The second stop on our Summer tour was South Korea. We spent one week there and visited three cities: Seoul, Gyeongju, and Busan.
Seoul
We walked around Seoul without a guide, so I don’t know much about what we were seeing.
We walked down the famous Insadong Street to Gyeongbokgung Palace and the National Folk Museum of Korea.
At the 1,000 year-old palace, many women and some couples were wearing traditional dress followed by professional photographers or a friend with a Samsung phone.
The National Folk Museum familiarized guests with all the basic traditions of Korean life: birth, coming of age, marriage, sickness, and death, with a special exhibit on the fishing industry. They had an interactive animation feature where you could get an avatar to mimic your own movements. We got extra lucky also because we got to see a live display of traditional dance in full regalia in the courtyard.
Baseball
We hit the 6:30 game between the Twins (home) and the Giants from Busan. Before we left, I asked the front desk at our hotel if we could bring a backpack into the stadium, remembering the time my friend had to stuff her important stuff in my pockets and stash her empty purse in the bushes by the Cleveland Browns’ stadium because only see-through bags were permitted. The guy at the counter looked at me like I was crazy.
When we arrived, I understood why. You can bring in pretty much anything you want. There are no metal detectors, and no one searches you or your bag. There are plenty of food places and mini-marts around the outside of the stadium to load upon essentials. Josh and I got a whole Domino’s pizza to take with us. I saw cool bros with sunglasses hanging on their noses, thin white button-up shirts open, loose board shorts, and ill-fitting slides on their feet taking in shipping boxes of food and cases of beer for themselves and their friends.
The opening ceremony consisted of introductions to the starting lineup for the home team, but no intros at all for the visitors. Adorable mascots with round bubbly features like Hello Kitty lined up on the 3rd base line. They had a representative for each team and each branch of the military. We all stood for a recording of the national anthem, but not everyone removed their caps. A person in military uniform threw the first pitch.
Korean baseball is absolutely delightful. When the home team was up to bat, our side of the stadium erupted with a live band playing along with recorded music, dancing cheerleaders, and a chorus of singing with arm movements and yellow towel routines by the crowd. After our last out, all commotion on our side would stop, and the other side of the stadium would erupt with their own band, cheerleaders, and crowd songs/arm movements. Everything about it was so uplifting.
We loved it so much, we caught another game a few days later in Busan. The Koreans love baseball so much, there was an outdoor bar with batting cages adjacent to our hotel. This may or may not be a bright idea. At night, we could hear the ping of the aluminum bats, and fortunately it started raining when we wanted to go to sleep.
DMZ
I signed us up for a 7:30am tour to the DMZ, and then I kept getting notices about an earlier meeting time that kept changing, even up to the night before, which asked us to meet them at a metro station at 6:20am, which was challenging in an unfamiliar city. They made it clear they would not wait for us if we were later.
After a stressful journey with frustrations between Josh and I, we made it to the meeting point exactly on time to the minute. We got seated on the tour bus as it pulled away. The guide said into the microphone, “Welcome everybody, please prepare your passport for me to collect for the soldiers at the checkpoint.”
I let out an expletive because in the 10 messages they sent about changing the meeting time, they never sent a reminder to bring our passports. It was in the detailed paragraph about the tour, but I forgot. (Side note: people say not to carry your passport on your person when traveling, and not to leave it in your hotel room, not even in the safe. So, where are you supposed to put it?)
I told the guide we forgot our passports, so can she please stop the bus so we can get off? I figured maybe we could meet her up there as there are trains that go to the DMZ, you just can’t see anything without a guide with you. She said, “No, it’s alright, we can work something out.” And walked away. I thought that meant they’d drive us up there but then we’d have to wait in the bus while everyone else got a tour.
I sat with high anxiety and embarrassment about not having my shit together for the hour and a half ride up to the DMZ.
As I write this way later, I still do not understand why Josh and I were allowed through a DMZ military checkpoint where uniformed soldiers with aviator sunglasses come on the bus with a clipboard and look at your face, your passport, and verify the name matches to the name written on the tour manifest in their hands. The guide filled out a little form for us with our names and the address of our hotel, and that was all they needed. Even though it worked in our favor, I was all riled up, because I hate rules that aren’t really rules, and it’s stuff like this that makes people think rules don’t apply to them.
Our tour had four stops. The first one had a lot going on: train tracks and a bridge to North Korea that had been dismantled, a Korean War memorial, and altar for ancestors and family on the other side, a place to buy North Korean money, a dedication to the Comfort Women taken by the Japanese during World War II, an amusement park, and a live music venue. All of this on the outside of the checkpoint.
Then we drove through the checkpoint, on a road surrounded by forest and bright red land mine warning signs. We stopped at the 3rd Invasion tunnel, which was a very deep and long tunnel the North Koreans dug to invade with thousands of soldiers when the time was right.
A defector told South Korea about the tunnel but they didn’t believe him. Then they started literally poking around, and found out he was telling the truth. We were not allowed to take photos of the tunnel. It was damp solid rock, and was 2 meters tall by 2 meters wide.
We then drove up a big hill to an observatory where you can look at North Korea with binoculars. It was a pretty cloudy/hazy day for us so we didn’t see a lot, but we did see it!
The last stop was in a village of 400 people inside the checkpoint. They are mostly farmers because it was discovered the land in the DMZ is very fertile. There also used to be a factory north of the border that South Korea paid for as a sign of goodwill. Both North and South Koreans worked there side-by-side. But, it closed around 2016 due to a breakdown in relations. In the village we got a soy bean ice cream swirly.
Gyeongju
This town seems to be very popular with Korean tourists and is nestled in beautiful mountains with lots of attractions. We enjoyed the relaxed vacation vibe and clean air. To get there, we rode a train to a nearby city, and then found a local bus that went up over a mountain pass and into town. Korean bus drivers do not mess around. They keep their schedule by barely stopping for people to get on and get off, even if they are 90 years old.
Traditional buildings on narrow streets provide an adorable tourist area with chic restaurants, ice cream shops, and souvenirs. There is much to explore in surrounding areas with temples, an old palace, lakes, and an amusement park.
On one of our epic walks, we happened to come upon a synchronized drum performance with middle aged women in costumes. There wasn’t much of an audience, but quite a few video cameras, so I think it was being filmed for TV.
Busan
Our last stay was on Haeundae Beach in Busan. We first took a city bus to the most beautiful temple in South Korea (as stated on the interpretive sign telling us about the story of the location on the cliffs facing the sea). This temple is for hope and wishing/praying for fortune, happiness, and health. People can buy a wish candle and let it burn, or write on a gold foil paper shaped like a leaf and tie it to the railing along the shore.
For our full day in Busan, we set out early to visit Spa Land when it opened. I had been to a Korean spa once before in Oakland, California, so I had an idea of what to expect. Spa Land was enormous by comparison. It was like the size of a department store in a big city.
When entering, you pay admission (about $15) for 4 hours, are given an electronic locker key, and that is how you pay for everything else you want inside. First you put your shoes in a special locker only for shoes. Then you are given your spa clothes, a big T-Shirt and baggy shorts. Move on to the gendered locker rooms and baths and get naked.
I knew Josh and I would be separated, and anticipated feeling the apprehension of going into a foreign shop or cafe where you don’t really know how to order properly, but also now you are naked and alone, and everyone else is naked too so you don’t want to stare too long to see what they are doing. I did read a blog the night before, so I had a pretty good idea of how it was going to go.
However, I also read a different blog stating Spa Land does not allow people with tattoos, so even though I didn’t see that rule anywhere on the website or the admission counter, I felt there was still a chance I was going to be told to leave once I got naked and walked out to the baths. Tattoos are still somewhat scandalous in Korea, and I read online it is illegal to tattoo or get a tattoo in Korea, but I don’t know if that is true. It has something to do with the legacy of slavery here.
I’m happy to report I didn’t get thrown out of the baths for tattoos or any other faux pax. I showered well before getting in, and rotated between the very hot bath and the very cold bath.
I found a little room near the baths where I paid for a full body scrub from a lady wearing a black bra and undies with a tiny lace mini-skirt. She was very thorough and forceful with her scrubbing! When she was finished, I felt like a shiny new penny.
I put on the provided pajamas and sauntered to the sun room. There were 20 different sauna rooms covered with a variety of materials such as charcoal, yellow ochre, and Himalayan Salt as well as themes like being inside a pyramid, Roman spa, and Bali spa, etc.
After baths, scrubs, an saunas, Josh and I met up and enjoyed delicate shaved ice with mango and iced coffee.
To finish a relaxing day at the spa, we took in an evening baseball game which again, was so much fun.
The next day, we took the train back to Seoul to spend the night near the airport. I had forgotten I booked a room with a hot tub. It was like a whole outdoor hot tub in our room!
Easy Trip
Josh and I enjoyed Korea. It is far more developed than Vietnam, but not as rigid as Japan. We got around easily because most people spoke some English if you ask them. Public transportation is exceptional as long as you are quick on your feet and have good balance for standing up on an accelerating bus.
I abandoned my vegetarian preference here because I wouldn’t have had anything to eat otherwise. Every single thing has meat in it. We really enjoyed Gimbap, which is like a sushi roll, and we also had a lot of delicious noodle soup.
Josh said he was glad we had our first expat experience in Vietnam because Korea would have been too easy and too similar to the Pacific Northwest.
Casey Space 
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