Finally, I was able to see some of Korea’s country side….which is a lot of agriculture. I’m not sure if land zoning restrictions even exist in this country….I think you can just plant a garden anywhere you so choose if you own the land, hence the many many many many many rice fields and soy bean fields, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
In Gwanju (Korea’s 5th largest city), I attended my first Korean sporting event - a Gwanju Samsung Tigers baseball game. Yeah companies blatantly own the teams here haha. They were playing the LG….Seoul….don’t remember the other mascot…oops. Guess the advertising gimmick works….good job Korea. Anyway the game was loads of fun! The packed stadium of people was so enthusiastic about the game with their cheers and spirit sticks, we (other foreign friends) couldn’t help but conform.
The most important thing one can see when visiting this area of the country is the May 18th Memorial. In 1980, the citizens of Gwanju gathered the strength to rise up against the military dictatorship of their city. Protests were a daily activity until one day, the military opened fired on the unarmed citizens. A few days later (May 18th), the people gathered together ready to defend their city in the name of freedom. The memorial and museum, located a few minutes outside of the city, is dedicated to the citizens that lost their lives and/or were injured in the defense of their city.
More recently, a Korean movie was made depicting the event. An exact replica of Gwanju in 1980 was constructed for the movie and never torn down. The pictures of the town and the tank are from the movie set.
I quite enjoyed this trip. It gave me a chance to really get to know this strange country in which I live. I was particularly effected by the May 18th memorial, as it happened not so long ago and the faces of the victims seem to still ha
unt the city…
(A protest sign on the movie set against American beef...really needed a Big Mac for the right affect but oh well haha)
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