Suwan Spring 2010 Field Trip

Last week Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I took a three day field trip with my school. It seems like we covered almost all of Korea, and spent so much time in the bus!

Our first stop was at the DMZ on the East Sea. This is the gym teacher and me... he's got a pretty good sense of humor!



Later that day, we went do a different beach where there was a pretty temple:



After a sleepless night in a resort up somewhere in Gangwon provience (the kids didn't have a bedtime), we went to Seoraksan National Park. The weather was very hot and humid, that's why it appears so cloudy in these pictures. It made for some uncomfortable hiking on a very long trail to the famous "Rocking Rock."





Later, we went to Everland. Everland is just like Disneyworld, but smaller. It was the perfect day to go because it was a Thursday, and Korea played Argentina. Hardly anyone was in the park! The most popular ride, the roller coaster T-Express, only took us 10 minutes in line, and usually the wait is three hours!



Here's the kids we went on T-Express with.



We also went on a safari and saw a sea lion show, which was pretty cute. Later, we watched the soccer game in the rose gardens of Everland but had problems finding a seat. It was too bad that we lost the game.

The last day, we went to the Independence Memorial. I was impressed by their museums. A lot was in English, so that was nice. It wasn't really as cloudy as it looks!



By the time we got home Friday night, I was exhaused. On Monday, they gave me a thank you present for going on the field trip- 5 dried squid. I'm so lucky.

North Korea/DMZ/JSA

Our main purpose for going to Seoul when Tom and Mike came was to have a tour of the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) and JSA (Joint Security Area). I found the tour online through tourdmz.com It was the only company I could find that offered a tour of both areas on a Saturday at a price I was willing to pay.

Pickup was at 8:30 at the Lotte Hotel. Lotte is one of the largest brands, and had a gorgeous hotel in downtown Seoul. The tour was about half English speakers and half Japanese speakers. There weren't any Koreans on the tour because as a Korean you are not allowed to have a tour of the DMZ.

Our first stop was Dorasan Station. It is the northern-most train station and very, very close to NK. They have the line set to go to NK, but due to the current political situation, the project is still in the works. Once the project is complete, the line will run from Busan all the way through Russia and over to Europe, making it the longest train line. The station was also brand new and completely empty. Guess it doesn't get much use! Here are the boys in front on the empty platform:



Our next stop was the Dora Observatory. From this point, you usually have a good view into the DMZ and North Korea. However, our weather was cloudy and with the snow it was really hard to tell what we were looking at. I imagine on a nice summer day you'd have a pretty good view.

Close by is the third tunnel. It was one of 4 (known) tunnels dug from the north to invade the south. Luckily, they discovered it in time! You aren't allowed to take pictures in the tunnel for security purposes. We were able to go quite far into the tunnel after taking the monorail down into it (it was just like a rollercoaster!) and they provided us with hard hats because the ceiling was low. Mike and Tom kept hitting their heads on the rock but I managed to only hit mine a few times. In the tunnel, we were able to go pretty close to the Military Demarcation Line, so that was exciting. It was suprisingly warm 73 meters under the surface, I was getting pretty cold from being outside! Outside the tunnel we went into some visitors sections and took this picture:



Then we went to Imjingak freedom village. There is a long bridge that goes into the DMZ where the POW's were exhanged after the war. We looked at some monuments and got to walk on the bridge a little. It was covered with ribbons everywhere you looked, I'm assuming to honor those families that were/still are separated. There was also a train here that had been derailed by bombs at some point during the war. There were over 1,020 bullet holes in it and according to the sign, it "shows the cruel situation at the time."

This is Tom with the ribbons on the bridge:


Another thing that was interesting was the two layer wire fence. It looked like one giant booby trap. There were rocks stacked in the wire and each type of rock had a different name (Auditory stone, Hearing stone, Patrol tag, and Trace stone). They are supposed to alert the guards that patrol the barrier if there was an intruder because of the way they are stacked. I couldn't believe the amount of barbed wired on the fence!

We switched busses at this point to take the second half of our tour, the JSA portion. This might be a little hard to describe how everything felt and what it looked like, so forgive me if it is a little confusing.

In our new bus we drove to Camp Bonifas which is just on the southern border of the DMZ. Our tour guide was telling us about the "lucky" young men that get to do their now 18-month mandatory military service there. It is very prestigious. They have to meet a height limit, be physically and mentally tough, speak 4 languages (though I'm not sure how well), and be at least a black belt in Taekwondo. Now, I'm not sure if that is correct because during the tour, Tom, Mike, and I all thought we heard different things about the requirements.

Camp Bonifas looked like what I assume any other military base does. We weren't allowed to take pictures here. The area did have a lot of security though, as you can imagine! Upon arrival at the Camp, we had a briefing on the history of the DMZ and had to sign a disclaimer. I have mine taped up to my wall now, normally you aren't allowed to take it with you, I'll explain more about that later. The first lines of the disclaimer say:

"1. The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjon will entail entry into a hostile area and possiility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action. The JSA is a neutral but divided area guarded by United Nations Command military personnel on one side (South) and Korean People's Army personnel on the other (North). Guests of the United Nations Command are not permitted to cross the Military Demarcation Line into the portion of the Joint Security Area under control of the Korean People's Army. Although incidents are not anticipated, the United Nations Command, the United States of America, and the Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the saftey of visitors and may not be held accountable in the event of a hostile enemy act."

This is to date the scariest disclaimer I've ever signed, and probably ever will!

After the briefing, we had to leave ALL of our things on the bus other than our camera. You couldn't even take your camera case! Their reasoning was they didn't want the North to use anything against us propoganda wise. We boarded a Camp Bonifas bus, and drove past the security right into the 4km wide DMZ with our ROK tour guide/military man with us.

This area to me didn't look much different than any other snowy landscape in Korea, but Mike was incredibly excited and kept saying how much his dad would like to be here. Apparently, he was able to see old trenches and such dug into the ground. Again, picture are not allowed. We went right to the JSA, which is divided by the Military Demarkation Line. I was kind of nervous when we got there, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one!

Off the bus, we were forced to stand in two lines next to each other. It reminded me of being in Kindergarten again! We went into the main ROK building and marched straight outside to the blue conference buildings. We were really, really lucky to have been allowed this opportunity. Even the day before the tour, it was not allowed to see the conference buildings, so I was very excited. As we walked anywhere outside, we needed to keep our hands in our pockets, not make any hand guestures, and not smile at the guards (both the ROK and KPA).

The conference building wasn't too big, and our group of 40 and about 10 ROK soilders filled it up. After a brief explanation, we were allowed to take pictures. The Military Demacation Line runs right through this room, so I tried to take lots of pictures of the North. But it doesn't look much different than any other conference room. I did get a picture of the acutal line outside from the north. Now, I can officially say I've been to North Korea!

Here, Mike's in South Korea, while Tom's in North Korea.



We left the conference room after about 15 minutes of rapid-fire picture taking and went to a lookout point outside. During our march there, our ROK soilder/tour guide yelled at some people for falling out of line and not keeping up with the group! From the lookout point, we could see the North's main JSA building as well as a skeptic KPA guard looking at us through binoculars. I took a few pictures of him looking at us. We could also somewhat see the North's propoganda village in the distance, but it was still cloudy and snowy so those pictures aren't the greatest. We were allowed to stay on the lookout for about 15 minutes, then we marched back to the bus.

These are the conference buildings, we went in the center one:



This is North Korea, do you see the soilder?




That was pretty much it for the JSA tour, and we then drove back though the DMZ and through Camp Bonifas on the way back to Seoul. I was impressed at the amount of barbed wire fences on the way out, even after we'd left the DMZ area. Oh, I forgot we did stop at the Camp's souvenier shop and switched back to our bus where we'd left our things. Also, as I mentioned earlier, we were able to keep our disclaimer we signed upon arrival. I think it was partly because someone in our group asked to and partly because we were the only visitors there. I'd say we were lucky that we chose to go on that day of all days!

It was a full day tour, we got back to the Lotte Hotel around 5:30 just as the sun was starting to go down and the Christmas lights were coming on. It was a great tour, and I'd definitely recommend the company. Just make sure you get to do both tours (DMZ and JSA), if I'd only done one part, I wouldn't have been completely satisified with my tour. And, I was also relieved that we didn't encounter any "hostile enemy action!"

More pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/#/album.php?aid=2220653&id=59501140&ref=mf

Tom and Mike come to Korea

For those of you who don't know, my brother Tom and his best friend Mike have been visiting me in Gwangju for the last two weeks. It's been busy, and I hope they've enjoyed their time here. They have been keeping up with their journaling, so they probably remember everything we did better than I do! It's their last night tonight, they'll leave at 3:15 am tomorrow morning to go to the Gwangju bus terminal, then catch a bus to the Incheon Airport. We're taking it easy at home tonight, watching Dante's Peak and I'm thinking they'll probably lay down and rest pretty soon, even though it's only 6:45 pm.

Tom and Mike had some difficulty getting here. There was confusion with their airline carrier, and eventually found out from Pavlov the courrier at the MSP airport that it was Korea Air, not Delta. Due to the heavy storms in Seoul/Incheon (the most in 70 years!), they were delayed about 6 hours, and that pushed back their arrival time into Gwangju to about 2 am!

They were pretty jet lagged the first few days, but I made them get out and do things in hope that it would help reset their clocks. I think they saw all the main highlights Gwangju has to offer, and were semi-courageous when it came to trying foods out of their comfort level. We did lots of eating, I wanted to make sure they got to experience a variety of cusine.

Some of the fun sites in Gwangju we saw were the CGV Imax Theater (Avatar 3D!), Downtown, May 18 Park, Sangmu, Suwan MS, Lotte Mart, Shinsaegae, Keun Beol Elementary School for my EIC camp, the virtual roller coaster, and the insides of a few bars, cafes, and restaurant. Mike did get to meet his pen pal partner, YeoChan, but unfortunately Tom's partner was out of town in Seoul. We never made it to the Noraebang, PC bang, or DVD bang, but I guess there's always next time.

Here are the boys at one of our lunches out:



The highlight of our trip was our weekend in Seoul. We were there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Friday, we were downtown in the skyscraper district and looked at the stream running through the city. It was so pretty at night with the Christmas lights. We had a simple dinner of Kimbap and went back early to our hostel in Hongdae to rest for the early morning DMZ/JSA tour.

Sunday we saw Gyeongbukgung Palace (which I'd already seen in the fall with Alli) and Seoul Tower. Here we are at the palace:



We didn't actually go up in Seoul tower because we had a good view of the city from the base (it's on a mountan) and it was somewhat cloudy anyhow. In the afternoon, we met my friend Kenny from Gwangju in Itaewon, the foreigners district in Seoul. We spent some time at a bar, got Thai food which was amazing, and then had after dinner drinks. I had originally planned on leaving at 2 pm, but because we were out in Itaewon, we didn't get a bus back until 9:45 pm. The four of us crashed on the bus on the way back, and got back to Gwangju around 2 am!

Overall, we had a great time. I was worried that the boys would be bored in the morning when I was working at the EIC camps, but I think they were happy to have some rest time and watch Entourage. I got lots of wonderful presents/cards from my parents (thanks for the food!) and it is so nice to have some more clothes here! I'm not sending much back however because I think I'll wear most of the clothes again next season/year when I resign :) I'll worry about sending things home much later on.

Philippines Trip Day Seven/Eight

For the last day in the Philippines, we took a day trip to Tagaytay, south of Manila a ways. Tagaytay is known for having the worlds smallest volcano in the middle of a large lake. It was very scenic. Joe slept for most of the trip, suprise suprise, and majority of the time he slept, he was half in my seat!

We went to a park called "People's Park in the Sky." I wasn't dressed for the incredibly windy weather in my sundress, and had to hold it down the whole time. On the plus side, I did get a henna tatoo for $2 (a butterfly) and in the process, entertained many onlookers with my "whiteness." Kenny even took some pictures that day of all the Philippino men looking at me...

During the long drive back, I snapped some pictures of roadside fruit and garden stalls. The area is famous for buko, or coconut, pie, but instead we got mangos. I love all the bright colors.



Our last stop was the SM Mall of Asia. This mall is currently the third largest mall in Asia, even though it didn't look like it from the outside. We had dinner at a nice Filippino restaurant, and by this point I was very ready to get back to the fresh, healthy Korean food I'd been missing. I bought some English books and a few clothes. Though Korean clothes are cheap, Filippino clothes are some of the cheapest I've ever seen. I even had to buy a new bag to pack my clothing purchases in! At the end of the trip, the total amount of Won I spent ended up to be 130,000, majority of which was on clothes. We were very lucky to have Joe's family be such gracious hosts and cover 90% of our expenses.

I flew back the next morning (January 2) after an amazing, fun-filled week. Everthing was a fantasic experience, especially the weather. It was a well-deserved break from everything in Korea, but when I landed in Incheon, it felt great to be back!

Here's some more pictures from the last day:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=59501140#/album.php?aid=2219686&id=59501140

Philippines Trip Day Four

On the fourth day in the Philippines, I felt like a true tourist. We woke up early in Intramros, and walked together (with me flanked on all sides by my bodyguards- Edmark and Raymund, and Joe and Kenny) through the slummy part of Intramuros to the tourist area. Our first stop was Manila Cathedral. This is one of the main tourist attractions, yet I felt like the only tourist there!



After snapping a few pictures, we took a half hour horse tour ride around town. We got to see some old buildings and the wall. I couldn't hear much of what the tour guid was saying because I was in the back of the carriage, but that was okay.

Next, we toured Ft Santaigo where Jose Rizal (the national hero) was held captive before he was executed a long time ago. It was very pretty, but the weather was SO HOT. It almost made me long for Korea's weather!

After eating some Pork Sisig for lunch at a hole-in-the-wall-but-still-cute restaurant, we crashed for about 4 hours. I think the heat got to us all. We took a jeepney to Rizal park later on, where we took a few pictures, but the highlight was Ocean Park Aquarium at the west end of the park.

I haven't been to many aquariums that I remember, but this was awesome! I petted a starfish, which actually didn't feel like anything special. There were tons of fish I'd never seen before. There were lots of sharks, sting rays, and there was even a tunnel you could walk though. It was like "Finding Nemo" but in person. Little did I know, I'd be going snorkeling in the ocean and the aquarium wouldn't have anything on that!



I thought our day was over after the aquaruim, but suprise, suprise, it wasn't. We didn't get the memo that we were supposed to pick up Cora, Joe's mom, from San Juan at 6 pm in order to go visit Joe's dad's side of the family in Quezon City. It was already 8pm by the time we left Ocean Park. We got back into the Mitusubishi, drove to San Juan to get Cora, then spent another hour in the car to go to Quezon City. Kenny and I tried to be in good spirtits to meet another 20 odd family members, but we were pretty tired. We'd already eaten at the Pancake House in Ocean Park, and had to eat some more, so as not to be rude, with the family. It was after midnight by the time we got back! Another night without a lot of sleep!

Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2219385&id=59501140&saved#/album.php?aid=2219215&id=59501140

Philippines Trip Day One

My trip to Manila with my friend Joe from Incheon was amazing! I didn't have any specific plans for when we were there, I just knew I wanted to sightsee and make it to the beach. I had no idea how much I'd get to do in just one week. His family was also amazing! We got on fabulously and had lots of fun together. They spoiled us for the week with a free place to stay, free food, and drove us all over the city and on our day trips. I really felt like part of the family.

We started off our trip nice and early, waking up in Joe's semi-dirty/lived in studio apartment in Incheon on the floor (he broke his bed somehow) at 5:30 am. We needed to grab a taxi by 6 to drive over the 7.6 mile newly constructed Incheon Bridge to the airport (total cost- 40,000 won!). When we got to the airport, we were not sitting next to each other, but by the time we got to the gate, we were seated next to each other- in business class, might I add! We got bumped up for free, I'm assuming because they thought we were on our honeymoon! It was a much welcomed suprise, and after we had breakfast, we slept the rest of the way.



Upon arrival, we were greeted by some members of Joe's family, including his mother's sister, Tita Oma, and her husband, Uncle Eddie. They drove us to the historical part of town, called Intramuros. This part of town in basically in the center of town, close to lots of action. It is quite charming because of the old city wall. Unfortunately, the Spanish vibe faded quickly by where we were staying into more of a slummy area. His familiy was great enough to put us up for free in one of their properties. It was a restaurant, laundrymat, and internet cafe rolled into one, run by some members of the family. I'd later find out how important (and large!) Catholic Filippino families can be!

Here's our place in Intramuros:


We then drove to San Juan in Manila, where Tita Oma and Uncle Eddie lived. At first, I thought they were lower-middle class, but then realized it was just normal housing. They are living a comfortable life style close by other family in a 3 story house with a rooftop garden and excellent view of the city. We were there just a sunrise and were able to get some good pictures. The neighborhood itself was filled with people, noise, and cars. I'm not sure how I'd get any sleep staying in that area, so it was lucky they had space for us at Intramuros.

View from the rooftop garden:


By that point, we were hungry, so we jumped in the family Mitsubishi and went to Esplanade right along Manila Bay. This area was at least a mile and a half of boardwalk, restaurants, cafe's, and shop right along the bay. At night, it was very pretty. For dinner, Tita Oma went to a seafood market and bought some squid and shimp. Then, our restaurant prepared it for us and we had a nice, late dinner. I enjoyed watching the thousands of people and the hustle and bustle of the crowd. At the end of dinner, Joe and I were exhausted, so as soon as we got to Intramuros and unpacked, we fell asleep quickly on some matresses despite the humidity from the day and the hanging laundry drying in the same room.

Family Pic looking exhausted and sweaty, but having fun!


Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2219385&id=59501140&saved#/album.php?aid=2219187&id=59501140