Korea: Day Seven: The Demilitarized Zone

Got up and put our nice clothes on, with me borrowing a shirt from Steve, as both the collared shirts I'd brought were hopelessly wrinkled. This would be the only day we'd have a dress code.

We went downstairs and walked outside for US Navy Commander (retired) Tom _____, and his PT Cruiser. Tom is a friend of Adam's and used to be the head dude up at the Joint Security Area. He's also particularly knowledgeable about Korean military history. The whole ride up to the JSA was punctuated with observations, anecdotes, and cigar smoke. . . all in a come-and-go Irish accent. Quite the character!

We arrived at the bridge to the JSA, and were met by Lt. Commander Dignan, the guy who currently has Cmdr Tom's old job. He brought a UNC (United Nations Command) bus with him for us. We followed the bus past the checkpoint

and into the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), parking behind the office building, maybe 100 m or less from North Korea. We toured the office, and saw many great pictures of historical events at the JSA. We walked back outside, in front of Freedom House (I think) and behind the buildings that straddle the MDL (Military Demarcation Line). There were plenty of ROK (Republic of Korea, South Korea, The Good Guys) around, from our BDU-wearing escort pair, to the Class A helmeted black belt formal guards.

Strangely, I only saw one North Korean soldier, standing on the steps of Panmungak, their "impressive building".

I know I was seen and videotaped by many North Korean cameras and guards.


We entered the central conference building, T-2, which had two ROK soldiers inside, one at the side of the border-straddling conference table,

and one at the back of the room, on the North Korean side.

Cmdr Dignan surprised me by walking into North Korea! He invited us to do the same. I was floored. I had no idea we'd get the chance to step over the MDL into North Korea. Needless to say, many photos were taken. We were very possibly the only Americans in North Korea for those few moments. How awesome is that!





After leaving T-2, we got onto the UNC bus, and drove to OP#5. They say you're surrounded by North Korea on three sides at that point,


and we had great views of the MDL, the tallest flagpole in the world, topped by the North Korean flag, and the North Korean countryside.

It's easy to tell which mountains are North Korean and which are South Korean. North Korean mountains are barren. We could also see the site of the Axe Murder Incident of 1976,as well as Checkpoint #3 (the World's Lonliest Outpost).


We got back in the bus and drove to the monument marking the former location of the poplar tree that was at the center of the Axe Murder Incident and Operation Paul Bunyon.


From there we walked to CP#3 and the Bridge of No Return, led by our two ROK guards who stationed themselves on the bridge, facing North Korea, while we were out looking around.


I'm sure the regular tour group who was behind us, and watching us from the previous checkpoint, was disappointed that that little excursion was not part of their tour.

From there wer went to the JSA gift shop where everything came together. They had all the stuff I'd considered in Insadong, plus more. I was able to knock out the bulk of my souvenir purchasing there. I got Z a Korean fan and a Korean fan magnet, a DMZ t-shirt for T, some cool little ceramic bottles for JR, who claims she doesn't like Korean pottery, and even got something for myself; a JSA hat.

We said thanks to LtCmdr Dignan and his Kiwi XO, and headed out, stopping a few miles down the road at a store that sells products made in the DMZ. I just bought some peach iced tea and a bottle of Porcari Sweat, as I hadn't been drinking nearly as much water on this trip as I should have been.

In about an hour (after getting some gasoline at $4/gal) we were back to the apartment building. We just took a quick minute inside to unload, and headed out to Yongsan Garrison, the military base where Adam works. We got checked-in onto the base, and walked to the Navy Club where we partook of the free happy hour grub, and had a few pictures of Oktoberfest beer while meeting a few of Adam's coworkers.

From there, Jason and I went back to the apartment, while Steve & Adam went out to enjoy some unmentionable late-night entertainment that I really wasn't interested in. I packed up everything but the clothes for the return home, and called it a night.

(For the Zooomr SmartSet of all my Korea photos, follow this link (pops) )

Korea: Day Six: The Great Hike

Up around 7 - 7:30 (6:30 pm, Weds 10/10 at home). Had some fruit and yogurt for breakfast, followed by a grilled salami and cheese sandwich. That last part would be regrettable. We cleaned up the pan and headed out.

Once we got in the woods, we followed the signs that indicated "Mountain Climbing Trail" vs "Hiking Trail."

This trail was strenuous from the very start, and probably not even 30 minutes in, I donated my breakfast to the mountain. I felt much better after that. The hike didn't get much easier. We eventually started hitting peaks, followed by shorter, less-strenuous ridges and climbs, (some with ropes attached to trees, to help out) to additional peaks. We eventually started seeing entrenchments along the ridgeline. Originally, we thought these were just Korean War remnants, but later found out that they were originally dug by the Chinese, but were currently still maintained and used for drills. There were other smaller, roundish ditches that we speculated may have been from mortar or artillery shells.

Figuring we'd hit the halfway spot on our map, and it being ~10:30, we thought we'd be finishing the hike back to the cabin in less time than it had taken to get that far.

(Phone call from Jennifer, about Mom)

It was definitely downhill from there, and at times so steep that the occasional slide happened. We went along for a while, and still didn't see anything familiar. It was probably at least 11:30 by now. We did see a highway, and the trail led out to that. We walked along the highway for probably close to two miles, before stopping at a gas station, and giving our taxi driver from the previous day a call.



About 15 minutes later, he picked us up and took us back to the cabins, probably at least a 20-25 minute drive, down one valley and back up into the neighboring valley. We were about 15 minutes late for checkout, so we hurriedly made sure that we had the cabin squared away while our cabbie waited. He took us back to the bus terminal, for about W70,000 total. Not a bad deal, really.

Got some bus tickets and some drinks for the 90 minute ride back to Seoul.

In the evening, Jason, Steve and I walked back up to the I-Park (Yongsan Station) mall for some souvenir hunting. The malls are noticeably different here in many ways. They're not freezing cold, there are at least twice as many sales associates than you'd find in an equivalently-sized American store. You'll also pay for your shopping bags.

I got a superhero action figure for T, and some nice oil pastel sticks for Z. Also picked up weird Asian snacks. Wasn't really satisfied with the stuff I've found yet. Wandered around restaurant row until we found something Steve could handle. Went to a Japanese place called Teriyaki. I had a bento box (sometimes referred to as a Japanese lunch box, which is nothing like an American lunch box.) It was excellent, a lot of different food, more than I could eat, and only W12,000.

We walked around the mall some more, with Jason failing in his attempt to get a Korean Starbucks mug for Christine.

Korea: Day Five: Journey to Chuncheon

Made our way (via the train) to a bus station in East Seoul, where we each bought a W7800 ticket on the express bus to Chuncheon, about __ miles northeast of Seoul.
Made the trip out of the city in about 90 minutes, passing countryside for the first time.


From the bus station in Chuncheon we got a taxi to a place a few miles (W30,000) outside of town. It was a small "resort" up in the woods that had rental cabins with access to the extensive hiking trails in the area. Did I mention that hiking was a big deal in Korea? Adam had a Korean friend reserve the place for us, as evidently, that is something foreigners are unable to do.

For W40,000 we got a one-room cabin with a loft. We were issued one trash bag that we'd have to turn in with our trash when we left. The place had a table that sat about a foot off the floor, but was stowed beside the dorm fridge, which was unplugged (to save electricity, of course.) There was no other furniture, except the TV stand. We had a sink and pots and pans and plates/cups. the place was very nice and apparently pretty new. What about beds? No beds. Instead there were six semi-thick pads that you put on the floor to sleep on, and six thinner comforters, and six pillows. Since the cabin was heated by ondol, this arrangement was pretty comfortable.

We had brought some sausages and rolls with us, so we had that and some gatorade and beer for dinner. The others went outside to smoke cigars, while I ended up dozing off on the heated floor, watching TV. I think we probably turned in ~8:30 pm. It gets dark around 6 pm, so there wasn't much else to do. We did manage to get in a short hike before dinner.

Korea: Day 4: Insadong

Tuesday

Up fairly early once again. Adam had to go to work, so he trusted us enough to set us on Korea without causing an international incident. We took the train to Insadong, where we were yesterday. It's kind of an arts & crafts area, with a lot of traditional Korean stuff: pottery masks, inlaid pearl boxes, art, etc.








I found a lot of something to get Zoe (fans), not so much for Tristan, and nothing that really grabbed me for Jennifer. I did get a cool bookmark that we'll use as a Christmas tree ornament, and a bibimbap fridge magnet. We also found some gelato: green tea for me, peach for Steve, and mocha for Jason.

We walked out of the Insadong area so Steve could go to Burger King.
They did have some non-American menu items that looked good, like the Bulgogi Burger. I'm not sure if that would violate my No American Food policy or not, but I didn't eat there anyway.


We walked down past the electronics district, in a search for lunch for Jason and I. We found a huge indoor bazaar, called the _____ Market. (It was a lot like Zern's in Gilbertsville, PA for those familiar with "The Sale.") It started with cloth & fabrics,


then moved to fish and meats and decorative food baskets and fruits.


Jason bought a dragonfruit; something he'd come to enjoy in Vietnam. We found the food vendor section. One booth after another, maybe 10 feet wide with seats or a bench and a tiny kitchen, and a tiny counter, mostly occupied with bowls of ingredients. We picked one and sat down. It seemed like each booth served about one dish. Our booth was bibimbap. We had our large, non-stone bowls of rice and veggies to which the vendor lady added things like nori, dried squid with sweet chilies, and tiny dried minnows.



We also got a hot bowl with some kind of soup with roasted barley. It was a lot of food of pretty good quality (even though the cleanliness of the place was iffy). It was a whole W3000 each.

We walked around the market some more and took a lot of pictures. We totally missed the pig snout lunch vendors

as well as the ground mung bean pancakes with scallions (the samples of which were delicious.)

Outside the flea market was the electronics market. This was like something out of the movies. Tiny "streets" with vendor shops on both sides, some as small as a decent walk-in closet, selling everything electronic.

We wandered through several alleyways, dodging the occasional merchandise-laden motorscooter.


We went back into the building proper and found a vendor selling Canon gear. I bought a lens hood for my 28-135mm lens for W19,000. I thought I had negotiated down to W15,000, but when I only got W1,000 change from the 20K I gave him, I guessed my negotiated price was lost in translation.

We took the train back to the apartment, planning to go out later to the only decent Italian restaurant in Seoul (allegedly). I think we all ended up inadvertently napping in front of the TV, so instead we ate-in. Adam made some pork that looked like bacon, but wasn't cured or salted, so it cooked up more like beef-looking (brownish) than bacon-looking (pink.) We had that with thick slices (Jason is not handy with a kitchen knife) of high-powered Korean garlic, bean paste, traditional kimchi, and lettuce & sesame leaf wraps. It's definitely a meal that would do well in the states, especially the cooking at your own table-style, which this was not.

(View my entire set of Korea trip photos here on Zooomr)

Korea: Day Three: Temples and Palaces

Day three is only just beginning, but I shot a quick video to prove that I'm actually here. . . after some readers questioned my actual presence in Korea due to the fact that I'm not in any of my own pictures.

Here's the video, more pictures and words to be posted later.




Got kind of a late start, despite waking up at 7 am. Ate some normal breakfast at the apartment, chatted with the family (where it was still Sunday evening), and shot a short video with me in it to prove that I'm actually in Korea. That's it above.

Headed out to the subway, then to the Insadong station, just so that Steve, Jason, and I would know how to get there tomorrow when Adam's at work.

Outside, we met up with PAK SongMi (the writing convention in this blog is to put surnames in all capitals), a friend of Adam's who makes her living as a tour giuide for Japanese tourists. She was worried that her English wasn't good enough, but it was actually very respectable. Better than a lot of my physics TAs in college even.

We walked by Changdeokgung Palace, so we could see where it was, even though it was closed today. From there we walked down to Jongmyo Royal Ancestral Shrine, where tribute is paid to many dead kings, queens, and royal family members.






From there to the Wongaska Site, inside Tapgol Park. There was some pretty cool architecture.


A Korean War vet (from the South Korean Army) came up and started talking to us. That was interesting. We walked from there to the _____ Buddhist Temple, passing many interesting street vendors along the way.



There were plenty of Buddhists, and monks about. The temple itself was very impressive,


with several HUGE golden Buddhas.






Out of there and over to the Gyeonkbukgong Palace and the Korean Folk Art Center. Took a zillion pictures on the grounds (the palace)




and inside the museum (the folk art center).






After leaving there, it was time for a cab ride with Steve, SongMi and me in one cab, and Jason and Adam in another. We made the short (~ 5 minutes, <$3 trip to Lotte World, which is a huge name in retail all over the world (not including the US.) We went up to the sixth floor and to the PTC (Panmunjom Tourist Center), a travel office that handles tours to the JSA, inside the DMZ. We weren't going to arrange a tour, but rather to meet three of Adam's friends who work there: LEE SeungHee, JIN Hyekyung, and LEE DongHee (no relation). They were very amusing and entertaining. After they closed the office, we walked out into the Meyong-Dong area, which is just loaded with lights, people, narrow streets, shops, and restaurants.

I nearly lost the others half a dozen times because I was taking so many photos. The place was just amazing. I could've easily shot a full card and run out my batteries. It was a far cry from Mebane, to say the least.


We went to a restaurant called _______ where we got a table for eight, with chairs, on the second floor. We started with some kimchi radish in cold broth, and quickly moved onto two huge servings of _________. It was chicken, noodles, and veggies, like potatoes, onions, carrots, and cucumber, in a dark broth. It was excellent, and a wee bit spicy, of course. A side of cabbage kimchi accompanied, naturally. I twas loud, fun, and very filling. We learned some Korean traditions, like how to fill someone else's beer glass (you never fill your own), which varies depending on which participant is older or younger. Another great Korean meal. Are you seeing a pattern here?

We headed back to the street, took a bunch of pictures, in which I purposefully made the peace sign, (though not in this picture) as people in Asia nearly always do for some reason, and said our goodbyes to walk to the train and back to the apartment. Spent a few minutes enjoying the view from Adam's window, and called it a night.

The day wasn't a "death march" by any stretch, and with the terrific weather, food, and company, I could handle many more days like this in Korea.

(View my entire set of Korea trip photos here on Zooomr)

Korea: Day Two: Seoul Tower

Slept 'til amost 10 am! I feel acclimatized at the moment. Caught up on e-mail, and had some coffee and fruit. I think we're hiking to the Seoul Tower today, and who knows what else. A good day for photography.



15:41 Walked up to Seoul Tower. Maybe "walk" isn't the right word. we found a trail that looked promising, but it dead-ended not too far up. A kindly older Korean gentleman asked where we wanted to go, and we told him the tower, and he said "Follow me, I'm going there too." We set off on a very rustic trail with a "No Trail" sign at the front of it. It was a pretty strenuous hike, made worse by the fact that blatantly older people were kicking our asses up the hill. It's fairly warm here too. The hike was worth it, though. The tower area was really cool.



There were some women drummers performing,



and tons of people and picnickers, and very few white devils like us.


Got a few excellent shots, I think.




Went to the top of the tower for W7000. Almost got lunch up there, but for W36,000, it didn't seem worth it. We walked down the hill, passing many women of an age in The States where they'd probably take a power chair just to get to the dairy section in the supermarket. . . walking up the hill. The Koreans are very serious about their hiking.



We ate at some little restaurant on a side street. I had bibimbap, which is almost the korean national dish.

It's a mixture of a bunch of stuff and rice in a hot stone bowl. The entrees came with about eight side dishes.


It was another excellent meal, and cost about W5000 ($5.43) each. Bailing from the tower-top restaurant was totally the right idea.



We rode the subway back (W1000) to the station that exits right outside Adam's apartment. There's a 7-11 in the same building, so Adam bought some food and an umbrella, for it looks like it may rain.


It had stopped raining by the time we went outside. We walked up to the big train station that is also a big shopping center.


We visited one of my favorite places in any country: the supermarket! This one was impressive and crowded, especially for 8 pm on a Sunday. Adam bought some groceries while Jason, Steve, and I tried to stay out of the way. Almost nothing had English labels, so if you didn't immediately recognize an item, you were probably out of luck. The prices seemed comprable to The States. I didn't take pictures in there, since I have no idea what the rules are about that, though in the states, supermarkets are often no-photo zones, for whatever reason. I'd definitely like to go back .

We walked home, with me stopping with me stopping a lot to take pictures.

I use my 50mm f/1.8 lens for all the night stuff as I need the extra speed. I can use my mid-sized gorilla pod with that lens, but the bigger lens is too heavy. I think I'll add the SLR Zoom Gorillapod to my Amazon wishlist.

Adam made some fried pot stickers and chicken for dinner. Even the prepared food here is good. Had a shot of soju, the national firewater. It's really not bad. Uploaded some shots to Zooomr (marked as Friends and Family only, so if you want to see my unprocessed, un-geotagged shots, let me know and I'll add you as a friend or family) hung out, and watched strange Korean/Japanese TV.

Not sure what the plan is tomorrow. Jason said something about a "death march", but he overstates. It's 1:00 am, time to find out how jetlagged I am.

(View my entire set of Korea trip photos here on Zooomr)

Korea: Day One

Sitting at Gate A16 at RDU for my 7:10am flight to Atlanta. Jason insisted we leave Mebane at 4:15, which I thought was excessive, but whatever, I'm in low-stress mode. That was actually a good call for Jason and Steve, who are on the same flight to Toronto (YYZ) at 6:30. I've never seen security lines as long at RDU. It's obvious this old terminal was not designed to handle post 9/11 screening requirements.

Once again, I haven't checked baggage. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to manage that on this trip, but after I packed everything I thought I'd need. . . plus a little more, I still had some space. Cool. I even packed the duffel bag Jennifer and I bought in Milan, empty of course. It folds down into a little pouch, and takes up no room. The plan for the return trip is to check one bag filled with dirty laundry, and carry-on the backpack and the other bag. I have plenty of souvenirs to buy, and I don't care if the dirty laundry misses its connection.

6:30. Called home to make sure the kids were up. Mom and Dad came down yesterday to help us out. Jennifer is at a conference in Winston-Salem until Saturday. The folks just have to drop the kids off at Smithfields BBQ where Ashley, a T.A. from Jennifer's school will take T&Z to Glenwood. They'll pick the kids up at 2:30. I programmed the school's location into the nav computer in Mom's car, just in case my verbal directions weren't good enough.

6:50 On-board, B-757, seat 29F, the midpoint of the right wing. Window seat, of course. Flight is fairly full. The plane looks somewhat young, but it still has CRT monitors hanging from the aisle ceiling. I have no idea how crowded the flight to Seoul will be, but I'm hoping it's less than this. For an hour, this is comfortable. For fourteen hours, not so much. That is a larger plane, at least.

7:24 Take off. Runway 5R. Max cabin altitude: 2055 m. Saw a cool optical phenomeon that looked like a circular rainbow with the outline of the plane in the middle, projected onto the nearby clouds. Don't know what that's called, and I tried to get a picture of it with my Powershot. We'll see how that turns out. My new camera, a Canon 40D is at my feet, with brother Tom's 28-135mm IS lens attached. It would be a little much to pull that out just to get cool shots from the plane window, but I'd bet I could've metered correctly for that rainbow thing with it.

8:08 We're descending, according to my ears, and my watch agrees, with a cabin altitude of 1880 m. There's a cloud deck below, so there's nothing to see, even if I could recognize anything in the Georgia landscape. I'm guessing we'll land to the East, though I have no good basis for that.

Landed! 8:41 on Runway 10, the new one. Flight time 1:16, a little longer than expected. One short train ride and one Arby's chicken biscuit later, and I'm at Gate E10 in the International Concourse. The plane is here and being prepped for our 11:25 departure. Once I'm on the plane, I'll set my watch ahead 13 hours, not that I think there will be any climitazation at all happening on the plane. I'm also speculating that it'll be daylight the whole way. It's 9:39 am here, 10:39 pm there. I should be in bed.

11:17 On board Delta flight 91, B-777, seat 35J, window overlooking the right wing. The seats are 3-3-3 back here in coach, and it appears that nearly everyone has an empty seat next to them. I retrieved what I think I'll need from my backpack, and stowed it overhead, as it would've been very uncomfortable by my feet. I should have ample opportunity to retrieve it on the 14 hours 20 minutes I'll be on this plane. Each seat has a video screen. I hope it has location tracking. I love that.

Looks like we'll be taking off from runway 9L (9-27 are south of the terminal, and 8-26 are north. Runway 10-28 is very south.) Take off at 11:48. Time to set my watch to 12:48 AM, Saturday, October 6th.

3:16 am, Korean Standard Time (KST). We're just east of Red Lake, Ontario, Canada. It's currently -61F outside at 34,000 feet and 524 mph. We're 1451 miles from Atlanta, with 11 hours 50 minutes remaining on the flight. I watched "Knocked Up," which was very funny, and ate a meal of Chicken of Some Variety, which was not funny at all. It really wasn't too bad. The language on the GPS alternates between English and spanish, and that's asinine. Does Delta think that spanish speakers are so unintelligent that they couldn't figure out that "New York" is "Nuevo York"? It's just an assumption, but I haven't seen that many spanish-speakers on this flight to Korea.

7:20 am. Watched a Japanese movie with subtitles, and nodded off in the middle. That kind-of helped. We're currently flying along the north coast of Alaska near Kaktovik. I can see the Beaufort Sea and a whole lot of snow outside my window. I've never been this far north. We're 4371 miles from Atlanta, and have an additional 7:48 to go (we've been airborne for 6:36), so not quite half-way. So far, so good. My head hurts a little, and if/when the guy on the aisle gets up, I probably will too, not that I feel I really need to yet. The movies/TV/Music on demand is pretty nice, so I think I'll watch another movie.

8:57 am. Watched a Mr. Bean movie, and crossed the international date line. Looks like we'll be crossing into Russia momentarily. I wonder what the route to Seoul was like back in the U.S.S.R. days.

13:18 Approaching Vladivostok, and soon to be within sight of China. The route also has us skirting the eastern edge of North Korea. Slept a little, and took some Tylenol when seatmate (and I) took a bio break.

13:48 Forget what I said about China and Vladivostok. We ended up going further south before making a westerly turn, probably to avoid North Korea entirely, which makes more sense. Just finished our third meal, and admittedly, none were nearly as unappealing as I'd come to expect from an airline. I've passed on the complimentary alcohol and coffee, as I've never read any travel advice that recommends either. I've had plenty of water and the occasional ginger ale (my airplane drink of choice) but still it's obviously very dry in here. The cabin altitude of 2760 m doesn't help either. I must say the 777 is an excellent airplane, even back here in coach. (JR and I were in 1st Class on our trip to Italy/Switzerland in 2003). This flight would've been far worse without the personal video screen.

Less than two hours to go. Time to fill out my customs declaration.

Before we left, there was talk of a barbecue at the home of Adam's former boss. . . on the rooftop. I'm definitely interested, despite the jet lag. I'm sure we'll all be pretty wiped, but the best thing to do is to live on local time ASAP. It feels like 1:00 am right now (it's 2:00 pm locally) but with the several naps of unknown duration, as well as the constant sunlight outside, disorientation is an understatement.

We're right over the middle of the East Sea, a.k.a the Sea of Japan. I can't help thinking about Colonel Henry Blake's plane. How sad is it that a large chunk of what you know about a country is from M*A*S*H.

It's 14:30, 13.5 hours into the flight with about an hour to go. This has been my longest flight (by far) as well as the farthest I've ever from home. It's not my first time in Asia, however. That was Turkey 1995, but that was West Asia. As far west as one could possibly be in Asia.

Our course was south through eastern Russia, then southwest over the East Sea, then due west across South Korea, flying over Seoul and landing at Incheon on the west coast. I'm due to arrive about an hour before Jason and Steve. I looked at taking the same Air Canada flights as them, but it was significantly more expensive. This ticket cost me $1048 with all the taxes and fees, so it's also the most expensive plane ticket I've ever bought. Yet another record for this trip and I haven't even arrived at my destination yet.

14:33 We're descending, down to 28,803 feet from our max of 34,800 ft. We're about to go "feet dry" again, this time near Gangneung. Can't really see much on the ground outside my window. There is a thin deck of clouds, plus the wings of the 777 are quite expansive. I still can't get over the size of that wing. I guess I'm just used to the smaller domestic jets.

14:46 Looks like we're over South Korea. We should be landing on schedule, to the south, where the temperature on the ground is 25C. I imagine things may get a little crazy after we land. Immigration and Customs and Passport Control, then try to find Adam, who I think I'll recognize. Should be interesting.

15:18 Landed! Customs and Immigration was surprisingly efficient: no questions, no inspections. Exited at "B" and didn't see anybody I recognized. Walked around a bit, checked the other exits, and didn't even see Jason and Steve's flight on the arrival board. OK, no panic. Got my Lonely Planet Korea book out to refresh myself on Korean ATMs and phone cards. Got W100,000 (~920 W/$) and then saw another arrivals board that did have the Air Canada flight on it, arriving at Door F. I headed that way and found Adam. We hung out for about an hour, until we saw Jason through the security doors at a Customs inspection station repacking the humidor he got for Adam.

They came out, and we headed to the taxi queue. The four of us and our stuff crammed into a mid-sized sedan for the 30+ minute ride to Adam's. Adam lives on the 33rd floor of a 34 floor high-rise in the Samgakji area. It's really nice, plus he has really cool toys, like a huge TV, keyboard, and bass.

We were pretty beat, but we headed out anyway, because that's what you do. We walked past the war memorial, which was closed. Went to a traditional Korean BBQ place called Chadol Jib. We ate up on the second floor, where we sat on mats on the floor, and shared everything. Teuk sim so kogi is what we had. So kogi means beef. They set a pot of hot charcoal in an inset in the low table, then covered it with a grate, and pulled down a snorkel fume hood to catch the smoke. They brought out tons of side dishes, various kimchi, other pickled veggies, bean paste, and potent fresh garlic. They then brought out a plate of sliced, marinated sirloin that we cooked on the charcoal, then added bean paste & garlic, wrapped it in a lettuce or sesame leaf, and ate. It was awesome.


From there we walked to the Itaewon area, which was festooned with GIs and various other American ex-pats, as well as other ethnicities; north African places, sub-saharan African places, Greek and Turkish places, along with many Asian cuisines represented. It was pretty dark, loud, and dirty, but it didn't feel unsafe of threatening in any way. We went to a second-floor bar, but by that time (probably 10 pm), we were pretty tired.

Back to the apartment to clean up, wash the travel clothing that could wash, and head to bed. Jason and I are sharing a bed, and fortunately it's a king, so we wont hit each other with elbows all night.

(View my entire set of Korea trip photos here on Zooomr)

Korea: Preview

I'm going to Korea from October 5th through the 13th.

Check this page regularly for updates, as well as my Pownce and Twitter pages. I don't expect to post many photos until I get back, but check my Zooomr page regularly too, in case I do anyway.

Why Korea? Why not Korea?

Actually, my friend Jason invited me along on this trip back in March. I ran into him in the hall at work one day, and he asked "How would you like to go to Korea for a week in October?" And, of course, my answer was, "I'd love to, in theory." October was a long time off, so there were months to sweat the details, but I was a definite tentative "Yes!" Jason's friend Adam lives in Seoul, and after a long visit back to The States last fall, I guess the seed had been planted for a trip the other way. Jason, Steve (another friend of Jason and Adam) and I are going this time.

What will we do there? I don't have a minute-by-minute itinerary, but since October is supposed to be the best time to visit, I'm sure we won't have any problem finding stuff to occupy our time. Koreans are serious about hiking, and the country has many excellent parks and trails, which this time of the year may be all the more awesome with the fall color (they're at roughly the same lattitude as us, so the climate is very similar). Seoul is huge and there's always something going on there too. Adam has a friend who is a tour guide for Japanese tourists, and he's trying to talk her into maybe showing us around also. There's also talk of a rooftop barbeque Saturday night. I think we all wouldn't mind getting up to see the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the most fortified border in the world, but who knows how feasible something like that is.

I have a new camera, and even though the lens I bought did not arrive in time, everything is going to be just fine. My brother Tom overnighted me the same lens from his personal collection, so I'm all set. My goal is to take 100 (decent) pictures a day at a minimum, so look forward to those.

Even though I'll be on the other side of the planet, I'll be reachable by email, and I'll post updates when I can. Other than not having packed at all, I'm ready to go.

At 7:10 AM (EDT) the journey begins. . .

(View my entire set of Korea trip photos here on Zooomr)