It's a Long Way Down...or Over?

Well, that was an incredibly long marathon trip everyone. In case you're wondering though: Air Canada has surprisingly fantastic trans-Pacific flights. Not enough to rival Air NZ, but pretty decent.

Leave it to me to find an adventure in the most random of places. My first flight out of Saskatoon was pretty uneventful. I had 5 hours to kill in Van City, so I bought my historic Obama is President newspaper and killed the time really well, along with a few coffees from Starbucks and a couple of wanders around the terminal. The flight to Seoul was pretty full and I noticed when I got on that there was a big group of seniors heading on with these memorial t-shirts. They were all wearing shirts with pictures of soldiers and what company they were with and where and when they had served. Since most of them looked like they could be earlier pictures of the people wearing them, I assumed that it was a group of war veterans going over for some kind of memorial service. Well, my guess was close. When I went to the back of the plane to stretch, I had the privilege of meeting a Korean war veteran. He told me that the group was actually a group who had lost family members in the war and that he was the one and only veteran amongst them. Then the stories started to flow. Half an hour with that man and a Korean man who joined the conversation gave me some big insight into how far Korea has come.

The war ended in the late fifties and left Korea desolate. Fields had become swamps, mountains had been scarred with bombs and the rivers were full of mud. In 2008, Korea has the best economy of all the Asian countries (according to my Korean friend). Seoul had become a metropolis of skyscrapers and there's very little area on the peninsula that doesn't have a city on it. It's really incredible.

I also got a warning about Kimchi: apparently the Koreans would bury pots of kimchi (pickled cabbage) in the ground and when the Canadians came up mountains or hurled bombs, they would sometimes accidentally blow up these pots of kimchi. Which, by the way, stank to high heaven. Good to know...

After my 12 hour flight, catching the bus to Gwangju turned into a exercise in humility. They speak English in Seoul, and quite well I might add. That doesn't mean that my pronunciation of Korean places is any better. I nearly ended up with a ticket to Wonju! Good thing I had my guide book with me...which I proceeded to leave behind on the bus. No worries, though. Liz was at the bus station after my four hour bus ride with a friend to help me get home. Then we went for dinner (which included kimchi) and a walk.

By the way: Kimchi's pretty good. :o)