To Seoul

Currently sitting in Narita airport in Tokyo, waiting for my last connection. I typed up this entry while waiting for my plane, but wasn't able to get wifi until now. Meh. Anyway, here we go.

This year, I shall be travelling to South Korea. One of my friends from High School, Zane, was hired to teach English in Seoul last year. When he gave me the news, one of the first things I suggested was that I visit him (as I did with Karen in Velez Malaga last year).

Truth be told, I know very little about the Koreas, probably less so than any destination that I have visited. I read the background section in a couple of guidebooks, and it seems that for much of its history, Korea has had to walk a fine line between the powers of China and Japan. It was occupied by both for periods of time, and finally split in two at the 54th parallel between communist china and the western powers in the 50s. S. Korea has traditionally been one of the stronger economies in Asia since then. Also, they -love- their Starcraft.

I will be visiting Seoul (obviously. It's very difficult to get into N. Korea, and, while it might be fascinating, given the recent political climate, N. Koreas penchant for kidnapping and general craziness, and the questionable morality about my tourist money supporting a repressive, autocratic regime, it would probably be a -bad idea-). Like last year, I managed to, by accident as much as intention, schedule my trip during around several major festivals. In the weeks preceding my departure, Zane has sent me a websites showcasing all of the various celebrations going on in Seoul during my stay. The most notable, and the ones I am most interested in seeing, are the festivals related to Buddha's birthday (on May 2nd). Apparently there is a lantern parade, and a lot of cultural activities going on around the temples. I'm typing this in an airport, and don't have access to either my email or the internet, so I can't provide links at this time.

Next week, Zane is taking a vacation, and we are doing a sort of loop of the country. The are to the SE is Gyeongju, the historical center of the first unified Korea. It has several UNESCO sites, in the form of various temples. After that, we are catching a flight from Busan to Jeju island. Jeju is apparently a resort island, dominated by a massive dormant volcano. It has the largest set of lava tubes in the world (hmm.. I wonder if I've ever been to the largest of something). While Zane's interests are more directed to R&R, I'm kind of interesting in doing some hiking, and examining the little Easter-Island like statues that dot the island.

Following that, we'll fly back to Seoul for Buddha's birthday, and the next week will be spent investigating the area around Seoul. I may try to join a tour to the DMZ, though I haven't email anyone about it yet, and I believe that is the kind of thing that requires advance notice.

So, there's the plan in a nutshell. I plan on updating the blog with pictures as often as I can, though I don't know how much time or access I'll have once we reach Jeju.

Here are some pictures of flying over the arctic. It just kinda boggles my mind that we were flying there, in our little controlled atmosphere, while outside were some of the most inhospitable conditions on Earth.