Obon Week is a 4-day holiday in Japan, from August 13 to August 16. The holiday has both Buddhist and Shinto roots, involving the spirits of ancestors returning to their earthly homes. Possibly to get away from these spirits, most Japanese spend Obon Week traveling. A popular destination for these wandering Japanese is South Korea.
I took 4 days off work (Friday the 17th, Saturday the 18th -- yes, Saturday was an official work day--, Monday the 20th and Tuesday the 21st). And, along with Guillaume, Hilory and Ryan, set off to enjoy our Obon holiday.
Because of their early flight dates, John had set out early (we would meet him in Korea), and Ryan wouldn't be joining us to Korea, but would be along for the ride.
Unfortunately, this account is incomplete. I lost my notebook on the Seoul train, and thus, key elements of my trip are not sitting in a train station's lost-and-found somewhere along the Korean peninsula. I apologize, and hope you enjoy this partial account of my trip to South Korea.
NOTE: All Korean words and names used in this Rambling use the new Romanization method, introduced by the Korean government in July 2000.
Guillaume, Ryan and I met Hilory at the Hirooka train station 5 minutes before our 7:50am train arrived. This was the first of many local trains we took to get from Hirooka to Shimonoseki and back.
We had to transfer many times before getting to Hiroshima, where we would be spending the night. At the second transfer station, the inevitable happened: we missed our train. Thinking fast, we jumped on the next train to Nagoya, Japan's 3rd largest city. Once there, we found out the next train to our next transfer station was cancelled. Finally we got aboard and set off again.
For the next 10 hours we transferred, slept and played with Ryan's Palm Pilot. arrived in Hiroshima. We were an hour behind schedule, and arrived at the Youth Hostel 15 minutes before it locked its doors.
After a quick shower, we went to sleep in what would turn out to be the most comfortable beds on our whole trip.
We woke up early and had a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages and fruit. I was amazed at the quality and quantity of the youth hostel's food.
By 8:30am we checked out and headed downtown. We first stopped at the famous Hiroshima Dome. A 19th century brick building that once had a domed roof, it is located almost directly under the hypocentre of the world's first atomic bomb attack. All that remains now are ruins and the skeletal metal girders that once held up the dome.
We then headed for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in Peace Park. Unlike the museum I saw in Nagasaki which gave a more-or-less objective account of the bombing, the Hiroshima museum's mission is to show the horrors of the atomic bomb in the hope of ending the threat of nuclear war.
The museum started with a brief history of the city of Hiroshima, then led immediately into the details of the bombing. The explosion traveled 11 km in 30 seconds, and at the hypocentre temperatures reached over 2000ºC, melting roof tiles a charring flesh. The most emotional exhibit for me was a charred tricycle that was being ridden by a 4-year-old at the time of the bombing.
The museum also houses a collection of letters written by the past and present mayors of Hiroshima to every nation that takes part in nuclear bomb testing. Until recently, letters were only written to the 5 world nuclear powers: China, France, Great Britain, the Russian Federation and the USA. But two new nations have been added to the list: India and Pakistan.
I was a little disappointed how little attention was paid to Japan's role in the war. Japan was almost portrayed as an innocent victim. One exhibit even mentioned how innocent Chinese and Koreans who were brought to Japan were affected by the bomb. What it didn't mention is that Japan brought these people over against their will. The men were forced to act as act as soldiers, and the women to act as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers.
After the museum we grabbed some okonomiyaki, a Hiroshima specialty, and ate it at the train station while waiting for our train to Shimonoseki. We said good-bye to Ryan, a final farewell for some, then boarded the train. Four hours and a few transfers later, we arrived at Shimomoseki.
Upon arriving in Shimonoseki, we went directly to the ferry terminal, where we spent half an hour filling out forms for customs, immigration, and whoever else happened to be there. After waiting for another hour, we boarded the ferry and set up our "beds". The beds were actually thin futons on the floor with a solid vinyl cube for a pillow. Our room was shared with another 30 travelers, some of whom had noisy hyper-active children. As soon as we left the harbour, Hilory and Guillaume started feeling seasick, so we took several walks along the outside decks both before and after out expensive, yet mediocre meal.
I took a shower in a surprisingly clean on-board bathroom. It was even equipped with a Japanese-style furo (hot tub). It was in the furo that a Japanese guy started up a conversation. I think he just wanted to practice his English. We chatted for a while (in the lobby), then went to "bed".
We arrived in Busan sometime before 8am. We disembarked then waited in line to be inspected by customs and immigration. In line, we met a German traveler named Sebastian. He found Japan to be too expensive and so was trying his luck in South Korea.
After a 20-minute walk in the rain tot he train station, we got on the train to Seoul. We drifted in and out of sleep for the whole 4.5 hour trip.
We met John at Seoul station, and he brought us to a Korean restaurant. We ate gimchi (spicy marinated cabbage), mandu (dumplings), bibinbap (rice stir-fry), and gimbap (Korean makizushi).
We said good-bye and good luck to Sebastian, then John brought us to our hotel. It wasn't the worst place I've ever stayed at, but it was far from the best. Instead of a bed, there was a thin futon on the floor. There was also a condom machine on the wall -- pure class.
We headed out to the tourist information centre where we could check our email for free. We also made reservations for a guided tour of Panmunjeom a town on the border of North and South Korea used for diplomatic meetings between the two governments.
We then visited the Lotte World Mall, an enormous mall/amusement park, complete with grocery stores, a skating rink and much much more. We grabbed dinner there, then headed back to the hotel, where I got to watch American TV (for the US Soldiers stationed here) before going to bed.
We got up early and took the train from Seoul to Suwon to see the Korea Folk Village, a traditional-style Korean village. The first bus was full, so we grabbed a quick lunch of dumplings and Baskin Robbins. In Korea, there are Baskin Robbins stores on every corner, much to Guillaume's delight.
We finally made it to the Folk Village, which is best described as "Rustic". Huts with thatched roofs, chicken coops, even a shaman's hut were there. It was very hot and humid that day, so after 2 hours in the hot sun, we headed back to Seoul.
Before leaving for Korea, we had met a Japanese-Korean girl named Tomomi who would also be in Seoul during Obon week. We gave her a call and she said she would meet us for dinner. We popped back into the Tourist Centre to check our email, and I learned how Waterloo was giving me problems with my course selection for September. Determined to not let this ruin my holiday, we left and met up with Tomomi and her friend Ramesh.
Tomomi took us through a market, and then to a restaurant that served banquet-style Korean meals. The servings may have been small, but there were a lot of them. Every time we thought we had finished the last course, the waitress would bring another dozen tiny plates.
After dinner Tomomi took us to a Korean theatre where we saw traditional Korean dancers and musicians. It was amazing. There were traditional instruments, drums, elaborate costumes and some spectacular dancing. After the show the performers came out into the lobby and we had our photos taken with them.
After the photo shoot we went to a coffee shop where a teen-aged cashier giggled at us foreigners. We said good-bye to Tomomi and Ramesh then went back to the hotel.
Thursday was John's last day in Korea so we said good-bye in Seoul Station. I would be seeing him again in September, but Guillaume and Hilory may not get to see him again for a long time.
We then took the train to the War Memorial Museum. This building is enormous. It took us 3 hours to get through all the exhibits, starting with the ancient wars with China, to the colonization by Japan, to the Korean War and beyond. I now know more than I ever cared to know about the Korean War. The museum was very interesting but contained a fair amount of propaganda. The entire last half-hour was just showing off South Korea's current military capability, should the Communists decide to invade.
The remainder of this rambling (Aug 17 - 21) has been lost. In a nutshell, we tried to visit Panmungeom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), but missed the bus. Instead of going to the Lotte Hotel, we went to the Lotte World Hotel. Our tour guide was not pleased by our mistake and we booked a trip to the DMZ and to visit the tunnels built by the North Koreans. We ate lots of good (and spicy) Korean foods, including dak galbi, a huge spicy chicken dish, and galbi barbequed beef ribs.
We took a grueling ferry home, and stayed sane on the 16-hour train ride home by teaching Guillaume to play Hearts.
Anyone traveling to South Korea who happens to find a black hard-cover notebook with my name in it, is invited to email me so I can get back the original accounts of all my travels in Asia.