2004 Worldwide
YL Meeting in Seoul, South Korea
My planning for the trip
to Japan and South Korea started soon after Toshi – JF1WMY, my
Japanese YL Sponsor suggested that I visit Tokyo and we then fly to
Seoul to the YL Meeting together. I contacted the Japanese and South
Korean tourist boards who both have offices in London, and soon I
was flooded with all the brochures. It took me a while to make up my
mind to go, and in the end the possibility of a couple of weeks off
from work made me go for it.
Ken has been to the
Far East and Japan many times on business, so it was just me going
on my own. I set about contacting the various airlines and travel
agencies to find out what would be the most advantageous way to fly.
This all happened in March- April 2004, a full 6 months before the
actual dates for my travel, so after having booked the YL Conference
with Optional Tour etc., flights to Tokyo, then to Seoul and back
home from Seoul, it was time to start reading the tourist
information, and to get on with all the recommended immunisations.
Early in the
morning on the 2nd of October Ken drove me to Edinburgh
Airport for the first hop across to Amsterdam. The transfer time to
the long haul flight in Amsterdam was very short, but I had
pre-booked an “assisted transfer”. The electric golf buggy whisked
me from the arrival of one flight to the departure gate for the next
one in no time at all, and I was soon airborne on the long haul
direct flight to Tokyo. The flight went a lot quicker than I had
expected with eating, sleeping and watching a film. I could see the
flight progress on the big route display at the front of the cabin,
and as we started to get closer to Japan the excitement grew and at
9 o’clock in the morning, local time, on the 3rd of
October we landed at Narita Airport.
Immigration and
customs checking took a while before I could follow the instructions
for buying myself a train ticket for the Narita Express train into
Tokyo. Everything was well signposted and there was no problem
finding my way to the train. The train passed through a very wet and
grey looking countryside; some it even looked a bit like the
Scottish Borders with rolling hills and fields. Except of course
these were rice fields, not turnips! As we started to approach Tokyo
I could see clusters of houses and after a while we were amongst
lots of high rise blocks of flats. I had arrived in Tokyo, a
sprawling city with more than 12 million people. After a 1 ½ hour
train journey, I got off at Shinagawa station.
After getting off
the train I just followed the crowds. There was nothing else I could
do other than follow the 100’s of others towards the exits. I soon
discovered that each station have a small town centre underground
with lots of shops and restaurants etc. even bus stations for onward
travel. Cleaners were everywhere, sweeping and polishing rails and
escalators. It was all spotless; no litter in sight anywhere!
I found a taxi rank
outside the building and waited in the queue for my turn. The driver
did not understand a word of English, but I showed him the
pre-written instructions from the hotel booking form. He nodded,
punched a few things into his GPS and off he drove to the hotel that
I had booked for the first night in Japan. The taxi driver wore
white gloves and the seats had white covers. Everything was
absolutely spotless! I was glad my pre-booking of the hotel worked
out as the receptionist and I could only communicate by sign
language. I found my room and spent the rest of the day exploring
the hotel and its surrounding area. It was Sunday, and not so many
people about as on normal working days. The 7 hours time difference
between the UK and Japan soon started to bite, and I went to bed
early in order to recover.
The following
morning Toshi and her husband Tani collected me from the hotel.
While Tani took my suitcase back to their house, Toshi and I started
our tour of Tokyo. Toshi had a master plan allowing me to see as
many of the Tokyo sights and attractions as could be reasonably
expected in a few days stay. The first was a bus tour so that I
could get a general overview of the city, followed by a trip to the
Tokyo Trade Centre. I had my first genuine full ‘sushi’ lunch and I
enjoyed it thoroughly even though it was slow going with chopstick.
It all went down with lots of green tea. One floor of the Trade
Centre had only Japanese fast food restaurants where you could
select your own ingredients i.e. raw fish, rice, ginger etc. which
they then prepared while you waited. It was all beautifully prepared
and the aroma of all the spices and sauces wafting past one made one
feel very hungry.
We took a trip up
the Tokyo Trade Centre as well as the Tokyo Tower to get a bird’s
eye view of the city. There were lots of streets with over- and
under passes, railway lines – both over and under ground ones, and
in amongst it all lots of open green spaces, ancient temples,
beautifully kept graveyards. Unfortunately it was a dull and misty
day so I was not able to see Mount Fuji from there. We drove through
the Ginza and the brightly lit up market shopping streets.
Everywhere there was a mass of people moving about. We stopped at
The Emperor’s Palace and the DIET, the Parliament and Government
building, and then we toured the Akasusa Kannon Temple and the park
followed by the Nakamise Street just along from the temple. This
area has a lot of traditional Japanese family shops as well as a few
tourist stalls. The bus took us past many more sights, too many to
list here. Then we took the Tokyo trains to get to Yaguchi Chome
station where Tani collected us by car.
Toshi and Tani live
close to the Tamagawa river. The area does not have high rise
buildings as other parts of Tokyo do. The streets are narrow and
every bit of land has house on it. The houses come in all shapes and
sizes and everywhere there were poles carrying electricity cables
and telephone wires. The streets and alleyways criss-cross, and it
is incredibly easy to get lost. Toshi’s and Tani’s hospitality was
generous to a fault, and I enjoyed the stay with them enormously.
They have radio shack along one wall of the sitting room, a bit like
we do at out place in Edinburgh. We made contact over Echolink with
Vic, JA5VQ = MM0JVQ, in Edinburgh, and he contacted Ken at home in
Edinburgh to let him know that I had arrived safely. Tani likes to
build antennas and experiments with all sorts of layouts; a bit like
what Ken is doing in Edinburgh. Small world indeed!
The following
morning we left early by train to Kamakura, about an hour’s journey
south of Tokyo. It was once the seat of the feudal government back
in the 10th and 11th century. There are a lot
of very old temples and shrines with strange sounding names like
Hose-deratta chi mangu, Minamoto Yoritomo and Kotokuin Daibutsu, and
there is a Great Buddha in bronze which I even climbed up inside.
All came from an age of long ago, and the Japanese take great pride
in keeping their historical temples and buildings and other
treasures in tact for future generations. I enjoyed the whole day
being so totally immersed in the traditional Japanese culture and
taking in their national treasures. The next day we took the train
back into Tokyo itself so that I could have a closer look at the
Emperor’s Palace and Gardens. It was an oasis of peace and quiet in
the centre of a very busy city.
Our next stop was
Ueno Park where we met up with JA1EYL - Chizui. In the Ueno Park are
several large national Museums and galleries to enjoy. We went to
see the treasurers of Ancient China in the Tokyo National Museum. I
spent a very pleasant afternoon just looking and admiring the views,
people and the surroundings. We parted late in the evening and
returned back to Toshi’s home, and I was absolutely satiated with
new impressions.
The last day in
Tokyo was spent relaxing and walking along the Tamagawa river, going
shopping in the local supermarket, posting postcards. I also went
with Tani down to the sea near Haneda Airport where I collected a
few sea shells to take with me. On our way home we stopped at
Honmonji Temple Park. It is on top of a hill in Ota City. It is a
place where lots of families have their private family shrines and
final resting places.
On Friday 8th
of October we were up very early to catch a train to take us to the
airport and the flight to Seoul. At the station we met up with
several Japanese YL’s who were also heading for the YL Meeting in
Seoul, and together we took the Skyliner Airport Express to Narita
Airport where more YL’s joined the group. After a quick last minute
shopping at the airport we were on the 2 hour flight to Seoul.
South
Korea - Land of Morning Calm
After the usual
immigration and customs formalities we were greeted by a huge
welcome banner held up by YL’s and OM’s from the Korean YL Club –
KLARC and the Alpha Club who provided us with transport from the
airport to the hotel. The drive to the hotel took 1 ½ hours, and
on-route we were treated to more welcome banners provided by the
huge billboards across the motorway. They flashed up Welcome
to WW YL Meeting in English and in Korean as we approached!
On-route to the hotel we passed several New Towns – skyscraper
housing districts and we made a brief stop for a photo shoot at a
football stadium where some of the soccer World Cup were played back
in 2002.
We eventually
arrived at the conference hotel and another huge welcoming party. We
registered, received our information packs, badges and T-shirts. We
were greeted by more YL’s as they arrived, and I caught up with
voices which I had known for many years on the air as well many I
hadn’t heard for a long time. The party had started!
In all we were some
190 participants from many countries including Japan, Italy, India,
Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Scotland (of
course!), Norway, Luxembourg, USA and South Korea of course. I found
my room which was palatial and had superb views over the city and
Seoul Tower. Now I was itching to find the radio room on the top
floor. Luckily no-one was at the HF rig, and I started to call CQ
using the special call DT04YL. I filled a page in the log with
Japanese and South Korean call signs. More YL’s arrived and took
their turns at the mike and the key. Propagation to Europe was very
poor and I did not manage to work anyone back in the UK.
In the evening we
all attended a Welcome Dinner. We all had to get up and introduce
ourselves, and a Korean folk group introduced us to a very different
musical culture from what we Europeans have grown up with; the drums
and the zither-type of instruments were great. After the meal we all
chatted and got to know a lot of people for the first time. English
was the main language but a lot of sign language and gesticulation
was used too. There were speeches by the organising committee
chairperson Chae – HL1KDW and KLARC President Kim – HL5PMN.
The following
morning there were more speeches from the IARU regions director and
the President of the Korean Amateur Radio Society and presentations
by some YL’s who had been on various DX Expeditions, and we
exchanged token gifts with YL’s from other countries The huge group
pictures were taken too. After a buffet lunch we went off in 3 buses
for a sightseeing tour around the sprawling city of Seoul, our
banners were taped to the side of the busses as well, so we would
not get lost. Seoul is a huge, sprawling city, wide highways, lots
of new bridges, many bars and bright colourful advertising banners
hang everywhere. We were driving out of the city towards the border
with North Korea to see the Demilitarized Zone and our guide
explained the history of the area around the 38th
parallel and its historical importance to both countries. We were
able to walk on the Freedom Bridge, view N. Korea across the Han
River through barbed wire fencing, the museum nearby showed some
imposing military hardware left behind. At the Unification
Observatory at Mount Odu we had another chance to look across to N.
Korea, It was so near but not accessible to any of us who would have
liked to operate as P5’. We saw displays of how ordinary people
lived under this strict military and political regime.
Our sightseeing
continued, and after a great Chinese meal we enjoyed a musical show
NANTA, the actors danced to strange fast rhythms, lots of drumming
while trying to imitate chefs in a kitchen cutting cabbages to
shreds.
An early start on
Sunday brought us to the main palace of the Jaseon dynasty
(1392-1910).The Gyeongbokung Palace was enormous, it several
palatial halls and living quarters and was used as a royal residence
for hundred of years. The colour on the woodwork on windows and
doors and roofs is brilliant and vivid, stone sculptures and paths
are beautifully preserved for us to enjoy now. We could have stayed
longer, but the members of the radio open air flea market in Seoul
were waiting for us. The entrance also displayed a great welcoming
banner. We began to feel like Royalty. After refreshments, meeting
more Hams keen to exchange QSL cards, we signed our names onto a
huge pre-printed sheet, had more photos taken and milled around the
usual displays of goods other people want to sell to you. A couple
of YL’s and OM’s ordered jackets to be embroidered with their call
signs. After this interesting stop, we all enjoyed a lunch in a
Japanese restaurant. The restaurants always knew we were coming, and
they had it down to perfection to serve 3 busloads of hungry people
in a very short time. Our footwear always had to be taken off in the
hall and the motley collection of shoes looked quite funny.
The Minister of
Information and Communication had invited us the day before to visit
the Ubiquitous Dream Hall at his HQ, and we were surprised to see it
so well guarded by the police, not for our protection , it turned
out, but the US embassy was next door and abseiling people were
window cleaning on a Sunday. The Ubiquitous Dream Hall was full of
futuristic digital imagery yet to be used by all of us. A robot
will bring you coffee by voice recognition, the front door opens by
looking at a lens making eye contact, the washing machine will start
when the weight inside is correct and the fridge knows what you have
taken out and re-orders groceries automatically. This technology on
display will have far reaching uses and may become normal for future
generations.
After the vision of
tomorrow we came back down to earth by visiting the famous Namdaemum
market, where bartering is the norm and our guide taught us the
words for too expensive and cheaper, you can buy anything under the
sun here, from shoes to handbags, fresh farm produce to little fast
food stalls displaying their delicacies, I can still smell the aroma
from all the spices wafting around me. The guide continued to show
us more local landmarks till we arrived at Korea House. The
buildings around the house are now a cultural museum. During the
Jeseon dynasty it was a royal residence. We watched an enchanting
display of dances, especially the famous fan dance Buchaechum with
its flowing, colourful dresses and ribbons. The Shinaui ensemble
played shaman music on traditional instruments. The performers posed
for photos afterwards till we were lead to a huge dining room to
enjoy a Korean banquet fit for Kings. I tried to taste every dish
but did not succeed, there was far too much to choose from, it was
simply delicious. The gift shop next door had good Korean souvenirs
on display and I had fun making my choices what to take home. The
shop works similarly to the Nat. Trust here. Jade and lacquer ware
are popular. Most of us then went for an evening stroll down Itaewon
to walk between the open market stalls and its bright lights .It was
only a short walk downhill to our hotel. Some YL’s went back up to
the shack, propagation was still not good, but we made up for it by
having good eyeball meetings, a few stayed up till late in the night
and some got up at 4 or 5 am to see what propagation was like. I
managed to write out al my QSL cards as well. The Korean YL club has
over hundreds of members and is growing in strength now. Monday’s
tour started in Bundang City to visit Korean Telecom, one of the
sponsors of the YL meeting. We were introduced to the Home Digital
Service world. Wire or wireless PC’s work together with a high speed
infrastructure to make it work. Every detail of your life is
accessible, from healthcare to schooling, like a big brother
watching you. Wandering through the demonstration halls made you
realise that our grandchildren future is just round the corner.
By now we were
becoming very good at getting on and off the bus quickly to reach
the next item on our itinerary. Osan is a famous folk village, some
60 to 70 busses and their occupants had beaten us to it, the school
groups, small and large were well behaved and loved exchanging
greetings with us foreigners. The museum park was laid out to
represent and recreate the different lifestyles of several centuries
ago. Potters, weavers and blacksmiths were just some of the many
crafts to look at. Then we saw great public halls, gardens with real
vegetables growing and the preserving of them. Red peppers drying on
wooden tables made a good display. Then we came across huge
earthenware storage jars and most of their food is kept in them. One
speciality is Gimchy, Koreans eat it 3 times a day. To become a good
wife you have to learn how to do it to please your husband. It is
made from Chinese type cabbage and vegetables, shredded and
fermented with selected spices in these huge pots, gimchy gets
stronger tasting as the time goes on. We had a taste how it can vary
at our next meal, which was “Bibimbap”, it is served in hot iron
bowls and it is layered rice, gimchy and vegetables, with meat or
eggs and a good portion of chilli. You mix it all to your liking and
enjoy the feast, It was delicious.
A different route
took us back for a rest before the gala evening started. Welcoming
speeches and a superb dinner passed quickly, Korean rice wine tasted
good and is potent as well. A young Korean YL played beautifully on
her zither, followed by a folk dance group, who made us all get up
and join them. Most YL’s and OM;s were in their national costumes
and something special was performed from each country. Lars SM5CAI
helped me to demonstrate the Scottish ‘Gay Gordon’ dance and then a
crowd joined in and enjoyed the fun. Then Chae announced that the
next world wide YL meeting will be in Mumbai (Bombay) in 2006.
October is the most likely time. Sarla - VU2SWS will be organising
the next event and she will keep us informed of her progress, She is
inviting us all to come to India in 2 years time.
Special stamps with
the YL logo were given to all the participants and mine went onto
the postcards home. Gertrude had pre-addressed cards for all of us
to sign, which hopefully reached girls that could not make the trip.
This was the first
part of the YL meeting over, some of the local YL’s went home and
the rest of us continued on the early train to the south-eastern
part of Korea to Kyongju City, (Gyeongju). We filled a whole
carriage and breakfast was served travelling through the country
side, rice fields, tangerine and grape plantations flew past the
window. Lots of road and construction work seems to be taking place
to connect all the regions. I had not imagined to see so many hills,
some looked inviting enough to activate as a SOTA-hill.(Summits on
The Air). Our train arrived on time and again we were greeted by the
local hams, who took us under their wings and showed us their
special sights. The first was the Tumuli Park, it displayed old
tombs and historical relics from the Silla dynasty about 57 BC to
935 AD. One of these tombs was excavated in 1974; the treasures are
on view behind glass screens in the Nat. Museum nearby. A golden
necklace was especially beautifully crafted and one wonders how all
those years ago the craftsmen had tools to fashion such beautiful
items. The park was very peaceful and we walked across to the Nat.
Museum to marvel at the Emille bell, it is Asia’s largest divine
bell, now the ringing can be heard every hour via a recording, 19
tons of bronze were used and it is 11 feet high. The park has a
gracious setting with its statues of Buddhist artefacts and temples
and the treasures in the museum of the golden age of the Silla
dynasty. Every stone statue is well preserved, and the guide
explained the different religions and beliefs and legends. Not far
away is the Cheomseongdae Observatory tower from he 7th
century, it is a bottle shaped round structure, where every stone is
shaped and placed in a position to align with the stars, sun and
moon as well as the days, month and years. Lots of photos were
taken, and we were also filmed as we travelled around. After dinner
we retreated to the splendid Kolon Hotel on the outskirts of the
City. I shared a room with Eiko-JF3OWX , and we talked and talked
while taking an evening stroll round the hotels golf course. In a
little local shop we managed to buy juice and water before we joined
the rest of the group for an evening ‘drink’ and many more stories
were exchanged.
After a good
breakfast the bus drove us on a two hour journey south to Busan (Pusan)
to the air port. Busan is Korea’s main port and its 2nd
largest city, as well as being an industrial city it is surrounded
by very fertile land. We flew out to the popular island of Jeju,
where it is warm all year round and palm trees line nearly all the
streets. I had a good birds eye view as we came into land at Kimhae
airport. More local YL’s and OM’s greeted us; we filled only 2
busses now as we continued to enjoy Jeju’s famous visitor’s
attractions. Jeju is a volcanic island and has a magical charm of
its own. Mount Hallasan lies nearly in the middle and is an extinct
volcano; on its slopes are the famous mandarin plantations, as well
as rice fields. We climbed around the volcanic Yongduam rock area
and listened to the legendary stories about the rock dragons. The
diving fisherwomen cooked the fresh fish they had caught right there
on the rocks and the live octopus in a bowl did not entice me to try
and eat it, local delicacy or not. The Samseonghyeol shrine held
more legends about the spiritual ancestors KO, PU and YANG. They
were the first inhabitants of Jeju and they are honoured to this
day. In the park, between the shrines are caves with stalagmites and
mystical shapes to frighten you. The guide took us along the coast
road and up to a hill where a bottle full of water rolled uphill,
even the bus with no engine and handbrake on rolled forward. This
optical illusion had me nearly fooled. We drove now towards the city
again to rest at the Oriental Hotel, which was right at the
seafront. A free evening was ahead of us, Noriko, Maria, Lia and
myself were after sewing or quilting materials, unfortunately we
couldn’t find what we wanted and walked in and out of street markets
even went down into an underground shopping mall, exhausted
ourselves looking and walked ‘home’ past restaurants which displayed
the food outside, as well as being able to choose your fish in the
tank in front of you. We found some of our group who also had
enjoyed a walk in the fresh evening air. Eiko shared the room with
me again, she and a group of JA YL’s had been to a sauna and they
came back refreshed. This was our last day for getting on and of the
bus, which was spent at the Yeomiji botanical gardens, a huge star
shaped glasshouse held several types of orchids, cactuses
,tropical fruit trees and typical ponds with bridges and water
lilies of every description were in bloom, not a leaf was out of
place. At the Halim Park we saw Bonzai trees cut or pruned to
perfection in between little and large statues and carvings, which
of course was set in amongst preserved folk villages and
spectacular waterfalls, sunshine made all this a great
unforgettable experience. By mid afternoon we were back at the
airport for the flight to Kimpo-Seoul.
Our last dinner
together was hosted by the local radio club at the OB stadium in
Itaenon, final farewell speeches were inevitable and we all relaxed
with impromtue singing and joined Korean style karaoke. While we had
been to Jeju enjoying ourselves, the team in Seoul had prepared a
DVD for us to take home; it shows pictures from the first part of
the YL meeting. At the end we all went ‘home’ glad that we could
take part and now all our extra ‘goodies’ had to be packed. Several
groups stayed on, some returned via China or Hong Kong and after
many tearful goodbyes in the morning I left with Raija, Unni,
Ingrid, Inger, Eva and Fritz to catch the same flight to Amsterdam
and for me on to Edinburgh.
I would like to
thank Chae and ALL the YL’s and OM’s who organised and fed and
ferried us around all week which such success very, very much Thank
you for the unforgettable YL meeting in the land of the Morning
Calm, South Korea. There are web pages where you can look at
hundreds of slides from the YL Meeting. Enjoy them at your leisure.
There are lots of
photos from the YL Meeting available on the web at:-
http://www.atweb.co.kr/~nam/gallery/resept
http://www.atweb.co.kr/~nam/gallery/folk
http://www.atweb.co.kr/~nam/gallery/gala
http://www.atweb.co.kr/~nam/gallery/geo
http://www.atweb.co.kr/~nam/gallery/ylseoul
and
http://www.ylnet.org, bulletin Board
Christine - GM4YMM |
