My Korean Odyssey

DMZ Muster Point A visit to the DMZ is perhaps a respectful necessity rather than a reflective and informative lesson in ongoing world history. I expected it to have more of a tourist than geo-political feel about it and that turned out to be the case. That said, it was worthwhile and our tour guide, as I understand with nearly everyone in Korea, was able to bring personal family experience to her narratives.  Although our pickup time was advanced from 1030 to 0640, we saw this as creating more time later in the day. Pickup went off without a problem and we joined an international group of other tourists for a 90 minute transfer to the edge of the Civilian Controlled Area. The DMZ is divided roughly along the 38th parallel by the Military Demarcation Line, with Northern and Southern Limit Lines either side of the MDL marking the northern and southern boundaries respectively. The United Nations controls the CCA. About 500 South Koreans live mostly as farmers between the MDL and SLL,...

Sunday's focus was meeting Manu off her flight at Incheon International Airport, evening arrival. After the first few hectic days I'd decided that a round of screen golf with an EK colleague would be a good way to spend the morning. This is a round of golf with real clubs and balls played like a giant computer game. You have the holes and surrounding nature projected onto a wall sized screen and sensors capture your swing and the direction the ball travels in. Different pieces of matting represent fairway, rough and sand. It was a fun experience, even if the results were nothing to be excited about. From there we went to a traditional street food market where the dumplings (만두) and clear noodles (잡채) we re good but the chicken foot (닭발) and the famous sundae (순대) , a blood sausage, that  I tried,  were too rubbery and strange for my taste. Incheon Arrival and first day with Manu Airport bus from Changbokgung Palace to Incheon to pick up Manu. After I went to the wrong terminal...

Namsan Tower by night Still very much awake after overconsuming sugar (sticking with the sweet shop idiom from the previous post), I decided I should set off to Namsan park and tower via the major bright lights of this part of Seoul, to get a night picture or two. This was a brisk walk and climb, followed by a late supper of spicy beef soup, at a sitting on the floor place, accompanied by an EK colleague who agreed to meet up as she was on her way back from the southern side of Seoul. EK Tour in  Jeongja-dong This tour provided an opportunity to 'Immerse in the bustling, everyday rhythm of Jeongja-dong and the vibrant Jeongja 'Cafe Street', where the essence of middle-class Korean life unfolds.' We explored and considered such things as: the difference between pure high rise residential blocks, mixed commercial (office and retail) and residential, and office blocks with single studio accommodation for office workers; the meaning of the many boardings on the outsides of ...

Got to bed around 0100 after last night's quick post, and grabbed some on /off sleep until about 0900, when some workmen turned up to continue some adjacent renovations.  I had been notified about this (it's a legal requirement to notify neighbours and apartment building residents if you are planning work and to get their signature that they've been notified). Quiet chat only, no loud and ubiquitous musak as appears to be the norm in UK. Tool disturbance and mess kept to a minimum and cleaned up at the end of the day. Weather was forecast as v nice so after a breakfast of toast and tea (provided by the Airbnb host), set off to orientate myself to the local vicinity. 5 minutes later realised I'd forgotten my camera so went back and retrieved it before setting off again. Where I am The apartment is located in the centre of the historic centre of Seoul: The above extract, from Naver Map, shows where we are for the first week (Accom1 - a traditionally styled Hanok) and then...

Catch the Flight Perfect timing. The taxi to take me to the station auto messaged me at precisely the time I shut down Captivating the King at the end of Episode 8. I just needed to grab my bags and lock up. The train left on time; two changes; and arrived on time at Heathrow T2. A relaxing cup of tea before I could drop off my hold baggage; a short browse of sunglasses with no outcome; and then a leg stretching transfer to the departure gates and access to the lounge. There is no question that the latter provides a welcome opt out from the shopping and consuming of the departure side concourse, especially if you've allowed as much time as I did to benefit from it. The Flight So this part was self indulgent - however, my carbon offset from home appliance repairs (did you know that a laptop repair vice replacement = a return flight from Heathrow to Rome?) and running sailing courses in what seemed like constant gales in the Solent over the winter months - and I felt my Korean reward...

After two weeks sailing instructing I've rather taken my eye off my trip in order to earn some money to help fund the trip! And with one week to go I'm aware I've not posted anything here for a while. When in Korea I hope to make more regular posts based on actual experiences and activities. In the meantime, here are a few extracts from my activities on Essential Korean from the last few months, where the range of interests and learning resources could keep me engaged pretty much full time. K Drama Club online meeting Having the fun task of leading / curating the EK K-Drama Club, the series Welcome to Samdalri  was the subject of our inaugural K Drama Club meeting.  A series selection process considered a range of options, followed, in the lead up, by some  further notification  and publicising of the event. Something of a new experience for me, I spent time scripting discussion points to ensure we could maintain momentum. In the end n umbers were modest, but since i...