Spring in Seoul

On Saturday, April 4th, we woke up at 4:30am for a 5:00am pick-up for our flight from Bali to Seoul. We were staying in three different hotel rooms, so when we met up in the lobby, we found out that both Hannah and Olivia had gotten sick overnight. Hence began the hardest travel day of our trip. Poor Olivia was quite sick for a few days which means the travel day which consisted of early rising, a 5+ hour flight, an almost 4 hr layover in Hong Kong, a 4+ hour flight and then a 1 hr drive to the rental apartment, was extremely difficult. Hannah was not as sick but definitely not feeling 100%. We were all glad to hit the beds that night!

On Sunday we took it easy since we were so worn out from our travel day. Luisa and I ventured out in the late morning and were thrilled to realise we were staying right next to shopping center with a wonderful grocery store and several little cafes and restaurants. City living is great for convenience!

Then in the afternoon, Hannah, Charlotte, Luisa and I went out to explore while Olivia recuperated and Steffen helped her. We took the bus over to N Seoul Tower and then took a walk through Namsan park. The bus was very easy to figure out, though the traffic in Seoul is terrible! Not chaotic but a lot of it. I’m still amazed at how little traffic there was in Tokyo…. We spotted these traffic signals in the street that I had heard about online. What I had heard was they placed them there so that people would notice the signal change while looking at their phones, but when we saw them in action at night, it was clear how much safer they are. We enjoyed wandering the streets a bit and taking everything in.

We went with the bus to the top of the hill where the tower starts. We were so happy to see so many cherry blossoms still blooming. That didn’t really occur to me when we made plans to come here so it was a very happy surprise! And there are mountains surrounding Seoul! I had no idea. (Can you tell that Seoul was a last minute addition to our itinerary? I didn’t do very much research.)

From there we walked down through the gorgeous forest of cherry blossoms. The photos do not do it justice!

The next day we had a small belated Easter celebration with these adorable baskets that Olivia crafted filled with a few goodies Charlotte and I found in the Hong Kong airport during our layover. A group effort!

Since Olivia still wasn’t feeling well so she and Steffen stayed home another day, while the rest of us went and explored more. Our first stop was Gyeongbokgung Palace where we wandered the grounds, admired the beautiful hanboks that many tourists and locals wear to visit the palace, and caught a few more cherry blossom trees blooming.

From there we walked over to The National Folk Museum of Korea where there were a few very interesting exhibits. One was the “Streets of Memories” which recreates what the streets and alleys of a typical neighborhood in Seoul may have looked like during the 1970s and 1980s. The next was “Korean Life Passages” which displayed important life events from the Joseon Dynasty to the early 20th century (1392-1910). It was very interesting! At the end we had a few moments to check out “Congratulations”, which shows those shared moments surrounding birth. It was beautiful.

Then we just wandered for a while. A few things we noticed: they had speakers on the street playing the new BTS album which was fun. Also, there was an exhibit on the street about the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25 1950. And we stumbled upon a cathedral amongst the temples. A lovely afternoon exploring, though we were sad that Olivia was still sick. She felt good enough to venture out to dinner that evening, which was great, since we had a big day planned for the next day.

On Tuesday, April 7th we set off on a very informative and moving tour of the DMZ, the Korean Demilitarized Zone, where we learned about the conflict between North and South Korea. We had a 4:30am wake up call because it is about an hour drive to the DMZ and tickets to enter are on a first-come, first-serve basis. While the wake-up was rough, it was worth it since we were the second to last bus to get tickets that day. Every tour follows a pretty formulaic route and it is quite clear that they are anti-North Korea, but it was still very interesting and well-worth a visit. We started out in Imjingak, a place where all the tour buses gather just outside the Military Demarcation Line, with many monuments and exhibits related to the Korean War. It was there that we got a chance to listen to the story of a defector who escaped North Korea 10 years ago. That was perhaps the most impactful part of the tour. Her words will stay with all of us.

From there we drove to the 3rd Invasion Tunnel, a hidden passage once built for a surprise attack by North Korea. We were able to walk to the blockade, about 170 meters from North Korea. We were not allowed to take any photos inside the tunnel, but did snap a few outside. There was also a video presentation (that felt a bit like propaganda, to be honest) and a small museum explaining more about the tunnels the North Koreans have built after the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement. It’s all quite complicated and ultimately devastating for the families that have been impacted on both sides and the country that would like to be one again.

From there we went to our last stop, the Dora Observatory to look at the North Korean territory. Again, no photos allowed (and they took that seriously!), so just this shot of the beautiful blooming trees (with South Korea in the background). We spent awhile sitting there, looking out and trying to imagine what life is like on the other side, what kind of terrors happened in the zone we were currently in and looking out into, and how humans can do such things to other humans. It was during this time that Artemis II was flying around the moon, a new (old, renewed) war was (is) wagging in the Middle East and the US continues to wield its power in inhumane and destructive ways. It’s all a lot to take in sometimes, so much beauty and hope and so much terror and suffering. So much to be thankful for and so much to be scared of. But one of the reasons for taking this trip is to learn and then use that learning to inform our actions as citizens of the world. And learning about North Korea is an important step in our growth.