Ok this post has been a long time coming and I know I am way behind and I have repeatedly promised and update. Here it is, well part of it anyway due to the amount of time that has passed between entries I have forgotten some of the stuff I was going to say and have things to say that I didn't when I made promises all those months ago.

 

Ok so the Seoul trip deserves mention. I made an allusion to riot police and I can't leave you hanging with that one. Made a trip into Seoul a couple weeks back. No real plans, just to wander around and take some photos. Just getting out of the big city and into a bigger one. Most of day day passed with out much going on, Eric and I were going to head to a little street that has some nice little shops on it, just to look around maybe get some good photos. We came out of the subway, looked across the street and there was a line of police dressed in full riot gear. Did not think all that much of it at the time, figured something must be going on but didn't think a couple of foreigners would see any of it. We got to the street that I thought that the little shopping avenue was on, turned down it and started to walk. A couple of blocks in we wander onto a protest of some sort with about 1000 people dressed in camo and red head bands, some sporting face covers to avoid any identification. Being curious and not of the feline persuasion, I figured we were safe to take a bit of a closer look, I did however joke to Eric that I hope this is not an anti American protest of some sort. We managed to make it right to the front of the crowd toting cameras all the while. At the front there was a police bus with the windows covered in mesh and water canons mounted to the top in case things got out of hand. All the while I had this distinct feeling that we were not supposed to be there, however every one else seemed to be oblivious of our presence. After about an hour with out incident we began to feel a bit more comfortable and decided to really put this foreigner card (the card that by way of not being a local allows you to get away with all sorts of stuff that no Korean could ever pull off, there is no real card for this but there should be)to the test and see how far behind the police blockade we could get before getting turned around. We walked to one side of the bus and the row of riot gear clad police politely moved aside for us and waved us through. Half not beliving it, we went through to find ranks of police  behind the bus with an entire city block cordened off so that no one could get through. There must have been 100 of these riot busses behind the main blockade. There was also platoons of police waiting impatinely for some action behind the bus. We kept going farther and farther back. I am pretty sure we were not supposed to be there but again the forgiener card worked its magic and the police just kept moving aside and letting us through.

All told there must have been about 2500 police officers clad in full riot gear, maybe three for every protester. Now if there is a good way to make sure no one is going to make trouble it is by making sure that the protesters are out numbered three to one. Most of the police looked like they were sixteen, a impression that was added to by the fact that some of the ranks were sitting quietly eating ice cream bars, but still, way to keep a totalitarian state. Not that Korea is really all that totalitarian but it seems like it should be sometimes. Just ask Eric about the police trying to protect people from the dangers of..... swimming. Yes that is right swimming, I didn't think it was all that dangerous if you were careful but the police running down the beach with whistles blowing trying their best to keep people out of the water, would lead one to believe otherwise.

If you are interested in some photos from the protest you have but to ask and I will post some. Other wise there are some in Eric's blog as well as a different take on the whole situation. His blog can be found here.

Well seems like time has run out again and I have not said all I want to say. I have been busy lately with only one more month left in Korea, I am trying to suck the marrow out of my little time left here. I will post more soon, but for now I hope you have enjoyed.

Ps... I never did find out what exactly the protest was about. The papers had some reference to the visit by the Japanese president but that seemed to be pretty small scale and this seemed to be something major. Who knows, the press may have just been covering it up....

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