day #15 - 31/08/16My hostel in Jeju is in Seogwipo which is the second largest city on the island, sadly due to this there was little of the island vibe I had been hoping for. Seogwipo however, does have the advantage of excellent bus connections which are vital for getting around the island if you are without a car. Nearby my hostel were two "food streets" - ever eager to ignore my expanding waistline in the name of culinary exploration I headed off to see what I could find and sadly found that every one of the food outlets was closed - even though it was lunchtime. Returning to the hostel with a very sad looking 40p instant noodle-cup I sat in the hostel courtyard and tried to figure out my plan of attack for the day. cheonjiyeon fallsI toyed with the idea of spending the afternoon doing one of the islands famous walking trails, two were easily accessible from my hostel, but decided against it due it being the middle of the day and around 35C. Instead I walked down to Cheonjiyeon Falls; the most famous waterfall on Jeju which was about 20 minutes walk from my hostel. The waterfall was very nice but actually I preferred walking along the gorge towards it and being back in some decent nature so easily accessible from soulless, concrete-ridden Seogwipo. korean bbqThe hostel organises a Korean BBQ every night for its guests, the key selling point of which is its use of Jeju Black Pig - the famous, supposedly superior pig bred on the island. Having walked past the previous night's BBQ crowd which consisted exclusively of about 30 soju-fuelled Koreans I was slightly concerned that conversation would be somewhat lacking. Thankfully the hostel directed me to a table where I was sat next to the only other non-Korean in attendance, Julia who is from Hamburg. We were quickly joined by a group of intrigued Koreans who grilled us about our backgrounds and responded to every single answer with a synchronised "ooooorrrwwwwhhh". The "orrwhs" were particularly enthusiastic upon discovering that I had been to medical school and even more so when they discovered that Julia was a fashion (and food) stylist. For those unaware what exactly a food stylist is they are the people who lay out the food and table wear prior to a photoshoot for said food so that it looks pretty in the magazine. After posing as the token white people for endless selfies and exchanging the inevitable Facebook and Instagram profiles with a group of people I would undoubtedly never encounter again, whose names I cannot read let alone pronounce, we started eating. For the next 2 hours we were fed a seemingly endless supply of pork which we cooked on a BBQ in the centre of the table. We also had the pleasure of sharing 2 mushrooms between the entire table- seriously Korea I know you love kimchi but why must you deprive me of normal, non pickled vegetables and then tease me with such pitiful quantities of them?! [sidenote: the Korean for mushrooms is "mushroomie" - amazing] fun factThe highest mountain in South Korea is on Jeju - the dormant volcano Mount Hallasan which is the centre of the island stands at 1950m above sea level.
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day #14 - 30/08/16Today I travelled from Seoul to Jeju Island, a tiny island off the south coast of Korea which is famed as the Korean honeymoon hotspot and a favourite filming location of K-Dramas (Korean soap operas which are ridiculously popular throughout Asia). The island is now also a huge shopping destination for Chinese tourists who take advantage of the tax-free megastores without needing a visa (unlike on the mainland where Chinese people are required to have an expensive tourist visa). fun facTThe stone man who features in the photo above of the luggage belt at Jeju Airport is actually a "Dol Hareubang". These large stone statues are famous to Jeju and are representative of gods offering protection and fertility and were therefore placed outside of gates for protection against demons. Nowadays, monopolising on the islands' booming honeymoon trade, small versions of the statue are now sold to help with fertility problems.
day #13 - 29/08/16seoraksan national parkBeing my last day in Sokcho I had no option but to venture out into the storm and go hiking in the Seoraksan National Park. Here are some photos courtesy of Google Images which should explain why I was so keen to explore this national park: - looks hideous right? My experience of the Seoraksan was somewhat greyer, colder and wetter than any of those photos above. Despite this it was still one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen so I can't imagine how breathtaking it would be to see it with a blue sky. The park is only 20 minutes by bus from Sokcho and driving up from the coast into the rugged mountains really was rather nice. The park itself is very easy to explore with well marked trails leading to impressive rock formations, mountain tops and Buddhist temples. There is even a cable car leading to the top of one of the mountains which I imagine would give an Instagram worthy viewpoint across landscape - when it isn't entirely cloaked in fog and rain. I decided to follow one of the trails leading to the famous temple in the area and along the way came across an enormous (14m) metal Buddha (Sinheungsa Temple). Although the weather was awful the mist and fog definitely added a mystical vibe to the place which I suppose could be interpreted as 'spiritual' if you are that way inclined. After about 15 minutes of strolling along the trail, smiling smugly at all the drenched, miserable looking couples who had turned up without raincoats and wearing flip-flops, I reached the a temple (no amount of googling can remind me of the name). The architecture was very similar to the temples I'd seen before- with bright paint covering the wooden structure. This temple did however have a noticeable amount of dragons hanging like gargoyles from beneath the curved roofs glaring angry at the downpour surrounding them. Forcing myself to carry on I followed the trail for about an hour and a half through the woods heading towards Ulsanbawi Rock- which is actually a series of several rock formation on one of the mountain peaks and the poster child of the Korean tourist board. Hiking is so popular in Korea it is almost seen as a national sport; when I was in Seoul I even saw people on the city's subway fully kitted up for a days hiking. Luckily the weather appeared to have put most sane people off a days walking so there were stretches of the trail where I was alone for almost 40 minutes. After reaching my first landmark I continued to climb for another 30 minutes when the path opened up to an enormous series of stones which had Korean characters carved into them. I headed up a stone staircase, which had also been carved out of the rock, to discover an entrance to a Buddhist temple (Gyejoam Temple), carved into the mountainside. It was surreal to find such a huge temple miles from anywhere in the middle of the mountains. Up some more steps there was a shrine where I sat, sheltered from the rain, trying (and failing miserably) to understand what this whole Buddhist zen thing was about. Stopping myself from indulging any more in my Gapyah moment I headed down to another huge rock platform (also carved with Korean characters) upon which is a large (about 2-3 meters high) boulder called Heundeulbawi. Apparently it is possible, with the force of several people to get the boulder to rock back and forth. Sadly my incredible strength and fitness was no match for Heundeulbawi. The trail does actually continue upward for about 2 more hours right to the top of the mountain to the famous aforementioned Ulsanbawi Rock. In the interest of avoiding hypothermia I decided against this and headed back down the stairs to a coffee shop I had spotted at the start of the trail. By the time I had arrived they had even started a fire in an indoor firepit which was soon surrounded by all my wet clothes. Here I had my first decent coffee in Korea, sadly it cost me almost £8.00 to indulge in this but at this point I was so wet, cold and tired I didn't really care. I also dubiously ordered a 'scone' and it was a good thing I didn't expect much because the flat, tasteless, absolutely-nothing-like-a-scone thing that appeared would have given Mary Berry a heart attack. The two hour bus journey from Sokcho to Seoul was thankfully less eventful than my previous encounter with Korean transportation and I arrived into Seoul just in time to catch the last subway to Seoul Station. sleeping in a saunaYes you read that correctly. I spent the night in a Korean sauna (known as jimjilbangs). Erase every prior conception you have of a sauna because jimjilbangs bear little resemblance to anything available in the west and no, contrary to my father's outrage and concern, they are not brothels (as if he genuinely thought I would choose to stay in a brothel!?). A jimjilbang is usually housed in a large building of around 4-6 stories and can be spotted by a large neon sign bearing the following symbol: ♨️. Most are open 24 hours and are a very useful place for budget accommodation. The entrance fee is anywhere between £5-£10 for a 12 hour period, the price usually depends on the location and the number of facilities available. I stayed at Siloam Sauna which is only 5 minutes walk from Seoul Station and offers free luggage storage so was ideal given I would be flying from Seoul airport the next day. After paying the entrance fee you are then given a locker key, a bath-towel, two tiny towels (tea towel size) and a sauna outfit (colour coded by gender) which consist of a large t-shirt and a pair of baggy 3/4 length trousers that are somewhere between pyjamas, a prison uniform and hospital scrubs. Nice. You then head to your assigned changing rooms where you take off your shoes and place them in a special shoe locker. You then exchange your shoe locker key for a larger locker wristband-key where you can store your valuables and clothes before stripping down completely naked. Using one of your tiny towels in a feeble attempt to maintain your modesty you then head over to the first part of the jimjilbang experience; the baths. Due to the nakedness of it all you'll be happy to hear the baths are gender segregated. The baths themselves are not for cleaning however; first you must head over to one side of the bath room where rows of shower heads and tiny stools are lined up. The idea is you squat down on the ridiculously small plastic stool and scrub yourself clean (soap and shampoo are provided) and then dry yourself off before entering the baths. [An additional service you can pay for at this point is to have little old Korean ladies scrub your skin raw. Having watched the following video of American talk-show host Conan O'Brian's experiences in a jimjilbang I decided against this: Seriously watch the video it is hilarious.] Yet more delicate towel handling is required at this point as you try to simultaneously cover yourself with the towel whilst lowering yourself into the water and not getting the towel wet. Seasoned veterans somehow manage to do this so elegantly that they enter the bath towel-a-covering and a split second later have said towel delicately wrapped around their head in an impressive feat of towel origami that looks similar to Princess Leia. Older women (and useless western tourists) just messily fold the towel ontop their head as you cannot under any circumstances let your towel (or hair) touch the water! At Siloam there are about 5 different hot baths all filled with different minerals and claiming to have various healing effects. Sadly due to my being there at 1:30am almost all of these baths were empty and being cleaned (by old ladies known as 'Ajammas' who scrub away at the baths whilst in their underwear!) so I sat in one of two hot baths still open. Once I felt suitably close to collapse I got straight into the freezing cold pool which was painful yet weirdly relaxing. Siloam's website contains some amazing (and totally medically accurate) descriptions of their services which I have put below for your enjoyment; Once you've had enough of the baths (and adjacent saunas) at a jimjilbang you head back to the showers and wash yourself again before getting changed into your sauna pyjamas (floor 2 and above are unisex). This is where the fun begins. At Siloam there are 6 floors comprising of: 1. The baths 2. The changing rooms 3. The 'Resting Room' - this is basically one huge room filled with random sleeping Korean people, sprawled out all over the floor. Truly bizarre. Alongside one of the walls a series of hobbit sized doors lead into special smaller sleeping rooms which each claim various healing properties. 4. 'Entertainment Facilities' - complete with a fully equipped gym, a computer room, a Korean restaurant, a coffee shop, a 'family singing room' (ie. Karaoke) and a children's playroom. This floor is laid out similarly to the floor below in that the centre of the floor is a just a large open space complete with TV blaring - it was 2am at this point - and full of sleeping people (sleeping on the hard floor with just a blanket and a hard leather block -I refuse to acknowledge them as pillows- for comfort). The 'entertainment' rooms, like the floor below are accessible via doorways along the edges of the big main room. 5. 'Formentation Room' - so I have no idea what the sauna's English translator was thinking when they described this floor as 'formentation' (Definition :"the action of instigating or stirring up undesirable sentiment or actions"). But essentially this floor was filled with little rooms, again accessible through hobbit/Milly-sized doors. The temperatures and humidities varied between the rooms. In some of them, such as the 85C room (I suggest 'oven' may be a more suitable word here) in which I managed a whole 4 minutes before almost passing out, you sit cross legged on the stone floor. Others however are like little caves, the ground filled with hot soft stones or salt- in these people were lying down and actually burying themselves beneath the hot stones, a few people had even managed to sleep in these - Korean people seem to have the remarkable and enviable ability of being able to fall asleep anywhere. 6. 'Sleeping room' - this floor is fairly unique to Siloam, at most jimjilbangs the sleeping area is simply the central open space on the hard floor (as seen in the levels below). Siloam actually has dedicated sleeping capsules complete with mattresses, sheets and curtains and even a snorers only room to allow useless lightsleepers like myself to attempt to achieve a vague amount of sleep. So there you have it. A thrilling ride through the levels of the super-sauna experience that is a Korean jimjilbang. I managed a surprisingly good sleep in my little capsule and even grabbed breakfast (consisting of an enormous platter just for me) at the Korean restaurant before saying farewell to my prison garb and heading to the airport. finally please enjoy these wonderful inspirational messages that were all over the place, including- of course - the loos...
day #12 - 28/08/16back to the dmzSo the reason I came to Sokcho was due to its proximity to Seoraksan National Park which is considered one of the most beautiful places in South Korea and is full of hiking trails leading to remote temples- sounds dreamy right? Well imagine my joy to wake up, mentally prepared for a day of hiking, to discover a full-on tropical downpour outside. Sadly it turned out that the rain was due to continue for the entire day. Hiking was off the agenda. Sad times indeed. Desperately trying to find something to do that wouldn't require a snorkel I remembered reading about Sokcho's proximity to North Korea. In fact, lying above the 38th parallel, Sokcho was actually part of North Korea from 1945 until the end of the Korean War. Lonely Planet mentioned a DMZ museum which was accessible from Sokcho so I decided to give it a go. Accessing the museum isn't the easiest without a car; first you must take a bus from Sokcho for 1.5hrs north along the eastern coastal road and get off at the final stop. Then you walk for 15 minutes along a road following the barbed wire fence (designed to stop North Koreans entering via the beaches) until you reach the ticket entrance to the DMZ museum. The museum itself however is a further 10km away from the ticket area and the only way you can make this final leg of the journey is via car. Without a car you have to hitchhike. Going up to the ticket office faced with nothing but Korean signs I attempted to explain the situation to the staff who put me to one side until they found someone with a car willing to let me tag along. After 5 mins a poor, utterly bemused middle-aged Korean couple were essentially guilted into driving me along to the museum. With their English vocabulary limited to "Hello" and my Korean "Thank You" I experienced possibly one of the most awkward 10 minutes of my life sitting in the back of their car whilst they laughed amongst themselves at their predicament. First of all we drove to an observatory which famously provides a very good view into the North. I know this because they had a helpful panoramic photograph placed above the Windows showing various villages and guard stations. The view that day however consisted of rain and grey cloud- you couldn't see more than 10 meters let alone 20miles. Everybody stupid enough to trek out to an observatory during a torrential storm was treated to a 10 minute talk, in Korean. We quickly moved onto the museum - the lady let me share her umbrella so she can't have resented me tooooooo much and the man asked me various questions about where I am from and what I was doing in Korea all via Google translate. The museum was a deceptively large building from the outside- inside there is only really one floor of exhibition stuff. My Korean chauffeurs refused to let me pay for my own ticket so I got into the museum for free. The weirdest thing was that despite the effort the couple had gone to to get to the museum (it really is in the middle of nowhere) they raced through the exhibition floors, barely looking at anything and then sat back down in the entrance hall telling me (via Google translate obvs) that they would wait there until I was ready to go back. I did a lap of the upper floor as quickly as I could trying to skim over the information available before stopping in the museum shop to buy some chocolate for my drivers as a pathetic form of thank you (they kept refusing money for my museum ticket). They then kindly drove me all the way back to Sokcho again for free and I never even discovered their names. Thank you awkward Korean couple from Seoul! There is a special place in hell for whoever invented a sausage made from blended squidBack in the hostel I met a German guy, Chris, who was very keen to try Sokcho's famous delicacy - squid sausage. Deciding that, although it would inevitably be disgusting I should probably still experience it just this once, I headed with Chris down the road to the seafood market.
The Sokcho seafood market is in the basement beneath the regular food market (which btw does actually also sell nice, edible things such as Korean spicy fried chicken, tempura and gelato). The seafood basement floor is one massive room full of huge aquarium tanks each filled with hundreds of weird and wonderful sea creatures. All looked completely alien compared to anything available on the Waitrose fish counter and very much like something out of one of those David Attenborough documentaries filmed from a submarine cruising through a deep oceanic trench . These included crabs the size of a small family car, fish so small they were basically plankton and the strangest little red ?vegetables which bobbed up and down in their tanks looking like a cross between a root vegetable and a human heart. Weird. In between each cluster of tanks was a tiny seating area (Korean style ie. Cushions on the floor) where people were eating the recent occupants of the tanks surrounding them. Thankfully the squid sausage we had come to try is very much deceased by the time it is made into sausage form. The 'sausage' is actually the head of a bright red squid which is then stuffed with a mystery blended seafood mush (seriously why?!). This bulbous squid head is tied off at one end (God-forbid the fishy-mush escapes) sliced into wedges about 2 centimetres thick, coated with raw egg, fried and then packaged up to be sold to people mad enough to think making any kind of sausage out of seafood is a good idea. The absolute worst thing about this is that the sausage is therefore eaten cold. Cold seafood mush surrounded by a ring of cold squid is truly a thing of nightmares. No matter how much soy sauce you doused on the thing the vile taste was inescapable - I had 2 slices (which was 2 slices too many) before giving up and attempting to wash away he taste with a can of 'Cass' - Korean beer (which was more water than beer). Next time I'll stick with the sesame spicy chicken thank you very much. day #11 - 27/08/16Today I did very little. I walked from the hostel towards Sokcho's main beach gearing myself up for a swim, only to discover that people in Korea don't wear swimming costumes in the sea but actual clothes. Not wanting to offend a packed beach-full of Koreans I headed back to a nice coffee shop and had a lazy day sipping coffee and exploiting the free wifi.
day #10 - 26/08/16silla tombsIt would be difficult to visit Gyeongju and miss out on the huge Tumuli Park running though the city centre filled with the huge grass covered mounds that make up a small part of the Daereungwon Tomb Complex. The earth-mounds house (mostly) the remains of the rulers of the Silla dynasty (57BCE- 935CE) - however many of the tomb 'occupants' have yet to be linked to any known ruler. The number of tombs discovered is enormous and in addition to the park I visited they can be found all over the countryside surrounding the city. Even today excavations continue and certain areas of the park were cordoned off when I was there due to this. One of the tombs in the park - Cheonmachong aka 'Heavenly Horse Tomb' (due to a decorated saddle-flap found at the site) has been fully excavated allowing you to go inside and see how the tombs were constructed. Essentially at the centre of the tomb lies an enormous wooden coffin; which other than the fact it contains a dead body bears little resemblance to any coffin I've seen. The 'coffin' was actually a huge wooden box, about 3 meters high and 5 meters long; inside this was found the remains of an as yet unidentified Silla ruler. 11,500 artefacts were discovered within this wooden box surrounding the body including a gold crown, gold girdle and a lot of jade - so it's pretty obvious that whoever the guy was he was a pretty big deal. The shape of the mound was created using the complex engineering method of piling a lot of stones and rocks ontop of the box until it formed a rather large mound and then covering this with earth. the journey to sokchoAfter an hour or so of playing Indiana Jones I left the tombs behind, said goodbye to Craig and headed to the bus station for a wonderful 7 hour bus journey to Sokcho. Yes the journey was 7 hours long, no it wasn't remotely wonderful. Prize to the rudest and unnecessarily angriest bus driver in the world goes to the delightful driver behind this 7 hour ordeal who when, as we approached a major town after 6:55 hours on the road and I asked "Sokcho?" responded with a minute long rant in Korean complete with violent hand gestures. Getting the gist that 1)Nope this isn't Sokcho and 2) Korean bus drivers should have Valium put their water -I sunk back into my seat. 5 minutes later the driver pulled up on a random street - in the same town I might add- turned to me, yelled "Sokcho" and made some gestures that I believe meant something along the lines of "get the fuck off my bus you stupid fat white girl". Welcome to Sokcho! Luckily I found my hostel less than 5 mins after being ejected from the bus. The owner of The House Hostel 'Yoo' could not have been more different; once I had checked in he sat me down with a map and somehow provided more information on the local sites and transport system than Lonely Planet dos in less than 5 minutes. After this Yoo took me through a special folder full of hand-drawn maps to recommended restaurants for almost every type of Korean food - a man after my own heart! fun factDue to a weird loophole in government restrictions on GPS data Sokcho is one of the only places in South Korea where Pokemon Go will work. Therefore the city has seen a noticeable boom in domestic tourism in recent months and a shortage of bus tickets.
day 9 - 25/08/16bulguksaBulguksa is one of the main tourism draws of Gyeongju- despite actually being a 25 bus minute drive from the town centre. The UNESCO Heritage site is the head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and is usually at the top of any 'Things you must do in Korea' list - so it had a lot to live up to. Now the bus doesn't actually drop you off outside the entrance to the temple; you then have to walk about 5/10 minutes up an almost vertical pathway - particularly enjoyable during a Korean heat wave. Here is a summary of my thoughts during my visit to Bulguksa: 1. Whaaaaat- you want me to pay a whole £1.40 for one of the most famous and celebrated temples in Korea? 2. Where are all the people? 3. Pretty lanterns 4. Seriously why is everybody- I basically have a temple to myself 5. I am in love with these lanterns 6. Is it worth becoming vegan, and learning Korean to become a Buddhist monk just so I can live here? 7. Probably not. 8. It is so quiet that I can pose for photos in a ridiculous manner and feel no shame- because #instagramgoals #omglanterns 9. I have no idea what the messages hanging off the lanterns mean but i love them 10. I'm not sure what the significance of stacking little stones onto every conceivable surface is but it looks nice 11. I wonder what would happen if I went on a rampage and pushed all the stone piles over... 12. Hmm... Korean prison is probably less fun than Litchfield Penitentiary #unlessAlexVausegottransferred 13. Alan Titchmarsh ain't got nothing on Korean landscaping seokguram grotto20 mins away from Bulguksa via a winding mountain road is Seokguram Grotto, yet another UNESCO site. Constructed out of granite the grotto and Buddha inside are another of Korea's most famous cultural sites. The views from up here were pretty spectacular but my favourite part was the 15 minute walk from the entry way to the shrine itself - a path through the forest- which again was for the most part completely devoid of other visitors [this is possibly because nobody else is mad enough to venture out in the ridiculous heat]. The grotto itself was pretty cool- again mostly for the views across the mountainous landscape. Sadly I wasn't allowed to take photos of the inside of the grotto but 'massive granite Buddha' describes its contents adequately. Lonely Planet raves about the grotto as being a 'magical place where chipmunks dance in the leaves' - I can confirm that chipmunks do indeed inhabit the forest and rocks surrounding the shrine but sadly I saw nothing resembling dancing. fun factTelling someone your age in South Korea can be a little confusing; they consider a baby to be 1 year old at birth.
day 8 - 24/08/16Gyeongju (confusingly pronounced 'key-on-dew') is basically Korea's answer to Kyoto [NB. another city that could also lay claim to this comparison is Andong which sadly I don't have time to go to on this trip]. Anyway back to Gyeongju- this city, in the southeast of the country, was Korea's capital throughout the Silla dynasty, a period of almost 1000 years. It goes without saying that because of this there are many a cultural landmark to explore and the city is frequently rewarded the strap-line of 'Museum without Walls'. Due to mostly a lot of blind luck, much of Gyeongju has escaped the destruction of wars and occupation which elsewhere has destroyed so much of Korea's cultural heritage. The city maintains the feel of a small town rather than a metropolis like its much bigger sister (and usurper) Seoul. I was so exhausted after the non-stop crazy time of Seoul I spent the majority of my first day in Gyeongju doing nothing - and it was amazing. In the evening I headed out with Craig and his two other CSers- Marcus from Canada and Danny from America. Danny had just spent the year teaching English in Seoul. [Side note: English teachers are in great demand in Korea- the majority come from America, Canada and Australia and range from recent graduates to retirees. For the most part landing a teaching job is a pretty sweet deal; flights, accommodation and utilities are often provided for by the university or school meaning the £2000-£3000 a month salary can easily fund many an eastern travel adventure outside of term time - something to think about for all those disillusioned NHS workers perhaps?] We ate a supposedly local market, however the prices and the quantity of signs in Chinese and English suggested otherwise. We quickly returned to Craig's place to pick up his dog "Kiwi" (who sadly due to some fairly horrific treatment before being rescued at a shelter by Craig is rather untrustworthy) before walking through the quiet, traditional streets towards one of the main tourist areas. donggung palace and wolji pond (aka anapji pond)Donggung Palace, surrounded by artificial lakes or 'ponds' is in fact a reconstruction- (I don't think I need keep explaining why a reconstruction is necessary so I'll leave it at that!) of the original structure which was completed in 674 CE. The area surrounding the attraction which includes several tombs (more on those later) and Cheomseongdae Observatory (dating from the 7th Century making it the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in the world) has sadly lost some of its charm due to hordes of tourists and the inevitable vendors placed to exploit them. A popular tourist draw appears to be the provision of rental 'vehicles' ranging from segways and those 'hover-board' things that don't actually hover [seriously what a let down] to mini 2 person cars and electric bikes. Despite the concentration of the tourist sites in this particular area being no bigger than around 800m squared, a huge number of people (all able-bodied I should add) buy into the novelty - which given you can't actually access the palace area whilst on said vehicle seems a little ridiculous, but hey whatever floats your boat (or in this case doesn't float your hoverboard). Despite the relative crowds of people (I've been very spoilt so far in Korea - most temples I have visited have been far quieter than any comparative attraction in Europe) it is possible to experience the magic of Donggung Palace - especially at night due to the palace illuminations and its reflection in the pond. Sadly my two companions didn't share my enthusiasm and seemed very unimpressed by the whole thing- not really sure why you'd bother coming to an ancient capital city if you are - I quote - "over temples", but hey ho. (another not so) fun fact Korea has the largest gender pay gap of any developed country- the gap is currently 36.7% and it is almost universal - even if a women is president of a company she will most likely earn significantly less than employees below her. The argument used for this is that men are expected to use their wage to support their family whereas women are not.
This means for example that if a man receives a monthly wage of 1 million won (£682.00) a woman will get 633000 won (£432). Not cool Korea. Not cool. day 7 - 23/08/16Having checked multiple times that it was indeed open on Tuesdays I headed over to the Korean War Memorial- an enormous museum which tells the story of Korea's involvement in conflict throughout history, with a notable and obvious emphasis on the Korean War. If only all museums were as good as this one - it really was fantastic and even if you had zero interest in history, politics or the military I'm sure you would be able to spend an afternoon at the Korean War Memorial and enjoy it. The geek that I am I spent 6 hours there and it was fabulous. The recommended, chronological route through the museum starts on the ground floor which attempts to explain the complex history of hostilities between Korea and its Asian neighbours. I'll admit I spent less time reading the descriptions and more time watching the many battle reenactment films which were seriously well produced and appeared to have the budgets of a Hollywood blockbuster (really- no sarcasm here!) The number of battles and conflicts were difficult to get your head around but in summary: Korea and Japan like to fight. A lot. Sometimes China gets involved too. Turns out Koreans were quite the innovators when creating weapons - the first ever 'rocket launcher' is one of them and is basically an enormous long-range crossbow capable of propelling 200 arrows at a time a distance of "1000 footsteps" - not the most accurate measurement but I guess it was revolutionary at the time. Perhaps the most celebrated military innovation is the Geobukseon or 'turtle ship' which was first used in the 15th century in battles against invading (you've guessed it) Japanese naval fleets. The turtle ship is credited as being the first ever armoured ship. It gets its name from the spike covered iron plates that cover the upper ship surface and provided protection to both boat and crew from cannon balls, incendiary weapons and arrows and also served as a deterrent to enemy sailors wanting to board the ship. At the bow of the ship is a large dragon head which depending on the design could emit smoke or fire in order to intimidate and disorientate the enemy or even shoot cannon balls. The Koreans are proud of their turtle boats and justifiably so - even 600 years later they are an impressive feat of engineering and ingenuity. As impressive as spiky metal boats are I really came to the museum to learn more about the Korean War so headed upstairs. One of the first things I came across was a 4D film (one of those cinemas where you wear 3D glasses and the seats move) which was a main part of the museum rather than being an optional add on. The film puts you in the place of multiple UN soldiers during the Incheon Landings which were kind of a D Day moment for the war in the east. The battle of Incheon was a turning point for the UN forces in seizing back control from the DPRK and was fundamental in the South regaining Seoul. The landing was masterminded by General Douglas MacArthur (US Army) and was controversial due to the strong existing defences present at Incheon; the port was only accessible via 2 narrow channels (which hypothetically could have been easily defended by mines) and both with strong currents . The area available to ship anchorage was restricted and the entire harbour surrounded by high sea walls. The success rate was calculated to be somewhere in the region of 1/5000 yet MacArthur insisted the operation go ahead despite disagreement from his South Korean colleagues; his theory being that the DPRK forces would hold similar views as to the inappropriateness of Incheon as a landing site and would therefore be caught completely unawares. The film itself was really good; it told the story through the eyes of marines in landing crafts, pilots providing air support and naval officers on the ships and with all the effects was a far better insight into what the landing might have been like compared with reading a museum placard. [A feature film about the landings "Operation Chromite" has just been released in Korea and stars Liam Neeson as Douglas MacArthur, however it has a 40% score on Rotten Tomatoes and some pretty painful reviews in the Western press so might be worth giving it a miss]. The museum also did a very good job at acknowledging the efforts of the world to assist the South - 15 countries from the UN provided military assistance; USA, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, Colombia, Ethiopia, South Africa, New Zealand, Turkey, Greece, Thailand, Philippines and Luxembourg. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, India and Italy also sent assistance in the form of medics, nurses and field hospitals/ hospital ships. There were plenty of tear jerking accounts from soldiers who had served in the war including one about a Turkish soldier who, whilst serving in the war, had cared for a young orphaned local girl. He lost contact with her once he was dispatched home and was only reunited with her 60 years late when he was in his late 60s. Outside the museum are over 150 military vehicles ranging from warships and armoured cards to huge troop carrier planes and bombers; sadly my visit to this area happened to coincide with another tropical downpour so it was cut short but I did discover that airplane wings make very good umbrellas. And that brings to an end my adventures in Seoul. I headed to the station and boarded my KTX (Korea's answer to the bullet train) to Gyeongju- the ancient capital of Korea which is packed full of ancient tombs and temples. Pretty much all train services around the world put the British rail system to shame and the KTX does not disappoint. The seats in standard class are larger than those in British first class with reclining backs and footrests. There is also free (yes FREE) high speed wifi and a karaoke carriage (this is Korea after all). I arrived in Gyeongju around 11pm and was lucky enough to be picked up from the station by my new CSing host Craig. Craig is a Kiwi but is married to a Korean and now teaches English at the local university. He lives in a very old traditional Korean house in a protected heritage area, all the rooms face onto a central courtyard meaning if you want to go to the loo or shower you have to exit your room and walk outside. Craig is one of the most experienced CSing hosts there is- he even had a letter from the CSing founder on his wall to prove it! At any one time he hosts a minimum of 3 people in 2 separate rooms- one's a bunk-room and the other a double- the odds were in my favour and I got the double room all to myself 😄! fun factA lot of Koreans strongly (recent polls suggest around 2/3) believe that your blood type influences your personality and it is not uncommon to be asked what your blood type is especially by a potential partner or at a job interview.
Facebook in many Asian countries also allows your blood type to be added to your profile due to the level of importance put upon it. Here are the common traits that many genuinely believe come hand in hand with your blood group; A) the good: earnest, sensible, reserved, responsible and patient The bad: fastidious, stubborn, tense B) The good: passionate, active, doer, creative, strong The bad: Irresponsible, unforgiving AB) The good: Cool, controlled, rational, sociable, adaptable The bad: critical, indecisive, forgetful, "split personality" O) The good: confident, optimistic, determined, intuitive The bad: cold, doubtful, unpredictable, workaholic day #6 - 22/08/16So today was a bit of a fail; you'll be happy to hear this post is therefore far shorter than the others! I got up early to head over to Haneul Park- a park near the World Cup Stadium (For those who are interested (can't say I was) -Seoul hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2002) to meet Marina [avid fans of this feeble attempt at a blog will remember she is the Spanish CSer who I went to a Korean singing recital with]. Marina was heading back to Spain later in the day and wanted some outside time before travel ordeal awaiting her. First fail of the day; I managed to sleep through an hour of my alarm- pretty impressive really. Cue a rapid, flustered attempt to get ready and over to the opposite side of the city- a journey that takes at least an hour- the scheduled meeting time was in 20 minutes😳. Of course it was the hottest day of my travels so far - not a cloud in the sky - and of course the park is accessible only by a 15 minute walk from the station and then a very steep staircase consisting of over 300 very steep steps, when I finally did arrive to meet Marina it was a miracle she didn't run away screaming from the sweaty red mess I had become. The park itself was beautiful and the advantage of the hellish ascend up there was that it offered a pretty amazing view over the city. After saying our goodbyes I headed over to the Korean War Memorial Museum thrilled by the prospect of an air conditioned cafe and an iced coffee only to discover that it was closed, attempting to stay positive in the midst of such a soul crushing discovery I headed over to the DDP (yes again) to check out their galleries, design shop and design museum only to discover that that too was closed. Turns out everything is closed on Mondays in Korea. What a nightmare. However there was a Google Play expo going on which had free entry and more importantly A FREE STICKER PACK - I was sold. So basically this was an exhibition/interactive competition of online mobile gaming. Online gaming is a big big deal in Korea. Matches are streamed on the Internet with professional commentators (known as casters) and pull in millions of views per game; it's mad. Professional gamers pull in epic sponsorship deals, killer salaries and are the equivalent of premiership footballers in the UK, WAGS included. This exhibition was a little different as it was showcasing mobile rather than computer games but they still had stages with huge projections of live matches happening - intercut with occasional shots of the gamers' intense facial expressions. My favourite part of the expo was an area promoting a 'stoneage' themed game - featuring dinosaurs and mammoths; I forgave the historical inaccuracy because the interactive gaming stations for this game were little blue plastic dinosaurs that you sit on- I repeat- you get to sit on a plastic dinosaur and play a game using an iPad which is encased in the neck of said dinosaur. The best part of all of this was that people of all ages were having a go regardless of whether or not they had a child accompanying them!) After Elise finished work we headed out for probably the strangest meal I've ever had; 'live' octopus. To clarify the octopus isn't actually alive; once you order the dish the poor guy is fished out of a tank at the front of the restaurant and quickly sliced up (I.e. Killed) before being presented raw on a plate. The catch (hilarious I know) here is that although the octopus is dead its nerves continue to fire for about 30 minutes after its demise so the plate on the table is full of wriggly, squirming tentacles. Deciding that prolonging the wait would probably worsen the experience I jumped right in; picked a tentacle, suckers and all and dipped it in the sesame oil sauce before eating. To be honest it really was fine, quite nice even. Similar to eating snails, the octopus is more a vehicle for the sauce than anything else and was rubbery as octopuses often are! Only if you leave the tentacle in your mouth without chewing could you feel the movement and even the suckers attaching to your tongue! The worst part of the meal actually came in the form of one of the many side dishes. Writing about it even makes me feel a bit nauseous- "Beondegi"- aka boiled silkworm larvae. Quite why somebody decided that this would ever be an appropriate thing to eat I have no idea. It is truly truly vile, I tried one just to see what the fuss was about and I honestly have no idea. The texture is just mushy, I'm sure an element of psychological disgust added to the experience but the smell is also not particularly appetising. In no way does Beondegi get the Milly seal of approval 😖😖😖! (another not so fun facT)Despite consuming wriggling octopi and boiled baby silkworms Koreans are probably more notorious for their consumption of dog meat. Koreans actually have two different words for dog; one which refers to pet dogs, feral dogs and wolves and another which is used to describe the dogs used in dog meat. Names aside they are essentially the same animal. In recent years dog meat consumption has reduced due to a growing concern with animal rights (the slaughtering methods used are particularly brutal due to the belief that increased adrenaline in the meat improves the medicinal properties of it) and the evolving view of dogs as pets rather than food; now it is only consumed by a small proportion of the Korean population on a regular basis.
Fuelling the continued consumption of the meat is the belief that eating dog increases energy and virility. Although one particular dog breed (Nureongi) is used in the majority of meat production the use of pedigree breeds such as labradors and cocker spaniels does occur and not rarely slaughtered dogs include former pets. During the 1988 Olympics in Seoul the Korean government actively discouraged citizens from consuming dog meat and requested butchers to remove dog carcasses from their windows in order to improve the country's image with the west. Despite a technical ban dog meat is fairly easy to find in restaurants and at markets; international governments have attempted for years to pressure the country to crack down on the production and consumption of dog meat- there is even a debate planned in September 2016 in the UK's House of Commons on the subject |
Who?Med-school graduate, aspiring graphic designer embarking on a quarter-life-crisis expedition to Asia. Archives |