The next Saturday (June 7th) I visited the War Memorial of Korea. Luckily I had made a friend who didn't work on Saturdays, so I was to meet up with Jin at 1pm at exit #11 at Samgakji station. I arrived at the station right on time but could not find exit #11. There were exits 1 through 6, but nothing else. Thinking that the 11 must have been a typo, I went to exit #1. Jin wasn't there, but I thought she was just running late. After 15 minutes of waiting I went to find a pay-phone to call her. Again, these phones had the T-money logo on them, so I inserted my card into the slot: "Wrong Card." This time I kept my cool and gave the phone a closer inspection, in addition to the sticker on the phone, there was also a little ledge at the bottom of the machine with the T-money sign. T-money cards are used by either swiping them or scanning them. I simply placed my T-money card on the little ledge and like magic a balance showed on the screen and I got a dial tone! I was so proud of myself. I put the phone to my ear, picked up the napkin with her number and started dial... Silence. I had lost the dial tone before I had punched the first number. I hung up, picked up the card, placed it back on the scanner, got a new balance, quickly picked up the phone, dialed 1, 2, 3, 4 numbers... Silence. Damn! Ok one more time, I did everything as quickly as possible and managed to dial the whole number before the thing died. The phone rings once...Silence. ARRRRRRRRGGGHHH. I slammed down the receiver and went back to exit #1 to see if Jin was there. She wasn't. As I headed back to try another pay phone I heard the phone I had just left ringing. Having had bad experiences with picking up Korean phones in the past (I'll explain that another time), I elected not to pick it up (I know, I know). I tried to get the next phone to work but it wouldn't even let me finish dialing before it died on me. Same thing with the 3rd phone I tried. Finally, after about 10 minutes of fighting with the phones I slammed down the receiver and went outside to find someplace to break a 1000 won bill. Once I had some change I went back to the phone and successfully called Jin. Fortunately she was still waiting for me at exit #11, though she was just about to leave. Samgakji station is at the intersection of lines 4 and 6. Unlike the Montreal metro, the lines aren't necessarily one on top of the other. So I had to walk for about 5 minutes through an underground tunnel to get to the Samgakji station of line #6 where exit #11 is located.
The War Memorial was a five minute walk from the metro station. The War Memorial is a huge complex with monuments surrounding the front courtyard, a museum in the main building and war vehicles and equipment in the back. We purchased our tickets and entered the first exhibit: Memorial Hall. The memorial was in a dark room with a large basin of water in the centered which was illuminated with a ray of light penetrating from a hole in the centre of the cupola-ceiling. It was very beautiful and humbling. I took my camera out to take a picture, but it was in video mode. I changed it to the photo setting and...NO! NOT AGAIN! HOW COULD I LET MY BATTERY DIE A SECOND TIME?
There's an old saying in Korea — I know it's in Canada, probably in Korea — that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
So sadly I have zero pictures of the War Memorial and the rest of the day. I'll have to keep my narrative short and rely on external links.
My impression of the museum is the same as from the National Museum, the amount of history is overwhelming. We started at the beginning of Korean history with your standard ancient weapons: stone axes and knives, arrow heads, bronze to iron weapons, the first explosives and so on. The important wars between Koreans and other Koreans, Chinese or Japanese, Pirates, Thieves and Raiders, Martians and Mongols were all chronicled, well all but one. The history was interesting, but was difficult to put in perspective due to my limited knowledge of Korean history. I found the birth of gunpowder weapons was the most interesting part of the early exhibits. I enjoyed seeing the evolution of very crude cannons to sophisticated weapons which could fire dozens of arrows at once. Trying to figure out the engineering and how the machines worked was half the fun. A scaled down replica of General Yi Sun-Sin's (one of the most revered Korean's of all time) famous turtle ships, which were vital in defeating the Japanese navy and their attempt to conquer Korea at the end of the 16th century, was another personal favourite.
The museum also had a little replica of a Korean fort. The walls were perhaps as tall as myself (it was probably built with kids in mind), but you could still walk on the walls and get an idea of what the fortresses used to look like. "No wonder Koreans keep getting attacked, your forts are too small," I told Jin, trying to be funny. All I got in return was a puzzled look. I have yet to tell a successful joke to a Korean, regardless of how explicit it may be, let alone the subtle absurdities that I prefer.
The second half of the museum was devoted to the Korean War. The exhibit had relics and representations of Korean life during the war years. The exhibit also chronicled the events of the war, this was the most educational part of the visit. It truly is the forgotten war. I consider myself more historically knowledgeable then the average, but I was humbled by my ignorance of this war, despite the fact that Canada committed the 3rd most foreign soldiers to the war (behind the US and the UK). I had no idea how close both sides came to conquering the entire peninsula at various points in the war. Shortly after the North's surprise attack, they pushed the South Korean (ROK) forces to the southern extreme of the country before the UN - American led forces pushed the North all the way back, recapturing Seoul, then Pyongyang before pushing the North almost all the way into Manchuria which would have unified the Korean people. However, before the ROK could boot the communists out, the Chinese got involved and surprised the UN forces and pushed them back, recapturing Pyongyang and then Seoul. The UN forces regrouped, pushed the Chinese back and re-recaptured Seoul and after a bit more fighting both sides signed the armistice. It was the back and forth nature of the war that really surprised me.
It's interesting to note that officially, and in the minds of many Koreans, the war is not technically over and has yet to be resolved. However, it seems that most of the younger generation (at least those that I have talked to) seem to think that unification isn't realistic or desirable. They consider the Nothern Koreans to be a separate people now, they speak a slightly different language now and they have developed different cultures and beliefs as well. Cultural differences aside, South Koreans also seem wary of the economic disaster that would accompany unification since the South would certainly have to spend a lot of resources to prop-up and rebuild a unified North Korea. The economy is terribly important to Koreans.
I found it all very sad. The Koreans suffered through nearly a half-century of a brutal Japanese occupation and were finally freed in 1945 with the fall of the Japanese Empire. However, in only five years, they were convinced to take up arms and fight each other over the ideals of the US and the USSR. As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't really a Korean war, rather it was the American and Soviet's war being waged with Korean blood. It really speaks to the power of propaganda, because I'm sure that both sides were convinced that they were liberating their brethren from the oppressive capitalist or communist rule.
The end of the exhibit had a room dedicated to the foreign nations that fought alongside the ROK. Each nation had its own display showing the uniforms worn by their soldiers as well as information on their contributions and losses. Of course, I had a particular interest in the Canadian display, though a few other countries caught my attention. Colombia and Ethiopia in particular seemed out of place, didn't they have enough problems at home? The foreign nations exhibit also contained the most powerful piece in the museum, the Tear Drop. The tear drop was made out of dog tags of soldiers who lost their lives in the war and the tear was wrapped in barbed wire.
We were both a little tired after finishing the historical part of the War Memorial. I didn't have much interest in seeing all of the tanks and artillery machines and had already seen the special traveling exhibit, The Dead Sea Scrolls, in Ottawa, so we left he Museum and headed to Itaewon.
Itaewon is a popular district for foreigners as the American military base is near by. While most of Seoul is incredibly homogeneous, Itaewon is not. Walking through the streets I saw people of almost many different nationalities, heard many different languages (even a bit of French from a few Africans) and at long last smelt different foods. The even had a few Shawarma places! We stopped at an Italian restaurant and I had a nice chicken cheese steak which I enjoyed to the fullest. After dinner we headed over to the Rocky Mountain Tavern. The tavern is owned by a couple Canadian ex-pats and I discovered it on-line back in January because I was concerned that if I was in Seoul that I would miss the Sens' playoff run and thus needed somewhere to watch the games. In the end, I didn't need to bother. The bar was distinctly Canadian. There were totem poles outside the main entrance and the walls of the bar were covered in Canadiana: Hockey sweaters and sticks, Tim Horton's mugs, snowshoes, antlers etc. I was also looking forward to some good Canadian beer. I was expecting anything fancy, just the standard Molson Canadian or Labatt Blue, but they had neither. All they had was Moosehead (which I'm not a huge fan of) and Alley Kat (a small brewery from Edmonton) as well as a few Korean beers and your standard International selections. I was a little disappointed in the selection, but the bar didn't let me down. It had a very comfortable feel and I did feel a little like I was back home. They also serve poutine, but I'll have to return on an empty stomach to sample it.
After RMT, we headed to Bar Nana, a cool little Jazz bar where we ran into Tania's friend Natasja and her friends that I met the week before in Myeong-Dong. It's a small world. In the end I got home at 1:30am. Gasp! I missed curfew. Oh well, 2 demerits down.
The War Memorial was a five minute walk from the metro station. The War Memorial is a huge complex with monuments surrounding the front courtyard, a museum in the main building and war vehicles and equipment in the back. We purchased our tickets and entered the first exhibit: Memorial Hall. The memorial was in a dark room with a large basin of water in the centered which was illuminated with a ray of light penetrating from a hole in the centre of the cupola-ceiling. It was very beautiful and humbling. I took my camera out to take a picture, but it was in video mode. I changed it to the photo setting and...NO! NOT AGAIN! HOW COULD I LET MY BATTERY DIE A SECOND TIME?
There's an old saying in Korea — I know it's in Canada, probably in Korea — that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
So sadly I have zero pictures of the War Memorial and the rest of the day. I'll have to keep my narrative short and rely on external links.
My impression of the museum is the same as from the National Museum, the amount of history is overwhelming. We started at the beginning of Korean history with your standard ancient weapons: stone axes and knives, arrow heads, bronze to iron weapons, the first explosives and so on. The important wars between Koreans and other Koreans, Chinese or Japanese, Pirates, Thieves and Raiders, Martians and Mongols were all chronicled, well all but one. The history was interesting, but was difficult to put in perspective due to my limited knowledge of Korean history. I found the birth of gunpowder weapons was the most interesting part of the early exhibits. I enjoyed seeing the evolution of very crude cannons to sophisticated weapons which could fire dozens of arrows at once. Trying to figure out the engineering and how the machines worked was half the fun. A scaled down replica of General Yi Sun-Sin's (one of the most revered Korean's of all time) famous turtle ships, which were vital in defeating the Japanese navy and their attempt to conquer Korea at the end of the 16th century, was another personal favourite.
The museum also had a little replica of a Korean fort. The walls were perhaps as tall as myself (it was probably built with kids in mind), but you could still walk on the walls and get an idea of what the fortresses used to look like. "No wonder Koreans keep getting attacked, your forts are too small," I told Jin, trying to be funny. All I got in return was a puzzled look. I have yet to tell a successful joke to a Korean, regardless of how explicit it may be, let alone the subtle absurdities that I prefer.
The second half of the museum was devoted to the Korean War. The exhibit had relics and representations of Korean life during the war years. The exhibit also chronicled the events of the war, this was the most educational part of the visit. It truly is the forgotten war. I consider myself more historically knowledgeable then the average, but I was humbled by my ignorance of this war, despite the fact that Canada committed the 3rd most foreign soldiers to the war (behind the US and the UK). I had no idea how close both sides came to conquering the entire peninsula at various points in the war. Shortly after the North's surprise attack, they pushed the South Korean (ROK) forces to the southern extreme of the country before the UN - American led forces pushed the North all the way back, recapturing Seoul, then Pyongyang before pushing the North almost all the way into Manchuria which would have unified the Korean people. However, before the ROK could boot the communists out, the Chinese got involved and surprised the UN forces and pushed them back, recapturing Pyongyang and then Seoul. The UN forces regrouped, pushed the Chinese back and re-recaptured Seoul and after a bit more fighting both sides signed the armistice. It was the back and forth nature of the war that really surprised me.
It's interesting to note that officially, and in the minds of many Koreans, the war is not technically over and has yet to be resolved. However, it seems that most of the younger generation (at least those that I have talked to) seem to think that unification isn't realistic or desirable. They consider the Nothern Koreans to be a separate people now, they speak a slightly different language now and they have developed different cultures and beliefs as well. Cultural differences aside, South Koreans also seem wary of the economic disaster that would accompany unification since the South would certainly have to spend a lot of resources to prop-up and rebuild a unified North Korea. The economy is terribly important to Koreans.
I found it all very sad. The Koreans suffered through nearly a half-century of a brutal Japanese occupation and were finally freed in 1945 with the fall of the Japanese Empire. However, in only five years, they were convinced to take up arms and fight each other over the ideals of the US and the USSR. As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't really a Korean war, rather it was the American and Soviet's war being waged with Korean blood. It really speaks to the power of propaganda, because I'm sure that both sides were convinced that they were liberating their brethren from the oppressive capitalist or communist rule.
The end of the exhibit had a room dedicated to the foreign nations that fought alongside the ROK. Each nation had its own display showing the uniforms worn by their soldiers as well as information on their contributions and losses. Of course, I had a particular interest in the Canadian display, though a few other countries caught my attention. Colombia and Ethiopia in particular seemed out of place, didn't they have enough problems at home? The foreign nations exhibit also contained the most powerful piece in the museum, the Tear Drop. The tear drop was made out of dog tags of soldiers who lost their lives in the war and the tear was wrapped in barbed wire.
We were both a little tired after finishing the historical part of the War Memorial. I didn't have much interest in seeing all of the tanks and artillery machines and had already seen the special traveling exhibit, The Dead Sea Scrolls, in Ottawa, so we left he Museum and headed to Itaewon.
Itaewon is a popular district for foreigners as the American military base is near by. While most of Seoul is incredibly homogeneous, Itaewon is not. Walking through the streets I saw people of almost many different nationalities, heard many different languages (even a bit of French from a few Africans) and at long last smelt different foods. The even had a few Shawarma places! We stopped at an Italian restaurant and I had a nice chicken cheese steak which I enjoyed to the fullest. After dinner we headed over to the Rocky Mountain Tavern. The tavern is owned by a couple Canadian ex-pats and I discovered it on-line back in January because I was concerned that if I was in Seoul that I would miss the Sens' playoff run and thus needed somewhere to watch the games. In the end, I didn't need to bother. The bar was distinctly Canadian. There were totem poles outside the main entrance and the walls of the bar were covered in Canadiana: Hockey sweaters and sticks, Tim Horton's mugs, snowshoes, antlers etc. I was also looking forward to some good Canadian beer. I was expecting anything fancy, just the standard Molson Canadian or Labatt Blue, but they had neither. All they had was Moosehead (which I'm not a huge fan of) and Alley Kat (a small brewery from Edmonton) as well as a few Korean beers and your standard International selections. I was a little disappointed in the selection, but the bar didn't let me down. It had a very comfortable feel and I did feel a little like I was back home. They also serve poutine, but I'll have to return on an empty stomach to sample it.
After RMT, we headed to Bar Nana, a cool little Jazz bar where we ran into Tania's friend Natasja and her friends that I met the week before in Myeong-Dong. It's a small world. In the end I got home at 1:30am. Gasp! I missed curfew. Oh well, 2 demerits down.
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