We're flying to Fukoka, Japan, Friday morning, 9/30, from Seoul. Here's what we did in South Korea.
Mon, 9/26: We're taking a very late night flight tonight Vientiane to Seoul, South Korea.
Tues, 9/27: Geez, we feel like crap. Our four-hour flight with lots of turbulence arrived in Seoul just after 0600. Anne slept a couple hours; I might've slept an hour. There's a two-hour time change, so we're now 13 hours ahead of Detroit time. We meet our guide/driver Koryh who doesn’t know the PCR test requirements as well as he should. We waste several hours at the airport but are Covid-negative. While we're in the airport, we see several large groups of young men wearing the same hats or jackets. Koryh says they aren't sports teams; many companies hire foreign labor to come work in South Korea. Our hotel is 1-1/2 hours from the airport, so we drive into this big city with some very heavy traffic. Koryh is married with an adult daughter. He lived in China for 10 years as a businessman, but he says he got tired of that work. He's happy being a tour guide. We see very fashionably-dressed women. The Korean alphabet is a big change from the sanscrit-based languages of SE Asia. Anne's had a cold for several days; we're tired. We tell Koryh we'll rest today and see a lot tomorrow. In late afternoon, we walk from our hotel into a cultural area of stores and coffee shops and people watch. The temperature is cooler, less humid. We like that. We have a drink and read at the rooftop bar.
Wed 9/28: in our hotel room, there's an eye bolt on both sides of the big window. There are two containers under the desk marked 'Simplicity Descending Life Line'. In case of emergency, we would hook the wire onto one of the bolts, wrap the other end around our torso and throw ourselves out the window. I'm pretty sure I'd let Anne go first... Our room also has a super deluxe bidet/toilet. Really, it does just about everything. For breakfast, our choices are a couple different soups. We both choose the kid's meal of beef bone broth, rice ball, six French fries, corn salad and a juice box. This is a big change from all the great variety of breakfasts we've had so far. Koryh takes us to Gyeongbokgung Palace where we see many buildings and lots of school kids on field trips. 'Hello, how are you?', they ask. And many teenagers come here dressed in rented traditional outfits. They look beautiful and handsome. We all stand together to watch a re-enactment of the changing of the guard who are dressed in their period costumes with some musical instruments. Then we walk to the Blue Palace, the president's former offices and residence. For lunch Koryh takes us to a favorite of his, where we sit at a table with a charcoal grill set in it and an exhaust fan over it; Koryh cooks slices of pork and pork belly for us. We also have rice, kimchi, corn salad. Very good. Next we tour Namsangol Hanok Village with some historic houses. We finish the day at Gwangjang Traditional Street Market where we see women in about 100 stalls cooking all kinds of fish, live octopus, hair tail fish, bean pancakes, noodles, veggies, dumplings. We'll have an early morning tomorrow.
Thurs 9/29: We leave early this morning, missing out on our breakfast (not a great loss). South Korea grows rice, soybeans and world-famous ginseng. The North grows corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, though many people in the North starve. When we arrive at the DMZ visitor center, we show our passports to board a bus that takes us into the South Korean side of the zone. The zone extends about 160 miles across the peninsula, and it's 2.5 miles wide. We were surprised to learn that people still live in the DMZ, farmers farm the land (if the landmines have been removed), kids go to elementary school there; middle and high schoolers have to attend school outside the DMZ. There are strict measures on those inhabitants, such as not being able to return home if they reach the zone after sunset. At an observation deck, you can see North Korea in the distance. In 1974, a North Korean defector informed authorities of the location of a 3rd tunnel NK was building for a future attack on the SK. A couple other tunnels had already been identified, but it's suspected there may be up to a total of 20. Into the 3rd tunnel, the South built their own tunnel. It's all an interesting story, a part of US history also. Anne and Koryh walked down this steep one-mile long south-built tunnel which meets the north's now-blocked tunnel; Anne says the toughest part was not walking down it, but she had to stop 3 times on the way up. Pictures weren't allowed inside the tunnel, but she has some from the outside area. There is a memorial to the US soldiers who fought and died during the Korean War, and there's a big statue of Harry Truman. Later we have lunch before we reach Seoul. We were interested in trying bulgogi, a savory, salty, sweet beef dish that is cooked at the table. This time a broth surrounds a heated plate, and the meat and mushrooms and veggies are cooked on this plate and in the broth. We tried radish kimchi, dipping sauce with a dollop of wasabi, rice, some thin stalks in a chile sauce. Tasty. There was a motorcade going the opposite way we were on the highway; Kamala Harris is in town. When we came into town, we visited a Buddhist temple across from our hotel where a monk was hitting some wooden instrument during the prayers. This temple was different from the ones we saw in SE Asia. The offerings brought to the temple were big bags of rice, not the fruits, cookies, candy we saw at the others. We walked to the hotel and later walked the cultural area at sunset. Koryh will pick us up at 0500 tomorrow to get us to the airport for our flight to Japan. Thank you Koryh, and thank you Maya from All Asia Travel for planning this tour for us.
