Shady motels, a drowned soldier and ice-cream.

Cords dangle to somewhat hide the guest's car.

When I usually go to Seoul, we stay in nice, even very nice hotels. This time it seems those places were booked. So we stayed in a motel. In the US, a motel just means you can park your car in front of the room. In Korea, it is a room for couples to rent for some privacy. With jetlag and a busy schedule in front of me, I thought how was I going to get any rest in a place like this. But, other than some voices now and again, I didn't hear any odd noises and the room was very comfortable and clean. The minibar was free and there was free popcorn and coffee downstairs. Koreans seem to be very neat and tidy in everything they do, even in the shadier side of life.

My bright golden bathrroom at the motel.

We came to do a story about improving economic activity near the DMZ on the North Korean border and even creating tourism WITHIN the DMZ to see an ecosystem untouched for over 60 years. Within the DMZ, we filmed tanks, barbed wire and lookout posts. It is hard to imagine many tourists wanting to come to see rare birds while a million soldiers point big guns at each other. The DMZ is an odd place anyway. Looking north you can see fake villages in the haze and imagine the horrible hardships of the north Koreans. Looking south, people are organising peace walks and DMZ marathons. The very subject of the two Koreas and unification is not much talked about, almost taboo. South Korea has come a long way and is a very modern and friendly place. The Koreans have worked hard to get there and many don't like to think about having to support all of North Korea in the event of a unification. But, on the other hand, they don't like to be thought of only as a divided state constantly on the verge of war. One interesting fact; a soldier told me that they find a dead north Korean soldier washed up on the south side of the river about once a month. He gueses they try to escape but drown in the process. He said the last body they found was just two weeks ago.

To end on a positive note, at my nice motel, they also had free ice-cream! But the flavours were a bit odd. This is corn ice-cream! Now, can that be considered a vegetable?