Kimchi and the DMZ

I am currently relaxing in our luxury suite at the Plaza Hotel. This place is so luxurious. I don't ever want to check out. When you arrive, you're greeted by an entourage of bowing men with white gloves. The hallways are dimly lit and decorated very tastefully in a modern style. When you open the door to your room, the curtains open automatically and a soft song plays on the speakers in the ceiling. Outside is the busy city of Seoul, but inside it's a tranquil sanctuary. The decor is minimalist in tones of black, white, and red and incorporates natural elements like wood and stone. The front room has a business center with many ports to charge your various devices. There are also TVs in both rooms so you can watch fascinating and hilarious Korean TV shows to your hearts content. The walk in closet area has red curtains that draw back to reveal a shelf for shoes and plush white robes. The bedroom has a plush bed with white linens that I slept like a baby in, waking up feeling refreshed and alive. There is a digital console next to the bed where you can open and close the curtains, turn the lights on and off, adjust the room temperature, call the concierge, and request maid service among many other things. The bathroom has a sunken tub that I almost dozed off in, a shower with great water pressure, and luxury bath products. The toilet is digital; it has a warm seat, flushes for you, and a bidet which I tested out this morning. Ha!

But enough about the amazing hotel room. Last night we went on a Korean food tour led by a guide named Jin. We were joined by a German couple and another couple from San Francisco. I booked this tour because I'm intrigued by Korean food and wanted to know more about it. Jin took us to a variety of interesting restaurants frequented by Koreans in these really interesting old neighborhoods with lots of winding streets.

The tour started in a Korean barbecue restaurant. Each table had it's own grill fired by hot coals. Jin put slices of beef on the grill and showed us how to grill it and eat it. After the meat was ready, you wrap it in a red leaf lettuce leaf or sesame leaf and can add things like red bean paste, kimchi, pickled onions, peppers, garlic cloves, seasoning, and more. It's like a taco of sorts? It was delicious. He also taught us a drinking game with a drink made with a Korean beer and a coke.

The next stop was at a topokki restaurant. Topokki is a stew of sorts with cheese, rice cakes, noodles, squid, and clams in a bright orange liquid I assumed to be kimchi (but I am not sure.) It's cooked in a pot on a gas grill that's built into the table. It was very spicy... and I know it sounds weird, but I ate it and highly enjoyed it. Even the squid was good and didn't taste bad. I never thought I'd say I liked squid.

Then we went to a place full of boisterous Koreans playing drinking games and eating. It was a really cute place decorated in a traditional wooden style with kimchi pots and figurines. We sat at traditional tables on the floor and played drinking games again with a few bottles of what I believed to be rice wine. I think it was makgeolli? We ate a dish that consisted of soft tofu and a mixture of savory pork and kimchi that was incredibly good - very flavorful and earthy. There was also a seafood pancake of eggs, leeks, and various guys from the sea. Again, I never thought I'd say this because normally I don't like seafood, especially when it's cooked... but it was super good. I even tried some pickled jellyfish. It didn't taste like much and could best be described as chewy spaghetti.

I was stuffed to the gills at this point but we had one more stop at a night market full of people selling all manners of Korean food (especially kimchi) and people eating at crowded tables. Mike tried a pickled baby crab (I couldn't believe it either) and said it tasted like crunchy candy. We stopped at a restaurant full of Koreans of all ages that were clearly having a good time eating and drinking. We had the same dish that we had on the street the other night (the German girl described it as spicy ketchup rice tubes) and a pancake type dish with pork and vegetables. And... more drinking games with makgeolli.

I left the tour feeling very full and with a new sense of appreciation for Korean food. Now I feel more confident about walking into a Korean restaurant or by a food stall and ordering something. The Korean food was an excellent change after the Cantonese food in Hong Kong (which I didn't care for.) The Cantonese food wasn't spicy or flavorful to me at all. Korean food is full of bold flavors and lots of spice. I plan on eating it more often when I get back to SF! I don't understand why it's not more popular, because it's super good. Maybe because it sounds and looks a bit weird at first. Don't be scared though... Korean food is delicious.

This morning we woke up early for the DMZ tour. We had to be at the USO office in Seoul at 7 am so it was kind of a rough morning after all that makgeolli last night. The tour guide was a really nice Korean girl named Haylee who had good English but said things in an odd but cute way. The other people on the tour were a mix of Americans and Europeans. Apparently Chinese and South Koreans can't go on the tour because of political reasons.

Our first stop was Camp Bonifas, which was right on the border. Before we went into the camp, they checked our passports and told us not to photograph any of the security buildings. I assume this was for safety reasons. The tension was palpable immediately. There were barbed wires and soldiers with guns in every direction. Before we went into the DMZ, we watched a film and a US soldier gave us a brief history overview of the conflict. Then we got back into the bus and a US soldier narrated our drive to the JSA area. Again, we weren't allowed to photograph anything. We passed a mine field and tank barriers. And here is something odd... there is a South Korean village in the DMZ. About 200 farmers live there who farm rice paddies and are guarded day and night by soldiers. They must be in their houses every night by dark and don't pay any taxes.

The JSA was the scariest part for me. We were face to face with North Korean soldiers. In front and back of us were South Korean and American soldiers standing watch. The South Korean soldiers were particularly disarming because they stood completely still, with their fists balled up staring straight forward. We were told that it's a psychological thing in Korean culture, and whoever breaks the staring gaze first is considered a coward. At first I thought they were mannequins because they were so still. At this point we were allowed to take photos, and I snapped some really odd photos of the stare down. We were told not to make any gestures or scoff because the North Koreans were filming us and use any sign of disrespect from us as propaganda to fuel their hatred towards the South. However, the North Koreans on the other side often make lewd gestures in the South's direction. Hmmmmm.

We then went into the conference room, were the North Koreans and South Koreans meet sometimes to talk. It was here that I was able to take a few steps into what is geographically considered North Korea. It was a strange feeling.

We were then taken to a viewpoint where we were shown North Korea's fake village in the distance. The government built a city that appears to be full of high rises but is in fact hollow buildings with painted on windows and doors. Nobody lives there, but occasionally people are bused into the village to give it some semblance of reality. North Korea wants to appear successful and normal when in fact they are poor and oppressed. Over this fake city is a giant flag pole with the North Korean flag. The North built a taller flag pole in response to the South erecting a flag pole. The whole thing is a giant pissing content - it's unreal.

The next stop was the third tunnel. According to an escaped North Korean who defected to South Korea, NK built 20 tunnels under the DMZ into SK for war purposes. Only 4 of these tunnels have been discovered and the one we went into was under a mine field. When SK discovered it, NK claimed it was only a coal mining tunnel and painted splotches of coal on the walls. This makes no sense because coal doesn't exist in this part of the world.

The final thing we saw was a train station built in 1997 that was meant to be a passage between the north and the south. Relations between the two regions were friendlier back then, and this was a step towards peace. It all ended when a South Korean woman was shot by a North Korean soldier. Now the station stands eerily empty, waiting for people who will never come.

As the tour ended, Haylee gave us her thoughts. She said she thinks things will end in war and asked for us to pray for her peninsula. I hope a resolution is reached someday; it's such a terrible situation.