Seoul, Yongsan, and the DMZ.. OH MY!

Hey y’all! I have a special blog for you this week because it highlights our anniversary trip to Seoul, South Korea! I cannot put all the pictures I took in this blog because I literally took hundreds and hundreds of pictures, so make sure you head to my facebook page sometime this week where they will all be uploaded! I am going to put the pictures here that best represent all the places we went to.

This was an amazing trip, and I can’t believe how well it went after only planning it for a week. It started two Saturdays ago as we realized we only had a week left to put something together if we wanted to travel. With the coronavirus going on, we decided we wanted to stay somewhere local, so we chose Seoul. For those that don’t know, my minor at Union University was history, and Buddy was a history major at Austin Peay State University, and his Master’s is in military history. Seoul is filled with a ton of history, as they still have many palaces and temples around the area, as does the entirety of South Korea.

We decided to drive to Seoul instead of taking a taxi like originally planned. Many people had told me horror stories of driving to Seoul that had freaked me out, but after doing some facebook research in the spouses and travel groups for Camp Humphreys that I am a member of, I decided to chance it. We left Pyeongtaek around 1pm on Friday, and the GPS said it would take about an hour and a half to get to the hotel. The drive started out amazing with new views and easy interstate driving, but by the time we got closer to Seoul, there was a ton of traffic! We also went through about seven tunnels which were fun to drive through for us. I wouldn’t say the traffic was horrific though, it was no different than driving in Memphis or Nashville during rush hour traffic. Plus, the drivers here were a lot nicer. As soon as I would put my blinker on to change lanes, the car next to me would immediately let me over. It was about a 2 hour and fifteen minute drive by the time we parked at the hotel.

We booked a hotel suite at the Dragon Hill Lodge at USAG (United States Army Garrison) Yongsan, which is in the Yongsan-gu district of Seoul. This hotel was a lot fancier than I thought it would be! Our suite was amazing and way better than the apartment we are living in here. Plus there are 3 restuarants, a cafe/deli, and many many stores in the hotel.

We decided since it was already around 4:30 by the time we got in to our suite, we would just stay in the hotel for the evening and explore Seoul the next day. We went and checked out all the different shops, walked the outside path behind the hotel, and even booked a couple of tours to do on Saturday and Sunday. After exploring the hotel, we got settled into our hotel room and discovered we couldn’t connect to the internet. We contacted the front desk about it, and within the hour they had it fixed. By the time our internet was fixed, it was about 6:30 and we had a dinner reservation at Sables, the fancy steakhouse restaurant in the hotel. Neither of us had amazingly high hopes of the restaurant, as hotel restaurants are hit and miss usually. This dinner was amazing though, and we are definitely going to be eating there again the next time we stay at Dragon Hill. Since Friday was our actual anniversary, we went hard on our meal. Buddy ordered a glass of wine, we both got steaks, Buddy got lobster tail with his steak, and we each ordered our own appetizer. The only other people in the restaurant was another couple sitting right behind us, and then a group of about 8 Koreans who were having a good time at dinner. The two waiters kept apologizing to us and the other couple about how loud they were being, but neither one of us minded them. During some conversation with the couple next to us, it came up that it was our first year wedding anniversary. They said they had been married for about 30 years. They had finished their dinner and left about the time our appetizers were finished. After Buddy and I had finished our meals, we were contemplating on getting dessert when the manager of the restaurant came over to our table. That couple had paid for our entire meal, plus a slice of cheesecake to celebrate our anniversary!!!! Y’all, we did not have a cheap meal, but they were so kind to pay for it. We made sure to ask the manager if she could tell them how thankful we were, as this couple stays at the hotel every 2 months when they have to come to Yongsan for military stuff, as they are stationed at Humphreys as well.

Saturday morning, we woke up early to get on a bus at 8am to head towards the DMZ (demilitarized zone) and the MDL (military demarcation line). We originally had wanted to book a tour to go to the DMZ and JSA (joint security area), the only area where the South and North Korean guards face each other directly. That tour is closed though due to the African Swine Flu, not the coronavirus. So we took the MDL tour that is in its place. We went to Imjingak, the Bridge of Freedom, and the Odusan Unification Observatory.

Imjingak is a place where South Koreans can come and mourn for those they know in the North such as family and friends. The Mangbaedan altar is there, which faces North Korea directly. Many North Korean defectors who come to South Korea often come alone and leave their families behind. They then can come to this altar to pay their respects to them since they are so close to North Korea here. We then got to walk along where the old railroad that once connected the two countries sat and was destroyed during the Korean War. The Bridge of Freedom is where almost 13,000 South Korean POWs crossed back into their homeland after the Korean War ended in 1953. A couple of years later in the early 1960s, my grandfather, Daddy Wayne, was stationed in this area. So it meant a lot to me that I was able to visit that area even though some if it looks completely different. All along the bridge and around Imjingak are a ton of colorful ribbons that hold hope and prayers that Korea will one day be a unified country again under peace and they can be with their families who are now separated by the DMZ.

A neat fact that our tour guide told us while at Imjingak is that the founder of Hyundai, Chung Ju-yung, is a North Korean defector. He was born in North Korea to a poor farm family. According to our tour guide, when he was young he knew he wanted a better life for himself, so he stole one of his father’s cows and sold it for a ticket to get to South Korea. He later started Hyundai, but never forgot where he came from. Once he was successful in life, he later went back in 1998 to Imjingak with 1,001 cows to replace the one cow he stole from his father and the other 1,000 cows to go to help North Korea because of their food shortage. He always wanted the two Koreas to unify.

After we left Imjingak, we traveled to the Odusan Unification Oberservatory. The observatory sits atop Odusan Mountain and is only 460 meters away from North Korea. This is the narrowest part of the DMZ. There is an observatory part on the fourth floor outside, where you can see across the river. There are actually two rivers that meet right in front of the observatory, the Han River and the Imjin River. When the tide is low, you could actually walk across the river right into North Korea, although that is not permitted. With the naked eye, you can see right into a North Korean village and see their gorgeous mountains. Sadly, it was a horribly misty/smoggy day, so we could not see much of anything. It was difficult to even see the river right in front of us! Google this area yourself to see what we wish we could have seen in person!

When we left the observatory, we went back to Seoul to the Korean War Museum and Memorial. This museum is 4 stories tall and packed with history. This was the last stop on the tour and literally just a block from our hotel, so we said goodbye to our tour group there. They stayed for an hour at the museum, where Buddy and I stayed 3 hours, and we still didn’t finish the entire museum, much to Buddy’s dismay. Honestly, we hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch and it was 3 in the afternoon. I was tired and hangry. Outside the museum is a memorial. They have listed on plaques the name of every known Korean soldier who died in the Korean War, plus the names of every soldier from other countries who died in the war helping the South Koreans. The United States plaques are even divided into the different states. In a separate part outside, the flags of every nation who helped the South Koreans are flown as well. There is also a memorial monument outside the front of the museum that is huge. It is the Korean War Tower and it represents a bronze dagger symbolizing Korea’s long history and patriotic militarism, and the tree of life representing the wish of Korean people for peace and prosperity.

We walked back to the hotel at that point and took a two hour nap. After that, we took a taxi into the Mapo-gu – Sangsu-dong area of Seoul. We went looking for a particular restaurant, but instead found a place called Austin that had Texas style barbecue and we decided to give it a try. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. For 42,000 KRW, we had two sodas, an appetizer of amazing onion rings, bbq chicken, pulled pork with sauce, spare ribs, brisket, a side of fries, a side of beans that had pork in them, and it also came with pumpkin soup and a salad. The brisket was the best I’ve ever had.

Sunday, we woke up and got our bags packed before we left for our next tour. Since checkout was at noon and noon was the projected time for when our tour ended, we checked out before we left and put our bags in the car. We headed first to the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple. It sits in the middle of downtown Seoul and has been the main temple in Seoul since 1936, as well as the largest remaining temple in Seoul. The architecture and colors were amazing to see in person. This is an active temple that people come to every day. I did not go inside to see the three Buddhas that sit in there for people to meditate to, but Buddy did. There are also 2 trees on site that are over 400 and 500 years old, that people find very sacred as they have lasted through years of dynasty changes, wars, and even the Japanese occupation of the country when they damaged much of the city. The Lotus Lantern Festival starts in May, hence all the paper lanterns at the temple.

After the temple, we took a five minute bus ride to the Gyeongbokgung Palace. To enter the palace grounds, you enter through the Gwanghwamun Gate. We got to witness the changing of guard ceremony here at the gate within ten minutes of arriving, and we had a front row spot to see it. It is meticulously choreographed, and was very neat to witness up close and personal. Even though there is no king to protect anymore, it is something that is reenacted every day as part of tradition. It was originally built in 1395 under the first king of the Joseon dynasty. After the Japanese occupation ended due to Japan losing World War II and the Korean War ended, it had to be completely rebuilt and was only finished about 10 years ago. Probably my favorite part of this gate is that it is the main gate to this amazing palace that once had 7,700 rooms be a part of it. It sits at the base of mountains. And now, it is surrounded by modern political buildings in a main part of Seoul. So while seeing the past history and architecture while at the gate and palace, you look up and see skyscrapers representing the present and future of Seoul.

After the ceremony, we walked the path to the main palace called Gyeongbokgung to where the king sat. In many pictures, you will see people dressed in traditional South Korean wear called hanboks. They are only worn for special occasions, and that includes trips to palaces and temples. Fun fact, anybody can wear a hanbok and you get free admission to the palace if wearing one. We walked through much of the palace grounds to also see where the king slept, the queen slept, and a famous pavilion called Gyeonghoeru. Our tour guide Amy was amazing and full of history facts about the Korean culture surrounding the dynasties.

Walking all the way to the back of the palace grounds leads you to another gate, and across the street from the gate is Cheongwadae. Translated, that is called “Blue House” which is just like our White House. It is where the South Korean president lives, and right now that is President Moon. It is called the Blue House because of the blue tiles that make the roof. Set apart from the main part of Seoul that is so busy and loud, right in front of the house where we were was very quiet and serene. Our tour group was the only people there besides all the guards.

After we saw the Blue House, we walked to a little museum and cafe that was down the street. When we entered, we had to walk past a radar that took our body temperature. This is to help keep those with a fever out of the museum, as a fever is a sign of the coronavirus. Luckily, us and the other two couples plus our tour guide was all allowed in, so no fever! Yay! After spending a little time there, we left the tour group as we only chose the halfday tour since we still had to drive back to Humphreys. The other two couples were doing the all day tour and going to another palace about an hour away.

We hated leaving Seoul. I had the best time with William there, I liked it a lot better than I thought I would. Everyone we encountered was so nice, and overall it was an amazing experience. We don’t know when we will be able to head back there, but we hope it is soon as we feel we didn’t even get to experience but maybe 5% of what the city had to offer! On a good point though, with it being a Sunday in the early afternoon, the drive back only took an hour and fifteen minutes!

I hope y’all enjoyed the little history post and all the pictures. I could have written so much more about what all we learned, but I would hate to bore y’all with all that. And don’t forget to go to my facebook at some point this week to see more pictures!