Good karma

By Mary Bergin | 4/03/2006 8:19 am | ...

It is surprisingly how quickly this excursion to South Korea has turned into a high-visibility platform for international exchange. I can't help but believe that we are doing something good here, for our country as well as ourselves as travel writers.

Our most unexpected souvenirs have been two-foot-deep banners that are long enough to cover the length of a three-car garage. The Midwest Travel Writers Association has been greeted this way by hotels, tourism agencies and restaurants in Daegu and Busan.

Few leisure travelers from America roam these cities, because of the distance from home and the areas' understated/underpublicized potential as a vacation destination. So the lack of other Western tourists automatically makes us special visitors. Children on field trips giggle when they see us, practice their English on us, wave and flash peace signs.

But we were stunned to see national TV film crews from KBS and MBC greet us during our arrival for lunch at the good, friendly and filling Kim Tae Geun Herbal Restaurant in Daegu. The cameras followed us for the rest of the afternoon, through the city's beautiful "rice cake alley" of outrageously elaborate sweet treats - and the ancient herbal pharmacies, where blends of ginseng, ground deer antlers, other animal parts and herbal blends for centuries have been held in high esteem for their medicinal value.

A doctor must prescribe these unusual and pungent/fragrant concoctions; some ingredients have enraged animal rights activists. We sip ginseng tea, get health analyses and acupuncture based on the status of our pulse points. The stops include the oldest herbal medicine pharmacy in Korea; it has been dispensing medicinal herbs since 1658. We tour the Yangnyeongsi Exhibition Hall, which documents the history and use of these items.

We are taken to the tourism center (with excellent shopping) in this city of 2.5 million, too, where a group of high-energy and joyful drummers are waiting to perform and teach us how to join in the rhythm and dance. A picture ends up on the front page of Daegu's newspaper before the end of the day.

For dinner, we are guests at a Pacific Asia Travel Association's conference, which is a gathering of three dozen countries. It exists to promote global tourism, described as "a clean industry for the 21st century" and "an extension of the people," a way to better understand each other and contribute to world peace.

One speaker, a 10-year member of the Korean National Assembly, notes that his country has been modest about its culture and heritage. Rome, he notes, doesn't need to publicize what it has. Korea would like to get to this point, too.

The attention paid to us continues to be noticeable in Busan, where we landed today, after an overnight stay in the nearby Beomeosa Temple, a Buddhist experience that was both unforgettable and unlike anything we anticipated. It was an extreme vacation experience that is worth its own story, during another forum.

Busan has the sprawling Jagalchi Seafood Market, which makes our Portland and Seattle markets seem like conservative miniatures. Sea worms or raw octopus, anyone? I scooted before the mid-morning snack was chopped up and dispersed.

The city also is known for its ocean beach, and an international film festival which is in its 11th year.

At my Grand Hotel Haeundae dinner table tonight was Hwang Kee-Hak, a director for the Korea National Tourism Office, who in the early 1990s earned his master's in tourism management at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The Korean native says the Menominee program has a great reputation worldwide.

Today he is in charge of nine overseas tourism offices for Korea, but he occasionally returns to the Midwest. The last trip was in March, to study megamalls, and stops included the Twin Cities' Mall of America. "We are calling them entertainment centers," not shopping malls.

Tomorrow, our group will catch a short flight to Jeju Island. Then we head home. We each have paid roughly $1,200 to $1,900 to make this trip, a risky business investment for several of us, who are more accustomed to writing about the Midwest. Subsidies have come from Korean tourism enterprises and MTWA.

Time for breakfast - anything from fresh fruit to soups and salads. In Daegu, an option was Broth to Cure Hangover. We haven't needed that since the soju singing night.

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