Monday 19 November 2012

South Korea

With the bike put on a ship in Yokohama and all the documents in hand I had to come up with something else to do. It would take about 3 weeks for the bike to get to Singapore and I felt like I had been in Japan for long enough now. But where to go? I looked at a few places but eventually settled on South Korea. Cheap flight booked, far too much luggage, no idea what to expect. Things carry on as normal even without a bike.

Pretty glad I went though.

First stop was obviously in Seoul. And the first stop in Seoul was the war museum.



I don't know what the event was, and nobody else seemed to know either. But there were loads of people there doing various demonstrations. Both modern army and people in traditional garb.




My first taste of Korea pretty much set the scene for the rest of my stay. The Koreans are very proud of their history and culture, they are nationalistic but they love tourists. And beards. Which was a good thing since I hadn't shaved in a very long time.












The museum is very nicely set and presented. At the centre is a memorial for all those who died during the war.



And around the rest of the building are various exhibits and displays of relics. For the most part it is just a fair, historical portrayal of what happened. But at the same time there were certain parts which left me feeling a little uneasy.





There are growing calls in both South Korea and Japan for the development of nuclear weapons. No prizes for guessing why. And I won't criticise either one for being worried or even scared of North Korea. But I do think that putting up a "What would happen if a nuke landed on Seoul" poster at the end of a museum all about the Korean War is bordering on propaganda and fear mongering. Maybe it's because I had only just come from Hiroshima. I just don't have any time for people who support development of nuclear weapons.

At the same time the South Koreans are very proud of the fact that the rest of world came and supported them when they were under attack. They like to hammer home that they were the victims in the war and the North were the aggressors. They don't say it in a matter-of-fact way, they say it constantly.

But while I don't particularly like the undertones, I can completely understand the anti-North and anti-Japanese feeling in South Korea given the last 100 years or so of their history.






I have to say that after only 2 days Seoul was very quickly becoming one of my favourite cities.

In the centre the traditional displays continue outside the palaces.



The first time I went in to town there was also a massive demonstration with thousands of people taking over the square at city hall and riot police lining the streets. Not sure what they were demonstrating, something to do with education. Gangnam style, of course.







I was making a vague attempt to get to Gyeongbukgong palace. I didn't actually get there that day. There was too much interesting stuff along the way.

Seoul lantern festival









More memories of the war line the streets in the centre of town. Again, they like to emphasise support from the UN.



This is about an ongoing dispute with Japan over some islands

So is this













The next day I tried again and actually made it to the palace relatively distraction free.















I need to stop taking so many pictures. Or maybe Korea needs to stop being so interesting. One of the two.



My new hobby: taking pictures of people taking pictures of things


Love padlock trees or something like that





After several days I still wasn't bored of Seoul, which is unusual for me. Normally I don't like being in cities for too long. But I did want to see more of the country so got on a bus (urgh) down to Busan.




Nice to see that the BMW attitude isn't exclusive to the UK









I quite liked Busan. There wasn't as much to see and do as Seoul but it had a really nice laid back atmosphere to it. And lots of fresh sea food.

I wasn't adventurous enough to try that






Don't get the anglerfish. It's made entirely of bone.

Then I headed up to Gyeongju. Gyeongju is the former capital of the Silla kingdom and so is home to thousands of historical sites, palaces, tombs and everything else.

Apparently the locals have fought hard to keep the big supermarket chains out of the city. So the markets are amazing, full of properly fresh food grown and caught locally.









All you can eat for $5. Good food as well.

That is a cake. Really. Made from rice.


Ok, so back to something that isn't food related.

Bulguksa temple.








Burial mounds for the former kings lie all around the city





Anapji pond. Not a pond in the traditional understanding of the word. This one was made mostly of mud.









There is much, much more to see and eat in Gyeongju, but for the sake of brevity I will just move back to Seoul now.

And to the DMZ. I was looking forward to this. The most militarised place in the world.

The only way to get there is on a guided tour. I generally hate the attitude and implementation of guided tours but in this case it was the only way. There were 2 parts to the day - the morning was various sites just outside the DMZ and the afternoon was the JSA. The guide, SP, was a bit of a legend. But I probably could have guessed what the talks would be like.

SP: Remember that by coming here today you are taking your life in to your own hands

Well, not really. I mean he said that as we pulled in to the car park of this place.


Yes, they built an amusement park and then say that it is really dangerous. If this place is dangerous then so is anywhere in South Korea. Otherwise why try to attract tourists?

Predictably the whole day was full of rules. Not allowed to look at that, not allowed to take pictures, must stand in line, don't talk, all that sort of stuff. Cameras got confiscated for various sections even though pictures of those area are easily available on the internet.


This is an observatory on a hill. The binoculars are pointing towards North Korea. You are free to go and stare for as long as you want. But if you want to take a picture you must stand behind the yellow line. Why? No idea. But MPs are hanging around to enforce this rule. Still, rules are there to be broken.

Propaganda village

Kaesong



Empty immigration hall in the last train station before the border


But the afternoon was the bit I was looking forward to the most. Panmunjom, the JSA. I should have known that this was coming. The afternoon went something like this.

13:00
SP: So remember that this is a very dangerous place. That can't be emphasised enough....

13:20
SP: ...and you must not forget that this is not a stable area and you are risking you life....

13:48
SP: ....very unstable and dangerous....

14:36
SP: ....you will be told when you are allowed to take pictures. Taking pictures at other time is not allowed.....

14:42
SP: ....so you must always keep your camera away until you are told otherwise.....

14:49
SP: ...not allowed to point with your fingers because it is rude in Koreans culture and the soldiers might start a war to deal with the offence caused....

14:53
SP: ....must always stand in line.....

14:59
SP: ....don't look at anything....

15:15
SP: ....blah, blah, blah, danger, blah, blah, cameras, blah, blah, pointing, blah, blah, lines, blah, blah.....

15:24
SP: ...otherwise we will have to turn around and you will be made to sit on the naughty step....

15:27
SP: Well, we are just outside the camp but we are not scheduled to arrive until 15:30 so we will wait here for a few minutes

15:30
SP: Ok, now we can go inside and start the security briefing.
M: Security briefing? What about the lecture you just gave us?
SP: That's important, but this briefing is even more important.
M: Hmmm.....
SP: Plus you need to sign a disclaimer.
M: There it is.

15:39
Army guy: ...blah, blah, blah, danger, blah, blah, cameras, blah, blah, pointing, blah, blah, lines, blah, blah....
Everybody else: *snore*

15:50
SP: Ok, everyone on the bus and we will go to the JSA

16:00
SP: Ok, this is the JSA and there is North Korea.

16:00:01
SP: QUICK!!! BACK ON THE BUS!!!! NOW!!!

16:00:30
SP: Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour and you will recommend it to others.

Ok, that was ever so slightly exaggerated. And I don't want anyone to think that I am not taking things seriously because I do understand this is an unstable part of the world. But the list of rules went on for ages and most of them didn't make any sense. The scare videos went on for ages. And we were forced to line up while in the JSA, were shouted at when we weren't in a perfect line and only got to stay there for a few minutes before being hurried away. The camera rules were very strictly enforced. All of us got shouted at at some point. One of the videos we were made to watch went on and on about how the DMZ has effectively become a wildlife preserve because of the lack of human activity and that all the wild animals are amazing. I tried to take a picture of some of these amazing birds in a completely pristine field but was shouted at because I hadn't been given permission to take a picture in that direction. I don't know why it makes a difference. There were no buildings or people over there. Just birds and fields.

I have heard that when tour groups come to the JSA from the north none of these restrictions apply. They are free to point, take pictures, walk around like we weren't. Who ever would have thought that North Korea was the freer country? In fairness the tour guides did point out the difference in the set of rules between North and South groups. Their argument was that while the Southern soldiers would never respond to provocation the same can't be said for the Northern soldiers. I can't really argue with that and it does make sense, but it's annoying and more than a little worrying how lopsided the rules are.

I got shouted at for taking this picture.


Propaganda village is in the distance. Flag pole is just visible on the right. I got shouted at for taking this picture.

I got shouted at for taking this picture.

I got shouted at for taking this picture.



Lots of CCTV. This is the UN side. I got shouted at for taking this picture.





The border.

Very, very technically in North Korea. Looking back to the South.

Lots more CCTV on the UN building. I got shouted at for taking this picture.

White bollards mark the border running through the camp. I got shouted at for taking this picture.

Memorial to the axe murder incident

Bridge of no return

And of course what dangerous, unstable war zone would be complete without a gift shop?


Rice fields after harvesting. I got shouted at for taking this picture.

I got shouted at for taking this picture.


With only 1 day left in Korea I needed something to do. I could have quite easily entertained myself somewhere in Seoul but instead decided to experience another side of Korean culture. Mr. Toilet House.

There's a bit of a story behind this. Sim Jae-duck was born in a toilet and for some inexplicable reason developed a strange obsessions with toilet the rest of his life. But in a good way. He was mayor of Suwon, a satellite city of Seoul, and while he was in office he spent a huge amount of time improving the cities public toilets. Actually, the public loos in Suwon are amazing. Pretty much the best toilet experience in the world. After he retired from mayoring he set up a foundation called the World Toilet Organisation (not sure if I should feel stupid for not knowing that existed before) which aims to improve toilet standards in developing countries reasoning that good hygiene contributes massively to the health of the population. To celebrate the creation of this organisation he built himself a house shaped like a toilet and filled the garden with statues of people, uh, relieving themselves. Really. The house has since been turned into a museum dedicated to toilets and toilet related activities. I wish I was making this up.

But first I had to get there. It was right on the outskirts of the city. I didn't have a map but was pretty confident in my ability to remember directions by glancing at the internet before I left Seoul.

I got lost immediately after leaving the train station. It was a nice part of town though.




It was getting late in the day so I got back on the train to go in to the centre of town and find tourist information. I collected a map, worked out where I went wrong and went back to the outskirts. I got lost immediately in EXACTLY the same place I got lost the first time. Eventually I recruited a taxi driver who had no idea this place even existed and we somehow got out there about 10 minutes before it closed.

Mr. Toilet himself. In the cardboard cut out.
The girl in the museum was very proud to state that this toilet was the very same toilet that Mr. Toilet used when he was living in the house. Nice. I would be proud to tell other people that as well.


Toilet signs from around the world



There's no other way to put this. Mr. Toilet House is quite literally the shittest museum in the world (I'm so proud of that one. Many seconds went in to thinking it up and I'm sure it is completely original.)

It's hard not to come out of that place with a smile. And the garden just gets even better.










Everybody should go to Mr. Toilet House. It's just better.

And that was Korea over for me. I spent the night at the airport for an early flight the next morning to Singapore. Didn't want a repeat of the Narita experience.

I really enjoyed Korea. Considering it was a spur of the moment thing and I didn't know anything about Korea before going I love it now. I heard different opinions from some other westerners in Korea but all the locals I met were genuinely friendly. Communication was fairly easy particularly with teenagers and university students. Although there isn't a huge amount of tourism from Europe there are a lot of British and American teachers in Korea and obviously still quite a strong showing from the US army so they are quite used to seeing white people around. But for some reason they were even happier to talk when they found out I wasn't a teacher or in the army.

The most disappointing thing for me was that I didn't have the bike. The mountains were beautiful but I only got to see them through a bus window. And if the people were that nice in Seoul and Busan with their typical big city attitudes I can't image how good it would be to go and explore the country. It's just a shame it is so difficult to get there. Overland is obviously out of the question and the only ferry services go to Japan and Russia.

Getting back there with the bike is going to be difficult, but I would love to give it a go.