Police and the Seoul Station

When I got out to Seoul visiting the first time, the first destination was the Seoul Station... since... there must be a tourist information station for me to pick up a tourist map.

Getting out of the subway.... I saw a lot and a whole lot of the armed police dressed in black...

Thinking to myself...

"OMG... poor policeman... gotta be hot in that kind of attire."

Then, I saw people setting up a stage... thinking...

"Nice... even outdoor concert taking place during the weekend.  Sort of like the summer stage in Central Park, maybe?  Really nice...."

So I went on finding my way into the Seoul station to pick up a map.... not knowing that it was already people mountain people sea... on the outside... by the stage...

Sometimes, there were people singing and other times there were people giving speeches...

All these people were sitting on the floor under the summer heat... Heroic! Heroic!

So I decided to walk away from people.... thinking to myself... so many people and so many armed police... @#$%$@

First.... I can't run...

Second... although I can walk, the ordinary fastest speed I am capable when walking is possibly considered "medium slow" to the others....

So many people... so many police...

This is when my over-active imagination started to run wild.... wallmart... world cup.... German Love parade... or... the death of Mufasa... 8-O

In addition, I never really like to stay too close to armed people such as policeman... reminding me of the hunting trip of Cheney.... 8-O

So I decided to start walking away... trying to get away from the crowd... away from the police.... and the Seoul Station...

So I walked north... only to come across more and more police...

And, I turned back... passing the same groups of police by... trying to walk south... even more...

I tried to cross the street... except for... the zebra line stopped at the middle of the road...

I even decided to go back to the subway station.... only to encounter even more of the armed police in groups...

What makes it even funnier is that... after I got back into the station, it was as if I walked into 鬼撞牆.... it took me almost like forever to get back out...

I must have walked pass each every exit at least 2-3 times when attempting to get back out of the station.... You see... first of all, I would not take the same exit I took before, which leads you directly back to the Seoul station.  On disability accessible exit out...

Yet, not all exits have escalators or elevators... At one of the exit, it was after one got out of the station using escalator do you find them stairs.... because the Seoul station is located somewhat at the foot of a hill....

I eventually got back out to the ground....  Welcomed by even more bus-full of armed police... It looked as if some of them must have just arrived and were just getting off the bus....

So.... from there on... for miles... all the way towards the Nan Dae Mum Market... even more armed police under the Korean sun...

One thing I have to tell you is the there is something absolutely wonderful about having policemen everywhere...

First of all, you don't have to be worried about bad people because, even if you get rubbed (and especially when the most expensive item I had was the pair of MBT sandle 8-O), you don't even need to dial 911 to call the police.

Second, although I didn't quite know where I was walking to... or... where I was, at times, having all the police around made it really easy for me to ask for direction... especially when in an area where there were not too many pedestrians.

Third, think about it... "I am nobody Royal... You don't really need to put forth such security measure to welcome the arrival of Ratprincess... 不好意思!  太破費了!" (Speaking of the utility of delusion of grandiosity. 8-O lol)

Sort of like what they say... it never drops but it pours...

I had never seen a Korean Police in my life... until the day came... when I saw far more Korean police than, perhaps, the total number of police I have seen in my life so far.... 8-O lol

It was not until later did I realize...

Like Taiwan, Korea used to be a colony of Japan.  On August 15th, 1945, Japan surrender to the Allied forces and that was the end of the 35-year colonization.... and Korea made this day the liberation day.

As a result, the first day I got out to see the world since become some strange kinda disabled, August 15th, happens to be the Liberation Day in Korea.