Korea

Hooker Hill

I didn’t go to Pusan today as planned.  Instead, I made quite an unexpected detour to an infamous place in Seoul–"Hooker Hill," a narrow alleyway one block south of Itaewon’s main drag.  You can guess why they call it "Hooker Hill."  Yes, work took me there, and no, it is not a place I frequent.  I had to go there to secure some belongings for an American who had been staying there but could not retrieve their personal belongings.  I went with a Korean colleague who helped me with Korean translation.  We found the "hotel," a seedy place set back from the small bars lining both sides of the street, most of which really serve as fronts for prostitution.  Sure, you can order beer there.  But the couches and back rooms give away their other services.  The bars feature a variety of English names, including "Club Friend," "Grand Ole Opry," and "Texas Bar."  "Hooker Hill" is not the only Red Light District in Korea, let alone Seoul, but it is the one most frequented by foreigners.
 
My colleague and I waited on the Hill for a couple of hours until it was late enough for the establishments along the street to open (most clientele come in the evening and at night).  The "ajuma," an older lady who owned this particular hotel was not there when we arrived, and we had to talk to neighboring businesses to find that she usually arrived each night around 6 p.m.  We stood near the top of the hill, looking down at the two-block length of street lined with a hodge podge of bars and brothels featuring dated, kitschy decor.  After 5 o’clock, a couple of the scantily-clad "hostesses" came out of some of the bars to wait at the door for clientele to pass by.  I definitely felt out of place loitering across from the hotel, dressed in a suit, not far from where the hostesses waited.  Military police occasionally wander the Hill looking for GIs who break the rules and go to "off-limits" establishments, so it’s not uncommon to see official-looking people hanging out at the Hill.  I wasn’t wearing a uniform, but I imagine that not too many men who frequent Hooker Hill come wearing a business suit.
 
Sure enough, around 6 p.m. the ajuma arrived.  We talked to her and explained her in a mixture of English and Korean that we were there to retrieve someone’s belongings.  She knew who we were talking about and dug out a couple of suitcases that had been put into storage.  (The American had left behind their belongings and had been absent for several weeks–fortunately, the ajuma had not thrown them away.  I think she was holding them as colleteral.)  The ajuma voluntarily gave us the luggage so we could give them back to the American.  Mission accomplished.  We left soon thereafter with our prize.  The outing gave me a chance to legitimately visit a place that you hear about from time to time in foreign conversations about Seoul.  Most people, especially men, won’t admit to visiting "Hooker Hill," even just to look around, because they don’t want to be accused of impropriety.  My two hours on the Hill, surveying this place, gave me a chance to observe a side of life that is so different from my own.  I really didn’t know what to think.  Men and women, old and young, involved in one of the world’s oldest professions, a carefully orchestrated business where clientele are willing to pay big bucks, and workers are willing to do just about anything to earn big bucks.  Fascinating.

An old friend comes to visit

Darn.  When I woke up this morning I felt much better, but when I went to work I fell ill again with a head cold.  I felt worse as the day progressed.  I feel a little better now, but not much better.  Nevertheless, I stuck it out and stayed at work all day today.  My cubemate told me that I should go home and rest, but I had too much too do, too many fires to fight.  I was still very productive and accomplished as much as I could in eight hours while not feeling well.  I hope I’ll feel better tomorrow.  On Wednesday morning I have to fly to Busan for the day, so I hope I’m better by then.  Because I have a head cold, I’m afraid that the flight, even if it’s a short one, will cause my ears to plug.  When we arrived in Korea from Hawaii last February, that’s exactly what happened.  It took a week for me to completely regain my hearing.  Even now my wife says I’m often hard of hearing, so literally losing my hearing would be absolutely devastating. LOL
 
This weekend a colleague from Guangzhou, China arrived in town to stay for a couple of weeks.  He took the airport shuttle into town, and I picked him up and helped him settle into his temporary digs.  It was great to see him.  We hired in at the same time and went through training together in Washington, D.C.  He is a very jovial guy and rather comedic, the kind of person you want to volunteer to emcee a public event.  He’s also a new father and a bit more somber than I remember him.  It’s either because he misses his family or because he’s worn out from being a new father.  We went to dinner last night at a Korean restaurant, and he tried bulgogi for the first time (best to start out with the tried and true).  We talked a lot about living and working in Seoul and Guangzhou.  I have not yet been to Guangzhou, but I may go there for my next assignment.  He really likes Guangzhou.  He says that he misses Western culture, because Western culture is somewhat limited in Guangzhou.  For example, Guangzhou has an assortment of McDonald’s, Pizza Hut’s, and Starbucks, but other than that, non-Chinese dining is a bit hard to find.  It’s much easier to find Western food, particularly if you have access to a U.S. military base such as Yongsan Garrison in Seoul or Osan A.F.B. in Osan.  He gets his fill of Western whenever he leaves Guangzhou for destinations such as Hong Kong.  He’s very happy to see so much Western fare here in Seoul.
 
My colleague also says that, for a variety of reasons, it is somewhat difficult to meet Chinese locals and that his family spends most of their time with friends in the Guangzhou expatriate community.  I can understand that, because as I’ve previously mentioned, I rarely have an opportunity to get out and meet Koreans here.  Most of the time I either work, stay close to home, or go on family outings.  However, since my wife is from China and I know China well, I hope that my experience in China will be different than my colleague’s experience.  The Guangzhou Western expatriate community, at least those who live and work in the city, is apparently small–much smaller than it is in Seoul.  I believe that most expatriates who visit Guangdong Province are overseas Chinese (Huaqiao).
 
My friend has never been to Seoul.  This morning I showed him Seoul Tower, Seoul Station, Namdaemun (Gate), City Hall, Toksu Palace, the Statue of Yi Sunshin, the Blue House (Korean presidential palace), and Gyeongbok Palace on the way to work.  He thought it was wonderful to see so many Seoul highlights in one fell swoop.  I realized just how compact Seoul really is.  In the span of 15 minutes, we drove past most of Seoul’s famous landmarks.  I live and work around these monuments and have grown so accustomed to them that I forget about their significance.  Take the Statue of Yi Sun-shin, for instance.  On most mornings, I use my line of sight between the Yi Sun-shin’s Statue and Bukhansan, a mountain behind Gyeongbok Palace, to guage the day’s weather.  Much of the time the sky is hazy or overcast, indicating ominous weather patterns.   I rarely recall the historical significance of the statue.  Admiral Yi Sun-Shin is very significant in Korean history.  In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who unified feudal Japan, invaded Korea in order to launch an assault on Qing China.  Admiral Yi, credited with inventing the world’s first iron-clad ships, known as the "Turtle Ships," was instrumental in driving back the Japanese Navy.  I see Admiral Yi’s statue every day, but rarely do I think about the story of the man and the history behind his statue.  While Seoul is a vibrant, modern city, it is historical monuments such as these that make Seoul even more colorful. 
 
Blog Note:  I added some photo albums from our June trip to Gyeongju and the East Coast.  There are three albums–one featuring Bulguksa Temple and Lake Bomun, one with Gyeongju and Silla photos, and photos of the Korean countryside and seaside.  I’d been meaning to publish them, but didn’t have a chance until now.  Enjoy!

The KTX brings back memories

Today I traveled by train with a colleague to Waiguan (왜관), a town to the west of Daegu.  We took the Korea Train eXpress (KTX) high-speed train from Seoul Station to Dongdaegu Station, then switched to a local train (열차) and backtracked to Waiguan.  The KTX was extremely comfortable (the local train wasn’t too bad either).  We visited an American in Waiguan, and then we went home.  It was an all-day trek for about an hour and a half of work.  At lunchtime, we stopped at a delicious mandu (만두, or Korean dumpling) restaurant not far from the train station.  For some reason, the restaurant’s name is "Pusan Kaya," (부산 가야) a combination of the City of Pusan and the name of a Korean Buddhist temple.  Waiguan is quite far from both places.  I ordered potato noodle soup (감자수쩨비).  The side dishes were fair, but the soup was delicious, a much-needed change from the run-of-the-mill bulgogi and bibimbap restaurant.
 
The entire trip conjured memories of times when I traveled around the world by train.  In my younger days, I traveled through Europe by train, and a few years ago, my wife and I visited Egypt for a couple of weeks.  The KTX portion of Seoul Station reminded me of the Hauptbahnhof in Hamburg, Germany.  I had fun figuring out our train platform on the big electronic board, reminding me of the old days when finding the correct train platform and departure time meant the difference between moving on or being stranded.   As I watched the Korean countryside pass by my window, I was reminded of when I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Narita Airport, Japan, watching the green rice fields and rolling hills fly past.  As the day grew hazy, the air ladened with moisture, I recalled one morning in December 2001 when my wife and I took the overnight train from Cairo to Luxor, Egypt.  The sun had not yet risen on the horizon, and the scene along the verdant Nile River was quite spectacular.  Palm trees intermingled with fields of cotton and other vegetation.  I caught glimpses of that memory from the window of the KTX train today.
 
The town of Waiguan reminded me a bit of Luxor, Egypt.  I’m not sure why, because the two towns really are very different.  As I stepped out of the main entrance of the Waiguan train station and surveyed the square and colorful, diverse buildings lining the main street that led away from the station, I recalled a similar scene in Luxor.  Luxor, ancient capital of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, is famous for its temples and the Valley of the Kings, among other sites.  Yet Luxor is also a modern, mid-sized Egyptian city.  The scene from the Luxor train station is eerily similar to the one that greets you in Waiguan.  Beyond that, the similarities end.  I felt a bit out of place visiting a small Korean city as a Westerner garbed in a business suit.  I late learned that U.S. Forces Korea’s Camp Carroll is not far from Waiguan, and the residents of Waiguan are quite used to cohabitating with the 1,000 or so Americans who live in and around the camp.  Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure that not too many Americans dressed in business attire walk around Waiguan.  It definitely had a different feeling than Seoul–more casual and rural.
 
The KTX train was luxurious.  It’s the first time I’d ridden first class in a train.  As a youth, I bought a railpass and sat and slept wherever I could find space.  I didn’t even bother to rent a coachette, or bunk bed, when I traveled overnight.  Those days are long gone.  Later in life, I rarely rode trains apart from egalitarian subway trains.  Riding first class on the KTX was wonderful.  I sat back and caught some Korean television and laughed when Korail aired "Nightrider," an old NBC television program starring David Hasselhoff and an super-intelligent black Corvette named "Kitt."  Talk about remembering the old days.  The hostess, who served us twice, was very gracious and offered us drinks and freshening towels.  It was much more relaxing than traveling in Korea by car in stop-and-go traffic.  I think that when my family visits Pusan we will take the KTX train.  My son, the train aficionado, would be so excited.