The soul of Asia (day one in Seoul)

So far the trip has been pretty crazy and we're on the go most of the time (I don't think we've had an actual sitdown dinner since Monday!). It is, however, fun and really interesting to see a culture that is more similar to Japan, but with a different heritage and completely different language. I am doing well in Hyogo, but I needed to get out of town. It will be nice to know my way around and that I can actually communicate when I return, and that communication baseline (now sort of in place) is giving me a renewed motivation for getting back into studying Japanese (was starting to fizzle). But anyways, the big news is that WE'RE IN SEOUL!
The long road (to finding a temporary) home
The trip here wasn't as smooth as expected. We decided to take he bus from Gyeongju, which left us tired when we arrived. To make matters worse, as we were getting on the bus, I called the hostel to let them know we'd be late, and they didn't have our reservation. Once we arrived, I called a million more places, found one with an opening, and we went there. But when we arrived, the woman I spoke with had given the room away. We ended up a little motel nearby, with a nice couple at the desk and free coffee, but we were all exhausted and there was no bathroom sink. I wasn't thrilled with the woman who had given our room away, but the place was ok and she had told us she had openings for the next night, so we went back to book it. It turned out she lied about that, too, and the place was really full all weekend. We wandered around Insadong and finally found a room for Friday & Saturday at the Beewon Guesthouse, near An-guk station. The place was in the guidebook, but I swear it was luck we got a reservation and finding it was definately a lot more work than it should have been. We tried to take the setbacks in stride and went to a pub to try the local beer (Hite), but it's probably because of these sort of situations that I can be so anal about planning. Besides housing, however, things have been good.
Seoul Cityscape
The city is definately a metropolis and is surrounded by (and surrounds) pine tree-covered mountains. I love having the balance of nature and city, but I do not sense the same charm or atmosphere in this city that I do in, say, Kobe or Oslo. I haven't noticed the pollution much, either, but Brianne has, so I might have just acclemated. Not being able to run during the trip is disapointing, but sparing my lungs the pollution might be a good thing, even if I can't feel it. The city is lined with colored, paper lanterns at the moment for the "Hi Seoul Festival", which gives it extra some character, however, especially at night.
DMZ Tour (or, "Hi ho, Hi ho, to North Korea we go)
We started our first full day early, by booking spots on a DMZ (De-militarization Zone) tour to see the North Korean border. The trip was interesting, but did not include as many propoganda-filled domestrations as I expected (they stopped with the loudspeakers). Seoul is only a 50 minute car ride from the border. You drive along a big river with barbed wire finces and guard towers lining pretty much the entire way, though, which helps build momentum for the actual visit. As we were leaving Seoul, we also passed the large American army base, which our guide (speaking into a very LOUD microphone) explained was a necessary presence for protecting Seoul against another attack from the North. The two Koreas never actually came to a treaty (only a cease-fire) after years of war. There is still a very real threat between South Korea and their "axis of evil" counterpart, but the guide explained to us that if Seoul was ever attacked, the American base would also suffer casualties, giving the American government direct cause to become more involved in the conflict. Therefore, the strategic placement of the base serves as a buffer. The number of US soldiers living at the base has significantly decreased since "conflicts elsewhere" (ie Iraq) have pulled them away, but the North Korean government has insisted on the removal of the base before unification can ever be considered or they will negotiate.
Once we arrived at the DMZ (a neutral, yet heavily armed and patrolled, area between the North and South Korean borders), we basically went to all of the attractions that we has access to. This included the Freedom Bridge, the train station on the border (not in operation, but ready to go if a compromise is ever reached), into a tunnel blasted by North Korean spies (we know over 20 exist, but only 4 have been discovered... the tunnel we saw could accomodate moving 30,000 soldiers to Seoul in an hour - scary...they actually covered the granite walls with coal as they retreated and said it was for "mining"), a short trip to a museum telling about the conflict (with a movie), and a trip to the Dora Observatory, where you can see North Korea.
It was cloudy on Thursday, so we couldn't see much at the border, but I could sort of make out the giant North Korean flag on their border. Apparently, North Korea and South Korea kept trying to put up higher & larger flags than the other in a competition to have the best on their border, but finally the South decided it was not worth it and conceeded. Now the North Korean flag is the tallest in the world (check Guiness!). The stupid thing is that it is so large and up so high, that it needs to be replaced - for thousands of dollars - every three months. Not a great investment when thousands of people are dying of starvation. This conflict is characteristic of many of the stories we heard about the two Koreas. These accounts almost seems childish or funny at first (making that little dictator up north look like a real Dr. Evil), but then you realize how serious it is with all of victims and ugliness of war. It was interesting to learn about efforts being made today, including the "Sunshine Policy" for which the former S.Korean president won a Nobel Peace Prize (I was at the news conference in Oslo and shook his hand, actually), but there is still a long way to go. The small, red, triangle-shaped sings everywhere, indicating danger zones for landmines, is one example.
After the bus returned to Seoul, were supposed to go to a souvineer shop with the rest of the tour group, but sort of snuck out and were able to ditch the tourist trap (the tours in China clued me into that one - always a comission!) and head instead to Gyeonbokgung palace.
Gyeonbokgung was the type of palace I expected to find in Gyeongju. We took a tour and learned some interesting tidbits, but I really liked the colors of the architecture (used to preserve the wood) and was surprised that this palace seemed much more updated and modern compared to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. We ran through the National Folk museum (excellent!) on the Gyeonbokgung grounds and headed over to Changdeokgung palace (another World Heritage site) for the 3:30 tour. The palace is right in the middle of the city (near our hostel, actually) and the grounds are massive (even though only 1/3 of the original structures remain), making it seem more like the Forbidden City in Beijing (an actual town), rather than just a small palace. The area is only open to tours, so we were with a big group again, but got pretty loopy towards the end of the tour and were laughing too loud & straggling behind. Despite that, the architecture was beautiful and I was awed by the "secret garden" and the small "common farm" built inside one area (where the royalty could go to experience life as a commoner when they wanted to understand their subjects better). No promises, but I'll try to get a few of our hundreds of pictures posted soon.
Markets, Dinner and Off to Bed...
After playing tourist all afternoon, we went to Namdemun market, which is next to the South gate (part of the original fortress walls). The market was impressive with a lot of stalls. I bought nori (seaweed paper - it's saltier in Korea) for my school omiyage and some other little things, but the funniest part was that most people were OK at English, but decent at Japanese, so we ended up using nihongo for most of the transactions. Brianne lived in Tokyo for a year in college, so she's pretty good, which was a major asset. Joe took a side trip to the world's largest church and met us, but it was nice to be able to use Norwegian as a bargaining tool, as well. The market games were not as intense as the souks in Damascus were (I looove the bargaining game!), but a good time. It's just funny how you will fight to the won for a price at the beginning, but it tires you out so much that you just give in and pay the foreigner prices by the end.
We went to dinner at a ma & pa joint near the hostel (the guy at the desk led us to it and helped us order), with some disgusting leaves, interesting kimchi soup and delicious bibimbap & octopus dishes. It was a long day, so we retired to the hostel and watched a movie on TV while Joe packed his bag for Tokyo.

So, yes, that was just ONE day, and a busy one it was. I definately try to get in as much as I can on trips (again, grew up taking "education trips"...not vacations...), but it'll be nice to relax for a bit tomorrow. Joe is leaving early for Tokyo so Brianne and I have some quality girl time coming up. Fun fun fun!

Quotes of the day:
"Ok, let's just go in the direction of that coffee sign." - Joe, on directions (while pointing at a large, lit-up symbol for an onsen).

"I've heard Korea is the color version, while Japan is the black and white. Not just with respect to the temples, but also how they show emotions. You go outside [in Korea] and see couples obviously in love, pissed-off people, happy people. Things you don't get as much of in Japan." - A friend in Japan on the cultural similarities and differences between Korea and Japan