Day 48 of 111. Yellow Sea nearing Xingang, China
We will dock at the port city of Xingang this evening. I think that this is the port closest to Beijing. It was very cold in Korea and the weather forecast is for equally cold or colder weather for the next few days. The temperature is 32 F and there is ice outside on the deck. We had some swells and high winds during our trip from Korea, but it has been smooth as glass today as we glide into port. After leaving Japan, we had a kimono night. I did not buy a kimono, but I did find a coat that was made out of a kimono. The sleeves were useful for storing our chopsticks from dinner. In watercolor class, we have been painting cherry blossoms (the characters are supposed to be Peace and Courage) and I made a colorful picture of bamboo.
Tomorrow, we meet at 6:30 a.m. to leave on an overnight trip where we will visit the Great Wall (snow flurries are predicted), the Forbidden City, and Tian’amnen Square. We will also visit the Temple of Heaven, the Ming Tombs and have an overnight stay in a hotel where we will be treated to a feast of Peking duck! Coming from Southern California, we really did not pack for very cold weather. Luckily, when we were docked in San Diego, we found down jackets on sale and bought two. They came in very handy in South Korea and should keep us from freezing in Beijing.
We had to skip one port (Jeju City) because the conditions were not safe, so we saved time on our traveling time. Because of this, we really have had a gentle and leisurely trip to Xingang… thus the slow boat to China reference.
Day 46 of 111. Seoul, South Korea
We visited a traditional marketplace in Seoul (Insa-dong Street) where I was interested in the shops that sold brushes. Some of them were tiny and some were huge. We also bought warm hats for our next stop, China.
Day 46 of 111. Seoul, South Korea
The Gyeongbokgung Palace was beautiful to visit. Our guide helped us understand the organization of the buildings. I really enjoyed the colors and patterns and details everywhere. The feng shui of the palace has mountains in the background from which comes strength. The water in the moat helps retain the strength and the fantasy creatures overlooking the moat keeps away evil spirit. The guards were practicing their changing of the guard when we arrived. The spectacle was colorful and impressive. One interesting fact was a jug that was used to collect and urine to be used as fertilizer.
Day 45 of 111. Incheon, South Korea
One of the dangers is that there are thousands and thousands of land mines planted along the DMZ, a 4 km swath of land stretching the border of North and South Korea. The tiny trianglular signs warn of this danger. However, there were some foods to watch out for as well. At a small park with rides and food stands that marks the northernmost point that South Koreans can travel, I saw dried squid for sale as well as a large dish of silk worm cocoons for sale. Yum.
We had lunch at a nice Korean fusion restaurant with a hot pan of beef and vegetables and plates to share of various mysterious, but delicious foods. The only actual food we recognized was kimchi.
Our last stop was at Simpo Market which was the kind of open air market we hoped to see in Korea. There were many amazing things for sale from flowers to live turtles (for soup). The steaming pile of eels was pretty impressive.
Day 45 of 111. Incheon, South Korea
The two strongest impressions of South Korea were the large number of condominiums indicative of the very high population density and the amount of barbed wire and observation posts along the coasts, the river, and the DMZ. It was obvious from our observations and from the information of our tour guide that the threat of aggression from North Korea is a constant and real concern.
Our tour today was to the DMZ and the Third Infiltration Tunnel which is a tunnel built by the North Koreans as a secret way to send troops to attack Seoul, South Korea. The tunnel was discovered in 1978 with information from a man who left North Korea to South Korea. A tunnel was dug down to find the infiltration tunnel and there are tours of the tunnel. It was a very cold day, but even colder as we went down a small tram for a 300 meter ride to the actual tunnel. The tram went down a tube two meters by two meters. We were given hard hats to wear which really proved invaluable as many of us were hitting our heads on the trip down as well as when we followed the tunnel to the Demarcation Line between North and South. We had to walk bent over for much of the trek.
We were not allowed to take pictures in the tunnel, but there were several interesting photo opportunities in the small park above the tunnel.
The very bottom picture shows two large towers. The black tower on the left is a flagpole for North Korea and the blue tower on the right is a flagpole for South Korea. This makes the border between the two countries.