Fall in Seoul & Seoraksan National Park

Okay, so this was written on November 20, but I've just now gotten around to adding pics and posting it:

Fall has all but come and gone here in Korea. The trees are now bare of leaves and we just had our first snow last night. A thunder and lightening snowstorm, no less. Don't think I've ever experienced one of those before. It didn't amount to much accumulation, but coming from sunny Virginia, where our first "snowfall" comes in late December at the earliest, I'm not used to it. I think that means it's going to be a long, cold winter. :(

Stacy and I took a trip to Seoraksan National Park two weekends ago. Seoraksan (san means mountain, by the way) is supposed to be the most beautiful mountain range in South Korea. It lies along the sea in the extreme northeastern section of South Korea. It's about 4 hours away. Despite the fact that most of the leaves had mostly already fallen off, it was pretty spectacular. We went with Adventure Korea, which is a company that does organized weekend trips geared for foreigners.








The first day we hiked to the top of Ulsan-bawi. It is a pretty easy hike until you get to the last 300 meters or so. Then you have to climb stairs that go straight up the rock face. They are pretty scary. If I were scared of heights I would have never done it. The wind was so strong too! One huge gust came along and suddenly and almost blew me off the mountain! The top of Ulsan-bawi was especially windy and bitterly cold! But true to Korean form, there was a man selling hot coffee at the top.


The view is especially beautiful, though that day it was rather hazy. There are great views of the Sea of Japan (or the East Sea, as it's vehemently called here). It reminded me of just a year ago when I was standing on top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park with a very good friend, freezing my butt off in the biting wind, overlooking the ocean.

The next day we went to Inner Seorak, which is merely another part of the park. Ulsan-bawi is the main attraction of the park, so all people stop there. The trail there was crowded. We were the only people on the trail in Inner Seorak, however. This trail was more of a walk through a small gorge. It was very peaceful and scenery was even more beautiful than the previous day. The pine trees growing out of the granite stones are a typical Asian scene you might have seen in pictures or artwork before.

Action shots

Ulsan-bawi
picturesque tree

"Ulsan-bawi this way"



My friendly neighborhood mountain, all decked out for fall


To the north we see the smog over Seoul; clear skies to the south.
That black cloud moved over Gunpo later that week, by the way. Yuck!!!

Chusok

So in my hast to write about the DMZ I completely skipped over Chusok, which was a five day holiday we had in the middle of September. Chusok, is the only real holiday where everyone takes off work. I was just talking to a man the other day who runs his own English school. Chusok is the only time of year he takes a break from his work. And then he'd rather work because it's stressful hosting family. He hasn't taken a vacation ever, by the way--in 20 years of working. That's the Korean work ethic.

Chusok is just like our Thanksgiving. The extended family gets together and has a big meal. Everything closes down. It's the one day of the year that people dress in their hanbok (tradition dress). All the older (30's) unmarried people I've talked to, however, hate the holiday and end up spending it alone or with friends as opposed to family. Since the relatives get together it's also the perfect opportunity to nag on nieces and nephews and grandchildren as to why they aren't married yet. So these people merely avoid the situation altogether. Ana, a teacher at our school, includes herself among their ranks.

The Friday before we had played tradition Korean games at school for the preschoolers and they all came dressed in their hanbok. Since they are not yet jaded by Korean culture they had a great time and were very cute. We played such games as spinning a top, hackey-sac, and tossing arrows into a bucket. True to kindergartners, they can't sit still for a picture to save their lives, thus the blurry pics.

I took the opportunity to explore parts of Seoul I hadn't yet seen. Stacy and I stayed in Tocheon, which is Tanja's tiny village she lives in. It takes her about an hour and a half by bus just to get to the nearest subway stop. I was at first skeptical of her calling it a village, especially living in Korea, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. However, once I saw the main drag, I was convinced. It really isn't just a small town, it's a village- surrounded by beautiful mountains and peaceful rice fields where the egrets love to congregate.







The next day of my Chusok vacation was used to go to Seoul Tower, which sits on top of Namsan which is in the middle of the city. We had a gorgeous 360 degree view of the city skyline at night. Here I am enjoying some junk art a little too much!








Chusok Day was spent at a traditional folk village with some friends. It's the same idea as a reconstructed colonial village in Jamestown or Williamsburg- old houses and people dressed in costume. What impressed me most, however was the traditional farmers' dance they did. I've dubbed it the ribbon dance because they had ribbons on their heads which they swirled around to the beat of the drums with a simple nod of their heads. It was very cool. If I can somehow attach a video of it here, I will, otherwise those of you on Facebook can access it their once I post it.


Extreme seesawing is also apparently a traditional Korean sport. Who knew? Two women jump up and down on a seesaw and fling each other so high into the air they can do acrobatics.

The pic above with the thatch house includes members of the "denim family", whose members numbered over 100 people- all with the same shirts. See, American families aren't the only ones that have gigantic family reunions where they all where the same thing. Their shirts, however, are considerably less tacky. The denim family also makes a cameo in the ribbon dancer picture. And yes, I do know the crazy girl below. That's Hadley.

Me, Marty & Karen

Cool horseback riding

Traditional Korean wedding

Dogs in hanbok. One day, I'll get a pic of white
dogs with their ears dyed purple. You think I jest!

The DMZ

This weekend I visited the Demilitarized Zone with five of my friends: Stacy, Tanja, Art, Jason, and Paul. It was a surreal experience, to say the least. Nowhere else can you see as starkly the divide that separates the two Koreas. It is very stark and in your face. There too, one can feel the dislike and distrust the two sides have against each other. It would be hard to find a border between two countries that's more tense and more heavily fortified than the DMZ. And yet, there I was, a tourist snapping pictures and gawking at the other side. It definitely made for a surreal trip.

It took about an hour to get to the DMZ from Seoul by bus. Seoul is only about 65km from the North Korean border. We took the tour with the USO (United Services Organization), which organizes trips mainly for US military personnel and their families, but also civilians. I think it's also the only tour that's allowed inside the JSA. The actual tour began in the JSA (Join Security Area), which is administered by the United Nations. Though currently, only Korean soldiers are posted there. There are about 10 US soldiers that stay there, specifically for the purpose of giving tours. Up until 1976 soldiers from both sides could intermingle in the JSA. However, in 1976 a team of US and Korean soldiers went out to trim a tree that was blocking their view and they were attacked by North Korean soldiers with axes. Two of the soldiers were murdered in the infamous axe murder incident and it was then that a definite line was demarcated where neither were allowed to pass. Needless to say, the South did cut down that tree, but only after dispatching over a hundred heavily armed men, putting the entire nation on a war alert, having B2 bombers and attack helicopters in the air for backup, and having an aircraft carrier group ready just off the coast.
It was this line that you can see in my photos. The soldiers that are standing on the corners of the buildings do that so they can jump back quickly in case they are shot at. They are only there to guard the tour groups, however. The blue buildings are administered by South Korea, the silver ones by the North and they straddle the border. We then went into the main one where they often hold talks. Nothing describes the divide between the two Koreas more poignantly than that room. In the center is a table which sits length-wise on the border and each side literally sits in their country when the talks commence.

Guarding the door to North Korea was a very intimidating soldier. They wear the sunglasses to look more intimidating. We were told he was guarding the door against North Koreans coming in, but I'm sure it was more likely for stupid tourists who want to open it. We were also told that two North Korean soldiers were flanking the door just on the other side. Apparently one day, however, a South Korean soldier went to lock the door one night and the North Koreans on the other side heard him coming, whipped it open and tried to pull him through. Luckily he escaped, but ever since then locking the door has become a two man operation. And yes, we got to stand in the North Korean side of the room, so technically I've been to North Korea now.


We also saw what they call "Propaganda Village" across the border from a lookout. Thus named for the propaganda that up until a few years ago was blasted into the South over giant megaphones. It's a dummy village and no one lives there permanently. When South Korea erected a 100 meter flagpole in their own village, "Freedom Village"- Tae Sung Dong, the North Koreans erected one that was 160 meters. The flag itself is 30 meters long and weighs over 600lbs dry weight. People actually do live in Tae Sung Dung, by the way, farming the rice that they grow.

You see in the pics that the North Korean mountains are denuded of trees. They've been cut for firewood and they were never replaced. It makes for kind of an ugly vista, which is rather fitting considering what it must be like to live there.

In this pic if you look closely you can see the two flags facing off with one another across the DMZ. Since no man has stepped into the DMZ since 1953, wildlife has flourished in the 1km wide, 155 mile long strip. Many endangered species live there. If the two Koreas ever do reunite, there are plans to leave it as an undisturbed Peace Park.

This is the Bridge of No Return. At the end of the war the two sides put their POWs on either side of the bridge, which crosses the border. They were given the chance to cross to whichever side they wanted but once they did so, there was no returning ever.

We also got to go through what is dubbed the 3rd tunnel- the third of 3 tunnels that were discovered being dug by the North Koreans under the DMZ. Three of them were found in the 70's, one of them in 1990. Had it been completed, the tunnel we toured would have enabled 30,000 soldiers an hour to flood South Korea. How they would have accomplished this, I've no idea. We weren't allowed to take photos of the tunnel, but it was pretty unremarkable.

As I said in the beginning, the DMZ tour was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had while traveling. As a tourist, I felt almost like a voyeur gawking at something that I should not have been allowed to see so easily. Here I was, snapping pics of the North Korean soldier across the way, and yet our military escort was standing right beside me, highlighting the very real danger. As a tourist I almost felt like I was being used as a pawn by higher powers by relegating North Korea into nothing more than a tourist attraction. It's kind of a big slap in the face if you think about it. (However, North Korea conducts its own tours of the DMZ.) We were definitely fed our share of propaganda about the evils of North Korea.

It was odd standing at the observatory, peeking into what is the most closed and secretive regime on Earth, looking at the people in the rice fields and wondering how different their lives must be, and seeing the two flags flying stubbornly across a very definitive border that divides what should rightfully be a single nation. It makes me angry thinking it over. This nation had been unified for centuries, surviving against all odds through wars and invasions and colonizers until it was ripped apart by the politics of the Soviet Union and the United States. From what I've discussed with Koreans, the possibility for reunification gets smaller with each passing generation. The elderly of course want nothing more than reunification. The generation that's my age, however, doesn't really care. Some of them don't even want it because of the hardship it would bring to South Korea. Afterall, the North is about 40 years behind the South in terms of development. And then you have an entire population that not only has no idea what it's like to live in a capitalist society, but has been brainwashed to think that the South is the root of all evil. Germany is still feeling the strain from its reunification. South Korea would take decades before it recovered. But all this is for another blog.












Today, as if to highlight the poignancy of it all, they tested the civil defense sirens. Apparently they do it every 15th of the month, but today was the first day I actually noticed it. Jenny, our boss, told us that it's done around the entire country at the same time. All traffic has to stop for 10-15 minutes. It was eerie looking out the window on a beautiful sunny fall day and seeing the usually busy street silent, except for the long moaning of the air raid sirens. It was a stark reminder of what lies only 65km away, and what that means for this nation.