Korea
(August 2004)Korea
(August 2004)| << Preparations |
The first week in Seoul |
My journey through Korea >> |
I'm always a little nervous, when I arrive at a complete unknown country and so I was happy that my good friend from New Orleans, Min, picked me up from the Incheon Airport. This airport is far away outside of Seoul. She explained me the Seoul subway system. This is a very cool and logic system see below.
In Germany I thought a lot about, where to sleep. Because I travel alone and meet some local friends I chosen mostly Backpackers hostels, because there I can meet other travellers and they are cheep. At the KNTO website I found a lot of these hostels and the pics in the Internet looks very nice :-) See Link Section.
In August is it absolutely very hot for Germans! In Germany we have sometimes more then 30 degrees Celsius but it is ok. But here it was like melting. At first Min and I went by bus near Hongik University where the WOW Guesthouse is located. I booked a single room because I'm an old men and want snore for my own :-)
I got a room in a container outside of the guesthouse and I'm not really sure what Min was thinking about :-) The women there was really friendly and the garden was very nice but my room has only a small fan and it was absolutely f***ing hot. I bought some Chocolate in Germany for my friends as a present but this was bad idea in this hot room. Later I put the chocolate in a fridge.
The common bathroom was chaotic and air-condition was only in the house in the common rooms. After two days I decided to an other accommodation because it was to hot. The garden was beautiful and I spend two very interesting nights with other tourists there and talked a lot about good and the world. I think this guesthouse is better in spring or autumn.
The room was clean and there was one Internet PC with an Korean Keyboard. But it was not possible to access the Backslash "\" at this keyboard which make interneting difficult. It was cheap and ok but not comfortable. Dormitory 15.000 Won (10,50 €) and a single room without ac 25.000 Won (17,50 €).
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After the sobering experience of the guesthouse and a good cold shower I started my first sight seeing in Seoul. The next weeks I took always cold showers, because it was absolutely to hot for warm showers which I usually really like.
We went to one of the palaces and Insadong street, the favourite street of my friend and this street is really beautiful. There are a lot of handicraft, gift and art shops. In the side streets you find a lot of nice and medium expensive restaurants. I eat my first Korean meal there. I asked Min to tell the waiter for a moderately spicy meal. She did but may be the cook misunderstood. It was a very delicious meal but still very spicy. I could eat it but it was at the border.
At the guesthouse I meet a young German men who work at a work camp and he and his group spend some time in Seoul. We start the next day with an excursion to the Seoul TV tower and Namsan park around there.
Near the Garden was a Folk Village where I saw the first time traditional Korean houses. Usually it is prohibited to step in to a house but some photo tourist lay there and took photos :-)
After the folk village we visit one of the famous markets of Seoul, I think it was Namdaemun market.
In the evening I met Sunny, an other friend from the Tulane-time. We ate a dinner and tried to escaped the strong rain in the evening. The people from the restaurant where very friendly. One men escorted us with an umbrella to a bar. Nice service. We arranged to meet for next noon.
At the evening I talked a lot with the other travellers in the nice garden, they came from France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
At noon I meet Sunny at Hongik Station and also her sister came to this place with a co-worker. We went together to an Korean restaurant for real Korean Food and I really like the Korean kitchen. You get many different things and you can mix your meal like you want. I tried everything including the small fishes. This was complete very tiny fishes and usually in Germany I would never eat something like this but it was ok, not my favourite but ok. The other things was really delicious.
At the evening we visited Hyundai Department Store, a very big shopping house and in the food department I found a lot of things and many of the deep frozen food is prepared there fresh for trying. So I ate a lot there and tried many different things. So if somebody is hungry in Seoul and have not much money, then go to department store and try all the nice food there :-)
After Lunch we went to one of the palaces Gyeongbokgung. It is a really beautiful scenery. In front the palace and in the background the Korean mountains.
After visiting the palace, we went to one museum next to the palace and saw a lot about Korean culture and history. In the pictures below you see the preparation of Kim Chi, the traditional Korean food. There is no meal with out this. It is spicy and I think it is comparable with our German Sauerkraut or Saure Gurken. But this is not the same. Kim Chi are fermented vegetables and the Korean people store this in tunnels to protect Kim Chi from the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter.
Asian People really like turtles as symbol for stability and longlivety.
A good friend of mine recommend me the Seorak mountains. And in my Lonely Planet Travel Guide I found it also as highly recommended place for sight seeing. I was really happy that Sunny could guide me there. The evening before we planned this trip with some help of Sunny's sister and the Internet. We decided to start very early in the morning and to return late in the night. A one day trip and we chose the deluxe bus. We bought tickets via internet.
The bus starts from Seoul bus terminal very early and I slept not so much. But I have a small wonderful air pillow for the neck and I could sleep very well in the bus. It was a good decision to select the deluxe bus. The most time I slept but later I watched the impressive mountain view of Korea.
After our arrival in Sokcho (big city near the mountains) we watched at first the beach there. But in this first August week was main holiday week for Korean people and the beach was absolutely full with people. My German friend Phillip recognized the photos of the beach. He visit this beach in 2003 and at this time it was absolutely empty.
Views of the impressive mountains of Seorak San (San = mountain).
My first Idea was to wander a little around but it was to hot for this. That's why Sunny and I decided to use the cable car to go to the top of one San. It was a good system. You buy a ticket and there you find the departure time of your cable car. If I remember the long, frustrating waiting lines in Berlin for the MoMA Exhibition...
This was a very hot day and that's why we decided to take a refresh at the river there and went then to the Naksan beach, not far away from Sockcho. There we met two people from my WOW Guesthouse. They did not know how, when and which bus will return to Seoul, so Sunny was their rescuer :-) The beach there was also very full but I was swimming there and I loved this refreshment. Finally it was a eventfull day and went tired with the bus back to Seoul.
After the return from the bus trip I took the last subway back home to my WOW Guesthouse. And I used the opportunity to make some pics from the subway system there.
The first day Min tried to explain me the subway system. And I can say that this is very easy and logical to understand. Everything is in Korean and in English. Every exit has a number. So you can easily meet a friend at Hongik station exit number 1 and you will not miss him. Also if you want go to a special museum or place, you find in the maps the exit number and after you surface you are right in front of the place. I remember my first years near Berlin Alexanderplatz. This subway station has a lot of exits and usually I chose the wrong to appear at the streets :-( I love this exit number system. Also the transfer from one line to an other is very clear labelled.
I'm very interested in history and politics and that's why I wanted to visit the museum. It was very impressive but it also reminds me to the socialist propaganda I know from my east German history. Two different Systems but the same style. I'm sure that in Pyongyang is a similar pendant located.
In the garden are a lot of weapon systems, from tanks, artillery, airplanes to a spy submarine. I think the border between north and south Korea is and was the hottest point of the cold war. In front of the main entrance are all the flags of the countries of the UN mission to protect South Korea. Yes it was really a UN Mission.
In the main hall is the officer of the month located. Every month is an other officer distinguished. The museum has three floors. The first floor is dedicated the historic heroes. The second is dedicated the Vietnam War and the third the Korean War.
I didn't know that South Korea has similar casualities like US in Vietnam. Because of the help and the protection of US against North Korea, the Koreans fought and fight in every American war like Vietnam and Iraq. I think that Japanese soldiers are for the same reasons in Iraq. It is an interesting coalition there...
With this kind of turtle ship defend a Korean admiral his country against Japanese invaders many centuries ago.
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In the museum are uniforms of every major power with which Koreans has contact
in the past. |
This
is no place for Kim Chi, this are models of the Vietcong tunnels. Similar models
I saw in Hanoi. But the description was different.
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In the third floor are many real life models of the life during and after the Korean war. The most parts of the country are affected through this war. Many people think that second world war starts at 1 September 1939 with the German assault against Poland and finished with the German capitulation after Russian soldiers captured Berlin in Mai 1945. But this is not true for Asia. Japan occupied Korea in 1910 and fight against China long time before Germany captured Poland. I think also the Korean and the Vietnam War are related to WWII. But this is a different story. |
I wish the Koreans a unification like the West and East German unification. They should avoid some mistakes but sometimes this is not possible and most important is the unification of a country which is artificial separated. The people will grow together even if it is difficult for some of them.
After the history trip we went to an nice Italian restaurant, I forget the name :-) If I'm in a foreign country, then I should eat the local kitchen but at the 5th day I liked to eat a pizza and Sunny like alos italian food so why not? :-)
What I also like is that in front of Korean or Japanese restaurants are windows where you can see what you can order. If you can not read the menu then simply take the waiter and show him what do you want to eat :-) Why we don't have this in Europe???
After Dinner Sunny and I went to a noraebang - room. This is the Korean word for Karaoke. In Europe the people like also to sing but Karaoke is not so popular like in Asia. Without training it is not so easy, so I need to organize here in Germany some songs for training. Then I can next time singing better :-) There was only one German song: Rammstein, "Du hast".
I returned at 11 pm to my guesthouse and there I met Bono from Taiwan in the Internet room. We talked the rest of the night and the beginning of the morning. Three pitcher later we know a lot about each other and the night become brighter :-) That's is really nice that you can meet a lot of people in a guesthouse.
It was really good that I met Min next day at noon and not earlier, because I need to sleep really long after this night talk. For this day I suggest to go to Suwon Folk Village. Next to the village is an amusement park. In Suwon is also an old castle Hawaseong which is highly recommended. I think it is a good one day excursion.
You can go there by bus or by subway. The subway trip is long and also you need then a bus to come to the folk village or to the castle. Min was asking someone and so we decided to take a bus direct from Seoul to the Folk Village.
In the Village are a lot of traditional houses and many things to touch and see.
I'm milling grain...
Young people showed traditional sports and games. Looks a little bit
dangerous...
Inside of a small museum in the park.
After the folk village we went directly to the amusement park next door. And then in the evening back to Seoul.
We
ate dinner near Hongik University. There are many restaurants. The dish is
prepared at the table. This was my last evening in Seoul before I start my journey
to Andong and Gyeongju. I decided to left my heavy luggage in the guesthouse. I
took to much with me and many things I never used in this 4 weeks.
After the hot experience in WOW guesthouse I moved to Backpackers Deluxe. The photos at the website are impressive but in the reality it looks a little different. They have to different guesthouses. A normal and a deluxe version. At first I wanted chose the normal guesthouse but there was no single room available. The deluxe House is an old hotel I think. Some of the rooms have an old and noisy ac. It was ok but not the nicest :-) In Gyeongju I stayed in a nicer house. The staff was very friendly. It is near Anguk Station, very central.
Single room with ac: 32.000 Won (22,37 €), Dorm 17.000 Won (11,88 €) . http://www.seoulbackpackers.com/
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