Today we left Seoul to start our Japanese adventure. We took the KTX from Seoul to Busan, and then the ferry from Busan to Fukouka. Normally the ferry takes 12 hours but we got our tickets for the jet boat (it’s name is Beetle). The beetle is clearly faster than other boats and we were frequently passing them like if it was a race. The boat is surprisingly stable and this has been my first boat experience without getting seasick.
The japanese railpass and the korean-japan pass. The boat is the beetle, a very fast hydrofoil.
Once in Fukouka, we pass customs (Japanese customs are very exhaustive, you need to give them the fingertips and they take a picture your face) and we went directly to the train station. Once there, we got the Japanese Railpass. This special ticket works the same way as the Eurorail, meaning you can get as many trains as you want during a time period. Unlike the Eurorail you can use the JP Railpass on the bullet trains which in Japan are called Shinkanshen. Actually I’m writing this text on the Shinkanshen on our way to Kyoto, 12 hours after leaving home from Seoul.
Shinkansen train entering in the station.
Between the AVE,the KTX and the Shinkanshen I’m starting to get used to bullet trains and I don’t know what I will do when I take a normal train!
We arrived in Kyoto very late and everything was closed. We tried to find a place to sleep but the hostels were closed or full so at the end we got a room in a Hotel (almost breaking the budget of the entire trip but we are too tired to sleep on the street and hey, this is my first time in Japan!)
One good thing about hotels is that they have free internet access and here I am, blogging almost on real time for the first time ever!.
UPDATE 3/8:The video was not linked correctly, but now is fixed.
In the second week of July we had been two days in North Korea hiking Mount Kungang. It was not a real adventure. You can’t visit North Korea on your own, you must always go there with a tourist group and people related to the government always looking over your shoulder. That way they can control what you are doing and where you are and they can be sure that you don’t do anything inappropriate like speaking with normal people.
North Korea regime is the last communist state, widely totalitarian and considered to be a dictatorship where the main actor is Kim Il-sung, the country’s former leader. The current leader is Kim Jong-il, the late president Kim Il-sung’s son. The two of them are constantly present in huge mosaics all around the country. All the north Korean population wear a pin with the picture of the leader over the North Korea Flag.
This video was produced to remember the trip
When we crossed the South Korean border we entered in another world. There were North Korean soldiers standing perfectly silent every 500 meters. Soldier’s uniforms seems old, similar to the Russian uniform we are used to seeing in the cold-war era movies. North Korea has the fourth largest army in the world because close to 70% of the population can be called to arms if it is necessary.
North Korea is a natural paradise, when we enter the country we were shocked because it is very beautiful. Part of the charm is that there is no industry. At least in the area we visited, we could only see huge rice fields and small villages. Most of the villages didn’t have medium size familiar houses but only huge grey buildings. I suppose entire families are living under the same roof. We saw people working in the fields, normally by hand, sometimes with the help of animals. We only saw one tractor.
The area were we where residing is called 금강산 which is the tourist resort section in North Korea managed by Hyundai. In Spain we only know Hyundai motors but in reality it is a huge South Korean corporation (although recently it was divided in small pieces). The Mount Kumgang resort is the centerpiece of South Korean efforts to engage and invest in the North as a strategy to reduce hostilities along the world’s most militarized border. Hyundai’s founder is a North Korean and he has always been an important figure regarding the reunification of the countries. Indeed, the last day we were there, it was reunification day and there was a huge meeting in the resort celebrating the anniversary of the first reunification encounter after the Korean War.
Of course the most interesting views are when you leave the resort and are taken by bus to the nearby natural attractions. It’s supposed to be a clear area but you are not allowed to take pictures anyway. It’s easy know why taking into consideration we saw several tanks and rocket launchers in several close hills.
As I mention before every 500 meters or so there is an army member standing and controlling the area. I don’t know if this happens only in the closest areas to the resort or in the entire country. It seems that they are there to prevent the foreigners to go to restricted areas and to prevent the North Korean people to enter the resort. It may also be that the entire country is divided in small cells and every day one different civilian wears the military suit. That day he is responsible for controlling the people in the area and that can be the general idea, everybody is controlled by their own neighbors.
Returning to our trip, we hiked a beautiful mountain named mount Kumgang that is considered one of the most beautiful of the entire Korea. It was scary, especially close to the end. But it was amazing to see the old Korean women suffering a lot while climbing to the top. they had incredible strength and very strong will. In a very scary point I wanted to quit (I suffer vertigo) but when I saw a bunch of 50 year old women passing me, I realized that if they could do it, I must be able to do it too.
The next day we were exhausted and we went for a walk to the sea and the lake. It was a beautiful walk and we had the opportunity to speak with North Korean people. Most of them were creepy but some of them were really friendly and interested in our culture. I’m pretty sure none of them know where Spain is but all of them were smiling friendly anyway.
It was a very interesting trip in a very interesting country. Next stop, Japan!
We visited Taiwan on the first week on June. It has been our first trip out of Korea, only two hours and a half flight from Seoul. When we arrived there we discovered a wonderful city; Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan, cozy and small city for the Asian standards. Only 4 million people living in a city surrounded by the mountains.
Video produced to remember the trip, it’s pretty cool. I promise you will not be bored
Taiwan nowadays is an important business center in Asia. This is a very international city and there are lots of Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese and Korean people working here. The city is foreigner friendly; all the signs are in Mandarin and English and the people speak pretty good English, actually a lot better than in Seoul.
Taiwan is a very interesting economic case study. The country has experienced dramatical changes in the last decades, jumping from undeveloped country status to the main manufacturer of computers and semiconductors in the world. 40 years ago there were only communist fields all around the country and a very small and dirty capital city. When they declare independence from China, the government decided to start a national effort to modernize the country.
They studied the different options and they foreseen that the faster growing industry was going to be the semiconductor one. They clearly chose the correct one because the result is an extremely fast moving, technological society where everything is designed to be efficient.
The subway system is a good example. They show proudly that it has been considered the most reliable subway in the world in the last three years and it really seems like it is. The trains stop exactly where they should and comes exactly on time, everything is in Chinese and English, the stations are extremely well designed and are very spacious to allow huge chunks of people to move easily.
The country is technological but the Taiwanese society don’t forget their past. There are still small temples all around the city. One of the most famous is the Longshan Temple, interesting because several religions (Confucianism, buddist) are living together there.
The architectonic symbol of the city is the Taipei 101 tower, currently the tallest building until the huge tower in construction in Dubai is finished. The tower has an observatory at 440 meters above the city, but it highest point is at 510 meters. It’s very elegant because it was designed to mimic bamboo appearance and it’s constructed according to the Zen principles. Actually they needed to make several Zen changes to the original plan to blend the tower better with the city and to not disrupt the energy flowing through the city. Is an incredible experience to visit the observatory, using the fastest elevator in the world and see the damper that prevents the building to correct their position reacting against the wind.
We devoted one of the days to go to the interior of the country, only an hour to the south to the famous hot springs of Wulai. This is a place where there are still aborigines living and my first time in a rain forest.
I really love this country. You can be living in one of the main megacities of the world and go for breakfast to the beach, have lunch close to the sky in the Taipei 101 tower and have dinner in the rainforest.
Everything is on hand. Cheap. And with very friendly people. I love this place!
The second long weekend of May we visited Donghae, a really small town for Korean standards (Only 100 thousand population) . It’s located in the east side of Korea, around 4 hours and a half from Seoul by bus. Instead of using the bus we choose to come here using the train because we already had the tickets. On the train, we enjoy the company of authentic Koreans and we were 7 hours surrounded by drunk people and kimchi.
We arrived at Donghae in the night and after a cab ride we arrived at Patrick’s home. Patrick and us were swapping our apartment that week (our first experience as hosts in Couchsurfing) so Patrick was in our appartment in Seoul while we were at his in Donghae. The next morning we visited Donguae’s caves. The caves are in the middle of the city, close to Dongae’s downtown and were discovered in 1991!!.
In the afternoon we went to the beach, we rented an ATV and were playing in the beach with it. It was cool although we has problems because we didn’t know how to start the engine after it stopped!. After coming home we went out for beers.
The next morning we were supposed to go to Ulleungdo Island far to the east (eastest point in Korea), a place that is supposed to be really interesting nature wise. We called the tourism information center and they told us that the ferry leaves the port at 10am, but when we arrived there, we discovered that the ferry had left at 8am because it was Sunday. This is an example of how Koreans treat foreigners, you need to have lots of patience with them sometimes.
Instead we went to the Mureung Valley, a mountain that was declared the main attraction of Korea in 1977 (and it was also declared the second one the same year, another example of the wierdiness of Korean people) and we were hiking in the forest for a few hours. Hiking seems to be the main physical sport here and there were lots and lots of medium age and old koreans wearing professional clothes. We reached a fall after 2km of hiking and visiting temples in the valley and then returned, not before chilling out for an hour in the big stone that served as bed for the valley.
Jumping in the Mureung Valley
David the explorer
After this trip, we have already visited the east, west and south of Korea so we only left North Korea.
We will be there soon!
Unlike Japan, there are lots of young people and there are lots of kids
They drink a lot. Maybe too much.
As they drink a lot, Soju is the best selling spirit drink worldwide. And it is only sold in South Korea!
They like dating a lot. There is no Korean without a girlfriend.
As there is no Korean without a girlfriend, they don’t need to spend a lot of time buying clothes. Couples dress in the same clothes, some times matching, most of the time identical.
It is normal for friends to be holding hands. Even the same sex.
Koreans like to use the last tech they can afford. They are not shy about last-gen gadgets (videogames, cellphones or pmps) and they like to see movies and soap dramas on the subway.
Korean food is tasty and spicy. Very strange for my western Europa taste. They eat silk worms from street vendors and I don’t like them (I only know one Korean guy who likes them)
You can’t buy whatever you want in a restaurant, no dog meat in a Korean BBQ restaurant
Karaoke is a normal friend activity.
If you are Korean you like to protest publically.
Koreans wear T-shirts with English sentences they clearly don’t understand.
Renting a room in a store to see a movie with your partner and having sex there is perfectly normal and expected.
Koreans like to buy lots and lots of shoes.
Korean girls are skinny and they spend half their wage in make up. Maybe the other half on shoes.
Korean boys are skinny and they spend half their wage in presents for their girlfriends. Maybe shoes.
Unlike the rest of the world, it may be cheaper to get a cab than the subway. Seoul subway is very dense but slow, maximum velocity in busy areas must be 40km/hour.
