Observations

I usually take the time to write every single day when we’re traveling.  Apparently some people (admittedly not too many) actually read what I have to say, and possibly some (even fewer) may see it as useful information that they can actually use in future trips to places we go.  This time, it was difficult to write every day, because I was exhausted.  When we came to the hotel, it was shower and bed pretty much, even the TV didn’t get to work that hard – just a little BBC Entertainment and Korean speaking Cartoon Channel, and that’s all.  In any case, our trip is behind us and I wanted to share our experiences nonetheless.  So here they are.

Flight.  We came to Seoul on a non-stop flight from Beijing with China Southern Airlines.  A very pleasant, less than two hours experience.  The flight was practically full, and next to me sat a young woman who obviously drank the entire night before, but when she was awake, she was also very nice.  The ride from the airport was about 30 minutes long (Gimpo Airport is closer to Seoul than Incheon Airport).  The lady at the Information booth at the airport advised us to take a taxi which we did (~$50.00).  Speaking of taxis, I must say, all taxi drivers we rode with were courteous, spoke some level of English, never refused us the ride (a common and extremely annoying practice in Beijing), and helped with the luggage if there was any.  Taxi experience in Seoul, two thumbs up.

We visited the following sites.  In general, it was all great, with a couple of exceptions for outstanding.

We started at the Royal Palace of Gyeongbokgung (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongbokgung).  It was beautiful as it was educational.  The structures are very pretty, although one can easily identify the very strong Chinese influence on the structures.  To our surprise (and I must add an embarrassing admission of ignorance here) we saw that many of the structures had Chinese letters on top.  Much like the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and others in Beijing.  We learned that until maybe five hundred years ago, Chinese characters were used commonly in Korea.  Indeed, the spoken language was different, but the writing was Chinese.  Much like Mandarin vs. Cantonese.  Same characters, different spoken language.  Inside the palace there’s a fairly large and unexpected museum.  Needless to say we went to check it out.  As if someone thought we had questions needing answers, the mystery was solved.  Chinese influence was indeed great, children were taught Chinese writing and culture when they were young, and many of the items on display were written in Chinese.  We felt at home.

Out of the palace we headed to the large and beautiful statue of King Jesong.  This was when Guy volunteered a piece of trivia we hadn’t known at all.  Guy told us that his Korean friends in class told him that King Jesong invented the Korean Alphabet, which turned out to be correct, and we were able to verify it when we saw that under the impressive statue was an innocent and small door which we could have easily missed.  It was the entrance to the King Jesong Museum.  It looks small from the outside, but in fact it’s huge.  All underground, it tells the story of a loved and admired king.  The story of the Korean Alphabet is told right there among many other inventions this king is responsible for.  What an amazing experience.  Then the sun set, we had something small to eat and headed back to the hotel.  We already signed up for the DMZ trip when we arrived, so we were excited to find a message that we were confirmed for our next day trip.

A short comment about food.  Seoul is very welcoming to Western people.  There’s countless McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Outback Steakhouses, Domino’s Pizzas, and more.  And these are only the fast food chains.  There are plenty more Western restaurants, and they’re all identical to their American brethren, although less sweet.  We really wanted to experience Korean food, but Guy is the kind of guy who doesn’t want to experiment with food at all.  So it was pretty much burgers, steaks, chicken nuggets, and donuts this time.  But in all honesty, it really wasn’t so bad at all.

The next morning we went to the DMZ.  The Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas was brilliantly turned into a tourist attraction.  Not just a tourist attraction, but a very popular one.  I can only imagine if Israel decided to turn its borders into tourist attractions, and show off the hundreds of tunnels dug between Gaza and Israel, I doubt any tourists would like to experience that.  Then again, the North Koreans are nothing like the Palestinians.  The North Koreans are just sitting back, making nuclear noises, and hitting their own people with poverty and hunger.  But again, speaking about the two Koreas, it must be really disheartening for the North Koreans to know that their neighbor has become a superpower over the sixty years since the war.  It must be terrible to know that while they were toying with the idea of complete and pure Communism, their next door neighbors are leading the world with cars (I would say that 90% or more of the cars in Seoul are Korean made: Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, Daewoo pretty much cover most of the cars and buses, the others are German and maybe a few American.  I only saw one Toyota, and one Nissan during the five days in Seoul).  Electronics, smart phones, Televisions, everything is made locally, or at least designed.  Korea is practically the new Japan…

Back to the DMZ.  We went to see a bridge used for prisoner exchanges, a tunnel dug by the North Koreans into the DMZ, and a train station prepared on the South Korean side for the day of re-unification.  Undoubtedly interesting.  I never knew, for example, that the division of the Koreas came as part of the agreement following WWII.  There were many other facts I had no clue about.  It was all nice and interesting, but with a strong touch of propaganda.  Not necessarily a bad one, but still propaganda.  Nonetheless, DMZ is a must see when in Seoul.

By the way, like everywhere we used organized tours, there was a commercial element.  We had to go the amethyst factory outlet as part of the trip.  It’s not a big deal, and we even bought a ring for Shiri, but the feeling was that we were rushed through certain places, so we can make it on time to the outlet.  In any case, be prepared.  A visit to the amethyst factory outlet is not optional…  And speaking of which, as always, it seems that the concierge service at the Grand Hyatt is very strongly connected to the travel agency offering these trips, as well as to the taxi services.  My advice is to either avoid using their services altogether if you want to save some money, or bargain.  To my great surprise, I was able to find discounts for trips, as well as taxi fares when I asked for them at the concierge desk.

We asked to be dropped off at MyeongDong area, which has a huge market, with no cars, plenty of street food, restaurants and cafes (I do believe Seoul has more cafes than Paris) and many people walking around having fun.  We went there a couple of more times, and it was always fun.

For the next day we chose a trip to the Korean Folk Village.  We were told (by the concierge) that it is too far to go by taxi (true), and that an organized trip is the only way (false).  It was a great trip followed by the non-optional visit to the Ginseng factory outlet… The Folk Village was a wonderful experience, I recommend it, but do yourself a favor and find another way to get there, so you can spend more time.  The Ginseng factory outlet is a waste of time, even for those who use it regularly.  The same kind of Ginseng can be found on the streets of Seoul for less.

For the last day we chose to go to the palace and temple next to the Royal Palace.  But it was closed on Mondays.  You should check carefully, as many places are closed on Mondays or Tuesdays.  Instead, we found a quiet demonstration of workers at the Ssangyong Motors Company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SsangYong_Motor_Company).  We actually took the time to read their claims and understood that the company, due to bad management, had to lay off thousands of workers, and that some of them killed themselves.  The mourners tent we visited was the thirty seventh or so.  We paid our respect and left for another place that was closed that day, one of the largest indoor markets in the world.  I was grateful…  Instead we went to Insadong, which is a beautiful street filled with art galleries and “pichefkes” (in Yiddish it means “stuff”, different kind of things that you probably don’t need, have no use for, but sometimes provide a good keepsake of the place you’re visiting.  The kind we like to bring home from every trip).  It’s definitely a place worth a couple of hours.  Very relaxed and relaxing.  It also had a McDonald’s and Guy devoured too many chicken nuggets and fries, and topped it off with the vanilla ice cream McDonald’s for some reason makes so well everywhere.  It all came out after a couple of hours in the form of vomit.  Unfortunately it’s not the first time Guy gives us a scare a day before we have to fly back home.  Gratefully, it was over in a couple of hours.  Must have been something with the food or a sensitivity.

Then we headed to the N Seoul Tower.  A must do in Seoul.  The cable car, and the observatory is a must and is beautiful.  It reminded me of the World Trade Center back in the seventies.  We learned, after the fact, that you can actually climb to the foot of the tower by foot.  And you can climb down the same way.  But the cable car is much more convenient, and perfect for people who just went down a tunnel dug from North Korea.  The cable car ride is impressive, and the observatory from the foot of the tall building is breathtaking.  However, getting to the tower and not taking the (very fast) elevator to its top is probably not the right thing to do.  So naturally, we did.  We didn’t regret it at all.  The usual tourist traps with your overpriced family photo superimposed on various impressions of the city as seen from the tower (Photoshop is everywhere), numerous concession stands and shops, souvenir stores, ice cream and everything else (God, am I really turning into my mother???).  From the top of the building, Seoul with its way over ten million people is spread out in all directions.  It’s quite a site, and everyone who visits Seoul must visit the N Seoul Building.  Fear of heights may play a role for some, as the observatory is almost all windows, and it’s really easy to imagine yourself up there with nothing to hold you.

The next morning (if you can call 4:00 AM morning) we headed to the airport.  Incheon is one of the largest, most beautiful, clean and pleasant airports in existence.  And yet, it’s extremely far from the city, more than an hour drive, and opens for check in at 6:00.  Security opens at 7:00, at least the main one does.  We took off from a clear skied Seoul and flew into a white, thick, cloud of smog in Beijing.  We felt at home.

It was a great trip, a traditional Hayardeny trip – big city stay and tour, excursions to a few remote (but not too remote) sites.

All the way home we had this discussion with the children.  They already stated that they wanted to go back to Seoul.  To the same hotel no less.  However, from past experience, we know that eventually, when it’s time to decide on our next destination, and they will be faced with the inevitable question of where are we going? To a new or an old place?  The answer will be, as always were: let’s go to a new place.

As for me, I think Tokyo will be one of our next destinations, and we are considering Hawaii as well.  But our next destination for the summer is home.  Israel is next following the school year end.  We can hardly wait.  Seeing family, having Israeli food, seeing friends.

Last but not least.  Lotte Market is a huge supermarket not too far from where we live here in Beijing.  We realized, while in Korea that Lotte is as big in Korea as Tata in India.  Simply stated: everywhere.  It sells burgers, runs tours, owns hotels, etc.  The name Lotte in Seoul is practically everywhere.  Today we went to the Lotte Market next to home and we actually felt different about it.  We suddenly found ourselves looking for Korean products that we used during our trip, and bought them.  I’m starting to think that the most Western supermarket in Beijing (excluding Jenny Lou’s, which is very limited and extremely expensive) is actually Korean…

One more thing.  If you wish to see the full set of photos we took (two cameras) here are links for Picasa Web:

April 27 April 28 April 29 April 30