Korea Swag!

Today I’d like to talk about some cool stuff I got in Korea. Then I’ll get back to talking about Japan, I swear!

The first couple of things I got might not really be that Korean, since I got them from Starbucks, but I still think they’re pretty cool. I’ve never been much of a coffee person, and Starbucks seems to be pretty evil all things considered, so I might go there once or twice a year if I’m with a friend. I’ve actually been going more than usual since I’ve been in Asia, though, because my prefecture only has three Starbucks locations in total, and apparently everyone I know in Japan is crazy about it.

I’ll cut to the chase: unbeknownst to me, Starbucks locations all over the world apparently have theme mugs representing different popular cities. I did not know this until I got to Korea and saw the awesome Busan mug. And now I own a mug from Busan and a mug from Seoul.

What can I say? The designs are really cool and they feature popular city sites, so they’re great as far as memorabilia. I’m also a little worried that when I return to Canada everything I bring back with me will be obscure and require long, boring explanations on my part if anyone asks about them, so these seem like simple discussion pieces. I imagine I’ll have conversations with friends that go something like this:

Me: “Want some coffee?”
Friend: “Sure. Oh, you went to Seoul, eh?”
Me: “Yes, I did. And I bought a mug. The mug you are now holding.”
Friend: “I easily understand.”

See? Nothing to it!

Okay, moving on. Everywhere you go in Korea, if you hit a lot of tourist-y locations, you’ll see vendors selling mother-of-pearl merchandise. As a girl with some girly tendencies, my eyes were often drawn to the sparkling, glimmering designs and deep, pearly coloring. As an adult with student loans, however, I resisted the attractions, knowing that I would never actually have a use for a little hand mirror or a jewelry box that I’d have to ship home.

So here’s a picture of the jewelry box I bought and will now have to ship home:

Thankfully it’s a small one! Okay, here’s the story: about halfway into my trip in Seoul my friend and I were in Insadong when we came upon this huge souvenir place. There was an enormous display of mother-of-pearl goods, and like a moth to a flame I couldn’t avert my eyes. The saleslady working there saw me and pounced.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” She asked.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful,” I agreed.
I guess a stronger woman would have simply walked away, but what can I say? I am too Canadian to walk away when someone is talking to me. I deliberately did not ask about prices, because I knew that would send the wrong signal, namely that I was looking to buy, but it turns out I didn’t need to ask. She immediately said, “Twenty-five dollars. But for you…”
At this point she smiled secretively, glanced around, leaned close, and whispered, “Twenty-three!”
‘Just for me’. Yeah, I bet. I might be a Canadian, lady, but polite doesn’t mean stupid. I’m guessing she says that to all the suckers.
I put on my best skeptical face and responded, “Twenty.” I was trying to lowball her, figuring she might give up on the sale.
I’m proud to say she looked genuinely surprised, but my plan failed. Instead, she countered, “Twenty-two.”
And I bought it. What was that I was just saying about not being stupid? Well, what can I say? I knew I couldn’t walk away after having made a counter-offer. That would just be too rude. Curse my Canadian bones!

Anyway, as it turns out I actually have a use for it seeing as I bought some jewelry in Korea as well. I mean, I owned jewelry before that, but I needed a good segue way into this paragraph. Again, while in Insadong, I came upon a little jewelry shop that sells handmade goods.

This was kind of the opposite of the jewelry box story: as soon as I caught sight of one of the necklaces inside I knew I wanted to buy it. I asked the man who owned the place how much it was, and he told me everything was ten dollars and that it was all handmade by his sister (the woman working with him in the shop). The one that caught my eye was the pink one in the above picture, and I also bought the green cross, which is apparently made of traditional Korean ceramic.

I got the smaller necklace that looks like a cluster of grapes at one of the DMZ gift shops. Before going to Korea I had heard that Amethyst is a popular Korean export, so I had planned to get something made of amethyst before I left. Mission accomplished, I guess!

Part of the reason we were shopping in Insadong in the first place is that my friend actually knows quite a bit about traditional Korean art and even has a collection going. He collects hand-carved theatrical masks and traditional woodblock paintings.

The woodblock paintings he collects are in a series of four celestial animals, which includes a dragon, a phoenix, a tiger, and a turtle. He got one of the larger prints as well as a frame for it, and while I don’t want to say how much he spent, let’s just say it was a lot. While he was talking with the shop’s owner I looked around a bit and the following painting caught my eye:

It’s one of the prints in the celestial animal series, but it’s much smaller and much cheaper than the one my friend got. The animal featured is a turtle, if you can believe it! I kind of fell in love and had to get it.

My friend also purchased one of the aforementioned masks at a different place, which were just as expensive as his print. I have to say, the masks are pretty cool. They’re from a theatrical style that’s similar to the caricatures used in the Canterbury Tales. Each mask represents a social position, like “the monk”, “the scholar”, etc., and they were used to perform social satires.

I bring up the masks because my friend apparently really charmed the lady working at the shop, so she gave both of us little souvenirs for free. I think they might actually be bolo ties, but maybe I’m wrong. Anyway, here’s a picture of mine:

I don’t know what the character is supposed to be, but I think it’s a woman, which is why the lady gave it to me. It was pretty sweet of her.

One thing I have to say about Korea is that it has an enormous and well-developed souvenir industry, one that exists in places I didn’t expect it to exist. And it’s also very internationally-oriented, especially compared to some places I’ve been to in Japan (but then again, I’ve gone to some more obscure places in Japan, so I’m guessing the places in Tokyo and Kyoto are a little more international). For example, while I’ve rarely been able to find English books in Japan, especially not at souvenir places, there were loads of English books at many of the sites I visited in Busan and Seoul. Seeing them awakened a sort of primal instinct in me, one from a time when I used to gravitate happily to bookshelves, unencumbered with the knowledge that I would be completely unable to read them. So, while I was at the Imperial Palace I got a book of Korean folk tales and one about the DMZ. They’re both now standing among the books on my desk at work, ready to be read when the days get slow.

Now, speaking of souvenir shops in places you wouldn’t expect them to be, there are four or five of them in various places on the DMZ tour. There’s one neat the Joint Security Area where you actually take the DMZ tour, there’s one at Dorasan Station, there’s one at the Third Infiltration Tunnel, and I know I’m missing one or two. They sell some strange things there. At the shop near the Third Infiltration Tunnel you can buy enormous bags of rice. I think they’re rice harvested from Daeseongdong, the freedom village inside the DMZ. You can also buy barbed wire. Like, official DMZ barbed wire, I guess.

I felt weird buying anything at all, but I wanted to get a couple of things to remember my trip, knowing I might never be back there. Hopefully there will soon be a time when the DMZ doesn’t even exist. So I got a little keychain and coffee mug, thinking I might start a collection of coffee mugs from various places I’ve been.

My prized possession from Korea, though, hands down, is the North Korean currency I got. It never even occurred to me that such a thing was available, but some of the other DMZ visitors asked about it at the souvenir shop. I got a 100-won bill, which I think comes out to about one Canadian dollar. And I think it cost about thirty dollars, so again, I might not be the brightest tool in the box. But I can pretty much guarantee I will never get another opportunity to touch North Korean currency.

Pictured on the bill, by the way, is Kim Jong-il, if I’m not mistaken. I’m pretty sure he’s on all the currency in the North. I could be wrong about that, though.

Anyway, on a brighter note, I also picked up some Korean chopsticks. If I was living in Canada I definitely would not have done this, but that’s because in Canada I didn’t use chopsticks that often. Now that I use them every day, I was interested to see that Korean chopsticks and Japanese chopsticks are different. The ones in Japan are sort of like elongated cones, circular at the thin tip and either circular or just slightly square-shaped at the thicker end. Korean chopsticks are long and flat, and are typically stainless steel like Western cutlery, while Japanese chopsticks are usually made of wood or plastic.

It’s actually kind of uncomfortable for me to use the Korean ones compared to the Japanese ones. Wonder why!

While I was at the Bulguk-sa I managed to round out my fan collection by getting a beautiful folding fan. I’ve been collecting fans ever since I came to Japan, kind of as memorabilia for every place I’ve been.

The one I got in Korea is definitely more of a display piece than a fan for practical use. For one thing is pretty big, which makes it kind of heavy, and the tassel tied to the handle would be really annoying if you’re using it on a hot summer day. And, you know, it’s made of paper. It really is beautiful, though.

And, finally, the cosmetics! Ever since I came to Japan I’ve been hearing about how cheap and wonderful the Korean cosmetics are. So, I’ve been pretty eager to do some shopping there and give them a try. I might do some reviews down the road, but for now I’ll just talk about which ones I got.

First I stopped at the Face Shop at Busan station and picked up a clay pore-care pack, which is a mask you’re supposed to use twice a week. I also grabbed an eyeliner brush there. Then when I was in Seoul I stopped by Skin Food for some “Egg White Pore Foam”, which I think is something similar (it was recommended by a friend). I also got some “Royal Honey Hydro Cream”, a moisturizer that purports to fight wrinkles. Finally, I swung by Etude House and got some firming cream for my eyes (hey, it was cheap, and apparently you’re supposed to start young with this kind of stuff).

What really got me excited about all this stuff was the free swag they give you when you shop at these places. I got loads of little sample packs of moisturizer, filler (whatever that is!), cleanser, whitener (not that I wanted whitener, but hey), and even a little bottle of toner. I can’t remember the last time I got anything resembling free samples at a cosmetics place in Canada.

And that’s about it for my swag! I feel like I probably bought too much stuff, but that always seems to be the way it is for me after I travel somewhere. And generally I’m happy with my purchases.

Well, you know. Besides that damn jewelry box.

Korea Trip: Hanok Village

Alright, at long last we come to the last of the places that my friend and I visited on our trip to Korea. That place was Namsangol Hanok Village, an immersive recreation of a traditional Korean village from the Joseon Dynasty. Some of the houses are recreations of those owned by the emperor’s extended family, while some are recreations of the houses of peasants.

One thing that continually struck me about Korean architecture at the palaces, temples, and village buildings that we saw was the lack of ostentation. While there are at times evidence of opulence, like the mother-of-pearl furniture in the queen’s quarters at the Imperial Palace and the bright green roof of the emperor’s study, there is very little in the way of grand displays of wealth. The only exceptions I can think of are the crowns that the Shilla royalty would wear. Whether that means such artifacts simply didn’t survive, such things weren’t priorities to the Korean people in those times, the nation didn’t have much wealth, or I just didn’t happen to see them, I don’t know.

Anyway, on to Hanok! All of the buildings represented at the village are houses. Unlike the folk village that I visited in Fukuoka, you can’t go inside any areas of the houses, but fortunately everything is laid out pretty openly so it doesn’t detract too much from the experience. Hanok is basically the place to go if you’re an architecture nut (like I am), if you want to see details of the day-to-day lives of non-imperial Koreans back in the day, or just have a general interest in Korea’s history and culture before modernization.

There were a couple of areas with really pretty gardens, made doubly so since the plum blossoms were at the peak of their blooming cycle. At one of the gardens you can even see Seoul Tower on the mountain in the distance.

In a couple of places outside, you can also see dozens of huge clay pots standing near the gates. I’m pretty sure that these were largely used for making kimchi and other preserves.

I especially liked seeing the kitchens, which had all sorts of pots, pans, and cooking utensils piled up as though ready for use. You can see piles of chopped wood ready to heat the stone stoves, and in fact wood in the heating areas to show how the stoves worked.

There are lots of other interior spaces to look at where you can see details of the domestic lives of the inhabitants. There are what I like to call “traditional garages”, or sites where palanquins and carts were parked, as well as looms, decorative screens and wall-hangings, and all sorts of traditional Korean furniture.

On the day that we visited they were also having some sort of exhibition about Chinese medicine. There was a display of about thirty different ingredients, preserved in jars and labeled in both Korean and English. There were all sorts of roots, some enormous mushrooms, and a good-sized tortoise shell.

There were even some dried seahorses!

A young woman in traditional Korean garb was manning the display and she asked if we had any questions about the medicines. I asked her what the seahorses were used for, and she told me they were given to women in labor to help them push. Interesting. I asked her about some other things, too, which she helpfully explained. When I asked her about the tortoise shell she said, “Oh. That’s for decoration.” I had to laugh.

Afterwards she asked if we’d like to try some herbal tea. Never one to turn down anything that’s free, I readily agreed, only to find out that we first had to determine whether we have “hot” or “cold” temperaments. She gave us sheets of information with different behavioral traits to help us figure it out. I told her that I seemed to have half of the hot and half of the cold traits, to which she replied, “Well, let’s put it this way: do you like cinnamon or mint?”

Well, I still don’t know which temperament I am, but the tea was decent enough. It wasn’t hard on my stomach at all like some Chinese teas tend to be.

Near the entrance to the building recreations there are a few traditional Korea games set up that visitors can try. One of them was the arrow-throwing game, where you try to throw an arrow into a metal ring that has a circumference about the size of a standard cup. We were using fake arrows, but you just know that back in the day kids were probably throwing real arrows around in their yards, never thinking they might take someone’s eye out. Man, I grew up in the wimpiest generation.

Anyway, the only reason I bring this game up is that my friend and I played it and I beat him by actually getting the arrow into the cup. Yeah!

And that about does it for my experience of Hanok Village! There are a few other things to check out there, including a traditional Korean craft shop, a time capsule, and even performances of traditional Korean weddings. I had no idea they had wedding performances, or I might have hung around to see one. Anyway, overall, even just spending an hour or two there is a great way to learn about everyday life in the Joseon period, so I’d definitely recommend it.

I’ve been blogging about my Korea trip for about a month now, so I guess it’s about time I wrapped it up, but I’m not done quite yet! I’ve still got some SWAG to discuss, so look forward to a shallow and materialistic post about my capitalist exploits!

Korea Trip: War Memorial, Part 2

The most affective and in many ways the most disturbing parts of the War Memorial are the second two floors. While the first floor contains exhibitions pertaining to ancient Korean warfare—the wounds of whose battles have mostly been healed by time—the second two floors are dedicated to telling the stories of wars that are much more recent and the fallout of which Korea is still greatly impacted by. The tone is set the moment you enter the first hall: the entrance to the first Korean War Room contains a wall made of video screens that shows a video of how the DMZ was established and some basic information about the Korean War. The floor is made of glass, and beneath your feet you can see a recreation of a grave, complete with skeleton, as though you’re gazing through the earth and into the resting places of the soldiers who were killed.

A good portion of the Korean War rooms are dedicated to evidence of Soviet and Chinese participation in the Korean Communists’ activities and the events leading up to the beginning of the war. This is a pretty important point, since today the North Korean regime continues to insist that the war was started by America and that the “imperialist” Americans continue to resist reunification. At the War Memorial you can actually see documents written from Stalin to Mao and Kim Il-Sung agreeing to back the Korean Communists’ aggression against then-President Syngman Rhee and agreeing to let China send forces into the peninsula to resist the United Nations forces. Of course, these documents are written in Russian, so there are touch-screen monitors nearby that provide translations in both Korean and English.

There are also displays of various kinds of vehicles and weapons that were provided for the Korean Communists by China and Russia, as well as weapons that were used by the South.

A lot of the rooms throughout this section of the museum are mini-theaters that show short educational films about various battles that occurred during the war and the stories of various units that fought in it. There are Korean versions of the films, as well as English and (if I remember correctly) Chinese and Japanese. In terms of educating people about the events of the war, I think the mini-theaters do an excellent job; as you move through the different rooms you’re told the same general history, but each room focuses on a different battle or topic. The repetition gives you a solid base of understanding about the overall events of the war, and the shift in focus makes it diverse enough to hold your interest.

There are also some pretty immersive elements to the Korean War rooms. At some points there are huge displays depicting battlefields, complete with the sounds of gunshots, explosions, and flashing lights.

Another display related to soldiers crossing a frozen river includes a pathway with screens on the floor. As you pass through the pathway you can hear the sounds of ice cracking, and when you look down at your feet the screens display images of breaking ice.

One of these types of displays includes an actual tank standing behind glass. When you enter the room you can press a button, after which text is displayed on the glass in front of the tank explaining the events of a battle at Seoul. As the text progresses, the tank’s turret suddenly jumps to life and starts moving, its gun sweeping from side to side as though searching for a target. Let me tell you, even if it’s behind glass, it’s pretty freaky being faced with the moving barrel of a tank’s gun.

There are also displays of various war heroes’ statues and communications between the United Nations officials in charge of aiding Korea. There are documents pertaining to General MacArthur, who convinced President Truman to allow him to take the whole Korean peninsula despite Truman’s fears that China would get involved once the conflict reached its borders. As it turns out the president was right, and MacArthur was subsequently relieved of duty.

One of the last areas in the Korean War rooms is dedicated to the families whose lives were affected by war. There are all kinds of images and videos of families grieving and orphans crying next to their parents’ bodies. It’s heartbreaking.

At the end of the War rooms you come upon what I’d describe as their thesis statement, a large structure constructed of video screens that hangs from the ceiling, playing footage from the war. The room is illumined with soft lighting that resembles the sun shining through water. To the right of the video monument there’s a mural painted on the wall with the word “peace” written in dozens of languages, and to the left a similar mural stands containing the word “freedom”.

If you live in Seoul, you could basically get university-level education about the Korean War just by spending time visiting the War Memorial. Between the videos and the explanatory text on the signs throughout, there’s more than enough information to fill a textbook. You could actually probably get a better educational experience, since there’s so much footage and there are so many artifacts from the events that occurred. What’s more, there’s no entrance fee, so you’d get all that education for free. It’s an amazing institution.

But of course, Korea’s military history doesn’t end with the Korean War. On the third floor of the museum there’s an area dedicated to the Vietnam War, which includes a tunnel-shaped entrance covered in bright green leaves. I suppose it’s meant to simulate the experience of entering Vietnam.

This area of the museum is smaller than some of the others, but it does include some video and light-up map displays, as well as a memorial statue, some war vehicles, and stunningly intricate models of Vietnamese posts.

After the area dedicated to the Vietnam War you come upon the women’s section, which commemorates all of the Korean women who have fought in the military and served as medical workers over the years. There are displays vintage magazines and news articles written about women in the military, some photos of their service, and even some ladies’ uniforms. Men in Korea are required to serve in the military for two years, but women are exempt from this service, so understandably this area is one of the smaller sections of the museum. I get the impression that the situation for woman in the Korean military isn’t much better than it is in Canada or other countries.

After that you move on to the modern war area, which is kind of cool and exciting and kind of depressing. You can see a lot of things that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to, like missiles, models of modern war vehicles, and life-size simulations of submarine cockpits.

Some of the more interesting displays include the “Future Warrior” combat suit, a full suit of modern combat armor that looks like something out of Robocop. There’s also a rifle with a flexible tip and a little screen mounted on top of it that lets the gun operator fire around a corner without exposing him or herself. I’m not going to lie, my first reaction on seeing this stuff was something along the lines of, “wow, that’s pretty cool!”, but then of course it just reminded me that this is the kind of gear that will only ever be used during wars like the ones in the rooms I just visited. There’s nothing really cool about that.

The last of the more impactful areas of the museum are the Memorial Hall dedicated to the Korean War heroes and a secondary memorial hall dedicated to the UN forces who sacrificed their lives fighting for Korea’s freedom. The Memorial hall is breathtaking. It’s comprised of several rooms, the last of which is called “Creation”. “Creation” is a large, circular space with a pool of water set into the ground. A ring of three stone steps leads down into the pool, and an enormous, black stone bowl that’s nearly as tall as I am stands in the center of the pool. A ray of sunlight shines down from the ceiling into the bowl, which is filled with water. The sunlight is meant to represent Korea, while the bowl represents creation and the “everlasting Korean nation”. If nothing else in the museum tips you off, it’s at this point that a touch of Korean nationalism becomes pretty clear. Still, it’s a fantastic piece of architectural artwork.

In the UN memorial hall there are displays containing armor and weaponry from various countries that fought against the communist Koreans during the war, as well some video displays and other exhibitions. There’s also a large monument that’s mounted on the ceiling of one of the rooms and resembles a series of rings comprised of military tags. Instead of names and ranks, though, they contain photos of individuals who contributed in significant ways to the war effort.

That basically covers the interior of the museum, but there are also some interesting sights standing on War Memorial grounds. Row after row of decommissioned military, naval, and air force vehicles are displayed for passersby to see, and while you can’t climb into them you can get close enough to touch them. It was pretty amazing seeing some of these things in real life for the first time. They’ve got bombers, gunships, mechanized infantry, artillery, tanks, and many, many other vehicles. There’s nothing like touching the shaft of a machine gun mounted on a helicopter gunship to make history come alive.

Overall, I was really impressed with the National War Memorial in a number of ways. In terms of educating both Koreans and international visitors it’s extremely effective, and the layout makes it easy to spend hours inside while feeling neither bored by the wealth of inform nor overwhelmed by the horrors of what occurred. It’s extremely sobering but doesn’t feel particularly manipulative. I was also pretty impressed with the consistently high-tech displays, which really brought the events of Korea’s history to life in creative and dynamic ways.

A few points did seem kind of strange to me, such as the nationalistic undertones that sometimes crept up in displays, and the gift shop that had things like key chains with guns on them and models of military vehicles that kids can construct. There’s also a “shooting area” where kids can fire model guns in a simulated environment, and a digital photo booth where you can get pictures taken standing in front of green screens of various military vehicles as though you’re a soldier. You can even have your face superimposed onto a soldier’s body.

I can’t help but wonder what the point of these aspects of the museum is: is it just something to hold the kids’ interest? I can’t deny that if I were eight years old I probably would have been either completely overwhelmed or bored out of my skull by all the military history. Or is it a way of alleviating the fears of young boys who will one day serve in the Korean military? Since service is required of every man in South Korea, I imagine seeing the displays of the modern wars Korea has been involved in might make little boys a little less enthusiastic about their mandatory service. Is it a propaganda tool to get little boys eager to serve their country? Or has the reality and urgency of war in Korea simply become so much a part of the culture since the 1950s that it’s met with much more of a blasé attitude in people’s day-to-day lives than it is in Canada, where the threat of war never seems particularly present?

Well, obviously I don’t know enough to actually be able to answer any of these questions, but the War Memorial definitely left me with a thirst to know more.

Korea Trip: War Memorial, Part 1

Aside from the DMZ and the Imperial Palace, the War Memorial of Korea was the site I was most interested in visiting during my trip. It’s a three-story complex outlining the historical war technology of the Korean nation, the major battles of the Three Kingdoms era directly preceding the nation’s official unification, and the events of the Korean War. It’s an extremely affective memorial to Korea’s history.

The Memorial is pretty affective right from the outset. It’s an enormous building with a bright, sprawling set of shallow stone steps leading to the entrance. It takes a few minutes to get from the sidewalk to the Memorial, so visitors have ample time to take in the sweeping stone pathway and the ring of various nations’ flags that surround the memorial. It honestly looked more like how I imagine a UN building to look than a museum.

As mentioned, the memorial is comprised of three floors, and the military history of Korea is told chronologically from the bottom floor up. The first floor contains artifacts from ancient Korean armies and covers the Three Kingdoms period. It’s here that visitors are introduced to the Turtle Ship, one of Korea’s most impressive naval achievements. Despite the cute name it’s actually a fearsome warship. It was developed in the 15th century to fight the Japanese, who were apparently had a superior navy at that point. What’s more, Japanese soldiers were such skilled fighters in hand-to-hand combat that the Korean soldiers dreaded doing battle with them.

Their solution was the Geobukseon, a turtle-shaped warship sporting a carving of a fierce dragon’s head on the bow and huge metal spikes jutting out of the “shell”. Pretty much the entire surface of the ship’s deck was covered in spikes, meaning that the crew mostly had to remain below deck while sailing. Moreover, the ships themselves were quite small, and a good deal of space below deck was taken up by the cannons that lined the sides of every vessel, so the crews were also pretty limited in number.

As it turned out, the limited space and crews were small sacrifices to make considering the Turtle Ships’ success. The ships were faster and easier to maneuver than larger vessels, and when the Japanese tried to jump aboard to engage in hand-to-hand combat their feet would be skewered by the spikes on the ships’ decks. It was something like a naval version of the phalanx in ancient Greece. Needless to say (and no pun intended) the tides started turning in the Korean navy’s favor.

Another fairly impressive military innovation of the Koreans was the Hwa Cha. It’s described in the museum’s brochure as a “mobile rocket launcher”. Basically it was a wooden grid on wheels that could hold up to a hundred rocket-propelled arrows, and served as a damn effective siege weapon back in the day.

There are loads of other treasures on the bottom floor as well, including canons, war drums, armor and regalia, scale models, weaponry, and artwork. You could spend an entire just going through all of the displays concerning ancient Korea.

Significantly, the War Memorial has a somewhat global slant, as there are also displays depicting armor and weapons from Britain, Spain, France, Japan, and many other countries.

What surprised me most about the museum was how high-tech it is. This mostly came into play on the upper two floors, but there were some cool high-tech displays on the first floor, too. There are a few displays standing behind glass that are about the size of a small room and that contain model seascapes. If you press a button near the display, the area around you darkens and recordings of ocean sounds and soldiers doing battle, completely with cannons and screaming, plays loudly while the models move. Spotlights illume different areas on the model seascape, and when the ships are shot down they sink into the plastic tides. It’s pretty creative for a museum display!

It was pretty cool to see the history of ancient Korea before moving on to the more somber displays dedicated to the Korean and Vietnamese wars. Even if you can’t understand a lot of the Korean language that’s spoken in the audio parts of the displays or don’t know much about the Three Kingdoms period, you can still enjoy the sights and learn quite a bit about what led up to the more recent military history of the nation.

Korea Trip: Myeongdong Cathedral and Seoul Tower

After having lived in Japan for about a year and a half, I was pretty surprised to see the number of churches that I did throughout Korea. Japan is a very Buddhist country, whereas Korea began adopting Christianity hundreds of years ago, over which time it gained more and more popularity. Right now Korea sends more missionaries abroad than almost any other country, and I read an article in university a few years back that calculated the population of Korea is about 70% Christian. Living in small-town Japan you almost never see a church, and if you do it’s a Catholic one, so there was a bit of culture shock suddenly being exposed to such a large number of such diverse sites of Christian worship.

There’s a particularly famous church in Seoul called the Myeongdong Cathedral that was apparently one of the first Catholic churches in the area and eventually became the most significant architectural influence for churches across the country. I had actually never even heard of it until I met a young Hungarian woman on my DMZ tour who recommended it to me. My friend had apparently been there before, so he took me to see it. We didn’t go inside because there was a service going on, but we were able to look around a bit and take some pictures. It really is a stunning building, made entirely of red brick with an enormous clock tower jutting over forty meters toward the sky.

By the time we got to the cathedral it was almost sunset, so we grabbed a bite to eat afterwards and then headed for Seoul Tower. I was kind of surprised to learn that Seoul Tower is situated on a mountaintop instead of in the middle of the city like most famous Japanese and Canadian towers. In order to get to it you have to take a cable car up the mountain, which is pretty cool. Ever since my trip to Kitakyushu I’ve had a certain fondness for traveling by cable car.

We got to the tower at pretty much the perfect time, because the sun had just set and the city was lighting up beneath us. The tower itself was illumed by a soft purple light and looked beautiful from below.

There are some cafes and gift shops around the base of the tower and there’s also a museum you can visit, but my friend and I were eager to check out the view, which really is quite stunning. The entire city stretched out below you in glittering strings of colored jewels. I think I enjoyed it so much because when I went to Taipei 101 the weather was so cloudy that I didn’t get to see as much of the city as I’d have liked. And really that’s kind of surprising, because Seoul was so smoggy that I didn’t expect to be able to see much from the tower when we first arrived in the city.

There’s an outdoor area above the observation deck that seems to be dedicated to love. There’s a huge metal sculpture comprised of different English words that are arranged to form the shape of a heart. It’s hollow inside, so you can see through the gaps in the letters and beyond the sculpture while you’re looking at it. It was pretty interesting.

There’s also a huge fence covered with different colored padlocks. Couples can come and write messages on or decorate a padlock, then fasten it to the fence. I’m guessing it’s symbolic of making an unbreakable vow.

All in all it was a nice, chill day of sightseeing. It was good for us to get a break from the sad stories of the Korean emperors and the sobering reality of the DMZ. And I think it was especially good to get that break before seeing Seodaemun Prison and the War Memorial. Updates to come!

Korea Trip: Insadong

The hotel that my friend and I were staying at in Seoul was right in Insadong, which is one of the coolest shopping districts for foreigners. I’m sure if you live in Seoul and especially if you’re a Korean citizen Insadong is nothing special. But for me it was really amazing seeing all of the traditional artwork and jewelry and other various things for sale. We had a lot of fun looking around.

While we were walking around we kept seeing people carrying what looked like huge yellow pipes loaded with ice cream. As I’ve mentioned previously street food is pretty popular in Korea, so it was a really neat way of making ice cream interesting and it definitely stood out! Of course we each got one.

I don’t know what they were actually supposed to be, but like I said they looked to me like tobacco pipes with ice cream poured into both ends. I expected mine to taste like a normal ice cream cone, but the cone part actually tasted like Captain Crunch Cereal. I have no idea how anyone came up with this idea.

Korea Trip: The Imperial Palace

One of the most historically significant sites in Seoul is Changdeokgung, or Cheongdeok Palace. It was the favorite palace of the rulers of Korea back when Korea was ruled by an emperor. Unlike Japan, which has a figurehead Emperor with a role similar to the Queen of England, Korea’s emperor system was abolished during the Japanese occupation. If you take the English tour of the palace your guide will tell you several stories about emperors and empresses who lived in the Imperial Palace, most of which are quite sad.

In any case, the palace is stunning visually and architecturally, as one would expect. Much like the Bulguk-sa, the architecture of the palace is characterized by bright colors, the most predominant of which are green, yellow, and brown. What struck me about the coloring of the palace was that it was very well balanced and no one color really stood out. The colors all seemed to blend and harmonize well.

Unlike Western-style palaces which tend to be one large, self-contained building, the Cheongdeok Palace is spread out over a large area and is comprised of a number of smaller yet no less impressive structures.

One of the largest—if not the largest—buildings housed the Emperor’s throne room. I don’t know if the throne inside is the original one the emperors used to use, but you can get pretty close to take pictures:

One thing that was pretty interesting about the layout of the palace was the way the paths were constructed. The paths leading from building to building and gate to gate are comprised of two layers of elevated stone. The top layer is narrower and elevated just a little above the one under it. Apparently the top path was for the emperor, and his entourage walked on either side of him, on the lower path, so that the emperor was always elevated above those around him.

Another building of note on the palace grounds was the emperor’s study, which is more or less exactly what you’d expect it to be. Apparently it wasn’t actually used very much, though, because it was kind of small and didn’t have any kind of heating system. Hmm, for some reason I feel like I can relate…

It’s kind of a shame that the study wasn’t often put to use, though, because it seems that it was a pretty expensive building to construct. The roof of the study is a beautiful, vibrant greenish-blue, and it’s the only building in the complex to have this kind of coloring. That’s because the coloring on the roof tiles came from Arabia and it was far too expensive to use on the roofs of the other buildings.

Instead of using his study, the emperor would usually do his administration work from the comfort of his personal quarters, at least until the Japanese occupation. When Japan occupied Korea the emperor was stripped of all his power and his siblings were taken to Tokyo to be educated. It’s a pretty sad story. During the time of the occupation a fire broke out in the emperor’s quarters, the cause of which is still unknown, and Japan rebuilt the damaged property, so that area of the palace is a reconstruction. Interestingly, the entrance to the building was once rather large and grand, but the Japanese rulers in the area decided that the emperor didn’t need such a large entrance since people no longer used horses and carriages. So, instead, they built him a driveway so that he could pull up to the entrance in his car.

Standing directly behind the emperor’s quarters are the empress’s quarters. According to our guide, after the Japanese occupation the emperor decided to live there with his wife since he felt that his country had been taken from him and he was no longer truly an emperor.

The empress’s quarters are quite beautiful, and inside there’s a huge desk covered with Korean lacquer and mother-of-pearl, a kind of craftsmanship that Korea is famous for.

Behind the empress’s quarters there’s a garden full of trees and flowers. There was a rule in the palace that no one was allowed to plant gardens because the emperor and his ministers seemed to think that gardens would be too distracting for the imperial workers. I guess before TV people were distracted a little more easily by plant life. Anyway, the only person in the palace grounds who was allowed to grow a garden was the empress.

There actually is an area called the “Secret Garden” where there are plenty of trees and flowers, and it’s situated right beside the palace, lest you think the emperors were complete sticklers.

In Korea, like many nations, the emperors sometimes also had concubines. There’s actually an entire cluster of buildings that (if memory serves) were built as a residence for a certain emperor’s concubine. When he was crowned emperor he needed to find a bride, so he, his mother, and his grandmother conducted a large-scale search for eligible women. The candidates were brought to the palace and the emperor fell in love with one of them, but his mother and his grandmother didn’t approve of his choice. Even though he was an emperor it seems he didn’t have the power to overrule his mother and his grandmother, so he married his second choice instead of the woman he loved. And because the woman he loved had been a candidate to marry the emperor, no other man in Korea dared to court her. She had no choice but to leave the palace and live alone.

However, there was a loophole in the imperial rules of marriage: if the empress couldn’t conceive a child within three years, the emperor was legally allowed to take a second wife. As it turns out his first wife wasn’t able to conceive, so he was finally able to marry the woman he loved, and she became his concubine. He had this complex, called Nakseonjae, built for her.

The story has kind of a sad ending, though. After about a year of happy marriage the emperor died and the concubine he loved once again lived alone, this time in Nakseonjae.

I was actually pretty lucky to see this complex at all, because it only became available for tourists to visit in 2006. Up until the late eighties it was still inhabited by the last Korean princess.

The last building of note in the Imperial Palace grounds is the old waiting room. It was built as a place for guests to wait before being received by the emperor. After the Japanese occupation the emperor didn’t have many visitors, so the Japanese rulers turned it into a royal garage for his car. And now it’s a gift shop! This building has undergone a lot of changes in the past hundred and fifty years.

Before I visited Korea my friend—who had been there before—told me that if I saw only one palace during our visit it should definitely be the Cheongdeok Palace. Having seen a couple, I certainly agree; it’s a beautiful place with a fascination and tragic history. Hearing the stories of the Korean Emperors made me really curious to learn more about the history of the nation before the Korean War.

I can’t help but think that being royalty in this day in age is a huge pain. I mean, the Nakseonjae was closed to visitors until recently, but the rest of the palace grounds were open, meaning that the last Korean princess had to deal with tourists constantly crawling around near her home. I’ve also heard that the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo are open to visitors all year ‘round and that on the emperor’s birthday tourists can even go inside the palace to take a look. Can you imagine having to deal with that on your birthday? I think I’d skip town and party in Jamaica or something.

Korea Trip: The DMZ, Part 1

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m pretty interested in the current political state of North Korea. So as my friend and I were planning our trip to the southernmost nation on the peninsula one of our top priorities was getting an opportunity to visit the DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone. For those who don’t know much about it, the DMZ is basically the dividing border between the north and the south. And, despite its name, it’s one of the most militarized areas in the world.

I won’t go into a lot of detail about the Korean War because if you’re reading this you have access to Wikipedia and (even better) actual history books, but one important point about it is that it never technically ended. In 1953 a ceasefire was agreed upon by Russia, China, and the United Nations, with Kim Il-Sung becoming the leader of the North, and Syngman Rhee becoming the leader of the South. The nation was divided at the now-famous 38th parallel, splitting the country effectively in half, and since then there’s been no large scale violent aggression. However, as I learned during my visit, small scale aggression continued for decades.

Right now tours are available through the USO in Seoul. My friend and I managed to book the 7:30 tour, which consisted of a packed bus of visitors, and which took about an hour to reach the JSA, or Joint Security Area. The bus ride itself was pretty interesting, as we got to meet people from all over the world who were just as interested as we were in seeing the DMZ. Equally interesting is the fact that not everyone has the opportunity to see the DMZ at all—in order to take the tour, you have to have a passport from a pre-approved list of countries. According to my friend, South Koreans aren’t even allowed to take the tour, because the American and South Korean militaries are worried about people who might use the opportunity to make some kind of overt political statement, which could potentially result in violence.

In any case, once we arrived at the JSA we had to wait for our guide, an American Sergeant, to retrieve us before we were allowed off the bus. Our entire tour actually had two guides, a Korean man who took us to the JSA and the surrounding areas, and the American man who actually took us to the DMZ. When the Sergeant arrived he gave us a short briefing, telling us about our itinerary and letting us know that if we took any pictures we weren’t supposed to we’d be booted off the tour. I was pretty impressed by him, because he managed to convey a good balance of no-BS authority with a good sense of humor. Once everyone was crystal clear on the rules we were taken to an auditorium where our Sergeant outlined some of the history of the Korean War and the DMZ, and then showed us a video that elaborated on the facts he’d given us. I think the whole thing took about twenty to thirty minutes. Oh yeah, and did I mention we had to sign a waiver relieving the military of any responsibility in the case of injury or death? Fun stuff.

After the video we piled into the bus and started heading into the DMZ. As we rode, our Sergeant pointed out various areas of interest, such as the anti-tank defense system, the minefields, and the electrified security fences. The area surrounding the border is fairly large, and more or less empty; ass far as you can see, there are empty fields and trees apparently inhabited only by the occasional group of birds and surrounded by barbed-wire fences. I’d call it eerie, but compared to some of the other stuff that we saw it was downright normal. During the drive our sergeant commented that because there’s no hunting at the DMZ wildlife has flocked there and you can often see all sorts of birds, deer, and even bears.

One area of particular interest is the Daeseong-dong, or the Freedom Village. It’s a South Korean village inside the DMZ that consists of about 250 people and is primarily an agricultural center. Our Sergeant told us that the people in this village earn roughly 80,000 US dollars a year, tax-free, because whatever crops they don’t sell in private markets the South Korean government will buy from them. So, it’s a small town of people who are completely loaded. Apparently in order to be considered a resident of the village you have to stay in the village for a certain number of days every year, although you’re allowed to go anywhere you like aside from that. And, significantly, inhabitants of the village are exempt from the mandatory two-year military service required of all other males in South Korea. Because of this, men aren’t allowed to marry into the village.

Another point of interest is the rescue phones that exist along the south side of the DMZ. The South Korean and American militaries installed various phones throughout the area so that if any North Korean citizens decide to defect they can call for help.

When we finally reached the border, our Sergeant had us form two single-file lines outside of the Freedom House, the building that stands directly in front of the border. Apparently it was built with the intended purpose of hosting meetings between political leaders of both nations, but it’s never actually been used for that. Anyway, our Sergeant gave us another briefing, and this is when things started to get a little bizarre. He said that we were not allowed to wave, point, or gesture toward anyone on the other side of the border, nor were we allowed to take pictures of anything on the South Korean side, including the Freedom House. We were then led out to the border, where we were told to stand in two lines once again while we were given information about the area.

There are a number of light blue buildings that line the border, which serve various purposes. Each of these buildings straddles the borderline, with one half standing in North Korea and one half standing in South Korea. One of them is used for conferenced between the nations, taking on the role originally meant for the Freedom House. Once we were standing in front of the border, our Sergeant urged us to take as many pictures as we wanted of the North side. As you can see from the pictures, there were three Republic of Korea (or ROK) soldiers and one American soldier standing guard on the South side, but no North Koreans. I suspect they remove the guards when tours are happening on the South side. In fact, the motto of the American soldiers at the JSA is “In Front of Them All”, a sentiment that I believe reflects the strong will required to constantly stare your enemies in the face.

I did actually see a North Korean man during the tour, but he was standing well away from the border, on the stairs of the Panmungak (the main building on the North side). You might be able to make him out in the following picture:

His behavior was pretty strange, too. At first he just stood looking at us through binoculars, but after a few minutes he moved behind one of the pillars standing in front of the doors to the Panmungak. Was he hiding? I don’t know. A few minutes after that he emerged again and commenced watching us. My friend, who had been on the DMZ tour before, told me that the last time he visited he saw not only a guard but also a man inside the Panmungak who was taking pictures of the visitors on the South side. So, likely there are photos of all the visitors coming to see the border.

At that point we were allowed to enter one of the blue buildings standing on the border. Inside was a fairly unremarkable conference room with simple but functional chairs and tables, as well as microphones. I’m pretty sure I remember our Sergeant saying that what happens in those rooms is constantly recorded, so likely there’s audio documentation of visits as well.

There were two ROK soldiers standing at attention in the room when we entered, guarding the building. One of them was standing in the center of the room, and another was standing guard at the door leading to the North side. According to our Sergeant, there was once an incident during which a North Korean soldier burst into the building and attacked the ROK soldier standing near the door. He tried to drag the ROK soldier into North Korea, but the ROK soldier managed to fight his way free. Since then, whenever there are a renovations or painting done in the building the workers wear harnesses attached to ropes so that the soldiers on the South side can pull them back if the North tries to abduct them.

There’s a long table in the center of the room divided by a row of microphones.

As we were looking around the room, our Sergeant pointed them out and said that it lines up with the borderline outside. “Everyone on that side of the room,” he said (which included me), “is in North Korea right now.”

So now, I guess I can technically say I’ve been to North Korea.

Korea Trip: Gyeongju Museum and Shilla Tombs

After my friend and I visited the Bulguk-sa temple in Gyeongju, we headed for the Gyeonju National Museum in order to learn a little more about the nation’s history.

Most of what I had studied about Korea before visiting had to do with the political situation in North Korea, so I actually learned quite a bit at the museum and discovered that Korea has a fascinating history. The highlight of the National Museum is the artifacts from the Shilla (or Silla) dynasty, but they had all sorts of interesting artifacts from earlier eras as well.

I won’t go into too much detail about the peninsula’s history, but essentially the Shilla was one of what is known as the Three Kingdoms, which also include the Hubaekje and Goguryeo. The Shilla, Hubaekje, and Goguryeo were the most powerful kingdoms in Korea, and were eventually conquered and unified under the Shilla rulers. It’s fascinating stuff! The museum mostly had displays of armor, artwork, pieces of architectural ruins, and pottery, which were pretty cool to see.

There were quite a few clay vessels on display that were shaped like birds. Apparently these vessels were used in ancient funerary rites, after which they were buried with the deceased under the belief that the dead would ride the bird-shaped vessels to heaven.

But the crowning jewel of the museum’s exhibitions (no pun intended) were crowns that the Shilla royalty used to wear. Some of them were fairly simple pieces made of and ornamented with gold, but some were nearly three feet high with long, slender gold plates fitted with dangling shards of jade. The pieces of jade were cut into crescent shapes, smoothed, polished, and attached to the crowns. The crowns also had two long strings of gold and jade that would hang from the base of the crown nearly to the wearer’s shoulder, one on each side of the wearer’s head. The craftsmanship is absolutely breathtaking. The Shilla rulers also had intricately carved gold belts, earrings, bracelets, and ornamentation whose purpose I can’t even guess at, as well jade necklaces that had up seven individual strands of jewels. I can’t imagine how heavy it must have been to wear!

The aesthetics of the crowns and the belts reminded me a little of the crowns Egyptian Pharaohs used to wear, and the bird shapes on the vessels also reminded me of some Egyptian artwork I’ve seen pictures of. That might just be my imagination, though. Anyway, as I found out when I visited the tombs, the ancient Koreans did share a few verifiable cultural similarities with the Egyptians.

Just as the Egyptians made elaborate tombs for their rulers in which they buried their most precious possessions, the ancient Koreans made enormous burial mounds that served a similar purpose. From what I understand, most of the treasures that are in the Gyeongju National Museum were recovered from such tombs. In fact, there’s a large public park area in Gyeonju where you can walk around and view the various tombs that are still standing.

There’s also a smaller, private park that costs about a dollar to enter, in which several more tombs are enclosed—and you can actually go inside one of them! Maybe it’s morbid, but I was pretty excited to actually be inside a tomb where one of Korea’s ancient kings had been buried. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside the tomb, so I was only able to get pictures of the exterior:

That pretty much ended our day at Gyeongju, since we had hotel reservations in Seoul for that evening. I’m really happy we got to go there and learn so much about Korea’s history and culture, though. It certainly sparked my interest in the Shilla dynasty and the Three Kingdoms. But after that it was on to the KTX, where we headed for Seoul!

Korea Trip: The Bulguk-sa

After having a great experience in Busan, my friend and I headed to Gyeongju, the old capitol of Korea. It’s a bit of a cultural hub and has lots to see, but sadly we only got one day there before heading to Seoul.

The first thing we did in Gyeongju was head out to the Bulguk-sa, a Buddhist temple that’s about an hour from the train station by bus. Having lived in Japan for about a year and a half, I’m no longer quite so awed by the temples as I used to be (you could even say I’m experiencing ‘temple fatigue’), but the temples in Korea are a lot different than they are in Japan. Japanese temples have a fairly austere aesthetic for the most part, and are constructed mostly of dark brown wood. If the Bulguk-sa is any indication, Korean temples are aesthetically much more similar to structures I’ve seen in Taiwan. The entrance to the Bulguk-sa is marked by a large wooden gate decorated with vibrant (if somewhat faded by time) green, blue, and orange hues. It’s heavily ornamented with wooden layers of colored wood.

What was really amazing to me was seeing what was standing just inside the gate—four enormous, wooden statues that must have been at least fifteen feet tall greet visitors as they pass through. The statues are painted with the same coloring as the gate, and two stand on either side of its interior, facing each other and the visitors. Unfortunately I don’t know much about them or who or what they’re supposed to represent, but they’re breathtaking pieces of artistry. If you closely at their hands, you can see that one of them appears to be clasping a dragon in its right hand, while the statue beside it is holding a slender red pole and a pagoda.

Facing them are a statue holding a stringed instrument and another clasping a sword. As I said, I don’t know for sure, but I imagine the statues are meant to depict spiritual beings that guard the temple.

The Bulguk-sa itself is also pretty impressive. It’s preceded by a series of large stone steps, and the temple grounds are some of the biggest I’ve seen so far. There are multiple buildings connected by long wooden corridors and shaded wooden awnings. If you look carefully at the undersides of the roofs, you can see carvings of dragons and flowers, as well as images of people and plants painted on the smooth paneling. It’s stunning in its complexity.

The grounds surrounding the actual temple are also pretty amazing. There’s a large pond right near the entrance which is surrounded by trees whos slender, delicate-looking branches drape down toward the water. We managed to see the Bulguk-sa just before the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom, so I’m sure it’s even lovelier a little later in the year.

My friend and I spent about an hour or two at the temple and then headed back to the bus stops to make our way to Tumuli Park and the Gyeongju National Museum. Before we could catch our bus, though, we were accosted by a short middle-aged woman who came ambling up to us in the parking lot. She thrust a business card into my hands and immediately began herding us toward the string of restaurants and souvenir shops standing opposite the Bulguk-sa. The entire way she continued to exclaim in a loud, enthusiastic voice that she had an English menu at her restaurant.

I have to say, this lady was pretty awesome. Not only did she successfully shepherd my friend and I in for lunch, but as we were crossing the street she suddenly started directing traffic, waving some cars through and holding her hand up to stop others as we crossed and approached her restaurant. Once we were there she hovered around us and pointed out various items on the menu until we ordered some bulgogi. She then promptly served us not only the bulgogi but about nine side dishes, after which she explained that she needed to go out and wrangle some more customers, and asked us to pay. We did, and she left us to finish our meal. I gotta hand it to her, she was a pretty successful businesswoman (although I guess we could have robbed her blind, what with her leaving us in her empty restaurant and all). Within fifteen minutes she was back, this time with a Japanese couple who looked as bewildered as my friend and I had been.

So, I guess we were suckers for being dragged into that restaurant, but it’s got to be one of the funniest memories I have of Gyeongju. What’s more, the food was actually amazing. That might have been my favorite meal in Korea.

Going in, though, I have to admit that I had no idea what bulgogi is. For those of you who are as clueless as I was, it’s basically a kind of stew of chopped meat, vegetables, and noodles, all cooked in a big pot (in this case, a big pot on a portable gas stove). Each person has a small bowl in front of them, which they can fill at their leisure.

One thing I have to say I love about Korean cuisine is that it’s very vegetable-heavy and you always seem to get amazing side dishes. Compared to other places I ate at, we got a more side dishes at this restaurant, but you still typically get between three and five.

What we got here were dishes of tiny, whole fish, some kind of black beans, kimchi (of course), various mixed vegetables (one such dish was mixed with halved garlic cloves), sweetened lotus root, and pickled Chinese radish. There was also a plate of whole garlic cloves. Now, I love garlic more than the average North American, so I was game to eat a lot of the garlicky food, but my stomach felt like it was being pricked by needles by the time we left the restaurant. Clearly my stomach is not yet sufficiently steely to handle all that Korean cuisine has to offer.

Anyway, all in all, my trip to the Bulguk-sa was an amazing experience and I’d recommend it to anyone who happens to be in the Busan area. And once we were done there we did manage hit up the Gyeongju National Museum and Tumuli Park despite our unexpected little detour. But I’ll save that for another update!