Korea, Days 2 & 3: Seoul (finally ;)

We arrived in Seoul on the 22nd, but didn't get much of a look around because we arrived quite late. We stayed in a hostel close to the main shopping district, which has malls that are open until 5am!! There are also street vendors everywhere selling everything from fruit to socks to electronics.

On the 23rd we went to Gyeongbokgung, the old imperial palace:

"Where are we?"

In the evening, we decided to take in some [touristy] culture and spent the evening watching a whole bunch of traditional Korean arts combined into one show (I imagine it's the Korean equivalent to "Gion Corner" in Kyoto, though I've never been). We saw lots of singing, traditional theatre, dance, and some really amazing drumming; the best part was about 10 women in a row, wearing beautiful hanbok,* doing sychronized drumming while doing lots of dance-type moves.

*traditional dress of Korea

Photos were not allowed during the performance, but all the performers went outside for a little dance with the audience afterwards:

Here we are with some of the drummers (hmm, can you tell that we live in Japan??)

Korea's soccer team was going to be playing Switzerland early the next morning (4am) and so by about 8pm the streets of downtown Seoul were starting to fill with vendors and red-clad fans. It reminded me a bit of Canada day, since everyone was wearing red and white and out roaming the streets in hoards. And though I'm not a soccer fan, the atmosphere in the streets was amazing. There was lots of music and noise and there were big screens set up everywhere getting ready to show the match. We called it a night several hours before it started since we had to be up for our DMZ tour the next day, but we met loads of fun people beforehand!

This guy was modelling sit-upon cushions that were for sale.

You can sort of see a temporary tattoo of the korean flag on my arm in this shot. We were literally attacked by guys with temp-tattoos and spray bottles of water to apply them! I think Angie may have been most traumatized by this as they did both her arms at once!

Becky, on the other hand, became fast friends with the tattooers:

Found this sign in the subway. "Bringing Canadian Education to the world!" hmm.

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The next day we got up early for our tour of South and North Korea's Demilitarized Zone and the "3rd tunnel" (so called simply because it was the 3rd of 4 tunnels which were discovered leading from the north to the south beneath the demilitarized zone).

At the 3rd tunnel (we weren't supposed to take anything, including cameras, into the tunnel, so we have no pictures of the inside)

Memorial near the Bridge of No Return

The fence at the middle of the bridge, covered with letters and wishes for peace from South Koreans. The Bridge of No Return was used for prisoner exchanges after the Korean war; prisoners on either side could decide whether to stay or to return.

The Joint Security Area :

The waiver we had to sign before entering. (click to make it bigger)

Inside one of the South Korean Buildings. The black speakers on the table mark the border between North and South.

Standing on the North Korean side of the building.

Looking over to North Korea

For more information [courtesy of wikipedia] about the DMZ, and the ongoing conflict between North and South Korea, click here.

Angie and our vegetarian bibimbap lunch (just like at parties in Japan, we had a segregated "vegetarian table" all to ourselves...)

After our tour we went out to do some shopping and then check out Seoul's nightlife, and our last day was spent travelling back to Pusan to catch the ferry back to Japan.

Mmm, cheap fruit! :)

Street shopping