Two Halves - Same Coin, part 5

Final chapter today, hope you're ready for it.

I'd like to start with a message to the Polish tour group that were with us in the DMZ today:

"What part of 'do not take pictures unless told that you may' do you not understand?!

What part of 'do not look back and keep moving until you have entered the building' is beyond you?!

Do you not feel a sense of urgency, perhaps, when armed soldiers tell you that you will face criminal charges if you do not comply?!

Consider yourselves lucky those illegal photos you took were the only things you lost, and not your cameras or, I don't know,

your lives!!

Grow up!!"

That's it.

So as you have no doubt gathered by now we have successfully entered and then left North Korean soil in the form of the DMZ, and I can report that it was an excellent experience. So massively tense it was unbelievable, but totally worth it to get the proper experience of the state of the Korean War which, I can tell you, is still going on.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the last stretch of South Korea before everything blurs into shades of neutrality. The DMZ extends across over 200km of land, spanning the whole of the Korean Peninsula, and 4km north-south, with 2km of North Korean land and 2km of South Korean. Within that are two little villages, one for each side, who farm the rice and ginseng fields and don't have to pay tax or anything. Obviously I'd much rather be showing you pictures of the place, but as my rant may have mentioned a lot of photos were simply banned outright, so I'll have to describe.

Which reminds me, we were told why jeans were not allowed as well and it's pretty funny. The jeans in question are that faded sort, the one with all the holes in it, as apparently the officials are afraid that the North Koreans will take pictures of you in your tattered jeans and use it as propaganda, saying that the south is so poor that its residents cannot afford to fix their own clothing! We laughed at that.

So yeah, first stop on the tour was an observatory/museum a few miles into the South, which told us about what we suspect (and they had to stress that a lot of it really is 'suspect') about life in the North, as well as the details of the war. We had lunch there; more bimbibap. Not that I dislike the stuff, its just the only thing I can say is proper Korean food that I've eaten here, and that's not a great thought. Also ate a raw clove of garlic, which I regret.

For reference, the woman at the front is Michelle, our tour guide, and the others are Polish. Thought you'd like to know.

Anyway, from there we went off to Panmunjeom and its Joint Security Area (JSA). It didn't take long, just a single passport check and we were into Camp Bonifas. A slideshow briefing told us more of the war and what we could expect in the JSA proper, and we were escorted to the facility by a stern-looking Korean officer with a Californian accent. The JSA is a bunch of buildings in a little compound, conveniently colour-coded. Blues are South Korean and... unpainted are North. We were warned beforehand not to "fraternize" with the North soldiers, and the whole time we were there we had them watching over us from their concrete fort in the north of the compound. Very unnerving, it really showed just how tense this whole conflict has become, with both sides watching each other, waiting for the other to make a move.

There you go, that's a lot of the compound right there.

That was the main brunt of the tour, with the rest simply being a coach ride to the gift shop. There was one very interesting bit in the JSA, though, and that was being shown the conference room used by both sides for negotiations. Like the JSA itself, the table in the center of the room was split in two, but it was the only place in the whole world where civilians were allowed into North Korean military property.

So yeah, I have actually been to North Korea. Stood with one foot in each, as a matter of fact.

Sorry if that was a bit short, it is late and I have a bunch of people trying to get me to concentrate on assisting in the construction of a fictitious universe.

Thanks for reading. I did not die.

Two Halves - Same Coin, part 4

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: there was no trip to the DMZ today. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was because of this:

That's right, North Korea was closed due to bad weather. It's difficult to be angry, though, as we did get to chat with the lovely Japanese (yes, Japanese) staff at the travel office, and meet our tour guide for tomorrow, when we shall try again. I'm pretty confident this time.

So, today started with breakfast at Starbucks, Pourtoi bakery and Doughnut Plant in that order. The latter was a particularly good find, with doughnuts the size of your head and muffins like great volcanoes on sale. I had a cream cheese... thing, which was exceptionally nice.

Good stuff. Next we moved on to the tourist information booth we visited last time, eager to find something to do with our vast expanse of free time that preferably took place outside of Seoul for a change. The result was a trip to the Traditional Korean Village, Asia's Black Country Museum. The way underfoot was sludgy and slippery, and there weren't many people there at all, but that's their loss as the place looked simply stunning.

The place was much bigger than I'd thought, almost an amusement park in fact, with its own restaurants (about 5 of them) and souvenir shops alongside the preserved 19th Century houses. The actual exhibition (I guess you can call it that) was actually really good, and you could go right into any of the buildings and take a snoop around. There were also funny animals, which always wins me over. The souvenir shop was also a hit, surprisingly, with almost over-eager staff members ready to sell you pretty much anything. Picked up a Western rifle that shoots rubber bands and a present for a certain someone to celebrate a certain milestone. Naturally, the rifle was a present to myself. There's also one ace picture of Steph and I in traditional clothing (Mark's yellow belly got in the way of a full Team Korea photo) which shall be viewable the moment one of us finds a scanner.

Next we set off to Meong-dong once again so I could buy shoes. You should have seen my poor Shoe Zoners, sodden the whole way through; it was a sad sight indeed. But I can't much complain: I now have my very first pair of Converse, which makes me cool! Right? I'll tell you what is cool, though, and that's that they cost a mere £20. Aw yeah.

In the end we spent upwards of two and a half hours on the subway, having gone the wrong direction a number of times and in the end resolving that it was simply less hassle to just go the full loop round. It is now 1.30am, and we've not been back that long. But the fact that the trains were still running at that hour is praiseworthy, as is our new Korean friend who wanted to ask us about why we came to Korea. You wouldn't get many Japanese people doing that, I don't think; I'd certainly have real difficulty mustering up the courage.

Tomorrow is the DMZ, honest so another early start. Expect lots of pictures of stuff that isn't North Korea. Other plans include the evening service at the world's largest church. After that, though, it's back home to Kyoto on Friday, and one early flight.

Thanks for reading. This time it may really be my last.

*****

秋のアニメシーゾンはもうすぐ終わります。残念ですよね？確かに、面白いと思うシリーズが三つぐらいだけあるけれども、バントラーの終わりを楽しむつもりです。そして、「こばと」もおもしろかったから、最後のエピソードを見たいです。

ピート、がんばります！！

Two Halves - Same Coin, part 3

Okay, I'll admit it, we didn't do a great deal today. Over half of the day was spent searching for the flipping USO, a problem which could have been solved a great deal faster if Seoul only had one Outback Steak Restaurant, and not three. THREE!! How many do you need?!

So, let's do this one step at a time.

I woke up at an okay-ish time of 10, yet waited around for 2 hours for Bill and Ben to wake up and get ready to go. In that time I researched our biggest and most dramatic plan for the week: visiting the DeMilitarised Zone (the 'DMZ') on the border between North and South Korea. After attempting to call the USO, the company the runs the cheapest and widely regarded as 'best' tours, and getting an angry Korean voice instead, we set off to search for it ourselves. Breakfast (in a way) at Dunkin' Donuts and then off the the City Hall where the maps said it should be. Only it wasn't, obviously, because there are too many Outback Steak Houses in Seoul. In the end we asked at one of the multitude of Tourist Information booths around Myeong-dong and were off to Itaewon (self-described tourist trap) where we managed to find it without much hassle. Really nice place, the USO, with massive leather chairs and a big screen that shows CNN and stuff. The staff were ace as well, though it didn't change the fact that you need to reserve about a month in advance rather than a couple of days.

On our way to Itaewon proper to grab dinner we passed the Korean War Museum. It struck home, I guess, just how little I know about these two countries and what they went through, and I have since decided to learn all I can about what happened. The Museum, though we didn't go in, is a very impressive building, and even without going in there's a massive amount to see.

We moved on, as we were famished by this point, to Itaewon. The sight of so many classic foreign chains on one street was pretty mind-blowing, I can assure you, but we silently agreed to attempt to be more adventurous and ended up in Curry Town. We, and nobody else, not one soul. It seems Koreans must eat dinner later than we western infidels, as from when we arrived at 6 to when we left at 7 not a single person came into the shop. I had a fish masala, incidentally, which was super-nice but for the mountains of bones I had to extract from it.

Then we went across the road for dessert, to a little pie shop run by a Frenchman pretending to be an American. Good prices and incredible pies on sale, there, and milk that didn't taste like Japanese milk.

Ooooooooooh.

Eh?

Anyway, by then it was snowing, and we headed off to the alleged Tourist Information booth in Itaewon to seek out DMZ tours that weren't full up. And that's literally all we had to ask for. We're on the tour tomorrow. Incredible. There were slight hiccups involving a supposed 'Dress code' which stated no denim, but according to the tour guides on the phone it wouldn't matter so long as they "didn't have holes in them". Well, whatever they say. They'll be the ones keeping us out of firing range, after all. Another thing they mentioned was that one of the tour spots (which include war bridges, monuments and, most impressively, North Korea itself) would not be available due to "military troubles". Sounds exciting, huh?

On the way home we checked out a massive book store near the palace. Mark got a Rachmaninov CD, Steph got some CDs of some Korean prettyboys, and I got 5cm per Second. I tell you, cheap-tastic this country is. Cheap as chips.

Need to be at a certain hotel at 9am tomorrow, which may not be possible for Tweedledum and Tweedledee, so I may get some sleep. That or stay up aaaaaaall night beefing up Ushiro the Venusaur, which is also possible.

This may well be the last entry I make, so thanks for reading.

*****

あぁ、腹減った！！ダンキンドーナツのキムチクロケを食べたい！

以上！

Two Halves - Same Coin, part 2

Today's adventure began with breakfast: a nostalgic trip to Dunkin' Donuts right near our local bus and subway station. The selection is pretty, actually very alarming, with cheese and garlic doughnuts alongside the more traditional iced ones. Cheese doughnuts are an unusual taste, I'm sure you can guess, and not one I really got used to, but it was the experience that counted. From there it was off to the palace, or so we thought.

Due to feeling financially vulnerable, we decided to head there on foot, about 5 kilometres of Seoul's charming skyscraper forest, in an attempt to save money. It shall not be my fondest memory of the city, let me tell you. Street after street of concrete, noisy drivers, incomprehensible signs and construction works. Ooh, were there a lot of those.

Fortunately it was not the only side that Seoul had to offer, and having reached the City Hall and acquired a map or ten we finally got through to classmate Miji, who with her infinite kindness and compassion decided to show us around her city. From Meong-dong, a bustling shopping street, we headed towards the mountains in south of the city and the many monuments, museums and embassies that were situated there.

By this point we had forgotten about lunch and were feeling pretty hungry, so Miji took us to a secluded little eatery near the war memorial, a place that served almost exclusively vegetarian food. It was nice to have choice. My meal was soba noodles with 'bibim', vegetables in spicy kimchi sauce, and was exquisite. We also partook of Korean spirits before leaving, and thanks to my two years of training I was able to impress the Koreans in that department.

By this point it was getting pretty dark, so we went down to the picturesque riverside (site of nonsensical monster movie The Host) for a stroll. It was intensely cold, but the view was pretty spectacular.

It may not sound like we've had a very full day, but I can tell you now it felt like at least a week's worth of stuff. All that walking, all those monuments. And only 10,000 won spent. Result.

Thanks for reading. More again tomorrow.

*****

韓国人は優しいですね。ミジさんとソールを歩いていて、時々道を知らなくて人を聞くけど、いつもその人は優しかったです。そして、帰るあいだにパンやに行って、無料なクリームパッフをいただきました！本当に優しいですね！

Two Halves - Same Coin, part 1

Today I came to Korea.

Now, having never been to Korea before, I was a little lost at what to expect. To be quite honest, up until fairly recently I guess I didn't really believe that Korea was a real place, just some made-up fantasy kingdom out there to the east. The idea of going to Korea felt a little like going to Neverland; it still hasn't really sunk in.

But you'll be pleased to know that Korea did exist, and that it's really not that different to Japan. Enter a shop and the 'keepers all call out a cheery 'Welcome', you press the button on your table to call service and pay at the register at the front of the shop, combinis exist. It's just that all of these things occur in a language I haven't the faintest knowledge of. Well, perhaps not so faint any more; I have a notebook with phrases that might come in handy, and its not so hard to pick out key words from the people that talk at you.

But all is not pleasant and green in this funny country. When I came here this morning... scratch that, yesterday morning, I emptied my Japanese bank account on the belief that I could probably stretch that last 20,000 yen over the week, especially if the accommodation was a mere 3000 yen. Dear, oh dear, oh dear was I wrong. In a horrifying twist, it turns out the quoted price was the cost of the room per day, and that in actual fact the fee took about 90% of my lovely new money away from me. I currently have 2,000 wong to my name, that's about 200 yen, which is about £1.75. Fortunately, I still have 2 friends to mooch off of and the potential for more money to come flooding into the bank as soon as Shinkin get themselves in gear and give it to me.

Y'know, stuff here ain't as cheap as I thought it would be. Vitamin Water is about twice as expensive, for example, though Coke is about the same. Pepsi is actually slightly cheaper than Coke here. Donuts are cheap, mind, about 100 yen each. Pizza Hut (yes, yes. Western food. I'm beyond caring) still set us back about 4000 yen, so it's not all a land of value as I had been told. The people are nice, though, honestly so, and don't shy away from foreigners like the Japanese tend to.

Here's a video.

Airports are the same, you see.

The guest house is real nice. It's just a big house with a bunch of rooms, with the three of us in one of the slightly bigger ones. Everything's a bit faded and peeling slightly, but the atmosphere's genuinely nice. It's a nightmare to find, though. Here's another video to demonstrate:

The whole way we were convinced we were gonna get led down some alleyway and mugged. But we didn't, which was nice. Sometimes friendly gestures are exactly what they seem.

Well, I have a headache now. May not be sleeping for a while, don't feel like it.

Thanks for reading. Praying for better news tomorrow, when we scavenge Seoul for cheap things to do.

*****

問題ある。昨日カイオーガを探して、捕まえて、グラードンをダヤモンドから送った。二匹とオーキド博士のラボを訪ねて、ホウエンの幻のポケモンを見せた。その後、緑の玉をもらって、レックーザを探せるようになるとおもった。でも…　「どちもゴールドかシルバーからのポケモンじゃなければ、続けない」と言われた。

オーキドやろう！！

Shrine Maidens in drizzle cause Fatal KOs

Not a great deal to talk about, to be quite honest, but I've got a but of time on my hands and am feeling productive, so here's a short update on the last week.

So this time last week was a massively successful film night. And the Nabe! Wow, was that something special! Not content with the standard Nabe formula of 'put vegetables and oil and stuff in water and boil for a while', Sara, Mark and I took it upon ourselves to revolutionise the age-old Nabe formula.

Behold! Is it not the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?! It was worth the minor burns and potential for insurance-voiding fire to get it cooked, because wow was this thing good! All four of us struggled to finish it!

The film night itself was epic on the scale of nothing you will ever have seen. We'd all brought films to watch, though we never expected to watch them all. We got through about half of Princess Mononoke before we had to leave the common room as they were locking up, then continued the night run with Reservoir Dogs, Howl's Moving Castle and Serenity, the one film of the night I had never seen before. Must say it was quite good, and definitely fulfilled its purpose of making me want to watch the show. Let's just say, though, I was not surprised when I heard it was done by the same guy that did Buffy. I'll say no more. Sara left us early the next day, and we accompanied her to the station and to get breakfast from the bakery. Oh, did I mention we also bought Lawsons out of Big Thunders? I still have the box.

We returned home and, not wanting to end just there, watched the first Lord of the Rings film, with the intention of watching the other two some other day. We were really starting to fall now, but with intense perseverance we were able to get through. And then, hitting the second wind around lunch time, we decided to finish the set. McDonalds for dinner and back home to sleep at 10pm.

I've still not fully recovered.

And I'd better hurry up too, as the second night is on tomorrow, with special guest star Ben. The theme is aquatic this time, with Finding Nemo and Megashark vs. Giant Octopus on the cards, as well as Totoro and, if we can, some of the films from my 'Films Pete really should have seen by now' pile that we didn't hit last time (The Green Mile, Fargo, Enter the Dragon, Good Night and Good Luck).

What else? Oh yeah, Laura and Caroline came down from the capital to see us, which was fun. Went to Kiyomizu, Fushimi-Inari, Nijo Castle and the like, which was all good fun.

Oh yeah, I also got a job. Go me. Doesn't feel like it just yet, as the students are yet to come a'calling, and I've got Korea on Sunday so won't be available then.

Yeah, Korea. No excuse for not knowing now, eh? Finally had to accept a pitiful defeat and draw some money from the savings, something I was hoping to avoid. Can't be helped. And, I mean, it's Korea!

In other news...

Did anyone see this week's Kobato? I know I shouldn't have been surprised, but I really was. I mean, come on CLAMP, the series is over! Stop chucking your beloved Tsubasas all over the place and make some new characters!

Also gonna finally watch the last episode of Kara no Kyoukai today, which I absolutely adore at this point. The music is particular is simply spectacular. A little cliche-ridden to get it to the leaderboards, and that last episode felt a bit pointless. And that crazy high-school student eating a guy at the end? Cheers, ufotable, lost my appetite for a long time after seeing that.

Right, that's all I can think about for now. Gonna go yaki some soba.

Thanks for reading.

***

フシギダネ…ゼニガメ…ヒトカゲ…みんなゲットだった。子供の頃の願いが満たされていた…

じゃ、次はジェネレーションV！