Safety First

Things in South Korea are safe.  Very safe.  This has been particularly evident during our time in Sokcho.

The beach is an excellent place to witness Korean safety in action.  The swimming area is wide, but only extends about 30 feet out into the water.  At no time would anyone over a height of five feet tall be unable to stand.  There are three lifegaurds stationed every 75 yards, and they are paying attention.  If you go even one foot outside the swimming area whistles are vigorously blow and violent gesturing ensues until you have returned to the proper roped off area.

In terms of personal argumentations to all of this public safety, people here love flotation devices.  Life jackets are common in the swimming area (again you can stand the whole time).  Life jackets paired with inflatable inner tubes are also commonplace. 

Rodney and I also witnessed safety on our two visits to Seoraksan National Park.  Everything is very well marked.  The trails, the off limits areas, everything

There are however two areas to which this overwhelming sense of safety does not extend.  The first is drinking.  South Koreans, men in particular, like to drink.  Beer and soju are the beverages of choice, and they are consumed to excess. Often.  Rodney and I have witnessed the following in our two weeks here...

- A man, probably 45, in business attire, sitting in the street vomiting into a plastic grocery back.
- Two men, both in suits, screaming in the street.  After several minutes of screaming, one man choked the other man in full view of everyone.
- At the beach, two men drinking with a woman.  Both men ended up passed out at the table while the woman sat and enjoyed the sunset.

These are but three examples of literally dozens that we could relate.

The second area, was much more surprising to us.  Put simply, there is a tons of open flame in South Korea.  This is mostly in the context of food, Korean barbecue specifically.  Imagine a table with either a circular or rectangular cut-out in the middle.  Into that hole they place a pile of burning hot coals and a grill.  You grill beef, pork or seafood yourself.  This works brilliantly, but to get the coals into the table, they are carried through the restaurant.  Often the tool used to carry the coals is nothing more than a metal rod notched at the end that hooks in the metal coal container.  Rodney and I have debated more that once how many injuries per year result from barbecue restaurant mishaps.