza and describe the building there.  But there are no words.  It’s like two space ships just landed in the middle of downtown Seoul. Incredible engineering.  

In fact so overwhelming I had to just sit on a bench and gaze at the architecture for a bit.   And the locals are just walking on by, head down on their Iphones, not even awed by the wonder above them.  I actually said out loud .. to myself… “So impressive”  and a young man walking by stopped to chat, looked up from his tablet and we marveled at the place together for a moment.  Even the stairs are cool… lighted and heading from the space ship bowels to the sky.

Bug popcorn:  The challenge was to taste “bundaegi.”  And yes, it is bugs.  Bugs cooked up in huge pots and sold by street vendors in the cup-load.  Small cockroach-like bugs.  Koreans eat them like popcorn.  

Jordan, Bettina and I tried them.  They taste buggy.  There is buggy juice-ness in the middle.  They crunch in your mouth like a bug.  Yuck is too nice a word.

Busan fish market:  It’s a long train ride to Busan but the trip was worth a lot of bonus points, so off we went.  The fish market in Busan showcases some creatures from the sea that I've never seen or heard of or ever thought about putting near my mouth. 

There was a stunning selection of sea slugs, sea cucumbers, squids, octopus, crabs of every description and some deep sea fish that I have no name for.  Basically, if it lives in salt water, it’s for sale in Busan... and they buy it and chow down!!!

Suwon: Then to Suwon to climb up a hill to visit the fortress. Let me just say something about that scavenge:  Rainey got back from climbing to Everest base camp last month. He now thinks he’s a mountain goat. He hopped and skipped up the hill. I, on the other hand, trudged up it – having to rest periodically. Old age is a bitch.  

Great view of the whole of Suwon from the top of the hill

Jordan and I rang the giant bell at the top of the hill for luck.  When a youngster rings it, it’s for “peace with his elders” … maybe it will work on Jordan!!!

Scary moment.  The scavenge was to get to the roof of the Shinsegae department store flagship.  We got to the 14^th floor easy.  Then we found some back corridors.  One door led on to another few flights of stairs.  We climbed to the 17^th floor.  Then another set of corridors.  Another door. A new set of stairs.  We climbed to the roof.  By this time we had not seen a person in 6 or 7 floors.  We busted out of the stairwell onto the roof and took photos with the huge air conditioner systems and pipes.  

Then We turned to leave.  Urghhhh !!!! The steel door that we came through had shut behind us AND LOCKED.  We were officially trapped 20 floors up on a deserted roof in the middle of Seoul.  We banged and banged.  Nothing.  We yelled. Nothing.  Quick moment of panic.  First thought was to start dropping “Help. We are stranded on the roof” notes down on people’s heads. But for that plan to be successful the person hit with the note (attached to a rock – of course) would have to know English.  Breaking out seemed a better option. So we put Rainey and Johnathan on the task of beating and pulling on the steel door.  Adrenaline kicked in and they literally broke down the door.  We escaped.  Close call!!!

Spent sunset eating at a restaurant at the Seoul Tower. Great views at dusk.

DMZ:  Yesterday we went to the DMZ.  I know… how weird?  You can actually visit the DeMilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea (4 KM wide swath of land with 1 million land mines) and stand on a watch tower and look with high powered binoculars at the North Korean town right over the DMZ line.  The whole time I was wondering … are they looking back?

You are not allowed to photograph what you can see from the tower. And if you do, soldiers take away your phone and delete all of the pictures. They take this stuff very seriously. But, it looks remarkably like South Korea… except with a different flag flying on their flagpole.

Plus 4 KM is not a very big separation in terms of lobbing bombs or explosive devices at the other side.  I kept thinking we’d end up having to hit the deck and duck and cover from incoming. 

Equally odd… they let you go into one of the 5 “Infiltration Tunnels” discovered on the border where N. Korea dug 100+ feet down and burrowed under the DMZ and into S. Korea.  One is big enough to move 30,000 troops across the DMZ (cleverly avoiding the land mines) within hours. (Mexican drug cartels should come over here for digging-under-a-border lessons). The first tunnel – the one we visited – was discovered because the engineer who designed it defected to South Korea and spilled the beans.  The second tunnel was found when a soldier was urinating in the woods and noticed that his pee did not soak into the soil in a typical way (I have no idea what typical pee-soakage is, but something was apparently amiss in his experience).  The South Koreans have no idea how many tunnels are actually out there.  The tunnel we went into was small (you had to crouch over to fit) and North Korea had smeared the walls with coal dust so they could claim to the UN that they were just exploring for coal and - mistakenly - went in the wrong direction.  Naturally– even though it was against the rules – Jordan had to touch the walls and came away with coal black hands for the rest of the day.

We also visited the Peace Bell (which they claim will ring when unification of the country happens)

And the Freedom Bridge (a bridge spanning the DMZ). 12,700 South Korean and American prisoners of war walked across that bridge into South Korea when the Korean war ended and the POWs were released.  And the new train station (completely built and decked out in 2002) when there was a fleeting hope that N. Korea would let the southern country use its railroad lines to move goods and people over its land to Europe.  The promise never panned out. The train station – a huge, beautiful, modern facility - sits completely empty. 

Either the Koreans are true believers in “The Secret” (i.e. if you say out loud to the universe – enough times - what you want to happen, the universe will deliver it) or they are downright delusional. Because every other word out of their mouths is “WHEN” unification happens. They really want the two countries re-united as one.  Seems like time for a reality check.  From the outside world’s perspective unification is never going to happen and would probably be a terrible idea anyway. 

Coolest piece of art at the DMZ …. A world broken open with Korea split into two parts on either side of the broken globe with people straining to push it back together.

Changing of the guards at the palace: with all the pomp, circumstance, drum beating and hats with silly feathers that you would expect.

Plus we of course had to eat Korean Bar-B-Q… in Korea.  The difference is - here - it comes with some really odd side dishes.

Observation:  In Korean public restrooms there is often “family toilet” cubicle where there is a regular size toilet and a miniature size toilet – side by side - for little girls who are with their moms.  And there is also a pint-sized urinal in the corner of every women’s restroom.  Clever idea.

We spent a lot of time this leg with Bettina and Jonathan (and Jordan).  Emily and Ugs went off on their own and scavenged hard so we did not see them for almost all of the time we were in Korea. Johnathan got a  lot of looks from the giggly Asian girls with his cool American Gangsta look.

We are off to Delhi, India next for a long 5 day leg.  It will be a traveling leg where we have to pack up our backpacks and travel on our own through a part of India.  I'll probably not update the blog until the leg is over... so see you all in a few days.