Nearly a year after my Dad visited me in Spain and asked me the question "Why would you ever leave Spain?" he made the trek to Korea to visit me in Seoul. Because of some unfortunate bad luck I
think he still feels that way.
After the long flight from San
Francisco he arrived in Seoul late Thursday. We had a good Galbi
barbeque dinner near my school before calling it a night. We had
tickets reserved for 7 AM the following morning to tour the DMZ and
JSA. This was the only day that we were going to be able to make the
tour so that is why we went so soon after his arrival.
The DMZ was quite interesting and I
think we both enjoyed it quite a lot. There was a lot of waiting on
our tour but seeing the North Korean guards facing down the South
Korean guards and stepping into a room that is technically in North
Korea is an experience worth the wait. The rest of the tour was
interesting too but not nearly as much as actually being so close the
the North and seeing the guards. The rest of the trip consisted of a
huge tunnel that was dug by the North Koreans years ago and a train
station that connects the North and South. The entire tour made it
very clear just how much posturing and propaganda is going on and how
little any real danger anyone is in. One example we were given was
that the flag pole that is up on either side of the DMZ caused a lot
of trouble and there was an 11 hour meeting about which side was
going to have a taller flagpole. Eventually it was agreed that the
North Koreans could have the taller flagpole. It is the tallest
flagpole in the world and holds up a 600+ pound flag. You can see it
through the fog in my pictures below.
The rest of the weekend went very well
too. We had a great time in Seoul visiting places like North Seoul
Tower and traditional markets. North Seoul tower overlooks the city
and really gives you a view of just how massive in size and
population the city is. From the top of the mountain you see a never
ending sprawl of high-rises.
We had some very good meals including
an absurdly expensive Hanjeongsik. Hanjeongsik is
a huge traditional Korean meal that came with about 20 courses
including meats, fish, seafood, many vegetables and even raw beef and
raw crab.
The
next morning (Monday) is when things turned for the worse. My dad
had been sitting next to someone who was sick on the flight over and
by Monday he felt like he had the flu. To make a long story short,
he ended up getting very sick with flu, asthma and pneumonia. After
many visits the the Korean doctors and hospitals he had to call the
visit short and head home.
We had
a great time for the first weekend so everyone was disappointed that
he got sick but these kinds of things happen when traveling and I am
just glad that he is healthy now. Enjoy the pictures and I will try
to not wait 6 months before my next update.
