Stropping Around Korea - Daegu / Gatbawi

Daegu is a major city of around two and a half million people in the province of Gyeongsangbuk on the eastern coast of South Korea. Because of the population and the availability of funds they have established a convenient system to aid the tourist industry. Right outside the central train station there is an information office with English speaking staff that will happily assist any newcomers with checking out the sites and even pointing you in the direction of a place to stay.


A general wave of the arm was all that was needed when we stropped up to the counter and asked where we might lay our heads. To the young lady's left were motels at around 30,000 won and to her right were more expensive motels at around 50,000 won. We opted for the cheaper and after checking out the times of the various tours that were available headed off. Sure enough there were a large cluster of places to stay, all with colourful names and just as colourful signage. We picked a place called Guam at random and checked in.


The next morning we were at the information office once again right in time for the morning departure of Daegu City Tour bus. There are six departure times each day and with a hop on hop off system you are not rushed at any of the ten sites they stop at. The mixture of places caters for young and old with a farm visit, a theme park and the more traditional temples and ancient Confucian schools.


Our first choice was a placed called Gatbawi, a statue of Buddha carved in the Unified Silla period bu a Monk heartbroken over the death of his mother. I knew beforehand that the statue was at the top of a hill but the climb was grueling and there came plenty of times when i wanted to turn around a limp back down. With a method of one step at a time and small goals of the next twist in the staircase i managed to finally crest the mountain.

The last few steps were the hardest as the nearer we got to the top the clearer the sound of a Monks chanting could be heard along of the rhythmic beats of stick on wood which was a lot faster then my current pace and seemed to stir everybody around me on. but manage it i did and satisfied i was.


When i finally reached the flat space directly in front of the statue it was hard to move with the large number of tightly packed bodies bowing or sitting in reverence and even harder to see the statue itself as the view was blocked with the framework of coloured lanterns that have been set up in anticipation of Buddha's 2553 birthday on May the 2nd. Once i had recovered my breath and sampled the view of the mountains surrounding us I made my way forward to admire the skill of an ancient artisan.


When it came time to head back down we naturally followed the path that continued on beyond the statue. That was our mistake. It was a lot easier getting down and we were quickly at the base of the hill thinking if we'd come up this way our legs wouldn't be feeling like they wanted to drop off. Our thinking also included the idea that if we followed this way we'd eventually arrive back at the bus stop we were dropped off at. But how wrong we were. It was at the bottom of the fourth car park that we came to the depressing conclusion we were on the wrong side of the mountain and had now idea how to get to where we needed to be. My friend flagged down a passing car and the driver quickly confirmed our dilemma but he also just as quickly offered us a solution, he offered to drive us around to the correct place. We very thankfully jumped in and ogled the fate he had saved us from as we headed back out onto the highway and eventually to our recognizable starting point.


Part of the aim of this trip was to restore my faith in the locals, it's working!

Stropping Around Korea - Sokcho / Gangneung

Making an earlier start, we headed up to Yanggu on highway 46 for no other reason to have a bit of a look. As it turns out, there wasn't a lot to look at apart from farming equipment and a rather quaint looking town. We are a month early for the tea festival so not a lot was going on. We did a quick circle through the town and headed out the way we came.

Our first stop was just north of Chuncheon at the temple of Cheongpyeon. The drive to the temple was along narrow, winding roads but the walk up to the temple was gentle and relatively short. Set amidst the mountains and decked out for the coming birthday celebrations on the 2nd of May, the simple effort in getting here was greatly rewarded. Once we got back down to the restaurants beside the car park, we got out the gas cooker and made ourselves noodles for lunch on a covered table attached to one of the restaurants. The grandmother was generous in letting us make our own food while sitting at their tables.

On our way to the coast we drove through Seoraksan National Park which is truly breath taking. Wild rocky peaks covered in sparse vegetation surround us, occasional bursts of white from a tree covered in blossoms or the beginnings of spring leaves do little to obscure the harshness of the mountains. Running beside the highway is a river that has been completely remade, sculpted embankments and channeled waterfalls that nature would be ashamed of and in fact had stayed away from as the river bed way practically dry.

We stopped at the mid way point with a commanding view of the path we were yet to take. For a coin you could briefly hire a pair of mounted binoculars to take a closer look or should you wish to spend more there were gifts galore available. You could even had a meal at a restaurant with large windows giving you a spectacular view as you ate. It was enough for me to buy a cup of coffee and use the loo before getting back on the road.

Once we got to the coast we headed north to the township of Sokcho where there is a lively fish market right next to the wharf. You could dine on all manner of sea creatures fresh from the ocean while staring out at the boats that caught them. The people are all friendly and call out as you walk by, attempting to entice you inside. One guy even proclaimed his love for me. We decided against having a meal here but bought a few rice cakes to tide us over.

Heading back down south, our target was the town of Gangneung. Just before reaching the town, we stopped at the Ojukheon Municipal Museum which is based around the originally dwellings of the mother of Korea, Shin Saim-dang who will be soon appearing on the new 50,000 won note. There are several museums on the grounds showing replicas of some of her paintings as well as selling the expensive take home kind but i was thoroughly impressed with the condition and design of the whole complex as well as the small entrance fee.

Rather than stay in the actual township of Gangneung, we decided to look for a place closer to the beach in Gyeonpodae and were pleasantly surprised to find a place within a roads breadth from the white sands for the very reasonable price of 25,000 won. Because of the price we have decided to stay two nights giving me time to do a little writing and to soak up a little relaxation. As i write this in a small Internet cafe attached to a coffee shop the owner sits a few computers down from me with his head leaned back and snoring contentedly.

Last night was sushi night. At the restaurant downstairs from where we are staying we ate a large if not a little expensive meal of raw fish, so much raw fish that we couldn't finish it all but we did finish three bottles of soju, another reason perhaps for the extra time in this idyllic location. I am officially no longer a vegetarian!

Stropping Around Korea - Namiseom / Chuncheon

On Friday night i headed up to Uijeongbu via the subway. The following day, Saturday the 11th of April was to be the first day of my exploration. To begin my trip i was taking it easy. It doesn't get any easier than sitting in the front seat of a car and pointing at a place on the map and getting there. Travelling by car means that everything is done in your own time, no schedules, timetables or connections to make. So it's no wonder that come Saturday we were off to a slow start.

After the car was packed, the memory cards downloaded, final purchases made and the car given a once over we were off. It wasn't until around 11am that we actually hit the road and it wasn't for a short while that that we actually found the right road to hit. That's the other thing about travelling by car, sometimes you don't know the way so end up making a few wrong turns. I guess that is all part of it.

At a little after 2pm we arrived at our first destination, Nami Seom. Nami Seom is an island in the middle of a river but once it happened to be a not so big mountain until a dam was built. That was back in the forties. These days it's a major tourist attraction. A few years ago a producer from a TV company decided to use it as a set for romantic drama, Winter Sonata. The drama became very popular, not only in Korea but also in other Asian countries. So of course the location started to draw crowds.

In 2006 a gentlemen decided to capitalize on the influx of tourists and created The Naminaru Republic. It takes a visa to enter, basically a fee of 8,000 won and a ticket and a short ferry ride to get there. The island boarders the provinces of Gyeonggi and Gangwon. It's accessed from Gyeonggi but administered by Gangwon. Given this unique location it has declared semi Independence and gone on to become a thriving economy. It's popularity has benefited not only the owners but the whole community. Hotels have sprung up and restaurants expanded. The Republic employs countless staff both on the island and off it. There are ferries running back and forth continuously and long ques, even in the off season.

On the island there are gift shops, restaurants, galleries and zoo animals. The two ostriches we saw didn't look like they were enjoying their time much but the squirrels were pretty chipper. You can hire all manner of transportation, from bicycles of two or four wheels to a sky train that seats two. There are even batches to rent but they run a little pricey.

The name of the island comes from a General who some believe to be buried on the island, well it would have been a mountain when he was laid to rest. There is a stone baring a poem of his carved into its surface. by all accounts he was a remarkable man who passed his Military entrance exam at 17 and died discredited aged 27. Hundreds of years later the charges were dropped and he was reinstated to hero status. A movie was even made of his life back in the 60's.

Getting off the island proved more difficult than getting on as the ques were even longer but shortly thereafter we were back on the road. We decided to head to Chuncheon, the Gangwon provincial capital and find a place to stay. When we got to the city it took some time to find a place to stay close to a place to eat and before getting there we were diverted by the final day of the cherry blossom festival. In Chuncheon there is a walkway running between a park and narrow river. Because it is near the end of the season for the blossoms they weren't at their best with more petals littering the ground like snow rather than on the trees but still it was a nice introduction to the city.

Chuncheon is known for Dukgalbi, a fairly simple chicken dish cooked at your table. Even though the frying tray takes up most of the small circular table you are sitting around and well within reach, the waiter does most of the cooking, regularly coming to check on it's progress and adding extra ingredients when needed. Dukgalbi is best accompanied by Suju, the locals version of Vodka.

The hotel we found was a place called Hanmon which was a little more expensive than i had anticipated at 60,000 won a night, and pretty much run of the mill. But the room comes with computer, table and chairs, a large bed and a packet of condoms. The woman who ran the place was friendly and happy to give up directions but at that price we weren't sticking around. Come the morning we were on the highway headed east.

Beijing

On my second day in Beijing, I was generously bestowed a great piece of information. My taxi driver told me that in and around Beijing there are five places all visitors must see. Countable on one hand and deceptively simple to achieve and had I not already spent the better part of a day venturing to just one of those sights then I would have cheerily set off in the vain attempt of achieving the set.

With so much room to move it is understandable why the Chinese build on such a grand scale. Without limits placed upon land and man power they have assembled a remarkable collection of dominating, if not foot weary, landmarks.

For me it was the grounds, buildings and people of the Temple of Heaven that stood well above the rest. It is easily accessible, which was a huge plus, a subway station drops you off right at the eastern entrance. Before reaching the main attractions however, such as the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and the Imperial Vault of Heaven, I found myself diverted by the scores of locals whittling away their time in the pursuit of happiness via all manner of activities.

What I initially took to be firecrackers turned out to be the cracks of chain whips and by the looks of it, should you have desired, lessons could obtained. Elsewhere there were a mass of line dancers, salsa dancers or more spectacle friendly traditional dancers. Intimate games of Chinese chess, cards or dominos were being played on the fringes of a long covered walkway and large groups of women were knitting elephants, in-soles or flask holders for the ever present flasks of tea that no respectable Chinese citizen would leave home without. Sitting and soaking up the life of Beijingers will become one of my most cherished memories.

Until the Number Four subway line opens in 2010, The Summer Palace proved to be a little more difficult to get to. It is on the western outskirts of Beijing and comes down to knowing which bus heads out there depending on where you are in the city. From the Beijing Zoo and its collection of camera shy Pandas, I took the 732 to the end of the line. For serene beauty the Summer Palace is by far the place to go. Built on the shores of a dredged though impeccably picturesque lake reside over 3,000 structures, the most dominating of which is the Tower of Buddhist Incense. It was the middle of the afternoon when I finally arrived and officially the grounds close at 5PM but it was well after six as the sun was setting when I was quietly ushered out.

Of the five places on the list provided by my friendly taxi driver, the only one I didn’t get to was the Great wall. How can you go to China and not see the wall? For me it was a matter of time. From Beijing there are three places from which to visit the wall, each of which chew through a day. From the splendor of the Forbidden City and the historical significance of Tiananmen Square, from the narrow alleys of the fading Hutongs to the liveliness of the night market, I saw a lot, did a lot and am thoroughly satisfied with my Beijing experience.

Stropping Around Korea - Namhansanseong

Namhan Mountain Fortress is about 24 km southeast of Seoul and mostly consists of a wall running for just over 8km around Namhan Mountain. The wall has four gates and within its bounds are several temples and a brace of restaurants.

After the pleasures of travelling derived from last weekend i planned another outing, this time to Namhansan. What i didn't plan on however was the overnight snow that made walking both dangerous and a tad frigid. I ended up on my arse several times.

To be honest I hadn't intended on walking so much. I thought I would head in the general direction of something interesting, get a few snaps and get back to someplace warm but the mood took me and i found myself looking down over a city far below, shivering uncontrollably and quietly proud of myself for taking that extra step.

Stropping Around Korea - Jipyeong / Gudun

After a busy Saturday i decided to head out of the city for a breath of fresh air. I'd read an interesting review of recent trip taken by another blogger so decided to follow in his wake and check out Jipyeong and Gudun, tiny blips on the Korean landscape.


There are three trains running each day in the direction i wanted to go and because of prior commitments i was just in time to catch the final run of the day, the 7pm. Having little idea of what to expect in the way of places to stay i was feeling a little nervous. I formulated a plan while we were getting outside the boundaries of the city; once i got close to my first destination i would start looking for the bright lights of a Motel and jump off.


It sounded good but not knowing how close i was until i actually got there proved to be a slight hic-cup. We passed a place that had welcoming bright lights close to the station but i decided to stay on and see how many more stations it would be until mine. It turned out to be two. Now i would have to wait until the next chance came. Five stations later i made my break in a place called Wonju. A tall building in the distance promised the comforts of sleep.

In the morning, feeling well rested and a lot more relaxed i got back on the train and headed back the way i came. My first target was a place called Jipyeong, in which the largest building turned out to be the train station. The town itself was small but not so small that it made it any easier to find the brewery i had come to see. After repeatedly having to stop and ask i walked up to a fairly run-down old building with little in the way of proclamations of it's long and respected history.


Makgeolli is or rather was an integral part of the Korean daily life. An alcoholic drink made from rice, it's popularity has come and gone. But for me, who is more used to the delights of cheap vodka, it has become a pleasant if not welcomed way to spend an evening. So because of my fondness, it seemed only right i should delve a little into it's history, meaning checking out an 80 year old brewery and buying a few bottles to take home.

From there i boarded the train once more and headed to Gudun, a 70 or there abouts old train station built during Japanese rule. It's point of being will soon be taken away when the train line is straightened out and the station by-passed. what better time to pay a visit when it's still in use.

Post 101: Fukuoka

Well i've gone and done it. After the shit ride i've had since November I have nipped over to Japan for another working Visa so i can put myself through another year of this place. What am i thinking? To top it of i just discovered that next Thursday there is a scheduled meeting with the director of an upcoming film for casting and not as i had originally thought, a simple callback. The shit part comes because the only time the director is available for the whole week is three hours on a Thursday night when i am at work with no hope of changing either schedule. Bugger.

But anyway, i managed to see a few temples and the inside of a bar called Happy Cock, not to mention the bottom of a few glasses. It was a nice trip and certainly illustrated the difference in the two cultures. Japanese have manners!!

Post 89: 111006 Photos from Sokcho & Seoraksan

Post 90: 111006 Sokcho & Seoraksan

Last week in South Korea was Chusok. I don’t know a lot about Chusok apart from that it’s a national holiday and we get plenty of days off work. They call it the Korean thanksgiving, taking place at harvest time and involves dancing, games and giving thanks to the ancestors.

For me it was a time to get away from the apartment and head to the coast, climb a mountain and check out some distant temples. I went to a town called Sokcho, a kind of beach resort town on the east coast. We were fortunate to be given a room in a swanky hotel with commanding views of the nearby mountains and the ripe yellow rice fields surrounding us.

I’m not overly impressed with Koreans attention to details, like when we get into our room we find food on the balcony from the previous tenants, an air conditioning unit that doesn’t work and no mini bar. Okay so the mini bar I can do without but the details are what make a place, something the local tourist trade is yet to master. Oh and it s good idea to stay away from the taxi’s. They say their prices are Seoul prices after midnight but paying extortionate prices for a ten minute taxi ride in the middle of a weekday afternoon put me in a sour mood.

Sokcho itself boasted an expo a few years back, the site of which can still be visited and a central tower scaled and a great view of the harbor enjoyed. Right next to that is the IMAX theatre which they seldom use apart from the odd booking so a group can watch a DVD. If there’s only a few interested in watching a film then they wont open it so I’m guessing the locals have lost interest.

Right in downtown there is a very impressive market, larger than the one in my current hometown. As you’d imagine for a seaside town, there is plenty of fish in every shape and size and many other sea dwelling edible stuffs lining stalls and flopping in dirty tanks.

The main reason to go to this particular town however is its proximity to the Soraksan National Park. Inside which are a network of walkways, temples, a gigantic Buddha statue, restaurants at every altitude, mountains in their rugged beauty and the mass of sumptuous trees that cover them. Not to mention the squirrels at every turn.

We spent several hours exploring the slightly less than congested walkways and made our goal a temple cave where outside sits a several ton boulder that the locals delight in wobbling with constant shoving. We’d hoped to take a cable car up to another mountain but by the time we went to get out tickets there was a several hour queue and the day was already getting too long.

As a signifier to the pleasure found in our time in Sokcho, I enjoyed the drive back to Uijeongbu just as much as my time there. It was an enjoyable drive.

Post 74: 040806 More photos from Gyeong-ju

Post 71: 010806 Gyeong-ju

Here i am in the home of the Shilla Kingdom. The place that many local poets look upon as the height of Korean society, the utmost expression of self, a time when Koreans lived as Koreans and acted as Koreans would when not under the yoke.

Sukhee and I took a nice 5 hour long bus ride to get here. Arriving just before four in the afternoon we were greeted by a kindly man in his air-conditioned car. We'd pre-arranged a driver for a day while here, to show us the sites and let us in on the local secrets. Money well spent if you ask me. He picked us up at the bus station, took us to a hotel to get checked in then drove us around to a few places of most spectacular beauty. We ended in a German styled pub that housed it's own micro brewery and a group of singers from the Philipines, three girls and a guy who sang a mix of pop songs (western fare) and local hits. The beer went down a treat, it's hot out there.

We are now back at the hotel, polished and ready for a good nights kip before the kindly gent in his air-conditioned car picks us up at 9am for a full day of site-seeing. I've already tired the battery on my camera and it too is currently recouperating. Photos of course will follow as soon as i can upload them. This computer in our room has lost the means with which to plug in.

Post 36: 010606 Garden of Morning Calm

Yesterday was one of those glorious mid week days off. All due to the mayoral elections that swept the country in their trucks bedazzled in billboards and screens that showed highly contrived images of kindly middle-aged men willing to go that extra mile if you only give them a vote and flocks of sash wearing supporters that stood on street corners and waved at passing buses, cars, cyclists, pedestrians and excited pets with their white gloved hands and periodically burst into a song and dance routine that would have made Mick Jagger look like a ballerina.

And what does one do with a glorious mid week day off? One comes up with the glorious idea of fleeing the city in secret and finding an isolated spot amongst nature where you can sit and watch the bees buzzing and listen to the gentle babble of a fresh water stream as it bounces over sand coloured rocks. And proud of yourself for thinking of such an original glorious idea one jumps in the car and heads out onto the motorway only to discover that ten thousand other people were given the same thought. But still clinging to the slimmest of hopes you continue on you way and believe that once you get there you will find peace.

As the journey continues and the roads get narrower, giving way to a dirt track you finally admit to your partner that it doesn’t look like anyone else is going to change their mind and find someplace else. So you end up spending a glorious day in nature surrounded by the buzzing of bees, the babble of a childlike brook and the population of a small city.

Despite this our destination more than made up for the gaggle around us. A man made slice of nature filled with a variety of themed gardens nestled on the edge of a lush mountain range. 300 year old bonsai trees gave way to weeping willows and flowers of every shade including blue. A gnarled Juniper tree stood alone and drew the focus of couples wishing their photo taken beneath its wizened glare. Many areas were set aside in the shade of tall pines to enjoy the picnic we had brought with us but should we have wished we could have dined in the restaurant, café or traditional tea house. In this Garden of Morning Calm we found peace and serenity. Bizzzzzzzzzzz

Post 20: 080506 Heung Guk-sa Temple

When not rehearsing on the weekends, Suk-he and I like to take Sunday drives. This usually results in us stopping in a national park or walking the grounds of an ancient Buddhist temple. This Sunday gone, with permission from my director, we drove out into the country and joined the throng of cars enveloping many other avid escapists, seeking respite and solitude.

Turning off from the main drag where the traffic had slowed to a crawl and the cars air conditioning was giving me a headache, we wound our way up a narrow road and found ourselves at the footsteps of Heung Guk-sa (흥국사) temple. A predominantly empty car park allowed us a place in the shade and from there we eagerly dawdled between restored buildings that had first found their feet in 599A.D.

What I usually feel when standing in the threshold looking into the interior of these buildings is a mix of longing and disappointment. Longing, as I would dearly like to be familiar with the mechanics of this belief system. I know rudimentary belief structures such as the desire to live in harmony with ones environment rather than at its antithesis but not the means of showing ones respect for its multi-millennia history. Disappointment because what I usually find is reconstruction or the hope of reconstruction after what once stood on these grounds had been pulverized but an occupying force.

Here I found reconstruction but void of the tackiness of other examples. This was older and treated with more respect. Well, treated with respect by some but not the local bloke who thought the wood dangling from chains and used to ring the eight foot high bronze cast bell was the perfect place to sit. No residents were within sight which is usually the case but their presence was felt and numerous candles burnt solemnly along the walls. I was pleased to share, for an all too brief spell, their charismatic setting of respite and devotion.

Here are a few photos so you get the idea.