Halloween in Korea and "bongs"

To answer for those who may be wondering, Halloween is not celebrated in Korea.  However, since there are so many foreign English teachers here the schools often host halloween parties for the kids to give them the whole "western culture experience".  Kids will dress up, play games, and act out to "trick or treat" so they get to experience the holiday a bit.  As for the foreigners, we often have our own halloween party and dress up on our own, which can certainly puzzle the Koreans over why we celebrate such a crazy holiday of dressing up in costumes.  I was able to celebrate halloween with parties for the kids, a masquerade party on Friday, a halloween party on Saturday, and then a group of us foreigners watched scary movies at a DVD bong Sunday night.

So then I'm sure the next question is -- what is a DVD bong?  Well, they have several "bongs" in Korea and they're simply public sources for entertainment.  They have DVD bongs where you basically rent a movie to watch and then you watch it at the building in a mini theater with friends.  The more people you have, the cheaper the total cost.

Another option is a PC bong -- where you can use a public computer, the internet, and play some video games.  I have yet to experience this one.  The other is a Noreabong, where you pay for a room and sing karoke with a group of friends.  The other is a jinjubong, which is basically a public spa that you can go to... sometimes when traveling around people will simply stay the night at one of these since you can shower, relax, change clothes, refresh, and stay there as long as its open -- and its much cheaper than a hotel.

Additional Information About the DMZ and Trivia from the Tour

Since there is so much information about the DMZ, the Korean war, and the military in general I thought I'd make additional post with other information and facts that I gathered either from the tour or in reading.

• The DMZ is probably one of Korea's top tourist attractions.  It sounds ridiculous to have a militarized zone as a tourist attraction, but many people from around the world are very drawn to visit.  In a way, its a bit sad that people can seem more attracted to experiencing the one bad part of this peninsula rather than the other neat and cultural aspects.  However, it is obvious that Koreans are pushing tourism here in South Korea in hopes to compete with Japan and China.  When you go to a tourist type of event or location they tend to give you tons of free stuff and extra attention when they spot your a foreigner.
• The bridge of no return is located east of the JSA.  It is the spot where all prisoners of war (POWs) were repatriated after the end of the Korean war.  This is the only ground link between Seoul and Pyeongyang.  
• As stated before, the north's flag at propaganda village stands 160 km tall while the south's flag at freedom village stands 100 km tall.
• At the DMZ, some North Korean products were available for purchase.  These were mostly varieties of wine.
• One of the more disturbing and, perhaps, nauseating facts that we had explained was that the body of Kim Il-Sung, the "great leader" of North Korea (and who is technically still their president, since they consider him "eternal"), is embalmed in a glass case for citizens and visitors to see.  In order for his body to be maintained and not decompose, it is required that his body must be cleaned weekly and then extensive cleanings must be done at other times periodically throughout the year.  The costs to maintain this is something like $80,000 or more.  Do not quote me on the cost exactly, as I am not 100% positive, but it was at the very least $80,000.
• Up until the 1980s, North Korea's economy was going well but since that time it has continued to fall, resulting in famine and need for supplies.  Coincidentally, South Korea struggled in the first 20 years post-war, but is now has one of the highest economies in the world.
• The only time that South Korea has ever been in complete control of their military was the year prior to the Korean War outbreak when the two countries were separated along the 38th parallel due to conflicting economic differences once they were finally free from Japan after the Japanese defeat in WWII.  Because of the war outbreak, the US and UN forces took control of their military and have continued to do so since.
• In South Korea, all men are required to enroll in two years of military service in training (yes, that is basically just boot camp for 2 years).  They can either do this immediately after high school or after college, but this does tend to leave them a bit behind females. 
• In North Korea, all citizens (male or female) are required to be in the military starting at the age of 16/17.  The years of service that is required (I think) was about 15 years, though it has changed a bit in the last 10 years... the length requirement used to be more.
• On the border between the north and south at the JSA there is a concrete slab to show where the soldiers (or anyone) should not pass.  The south side has gravel, but the north side has dirt.  A fellow tourist during the tour asked why this is.  The answer was that the SK and UN forces did construction on both sides at one point so both were gravel.  However, the NK soldiers insisted that the dirt must be put back because "the dirt is sacred to Kim il-Sung".
• In 1962, there was a US military private who, while doing his duty at the DMZ, simply decided to drop his gun, leave his post, and deny support of the democracy ideology and cross over to live in communist North Korea.  He still lives there today.  There are several sources of information on him, but a CBS news article interviewing him is here.  The documentary about his life is called "Crossing the Line".
• The Dorason train station connecting Seoul and Pyongyang was in operation to ship goods and products from 2007 to 2008.
• Samsung and LG (both South Korean companies) have a part of all of their products made partially in North Korea.  So if you've ever owned a Samsung or LG phone, part of that phone was actually made in North Korea.

For further information: Joint Security Area

Movies/documentaries that our tour guide recommended:

Kimjongilia

JSA

The most highly militarized border on earth -- the Korean DMZ

Likely the most intense, yet most interesting place to visit on the Korean peninsula is none other than Korea's demilitarized zone (DMZ).  This is the area that current separates the two countries of completely different economic structures and way of life.  A different economic structure may not be initially appear to be a very big deal, though the reality is that the two societies separated on this peninsula do not only have a different way of living -- but they nearly live in two different worlds entirely, as their perceptions of life are completely skewed from one another.

I will not go into information on North Korea in this post and how it differs from the South or really the history of Korea, as that is something that would take several posts to even begin to explain (and even then I would be off because few outside do know the the entire truth of the north).  However, I will say that there are many documentaries that are very informative on the topic.

Symbol of Earth as a whole and unification of a nation

For this post, I will try to focus on only the DMZ itself.  For my tour I took the USO (United Service Organization) tour.  The cost for the tour (through Koridoor) was $77 USD or 92 KRW.  The USO tour is the only tour available where you can actually visit the Joint Security Area (JSA) where you can see North Korean soldiers and walk into the meeting room.  Other tours that are available that are non-USO only take you to the train station, third tunnel and other areas with the JSA excluded.  The tour lasted from 9 AM to about 4:30-5 PM so it was a full work day of just tours.  Thousands of people tour the DMZ every year.  I did see many Koreans touring areas of the DMZ (from little kids to the elderly), however, I only saw foreigners touring the JSA.  Either they may not be allowed to or many simply choose not to because it is not something they like to be reminded of.   If you mention the DMZ or North Korea to a South Korean I noticed you get one of the two reactions: 1.  They don't want to talk about it because they do not want to be reminded of the bad history and separation of families or 2. They are apathetic about North Korea and do not fear them at all.

The tunnels

The first place that we visited on our tour was the 3rd tunnel.  This tunnel is one of 4 tunnels that the North Korean soldiers have dug under the DMZ in hopes to achieve a surprise attack on Seoul, the capital of South Korea and 2nd largest city in the world.  The tunnel was discovered in 1978 and is located 52 km from Seoul.  It is 1.7 km in length, 2 m wide, and 2 m in height.  It is so large that 30,000 fully-armed North Korean soldiers and their vehicles and weapons could pass through the tunnel in an hour.  Walking through the tunnel was shallow in height, so we had to wear hard hats to watch to not hit our head.  We walked all the way down to the first blockade of 3-4 that was set up by South Korea after they discovered the tunnel.  It is suspected that it took over 800 days for the tunnel to be dug.  North Korean soldiers created the tunnel entirely by hand, walking it and using dynamite, getting away, having an explosion, and going back and doing this again.  Imagine doing this for 800 days straight and how dedicated these soldiers would have to be just to get an opportunity to attack Seoul.

Propaganda Village

The second place we visited was the Dorasan Observatory, which is the northernmost observatory in the South where you can see North Korea's Propaganda Village and farmland.  This is only one of two places where there is human inhabitants on the DMZ.  The other is South Korea's Freedom Village.  Propaganda Village is merely a village in a caretaker status.  It is referred to as "propaganda village" because they have an extensive loud speaker system that broadcasts to anyone and everyone in the area the praises of Kim Il Sung, the "great leader" of North Korea.  These announcements are made 6 to 12 hours a day, mostly at night.  The other odd part about the village is that it has no citizens.  Although there are 15 to 20 workers present each day, they merely maintain the facilities and raise and lower the flag.  The people that live in Freedom Village (also known as Daeseong-dong) is adjacent to the military demarcation line (the official line that separates).  The residents of this village are there because they requested to live in their ancestral homes rather than relocated to a safer area.  The citizens are required to live under restricted conditions, as they must be out of their fields and in their village by dark every day and must be in their homes with windows secured at 11 PM every night.  Women of the village are free to leave and wed outside of the village, but the men are not so many times women are brought in to the village.   The South Korean flag that stands at Freedom Village is 100 km tall and, in order to "trump" south korea, the North Korean flat at Propaganda Village stands 160 km tall.

The third place we visited was the Dorasan Station, which is the train station that is currently built that would connect North and South Korea.  It would allow people to transport from Seoul, the south's capitol, to Pyongyang, the north's capitol.  The railway was in use for one year from 2007 to 2008 to ship goods, though it currently remains closed.  You can walk through the train station and receive a ticket that cannot yet be used and then walk out to the train tracks.  The idea is that once reunification occurs, South Korea could then be connected easily to China and to the Trans-Siberian Railway that crosses through all of Russia and into Europe.  Until then, South Koreans must either travel by air or a ferry to get to these locations.

The final and most popular location of our tour was the Joint Security Area (JSA).  If you google DMZ this is often the location that comes up because this is the spot where meetings occur.

The most influential incident of the DMZ was the 1976 Axe Murder incident, which was heavily covered during this section of the tour.  Prior to this incident, North and South Korean soldiers were allowed to have stations on both sides of the military demarcation line.  The situation occurred when UNC (United Nations) workforce decided to prune a tree that was blocking view.  The KPA (north soldiers) told them to leave the tree alone, but they did not log a protest since they would be typical custom in this situation.  The UNC soldiers then continued to cut down the tree, but within minutes KPA soldiers arrived.  The confrontation began without an incident, though the two disagreed on the situation and two American officers were pounced upon immediately and killed.  Four US enlisted men were injured and four ROK (South Korea) were injured.  Deaths of the KPA are still unknown.

Since that incident, the soldiers of each side are not allowed to cross the line and the area between Freedom House (on the south side) and Panmungak (on the north).  The area is being watched all day every day.  The USO was very particular about tourists in this area.  We had to follow a dress code, have our passports checked, and sign a release form.  We had to stand in two single file lines and not point at anything or express any communication (verbal or non-verbal) to any North Korean soldier.  We could take pictures of the north side, but none of the south because the UN does not want pictures of their facilities spread that could potentially be found by the north.

The same tour of the DMZ is offered by North Korea and they have about 9,000 tourists annually.  However, the US military tour guide we had said that the tour to go cost $5,000, though I have heard from others different prices.  Initially everyone except for US and South Korean citizens could visit, but it is currently open for US citizens as well.  South Koreans are still unable to visit.  Visitors are unable to get there through South Korea, as they have to travel to China first.  The tour guide told us that when North Korea gives the tour, when they go into the meeting room at the JSA, tourists are asked to take off their shoes and put their bare foots on the table on the south side of the room.  If you looked at an angle, you could see all of the prints left on the table.  The room is monitored 24/7 so military can hear everything being said.

Pictures

To make uploading, organizing, and sharing my pictures easier, I've uploaded most of the pictures I've taken here so far on my shutterfly account.  What is most convenient using them is that you can just order prints of the pictures through their website if you would like copies and I can make photobooks of my pictures later on.  The only thing that I have not gone so far to do (and probably will not have the motivation to do it) is give descriptions for all of the pictures because it is such a long and tedious process.

Here is the link to my Shutterfly pictures:  Jeni Lyn's Photos

Ginseng Festival

Last week, I took a train up to Youngju to go to the nearby small town of Punggi to go to the village's annual Ginseng Festival.  I took the tour through Adventure Korea, so there was a variety of activities set up for us.  When I arrived, we started off with a peeling the ginseng contest where whoever had the most peeled first one a prize.  We then got to walk through the festival on our own to see what the vendors had.  There was a place to see different ginseng varieties and ginseng wines.  Some vendors let you try a ginseng macoli (macoli is the rice wine popular in Korea).  There was one place where it was like a mini-spa where you could put your feet or legs in a steam.  While walking around, a few of us met the guy who is president of the ginseng foundation and he gave us a bag of organic apples, apple juice, and ginseng crackers.

After exploring the festival, we took the bus over to some ginseng fields where we were able to see how ginseng grows and harvest some of it ourselves.  Ginseng takes 4-6 years to harvest and it can only be harvested by hand because the root is the part that is used and its not easy to pull out of the ground.  The best quality ginseng should be in the ground for 6 years.

 After harvesting some ginseng and seeing the fields, we went back to the festival to make our own ginseng wine.  It was very simple.  We just peeled and cleaned a piece of ginseng, filled a bottle up with soju (rice liquor), and added the ginseng to the bottle.   We now just let the bottle sit for about 3 months.

  

Hiking up Mt. Sobaek

This weekend I went to a Ginseng Festival in Punggi and then went hiking.  Because I have yet to edit and upload the pictures I took at the festival and many of the traditional Korean housing I stayed at, so these are just pictures of hiking.

I went hiking up Mt. Sobaekson.  It is about 320 km of land.  It was quite a long hike and I must say -- you've never truly gone hiking if you've never gone up a mountain.  This was challenging and it took us about 2 hours to get up to the top.  Going down was a little faster, but even then you have to watch to be sure that a rock doesn't slip out from under you (I learned this the hard way by having a little wipe out myself).

It was really nice to go in the fall because we were able to capture some of the leaves changing colors (and it wasn't NEAR as humid as it would be otherwise).

We woke up to leave for the hike at 7:30 AM and finished up to have lunch at about 2 PM, so it was a full day of hard work!!

Flat Stanley

This past week I was happy to receive some mail: Flat Stanley.  As a project for 2nd grade students at my home elementary school, Flat Stanley is sent to many faraway places.  I now get to fill out the journal and send some pictures of Flat Stanley with kids.  After this, I'll even be able to have the kids be pen pals!

Experiencing a Korean "K-Pop" Concert

Last weekend, Gyeongju had a K-Pop (short for "Korean-Pop") concert.  My friend Lauren and I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to see what a Korean concert is like.  The tickets only cost about 5 KRW (for $5) and the sound of the music is best described as "bubblegum pop".  Its basically a series of boy bands and girl bands.  

The Koreans certainly love and go all out for their K-pop concerts -- with signs and balloons of their favorite group and plenty of fireworks.  All the "band" names are in English, but the lyrics are a mixture of Korean, English, and other sounds (they are no "true" words).

They had plenty of food being sold during the event.  The most common was kimbop (as I discussed in an earlier post) and dried squid (like beef jerky, but its squid).