I visited the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) a few months ago. This is the border between North and South Korea. It’s a few kilometres across and is one of the most heavily guarded borders in the world. The US army run tours there every day.
Although the fighting ended in 1953, North & South Korea are still at war and an uneasy ceasefire exists.
It’s an eerie place. We visited the train station that is deserted because no-one catches trains to the north. You can hear the propaganda being broadcast from the north at the south. A strange voice coming at you from a speaker in the distance.
There is also a fragment of the Berlin Wall, given by Germany as a gift to South Korea. One day the hope is that the DMZ will no longer be needed and it will be possible to catch a train from Seoul to London via the TranSiberian Railway. That’s a trip I’d quite fancy.
One of the many relics from the war …
Every so often, the south broadcasts propaganda at the north. This upsets them quite a bit so the north then fires rockets at the speakers. Tensions rise. The last time this happened, the two sides eventually agreed to sit down together to try to find a solution. Guess what? After 48 hours they finally came up with the idea that if the south stopped broadcasting messages, the north would stop firing missiles. You have to keep up appearances.
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I’m still walking in the hills of course. This was a particularly memorable day on a particularly memorable bit of rock.
After a walk, there’s nothing better than a measuring jug full of beer.
You have to admire the sense of humour of these folk …
I’ve walked a lot since I got here. Mostly on Buchansan, the mountain range just north of Seoul. It only takes an hour or so to get to. It also has a path circling the whole perimeter; again, well signposted. This is called the Dulegil and it attracts large numbers of folk who fancy a stroll. There is a map which splits it into 21 sections. I’ve had my eye on doing the whole thing for a while … it’s 40 miles and goes up and down the whole way. I finally went for it in September. It took me 18 hours and I felt a wee bit tired at the end of it. I also heard what I think was a wild boar in the bushes at about 10pm - there are warning signs everywhere. I was so busy peering into the bushes with my torch, I forgot to look where I was going and ended up going face first over a rock. No harm done luckily, and no face-to-face encounters with an angry boar.
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You can get chimaek anywhere. This is a combination of chicken and maekju (beer). You can have the chicken in a range of different spicy coatings but I have only come across this one once.
It had been put through a blast furnace and the people eating it were perfectly happy with that.
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As in Vietnam, you’re a year older here. Everyone is considered to be a year old when they’re born and everyone goes up a year at new year. This means that a child born in December is already one year old and then will be two years old in January even though they’re actually just one month. Confusing.
Basically, counting starts at conception. This explains this ‘birthday card’ for 100 days, as that’s about 1 year.
It takes a while to piece everything together in a new country!
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I had to visit the dentist recently. I was a bit concerned about the language barrier - I might go in for a filling and end up with root canal treatment. I needn’t have worried - the dentist spoke good English and did a great, albeit expensive, job. I was tickled to see this plaque (‘scuse the pun) on the wall.
Unfortunately, they don't give away bars of dairy milk for every tooth taken out. I'd gladly sacrifice a few more teeth for free bars of chocolate.
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The pound has now plummeted against the won falling from 1700 to about 1400 because of that reason. I don't suppose they had me in mind but just maybe, in the corridors of power, the Brexiteers were heard to mention 'Let's make sure Graham gets more pounds to his won’.
Working out what something costs in pounds is a little tricky if you work in 1400s so I think of 1,000 won as a dollar, and then multiply by three quarters. It gets close.
Talking of won, here are some of the coins and notes. The 10,000 won note has a picture of King Sejong the Great on it. He's credited with many achievements - not least, creating Hangul, the Korean script. The chap on the 1,000 won note is Yi Hwang, who was a prominent Confucian scholar.
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I’m still happy living in my flat. I have since discovered it’s in an area called Gyeongnidan. This translates as 'Armed Forces Financial Management Corps'. An attractive name for an area. The name doesn't appear on maps but the taxi drivers know it well and it gets me home.
However, I could live here I suppose but given the address, I think I’ll give it a miss.
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They’re creative here. This is what you can do with fruit and veg if you know how …
They put on a good carnival too.
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Food photo of the month
Grilled mackerel with all the trimmings (my favourite)
I often have this at a restaurant in the basement of the building I work in. They’re getting used to me - as soon as they see me they say (in Korean) ‘Grilled mackerel?’ I say ‘Yes’ and it pops onto my table a few minutes later.
