Re: "Going Seoul-searching"

["Love Shack" <Home@DanSources.com>]

Washingon Times hmmm.
Never been able to believe anything they print.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Yared" <mikeyared@yahoo.com>
To: <KOREAN-WAR-L@listproc.cc.ku.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 12:44 PM
Subject: "Going Seoul-searching"


Going Seoul-searching
By Willis Witter
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washingtontimes.com/travel/20030530-084030-5756r.htm
Published May 31, 2003

    SEOUL - Many Americans spend time in Seoul with
the U.S. military or on business. Only now is Seoul
beginning to realize its potential as a draw for
tourists as well. 
    For those making their first trip to Asia - this
is the place to begin exploring the other side of the
world. 
    The city is clean and free of street crime; people
have little need to worry about terrorists blowing up
buildings full of people; and there is no SARS. In one
week, a writer and a photographer saw no face masks
worn anywhere in the city, and that includes crowded
markets, restaurants and entertainment districts that
teem with people day and night. 
    Seoul, like the rest of Northeast Asia, is off the
beaten path for the militant Islamists. Of course, the
ever-hostile North Korea lies just 30 miles to the
north of Seoul, the sprawling capital of 20-plus
million residents and commuters that offers living
proof that South Korea won the Cold War. 
    To appreciate how lopsided that victory was, the
first-time visitor must join the 150,000 or so
tourists who visit the demilitarized zone each year.
Tours in English are readily available to several
sites, including a peace park, mountain overlook and
North Korean infiltration tunnels big enough for a
two-lane highway. A visit to the truce village at
Panmunjom tops them all. 
    It isn't much of a village, just a bunch of simple
one-story huts, scrubbed and freshly painted in the
shade of baby blue that matches that of the U.N. flag.
They sit in a tiny valley surrounded by guard towers
and observation posts manned on the other side by real
North Korean soldiers. In crisp, pressed olive
uniforms, with pictures of North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il on the lapel, they stare at visitors with
furrowed brows, snarled lips and scowling eyes. 
    When the guide takes visitors into one of the
huts, sometimes a North Korean soldier will stroll up
to the window and glare inside. Try taking a picture
of the North Korean, but be quick. As soon as he sees
a camera pointed in his direction, he runs away. 
    The tours are well-organized. Tennis shoes,
bluejeans, shorts and other casual wear are forbidden,
lest they provide images for North Korea's propaganda
machine to illustrate America's decadence. The tours
come with a briefing from an American soldier, and
there are plenty of opportunities to peer at North
Korean guard posts atop rolling hills outside. 
    There's a fake North Korean village, dubbed
"propaganda village" by U.S. and South Korean troops.
No one lives there, but sometimes the North Koreans
bring in a busload of people to hang up some laundry
and otherwise hang out to fool the VIPs they bring
down from Pyongyang. 
    A loudspeaker above the village blasts insults at
the South, or classic communist propaganda. "Our great
leader Kim Jong-il has done so much for us," it blared
during a recent morning visit as pairs of white
Manchurian cranes frolicked overhead. The species is
said to be extinct everywhere except along the
150-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide demilitarized zone that
divides the peninsula. No one walks through the DMZ
except wildlife, except at Panmunjom - until recently
the only land crossing between North and South Korea
along the entire length of the DMZ. 
    Here, huge letters decorate mountain slopes facing
south. "Our victory is for our sunshine general, Kim
Jong-il, hurray," says one mountain. Each boasts a
giant flag on a skyscraper-size flagpole. North and
South used to compete, building bigger and bigger
poles and flags until, presumably, the South decided
things had gotten out of hand. 
    The North won that battle and today displays the
biggest flag on the tallest pole. The problem is that
the flag weighs more than 600 pounds, meaning it just
hangs like a wet dishrag unless a typhoon happens to
blow through. 
    On the other side, the South Korean flag unfurls
in the gentle morning breeze. 
    Panmunjom has a history of ax murders, defections
and shootouts, but the last serious incident was 20
years ago when a defection by a Soviet officer, who
stepped across the line, triggered a firefight. One
can leave for Panmunjom early in the morning on a tour
bus from Seoul and be back with plenty of time to
spare in the afternoon. 
    The experience is guaranteed to be so grim that
Seoul will feel like paradise, and that's a good way
to begin exploring. 
    Five royal palaces ring downtown Seoul, each
undergoing a massive restoration amid a nationwide
renaissance of appreciation for the country's ancient
history. The walled compounds, with towering wooden
gates and curved tiled tops, defined the city a
century ago, when kings ruled and the aristocracy
lived in gilded splendor. 
    At night, Seoul provides the cosmopolitan flare of
dining, theater and nightclubs. There's also a
futuristic side of Seoul. Check out the area around
World Cup Stadium containing a power plant between two
giant man-made mountain mesas - both former garbage
dumps. Atop one dump sits an 18-hole golf course, and
atop the other is a public park. The green is so lush
it's hard to believe garbage lies underneath, and this
is where the power plant comes in. 
    The plant makes electricity by burning off the
extracts from pipes deep underground. It supplies
power to the adjacent World Cup soccer stadium, which
is being converted into an upscale retail mall with
luxury high-rise condos nearby. 
    The 2002 World Cup - in which South Korea became
the first team from Asia to make the final four -
inspired the Seoul metropolitan government to begin an
aggressive campaign to lure Western travelers. The
campaign, with the slogan "Hi Seoul," focuses on the
past, the present and, as with the reclaimed garbage
dump, the future. 
    Seoul City Hall, an imposing gray building from
pre-World War II days when Japan ruled Korea as a
colony, is a good place to start. 
    Inside the front door, the tourist can pick up
information on just about everything there is to do -
written in English. 
    A good subway guide and several maps are
available, including one that shows the location of
every public, self-sanitizing toilet in Seoul. The
toilets are like giant portable commodes except that
the entire interior gets sprayed with disinfectant
after each customer. 
    Look for the yellow pamphlet titled Foreigner's
Favorite 10 Best Korean Foods. The brochure has color
photos of all the delicacies so one can carry it into
any restaurant and simply point to the picture. 
    Topping the list is bulgogi, a sweet beef
barbecue, and somewhere in the middle is kimchi, the
fiery dish of pickled cabbage, cayenne pepper and
garlic, which is served with every Korean meal. Other
favorites include galbi, in which meat from prime beef
ribs is grilled over charcoal, and samgyetang, a
chicken dish without the hot spices. There also is a
sushilike dish called gimbab, and Korean-style
dumplings known as mandu. 
    Though Seoul sprawls in all directions, its
ancient palaces and teeming markets lie within a tight
circle just several miles wide, which framed the city
as it existed at the turn of the 20th century. Back
then, a king ruled and royalty lived in splendor.
Confucian scholars had special digs reflecting their
high status. 
    A wall enclosed the circle, with gates to the
north, east, south and west, connecting Seoul to the
outside world. 
    The recently opened Seoul History Museum gives one
a feel for old Seoul. It features scenes from the old
city with a mix of scale models and computer graphics.
Royalty moved about on litters carried by servants,
merchants plied their trade in bright silk robes, and
commoners in rags toiled with rickshaws on the dusty
streets, hauling the day's catch from the nearby Han
River through the city gates to market stalls. In
visiting the museum, be sure to sign up for the
English-language tour. 
    Seoul is world-famous for its shopping. For
Westerners, the Itaewon district offers one advantage
in that most shopkeepers speak English. By day,
Itaewon is a shopping district featuring the typical
fare of leather goods, handbags, luggage, souvenirs
and casual Western-style clothing. Tailors will make
shirts for about $20 and suits in the $300 range. 
    At night, Itaewon's bars, clubs and restaurants
take over with a largely foreign clientele. It
features live music - jazz and blues - on weekends.
Though one can still find traces of red-light sleaze,
the neighborhood largely has moved beyond its tawdry
image to become an international shopping and wining
and dining district. 
    For a relaxing dinner there, try Gecko's Garden,
which offers a multilevel bar and restaurant in a
converted villa, with a wide range of beers and wines
served on outdoor terraces that make it popular with
expatriates and visitors. 
    Myongdong was perhaps the city's first modern
shopping district. Today, it is largely
pedestrianized, wall-to-wall with cafes, restaurants,
small boutiques, mid- and high-end department stores,
restaurants and karaoke rooms. 
    Just five minutes away on foot lies the restored
South Gate of the old city wall, and across the
street, bartering between merchants and customers
continues at Namdaemun or South Gate Market as it has
for the past 500 years. 
    It is one of Asia's largest open-air markets, a
place where one can lose oneself for hours. A good
time to visit is in the afternoon, when the main
retail buyers arrive, or in the early morning hours,
when the wholesale customers appear. 
    Insadong is Seoul's artsy shopping district, known
for pottery, Buddhist paraphernalia such as clothing,
prayer beads and statuary, paper craft such as fans
and screens, and calligraphic sets. 
    It also has many furniture shops specializing in
antique or high-quality reproductions of antique
chests, desks and cabinets. The area is
pedestrian-only on Sundays, with street stalls and
performers. It also has many good traditional
restaurants, one of the most popular being Sancheon, a
Buddhist restaurant. Located at the end of a narrow
ally, it features authentic Korean Buddhist cuisine.
The menu is based on mountain vegetables, a legacy of
the time when Korean Buddhists were driven from the
city by Confucian rulers during the Chosun dynasty
(1392-1910). 
    Buddhist cuisine, while lacking the fire and spice
of typical Korean fare, did exert its influence on
modern Korea's use of many vegetable and bean-curd
dishes. The restaurant, opened by a former Buddhist
monk, also offers traditional music and dance
performances in the evenings. 
    From downtown, one can take a chairlift to the top
of Namsan Mountain, which rises 1,500 feet from the
middle of the city. On top, Seoul Tower's observation
deck, soaring high above the city's skyscrapers,
includes displays to help visitors pick out spots
along the old walled circle and view most of the
shopping areas just described. 
    On the northern edge of downtown lies Kyongbak
(also spelled Gyeongbuk) Palace, nestled on the
south-facing slope of another mountain. When
restoration work is complete, the palace, with its
long approach through three massive gates on a path
leading up from the city streets, undoubtedly will
rival Beijing's Forbidden City. 
    Only recently did South Korea begin to rediscover
its past. Until the nation achieved First World living
standards and put away military rule - something that
didn't happen until the late 1980s - reflecting on its
recent history was just too painful. 
    Nearly 40 years of Japanese colonial rule evoked a
sense of shame. Then, just a few years after Korea won
its freedom, the Korean War left the country in ruins.
The restoration work being done on Seoul's palaces
reflects a newfound pride in the past, an appreciation
of an ancient culture and a desire to show it to the
outside world. 
    "The biggest charm of Seoul is that there are lots
of beautiful tourist sites that are in tune with
tradition and modernism," says Cho Sang-meyong,
manager of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's tourism
promotion division. 
    Seoul is full of four- and five- star hotels,
including two from the Intercontinental chain, a
Marriott, Shilla, Hilton and Lotte. At the Hyatt, with
its panoramic view of the Han River, one can mix at
the health club with captains of industry and future
presidential candidates. 
    Lately, a number of lower-priced guesthouses are
becoming popular, especially with younger tourists. 
    The Seoul Guest House is one of a number of small,
family-run facilities in the old, quiet district of
Anguk Dong. Rooms built around a quiet courtyard in
the style of old Korean houses go for about $30 a
night. One sleeps on a mattress on the floor, and a
common room provides a computer with a high-speed
Internet link. 
    A few blocks away lies another of Seoul's palaces,
Changdeok, the only one to survive burning by the
Japanese in a late 16th-century invasion. Though the
architecture is not as spectacular as at Kyongbak
Palace and it lacks the exhibits of another palace,
Deoksu with, its museum, the peace and quiet in the
wooded landscape gives a sense of what much of Seoul
must have been like in ancient times. 
    Changdeok Palace boasts the Royal Secret Garden,
or Biwan, one of Seoul's best-preserved palace
gardens. Here, one must sign up in advance to be part
of a tour, with excursions in English offered daily
except Tuesdays. The Royal Changing of the Guard is
re-enacted at 2 p.m. daily at several palaces
throughout the city. 
    Guksadang, the national shaman shrine, sits atop a
mountain with the ancient Spirit Tree outside. It is
set on the slopes of Mount Inwhang, a site of great
geomagnetic power. On the way up the mountain is a
village with 16 Buddhist temples. This is not a
tourist site yet, although it is a quick taxi ride
from central Seoul. In the evening, one can find
shamans praying at the Womb of the Earth Mother, a
spring near the mountaintop. Shamans also perform
rituals near an unusual rock formation, known as Son
Bawui, or Zen Rocks, which resembles praying monks. 
    A bit outside of central Seoul, Samjeonggak, a
former Kisaeng or Korean-style geisha house, was once
reserved for high-ranking Korean government officials.
Now it houses a restaurant, teahouse, guesthouse and
performance area open to the public. 
    The traditional-style building complex lies on a
wooded hillside in Seoul's most exclusive old-money
district. Food in the restaurant Asadal is expensive,
but it is authentic Hanjeongsik, or traditional Korean
food: a mix of royal court, aristocratic and Buddhist
cuisines. 
    For nightlife, try Samcheong Dong, a funky pub
with live music in this otherwise quiet area near
Samjeonggak. After a couple of drinks, it is worth
walking down through the quiet, tree-lined Samcheong
Dong district, which is full of old houses,
restaurants, galleries, small bars and cafes. 
    Some other sites to consider include: 
    . Yeoiudo Park in the center of the financial
district on Yeouido island. Consider that the park was
built over what once was an airstrip designed to
evacuate lawmakers from the nearby National Assembly
in the event of a North Korean invasion. 
    . The Noryangjin Wholesale Fisheries Market
features many blue-collar restaurants selling some of
the freshest and cheapest hoe (pronounced "hway"),
which is raw fish, or sashimi, anywhere. Figure on
spending about $25 a person for a night of eating and
drinking. One also can buy live fish from the market
and have a restaurant prepare it for dinner. For
entertainment, "Nanta," a musical featuring crazy
rhythms and known by the name "Cookin' in the West,"
has gained glowing reviews abroad. 
    Despite the modernity of the concept, there is a
lot of traditional Korean involved: percussive
rhythms, martial arts and plenty of slapstick humor on
bosses and bums. 
    It keeps the audience in stitches, and there is no
language barrier. One recent performance had a
3-year-old laughing along with the rest of the
audience. The performance provides a good example of
the loudness, dynamism and exuberance of Korean
culture, which is not particularly known for subtlety.

    The plot is simple: The boss of a restaurant
orders his three chefs to prepare a wedding banquet by
6 p.m., then foists his incompetent nephew on them as
a fourth chief. The play constantly evolves, so it is
worth seeing more than once. It is possible to meet
the performers after the performance. 
    "Nanta" has spawned a whole subgenre of plays,
including "Goblin Storm," based on Korean folk
legends; "Show Taekwon," based on tae kwon do; and
"UFO," based on aliens. 
    For trendy foreign cuisine, try Wood and Brick. A
Parisian-style cafe downstairs complements a converted
loft upstairs that features Italian cuisine amid a
gallery of modern art. 
    Yongsan Electronics Market features block after
block of computer and electronics stores. Bargains can
be found, but one should have a product in mind and a
good idea how much the item would cost at a discount
store in the West. 
    Dongdaemun market features so-called "bag traders"
from as far away as Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The Gyeongdong Herbal Medicine Market is full of the
sights and smells of Oriental medicine. 
    The War Memorial of Korea museum, like the DMZ
tours, adds a sobering touch to any visit. Outside are
planes, tanks, guns - even a submarine. Inside are
displays that range from exhibits of prehistoric
weapons to a video war-game room. 
    The 13,000-plus exhibits include a reconstruction
of a Turtle Ship, the world's first ironclad warship,
which was used by Adm. Yi Sun-shin to defeat Japanese
naval forces in the 1590s. Other exhibits include a
Korean War gallery and a Vietnam gallery. 
    A statue outside represents a real incident, when
a North Korean and a South Korean soldier - brothers -
met by chance on the battlefield during the Korean
War. 

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