LARA IN KOREA!: februari 2012

dinsdag 21 februari 2012

DMZ

Some days ago I went on a trip to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). ISF (International Student Foundation)was inviting five students to an exclusive tour, just for the prize of 10 000 Won (about 7€). Hugo, Umer and I were thinking this is an excellent opportunity to pay a visit to the DMZ. On that day we were guided by a Korean woman called Jie-Young and Mr. Choi.

The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Hangul: 한반도 비무장지대; Hanja: 韓半島非武裝地帶) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea which runs along the 38th parallel north. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it. It is 250 kilometres (160 miles) long,^[1]approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) wide and is the most heavily militarized border in the world.^[2]^[3] The Northern Limit Line, or NLL, is the de facto maritime boundary between North and South Korea in the Yellow Sea and the coastline and islands on both sides of the NLL are also heavily militarized.^[4](Zie Wikipedia!)

So our day started at our campus.We went by subway to 대화 (Dewha Station). After a long one and a half hour subway ride we finally reached. Mr. Choi was waiting for us to pick us up with his car. We were quite close to the DMZ now. Mr. Choi drove us into the well guarded DMZ. Inside this zone we visited this'Unification Village'. Streets were very desolate. We couldn't see any person walking outside. But the Korean flag was waving in front of almost every house. The name of the village implicitly shows the strong wish of many South-Koreans to be one day finally unified with their Northern compatriots. Although there was not a lot to see in this village. It felt strange. Maybe just the fact that there was nothing and nobody to see, made it all strange. The guide told us that people are really living in this bufferzone. To me it looked like a ghost town.

After visiting this empty village Mr. Choi took us to Dorasan station. We had some troubles to enter, because we were individual visitors (read not going with some payed tour). But Mr. Choi had good connections and after some negotiaions we were able to enter with the car. Dorasan Station is a railroad station situated on the Gyeongui Line, which once connected North and South Korea. For several years Dorasan Station was the last or most northern stop, before entering North-Korea. The station was really used until the North-Korean government closed the border crossing, after accusing South-Korea of some bad things. Plans to start a regular service for bringing travellers into North-Korea have been made, but apparently not yet finalized... As there were only tourists and no real travellers. The luggage checkpoint was empty, nobody was sitting in the waiting hall. Maybe one day they station will regain its original use. Who knows... Do you think North- and South-Korea will ever unify? Many people here think this is just an utopia, a never-going-to-happen something.

In the station they gave us a 'fake' train ticket to North-Korea, for the train that would never come. The station was empty, so were the railway tracks. It felt weird to know that on the other side you can find world's most isolated country.

After our visit to Dorasan station we had lunch at a local place. A lot of homemade kimchi, but the taste of the food was kind of bland. Kimchi will never be my favourite kind of food, I guess.

Next on our things to visit list was Mr. Choi's farm, which is located in the DMZ. He showed us around on his farm were he cultivated blueberries, pears and mushrooms. To him this is just a weekend farm, he doesn't stay there normally. His little chalet was cute but not the best place to stay when it's freezing -17°C. We ate homemade kimchi and some ramyon (Korean style ramen). He also gave us own brewed mulberry alcohol. Very delicious... and tastes like porto to me. :)

Our last thing on the to do list was Imjingak Park. This park has many statues and monuments regarding the Korean war. This park is home to monuments such as an ugly pool in the shape of Korea, a train (a leftover from the war) perforated by many bullets, and also the 'Bridge of Freedom' which is merely an access bridge to the main span that allowed the 1 way south bound traffic to pass by while northbound traffic stood waiting its turn to cross.

We were dropped of by the same station we started our day. DMZ... not the most interesting place in Korea, as there is not a lot to see. But maybe just because of that, it's surely worth a visit. ;) To feel how empty this zone is, to feel how close North-Korea is without being able to ever enter this neighbouring country.

Haha, that lady in the middle sleeping all the way!

Mr. Choi driving us around

DMZ

We've entered the DMZ

Unification Village= empty!

Some farms in the DMZ

"Not the last station from the South. But the first station towards the North."
Or an implicite wish for unification

Inside Dorasan Station

I've found my strong and brave Korean man! ;)

A ticket for a train that never seems to come...

Even Mr. Bush came here. I wonder if he knows whether he's in the North or the South...

Emptyness for sale

me waving my ticket trying to catch a train :)

nobody's waiting for a train to come

JSA, but we couldn't enter there

Kimchi pots

Lunch

On the way to Mr. Choi's farm

blueberry trees

many eagles

cutting his homemade kimchi

a left over from the war, a wagon perforated by thousands of bullets

bridge of freedom

people who long for unification day

view on Bridge of Freedom

On our way back

vrijdag 17 februari 2012

FASHION IN KOREA?!

PLASTIC SURGERY

Let's talk about one striking thing which Koreans (at least people in Seoul) are quite known for... PLASTIC SURGERY! As I've mentioned before advertisement for plastic surgery is very common in Seoul streetscapes. In the subway you can see many big billboards advertising extreme make-overs done by skillful surgeons. I've heard, but don't know if it's true, that almost everybody on TV has two jobs: one on TV and one on their nose. The daily encounters with these perfect media people (who almost all seem to have had something "done on their face", is one of the main reasons why we could say that Korea's beauty ideal is op z'n minst a little bit distorted. To pump up one's selfesteem or to raise one's chances for better job opportunities I've also heard it's really not so abnormal to have an eyelid correction or a nosejob (to make the nose more straight and higher). These plastic surgery operations are mostly done with the purpose to look more beautiful and more caucasion in an Asian way.

More about plastic surgery in Korea and Asia (videos):

Plastic Surgery Booming in S. Korea

Asian plastic surgery on CNN

Wonder Girls - Be My Baby (music video)

Above mentioned music video is a song performed by the ultra popular KPOP (Korean pop) girls band 'Wonder Girls'. It's also the tune I wake up with every morning as my roommate made it her super loud wake up alarm tune! :@ Wondering how many Wonder Girls have undergone plastic surgery... :D

A (famous) Korean comedian Cho Woo Yong releasing his before and after photos after undergoing plastic surgery

Advertisement in the Subway in Seoul

SHOPAHOLICS: SHOP TILL YOU DROP!

Some time ago I went shopping for winter clothes. Seoul people are known for their sense of fashion. And it's true I have never seen so many shops in my whole life. In this 10million inhabitants counting metropole three things you will probably never miss: coffee, food and clothes! So a perfect day in Seoul would be... Start with a nice coffee in one of the many coffeeshops, after that continue your lazy day and stroll along the bustling shopping areas for a whole day, meanwhile also visiting some historical interesting sites and finally end with a nice dinner somewhere (where exactly?! as Seoul is quite big you have multiple options: plenty of choice! ;))

Shoe shopping in Seoul (bron: smh.com.au)

DE BRILLENTREND / GLASSES WITHOUT GLASSES

Something else very fashionable in Seoul: glasses without glasses (besides the already strange trend of fake glasses!). As if it isn't bad enough people with perfect eyesights are pretending to wear glasses! I was very surprised when I saw a girl next to me in the coffeeshop wearing glasses without glasses. I've heard it's a trend in whole Asia... The reason for this weird trend -I've read somewhere- would be that Asian people have small eyes... so by wearing glasses (preferly with a big black frame, or an oversized nerdy design)they try to compensate for this... People who need to wear glasses are trying everything to not have to wear them because they think it looks ugly, while more fortunate people with perfect eyesights on the contrary want to wear glasses without glasses... What a strange world we're living in! B)

If you want to get an idea of how South-Korea looks and feels like, you can see this next short video made by David Dutton (a little bit romantic though, especially as it is filmed in slow motion! ;)):

DO YOU KNOW SOUTH KOREA? (vimeo filmpje)

MEANWHILE IN SEOUL

While toes are freezing off in Europe, we are having a quite mild winter in Seoul. It was -17 degrees for only about a week. I was afraid of those harsh winters Koreans are always complaining about. But to be honest whether it's -17 or -5, it doesn't matter a lot: it's just cold. In both cases you need a good hat, some gloves and a warm scarf... that's it. Normal winter temperatures vary from -10 to +7°C, not so much difference compared to Belgium winters actually. This winter snow didn't fall as much as previous years. I guess our earth is really confused or totally f* up. Snow in Italy, superfrost in Europe... Hot in Canada. "What's going on?!", Marvin Gaye would ask himself... Is it true what they say about the year 2012?!

I think spring is about to come. I'm looking forward to have warmer weather, seeing cherry blossoms, meeting my Belgian visitors soon (I hope they'll bring a lot of delicous things... like chocolate and cheese! ;))

Meanwhile... I've finished another ten weeks term of Korean language course. I succesfully made it to the next level: 3급! And I've also passed topik test level 2. For now, I'm enjoying my well deserved three weeks holidays. After these three weeks I'll have ten weeks of intensive language training again.

Next Tuesday I'm off to Jeju, my Korean Hawaii. Can't wait to be there!!!

So long,

Jullie Koreaantje Lara