The Korea Times has also ran a story about Chinatown in Incheon. You may remember my earlier posting about Chinatown. The Korea Times also ran this story about a Chinese Chajangmyon Restaurant owner in Chinatown. He provides some interesting history about the popular “Chinese” dish here in Korea.
Some great North Korean propaganda posts coming from first the Oranckay and secondly the Japundit.
The first post from the Oranckay features this great picture of North Korean school children beating a replica of an American soldier.
I don’t think my nose is that big? Anyway make sure to check out Oranckay’s comment section to see why some people think this may actually be Seoul and not Pyongyang.
The second post from the Japundit features some great propaganda pictures like this:
The Japundit also provides some great commentary about North Korean propaganda that is worth reading, so check it out.
Today I had something really weird happen. This afternoon there was a knock at the door my wife answered the door where she began to engage in a conversation with a middle aged Korean woman. They began to argue and I asked my wife what they were arguing about. I came to find out that the woman on our door was a Scientology recruiter trying to enlist my wife. My wife is a die hard Christian so she was getting worked up by the Scientology sales pitch.
The recruiter was happy to see me though because she must of realized she wasn’t getting anywhere with my wife and tried to convince me about the wonders of Scientology. One of her claims were that Scientologists were some of the first people on the scene in Taegu after the subway fire a few years back and they rescued many lives. I checked out her claim on the internet and she is slightly correct:
In the same month Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers went to the aid of the Sakhalin victims, they also served in the aftermath of the huge explosion that rocked Taegu, a large city in southern South Korea. A construction site gas main had blown up, killing and injuring scores of people, including children.
One Scientologist and a student from the university where he teaches English were among the Volunteer Ministers who hurried to the scene of the accident to give assists. Dozens of children who were distraught at the start told the professor and his student after the assists that they were calmer, relieved and no longer afraid.
She also claimed that Scientologists were aiding with the tsunami disaster. Which I also found to be true. However, when I asked her if the Scientologists were just aiding the disaster victims to gain more members, she just commented that if people in the region wanted to join after their aid efforts that is perfectly acceptable. I personally find it reprehensible that any religion would use the tsunami relief effort as a method to recruit more members to their religion.
So what exactly is Scientology? If you are interested you can clikck here to find out more about it, but it appears just to be nothing more than a cult based around the teachings from the books by L. Ron Hubbard. I found a Fox News report about Scientology that claims that the Scientology is a cult and brings up the names of many of the movie stars that practice Scientology such as Goldie Hawn, John Travolta, and Tom Cruise. Allegedly Scientology is what broke up his marriage to Nicole Kidman.
I was curious about Scientology in Korea and I asked the woman how many Koreans practice Scientology and she just told me many are joining every day. I take that to mean not many. So I checked it out on the internet and found on a Scientology website that there is in fact 443 Scientologists in Korea. 401 of them are based out of Seoul.
During my research also found out that Hubbard had a connection to Korea. He was a military policeman here in 1946 and was discharged from the Navy following his tour here. While here in Korea he preached his Scientology philosophy and worked to create converts. It looks like they are still trying to create converts here; it just isn’t going to be me.
I finally escaped Ullong-do Island today after spending four extra days on the island waiting for a boat to show up due to poor weather. After a while I was becoming convinced this was some kind of conspiracy to keep me on the island to teach at the island’s one English hagwon or something.
Dodong is the largest city on Ulleung-do, and where the ferry docks at.
However, I did escape today but it was by no means uneventful. The day prior the clerk at the boat terminal told me to show up 30 minutes early for the boat to make sure I get on since I really wanted to get off the island. So I show up early and waited in line with a bunch of other people waiting to board the boat.
Boat that travels to and from Ulleungdo-do Island.
People began to board the boat at the designated time and the line was moving along nice and orderly. Then a mob of about 50 old ajummas who showed up at the last minute ran down to the pier and just bum rushed the nice orderly line we had going to board the boat. Mass chaos ensued because of this mass wave of line cutting ajummas. The line fell apart and everybody just started pushing and shoving to get on the boat like some kind of rugby match.
Waiting in line to board the boat off of Ulleung-do.
Needless to say I got pushed towards the back not because I can’t play rugby but because I will not bring myself to act the way these people were behaving. I slowly worked my way forward and I talked to one of the five policemen who were just standing there doing nothing. If you are wondering why the policemen aren’t doing anything about the chaos it could be because of the Confucian culture in Korea where they differ to somebody senior to them like 50 some odd line cutting ajummas. So I complained to him about the chaos and all he did was ask to see my passport and check my bags and treated me like I was the one causing trouble here, completely oblivious to the chaos around him. Needless to say more people just cut in front of me.
After my interrogation was complete and the policeman was convinced he allowed me to advance forward. By this time I’m told they overbooked the boat and there are no seats left even though the ticket I have has a seat number on it. I’m really pissed off now and complain to one of the boat workers. He leaves comes back and was able to get me on the boat. I thanked the guy who was really helpful.
So finally I am on my way. I’m thinking great I can sit back get some sleep and I’ll be back on the main land in no time. How wrong I was. The sea was really rough due to poor weather again so the boat bounced around alot. Within 15 minutes of leaving people were puking. So for over 3 hours I had to listen to people puke up all the soju they drank the night before. The smell was even worse. There was old ajushis drinking soju on the boat and then they would puke it up 30 minutes later. Plus with all the drunk people on the boat they would get into drunken arguements, scream and yell, and then some of them would begin to break out into impromptu karaoke performances. It was the most miserable ride I have ever taken here in Korea.
Leaving Ulleung-do island.
Finally the boat arrives at Mukho harbor and I just wait for everyone to get off the boat before I depart because I don’t want to participate in the mass pushing contest to exit the boat. I just don’t understand why the boat company doesn’t have an orderly system of having passengers exit the boat? It might because of the whole Confucian thing again. You have young people working on the boat and they don’t feel comfortable bossing around all the older ajushis and ajummas and the ajushis and ajummas know it, so mass chaos ensues.
I finally get off the boat and I’m thinking I’m home free, but I get grabbed by the customs agent and interrogated once again to make sure I’m not a terrorist. I guess they just weren’t buying my story that I am an American soldier who just read about Ulleong-do in my Lonely Planet travel guide and took some time off to go check it out because I thought it would be a pretty cool place to go and see. I suppose they thought such a story was pretty suspicious and I was obviously up to something sinister so they checked my back pack yet again. Still no bomb in it. The whole interogation thing wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that I am the only one getting interogatted. How many American terrorists have struck Korea compared to North Korean terrorists? I’m know I don’t look like a North Korean but everyone else on the boat did yet none of them was interogatted. I’ll blame it all on that damn Confucious guy again.
Well I finally pass customs and I just want to go to the bathroom. I see the bathroom and head towards it but I’m beaten to it by the huge mob ajummas again. The mob was so huge it blocked the entrance to the male latrine. So I had to push my way through this pile of humanity because I really needed to piss. I eventually made it through and into the latrine where the ajushis were waiting in an orderly line. For whatever reason it seems ajushis seem to stay in line fairly well until all the ajummas come and then it is every man for themselves and mass chaos from there.
Anyway, you have no idea how happy I was to get to the bus station and get a bus back to Seoul. I really like Ullong-do because it is an incredible place but I never ever want to go through the hell I went through first all getting there and then even worse getting back.
What is it with the line cutting in Korea? I have had people cut in front me at Burger King and E-Mart before but that didn’t bother me as much as today when about 50 of them cut into the line causing the mass chaos at the pier. What if 50 American soldiers bum rushed the line and started pushing people around? It would be on the front of the paper. When Koreans travel abroad in their tour groups do they act like this? I haven’t even mentioned the other rude things that happened to me earlier in my trip to Ulleong-do. If they do act like this I’m sure it creates a very negative image of Koreans abroad.
Anyway I will post more about my adventure to Ullong-do in the coming days. Overall it really was a great trip in spite of all the crazy weather and even crazier ajummas.
Dodong village on Ulleung-do Island from above the city.
Camp Red Cloud is located in Uijongbu which is located just to the north of Seoul. The base is named after Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud who was posthumously recognized with the Medal of Honor for combat actions during the Korean War. You can read more about how the camp was named at the below link:
CRC is home to the 2nd Infantry Division command group, Special Troops Battalion, Air Force personnel, and a few other smaller units. The camp is a great place to be stationed. It has two pizza shops, a bowling alley, a food court, bank, commissary, PX, theater, and a small golf course complete with a country club.
An adequate playing field, a nice gym, and good weight room accommodates all the athletes out there. The housing at CRC is some of the best in 2ID with soldiers living in new barracks with no more than 2 people per room.
Here is a map of how Camp Red Cloud is laid out today:
The front gate of CRC along with other buildings near the front of the camp were demolished in recent years to make way for the new Uijongbu highway overpass. The first thing seen when entering the camp now is the old chapel, which is probably the most historic structure remaining on Camp Red Cloud:
Across the street from the chapel is the camp’s school:
This building used to be home to a computer lab, MWR, and a cafe, however due to the increase in families being allowed to PCS to Korea this building has been reestablished as a school. Behind the school is the new PX:
The PX isn’t all that big, but it is a much better facility than what CRC used to have. The old PX that sits adjacent to the bowling alley is used as a location where Koreans sell local products as well as housing the post’s clothing sales store:
Speaking of clothing sales, the old clothing sales store is now used as a arts and crafts store:
Besides the reconstruction of the front gate and the building of a new PX there really hasn’t been that many new buildings constructed on CRC. In fact some people are still working out of quonset huts:
Here is a picture of the Village Green parade field used for various ceremonies:
Here is a picture of typical barracks building on CRC that borders the Village Green:
Camp Red Cloud is also home to the 2nd Infantry Division Museum that is well worth anyone visiting CRC to go and check out:
CRC is kind of divided into two parts due to the helicopter pad and golf course located towards the middle of the camp:
Right across from the helicopter pad is the 2nd Infantry Division headquarters:
Passed the helicopter pad and golf course are the other batch of barracks on the far side of the camp:
This far side of the camp is where the commissary and the restaurant Mitchell’s is located:
Here are some historical pictures of CRC via Ottmar’s photos:
Photo 5:
Photo 8:
The Uijongbu area has plenty to offer for GIs. The “ville” located just across the street from the CRC front gate has all you typical GI stores in Korea. You can buy suits, jackets, pirated software and games, plaques, coins, paintings, trinkets, and much more in the ville. Also the ville has a few clubs with your standard “drinky girl” scene in Korea. The drinky girls are mostly Fillipinas and Russians looking to make a quick buck from you buying them $20 drinks. Yes that’s right $20 drinks. The prostitution in the ville has been largely cleaned up due to recent media exposure and USFK’s crack down on human trafficking and prostitution
The surrounding are has some great outdoor opportunities. Just out the back gate of CRC take a left and take another left just past the car dealership to explore the mountains just to the west of CRC. The road going up into the mountains up “Radar Hill” is a great place to go running or road marching. The forest scenery is outstanding, the air fresh, and no traffic. There is even a lake you can explore once you reach the top of the road along with a old ROK Army compound that is now deserted.
Also in the area is Suraksan Mountain that is just outside of Camp Staneley in Uijongbu. Exiting from the Camp Stanley ville gate take an immediate right and follow the fence line until you reach the hiking trail that leads up the mountain. Suraksan is a strenuous hike with amazing scenery. Bring a lunch and picnic along the stream running from the mountain or do some serious rock climbing to the summit of the mountain.
Another hiking trip you can take is up Dobongsan Mountain. The mountain is part of Pukhansan National Park and features some spectacular rock climbing to reach the summit. From the summit you can see all of Uijongbu, Seoul, and all the way into North Korea. In fact the North Korean flag pole located at Pamunjom is visible from the summit. If you are not into rock climbing then explore the many beautiful Buddhist temples located in the park. The monks at the temples are very welcoming to foreigners so don’t feel intimidated exploring the temples.
To reach Dobongsan just get on the subway at Uijongbu station and travel south on Line 1 and exit at Dobongsan Station. At the station walk across the street towards the mountain. The path towards the mountain has lots of hiking and climbing shops if you need any gear along with many restaurants. Once passed the ville area you will enter into the park. The cost to enter park is usually around 2000 won or about $1.75. So extremely cheap comparted to American National Parks. So get out and see some of these exciting parks around Uijongbu.
Finally Uijongbu has extremely easy access to the Korean capitol city of Seoul. The Uijongbu train station is only a 5 minute taxi ride from CRC and from there the subway can take you to downtown Seoul in less than 45 minutes. This is one of the best features about being stationed on CRC.
One downside to CRC is that it is often the site of protests that occur in the country against US forces since it is the division headquarters. The protests have picked up since June 2002 when an accident involving a 2ID tracked vehicle killed two Korean school girls. The leftist and pro-North Korean forces came out in force to protest American soldiers and start riots hoping to get a reaction from the US soldiers at CRC. These activities continue periodically to this day so pulling gate guard at CRC can be interesting at times.
Note: You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:
However, I couldn’t help but notice one stat line that absolutley amazed me. It wasn’t his ERA of 9.64, the fact he averages over one walk an inning, the fact he is 0-3, blown every save opportunity, or even the fact he has an ERA of 27 over the past week. No what amazes me the most is the fact he is due to get paid $6,575,000 this year. Seeing the amount of money he is making it is no wonder Kim sticks around the big leagues and continues to get shelled every game and booed instead of returning to Korea to play.
Being a Colorado Rockies fan I would have to say that Kim is the perfect pitcher for Colorado. He is over paid, walks lots of batters, and gives up lots of home runs ensuring that every game is a high scoring shootout. The first place the Red Sox probably called to get rid of him was the Rockies. Who else would be willing to take this guy off their hands? If he couldn’t learn to improve his pitching with guys like Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, and Tim Wakefield on his team how the heck did the Rockies think their pitching staff that is last in league in ERA every year was going to get him to turn around? Then there is also the little fact that Coors Field is even more notorious for giving up home runs then Kim is and he would have to play half his game in that park.
Since obviously the Rockies will hire anybody to pitch for them I have decided I will do my part to help out my home state team. I will become a free agent and offer them my pitching services. I haven’t pitched since high school but heck I can’t do worse then Kim. I would get along with the coach and teammates and I wouldn’t flip off the fans, which are all things Kim is infamous for. Plus I’m confident I could keep my ERA under 27. I will even put a clause in my contract that if I go over an ERA of 27 they cut half my pay. I will even be willing to start at a quarter of the pay that Kim is getting so the management could go hire some real players. But knowing the Rockies management they will probably rather just give Kim a lucrative contract extension.
I have been stranded the last two days on Ulleong-do Island due to the nasty weather recently. The rain is supposed to end tonight but the daily boat that runs to the island to here may not be able to make it out here tomorrow due to high winds. I actually don’t mind being stranded out here because this island is really amazing and I have met some really interesting people. However, I got work I need to get back to Monday. Whenever I get back to the mainland I will do an indepth post on my latest adventure that involves drunken Russian sailors, a wild taxi ride around the island, a mini-typhoon, lots of pushy ajummas, Korean fishermen, and even a drunken party on Dokto.
UPDATE#1:
I’m still stranded here for yet another day but the ferry boat terminal is confident that the weather will improve tomorrow to get a boat out here. The weather today wasn’t to bad partly cloudly with sporadic sunshine but it is cold out here and the winds along the shore is really bad kicking up huge waves which prevented the ferry boat from going anywhere.
With all the time I have spent on this island I have hiked all over the place here now and met lots of people. Today I hike over 15km on different trails on around the island. I actually walk around now and locals recognize me and say hi and laugh that I’m still trapped on their island. I’m easy to recognize considering I’m the only foreigner on the island right now. This is turning into my own private episode of the TV series LOST.
The great ROK Army reconstruction project to install modern toilets for needy Iraqis, may not be so great after all, now that I have read this post from Jeff in Pusan.
In Korea, literally EVERY public toilet has a small wastebasket next to it. The wastebasket is there for you to put your used toilet paper in. In many places, there is a sign somewhere near the toilet imploring you NOT to flush your toilet paper down the toilet and instructing you to place your feces-smeared toilet paper in the open air wastebasket next to the toilet so that it can mix and mingle with other people’s soiled toilet paper to be enjoyed by other people throughout the day.
(….)
I have always been uncomfortable with this one aspect of society here. It is hard to comprehend how unsanitary an open wastebasket full of used toilet paper is. This is not a cultural “love it or leave it” thing. This is a basic medieval sanitation issue. Come one…This country has hosted the Olympics, East-Asian Games, the World Cup, and many other international events and conferences. It will be hosting the APEC council later this year. It touts itself and markets itself as an international country, yet basic sanitation issues remain in the undeveloped, dark age, unindustrialized world.
Wonder if those toilets installed in Iraq came with a warranty?
The Incheon Landing Operation on September 15, 1950 is recognized as one of the greatest military amphibious landings ever. However, a key to the success of the landing operation was provided by critical intelligence provided by a joint CIA-Naval team in the days before the Incheon Landing.
One week before the landing at Incheon, the joint CIA-military team launched Operation “Trudy Jackson”. The CIA-Navy sent in a tough commando unit led by Navy Lt. Eugene Clark. His guerrila group included an Army captain, three enlisted soldiers and two Korean operatives from the 8th Army G2 intelligence section (some would say they were actually hired gangsters).
They first landed on Yonghung-do Island, ten miles from Inchon. Clark subdued the small North Korean garrison on Yonghung-do and armed the anti-communist villagers on the island who agreed to help him. From here, Clark’s mission was to scout the tides, mud-flats, and seawalls before the Incheon landing occurred. What time does the tide go in and out? Can the naval AMTRACs or even tanks drive in the mud? Was the beach wired? How high are the seawalls? What size of ladders do the soldiers need? Where can tanks off load at? These are some of the critical questions he was tasked to find out. He was also responsible for spotting the location of any enemy mines when the tide went down across the bay leaving the mud flats Incheon is famous for. The sinking of a US ship due to a mine could block the entrance into the harbor, thus stopping the entire invasion. In addition, the commando unit was even able to recon Wolmi-do and routes to Seoul using their Korean recruits who infiltrated those areas providing further intelligence information before the invasion to MacArthur.
Navy Lt. Eugene Clark is pictured to the far right with members of the Yonghung-do operation.
However, the North Koreans found out the guerillas were on the Yonghung-do island and sent an assault boat with 16 North Korean soldiers, but Clark was tipped off to their impending arrivial ambushed them with a .50 cal machine gun on a sampan, and killed them all. Now that his cover had been blown Clark moved off the island to secure the lighthouse on Palmi-do Island which was his final objective before the start of the invasion. The lighthouse would provide a critical navigation aid for the invasion force. The commando team subdued another small garrison on the island and then worked to get the lighthouse operational. It was night time and the control to the lighthouse was missing a critical part that would make the lighthouse operational. The team members searched the lighthouse in the dark for the part with no success. One of the Korean commandos thinking failure was imminent layed down on the floor in exhaustion and his hand fell right on the missing part. He immediately jumped up and gave it to Clark who was able to turn on the lighthouse. His final mission was accomplished and the invasion force arrived safely through the channel that night and the next morning invaded Incheon destroying the North Korean forces occupying the city and changing the course of the war.
A tragedy of the commando mission however, was when Clark’s commando team moved to Palmi-do, the communists came back with a larger force unopposed to Yonghung-do island and lined up the 50 friendly South Korean villagers who had helped Clark, and gunned them all down.
For his actions at Incheon, Navy Lt. Eugene Clark was awared both the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit. However, his story would remain unknown until 1998 when he died and his family found his memoirs of the war written in 1998 stored in a safe. His memoirs would eventually be published in a 2002 book, The Secrets of Inchon”.
When I first traveled to Korea back in 2000 the first place I experienced was the old Kimpo Airport in Southwest Seoul. The airport was old, crowded, and the first thing you saw when entering customs was machine gun weilding ROK soldiers. Now, the first place any traveler to Korea will experience is the brand new Incheon International Airport.
This airport is a huge improvement over the old Kimpo Airport. The airport was officially opened in 2001 with much hype. The airport may not be the “Hub of Asia” that the Korean government hoped it would be but never the less this is one awesome airport. The airport is huge with many western style shops including my favorite the Harley-Davidson shop. There is also many areas where you can hook up to the internet to pass down time.
The excellence of this airport was also featured in a Forbes Magazine article listing the World’s 10 Best Airports. (Note click the previous button to cycle through the rankings.) Incheon finished 3rd on the list. Here is a run down of the top 10.
#1 – Hong Kong
#2 – Singapore
#3 – Incheon
#4 – Munich
#5 – Kansai (Osaka)
#6 – Dubai
#7 – Kuala Lumpur
#8 – Amsterdam
#9 – Copenhagen
#10 – Sydney
(Notice no American airports because they suck)
This is what Forbes had to say about the airport
This airport, in Seoul, South Korea, is one of Asia’s lesser-known new airports but its spacious single-terminal layout makes it quick and easy to navigate. Incheon Airport’s cleanliness is “almost unmatched” at any other airport in the world, and it provides extensive shopping options. Service ranks high, as does the availability of Internet access points throughout the terminal–no surprise given South Korea’s status as one of the world’s most wired countries.
Coming and going to the airport is easy with the frequent limousine bus service. The buses are inexpensive and are quite comfortable with their large, soft recliner seats. These buses will take to just about anywhere in the greater Seoul area.
So when coming to Korea you will no doubt be impressed by this great airport even if it is not the “Hub of Asia”.
