7 months in Asia (Summer + Fall 2014): Korea Week 3: Mud Festival, Chinese Visa Fail, North Korea

Mud Festival:
I went to the Buryeong Mud Festival in Korea this weekend!
That was a blast.
Free mud painting and beaches and concerts!
Also there were some seriously awesome fireworks at the end. It was really foggy/polluted so we were anticipating not being able to really see anything but in fact the fog made the fireworks look so much cooler!
The color from a single explosion would be dispersed through the haze and it would light up the entire sky.

I took about 50 photos of the fireworks alone.
It would go from pitch black to the brightness of broad daylight.

Kimbab... but it was strange because it
wasn't together like a sushi roll

Chinese Visa Fail:
Spent 7 hours of my life, over a 2-day period, trying to get my Chinese visa.

Ultimately I discovered that Korea wouldn't grant me one because I'm not a Korean resident.
So now I have to figure something else out - maybe even fly back to the US.

But throughout my 7 hour journey I had a interesting realization.
Let me set the stage:

Temperature: 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 F)
Humidity: 81%
Hours passed schlepping myself to the wrong (old) embassy building and then to the new one: 4

Metro/Bus rides taken: 6
Success with getting Chinese visa: None

This was just day 1.

After sweatily walking up a pretty steep hill to get to the new Chinese embassy only to discover they closed early that day, I was not in the best mood.
I hiked back down the hill and sat once more on public transportation, feeling a tad grumpy.

I began to ride home in the air-conditioned bus, dejected because I had failed to get a visa to study abroad in China while I was already privileged enough to study abroad in Korea.

Feeling refreshed from the AC but definitely low on blood sugar I reached into my bag and rifled past my reading books, wallet and portable wifi unit to pull out some cold tea I had purchased right before getting on the bus. After satiating my thirst I pulled out my iPhone and started using the internet to read the news on one of my favorite apps, Flipboard.

I hadn't even finished reading a single headline with the shame hit me.

Seriously? Seriously? Here I was sitting on a clean bus, confidently flashing my smartphone around with no threat of attack, drinking iced tea and exploring a whole new city and I had the audacity to whine about not being able to get a visa to go to another country?

There are people in this world who will never even have the chance to fight their way to having what I have.

I was exhausted, my feet were blistered, dried sweat plastered my face but I suddenly felt so profoundly thankful.

Have I worked hard to get to where I am today - to be in Korea, to be able to travel to all these places? Absolutely. Since I was really young I've always studied diligently and worked hard and lived frugally to save money for future life.
But was I born into a life of privilege - with immediate access to healthcare, clean water, food, clothing, shelter and a police force that protects my neighborhood? Absolutely.
Had I not been given that would any of my hard work brought me to where I am today? Unlikely.

View from the rooftop of my apartment

Everyone reading this is already in such position of privilege; you have internet access, you probably have a smartphone and a safe place to sleep at night.

I feel like most people understand they have a good life - but when you catch yourself complaining and getting grumpy about silly things like humid weather and public transportation, it's nice to give yourself a healthy dose of reality.

Seeing life through that lens really puts things in perspective.
Definitely a great life lesson in humility for me.

North Korea:

I had an interesting conversation with a friend about visiting North Korea the other day.
For the past couple of months I've been obsessed with everything North Korean, binge-watching documentaries with admirable voracity. So obviously I would want to visit North Korea should I find myself with the financial means to do so (you can go as part of a tour).
However my friend pointed out something really interesting a North Korean defector said when she spoke at Korea University earlier in the week (I had to miss the speaker because I had class).

I'm paraphrasing, but essentially it was:

"Don't go to North Korea. Don't be a tourist. Why give $1,000+ to a government that is so horribly corrupt and abusive to see a bunch of fake stuff anyways? You won't see any true part of North Korea, everything you see is monitored and staged. Instead give that same money to an organization that will help save the lives of 10 or more North Koreans."

The reality of that statement hit pretty hard with me. I was so jaded with my fascination to physically see North Korea, even the fakeness, that I didn't even think about what a waste of money it is, money that could be put to a much better cause - like saving the lives of real North Koreans.

So I am a reformed would-be tourist and no longer plan to visit unless I know that I can achieve something with my visit, something that will help bring the malicious government to justice.

Also the hours of documentaries I've watched have most likely showed me everything and more than what I would have seen on the tour.

Borat advertisement for KPop?
Globalization in the works

Soju watermelon drink served on dry ice -
delicious!

Dried squid - surprisingly I didn't really enjoy it
I love seafood, but squid just isn't my thing

The plastic surgery district in Korea is actually quite creepy.
There are ads for plastic surgery everywhere, and the streets
are lined with building that say "Plastic Surgery Clinic" in Korean