Quick Trip Three: 台北101

Yet another quick trip! This time to the place that everyone has asked me if I've been to; Taipei 101. This time, I also went to the top.

So, there's not that much to say, other than that I went and saw. So, on to the pictures!









The very top!



Inside, there are large counter-weight systems that allow the building to sway ever-so slightly on windy days and not fall over.





More pictures soon!

Quick Trip Two: National Taiwan Museum

Part two of my series of short trips was to the National Taiwan Museum. It is, in fact, inside of 228 Park, so this was familiar territory.

The museum was, similar to the Museum of Modern Art in that it was relatively small, but a beautiful old building.

The museum is the oldest in Taiwan. Built in 1908 by the Japanese during their colonial rule in Taiwan, it has remained a functioning museum ever since.



As you can see from the outside, it's pretty much what you (or at least I) expect a museum to look like. Unlike similar museums, like the New York Public Library building, the Philadelphia Public Library, or even Youngstown's Stambaugh Auditorium however, it's not very big. Inside though, is classy.

White terracotta all over,



marble floors,



and of course, a dome!



The exhibits themselves seemed to be almost entirely geared towards kids, though there was one exhibit about the camphor industry in Taiwan. I was pretty well lost for that part, but there was a smaller section about native tribes in Taiwan which was really neat albeit all in Chinese.

Oh! I saw a big wooden giraffe too!



Well, that's it for the second of my quick trips. More to come!

Quick Trip One: 2-28 Park

Here's the first in a series of quick trips to different places in Taipei. This trip was to 2-28 Park Memorial Park. The park memorializes the events of February 28, 1947 (hence 2-28) during which native Taiwanese protested Chiang Kai-shek's encroachment in Taiwan.

At the center of the park is a big monument/spire. I wish I could tell you that I knew what the symbolism is of it, but all the signage is in Chinese.






The park is divided into different sections with a band shell, pagodas, a few lakes, and of course trees.






It was a really great place. A nice oasis in the middle of a big city.

Yep, that's it! Like I said, it was a quick trip!

More to come soon!

Third Tunnel

So, yes, it has been a while, and yes, none of these posts are being done directly after they happened. . .but such is life. I've got lots of posts in the works, and hopefully they will all get done before I leave in two weeks!

Either way. . . back to Korea.

On my third day I took a tour of the Third Infiltration Tunnel as well as Dorsan Station and Dora Observatory.

First was The Third Tunnel. This was one of three infiltration tunnels that the North Koreans dug into the South in preparation for an eventual invasion.



Sadly, pictures were not allowed inside the tunnel, however, I can tell you that it was long, and dark, and damp and small (less than 5 feet tall).

Outside the tunnel was a restaurant, souvenirs, and the like. It was sort of neat to see that the South turned something the North meant to be a thing for war into a money-making tourist spot.




After the Third Tunnel we went to Dora Observatory which is another ROK observation point over the DMZ toward the North. Two things were very obvious on this day. 1. security was much higher and 2. ROK soldier were everywhere.



Dora, which is a military installation, had military vehicles all over. Moreover, we couldn't take any pictures of the DMZ or anything inside the observatory. One of the members of my tour group must not have heard the announcement because he took a few quick pictures of the DMZ and was promptly confronted by an ROK soldier. Things were a little tense for about five minutes when our tour guide was brought over and explained what happened in Korean. The guy in our group had to delete the pictures he took. Intense!

After Dora, we were off to Dorasan Station which is the last train stop in South Korea, and the first into North Korea. Technically, yes, trains can run into the North, all the way to the capital of Pyonyang, but politically, the connection hasn't been made yet.





And, again, lots of soldiers were out.





Two pans of Dorasan Station.






Well, that's it for Korea. The trip was lots of fun, and well worth it!

Coming soon (this week?) will be a few quick trip posts from places in Taipei.

-Nate

Korean War Memorial

Today was a trip to the Korean War Memorial in Seoul. Having been to the US Korean War Memorial I didn't have great hopes for the day. It's just another museum, right?

Wrong.

This was a massive memorial to a hugely important event in Korean history. It was a beautiful day, and lots of people were out enjoying the day.

There's loads of pictures this time, so I'll just post them with minimal comments.



The massive monument at the center of the memorial.



Next to the obelisk, on either side, are huge group statues representing different classes of Korean people and their roles in the Korean conflict.







To the left of the obelisk is a large statue of two Korean brothers embracing which represents the Korean civil war which pitted brother against brother. The brothers are on top of a large globe slit in half.



Around the brothers statue were artillery and jeeps from the US, USSR and North and South Korea.








Here's a pan of the memorial and museum.



the memorial itself, to the right and left of the museum, is similar to the Vietnam War Memorial in the US. Rows and rows of ten feet tall plaques with the names of war dead.



Behind the museum were tons and tons and tons of airplanes, jets, rockets ans assorted military stuff. Here are just a few items.







In addition to the memorial and airplanes and such, today was Buddah's Birthday, so there were performances in the square most of the day, including a military parade.

It was really cool!



That's all for now. More later!

Welcome to North Korea

So, today was THE day. What I had been looking forward to the whole trip. Going to the Joint Security Area (JSA) between the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea).

First, a little background. Korea was liberated from Japanese control after the Second World War, and was split roughly at the 38th line of longitude. This was a temporary split and elections were planned sometime in the future.



The North, with the support of the Soviet Union, nominated Kim Ill-Sung (a leader in favor o Communism) as its Presidential candidate.



The South, with the support of the US and Allied powers, nominated Syngman Rhee (a leader in favor of a democratic government) as its candidate.



On July 20, 1948 elections were held in the South, and Rhee was elected President and the Republic of Korea, was declared. This declaration officially separating it from the North.

In reaction, on September 9 Kim Ill-Sung was installed as Premiere of the Worker's Party of North Korea, and made de facto leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The two nations coexisted for two years until June 25, 1950 when forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA, North Korea) crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded the South. This took the ROK and US completely off-guard, and only three days later the KPA captured the ROK capital, Seoul. On June 27 President Truman ordered US troops to Korea to defend against the Communist encroachment.

By September, the DPRK had pushed to the southern coast. The US staged a massive push-back operation, lead by General Douglas MacArthur, and by November the DPRK was routed back past the 38th parallel past the DPRK capital Pyonyang and nearly to the Chinese boarder. On October 15 the People's Republic of China (PRC) intervened in support of the DPRK and pushed US-UN forces back to the 38th.

Fighting continued for three more years but significant gains were not made on either side. Throughout those years talks continued between North and South until a ceasefire agreement was settled upon on July 27, 1953. Among other things, the ceasefire established the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South as a buffer where no military presence is allowed. The DMZ is four kilometers (6.4 miles) wide with the North and South controlling two kilometers each.

The city of Panmunjom sits square in the middle of the DMZ half in North and half in South Korea.

So, you're saying enough of the history lesson! Where are the pictures!?

Ok, ok. . . pictures.

The tour started, for me, pretty early. I had to be at the Hotel Lotte in Seoul at 10:00am, but my hotel in Incheon is about an hour and a half by subway and cab to Seoul. . . so early I rose to catch the subway.

Uneso Station, in Incheon, is way the heck out from Seoul. It connects to Incheon and Gimpo Airports and from there to the Seoul subway system.





Like I said, it's very large, and was mostly empty whenever I used it, but maybe it's busier during tourist seasons in the summer.

From Incheon to the Lotte hotel and from there on a bus to Panmunjom.

The trip to Panmunjom was about an hour and as we got closer to the DMZ and the Joint Security Area (JSA) one I started to see more and more razor wire and military guard posts.




There were literally ROK guard posts every mile or so. It was pretty intense. We eventually crossed the so called "Freedom Bridge" which has a larger checkpoint and goes into the DMZ. Once we reached the checkpoint an ROK soldier came on to the bus and went through and checked our passports.

I would have taken pictures and videos of all this, but once you enter the DMZ you are not allowed to take any pictures or videos even from the bus. I can tell you though that there is more razor wire and road barricades all the way to Camp Bonifice, the joint US-ROK base operated under the United Nations.

Once at Camp Bonifice, again no pictures allowed, we had another security check, and a briefing before we went to the JSA. The briefing was a brief history of the Korean War, how and why Korea was split, and what the JSA is all about.

After the briefing, we got on to a big blue UN bus and sped off the the JSA. On the way we were given very strict orders not to talk to any of the ROK or DPRK soldiers, not to point at them, and not to touch them. Intense!

At this point, I was very excited and couldn't wait to get there! We exited the bus, and were put in two single-file lines and told not to leave that group. We were taken outside of the ROK "Freedom House" which is basically the main building behind the JSA meeting rooms on the South Korean side (I wasn't told, but I assume there are offices and maybe soldier's quarters in the building).

Pictures! yes, I know! Just a minute. We were marched into one of the rooms and were there for about ten minutes. In the center is a meeting table which sits right on the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) which splits North and South. So, half is in North Korea and half in South.

I was standing behind it, in North Korea.




Another pan of the room. This time I'm left of the first video. I zoomed in on a vinyl sheet with flags on it. It has flags of the DPRK, US, and UN Joint Security Forces. Until 2001, however, there was a shelf with miniature flags on it. In April of that year President George W. Bush met with former ROK President Kim De-Jung in Washington, D.C. On that same day, two DPRK soldiers entered the room and one polished his boot with the American flag and the other blew his nose in the ROK flag. After that, the flags were replaced with one large sheet with each flag on it.



Outside of the room you can see the MDL.



The gravel is South Korea, the cement is the MDL and the sand is North Korea



MDL from the opposite side of the building.

Outside of the room I saw ROK soldiers in their very intense Tae-kuando stance.



They stand half exposed to serve as a more difficult target to hit.

Inside, they are equally as intense.



But I took a picture with one!



This picture was, strictly speaking, taken in North Korea!

So, after about ten minutes, we were assembled in a line again, and shuffled out to a side view of the JSA (no pictures allowed), and then back into the Freedom House and onto the bus.

Once back on the bus, it we had one last view of the JSA.




So, you might be saying to yourself, "self, where are the DPRK soldiers? Don't they stand there all the time?" Well, in fact, they do not. When the South gives tours of the JSA South Korean soldiers provide military security, and when the North gives tours, DPRK soldiers provide security. So, sadly, I did not get to see any DPRK soldiers.

Overall, however, the trip was great, and the tour was fun! I'll have more for tomorrow, but until then.

작별 (Jagby-eol)

First Day in Korea

Well, I spent my first day in South Korea, and it was lots of fun.

My day started with breakfast at the hotel. I slept in until 10, so I missed the breakfast buffet, but instead got the "American Breakfast." It was pretty good.



After breakfast, I lounged around the hotel, and eventually called a fellow Freemason named Peter Dietrich. Turns out, he is from Michigan, and has been living in South Korea for 4 years. I met him for coffee and it eventually turned into dinner with his fiance and their friend.

We had Korean barbecue which is basically a bunch of side dishes (including delicious kim-chi) and coals with a grill over it for steak.







In talking to Peter I learned quite a bit about the North-South political issue. As I understand Peter has a friend who is a soldier at the army base, and it was explained to me that unification of Korea really isn't a practical or viable option. The main policy in the South is to keep the staus quo. According to Peter the North will obliterated Seoul should war break out, and, of course, Seoul is the Republic of Korea (ROK) capital which contains 2/3 of the population of ROK.

Moreover, tomorrow, the South Korean President will be making an announcement declaring that North Korea sunk a South Korean naval vessel back in March. So tensions are pretty high.

After dinner, I went back to Peter's apartment, and met some of Peter's fellow Masons at the Lodge he belongs to. They were in the process of writing up a legal document which will define what Freemasonry is in the ROK in order to establish it as a legal and recognized organization.

I wasn't much help in their discussions, but I did get to hang out a bit and enjoy some fellowship.



Pictured left to right are Brothers Jack, Charles, Peter and myself.

Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow is Panmunjom and the DMZ!

Welcome to Korea

Last week I planned a trip to Korea, and well. . . here I am. The trip was pretty easy and nice. Security at both Taoyuan Airport and Incheon Airport was quick and painless.

The plane trip was actually nice. I flew with Asiana Airlines, and was very impressed.



I was hungry before the trip, so I got a steamed pork dumpling at the airport. It was good, but not worth NT$50 (about US$2)



Little did I realize, the flight had an in-flight meal.

Beef rice with a shrimp salad, a roll and chocolate cake. Not the greatest meal ever, but surprisingly good for a 2 hour flight.



Once I got into Incheon airport, I called the hotel and got a free shuttle bus to the hotel.
Let me tell you, this hotel is pretty nice. I paid an average if US$68/night, and I think it's a pretty good deal.

When I got to the room, however, I couldn't for the life of me find a light switch. Once I found one in the room near the bathroom, it wouldn't turn on. So, I went to the front desk and asked, basically, how the lights worked. I was informed that the little plastic fob that my room key (yes! there are hotels that still use keys) slides into a slot that "powers up the room."

So, with the room lit up I took some pictures.

Room power up slot with plastic key



The room has a small entrance where once can take their shoes off to put on customary Asian slippers.











So, first things first, I tried to plug in my laptop. Unfortunately, the electrical outlets here are not like in Taiwan (which is to say, like the US) but never fear! the hotel had adapters.



Next was food, and yes, I did the American thing and ordered a hamburger and a beer. The burger wasn't bad. . .



The beer, called "OB", was basically Korean Bud.



And of course, I tried on the stylish Sevilla Hotel robes!



For the rest of the week, I'll be exploring tomorrow and going on a tour of the DMZ Thursday. Until then.

작별 (Jagby-eol)!