Discovering the Hermit Kingdom (South Korea)

Member Name: scottish20

Product:	South Korea
Date:	14/07/01 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An experience of a life time!

Disadvantages: Tension between North and South Korea, Long Flights

Korea does not spring to mind as a top holiday destination for us Brits, but a visit to the enigmatic 'Hermit Kingdom' will provide many everlasting memories.

My father was in Seoul at the World Agricultural Conference and since this coincided with school holidays, we flew out to join him in July 1998.

Seoul is magnificent - a real mixture of new high rise buildings (a sign of inceasing wealth in this city) and fabulous traditional temples which survived the Japanese occupation during the early 1900s. There is a huge American influence these days with an enormous US Army base - and MacDonalds on many street corners (just try to order an extra value meal when no-one understands a word you say!!). One thing that struck me about Seoul is that it is always immaculately clean - not a scrap of litter anywhere! The Korean War musuem is amazing...really makes you think and is not like any Western museum: well worth a visit. Also you must see the Olympic Stadium - a great experience for my family who are all keen athletes!

But to discover the real South Korea, I suggest you head South. We visited Pusan which is delightfully traditional but we used this as a base to explore the rest of the South. We actually visited places where the locals had never met a Westerner in real life - especially not a 6ft girl! Children just wanted to touch our skin to see if it was the same as theirs! The older school children were desperate to practice their English and since this was the year of the World Cup, chanted 'We love Michael Owen'!

It is in this area that the real culture hits you - although we didn't really understand very much, we did learn about their beliefs and traditions. The temples are amazing! Photographs do no justice as there is no feel for the intricate detail or the meaning of such buildings. To me, these places are the definition of 'Culture Shock' and seeing is really believing!

We also
spent a few days walking in the area of Kyongju in the east. The scenery here was fantastic, although the weather was rather inclement! Tumuli Park is a bizarre arrangements of perfectly rounded burial mounds that could easily have been the inspiration for the Tellytubby scenery! I think these are Koreas answer to the Pyramids, with each mound filled with many treasures.

Overall Korea was fantastic. Shopping is amazing with many cheap clothes and shoes (just think how many products are 'made in Korea') - I got a pair of £130 Nike running shoes for £30. Electronics are also in abundance and very cheap but just watch what you are allowed to bring home.

The food is an experience in itself. At one restaurant we sat on the floor at a 3-inch-high table with a gas 'cooker' in the middle. We had no idea what to eat so we just asked the waitor to choose and were given strips of meat (not entirely sure what meat!), some strange looking leaves and some sauce and we basically wrapped the meat in the leaves and barbequed it - very odd but suprisingly delicious. If you are brave enough, you can cook something for yourself from the vast array of stalls - although, be careful because is is not always clear what you are buying!

The hotels were superb. Again very clean and modern. The Korean's were friendly and keen to help - try out some Korean phrases from the guide books and they'll love you!

One disturbing aspect is the hostility to the North Koreans. We didn't visit the border, but according to Michael Palin a visit there is not a nice experience. While we were there, an apparant North Korean spy drowned and his bady was washed ashore in the South. Consequently, there were ID checks on every form public transport - this was quite unnerving as heavilly armed police men and soldiers borded one of our buses, shouting something in Korean. They waved their guns at a few people and thankfully left.
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br><br>I feel that everyone must have at least one 'bizarre' holiday in their life - and i think that if you ever get the chance, you should go to Korea but before the Macdonald~isation is too detrimental. Korea is really opening up to the rest of the world, with the World Cup next year and soon Westeners will be common place but I think that the Koreans will try very hard to keep hold of their traditions and national treasures.

My holiday to South Korea was superb and without doubt, the most memorable - I recommend it to anyone!

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