Photos from Korea and Japan

Guardian at the Korean Temple we went to (UNESCO World Heritage Site)


The temple in the Korean mountains which is an amazing cave like grotto


If you know what it is, please tell us.


Martin duets with the professional wedding singer. No pressure.


They even give you a tambourine!


We went to a little mountain town with Jo and Nate


Alps


Monkey big, monkey small


Matsumoto Castle. Original 16th C castle. Very impressive and we got a free guided tour (we keep getting pounced on by volunteer guides. Great scheme).


Just 30 mins walk from the centre of Matsumoto are paddy fields


The ubiquitous vending machines. The ones with a red line beneath them are hot drinks in a can.

Last few Asian days

A series of Unfortunate Events

So we got a bit cocky. Our last night in Korea we went for dinner with a nice Dutch woman whose name wasn't Anna but we had to call her that as we couldn't pronounce her name (note this was not an unfortuante event. We have nothing against the Dutch).

We chose BBQ meat - nice and sensible pork chops. Then we saw what next door's table had. Looked like lumps of chicken and calamari or fish. The owners (who everytime martin tried to cook the meat himself came over, grabbed the tongs off him and took over) looked a bit startled and said a lot of things in Korean we didn't understand. Oh the arrogance! We pressed ahead.

We aren't sure what we ordered. Current ideas are:
- bolied pig's fat
- the gelatine from the hoofs of pigs, formed into shapes
- dried processed fish
- lumps of cartilege
- or maybe generic gristle

Through making various animal noises at the owners, we think it might have been something to do with pigs. But we aren't sure. We have learnt on our trip that animal noises are different in different countries (for example, Spanish dogs go "wow wow").

So, back to Japan we went.

This was all going fine until we attempted to pass through Japanese immigration. With hindsight it might have been a good idea for one half of team Stanford to a) shave, and b) dress a little less like a teenager c) not go through passport control without his Wife. This lack of forethought led to a slightly uncomfortable half an hour with three Japanese customs officials being asking questions such as "so, you like smoking marijuana don't you?" and "so what exactly were you doing for three months in South America?" This being Japan this was all done with impeccable politeness, and interspersed with apologies for the inconvenience. Fortunately the miracles of modern forensic science revealed the random dust drifting around Martin's rucksack to be, well, just dust. Interestingly, they had to get him to sign a consent form allowing them to test his dust (though not to unpack his rucksack). Note, for those with overactive imaginations, at no point in all this were latex gloves donned. Mrs Stanford meanwhile was torn between concern (where the heck was he?), fear (what are they doing to him?) and slight smugness as she had told Mr S to 1) Shave and 2) wear his only shirt but he had informed her "I never get stopped in customs, I don't think what you wear makes any difference."

The next day in Akabane, Jo and Nate's district, we went for our first lunch back in Japan. We chose a place with picture menus. Still, instead of ordering what looked like on the menu beef stir fry, we ordered what tasted like liver. Good for Martin, bad for Kara. The nice bowl of spinach we thought we'd ordered turned out to be sea weed (again, good for Martin, not so good for Kara). Luckily we did pick something Kara liked (gyoza dumplings - she has a mild addiction to them. Her happiest food moment was when we went to a Gyoza restaurant in Korea).

That afternoon Kara went to buy some body moisturiser. Ah, Dove! A brand she knows. The next morning, after showering and liberally applying her new body lotion, Kara felt a little sticky. She gave the tube to Jo to read. Yes, she had smeared facial wash all over herself. Cue shower number 2 in 30 minutes.

Oh, and there is the small issue of BA on strike when we fly back. Allegedly we are still confirmed on the flight but mmmm....round the world ticket holders must be pretty high on the list of "Scum who won't give us more cash in the future so let's bump them".

Final days of fun
Oh, okay not really the final days as we have 2 fun weeks in the UK before going to Europe for 2 months but it does feel like the end of a part of our year out. We've been enjoying hanging out with Jo and Nate and having very Japanese weekend. This meant on Friday night we went out to an Izakaya (traditional Japanese drinking house) for some food (we let Nate and Jo order) with much strange drinks, including one where you squeeze a grapefruit into it.

What Martin didn't know was the cunning plan to get him slightly merry then take him to more traditional Japanese passtimes. Yes, Karaoke!

So, we all went to our little room, with TV screen, microphones, a tambourine, and an extensive playlist. It was fun and amusing and only slightly painful.

Martin has now also been to a Japanese bathhouse as he spent Saturday afternnon in the park playing frisbee with Nate. It's pretty civilised - you play sport, go to a bathhouse, clean up, then join your lovely wives for dinner. Bathouses can be summed up in 2 words: dudity. Sweat.Kara meanwhile had borrowed a pair of heeled boots off Jo and a smart coat and was feeling distinctly bling if a little sore-footed.

The Japanese Alps
As the name suggests, they are a mountain range. We stayed in Matsumoto for 3 nights surrounded by lovely mountains and from there did an epic 2 hour journey to Kamikochi. This is picture perfect mountains, with a sprinkling of snow, and a river(Switzerland eat your heart out).

The highlight of our 13km walk was near the end we saw a troop of wild monkeys (macaques) complete with babies. Very cute.

Bye bye Rail Pass
Alas, our days of casually waving a bit of paper as we sail through trian stations comes to an end today. Confirming his suspicion that he has indeed married a woman like his father, Kara wanted to spend the final day "riding the trains cos it's cool."

Teenage Kicks

So, in the same way it felt like we left our mum and dad when we said goodbye to Jo and Nate in Japan, the time had come to leave our S.Korean safety blanket of Matt and Sophia and face the country alone. In fact, we had become so settled in our time with them that their local cafe gave us a loyalty card as we went there so often.

Before we said farewell, however, we made sure we ate some more scrummy food with them, including Vietnamese and a Prince's Banquet (15 courses including lots of fish stuff). This achieved a first for the year out - finding something Martin wouldn't put in his mouth twice (skate, for those of you that are interested).

So what do kids get up to when they leave their mum and dad? Well, in our case it was a 4 hour train journey to Gyeong-ju, known as an outdoor museum for all the temples, shrines and generally cool historical stuff here. But where do we sleep tonight, you may wonder. Well, there are two hostels here. One is filthy and the other is fully booked. So, what is the other budget accommodation option in Korea? Yes, Love Motels.

Having been told to go somewhere else (we think this was what she said) by the receptionist at the Sauna Motel (in retrospect we think that might have been the type of place where your companion is provided for you - no BYO), we are in the Sky Motel. Features of our room:

• 2 (count 'em, yes, 2) computer terminals, both with fast internet
• free water, hot drinks, toiletries, towels and toothbrushes
• a large flat screen tv
• mood lighting
• a DVD player
• a video player
• jacuzzi
• stereo
• fridge
• free porn on TV or video selection
• option to buy sex toys (pink vibrator anyone?). We think it says buy. Maybe it says hire. We don't want to think about this really.
• free condoms (two - one for each of us)
• a lovely smiley receptionist (middle aged lady) who is keen to help (note, she isn't in our room. We got rejected from that kind of place).

So, the big question: what first?

Photos

The bit with the gravel is South Korea. The bit with the concrete, North. They are stood on the northern side.


South Korean soldier guarding the door to the north. Jitsu gang - note the stance.


Kara's caption: is this really the face of evil? George W, we're all human you know.
Martin's caption: North Korean hat, accompanied by soldier


The blue building is the one we went in, where both sides meet. The large grey building is North Korean. You can see the soldier on the steps who was first watching us. You can see how close soldiers from both sides are to each other.

Communism & Tourism

For those of you that didn't know, the Korean Peninsula is divided into two countries. The South, where we are, is a democratic, capitalist, free society. The north, branded by George W Bush as being part of the "axis of evil" is the last totalitarian communist regime in the world run by a man (Kim Jong Il) who has only spoken one sentence in pubic and whose dead father (Kim Il Sung) is still the President for life.

Tensions are running a bit high between the two nations at the moment. Technically, they are still at war as the 1950s Korean War didn't so much end, as both sides came to the realisation that WW3 would ensue if they didn't stop. Recently a South Korean submarine was torpedoed, probably by the North. 47 young sailors died - we watched their state funerals on the 5 TV channels that covered it. The border between the two Koreas is a 4km wide strip known as the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone). This is in effect a highly fortified nature reserve, though the number of land mines does limit the size of the ground based wildlife.

So, in this environment, we did what all good capitalists do - we paid to go on a tour to the DMZ :-)

They don't quite give you all the details when you sign up. It was a very surreal day.

This was stuff we knew in advance:

• We knew there was a dress code. Apparently so the North Koreans can't use photos of scruffy folk as propaganda
• We knew we'd go to a room that both sides and the UN meet in for discussions and we knew we'd be on military ground
• we knew photography was restricted.

We didn't know:

• that the bridges over the road leading to the DMZ have large blocks of concrete in them, ready to be dropped for "when the North Koreans invade". Note the word "when"
• the river they share with N.Korea has barbed wire in it, barbed wire along the banks and guard posts all the way into Seoul as N.Korean spies have been known to swim up it
• overly paranoid perhaps? We thought so until we learnt the North Koreans have dug a series of tunnels into the South, the nearest reaching to about 10km out of Seoul and big enough to get 1000 (possibly 2000 if they remove their large hats) troops through per hour...

The tour consisted of:

• you begin by going to a memorial garden in S.Korea. Photos can be taken here.
• then you go to a really random park place where there are some sculptures looking to the North, as a reminder of the people who still have family in the North. It is the northern most point in their half of the country that a South Korean can get to freely. The place is used every year by people coming to remember their lost family. It has views of North Korea. It has barbed wire, guard posts, a train shot up in the war. It felt like...Disney Land. There was a fair ground, school kids, cafes, bars, shops selling souvenirs...
• this comes under stuff we didn't realise. When you enter the DMZ, you're on military land. This means passport checks. This means NO PHOTOS until you are told.
• You go to Camp Bonifas, the only military camp in S Korea DMZ. You get a briefing. You are then swapped to a military bus and accompanied by soldiers
• the tour consists of many precautionary measures. It's still unclear how much is military paranoia, reasonable precaution or theatrics on behalf of the tour company. Precautions were: 1) once on the military bus, you could have no bags, camera cases or any case (even wallets) because the N.Koreans were watching us by then and they were in their rights to take photos then say "What is in here? A bomb?". 2) You weren't allowed to raise your arm, stand up, or point or wave. Apparently it's so the N.Koreans don't take a photo of you and use it for propaganda purposes (we were told they do things like say "Look, it's an American waving in a friendly way at us"). 3) You couldn't wear heels, short skirts etc. Apparently it's so you can run in an emergency... 4) NO PHOTO TAKING!

There are two villages in the DMZ that face each other from different sides of the border. The S.Korean village has 200 people, who pay negative tax, get subsidies, have three times the farm area of other villages, but have to work with soldiers guarding them and an 11pm curfew to prevent kidnap from N Korea (apparently).

The North Korean village has the world's largest flag and flag pole, a population of 0, and very very large loudspeakers. It seems to exist for the benefit of the S.Koreans, who call it "the propaganda village".

So, then you reach the JSA (Joint Security Area). Again, stuff we didn't know - following an unsavoury incident, the 2 sides no longer can roam freely in this once neutral area. It is divided into - North and South. Pay attention. This point becomes VERY important soon.

So, we go into a building on the S.Korean side. By now, we know we are being watched as we can see the North Korean side and the army guy (identifiable by his huge hat) with his binoculars trained on us. We are told to walk in lines of two and DO NOT LOOK AROUND or TAKE PHOTOS. We wait in our building to go into the hut which is where the two sides meet. There is a delay. There are about 12 S.Korean soliders outside "to protect us". Holy shit. Before we go into the meeting room, we are told this:

"When you are in there, there are two S.Korean soldiers. You may pose next to them for photos, but not too close because if they need to reach for their guns to protect us, you don't want to be in the way."

"The room has the North/South border running through it, down the centre of the table. DO NOT TOUCH THE TABLE. You can go into the North part when we say. The guard in front of the door that leads out to North Korea is there for your protection. Do not go behind him. He is there because someone was once snatched through that door by the North Koreans."

"We rarely see the North Korean guards down here any more. That concrete slab on the ground outside is the border. They cannot cross it and we can't. Except in this room where you can go to the North side."

So, we go in two lines with only our cameras in hand. We get in the room. We are told "You can go to the North Korean side and you can take photos".

As our fellow tourists do this, we notice there's a frickin' group of 10 North Korean soldiers marching in formation round the corner. A look passes between us as Team Stanford wonders if we've inadvertently stumbled into the start of a war. However, Kara's inner tourist kicks in and she starts taking photos (after checking) of the soldiers, just the other side of the window...

Then, a very strange thing. They produce a pink digital camera and in pairs they stand in front of the concrete border and in a very orderly fashion, take photos of each other (it must be assumed that the resultant photos were mostly of hat).

The strict military discipline of our group breaks down at this point, as our tour guide is shouting "There's another one, there's another, quick photograph him".

Then we are being shouted at "Stop taking photos, stop taking photos, get back in the South side, back to the South side." Naturally, some our group ignore this. This is when it dawns on us - on the North side of the room we are in North Korea and they are in their rights to come in and do what they want. F**K!!! (Sorry mums).

Then we walk out and leave and do a drive by for another photo shot of the North Koreans, then go back to Camp Bonifas where, like good capitalists, we are taken to a small souvenir shop. Which regretably didn't sell any North Korean hats.

Our views on the day

Kara:

Very very surreal. Were we in danger? The tension felt real. The piece of paper we signed which said the visit "will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action" was real. I'm still not sure why they run trips there for tourists (South Koreans aren't allowed there). It felt strange to look out of a window at young soliders who were from a totally different world to mine and had grown up in a totally different way and who probably thought I represented evil incarnated. Like all military soldiers on duty, they had blank faces and stares. However, it has made me very very curious to find out more about their country and nation and see the story from the other side.

Would I do it again? No, as once is enough. Would I recommend it for all tourists? Not sure. It's pretty unsettling but travel is about seeing the world from a different view, so if you're up for that, then yes, do it.

Martin:

Hmmm, Being a cynic, and with the benefit of hindsight, I suspect that some of the theatrics were for the tourists benefit more than anything else. It certainly felt like a big deal at the time though. The whole thing would be almost farcical, if it wasn't for the number of people who have died over the arbitrary line on the map. It was one of those days that was more about making you think than about showing you anything amazing. My first impression of totalitarian communism: Big flags, big flag pole, hilariously large hats. It all screams "compensating for something". On the day of a somewhat disappointing UK election, it made me pretty grateful to have been born where I was.

Things we've noticed about S.Korea

The first temptation when you arrive in South Korea is to compare it to Japan. However, you soon realise (and if you didn't, the South Koreans will forceably tell you) that they are very different countries, probably as different as us and the French.

The differences become obvious as soon as you hit the streets:

• people talk above a quiet level here. Hooray! Back to normal levels of speech for us both!
• car horns are used A LOT
• it's bustling, it's energetic, it's slightly chaotic... none of this ordered calm stuff
• there's much more variety in fashions and how people present themselves (ie less of all the women looking like immaculately made up dolls). There is more mix of very well dressed, regularly dressed, and badly dressed
• it's the fashion for women of a certain age to wear HUGE sun visors. This makes them look like miniature riot police
• you see a lot of young men in military uniform (not on duty) on public transport. Not too surprising for a country with compulsory military service
• you can use your phone on the trains and metro here
• the food is SPICY!

Being a pedestrian in South Korea

Why did we pay for adrenalin sports in Australia? The Koreans are very open minded. Why should there be separation between pedestrians and other forms of traffic? It's still a bit scary walking across a zebra crossing, partly because the cars more or less ignore them but also because motorbikes often use them as a handy shortcut. The trick is to always have another pedestrian between you and the traffic. We've taken to following old ladies round.

This is a flexible bollard, the only protection between pedestrians and 5 lanes of crazy traffic at crossings. We think this says a lot about the average life expectancy of bollards in this country.

The people

First, people assume we're from the USA, as there are so many troops over here. We make sure we correct them :-)

We get a kind of strange reaction. Within 48 hours of being here, we'd had 2 Koreans (separate occasions) approach us to offer help and just chat, been waved to by 2 policeman while we were out on our run, and given a free gift by the owner of the cafe we went to. When they find out we're English, they are quite surprised.

We've also had people get up and move when Martin sits next to them on the train. This cracks Kara up.

Today has been our most random encounter...

So, we're at a Shamanist shrine. To set the scene, this is a lot of steep steps up a hillside, with lots of strange rocks and alcoves. Along the way you can see people praying and offering gifts of food and drink to their dead relatives. The Guidebook warns you to treat the area with respect - not to take photos, speak loudly, or generally be a tit. We're pretty sure his name was Mr Bu. He's 66 years old with a little dog wearing a coat. He accosted us. Martin went for a wander to come back to find Kara wearing Mr Bu's glasses and holding his dog and posing for a photo (reluctantly, Kara would like to add). Martin helpfully stood at a distance and killed himself laughing, rather than coming to the aid of his wife.

Kara dug out the Korean Phrasebook and shouted "husband" while pointing at Martin. He HAD to join in. So began a round of photo taking. We have a business card with an address on to send them to. Then, Mr Bu decided to share the offerings he'd brought for the spirits. His offerings turned out to be mostly high strength alcohol and boiled sweets. We had to do shots of shoju and then eat a sweet. It was 2pm. When Kara managed to find the Korean word for "Enough, enough" he just stood there and howled with laughter.

The end result of this is:

• it's 5.30 now, we're hungover and drinking coffee
• we have a bag full of shoju, mokuli (another spirit) and boiled sweets
• we have to somehow print out the photos we took and post them to this guy's office
• we possibly have a bunch of Korean dead ancestral spirits pissed off at us for nicking their booze. Fortunately these are spirits rather than gods so we think it might be more "haunting your house" than "laying waste to your city" kind of revenge...

Matt assures us that nothing like this has ever happened to him. Martin is convinced Kara attracts eccentrics. When he is by himself (scowling) nothing like this ever happens to him.

Domestic arrangements in S. Korea

So, they have wet rooms. This is as it sounds - a room with a toilet, sink and shower head. You shower and for most people, a corner of the room gets wet. For Martin, the whole room gets wet.

The BEST thing ever though are the ondols - heated floors. Amazing. Like the other place, you have to take your shoes off in homes. You then can wear the ubiquitous slippers or walk round in your socks, and enjoy the warm floor (note for future trips to Asia - bring socks without holes in).

Koreans also sleep on thin mattresses on the floor called yo. There is nothing nicer than waking up with a warm tummy from the heated floor.

Matt and Sophia live in a flat that is perfectly designed for city living. There is no separate bedroom - there is one room for sleeping and living (like a studio flat). The floors are clean because there are no shoes on them (and Matt and Sophia are the cleanest people we know, beating even our mothers for domestic cleanliness).

Mini-break time

The great thing about kipping on your mate's floor for free, is you can afford to stay in a 4star hotel for the night! (some very good last minute deals online). Apart from the obvious pig out at the all you can eat breakfast buffet, the greatest joy was the toilet. It was Japanese style ie a control panel that Captain Kirk would envy.

Here is a photo of it:

So, Kara found it a bit strange to have a blast of water for 2 minutes (spot the digital countdown on there, currently at 1 min 58) on her bottom. Martin was more adventurous and went for EVERY button....He now feels slightly violated but very clean. There are many jokes we want to put up here but won't because of our mums. Let's just say, those 30 minutes hitting every button was worth the cost of the hotel.

South Korean Food

There is a great variety to Korean food. However, whenever you have a meal, you get a lot of little cold side dishes. Some are initially delicious, some take a bit of getting used to but reward the effort. Korea is known for Kimchi - shredded cabbage in red chilli sauce. Wind-tastic.

A lot of dishes are served with lettuce leaves. You use these as a wrap to put whatever you are eating in it. Last night we went to an Italian restaurant called "Mad for Garlic". Martin had pizza - that you wrapped in lettuce and covered in chilli sauce. Expect this to be prepared at a dinner party near you soon.

We also ate some interesting sea food at the weekend when we went to a port. Photos do more talking than any description...

Our sea food stew, complete with whole baby octopus.


Typical selection of cold side dishes. The raw crab and whelks not so typical (Martin's verdict: raw crab, better than expected once you get over the texture. Kara's verdict - no thanks, I'll stick to the carrot sticks and little eggs).


Martin pulled this out of a shell. All of these photos come from one meal. Culinary comfort zone left way way behind...

Same stew, after stirring. Check out the large lump of fish roe, next to the spoon.

In Korea, the watchword is FRESH. A lot of food is cooked at your table in front of you with fresh ingredients. Some of it isn't even cooked.

Oh yeah, and we did some sight seeing, looking at temples, beaches, palaces and shrines. Tis the food and the domestic stuff that has really grabbed us though!

End of Japan, beginning of Korea

So, after enjoying the calm of Nagasaki we also learnt a few lessons in seeing things from the other point of view. We had a walking tour with a local (a free service provided by our hostel). It was interesting to talk to and meet a man whose family had been affected by the Atom bomb. His summary "We did a lot but did we really deserve that bomb?"

We also met some great folk at our hostel, including Clara and Kat. Fresh out of school before heading to uni, they were a few weeks in to their great tour. They're heading to China next...we felt very old as we told them to take care and stick together (the exact words Kara's mother always uses!).



The love that dare not speak its name
The time had come for the grand reunion of the greatest love a man can have. Yes, we did a 30 minute frantic walk (we couldn't find the right bus stop), a 30 minute bus ride, a 3 hour ferry journey, another bus ride, a sprint through a train station (thank you Kara's dad for sending us Korean money or we'd have never made our train) and then a 5 hour train journey...all for love.

Well, okay, all so that Martin could meet up with his childhood friend, our best man, and the chap generally known as Matt.

So, Matt and his partner Sophia moved back to her native S.Korea in October. We HAD to come visit being so close in the country-we-don't-mention-over-here.

It's been great. We've been out for a different type of Korean food everynight. We've had spicy chicken (Dak Galbi)cooked in a big pan in front of you on your table, another cook it on your table affair where you have plates of smoked meat to devour, another restaurant where the food was so fresh it was practically still in the ground (Kara had Bip Im Bap and Mart had Gukiguksu - Jeuju Island speciality) and some kind of roll with rice thing for lunch. DELICIOUS!

We've also seen the Unesco World Heritage Site Wall at Su Won (where Matt and Sophia live) and been to Seoul for a day (heading back there next week as it's too big to see in one day!). Today we're heading off to Anmyon Island for a night away.

More on views and impressions of Korea in the next blog... (whatever you do, don't compare it to the-place-we've-just-come-from).

Street in Seoul

Err... we got called over by a guy with a loud speaker sayiong "You can come have your photo taken". So we did. It's a changing of the guard.








One of our meals with Matt and Sophia.