Seoul -- Day 4 -- DMZ

This was my last full day in Seoul, and also the penultimate day of my month-long backpacking tour. The previous night, I had made arrangements with Mrs. Kim to take a guided tour (48,000 won) to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) 50 km north of Seoul. I had an early breakfast and waited for the pickup at 8.30 am. FYI, there are many tour companies that offer this service. Most will have common pickup points in Seoul.

For those that are not aware, the DMZ was constructed along the 38th parallel as a result of World War II and is barely 50 km from Seoul, dividing Korea into North (capital Pyongyang) and South (capital Seoul). The 38th parallel became the de facto border for the Cold War. Almost a million N Korean soldiers are stationed along the DMZ, ready for any eventuality. So, it's easy to imagine the tension that S Koreans undergo on a daily basis. In fact, yesterday, when Matthias and I hiked up to Seoul Tower, we heard sirens blaring around 1.30 pm and all traffic nearby came to a standstill. This was apparently part of the drill S Koreans go through on a regular basis to prepare for a possible invasion by N Korea.

We drove in the van northbound for an hour and in the meanwhile, the guide gave us a good background and answered any questions we had. The drive to the DMZ passed through desolate areas, where little or no economic activity takes place. Mind you, this is one of the most dangerous places on earth today. Needless to say, security was extremely tight especially exacerbated by the recent nuclear bomb trials in N Korea. We arrived at Panmunjeom, where we all switched to official tour buses and had our passports checked. Incidentally, no private vehicles are allowed inside the DMZ. Once inside the DMZ, camera use is strictly controlled.

The highlight of the tour was the entry into the 3rd incursion tunnel discovered on October 17, 1978. There are four such incursion tunnels dug by N Korea, the last one discovered on March 3, 1990. You can enter the tunnels only with a hardhat, and believe me, you really need it. The tunnels are barely 2 meters high (6'8"), bored through solid granite and not always smooth. Visitors get to walk 350 meters through the tunnel and the feeling is indescribable. Very scary and claustrophobic. You see markers indicating places where dynamite was used to blast through granite and in some places the granite is painted over to look like coal. Scary.

Once out of the tunnel, there is a 10 minute propaganda film that's extremely amateurish and crappy. I did not enjoy that at all. Visitors are given a chance to overlook the DMZ at the Dora Observatory and perchance view the wildlife in the DMZ, it having become a haven for wildlife, because no man has set foot in it over the past 50 years. Unfortunately, the smog made it worthless to look through the binoculars or take pictures. The final part of the conducted tour is a visit to the Dorasan train station still undergoing construction. Should the two Koreas reunite, this will become the final station in S Korea to Pyongyang. All pretty tragic. Strangely though, I recalled the elegiac tune in Team America: World Police called "I'm so ronery".

Around 3.30 pm we returned to central Seoul for an impromptu jewelery "shopping" for the tourists. Boring! I returned to the guest house and met Matthias again. After a little rest, we left for another walk through the city, this time to the Dongdaemun market for window shopping and to get a feel for the nighttime activities. The market is huge and very well organized. Each alley had its own specialty such as food, jewelery, meat, seafood, eateries, shoes and utensils. We tried some street food similar to egg foo yung. It was interesting. Later we found a sports bar and grill that advertised chicken (restaurant featuring chicken are rare) and had dinner. We had a bucketful of fried chicken (Korean style) and lots of beer (14,000 won). We enjoyed it. It was, alas, time to return to the guest house and bid goodbye to Seoul. Annyeng-yo haseyo (goodbye)!

Seoul -- Day 1 -- Annyeng haseyo!

From Hong Kong airport, I took a red-eye flight to Seoul (Incheon) International airport, arrived at 4.30 am and exchanged some local currency. I had a hard time sleeping on the flight, and to top it all, I had to wait for an hour for the airport bus #602 to Hapjeong Subway Station (8,000 won). As of this writing, the public transportation to the airport is via buses; plans are underway to extend the trains. You may think that the buses are inconvenient, but they are actually extremely efficient and easy to use.

I arrived at the Hapjeong station and according to the instructions took the exit #8. The first lesson was that English directions are completely useless. The second lesson was that you have to pay careful attention to the exit numbers on the subway. After following the directions faithfully, I arrived at Kim's Guest House, probably one of the nicest guest houses around. Mrs. Kim, who runs the place, speaks excellent English and is very helpful and accommodating. I had an a/c room at 25,000 won (~25 USD) per night. A fantastic deal. Having slept little on the way in, I napped a little on the couch in the "living room". Nice thing about this place is that internet access is free, breakfast is included and laundry is free. Around 9.00 am, I met some of the house mates, Britt (New Zealand), Manuel (France), Andreas and Matthias (Germany), Miho and her brother (Japan). Breakfast is strictly do it yourself -- bread, jam, butter and coffee.

I showered and set out for the city. Hapjeong subway station is a 10 minute walk from the guest house and quite convenient, once you know your way around. ATMs in Korea are quite confusing, because very few accept foreign cards. Even then, finding one with English instructions is a bigger challenge. I found one ATM at a local bank that was bought by Standard Chartered.

Seoul Metropolitan Subway: It is one of the largest and most complex subway systems in the world. To get an idea of the complexity, see this map. It has to be efficient, because must serve a population of 23,000,000 -- Seoul metro is only second to Tokyo. Wow! I didn't realize it was so big until I arrived there. Trains run every 4-5 minutes, are very reliable, but always crowded. Cellphones work everywhere, and many commuters watch TV on them. And here's the thing -- no graffiti anywhere. It's a pleasure. There are clearly marked signs in English, Japanese and Korean, and local maps are available in every station. In as far as tickets are concerned, each ride is about 1,000 won (~ 1 USD), but smart cards (available at every subway station) give you a 100 won discount. You just flash it past each gate and the go. I also discovered that to cross streets near a subway, you have to use the underground pathways. It's a system that simply put -- works!

People: The Koreans are extremely polite and bow at every opportunity. They are very well dressed, and even a stroll is an excuse to wear formal clothes. Sure, like any major metro, they have their share of alcoholism, but the Seoul drunks are the politest I've seen. No violence, none whatsoever. I've never felt safer in a big city than in Seoul. The social system respects its elders and even on the subway, the seats for the elderly/handicapped/pregnant women remain unoccupied even if the train is overcrowded. Nice. Very few older Koreans speak English, but the younger generation is learning English in increasing numbers. In fact, many young people from New Zealand or Australia finance their travel in Korea by teaching English as a second language. The Koreans are very hardworking and it's not uncommon to hear about school children slaving away for 8-10 hours a day.

Now on to the sight seeing. I went to Changdeokgung Palace, one of the "Five Grand Palaces" in Seoul. The palace was completed in 1412 and suffered multiple invasions by the Japanese. It is a beautiful palace, but after a while the tour becomes very monotonous. I booked myself on a guided English tour (admission 3,000 won) leaving me 2 hours to grab lunch. I wandered around for a restaurant, but all signs are in Korean and the only recourse was to see the pictures and decide. Not knowing what to expect, I read Lonely Planet's recommendations and chose Bibimbap. It appears that the name is generic and each restaurant has its own variation, differentiated mostly by the side dishes. The meal was very cheap (4,000 won), but tasty. It had an interesting texture of rice, crunchy carrots, crispy mushrooms, chili sauce and of course, kimchi. Loved it!

I returned to Changdeokgung palace and joined the English guided tour (1 hour 20 minutes). The guide was very boring, spoke in a monotone and hurried everyone along. Man, did she have a plan! Had I known better, I would have taken a Korean tour and simply used the printed English guide. Once out of the palace, I took a break and had instant coffee (1,000 won) at a roadside stall. To make this coffee, a prepackaged mixture of coffee and sugar in a long tube is added to hot water and milk. To stir simply use the "tube" as a spoon. Ingenious.

I took the recommended "between the palaces walk" and walked about 3 kms on the sidewalks. What you notice is -- no Japanese cars! Almost all cars were Korean, save for a few BMWs and Mercedes. Almost every cab has a sign on the door saying "free translators". Since the cabbies speak no English, you can call a central telephone number from the cab and talk to an operator who then provides instructions to the cabbie. The cab drivers are very honest and pride themselves on providing a good service.

After about an hour, I arrived at Gyeongbokgung or the Grand Palace (admission 3,000 won). This palace was completed in 1394 during the Joseon Dynasty and like other places in Korea, destroyed multiple times by the Japanese. The palace is huge and impressive and obviously carries a special meaning for the Koreans, but the lack of English signboards made my experience somewhat deficient. With the same ticket I visited the neighboring Palace Museum of History for an hour with a guided audio tour. I didn't enjoy this museum much.

It was getting late (and I was tired too) and I rode the subway to Hapjeong station. I stopped for coffee at a pub called "Beer, Hof and Coffee". It was a complete ripoff (4,000 won). What I learned later on is that any restaurant that has "Hof" written on its signboards is good for drinking alcohol -- not coffee. I walked back to Kim's and joined a group of youngsters (Manuel from France, Charles from Singapore, Miho and her brother from Japan) for dinner. We went to a neighboring restaurant for galbi or Korean BBQ. We sat on the floor and generally enjoyed ourselves, not in the least due to a liberal supply of soju (similar to sake but flavored). Since most of us were new to the experience, the restaurant owner (through Manuel, who spoke some Korean) came by to help us with the grill and the meats. All ingredients were fresh and the taste, you ask? Heavenly. Soju certainly made the conversation much easier and on our way back to the guest house, we picked up few more bottles of soju and beer, and chatted away until the wee hours of the morning. As the night continued more people joined our group for an impromptu part-ay! Depending on whom I was talking to I switched between English, French and German. Good times!