Birthday Bliss

I just celebrated my 25th birthday. Quarter of a century, no longer in my early 20's, now officially an adult, blah blah blah. However you want to say it, I'm old. So how did I celebrate this new year of my life? By jumping into it head first of course!

Early Saturday afternoon we headed down to Bundang, just South of Seoul. After a short bus ride out of Seoul and a taxi ride through Bundang, we arrived at Yuldong Park. It is a beautiful park. And a refreshing break from the concrete and noise pollution of Seoul. The park,  full of trees and grassy areas, surrounds a beautiful natural lake. Just visiting the park alone would be worth the trip, but we had our minds set on something a little more daring.



The bungee jumping platform was visible from the first minute we step out of the taxi. The bungee tower is 45m high and located over the lake. We grabbed numbers and were told to come back in about 30 mins. And of course, I grabbed number 13, really?! We wandered around a little book park located across from the bungee tower. It had sculptures based on famous literature.

Soon our 30 minute anxiety inducing wait was over. It was almost too casual. We gave our name, our phone number, and signed in. Then we were put into a harness, first time jumpers get a waist harness. Then we stepped on a scale and our weight was written on our palm. Now we were ready. We were sent up to the top in an elevator. All the way up we could hear the screams of the people going ahead of us. I still didn't feel too nervous, just very excited. I was a little worried that the harness was not tight enough on my legs and that the chest piece made an x across my chest that I thought could cause a lot of pain for a lady. That aside, that actual jump was not freaking me out yet. My friend's brother went first. He showed no hesitation and jumped off right away. Ok not so bad, I can do this. Next my coworker stepped up to the edge and stepped back again and hesitated. He looked scared, which made me instantly feel nervous. But soon he too was failing head first off the tower. Two more friends went, then it was my turn. I walked out to the man, who spoke little to no English. Showed him my palm. He grabbed the appropriate rope for my weight and attached it to my back. "Ok??" I asked, giving him a nervous thumbs up. He grunted a few times and turned me around. I step out to the edge, leaving the security of the barrier fence. I made the mistake of looking around and thinking while waiting from my countdown. He asked if I was ready, I stepped back, stopped thinking, and said YES! I stepped back up to the edge, counted to three and JUMPED! It was the most amazing feeling ever. I could not feel the rope attached to my back and felt like I was never going to stop falling.

The rope caught, my brain turned on, "I'm Alive!" Before I could think of anything else, I was shot back up, and plummeted back down again. This was actually scarier than the first jump. I was thrown up and down a few more times. It was so much fun. Then I hung there like a dead fish and was lowered into a boat and taken back to the safety of land.

Bungee Jumping was A-Mazing.

After an afternoon resting, we had a wonderful dinner at Buddha's Belly in Itaewon. I love thai food, and B's Belly has some pretty darn delicious curry. Wine, curry and friends, what more could girl ask for? But the night had just begun.

After dinner we headed out to Hongdae, our usual stomping ground. We decided that tonight was the perfect night to try drinks from Vent. Vent is a funky little bar with a window that looks like a robot open to the street. You walk up and order a cocktail that is served in a plastic bag, it looks just like an iv bag. I like to call them adult capri suns.

 

I.V. bags of poison in our hands we wandered up to park. Hongdae park is always entertaining. On any given night you can fight Korean rap battles, dance offs, live music or the occasional marching band and man on stilts. Tonight was something I had never experienced before: SILENT DISCO!! There is a D.J. and a bunch of people dancing, but any outsider wandering by cannot hear the music. All you have to do to join the party is donate a few 1000 won and an ID. In return you are given your entrance to the party: a set of headphones, with a balloon attached if you are lucky. I could have not asked for a more fun way to spend my birthday night! SO MUCH FUN!!!! And, thank you Ms. Lucy for the shout out and song dedication, so much cooler through the headphones!

I had a fanatically wonderful birthday! 

p.s. I have noticed a trend in my last two birthdays: Jumping off of things. Last year I had a wonderful time learning how to Trapeze, this still maybe one of the most amazing things I have ever done. And of course year I bungee jumped. Each year is a higher, more extreme jump. What will I do next year? I am currently thinking either trying a ankle harness bungee or sky diving, you have a year to decide if you would like to join!!!

last years b-day jump magic:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=684469036673

Glimpse of the North

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to travel to the DMZ. Its hard to believe that a country can be so isolated, secretive and oppressed in this day and age. Living just below the border in a tech crazy, fast paced, modern city its even harder to believe.

According to the BBC, "Aid agencies have estimated that up to two million people have died since the mid-1990s because of acute food shortages caused by natural disasters and economic mismanagement. The country relies on foreign aid to feed millions of its people.The totalitarian state also stands accused of systematic human rights abuses. Reports of torture, public executions, slave labour, and forced abortions and infanticides in prison camps have emerged. A US-based rights group has estimated that there are up to 200,000 political prisoners in North Korea."

Living in Seoul its easy to forget about what is happening up North. Sure there are political flare ups and threats from the North that sometimes set us all on edge, but then daily life takes over and its pushed to the back of our minds. My recent trip brought everything right up to the front of my mind, and it hasn't left.

Here are some highlights/ interesting things I learned from the DMZ tour:

The beginning of our tour. Lucy and I with our official USO tour badges.

The Joint Security Area is the location where all negotiations since 1953 have been held. The MDL (Military Demarcation Line) cuts through the center of the blue buildings. The large grey building is North Korea.

Where meetings between the Koreas and other countries are held.

ROK Guards stratigically stand so that half of thier body is conceled behind the buildings.

Inside the confrence building, this table is divided down the center by the MDL and the microphones running down the table indicate where the line is, they also record 24/7.

ROK Soliders stand in a Tae Kwan Do stance and wear dark sunglasses to avoid displaying any sort of emotion.

The door behind me leads to the North, I would not recomend opening it.

The white posts run along the middle of the DMZ and mark the MDL, military demarcation line. One of the things I found most interesting is that there are phones placed along the MDL. If someone successfully crosses the border they can call for help. The ROK or US military will be there in a matter of minutes to pick them up.

North Korea

At this exact point I am surrounded by the North on three sides, Brionna Pennisula, sorry bad joke!

South Korea donated a flag to a small village within the DMZ. The village is not technically North or South Korea. The North responded by building another, taller flag pole with a bigger flag. The South's flag pole was 323 feet tall and the flag weighs 287 pounds. The North's flag pole is 525 ft tall and and weighs in at 595 pounds. Lowering the flag requires at least 30 men and must be done every night and on windy days because it would tear under it's own weight.

These little red signs were pretty unsettling. They lined the edges of the roads and warned of land mines.

There were also a few interesting things that I didn't get any pictures of, or was not allowed to photograph. The first were the jamming towers used by the North, which block any incoming radio, TV, cellphone signals.

Next, the propaganda village is literally insane. The North refers to it as Peace Village, but it really isn't a village at all. The village has large brightly colored buildings, working electricity and a seemingly average standard of living. However closer inspection using modern telescopic lenses revealed that the buildings are just concrete shells with the building lights turning on and off at set times. Another illusion constructed by the North.

One of the last things we were able to see was the 3rd tunnel built by the North.

Since November, 1974, the South has discovered four tunnels crossing the DMZ. The tunnels are believed to have been created as a military invasion plan by the North. Each tunnel is large enough for of an entire infantry division to pass through in one hour. Four tunnels have been found, but it is believed that there are more. The third tunnel was discovered on October 17, 1978.

We started the tunnel tour at the top of a tunnel built adjacent to the third tunnel. Our tour guide gave us hard hats, which I thought were a complete joke. However after we walked down a very steep incline for about 15 mins, I could clearly see why we needed the helmets. The tunnel was wet, dark and cramped. We were able to walk deep into the tunnel, it was intense. To think that this was built in secret, so far below the earth's surface and as a plan to invade Seoul, its just crazy.

To end this on a positive note, one thing that is fascinating and beautiful about the DMZ is that it has become an unintentional nature preserve. Because it is so dangerous and uninhabitable for humans, many rare plant and animal species can be found within the heavily fortified border. Animals such as cranes, the extremely endangered Korean tiger, black bears and vampire deers can be found within the DMZ. I find it absolutely amazing that within such a dangerous and heavily militarized place, a place with such a tragic history, something so beautiful has been created.