I GOT SEOUL.....Korea

This past weekend I had to take an unplanned and unexpected trip to South Korea for visa purposes. Usually you can renew your visa in Beijing and Hong Kong, but because of the Olympics they are not currently allowing this. I am on a 60 day visa, which means that I am going to have to leave the country every 60 days. I decided to go to Korea because it was the least expensive, and also because I wanted to see where my sisters came from. Korea was a great experience and I will for sure go back there many more times.

My roommate and I got our tickets to go on Thursday, and left on Friday morning. If you have ever wondered if you could plan a trip that quickly, knowing very little about your destination, and having no plan as to where you are going to stay or what you are going to do, I would just like to report that it can be done! It definitely makes it more of an adventure that's for sure. I looked up some hostels before we went, so we at least had options as to where to stay. After we found one that had an available room, we found some brochures, a subway map, and a map of the city and planned a few things to do there. Simple as that. :)

I LOVE KOREA! The people that we met along the way were all so nice and helpful. We had no plan once we got there, nowhere to stay, not even a map. We took a bus from the airport to the middle of Seoul and obtained a map. Once we had that, all we had to do was pull it out and the locals would ask if they could help us. At least 6 people in the first hour asked if they could help. Now, would that ever happen in New York City, or any city in the US?? I don't think so! My impression of the city is that it is very clean and not nearly as polluted as Beijing. The traffic wasn't too bad at all, especially since it is the most populated city in the world. Many people ride motorcycles and the subway system is amazing and so easy to use. Seoul is much more Westernized than Beijing, and honestly, it would be much easier to live there. But, for this time, I am where I am supposed to be...right here in China.

While in Korea, we got to do a Taekwondo class at Kukkiwon, the Taekwondo capital of the world. This was really fun. I even kicked a board in half! We also found an interesting tour where you can go to the demilitarized zone at the border of the two Koreas. This isn't really the safest thing to do, but it was way cool! I didn't realize there were two different tours, and there is actually one that takes you a little closer than mine did, all the way to "the bridge of no return." My new Polish friend Peter I met there had to sign a "If death shall occur, nobody is responsible" paper before going on this tour. Next time, I will go on this one. Dad, I think you would have enjoyed this :) The story of the Korean War is much more traumatizing than I had realized, with the divide sudden and numerous families separated and unable to have any contact. On the tour I also got to see the Freedom Bridge that links the two Koreas, fenced off. This is a location where families have recently been allowed to visit, once a year. They can only reunite at this spot and the mini-theme park right next to this bridge. To my understanding, they cannot leave this area. I also got to walk down a tunnel that North Korea built for "Peaceful purposes" called the 3rd tunnel. They built 16 tunnels like this one, and only 4 have been found. In this particular tunnel, 30,000 troops could fill it within an hour. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the tunnel.



Freedom Bridge

Amusement Park

Living in America, I don't think many of us realize how great it is to be free. We have the oppotunity to be, say, do anything we want. When I got on the plane to come to South Korea, I thought it was going to be much like China since it is also an Asian country. To my surprise, it was quite different. Immediately upon unboarding the plane, I noticed a difference. There was something different about the people and their attitudes towards life. They were not an oppressed people, but they were free people. And you could just tell. They could do what they wanted to do, travel to where they wanted to go, own property (making everything much cleaner because people take better care of things that they can have ownership of), have children without penalty, practice religion of their preference, and just simply live. It was a night and day difference that I wasn't expecting to see, maybe because I didn't realize how something as simple as a freedom that I have always known can affect everything so drastically. This is something I am really wrestling with now that I am back. I don't really know how to put it into words, but I hope that someday the Chinese people can feel that freedom.


Luckily, I didn't have any problems getting back into China and am now back into the swing of things here! I am now inspired to learn Korean in addition to Chinese. I think it would be so much easier to learn than Chinese. For one thing, Korean is phonetic and has an alphabet. Chinese does not. Korean is not tonal, Chinese has four tones. Will I want to learn the language of every country I visit, or am I just drawn to Asia? I guess I will have to visit France someday to find out!


Islands flying into Korea.

Street food we ate.

Me and some of the Korean Taekwondo Black Belts. Yep.

Changing of the guards.

Traditional Korean clothes!

LOVED Piano Street.

Korean kiddos having fun.

Poisonous Korean bug?