Discovering a Host of Wonders in South Korea

This country is facing its largest onslaught of foreign visitors ever when it plays host to the world at the Summer Olympic Games on Sept. 17 to Oct. 2.

To prepare for the mega-influx, officials have added a subway line to the primary Olympic site, the Seoul Sports Complex. The country also has called for about 30,000 volunteer expatriates to return home and assist as interpreters during the Games. Seoul already had several five-star hotels but now it boasts 16, with almost 7,000 rooms.

In addition there has been a tremendous resurgence of pride in South Korea’s ancient culture, as evidenced by the authentic and colorful Korean Folk Village south of Seoul, the splendid national museums and the displays of arts, crafts and dance forms throughout the country.

As has become the norm for recent Olympics, an arts and culture festival will share the spotlight with the athletes and will feature special exhibitions of dance, musical instruments, pottery, paintings, films and folklore. Guest performers during the festival will include La Scala Opera, Comedie Francaise and the San Francisco Ballet.

Downtown Bustle

“The land of the morning calm” depicted on travel posters does exist--but not downtown. This enormous, bustling and somewhat unattractive city of more than 8 million people, most of whom seem to be driving day and night through traffic-clogged streets, is a monument to South Korean diligence, because most of the city lay in ruins in 1953.

Even in the midst of Seoul’s hubbub there are lovely islands of serenity, such as the Piwon Secret Garden on the grounds of Changdokkung Palace.

South Koreans as well as foreigners can take 1 1/2-hour guided tours past elaborately painted 17th-Century palace buildings and along winding pathways of the 78-acre garden dotted with pavilions and ponds, once reserved for the exclusive use of the royal family. English-language tours are scheduled several times a day.

Kyongbokkung Palace, built in 1394 by the founder of the Yi Dynasty, was destroyed in the Japanese invasion of 1592 and rebuilt in 1868. Visitors to the palace ought not to miss its superb national museum, with 5th-Century gold and jade ornaments from the tombs of Silla Dynasty kings.

Cuisine and Culture

A pleasant introduction to classic South Korean cuisine and culture is available at Korea House at the foot of Namsan Hill, offering an evening buffet followed by music and dance, choreographed and paced with an eye to Western tastes.

Shoppers will find two irresistible magnets in central Seoul--the underground arcades of the Lotte shopping center and Lotte department store in a complex adjacent to the deluxe Lotte and Westin Chosun hotels.

Also, the East Gate Market features a main floor of food stalls, produce and fish merchants and spice dealers and a second floor devoted to the world’s largest silk market, a dizzying warren of narrow aisles lined floor to ceiling with bolts of bright silks. It’s open daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., except for the first and third Sundays of each month.

Outside the crowded city the rhythms of a 1,000-year-old civilization continue. Farmers work their fields to the cadence of the seasons, women in bright quilted wrappings walk to market with their babies tied to their backs and schoolchildren in colored uniforms play and chatter on their way home from classes.

Korean Folk Village

If there’s a single place in South Korea where yesterday and today coalesce, perhaps it is the Korean Folk Village 20 miles south of Seoul near the walled city of Suwon.

There, amid the painstakingly reconstructed farmhouses, temples and shops of the 19th Century, the costumed inhabitants go about daily tasks in the old-fashioned ways.

Modern South Korean families photograph them, and no one finds it remarkable that women weaving silk in the 19th-Century midland farmhouse and the women who watch while on a holiday are wearing identical long silk hanboks .

The 200 buildings of the folk village represent all the geographic areas of South Korea. Craftsmen weave silk and make bamboo baskets, glaze celadon pottery and forge brass utensils, thatch roofs and weave ropes from hemp (open daily).

Ancient South Korean treasures are on view at Kyongju, south near Pusan, easily reached by a half-day train trip from Seoul. From 57 BC to AD 935 Kyongju was the capital of the Silla Kingdom, at a time when Buddhism began to flourish.

In years past, hundreds of pilgrims would trudge uphill before dawn to Sokkuram Grotto to see the first rays of the morning sun strike the massive white granite Buddha.

Today a glass wall shields the ancient Buddha from pollution, and the openings in the rock that allowed in the sunlight have been sealed. Visitors, however, still come at dawn to see the Buddha, then stand in the grotto and watch the sun rise over the East Sea (South Koreans do not call it the Sea of Japan).

Around Kyongju 70 earthen mounds conceal the tombs of the kings of the Silla Dynasty, which lay undiscovered for centuries.

Only two of the tombs have been opened, yielding fantastic treasures such as a crown of solid gold, a breastplate of gold and jade and a wealth of pottery and jewelry. A branch of the national museum here displays the artifacts, and Ancient Tombs Park allows a cutaway look into a burial structure.

Two of the most important of South Korea’s 2,000 Buddhist temples are in the Kyongju area--Pulguk-Sa from the middle of the 8th Century and Tongdo-Sa from AD 646.

Demon-Head Tiles

Both admit visitors daily for a nominal fee and permit exterior photographs of the intricately carved and painted buildings, their curved roofs decorated with demon-head tiles to frighten away evil spirits.

Pusan, South Korea’s second-largest city, is worthwile seeing primarily for its beaches and an enormous market where vendors sell fresh fish, live eels and dozens of varieties of mollusks and shellfish.

One sees the most fascinating side of South Korea away from the mainland, 60 miles south on the island of Cheju, a combination of Niagara Falls and Hawaii for thousands of South Korean and Japanese honeymooners.

Relatively few Westerners visit Cheju, where Western women are likely to be stared at.

Isolated for centuries, the islanders cling to their shamanistic beliefs, and everywhere are lava stone tolharabangs (grandfather figures) guarding against evil.

The island still has a matriarchal society--the men stay home and the women go to work. Women are divers who gather abalone and seaweed from the cold depths in wet suits or old-fashioned white cotton diving clothing. And women are carpenters, bricklayers, postal carriers and street cleaners.

The climate of Cheju is not as tropical as Hawaii’s, although large commercial citrus crops and some pineapples are grown.

Hunters and gourmets flock to Cheju for pheasant shooting and delectable pheasant lunches at the Cheju Hunting Club near Sogwipo on the south coast.

Japanese Tourists

The greatest percentage of South Korea’s foreign tourists are Japanese, drawn by the nation’s lower prices. Many of the Japanese arriving on Cheju carry golf clubs and reserve their starting times before leaving home.

Chinese also come in great numbers from Hong Kong and Taiwan to buy high-quality South Korean ginseng, generally regarded to be good for all ailments.

So far, South Korea is unspoiled. Prices are far below Tokyo’s and people are courteous and friendly, especially outside the crowded confines of Seoul.

South Korean food relies heavily on grilled and braised beef dishes, fish, rice, noodles and vegetables, with the pungent and garlicky kimchi relishes apt to be a stumbling block to some.

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Opening Ceremonies for the Games are scheduled for the morning of Sept. 17, beginning by the Han River near Olympic Stadium. Closing Ceremonies, to be held in Olympic Stadium the evening of Oct. 2, will feature dancers from both Seoul and Barcelona, the latter to be host of the 1992 Summer Games.

So far 4.9 million tickets have been distributed for the Games. The official U.S. ticket distributor is Olson-Travelworld, 5855 Green Valley Circle, Culver City 90230, call (213) 670-7100, or toll-free (800) 992-9511.

The same company offers tour packages to the Olympics for about $2,500 per person, including air fare.

Other tour wholesalers with Olympic packages include Global Express Tours, P.O. Box 4053, Burlingame, Calif. 94011-4503, (415) 692-7874; Holiday World Tours, 3719 196th S.W., Suite 13, Lynnwood, Wash. 98036, (800) 845-8687; Net Tours, 150 Powell St., Suite 301, San Francisco 94102, (800) 792-0747 (in California only); Universal Travel System, 1054 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 306, Los Angeles 90017, (213) 482-5633, and Visitours, 770 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90017, (800) 367-4368.

Both Korean Air and Northwest Orient offer several nonstop flights a week to Seoul from West Coast cities.

Many major hotels already have been booked by the Olympic committee or tour operators, but the Korean National Tourism Corp. can provide up-to-date information about accommodations.

Two alternatives to deluxe hotels are available: the home-stay program, with 500 participating Korean homes, most with some English-speaking family members, for $25 U.S. a night single, $30 double, including breakfast; and yogwans , small inns.

280 yogwans have been inspected and approved for foreign visitors and cost from $13 to $6 a room. Most, but not all, of the rooms have private baths and, just as in the regular hotels, some offer both Western-style bedrooms and Korean-style bedrooms.

In the latter you sleep on mats on a heated floor called an ondol and leave your shoes just inside the door. Another advantage to the yogwans is location, because many are along the Han River where public transportation to the Games is close by.

On pre- or post-Olympics visits you might want to book a room in one of the deluxe hotels in Seoul. In the center of the city is the efficient and attractive Westin Chosun or the big and baroque Lotte.

A bit quieter are the elegant Shilla, affiliated with Tokyo’s splendid Okura Hotel, and the Hyatt Regency, with doubles from $100, or from $70 at the Sheraton Walker Hill by the Han River across from Olympic Stadium. The Seoul Hilton International, not far from the Seoul railway station, has rates beginning at $100.

In Pusan, Westin’s Chosun Beach Hotel at the edge of town on Haeundae Beach is a good buy at $50 to $75 double. The Kolon in Kyongju offers resort facilities in a scenic setting, and is conveniently near Sokkuram Grotto (about $70 for two).

On Cheju Island, deluxe options include the Hyatt Regency Cheju and the Cheju Grand Hotel, both with doubles around $66.

Renting a car is precarious; South Korea has the highest per-capita automobile fatality rate in Asia.

Airline Connections

Airline service within the country is good and not expensive; you can fly from Seoul to Pusan or Cheju, or from Pusan to Cheju. Train service to Kyongju and Pusan from Seoul is excellent. In the cities take cabs or hire a car and driver for the day through your hotel concierge. Rates can be negotiated downward from the starting price.

Cleanliness and sanitation standards are high in Korea, so even simple eating places should be safe. Western-style breakfasts in hotel coffee shops are adequate, with fresh-baked breads and fresh fruit outstanding.

Korean cuisine is preferable at other meals, especially the bul-gogi , marinated strips of flank steak cooked at the table on a small grill.

Korean crafts are well-made and fairly priced throughout the country, with some bargaining acceptable in all but department stores. The excellent government-sponsored Korea Handicrafts Shopping Center near the Westin Chosun in Seoul is great for last-minute one-stop shopping.

For more information on travel to Seoul, contact the Korea National Tourism Corp., 510 West 6th St., Suite 323, Los Angeles 90014, (213) 623-1226.