How good is going home

Our last day in Tokyo and it is teeming rain, so a good time to go home after much fun over the past two weeks in Korea and Japan with Cathy and Terry.



Plenty of food.

And beer.

We even had adventure travel.

There was the sublime,

And the ridiculous.

We did the Shinkansen bullet train.

And saw bridges.

And we topped off the trip with a last night Neon Nights food tour of Tokyo which was basically a pub/restaurant crawl with plenty of beer and sake of hip downtown Tokyo. Tom and Terry got very excited about the local cosplay opportunities.

It has been a great trip packed with many adventures and activities but we leave knowing there is so much more would love to do, so I hope maybe someday we will return.

How good is language

Bereft of any language skills I am nervous about travel in Asia, at least in Europe I can order a meal or a beer, or as I like to call it, I can speak Food. But Asian languages are just too hard: I managed to learn only two words in Korean, hello and thank you. Korean is a somewhat heavy on the syllables, 5 syllables to say goodbye was simply beyond my scope, but luckily we found the Koreans in the tourist service industry had abundant English to understand our needs.

Less so in Japan. Luckily I know considerably more Japanese words than Korean - double the number in fact - meaning I know 4 Japanese words. And the Japanese are not great English speakers, despite learning the language at school. Apart from being a homogeneous society where Japanese is the only language one theory is the culture of being afraid of making mistake inhibits the locals from using English.

But lack of a common language of communication is not all bad, as we found last night at dinner. Despite very precise pointing by us at the menu our dinner order got a bit lost in translation: our waitress informed us the chicken came with 3 different sauces, but could only get out teriyaki and was at a loss for words to describe the other two, so, showing excellent problem skills we choose the teriyaki sauce. Cathy and Tom enjoyed lovely skewers, and Terry and I choose meat dishes. In what is becoming a theme of this trip my meal did not arrive, and we tried to query this. Again our waitress was at a loss to comprehend our crazy western gesticulating and she went away despondent, but returned soon with more beer. Not exactly what we were after but hey, you can’t wrong by bringing an Australian another beer can you. A great night all around.

Westerners trying to work out what the hell they are doing.

Engaging a local guide for the day certainly helps navigate around Tokyo - and one who can find a bar in the subway serving craft beer is worth every yen.

It is important to keep up with local culture, particularly photography poses - let’s face it, other tourists are endlessly fascinating and as keen observers of social behaviour we like to be on trend. In Korea it was the V finger sign accompanied by the cheesy grin, in Japan we have replaced it with the two-handed W sign from the popular Japanese entertainment TV channel, Wakuwaku.

Within reach of the bustle of modern Tokyo we visited the serene Hamarikiu gardens and enjoyed matcha and Japanese sweets in the tea house.

 

The Imperial Palace gardens were, well.... imperial. Monet was influenced by Japanese woodblock painting and irises were one of his favourite flowers, and I instantly thought of Monet when we came across this magnificent display of early summer irises in Tokyo. In a great example of the world turning full cycle, a Japanese banker turned gardener has won a French award for recreating in Japan Monet’s Japanese influenced garden. And a Chevalier award no less - just like our own Tina Arena.

How good is the internet

Korea is reputed to have the best internet in the world.

So we decided to test that.

And it passed the test. Returning to our hotel after a big day sightseeing Terry got angsty when he realised it had clocked over 6:50 local time, meaning it was 7:50 Melbourne time and the Tigers had kicked off at the MCG. So out popped his iPhone and internet access via a hotspot device. Unfortunately the Telstra AFL livestream does not operate overseas, despite Gil assuring us ours is a globally expanding game (let’s not talk about the Saints in Shanghai). Telstra and the AFL having failed, Terry connected to the good old ABC (big shout to Ita today to for calling out AFP bullying) and up popped commentary from Kellie Underwood. Huzzah. So there we were, driving in a car in Korea listening to the AFL. How the world is connected now. A far cry from Tom and I visiting Australia House in London in 1985 to read the Australian newspapers so we could catch up with what was happening at home.

And now for some random photos.

Gamcheon Culture Village

Walking the dogs 

Cathy & Terry enjoying themselves

How good is coal

Well, it is rubbish actually. And we all know that, except perhaps ScoMo.

Korea is highly dependent on coal power, and the air pollution shows it. Korea is fourth in the world for ultra fine dust levels, behind India, China and Vietnam. More fine dust blows in from China to add to that produced in Korea. No wonder those protective face masks are sold everywhere.

The country has stated policies to reduce coal dependency and there are targets to increase the use of renewables. The Korean government recognises the problem with coal, but industry continues to use coal cause..... it is cheap. There are moves to move public transport to renewables and we saw plenty of renewable powered buses in Seoul.

No flip-flop energy policy just a clear intention to reduce reliance on fossil fuels

There is a city bike program but due to lack of bike lanes and heavy traffic it is not a viable means of mass transit,  

Tom and Terry did a city ride - dodging pedestrians on the busy streets.

But I write this post from the KTX, Korea’s fast train, based on France’s TGV, which is electric powered, sourced from coal. Oh well, at least it is more environmentally friendly than driving, or flying, and infinitely more comfortable.

Tom relaxes on the KTX

Poster for the k0pop boy and girl bands proliferate in the subways 

And now to explain the ‘How good is’ theme to this blog, (no it is not random), and the link to coal. Planning this trip with Cathy and Terry over a few glasses of wine we got a bit silly and started extolling the virtues of all the things we were hoping to encounter- how good is the beer in Korea, how good is the fried chicken, the trains, weather etc ... until we realised we were aping Scomo’s now famous parliamentary ‘how good is coal’ stunt. So the theme stuck.

Oh, and just in case it is not clear, coal is NOT good.

How good is demilitarisation - part 2 - the flag pole wars

Since the 1980s both sides have engaged in flag pole oneupmanship, with each adding height to the flag poles that dominate each side of the DMZ. The North are winning with the 4th biggest flag pole in the world. It requires a flag so big they have to bring it down in high wind or rain for fear the sheer weight of it will damage the pole structure. Which rather seems to defeat the purpose.

Both sides engage in propaganda wars, although we would probably sympathise more with the South who have been our allies since the war, there is no doubt the ROK see the importance of ‘selling’ their story: the village on the south side is called the Freedom Village but the name they give the corresponding village on the north is the Propaganda Village. It is true the village immediately over the border in the north is fake, there is plenty of independent evidence the village buildings are just empty shells and that the lights that come on at night are on a timer. Occasionally North Korean soldiers come to the village and pretend to be villagers.

But the Freedom Village is eerie and not quite right either: residents number around 200 villagers and are restricted to those who have historic connections to the area. As enticements to live in the village they are provided 7 hectares or fertile farming land from which they earn a much greater income then the average farmer, they are also exempt from military service and taxes. In return their lives are highly restricted. They farm under armed guard - ostensibly to protect them but you wonder to what extent it is to monitor any inappropriate interaction with the north. They have subject to curfews and at night the military conduct a head count of the villagers. Any visitors must give two weeks notice of their visit and are escorted by the military during their visit. The villagers are also restricted in the extent to which they can leave the Freedom Village: overall it really does beg the question as the amount of ‘freedom’ for the villagers.

 Imagine farming in the below field overlooked by this guardhouse.

One positive of the DMZ is that by leaving the countryside undisturbed by progress and urbanisation wildlife has had a chance to recover. The deforestation and clearing for agriculture prevalent on the rest of the peninsula has been halted in the DMZ and now wildlife and plant life are returning and the ecosystem flourishes. Manchurian cranes are plentiful and mammals such as the Asiatic bear, musk deer and spotted seals are part of the new biodiversity, despite the presence of land mines throughout the DMZ. 300 species of mushroom alone can be found. Should reunification ever occur there are calls for the DMZ to be retained as permanently protected area.

Looking into North Korea from the JSA

The border of the DMZ

How good is demilitarisation - part 1 - No Scoffing

Well it seems demilitarisation may not be that good - cause although all the literature espouses the positivity of the demilitarisation zone in Korea it is far from demilitarised, in fact it is totally militarised.

This is not a history lesson of the Korean War, but an observation on visiting the 4 klm zone that separates the North (DRK) from the South (ROK) and the utterly weird experience it is.

We should probably have been alert to the formalities of a trip to the DMZ by the pre-trip instructions we received to bring our passports and a dress code that was more restrictive than some weddings I have attended.

Before we could enter we had to sign what was essentially a code of behaviour contract. In fairness they are concerned about any offence or insult to the North that might inflame tensions or set back the relationship. So the code had what you might expect - you know, don’t yell out obscenities about Fat Kim (though not in those exact words), but my favourite was Clause D; No Scoffing Allowed. Really, you expect an Australian to go 2  - 3 hours without scoffing! So we had to scoff very discreetly.

On arrival the Korean military enter our tour bus, check all passenger passports and do a headcount - twice. The bus crawls along a small way and then a US soldier enters the bus, and not to be outdone he also does a passport check, and a headcount. But he goes one step further: in that manner that only a humourless military soldier has he asks three questions: are any us of drug or alcohol affected, then if any of us are carrying weapons, I mean really, who is going to say yes. But he has saved his most bizarre question for last - do any of us plan to defect to North Korea today: Tom laughed, but no it was not a joke.

What more can I say.

Under strict control we visited the most sensitive part of the DMZ, the Joint Security Area. Among the photos to follow are pictures from the Conference Room, made famous for the many peace talks held within. The room straddles the demarcation line; the north sit on their side of the wide conference table, in northern territory, and the south on the south side. They literally enter the room from doors that access their own countries, it is surreal.

South Koreans eagerly monitoring their northern neighbours.

I think the following hilarious and pertinent observation from Zach, the eldest son of our travelling companions Cathy and Terry summed it up: North Korea has the largest concentration of artillery in the world, even if it is really old and held together with whatever passes for duct tape in the North.

How good is the digital camera - blog for those who prefer visual presentation

Sunday we spent watching the traditional changing the guard at the Royal Place.

No these are not performers or palace staff - it is common practice for tourist to hire traditional dress, Hanbok, for a few hours or the day and trot around the tourists sites dressed up to the nines. We also saw a number of Koreans in traditional dress it is a fun thing for the family to get out and do. Needless to say we did not partake. 

For obvious reasons it is best Tom does not post this one on Facebook, and speaking frankly that does actually  look like one of my parking attempts, so best I put it here on the blog. So, yes, Korean car parks have designated priority parking areas for the elderly, disabled AND for women.