Korean Differences
A list of differences I noticed between Korea and Canada that I noted while there on business.
Visiting the Korean Demilitarized Zone
On Sunday, Andrie and I took a trip out the the DMZ with North Korea. Unfortunately the JSA was closed that day, so we didn’t get to see any North Korean Soldiers up close.
It’s still a very weird place. Driving up to it the river Imjin straddles the highway. Since it flows from North Korea, they’ve fenced it off halfway to Seoul and there are armed guard towers every few hundred metres. Once you get to the outskirts of the DMZ you have to switch to a special tour bus. Photography going forward is extremely limited. I was only allowed to take pictures from specific approved areas. Driving to our first stop, you have to go through a checkpoint where South Korean soldiers come on and check all the passports of the tourists. After this the bus goes on a bridge and zig-zag around barriers.
Seoul
Well I’m currently blogging from South Korea!
Seoul is a pretty intense place, and we’ve only explored it in tiny amounts so far. After a brutal 18 hours in airports and planes we arrived in the early evening. I was surprised that my CDMA blackberry roams here (no data though). So I didn’t need to rent a handset. The airport was overall very efficient and we were out within 30 minutes after landing, which was a nice reminder on how horrible and inefficient most Canadian airprots are (as well as Canadian Border Control). A quick bus ride to our hotel and we ventured out to the small roads behind our hotel, where we found a local korean grill house. For those who don’t know, many korean restaurants actually bring the raw meats to you and they are cooked in front of you on a gas grill. The meats are marinated and absolutely delicious.