Blog Entry IX - Seoul Part I

Dora, our morning hostess.

I've got a hunger as big as Seoul itself.

Thankfully, wooden shutters blocked out any daylight until the alarm rang the next morning. Still it took a wonderfully hot shower to help shake the sluggishness. Downstairs, a lovely bespectacled Korean, all dressed in white, including gloves and shoes, prepared a “western-style” breakfast on her griddle while overhead, a huge Samsung TV blared out the news from CNN. I complimented her on her English which curiously sounded very CNN-ish.

In a day or two, we became great friends. How do I know? It was thanks to Linda.  She had noted that I always got an extra egg and four more slices of toast than anyone else. That didn't bother her though. She got to share.

Doesn't this building remind
you of the Titanic.

Seoul, a city of contrasts.

To walk  Seoul's streets is to see:

• skyscrapers dwarfing the still-many shanty towns that surround them,

• throngs of delivery men on motorcycles jockeying for position both with black Mercedes Benz's on the streets and  pedestrians on the sidewalks,

  

  The throngs are exhilarating. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• posh boulevards and well-dressed Seoulites shopping  in fancy boutiques and luxury department stores, while all the while, mazes of narrow alleyways filled with countless tiny shops, selling everything from dried squid to cell phones, lie just behind.

Style is very important for Korean Women

Truth be told, after just 24 hours of living right here in the heart of Seoul, we can feel the intoxication, that inexplicable energy and excitement that make the prospect of staying 6 more days very exhilarating. 


 An old Korean proverb says:  "Even if you have to crawl on your knees, get yourself to Seoul!" 


With so much going on, it sounds like pretty sound advice.

At the Namdaemun Market - a  market that's open 24/7.
Shop keepers will cook their meals right next to their booth. 

Korea, the phoenix rises.

Walking down the streets and alleyways of Seoul, you sense it...  it's almost tactile...
That feeling that Koreans are...driven to succeed, yet ready with a smile ...pushed to be victorious, yet willing to help a stranger...determined to overcome feelings of inferiority, and yet proud to be Korean. 

Like the phoenix, a favourite symbol in this country, Korea has risen out of the most dire of circumstances. 

In 1900, this peaceful stream was an important
part of the life of the city.

Astonishingly, over the past 100 years, it has only briefly known democracy. In fact, Korea really only broke loose from dictatorship in 1987. Before that, there was the devastating Korean War and 50 years of Japanese enslavement. It seems that China and Japan took turns entering and exiting the peninsula, almost at will, to attack each other. In fact, Koreans say they saw themselves less a nation and more as “the shrimp between two whales".

By 1972, the stream was filled in completely and the highway
to the right in the picture replaced it.  A sign of progress.

The stream that could...!

We love to walk along the Cheonggyecheon, a brave little stream that courageously flows through the centre of this huge city. For me, its story is the perfect metaphor for Korea's coming-of-self. Depicted by the pictures below, we see it becoming enslaved, then exploited, and then suppressed (under the concrete pillars of a super highway) until its rebirth into what it always was supposed to be, a free flowing body of water.

Today, the highway has disappeared.
The stream, now uncovered and rehabilitated,
is again part of the new psyche of the city.

  
For me, its story is the perfect metaphor for Korea's coming-of-self. Depicted by the pictures
above, we see it becoming enslaved, then exploited, and then suppressed (under the concrete pillars of a super highway)....  

A young boy standing in the stream:
"We're number one!"

....that is, like a phoenix, until its rebirth into what it always was supposed to be, a free flowing body of water.

A nation of shop keepers, tinkers, and tailors goes on steroids.
(Part I)

Korea, with its population of 50 million and area totaling 100 000 square kilometers, is significantly smaller than New Brunswick and Nova Scotia combined. And to boot, its habitable space represents only 13% of this otherwise mountain-covered country. 

A nation of shop keepers, tinkers, and tailors goes on steroids (Part II).

20% of the Korean population is
Buddhist.

To accommodate, 90% of South Koreans migrated to the cities...almost 40% to greater Seoul.


With such little habitable space in this metropolis, high-rises are considered to be the desirable option for living space. 


Although very crowded and competitive, Seoul, this mega-city of 20-odd million, embraces you, makes you feel safe almost anywhere...all the time. 


What is somewhat strange for us is the homogeneous look of all the faces.  We feel like Marco Polo and are loving it.


When I do see a European face, I almost feel cheated in my voyage of discovery.

Seoul is in rapid transition between the past
and a very bright  future.

They will to rise up!

By war's end in 1953, Korea's GDP per person was only $67.  It was on the ropes both economically and socially, thus making its journey from being one of the poorest nations on the planet to becoming an Asian Tiger all the more dramatic. 

Baby steps at first

Its first step up the ladder was to become the world's sweat shop. Tens of millions of Koreans survived by sewing clothing for K-Mart, labouring long dirty hours in small, oily machine shops, or running diminutive mom-and-pop retail stores in mazes of alleyways.

Noon sees the business people out for lunch then
back to work.  Note the scooter in front.

A dream realized!

Today, enjoys being a big players in the global market. Indeed, had anyone predicted this half a century ago, he'd have been laughed out of the room.

The Hyundai's, Kia's, LG's,and Samsung's of the world show us that the hard work paid off. With clever use of its assets and a huge investment in education, Koreans began to set the stage. Children of shop keepers became bankers, those of tinkers, industrialists.... and the tailors?  Well, they became manufacturers. By 2005, GDP per person was $16,291. Today it hovers around $30,000 and ranks as one of the ten largest economies on the planet.

One building at the Gyeongbok Palace.

Does size matter?

North America should beware! South Koreans are tireless rankers, churning out reams of statistics - while anxiously scanning everyone else's - to see how they match up. The small but mighty Asian Tiger has its eyes set on the world.

The banquet hall at Changdoek.

Good news! 

In their rush for renewal, Seoul’s illustrious history hasn’t been entirely jettisoned. 


 Driven for decades to focus uniquely on its economic survival, Korea did neglect its history and heritage. 


 But today, as was the case with the Cheonggyecheon stream, a renewed national pride has the Koreans wanting to restore their rich heritage sites.  


In fact, it is now said that Seoul is a virtual outdoor museum of treasured relics. 


Have a look at but a few here with more to come.  I promise.

This is one of many such buildings
at the Changdeok Palace.

Part of the Jongmyo Ancestral Shrine 1395

When Taejo, the founder of the Joseon (Chosôn) dynasty, established his rule in Seoul, he built Jongmyo to honor his ancestors.


This was done according to the dictates of the new ideology, Confucianism, which still has a strong influence in Korea today. 

Changing of the guard at Gyeonbok Palace.

One of the guards

Until next time.