A month or two after I first came to Korea, I wanted to find a way of being active and work out my body occasionally with other people. I had plaid Paintball back home, but found such a sport here is illegal due to the restriction on CO2 (something about China, not sure what). However, there was a very interesting and popular alternative; Airsoft.
Airsoft is quite an interesting sport; unlike Paintball, the use of 6mm BB's is a lot less painful and cleaner than large balls of paint. The only real downside is the honor system is in effect heavily when you get his, as being shot by 6mm plastic pellets isn't often that painful and the rush of adrenaline can make you immune to the impact.
Besides that, the sport itself draws a HUGE crowd all over the world. From the United States, to France and German, and even to Japan, China and South Korea. People can both dress up and operate in ways you couldn't often do with real weapons, play with friends and make new ones;
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| Quite a line-up |
battles can be heated and tempers can flare but everyone has a great time. Since my start, I've been playing with a wide range of teams, and recently, one such team let me know of a Airsoft convention that was happening at the end of January. I had been told that due to the recent crack downs by the Police on Airsoft, the convention wouldn't be as big as last year's with a lot fewer vendors and teams showing up, but that didn't stop me from wanting to go anyway. "For the experience." I had said as I headed over to Seoul on a brisk Saturday Morning. Terry, like the awesome friend he is, was more than happy to drive me up there and dropped me right outside the building the convention was. Being a bit unsure of where to go, I noticed a group of kids totting some Molle gear, so I followed, showing them the e-mail of the map to the Platoon Convention, they too were going to participate and led me there; how nice! When I got there however, I was blown away by what someone would consider 'small.'
It may not compare to things back home in Canada, but an airsoft convention of THIS size deserves some merit!It only took up one event hall, but with the amount of stuff and booths crammed into it really made it worth the labor to get out and see it. They were selling everything, from new to second hand gear, from tactical attire to internal parts to even scopes, stocks, goggles and BLASTERS. It was quite a collection and a few teams even set up their own booths to display there theme; US, British, Russian, and even Australian Military-esq teams set up shop to present their interests in the sport; not to mention all the cos-players decked out in old-style Korean soldier wear.
I really enjoyed my time at this convention. One thing about it in regards to size is that you can meet people a lot easier than in a massive con. Its also much more fun to see everything and take more time to absorb everything as there isn't as much space or as many variations on booths. Gear and costumes aside, finding gems among the mass of gear and second-hand stuff is always pleasant, but sometimes you wonder if the prices are right? I had been looking at a replica ACOG red-dot, but the woman said it was 800,000 WON which comes to almost 800 bucks. 800 bucks for a toy scope? I was sure she might have meant 80, which seemed more reasonable, but 800?
Despite the unusual cost, there were plenty of amazing deals and surprises of items, new and second hand throughout the convention Hall. I was curious as to what I might find as I had a mind for a fee items I needed to or my current load out and what I would need to improve it. The first purchase I made was a utility belt, though I have a chest rig, I lacked a let to carry the holsters and drop bags I own; having a good one the that can carry such loads is a definite need and I was fortunate to find a matching one that fit quite snugly around my waist. With that, I sought out the second item on my list; an MP5. I knew many booths were selling guns or 'Blasters' for ridiculous discounted price (most are used) so I hope to find a decent secondary to my primary Battle Rifle. After searching around, I came across a table showing off a wide assortment of sidearms. Most of them were plastic ones, nothing really fancy, but one of them caught my eye. Among the carefully boxed plastic toys, I found a single blaster just sitting in the open, a Desert Eagle of all things. Picking it up, it felt a lot heavier than a plastic knock-off and after studying it, I found it to be quite a find: a Tokyo Marui Desert Eagle a gem among a bunch of plastic toy-guns. It surprised me, to find something like that among plastic prices. After talking to the owner and giving a bit of a haggle, I got the DE and a mag for a cheap price. Successful, the owner was kind enough to give me his e-mail for any questions or to request a tune up for it. Though, being a Mauri, and seeing the inner workings, this blaster should be fine for quite awhile. After that, it was just a wander around, even picking up a copy of the sponsor company, Platoon, Magazine (all in Korean mind you).
Was a great day if I do say so myself.
I really enjoyed my time at the convention, and even cooler still was to follow with Terry taking me to the old Folk Museum, but that is for another blog post to follow.
I had mentioned in my last post that I went to the Lotte World Adventured with Terry after the Airsoft Convention at the end of January. Lotte World Adventure is the smaller "local" version of the larger Lotte World (one of Korea's major theme parks) and was located near the heart of Seoul in a mall with both an indoor and outdoor attraction setup. It certainly wasn't something I hadn't expected to see, but given the chance, I was glad to walk around and explore such a fascinating place.. Upon first arriving, parking was a nightmare. Terry and I had to park alongside another parking lane beside a row of parked cars (as stated before, parking is a moot thing here) before we came into the mall itself.
Lotte world is kind of like Disney world, it has their cute little characters and themes of different locations situated around a MASSIVE indoor ice-rink. We didn't really look at much, wasn't really banking on inspecting an amusement park (kinda get bored of them when you get older) and the fact there were a million kids and people around didn't help.
The folk museum was almost like the National History museum of Seoul I had checked out last year with my Korean Language school group I went with. The same sort of information I found then was also present here. Starting with the three nations period, going to the two nations period but not going beyond the Occupation era when Japan took over. It had more emphasis on the older era, going from Prehistoric to early modern, which was a nice touch.
My favorite of course was the figure setups. After exploring most of the ancient era displays, showing off the artier, tools and cutlery and of course the living conditions of the time, we stepped into a massive main hall that was completely filled with massive figure scaled dioramas of the ancient times in South Korea, showing off a full view of the palace while a session with the Emperor was taking place. The detail level on this was amazing! Not only did it have the castle, but the surrounding buildings that made up the royal complex as well as a village nearby showing varying types of events taking place; from market day, to even a funeral. However, the castle itself was by far the most impressive; it was both the largest and most detailed, exterior and interior. I was amazed; of course there was plenty more, but for some reason, none of the other photos I took seem to be around anymore, so I'll make due with the castle; it was the centerpiece after all and quite a spectacle to behold.
Like I said, the folk museum was indeed a well worth experience, similar to the National History museum, this one however emphasised more on the figure representation of the past era's, bringing up to a Early-modern era (Japan occupation) before ending on a note of liberation after the Second World War. I didn't go much further than that, but the idea behind this one was to show the classical development of Korea from prehistoric to close to modern, and give a breathtaking idea of how beautiful the culture had been in the Folk Era's.
