War! HUH! What is it good for?
Actually, apparently it makes for a pretty cool museum. As I swore yesterday, I spent a nice chunk of today goingg to the War Memorial of Korea, as the guide pamphlet calls it. But "War Memorial," while accurate, is a very incomplete description. The Museum has plenty of relics and pieces dating to the Korean War, of course, and about two-thirds of the museum does relate to that conflict, but they have tons of other things, too.
After taking pictures of the plaza, the building, and the pretty decent memorial statues outside, Allan and I walked up the slight incline to the museum building itself. It's a really huge building, laid out in a rectangular U-shape, and the main entrance is in the middle. After buying our extremely affordable tickets, we started on our journey through Korean military history. The first room of the tour was a little odd, just a round room with a quiet, very low-key round fountain in the middle, and afterwards a ramp downwards, with the walls on either side lined with cases exhibiting pieces dating back as far as the Paleolithic. At the bottom of the ramp, the story of war on the Korean peninsula in recorded history begins. There are several nice dioramas and exhibitions of weaponry from before Korea was Korea, when it was just a mishmash of warring kingdoms. Many of the exhibitions are reproductions, unfortunately, but they were still nice to see. As you progress through the floor, you make your way through chronologically-arranged rooms that take you from the Three Kingdoms period through the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. Some of the things on display are incredible, including some very nice swords and a truly surprising array of cannon and gunpowder weaponry. It was very humbling for me, Eurocentrically educated as I am, to not only intellectually know that Asia was using gunpowder long before Europe, but to actually see a recognizable, well-developed rifle which puts to shame anything Europe was able to produce for at least 400 more years. I mean, they had wheel-mounted Howitzer-style artillery, complete with explosive shells, as far back as the 12th century, 100 years before gunpowder ever made its way to Europe.
The biggest highlight of the older part of the museum, though, was the replica of the famous turtle ship. For those who don't know, the turtle ship was developed in the mid-15th century to help repel Japanese invaders. Think of it as essentially an ironclad, 400 years before the first ironclad chugged into the waters off Toulon, France. Huge, with guns all up and down the sides, the turtle ship also had a roof protected by nailed iron plates. Not only did the iron plates protect the ship from shells and cannonballs, but the protruding nails made it all but impossible for enemy soldiers to board the turtle ship and take it over hand-to-hand. On top of all this, the turtle ship sports a ram, the better to destroy the enemy.
For the top two floors, the museum is devoted to the Korean War. On the second floor, chronologically arranged, there are rooms that deal with the background of the war and the end of WWII, the North Korean surprise invasion, the UN counteroffensive and its successes, the intervention of China, and finally the stalemate and armistice. Upstairs, there are a couple of rooms devoted to the participation of UN forces (which was another highlight of the museum, since it has facts and figures for every country that sent personnel and aid to Korea, including pictures and small models of each country's unique Korean War memorial as well as a very moving sculpture made from the dog tags of soldiers who gave their lives, shaped into a teardrop and wrapped in barbed wire) and a recreation of what life was like for people in the bombed-out ruins of Seoul and other cities. There is a LOT more, including a "simulated emergency," a "war simulation," and rooms devoted to various branches of the armed forces. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see any of it, because the museum was closing and we were herded out.
Still, it was definitely a good day and I'll have to go back sometime to see the rest of it. Especially since I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find an English-speaking guide, or at least an English audio guide thing, to help me get more out of it.
Anyway, after that, we made our way over to Techno Mart, the ridiculously huge emporium of all things electronic. Seriously, the place is nine fucking floors tall, and although there are two floors of clothes and the top floor is restaurants and a movie theater, the other six floors are absolutely crammed with electronics shops. If it's got a plug, or has something to DO with something that's got a plug, you can find it there. They were closing, so I didn't really get to spend a lot of time there, but I did manage to pick up a new microphone headset for my computer, which was nice because it meant I could call my dad tonight to tell him happy birthday. I could have done this before, only my cat seems to have gnawed a hole in the microphone part of the wire for my old headset, so it stopped working.
Anyway, that's about it for today's adventures, and I should really be heading to bed since I want to be waking up in seven hours, but I have sandwiches to make and a shower to take before I can do so. At least all the walking around in the heat will help me get to sleep before five AM tonight...
After taking pictures of the plaza, the building, and the pretty decent memorial statues outside, Allan and I walked up the slight incline to the museum building itself. It's a really huge building, laid out in a rectangular U-shape, and the main entrance is in the middle. After buying our extremely affordable tickets, we started on our journey through Korean military history. The first room of the tour was a little odd, just a round room with a quiet, very low-key round fountain in the middle, and afterwards a ramp downwards, with the walls on either side lined with cases exhibiting pieces dating back as far as the Paleolithic. At the bottom of the ramp, the story of war on the Korean peninsula in recorded history begins. There are several nice dioramas and exhibitions of weaponry from before Korea was Korea, when it was just a mishmash of warring kingdoms. Many of the exhibitions are reproductions, unfortunately, but they were still nice to see. As you progress through the floor, you make your way through chronologically-arranged rooms that take you from the Three Kingdoms period through the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. Some of the things on display are incredible, including some very nice swords and a truly surprising array of cannon and gunpowder weaponry. It was very humbling for me, Eurocentrically educated as I am, to not only intellectually know that Asia was using gunpowder long before Europe, but to actually see a recognizable, well-developed rifle which puts to shame anything Europe was able to produce for at least 400 more years. I mean, they had wheel-mounted Howitzer-style artillery, complete with explosive shells, as far back as the 12th century, 100 years before gunpowder ever made its way to Europe.
The biggest highlight of the older part of the museum, though, was the replica of the famous turtle ship. For those who don't know, the turtle ship was developed in the mid-15th century to help repel Japanese invaders. Think of it as essentially an ironclad, 400 years before the first ironclad chugged into the waters off Toulon, France. Huge, with guns all up and down the sides, the turtle ship also had a roof protected by nailed iron plates. Not only did the iron plates protect the ship from shells and cannonballs, but the protruding nails made it all but impossible for enemy soldiers to board the turtle ship and take it over hand-to-hand. On top of all this, the turtle ship sports a ram, the better to destroy the enemy.
For the top two floors, the museum is devoted to the Korean War. On the second floor, chronologically arranged, there are rooms that deal with the background of the war and the end of WWII, the North Korean surprise invasion, the UN counteroffensive and its successes, the intervention of China, and finally the stalemate and armistice. Upstairs, there are a couple of rooms devoted to the participation of UN forces (which was another highlight of the museum, since it has facts and figures for every country that sent personnel and aid to Korea, including pictures and small models of each country's unique Korean War memorial as well as a very moving sculpture made from the dog tags of soldiers who gave their lives, shaped into a teardrop and wrapped in barbed wire) and a recreation of what life was like for people in the bombed-out ruins of Seoul and other cities. There is a LOT more, including a "simulated emergency," a "war simulation," and rooms devoted to various branches of the armed forces. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see any of it, because the museum was closing and we were herded out.
Still, it was definitely a good day and I'll have to go back sometime to see the rest of it. Especially since I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find an English-speaking guide, or at least an English audio guide thing, to help me get more out of it.
Anyway, after that, we made our way over to Techno Mart, the ridiculously huge emporium of all things electronic. Seriously, the place is nine fucking floors tall, and although there are two floors of clothes and the top floor is restaurants and a movie theater, the other six floors are absolutely crammed with electronics shops. If it's got a plug, or has something to DO with something that's got a plug, you can find it there. They were closing, so I didn't really get to spend a lot of time there, but I did manage to pick up a new microphone headset for my computer, which was nice because it meant I could call my dad tonight to tell him happy birthday. I could have done this before, only my cat seems to have gnawed a hole in the microphone part of the wire for my old headset, so it stopped working.
Anyway, that's about it for today's adventures, and I should really be heading to bed since I want to be waking up in seven hours, but I have sandwiches to make and a shower to take before I can do so. At least all the walking around in the heat will help me get to sleep before five AM tonight...