Two Windows on Korea:
Seoul and Kyongju
We had been to Korea several times before but only had time to see Seoul. This time we hoped to go to the DMZ and to the ancient capital of Kyongju. But first we wanted to see our good friends, the Lees, whom we had met during our first trip in 1995.
After a smooth flight on Cathay Pacific, we arrived at the airport in Seoul to be greeted by a beaming, animated Mr. Lee and his second son, Joong-Hee. In addition to being charming, Mr. Lee also in very efficient. With much hand-holding and many hugs, we drove to the bus terminal to get our bus tickets for Kyongju and to a 7/11 and a pastry shop to get things for breakfast. We were very tired from more than 24 hours of traveling and another time change and were delighted to check into our hotel, where we had stayed the last time we were in Korea.
The Cultural Educational Center is one of a series of hotels owned by the Korean teachers union. They are full service hotels and offer rooms to educators at cut rate prices. The two that we stayed in, were both first rate and rivaled the better hotels we occupied. The only drawback to them was that both were on the outskirts of the city and getting to town could be an inconvenience.
The only problem this time was that the room was awfully hot (about 30 degrees centigrade) and there was a sign on the thermostat that we should not touch it. Nevertheless, we slept for more than 12 hours and awoke refreshed, in much better shape than we expected after this longest leg of our trip. (We had to fly from London to Hong Kong in order to get to Seoul and originally they wanted us to also stop in Taipei. That is the one disadvantage of buying the round-the-world tickets. All the flights are not as direct as one would like.)
The next morning Mr. Lee arranged for Joong-Hee to meet us and show us around Seoul. He took us to the old section of town filled with craft shops including many that sold the beautiful Korean greenware that we like so much. He introduced us to some of the customs and showed us the craft figures that celebrate husband and wife (shown to the left). Each figure depicting the man includes blue painted areas and the ones representing the woman are painted red. He took us to a temple where thousands of lanterns hung to celebrate the birthday of the Buddha and where people devoutly kneeled in prayer; to the oldest post office in Korea which looks like an ancient temple; and we sampled some traditional Korean foods together, including a tasty fried sweet that was cooked in booths on the street. We couldn't have asked for a more enthusiastic, thoughtful, knowledgeable escort. We kept telling him what a good tour guide he was and we all joked easily together even though it was the first time we had met him. (During earlier trips to Korea, both of the Lee sons were away at school.) Altogether it was a delightful day.
As before in Seoul, we were taken by the mixing of old and new. It is a thoroughly modern city bustling with heavy traffic but keeps much of the traditional past close to its heart. It is an interesting combination of eastern and western cultures combined. Some of the street scenes were appealing to us:
We saw many carts like this transporting goods and always pushed by hand. They also were always intermixed with traffic and seemed to have no problem maneuvering down the street and around corners, even as they moved ponderously
While walking down the main street of town we noticed school-bus size buses transporting policeman in uniform. We counted more than 20 of these buses, each completely filled, and we became intrigued. Our helpful guide, Joong-Hee, told us that they were probably on their way to a demonstration. Demonstrations have a long history in Korea and are very common. Sure enough, a little while later we witnessed a massive demonstration by Daewoo workers who were protesting the possible foreign takeover of their company. They were joined in support by Hyundai workers and the protestors stretched down the street for many blocks. More than a few were wearing gas masks and we were told it was because the police might use tear gas.
Apart from the protestors, we saw the policemen standing in close columns with their backs to the street (we don't know why), at the ready. Others were directing traffic around the demonstrators. (We have no idea what was in the containers at the curb behind the policemen.) We left before the demonstration was over, but evidently it was peaceful. It was covered that night in the news and no violence was reported. Overall, it was a sight to behold.
The next day we traveled on our own, with instructions in hand, compliments of Joong-Hee. We went back to the same section of town that we found so delightful the day before. The subways are easy to use and we had no trouble finding our way. We headed to Chongmyo Ancestral Shrine and in a large community park next to the shrine we serendipitously happened upon a wonderful surprise. It was a celebration of Korean traditional drumming, tae kwon do, dancing, including the famed "Farmer's Dance" which we enjoyed during our first visit to Korea, and singing. We were delighted to watch the performances for more than an hour before leaving. The featured male dancer encouraged us to join him in dancing but of course we were too shy. However, many intoxicated older men had no such qualms.
The drumming is always our favorite and we could watch it and listen to it for hours.
While we were enjoying the traditional entertainment we also noticed that, adjacent to it, there was a large political rally in the works. When that began we decided to see what we could see. We knew that an important political election was imminent and we had seen many political posters as we traveled but were still surprised by the number and size of the political rallies. We also were impressed by the enthusiasm of the participants and how many of them were younger people. This was a spirited rally and we have no idea how long it continued after we departed to take in other sights.
Added to the activities surrounded the elections, South Koreans were very excited about the impending talks between their government and the North. The talks would be about the earliest planning stages of future negotiations, but it seemed clear that people were hoping they would lead to eventual reconciliation between the two countries. It was viewed as a real landmark that the leaders of the two countries were talking to one another.
As usual, it was the unplanned things that brought the nicest experiences to our trip. The whole day on our own was filled with pleasant surprises and genuine glimpses of the culture. We realized as the day was winding down that we had seen no other non-Koreans throughout the day and that is how we like to travel. Also we realized how friendly and warm Koreans were to us. They routinely got up to offer us seats on the subways and were eager to offer us directions if we looked confused. Neat day---
The next day we had reservations for an early morning bus to Kyongju, the ancient capital of Korea, a trip that was also filled with surprises and some inside views of the culture. Our early departure meant a 5:30 AM wake-up call and being ready with our luggage to meet Mr. Lee in the hotel lobby at 6:20. After a scenic drive through Seoul, we arrived at the bus terminal where we boarded a bus which was spacious and comfortable. It was good that it was comfortable because we were about to embark on a jerky, lurching four hour drive to the south.
Korea is about 70% mountainous and that was evident throughout our drive. We drove through many miles of bleak countryside and begin to see many mounds that we found curious. After a while we determined that they must be burial mounds or graves, something that was confirmed after we arrived at our destination. It seems that this is the way that kings of people of importance were buried. The larger the mound the more important the person.
The ride went very quickly until we were within about 10km from our destination. That part took about 1 hour. It turns out that we had arrived during the weekend of the peak of the cherry blossoms and it seemed that everyone in Korea had come to this site to see them in full bloom. As we approached town, what a sight! Cherry trees (sakura) lined streets, rivers and walkways for miles and miles. More than we could ever imagine. They were incredible and we had lots of time in standstill traffic to view them.
On arriving at the bus terminal it was time to find transportation to our hotel. Thus began the first bad personal experience of our trip. We found a taxi driver who said he would take us to the hotel, but instead decided to give us a scenic drive of the city all the while the meter was running! Three times he stopped someone else to ask for directions or to find someone who spoke English. After pulling up to a foreign tourist office he brought a young woman to our car who explained to us that he wanted to arrange with us to give us a tour of the city the next day rather than at the regular rate. We declined and said we really wanted to go directly to the hotel. She responded that we should just relax and enjoy the cherry trees. Still the meter was running! And we didn't think that we had brought enough Korean cash to get through the next few days as the taxi ride, at 20,000 won was going to be at least 3 times what we expected. This was only about $20 US but relatively speaking it was very high in Korea, which is in the grips of a serious economic decline and where things had been very inexpensive up until then.
As our hotel came into view, perhaps 1 1/2 miles in the distance, we asked the taxi driver to pull over and said we would walk the rest of the way. And we did, tiredly dragging our luggage and feeling frustrated, angry and confused. We still don't know if our taxi driver was being dishonest or whether he was honestly confused. We didn't want to make a judgement since we could not speak his language, it was our fault that we couldn't communicate with him better. However, we did decide that we would ascertain the rate and verify that the driver knew the exact location before arranging for future taxis.
Our hotel made up for the taxi experience. We had a beautiful room, overlooking a lake, mountains, sakura, and a large spouting fountain in the middle of the lake. Near us was a Hilton Hotel. We were in the middle of a major tourist attraction.
The next day we decided to take the guided tour around the area that would take us to all the historic sites and craft shops. Mr. Lee had recommended it to us and we blessed him later when we realized that we never could have done it on our own.
We thought we were the only English speaking people, and we were definitely the only Caucasians, on the tour bus and the tour patter was all in Korean. The guide gave us English instructions at each stop so that we would get back to bus in time. All the signs at the attractions were in both Korean and English, however, so it was easy to learn what we were supposed to.
Kyongju was the capital of the Shilla empire, which ruled during the peak of Korea's history. The all-day tour included the major sites of the empire and was disappointing only in that most of the buildings are restorations or just the remnants of what they were at one time. Many were destroyed by the Japanese when they began their occupation of Korea in 1910.
Fortunately, there was enough left so that we could get a sense of the grandeur of Korean culture. Indeed, Korea was the conduit through which Chinese culture passed to Japan. However reluctant they are to admit it, the Japanese are beholden to Korea for a lot of its cultural development.
When we were a few hours into the tour, several of the others in the group began to speak with us in English. The first couple, pictured above, asked us where we were from. When we said Pennsylvania, they said they were from New York! Others were from California. It seems that many of our fellow tourists were Korean-Americans who were visiting their homeland. (So much for assumptions!)
As we arrived in one particularly beautiful park that had been palace grounds for an ancient king, we discovered that it was a favorite place for brides to have their formal portraits taken. Apparently they have the photo shoots done months before their weddings to take advantage of the trees in bloom. So we saw bride after bride posing among the sakura, and
afterwards hiking up their wedding gowns to reveal blue jeans, as they made their way in the wind from the shoot. An interesting sight.
Meanwhile, the couple from New York became very friendly, watching out for our welfare, and joining us at each of the stops. They asked us if they could take us out to dinner so they could introduce us to real Korean food in a restaurant frequented by Koreans. They also invited us to a bath, but we said we were too modest.
That evening we experienced one of the most touching times of our whole trip. We had a delicious meal, including bulgogi steak which we like very much, and a variety of other Korean dishes, and very pleasant company. As we finished the meal and prepared to pay for it, they informed us that they wanted to treat us. They said that they just wanted to be in our company and that they hoped when they were our age that they will have a relationship just like ours. What a wonderful compliment. And what sweet people.
In the morning we took a free shuttle from our hotel back to town. We walked through the town to see what it had to offer and soon realized that we had seen the best of Kyongju from the tour we had the day before. We exchanged our bus ticket for an earlier bus, cheaper and not as luxurious, but still an express bus -- and headed back to Seoul for a reunion with the Lees and a night in their home.
We knew it would prove to be a wonderful and sad time with them and we were correct. Mr. Lee's wife, Hyoun-Sook Cho, cooked a multi-dish meal for us that included kimchi, sweet and sour pork, acorn food, potato and vegetable tempura, fish, taro noodles, and soup. All delicious and we enjoyed the company of the whole family, including Joong-Hee's girlfriend. They are such warm, affectionate people and it is pure joy to be with them but we also had to say good-bye. In the morning, after a feast that is typical of a Korean New Year's celebratory breakfast, that is what we did.
Back at the airport we saw a newspaper report that stated, "Seoul goes on High Alert against foot and mouth disease." We also read a prominent sign warning people that "Japan has banned export of any beef from Korea, so don't take any out! -- Avuncular Disease"
We thought about all of the beef that we had eaten throughout our stay in Korea. A lot of bulgogi!
And with that thought we left Korea on our way to the next leg of our trip.
And so bye for now as we leave Korea and travel to Japan.
If you want to read about our other trips to Korea,
here are the ones for 1995 and 1996.
