Seoul and DMZ (summertime)

 Now we're gonna fly back to 2013 when I had my fist ever flight to South Korea. It was a memorable one, as every next one, so it became one of my favorite destinations ever. 

Royal Palace

I already told you about my perception of this parallel amazing world, so I won't repeat that. (In case you missed it, go check out the article about wintertime in ICN).

DMZ on the southern part

What did not cross my mind even from far away is, that years later I would finally realize one of my dreams and start learning and practicing a martial art. And the art I would choose would be taekwondo! And cuddle of taekwondo is... well.. Korea! If I only knew back then, surely I would have visited Kukkiwon, world taekwondo headquarters. Next time, I'm coming! The rest is history: 5 years later I started training in Sangrok Abu Dhabi dojang and got so passionate about this martial art, that I even did a competition in poomse (pattern of defense-and-attack motions) and won the 2nd place in senior woman category held in Sharjah, UAE just before the world lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. My Master is from Morocco, the country which is only 2nd to Korea in taekwondo tradition. I was blessed to find this dojang (training hall in Korean) and Master Said, who's words are always with me: "keep kicking".

February 2020 - Poomse competition in Sharjah, UAE 

Well back to aviation now! 

Before learning about kimchi and generally about the spiciness of Korean food, I had a memorable experience that made me remember how to order food in Korea for the rest of my life. Our flight reached Seoul in the evening hours and by the time we were in the hotel, it was already dark and late. I decided to order some room service and go to bed early and leave the exploring for the next day, so I could be well rested and fresh to absorb everything I would see and smell and touch. I was starving after a long flight and generally a long day, so I took a hot shower and welcomed my food on a huge tray. It looked like it was full of cute little portions, besides the big bowl of the main dish. Yaaaaaaay! DelisciousssssssSpicyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! OMG didn't expect THAT spicy! So after a pause I tried again. My eyes started crying and I finally caught some color different than my usual ghost-white. I couldn't go on. You need to know that I don't eat spicy AT ALL, so for me it was a huge shock. Moreover because it was past midnight, the kitchen was closed and I was left with no other option. Did it ever happen to you to be starving and having the food right in front of you, but not being able to eat it? Walla, I ate it with my eyes! I tried again several other times, but my tongue jut refused to get used to it. So I went to bed hungry. Every single next time I would order food, be it in the restaurant or room-service, I would stress on NO SPICY, just to have it very slightly spiced. There is no spicy-less in Korea! Lesson learned!

Room service in Crew hotel (my happiness before the surprise)

So the next day I explored downtown with my fellow crew, from the royal palace and gardens to the Gangnam quarter and market where we inevitably danced to the rhythm of Gangnam style. The market was overwhelming with cute articles of every kind. I could smell food and wanted to try it all. And I just love the tradition of small old style houses and big gardens, even though skyscrapers are there as well along with the well connected metro system. 

Who can resist dancing to the rhythm of Gangnam Style?!

Another time when I came back to Seoul I got sick on layover with my ears blocked and runny nose. It might sound as a common flu that is not enough of excuse for the ground people to miss the working day. Well for us flying creatures it is a big deal! Just think about the pressure and altitude and that dry air in the aircraft. If you have flu, besides putting everyone else on risk (imagine that flu being Covid, ok now you get the risks), but you risk to pop your ear drums and damage your hearing for the rest of your life! Besides the suffocating feeling of not being able to breath! Well we have a procedure for Crew getting sick on a layover, so you call a special number for the world Aviation Medics who are mostly based in Canada or US and they pretty much deal with all the major airlines in the world, both for cases on board and during the flight, and for the Crew on ground when they are outstation (out of their base). They found the closest hospital for me and arranged the taxi. When I got to the Gangnam hospital they already got my documents, so they knew in which department to send me. Nobody spoke English so the communication was quite difficult, but the good old body language helped us to understand each other. After running some tests, they gave me medicines and sent me back to the hotel for 3 days. My airline advised the hotel that I was staying longer than my Crew and the hotel staff made sure to give me a lot of hot tea with lemon and honey. When I was finally fit to fly back to base, obviously deadheading, I met the new set of Crew who took care of me. I flew as a passenger in business class, which was a privilege of the sick Crew on company expense, but nowadays it is only economy, regardless of the length of the flight, seriousness of your sickness, empty available seats in business versus full cabin in economy. Not fair, right?! On the bright side, we were able to book staff tickets in any class and I used that privilege as much as I could, obviously respecting all the company rules from the dress code to behavior. I got used to flying business so much that I am having a hard time not to imagine that in my future as well. First and Business class are similar with just some extra perks and even more space and privacy in First, but the big breakthrough quality-wise is from Economy to Business. Comfort, space, privacy and quality that truly make a difference in flying, sleeping and reading or writing on board. Or simply the entertaining system with the bigger screen and better headsets (even though I am always using mine, because there is no better than Bose Noise Cancelling headsets). Well let me tell you the last word about who has the last word: if the Purser and the Captain agree to put you deadheading in Business (space allowed), you can. They asses the situation and make a decision, that's all. Unfortunately there are many people who follow the rules blindly and ain't able to think out of the box. These people are in each industry and they usually make it to the top by putting the others down and backstabbing. History of the humanity.

Moving on, I want to tell you about that particular layover (we're still in 2013) when I decided to visit the DMZ (demilitarized zone). It's a 250km long buffer zone between North and South Korea which divides the Peninsula in half. Created in 1953, it is one of the most militarized borders in the world. In the Armistice agreement both sides agreed to move their troops back 2.000m from the front line, creating a buffer zone 4km wide. Within that buffer zone there are so called peace villages on both sides. In order to maintain their residency, the villagers are required to spend at least 240 nights per year in the village. They are the direct descendants of the people who owned this land before the Korea War (1950-53), at least at the southern part. According to the checks with modern telescopic lenses, it seems like the northern villagers are actually skeleton crew of caretakers in a ghost town preserving the illusion of activity. Ruins of the old capital city Cheorwon of the Taebong dinasty that ruled united Korea from AD 918 to 1392 are within the DMZ, therefor off-limits to everybody except soldiers who patrol it. Basically the ancient history of the country is inaccessible. There have been a number of incidents and incursions by both sides, but what is interesting is the discovery of 4 tunnels since 1974. These tunnels crossing the DMZ in a north to south direction are believed to have been planned as a military invasion route by North Korea. Today these tunnels can be visited by the civilians on the southern side in a guided tour, accompanied with the military as an admonition and security prevention. That is the unforgettable tour that I have done.

Guided tour in the 3rd tunnel, South Korea DMZ

Who knows if our generation is gonna get to see the change, to have the possibility to travel in and out of North Korea. There is so much more to learn about this country and I hope I will be able to do just that in the close future. In any case nowadays we're barely allowed out of our municipality and region and country  and continent due to Covid, metaphorically like the North Korean freedom of movement situation, information freedom apart.

To close the article on a highly danceable note, here is the video that in 2012 exceeded 1 billion views on YouTube for the 1st time in the website history. I think you all know what I am talking about.

Last but not the least, my own little layovers sum up from 2013 to 2019. Seat back, relax and enjoy the video!

ICN for Seoul (wintertime)

My last couple of times in South Korea happened to be in wintertime and it is damn cold in winter!

But I can totally say that it is one of my favorite destinations ever!

Itaewon district

I even had an uncomfortable adventure on my very last ICN flight linked to my passport: I changed it recently and informed the related responsible in my aviation company who hadn't done their job of updating the information in the system, so when I got to the passport control in Seoul, I risked to get deadheaded back as an INAD. Me, the Crew!!! It would all go well (we had a 24h layover during which the company could remedy the error in the system), if it wasn't for my Purser (the most senior Crew, basically our boss for a day)  who got so scared of the situation that she felt the urge to amplify the situation by warning the whole hierarchy (up to God) of my situation and putting it all on my back. If I  had listened to her, my very last layover in South Korea would have been spent in the hotel room! Thankfully I, at least. think out of the box, so after sorting the problem out with who was really in charge, I went out with my fellow Crew. And I am happy about it!

After the full immersion into the street food - and my oh my if there is plenty of it - we decided to visit a Cat Cafe. This is the only place on earth so far I've visited that has this kind of places. Basically it's a bar where you can take a drink and chat, BUT surrounded by cats and dogs! So instead of a kennel or cattery, this place is hosting homeless cats and dogs and offering them some attention by the animal lovers who are visiting. It was fun and enlightening!

Cat cafe

After this adventure there was some more street food and crowds with nice background music. You could hear it, smell it, feel it all. Let's not forget it was long before the pandemic, which feels ages ago. 

Our final research before the closure of the shops was of course about the cosmetics. Have you ever heard about the Korean cosmetics?! They are famous about it. probably because the population starts using cosmetics very early and even the surgical interventions are quite common among the Korean youngsters. That's too far for me, but I do appreciate the endless brands of premium cosmetics of all types. That winter all my fellow ladies friends got a Korean cosmetic product for Christmas. Myself included!

Unleashed Crew

I have to tell you something about my first thought of South Korea, we're talking about 2013 when I had my first ever layover in this incredible country. Also that time was summertime, so I will do another post about it entirely. This is just a sneak peak of my first impression.

I had an adventurous layover and colorful exploring! Next day while I was walking at the airport, on my way back with the rest of the Crew, I saw a huge map. Unfortunately I didn't have time to take a photo, but I observed it carefully. It was the map of the world slightly different from what we're used to see at school. Or at least I thought everyone in the world was using the same maps. NOT. Apparently in Asia they suggest an Asia-centralized map, where Korea is at the very center, Americas at the right and Europe on the very left edge. It was so weird for me to see that! But enlightening as well! Why not, it's totally logical! In fact I made up my mind that Korea is sort of a parallel world to ours: it has the same standard and technology, but fashion, customs, music and food is totally different and what I loved is that - it is not copied from the western world! They have their own and they value it, which is awesome in my opinion. From that moment it became one of my favorite countries in the world. Right here is the answer to your question "what's your favorite destination?".

ICN airport of Seoul

PEK for Beijing (summertime)

I went all the way to Chine to...

Sliding on the Great Wall of China

Correction. I went all the way to Beijing just to buy a mobile phone! ... Kidding 😅
Obviously I am talking about Huawei brand and I do use it for many years now! I happened to need a new mobile phone just the same month I had PEK on my roster, so I thought: let me go directly to the source! And so I did. I saw a new fancy model from my Taekwondo master, a purple/blue electric Nova3 and I decided I will go for the same, just a little cheaper because bought directly where it is produced.

I did all my research before the flight, knowing that Google and everything related is blocked in China, even with the VPN (at least with the free versions that I was using around the world during layovers). I went to the Huawei shop that my Chinese colleague advised me and it took me about 1h to complete the purchase, by using google translator, because nobody in the shop was talking not even a word of English! But hey, not only I made it, I also got a lot of extras for free (Huawei selfie-stick, 2 covers, LCD window shield) and I payed less than the cost everywhere else in the world, so it was definitely worth it and I am still using it!!! My Chinese colleague helped me out with the settings from Chinese to English and everything is cool.

Huawei Nova3, selfie stick and covers

Well this was the boring side of the story. Let's jump up to the exploring instead! Myself with a Crew girl from Mexico and our Captain from Spain went for the Great Wall tour: what a blast it was!
In the morning we took a driver from the hotel, but forgot to ask at the reception what was the pickup time for our flight back that was happening the same late evening! So we tried to ask the driver to use his mobile phone (of course ours wasn't working), but again he didn't speak a word of English, so again google translator helped us out, except at the certain point it translated I LOVE YOU instead of something else and the driver was quite puzzled and maybe flattered? Who knows! At the end we made it to contact the reception and plan our time accordingly.

It was an 1h30' drive and finally we got to the Wall. After the visit of the museum, we started climbing. And right there I thanked God that I am training Taekwondo, a Korean martial art involving legs more than other body parts. I had a steady trekking, but people around me were stopping frequently to rest, had heavy breathing and were frequent drinking or simply giving up. Ok, maybe the fact it was August didn't really help with staying fresh, but hey, once in a lifetime you'll make that effort, right?

Dollyo-chagi

Crew

Endless panorama of green mountains, nature and this endless wall full of mysteries.


Who knows how many stories it inspired, how many feet have walked on it, how many lives were given to defend it and how many romances it was keeping in store?! The tradition, the history, the architecture: it all has a sort of timeless magic.
No wonder it is one of the 7 wonders of the world, right? Wonderful!

Cableway

The Great Wall of China

safehouse

A new entertainment on the Great Wall is the 3-5min slippery slope for whoever is not afraid of the speed. You are by yourself on the metal slide sitting comfortably with your legs in the front with a joystick in the middle that is used for braking. I had a misfortune to have in front of me a 60 years old Chinese lady that was kind of afraid of the whole sliding (why didn't she take the stairs?!!?), so we were going quite slow. But she was creating a long queuing line, so I had to shout to her and ultimately push her myself. It involved a lot of laughing with my Crew and at the end we all had a lot of fun. Here's the video!