SEOULITARY CONFINEMENT

A panoramic view from our room at the Grand Hyatt Seoul

How many times have you heard an American say, “The best places in the world are in the good ole U.S. of A. Why would I want to visit anywhere else?” What leads to such an erroneous and downright cynical view? Is it nationalism? Ethnocentrism? Or just plain ignorance? I hope it’s the latter, but I suspect it is all of the above. For some reason, many of our compatriots just can’t fathom that there are wonderful cites outside the land from the redwood forest to the Gulfstream waters. While I would like to believe I was never so narrow-minded, before this same adventure last year, I mistakenly assumed the New York skyline was the gold standard by which all city skyscrapers were to be judged. I got a rude awakening when we visited Shanghai (see below), which had a far more extensive skyline, far taller buildings and far more modern and architecturally sophisticated structures. Frankly, in the skyline department, it puts New York to utter shame. Seoul provided a similar eye-opening experience. Seoul embodies every bit of modernity one would expect from a major metropolis. Now, despite all this, I wouldn’t say that either Eastern city is better than Manhattan. I love New York as much as Frank and Liza did. But the notion that American opulence cannot be matched is as obsolete as the belief that America runs the planet.

            What a magnificent city! Seoul houses 11 million residents within its boundaries and more than 25 million in its greater metropolitan area. Its buildings reach for the sky and extend in all directions beyond the human eye. It is surrounded by majestic mountains and penetrated by attractive waterways. All the modern architecture is literally breathtaking. A giant building in one of many shopping districts looks like a cross between a mushroom cloud and the mother ship from “Independence Day.”

Photo of Dongdaemun Design Plaza, shamelessly stolen

            One of the city’s greatest attributes is the generosity of its citizens. I can’t even begin to tell you how many people bent over backwards to help us find places, activities and even foodstuffs. People even walked with us to show us where places were. A number of the people with whom we’re traveling echoed a similar refrain. Whatever anti-Americanism may have existed after the last Bush Administration didn’t permeate this region of the world or has dissipated.

            A couple of examples of the generosity of the folks at our hotel bear mention. I foolishly lost my passport at, of all places, a McDonalds. Before this trip, I hadn’t eaten at McDonalds (which I view as the worst of the fast food chains) in years. However, one of the “scavenges” in each city is to purchase and eat a uniquely foreign dish at an American fast food restaurant. Late on the second day, I noticed that my passport wasn’t in my pocket. I hoped that I had left it in the hotel room but wasn’t sure. When we returned to the room, my passport was on the desk with a note from someone saying he found my passport on the ground with my room key. He had called the hotel which sent its shuttle to the restaurant to pick up my passport. As yet another example, two of our travel companions took clothes to a laundromat to be picked up on our third and final day in the city. While at COEX (a futuristic version of an American mall), they remembered they had left the clothes at the business which was about to close. They called the hotel, which sent someone to pick up the clothes and bring them to the travelers’ room. How many Hyatts in the U.S. would go to such lengths? (Incidentally, the person who picked up my passport identified himself only as “Cedric.” I suspect he is one of the American soldiers stationed in South Korea whom we saw in the restaurant that day.) Whether they were service personnel or random people we met on the street, the people of Seoul were gracious and giving.

            Just FYI: I almost shudder to write such things. I made positive comments about the residents of Osaka several days ago as well. Is it appropriate to stereotype a town’s residents, much less a nation’s people, much less the people of Southeast Asia, when the stereotype is positive rather than negative? Is it OK to say, “the Japanese are so gracious” or “the Koreans are so generous” when it would not be deemed OK (at least by the standards of political correctness) to say something negative about such broad groups? Is it OK to stereotype positively when you’re referring to cities rather than nations (even though both cities house millions)? Lest I be adjudged a hypocrite, I will cast aspersions: some of the people we encountered have a problem with lines. On a few more occasions that I’m used to, people broke in front of us in line, and a few times, even nudged us out of the way. There, I said it. Even Asians aren’t perfect. (Of course, I’ll probably be labeled a racist for that comment.)

Speaking of COEX, how many malls do you frequent that contain a casino, a 4D movie theater and a giant aquarium housing sea creatures from all over the world? Sharks just feet from kiosks?

One of the countless exhibits in the aquarium, located slightly below the mallway shown by the windows

           

Perhaps the most dramatic adventure of this leg was visiting the DMX or demilitarized zone. You’re showing your youth if you’re unfamiliar, at least from history class, with the Korean War of the early 1950s. The enormously costly civil war that claimed millions of lives ultimately yielded two separate countries: North Korea, a very poor Communist nation aligned with China (though even China is now lukewarm on the country given its crazy leaders who seem appealing only to Dennis Rodman) and South Korea, a much wealthier, modern nation aligned with the West (and the country housing Seoul). North Korea is part of the “Axis of Evil” as described by George W. Bush in a State of the Union address in which Bush was attempting to drum up support to invade Iraq. North Korea spends huge sums it doesn’t have on military development at the expense of its citizens’ basic human needs. The country’s international behavior is akin to the anti-social conduct of a belligerent misfit, yielded devastating sanctions by much of the world, including the United Nations, making the already poor nation essentially destitute. Its people are literally starving, in contrast to their neighbors (and former kinfolks) to the South. Less than two kilometers separate these nations of kindred spirits but diametrically opposed ideologies, economies and governments. The tension between the governments is a constant powder keg, necessitating military buildup on the borders. We traveled to the DMZ to take a look at freedom’s outer limit.

The view of a South Korean military installation from the tour bus

            Despite its name, the DMZ is anything but demilitarized. There was a military presence everywhere. Soldiers even boarded our bus and examined our passports. At a stop very near the North Korean border, we were allowed to look at the edge of the “enemy,” scrutinizing buildings through coin-operated binoculars. But we were not allowed to take any photographs beyond a certain line. We managed to get this blurry photo of the North Korean flag. It’s not much to look at; its significance lies in its symbolization of the two nations’ enormous ideological divide juxtaposed against their tiny geographical divide.

  

Photograph of North Korean flag of the demilitarized zone, taken in hazy conditions

            The last stop on the tour was the Dorasan Train Station, the northernmost station of a train line that formerly connected the two nations. The train line has multiple stops throughout North Korea, and thus would not only connect the two nations but would provide South Korea with a land connection to the rest of the world. (Without this train line, South Korea is essentially an island.) The train operated briefly in 2008 and was then shut down by North Korea. Many in South Korea (and probably many in North Korea) hope the train will one day ride again, perhaps paving the way to reunification of the two countries. Many political analysts say that is totally unrealistic – using much of the same superlative terminology they used in emphatically predicting that East and West Germany would never reunite.

            We are now in our first day in New Delhi, India, which I can already tell will be my favorite leg of this event thus far. We’re here for four days so I’m likely signing off until Thursday.