some quiet time

so the holiday is over and the work of travelling begins! the girls (Mairead, Michelle and my lovely roomie Karen) all left this morning to head back to Ireland. we've had a great few days and did loads. at first it was all a bit strange and the curious stares from people and all the bulgogi sort of put us out a bit but as the days passed we all really enjoyed ourselves and found seoul to be a lovely place. everyone is very helpful - when they're not trying to walk through you off the metro - and we stared just as much at the kids as everyone did at us!
so, what did we do? well saturday we just walked around and got the feel of the place and tried to get over our jetlag. on sunday we went to Everland, "where every day is a holiday!"
ooooft! talk about cheese! it was fantastic though! it's a crazy fairyland amusement park on a level of cuteness i've never experienced before..! only thing is that it rained and thundered like none of us had ever seen or heard before. it was mad. but on the upside we did get stunning yellow everland macs to keep us dry (pics to follow hopefully!)

we also saw the main palace in Seoul, Gyeongbokgung. it was beautiful, really and truly. the attention to detailing on the buildings was mezmerizing. it was full of school children who had great fun practicing their english us, asking us where we were from etc.
karen made the mistake of walking off on her own though and was well and truly mobbed! a pretty girl in a pretty dress with pretty blonde curly hair is sure to guarantee celebrity status here in Korea! it was hilarious to see her surrounded by fawning schoolgirls! (and she loved it!)

we went to the DMZ and the JSA also. the DMZ (de-militarised zone) is 2km deep on either side of the MDL (military demarcation line) and we were given a history of the area and the war/invasion. we also watched a south korean propaganda movie and took a trip down into the 3rd infilration tunnel dug by the north Koreans during the war and discovered in 1978. they had dug it out in such a fashion that 10,000 north Korean troops could be in Seoul within one hour of departing on foot if necessary. scary business.
the JSA is the joint security area held by the UN and Republic of Korea (south) forces. it is right on the exact dividing line between north and south and we got to stand, technically, in the north for a moment. we were taken to an observation tower just behind the border line to see the north korean visitors centre and altogether the whole thing was a little scary. we were marched two by two off the military bus and told not to point or take a drink from a bottle. not to take camera cases or bags with us either. we were being watched like hawks by the north koreans and apparently any gesture we made that could be construed as positive by the north would be used as propaganda by them in the future.
all this talk of propaganda, who do you believe?! anyway, it was fiercely interesting to see and then when we went to the war memorial it gave us a fantastic perspective. seems like it must be pretty frustrating for the south koreans. they didn't start the war (it would seem) and only ever really defended themselves. they have built an amazing railway station at Dorasan, just inside the ROK border in the hopes that someday travel between north and south will be free. if that re-unification does happen, the south will then end up supporting their northern counterparts technologically and economically and you have to wonder what the cost of that support will be to the already not-so-well-off south koreans. guess we'll just have to wait and see...

for your entertainment only, this could never be a true representation of Mr. Kim Il Jong...
Team America:

the markets around the city are amazing too. trying to travel light, i really haven't done any shopping but the girls got some fantastic stuff and for fantastic prices. the fashion here is very cute. and modest. the girls all dress very smartly and pretty much all wear heels all day long but would never expose their shoulders or their chests at all really and few wear short shorts.
we were all a bit taken aback by this and the girls were pretty disappointed that all the vests they'd brought with them were pretty much redundant but we made do and got some lovely clothes that you'd never find in Ireland.
so on saturday night we all got dolled up and went into town. we started off in the HO bar and then moved along to S Club. however, on saturday night for some reason the girls hardly dress up at all! they were out in force in their jeans, tshirts and runners. man, we just couldn't get it right! but we had fun and the music in S club was good and we could dance and stuff. i don't think any of us had ever felt so white before though, everyone was pretty much either black or koreans who thought they waz black. fun times! we got absolutely no hassle though which was great, i don't think it would have been quite like that in an Irish club.

and so to end our little Seoul holiday on a sweet note and Triona treated us to a gorgeous cake last night. ;) there are bakeries everywhere all over the city and the cakes are just stunning. pure works of art.

so now i'm off to try and track down a bed for the next few nights and wander a little. by saturday i'll be installed in Vietnam and getting down to the volunteering, how time flies.

missing you all
eadaoin