Korea Day 3: The DMZ

​Today we spent the whole day thinking and learning about the Korean War and its consequences.

We started out by visiting the Korean War Memorial and Museum.  The Memorial was an immense monumental space. We started in a long passageway lined with large bronze plaques engraved with the names of American soldiers, listed by state. There were also lists of soldiers from other countries who were part of the UN forces.

The Museum had an enormous amount of information and military equipment.  It was more than we could absorb in a hour.  It was divided into exhibits in the third floor about the UN history and engagement, while the second floor focused more of the history of conflict in Korea and what led to the war.  There were many exhibits detailing the division of Korea after WWII, the attacks against the south, specifically Seoul by North Korea supported by Russia and China, the utter devastation caused by those attacks and the action by the UN and the United States to fight and the war. It was really good to put the war and its huge losses into context - understanding how the end of WWII created a vacuum in Korea when Japan left after 35 years of occupation and getting some understanding of the global geopolitics that made Korea such a critical asset to China and Russia and the United States. 

After the museum, we headed north to visit the Demilitarized Zone itself (the only one in the world).  The site was very well organized, with specific stops to see specific things.  The highlight was the 3rd Tunnel which was one of several tunnels that the North Koreans made in the 1970s to plan a sneak attack on Seoul.  We went down 250 meters (2.5 football fields) on a long sloping ramp, then went another 200 meters horizontally through a dark, wet, cramped tunnel.  We all had to wear hard hats - and they saved us from whacking our heads on low pipes and rocks several times.  At the very end, we could look through a hole in a cement wall to see a patch of light at the end of the tunnel  that was  North Korea.  There was also a digital meter that said it had been 26,606 days since the armistice had been signed. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs or even bring our phones, so these photos are from the internet. The hike back out was a bit of a slog because it was uphill almost all the way, but we made it.

Back on the bus, we headed for The Observatory.  This was a three story building that allowed you to look out into the North Korean countryside and to see the “Propaganda Villages” on both sides of the DMZ as well as flag poles for both North and South Korea.  It was a beautiful, clear day, so we could see all the way to the nearest N.Korean city of Kaesong.  Again no pictures on the N.Korean side, but lovely views of the rice fields, the Han River, and the mountains looking south to Seoul.

The green space behind the wall is actually North Korea!

We returned to Seoul, arriving around 4.  We got out near Seoul train station and walked along Seoul-lo - an elevated walkway with pretty plants and benches (a bit like the Highline in NYC, but shorter and less designed).  Then we walked through Namdaemun Market, past the Post Office and on back to our hotel.

Korea Day 1 &2: Exploring Seoul

We arrived at our hotel  in Seoul around 1 pm on Friday.  Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we launched straight into culinary adventures.  Cheryl had bibimbap - the wonderful Korean dish where rice, veggies, a raw egg and many other things are put in a searing hot stone bowl to get it all crackly and delicious.  The maître d’, after helping me stir everything up, took a spoonful of soup (one of the many side dishes on the tray), poured it on the side of the bowl, and said “Korean people like to listen to the sizzle.”  Ruth had a lovely salmon salad (also with several side dishes) - it turns out that the salmon wasn’t cooked, but she enjoyed it anyway, having enjoyed so much sushi in Japan.

We got our rooms and took a nap for a couple of hours (since we had to get up at 4 to catch the flight), and then went out to explore the neighborhood.  Our hotel is in the middle of the Myeongdong area.  We were looking for an ATM and hand lotion.  First, we went into an underground shopping mall - whoever heard of a whole store with only SOCKS!  Wow! 

We came up on the other side of the street and found a pedestrian mall full of vendors, selling fruit, pastries, mochi ice cream, meat in a stick, etc.  So Fun!  

We found a pharmacy and an ATM, and sampled some of the excellent treats. Although we liked the pastry shaped like Crocs, we ended up getting a fish shaped pastry filled with custard, and some fruit ice cream covered with mochi, and fruit on a stick.  So yummy!  Then we went home to bed.

In the morning, we met our group after breakfast and started out on a mini Seoul tour. (Seoul is humongous, so there is no way we could get a full city tour.) We drove by the “Blue House” where the Prime Minister lives, and then went to a museum with a lovely overlook of the Gyeongbokgung (or Northern) palace of the Joseon dynasty (“the first palace of the longest dynasty”).  It was cool to see the palace all laid out in front of us, as well as the beautiful mountains all around.

We headed for the palace to watch the changing of the guard, which was very entertaining. There were two sets of guards, one on duty and the other replacing them. Officials, the captains on duty?) inspected each guard, tweaking their uniforms and inspecting their guns, and they all marched around a lot with flags and skirts waving in the breeze. 

We toured the palace grounds, and learned a bit about the relationship between the Korean king and the Chinese emperor - it seems that Korea has always been the little brother, often invaded by others, but never the invader. The grounds included three huge gates, separated by plazas, leading to the king's bedroom. Behind that was the queen's bedroom. On either side were long rows of rooms for functionaries and concubines.

We went to a special lunch place that was famous for its ginseng chicken soup.  Each of us had a whole baby chicken in a pot!  It was very tender!  The soup was fairly bland, but dropping in some kimchi spiced it right up! There were separate bowls for the bones, of which there were many. 

We saw a few more sights near the East City gate, including the Dondaemun Design Plaza (DDP) , and then took the subway back to the hotel.  

After resting for a bit, we decided to take the cable car that goes up the mountain behind our hotel.  It was an interesting process to get up to the cable car - and a great view from the top! UP was the operative word. We walked up a big hill to the ticket office, the three flights of stair to the cable cars. Once at the top, there were many more flights of stairs to get up to the tower area where we could see the views of the city. We decided to take the very long staircase (hundreds and hundreds of steps) back down!

For dinner we went to a Korean Barbeque place not far from the hotel.  The grilled pork and mushrooms were delish, and again lots and lots of side dishes!

A few of us wandered through the night market on the way home, then to bed.

Japan Day 14 & 15: Cultural experiences in Kyoto

​Our last few days in Kyoto were packed with iconic experiences, mostly focused on appreciating the long and fascinating spiritual traditions of the Imperial city.

On Wednesday we started off the day heading back to the Western side of the city near the Golden Pavilion.  We walked along the Katsura River and crossed on the Moon Crossing Bridge. The original wood bridge, built in the 7th century, was so named because the graceful curve reminded the 13th century emperor of the moon on the water. Like some other waterways in Japan, the rapids are controlled by a series of  low waterfalls. We saw herons and cormorants in the water. 

We got on a hand-poled boat, and made our way up the river that ran through low forested mountains on both sides in quiet tranquility, while Makiko read a Buddhist sutra. After a while we saw a monk walking his dog along the riverside - and it turned out that was the monk we were coming to see.  

While he drove some of our group up the hill in a tiny van, the rest of us walked up the 200 steps to the temple. There we all sat in a simple room that was the temple and listened to the monk for an hour or so.  We meditated, and we both opted to receive special encouragement from the Kannon Bodhisattva (in the form of a whack on each shoulder with a stick).  The Kannon Bodhisattva specializes in helping you see things from a different perspective - which is why the Canon Camera company adopted the name.  Finally, the monk served us a sweet cake and matcha tea.  Such a lovely and peaceful morning.

After lunch, while most of the group went to a Team Lab experience, we went with Makiko to the Sanjosangen-do temple.  This temple had a very long room, 33 gens or room lengths (which is the name of the temple), with more than 1000 Kannon Bodhisattva life size wooden statues.  It was really cool.

This is a photo from the book we bought of half or less of the collection of statues - each one is different and unique.

In the evening we walked up to the famous Nishiki market to see what it was all about and then stopped on the way home for delicious dumplings.

Thursday morning we got up at 5:30 to get to one of the most famous shrines before the crowds.  The Fushimi Inari is know as the Shrine of 1000 Tori gates - but there were actually a lot more.  People have been putting up these red wooden gates all the way up the mountainside since 711 to bring success in life and business.  There are several red gate passageways - always protected by Inari (foxes)with symbols of success and good harvests.  Quite impressive.

For lunch we headed to the Kyoto train station to see the famous Skyway, and the Daikaidan (Grand Staircase) - a seven story staircase and escalator.  The train station and staircase were built over 20 years ago for the Olympic Games, but still look futuristic, especially in Kyoto which is such an old Imperial city.  So cool.

Then we crossed the street and had a sushi making workshop.  It was so fun making the sushi with a certified sushi chef coaching us through the process. The secret of good sushi (in addition to the secret recipes for sticky rice) is the technique for rolling 18 grams of rice with our fingers.  Then we all enjoyed eating our handiwork.  Yum!

We spent our afternoon packing and puttering.  In the evening we went to a nearby restaurant for our end-of-tour farewell dinner.  The traditional Japanese dinner of many many small plates still had a few surprises for many of us, including snails, octopus, several kinds of radishes, chicken cooked several different ways, etc.  The food was delicious, but there was sooooo much!  

Then we all said our farewells and we prepared for an early departure (4:30 am) on Friday.