ちゃんぷるー日記: 行って来ました！ソウル

４月３日から６日まで、韓国に行って来ました。今回の旅の大きな目的は板門店ツアーに参加すること。JSAでおなじみのこの場所は、建物の向こう側が北朝鮮、こちら側が韓国ということになっています。背景の立派な建物は北朝鮮のもの。

We went to South Korea on April 3 through 6. Main event in this trip is to participate a tour to Panmunjeon. In this place, familiar on the movie JSA, the other side of the buildings is North Korea and the front side, South Korea. Magnificent building in the other side

belongs to North Korea.

警備する韓国軍兵士。みんな若くてかっこいいです。
遠景は北朝鮮の宣伝村。

A guarding South Korean soldier. Each one of them is young and handsome.　Distant landscape is a propaganda village in North Korea.

帰らざる橋。ここで北に行くかそれとも南かを選択した捕虜は、もう反対側へは戻れないことから。

A bridge of no return. Once a prisoner of war decided to go north or south, he could never return to the other side.

２日目の朝食はホテルの外でお粥にチャレンジ。日本語OKの食堂で、味付けもおそらくかなり日本人好みにしてあるのでは、と思いました。

あまりにも美味しくて、翌日もここでお粥。

We tried rice porridge on the second day for a breakfast. We can make an order in Japanese and I guess they changed the taste more favorable for the most Japanese. It was so good that we went there again next morning.

日本が植民地時代に作った西大門刑務所跡。今は展示館になっていて、中の辛過ぎる展示物とは対照的に、外では桜のつぼみが。

Museum originally buit by Japan as a jail. It now exhibits how the Japanese treated Korean resistance, inmates. In contrast to the painful exhibition, cherry blossomes are about to bloom.

戦争記念館。とにかく壮大な建物で、莫大な費用が掛けられています。

音声案内器を借りれば、韓国語・日本語・英語・中国語で説明が聞けます。韓国では戦争がまだ終わっていないことを実感。

Massive war museum. You can see Korea spent a lot of money on it. If you rent an audio assisting machine, you can listen Korean/Japanese/English/Chinese explanation. I was convinced here that the war is not yet ended in Korea.

娘があっ、リス！と叫ぶので、こんな交通量の多いところに、と思ってよーく見るとなんと大きなネズミ！しかもカメラを向けて近づいても逃げない、ふてぶてしいヤツでした。

When my daughter exclaimed, "Squirrel!" I wondered how could be, because we are in front of a crossing, and it was actually a big mouse. And it was so audacious that it didn't run away even when I walked closer to it with a camera.

２日目の昼食は選択の余地がなく日本食店で。お寿司の色味が何となく日本と違うけれど、美味しかったです。何を食べてもキムチはたっぷり付きました。

For lunch on the second day, we had no choice but sushi. Its color is slightly different from sushi in Japan, but it was very delicious. No matter what we ordered, we always had a bunch of kimuchi, Korean pickle, as a side dish.

韓国での最後のおやつはクリスピー・ドーナツ。新宿では今でも２時間待ちだというのに、ソウルでは人気はありましたが、少し並んだだけで買えました。美味しかった～。

Our last snack in Soeul were Krispy Donuts. Even now we have to line for two hours to buy them in Tokyo, but here we only waited only a few minutes to eat. They were good.