The Honeymoon pt6

From Denpasar airport back to Jakarta, my Delta Platinum Medallion status pays off as we are treated to the some delicious treats in the Garuda Lounge including lychees!

 

First stop back in Seoul for Michelle is an obvious one

And thus begins our day from overnight flight straight to the Seoul City tour bus, 14500km from where our journey began back in Venezuela

 

 

A trip first to the national museum (honestly not so interesting)

followed then by the War Memorial (VERY interesting)

filled with lots of memorabilia (and perhaps a bit of propaganda) for the good guys

even a few captured tanks… and just which direction do you imagine this missile is pointed?

Overall a pretty cool exhibit

Next up the Seoul tower, tallest building in the city, which also was underwhelming… not quite the great view that I had hoped for

And the view from the world’s tallest bathroom?  Well, can’t say that I didn’t feel weird bringing a camera to the toilet

Next up hanging around Apgujeong market where I discover a new love for hydrangea tea, Michelle meets some new friends

and we find that the Koreans are already engaged in the bikini lifestyle.

Later comes a trip to Kim’s club hypermarket to buy some more commodity teas, as well as a monstrous Asian pear (or as they call it here, “pear”)

Plus  a little dessert… no it’s ok it’s watermelon that makes it healthy right?

The next day begins with a stop by the Hard Rock Seoul en route to a tour of the Panmunjeom DMZ!  As the closest spot we can get to the North, this was a real highlight for me!

It was quite an exciting time to be in Seoul with Crazy Kim ranting about blowing up the world.  Here we have a view of the Panmun-guk propaganda village of the North… a nice little collection of buildings meant to show off the great life that Southerners are missing out on, though sadly nobody actually lives here.  They have since ceased the stereo speakers that broadcast propaganda across the Demilitarized zone.  Electricity is expensive!  If only they had nuclear power, think of all the great messages they could send out!

In the N/S pissing contest, the latest became the ballad of whose flagpole is higher (if you know what I mean). I’ve got one for you here

The whole DMZ museum was quite interesting as well, if not a bit rushed.  As you can imagine, the military keeps visitation on quite a tight schedule, so I am glad that we got to see the War Memorial yesterday.

It is amazing to see just how many times that North Korea has attempted to infiltrate the South, from the 1968 invasion where militants came within steps of the presidential blue house, the 1988 bombing of a Korean Air flight authorized by Kim Jong-Il to cause disruption during the Olympics, to 1996 when 26 special force ops on a spying mission gone horribly wrong made it to Seoul by submarine for a killing rampage until the last were caught after 49 days (all except 2 died, 1 made it back North and the other was captured).  And of course the tunnels…

The last of these 4 tunnels (found tunnels that is… might there be more?) was discovered in 1990, though it is the 3rd found in 1978 that is the most impressive.  At 2m x 2m, 1mile long and 500’ underground, a 10,000 troop battalion can pass through in just 1hr (not quite big enough for tanks or vehicles).  When discovered the North claimed that they were for coal mining although there is no coal in the area (only granite).  It is actually quite interesting to see that much of the tunnel’s granite walls are superficially painted black to give the appearance of coal (if it works in a night market, hey why wouldn’t it work for military intelligence?).  Then later the North claimed that they were built by the South for invasion the other way, although the orientation of blast patterns lend evidence that they originated from the North, as does the angle (tilted upwards to the South so that water flows to the origination point rather than accumulate in the direction of digging). 

Impressively, the DMZ has actually now become a major wildlife preserve with an amazing level of biodiversity.  The presence of land mines and booby traps has served as a pretty good deterrent for human intervention over the past 50+ years.  This 430sq mile area is now home to such rare species as the Asiatic Black Bear and Red-crowned Crane.  Unfortunately in this 2.5mile wide strip free of human predators, there is no safety from the blast of a 3score-old land mine.

These poor animals are not the only ones living in such risk.  In an area where land is as scarce as Seoul, approximately 200 farmers live and work on the Taesong-dong complex where at the cost of having to deal with hidden land mines they reap the benefits of cheap land/taxes from which to earn a huge agricultural profit.  How can you say no to DMZ-brand rice?

 

It is impressive if you think about the effect that cutting a nation off from its land-neighbors by the 37th lateral has had… what is the mother of all invention?  As ground/rail has never been an option for international commerce, how impressive that Korean Air is now the world’s #1 cargo carrier… and the 3.6million strong port city of Busan has now become the world’s 5th busiest seaport and even a contender for the 2020 Olympic games.  The oft-cited statistic is of course how 50 years ago the GDP of South Korea was approximately equal to that of Syria… and now is larger than most all of the Middle Eastern countries combined.  Thus the impact of strongmen who (with the support of foreign powers that enjoy cheap gas stations) reap goodies from their land with no transparency vs. places like South Korea and Taiwan where innovation and investment creates sustainable futures.

The North/South divide is not without overtures at reconciliation, nowhere more exemplified than by the Dorasan metro station.  Built in anticipation of reunification, this last stop before the North is ready to start making the 205km jaunt to Pyongyang… and of course with some capitalist motivation, open up rail access for the world’s 12th biggest exporter to markets in China, Russia, and the EU.  Here you can even bring home a souvenir passport stamp showing departure to Pyongyang…

 

Just be careful… evidently a British tourist was once stopped for 14hrs at customs trying to explain why he had a North Korean visa stamp in his passport.

And as one final overture by the South trying to improve trade relations in order to keep financing terrorist activities by the North, look what else you can buy here?  Though if I found myself trapped in North Korea, I think I would have to turn somewhere a bit stronger for relief… get me a piece of those hard drugs that Kim Jong-Il traffics to help finance his military.  Having zero frame of reference aside from those who successfully manage to flee to asylum in the South I can only speculate but man it must suck to be a North Korean.  Quite unlike Cuba where the people, who albeit have nothing, do have quite strong reasons to be deliriously happy… what about here?  A hard life with none of the benefit?

Lastly before heading back to Seoul did we learn about the Kaesong Industrial Region.  This manufacturing facility located right North of the JSA-border was constructed in 2004 led by the Hyundai group, whose founder originally came from a North Korean village pre-war.  This site provides a mutually beneficial opportunity for Northern civilians to earn a living (employment outside of the military? not quite) under the employ of 100-some different South Korean firms who get top-flight manufacturing labor at 1/20th the cost.  Unfortunately during our trip, Kim Jong-Il riding high on his Napoleonic horse demanded a 3,000% increase in rent as well as a 4x increase in workers’ salaries.  Not surprisingly companies have already begun pulling out… sigh… 

On our way back to Seoul now, as we pass by the parliament building… home to many a fistfight between 55yr old legislators in 3 piece suits.  Brings a tear to my eye thinking of the same state of “impassioned” politics back in Taiwan.  Speaking of which, I love how this year an American born white guy who became a naturalized Taiwanese citizen tried running for parliament under the green party.  I think he was ultimately barred due to a law that requires 10years of citizenship prior to holding public office… but way to go diversity!

En route to Gyeongbok-gung palace, Seoul’s grandest and oldest, a familiar site to the weary traveler.  I guess Korea is a ways away from Peru… poor guy was performing Daddy Yankee-style with a drum machine backing him up.

Yay we made it to the palace!  Train station maintains the equity

With a picturesque view of the mountains behind us, we were fortunate enough to catch the changing of the guard.

Animals are the best protection for any royalty…

 

Another long day means time to recharge with some tasty bibim bap (dolsot of course!)

And who can say no to a little more Bizeun, especially if it means an extra treat of green tea/black bean/mochi shaved ice!

Thus closes out our adventure, a full month after it began.  When people say that a vacation is necessary to recover from vacation, yes we may feel like Linus here… but give me more and rest assured that I will not be resting.  We learn a lot, we see a lot, and yet the world is still just so big.  So little time to do it all… talking of course from a position of financial stability it’s a hell of a lot easier to affirm that yes, you can always borrow money but you can’t borrow time.  What is really more important?

In my quest to maximize time, I apologize to all of those who have not heard much from me while away.  Part of the reason was of course this piece of shit phone I bought that destroyed my ability to maintain communication. Certainly was nice to travel for such a long and keep a smoothly shorn chin… but come on, if you’re going to invest in a touch-screen LCD and dual-sim capability, on top of an f’in electric shaver, why skimp on the actual phone capabilities?  I guess that is a weird question to ask of the land which manufactures fake watermelon.

So while this story now comes to an end, memories do not (sometimes they never existed, though thankfully… or not… are well documented by digital cams), and nor does the life. Our experiences over the past month have been nothing short of surreal and inspirational in the realization that it doesn’t have to (and shows no sign of coming to an) end.  Wherever we may be, we are the ones who make it the adventure.  I’m already looking forward to the next one… and now that my life is no longer consumed with writing a blog, sounds like a good time to start already.

From this saga’s beginning, it’s true what they say about weddings and elections: they bring out the best and the worst of people.  Thankfully it was far more of the latter which we were blessed with, between dear friends flying into Venezuela for 21hrs to be with us, trafficking 12yr Scotch for the celebration from an Island away, to those who time and time again continue demonstrate their willingness to carry us like fleeting gazelles.  Stay thirsty friends.