Impressions of Seoul

I've been living in Korea for over three months now. Yet, perhaps to your surprise, I have made little mention of the capital city, Seoul. Admittedly, when I first arrived here, Seoul was low on the priority list, as I wanted to explore the Daejeon vicinity. Since then, visited Seoul a couple of times. My experiences there have been interesting, to say the least.

When I used to think about Seoul, I imagined a bustling metropolis with many high rise buildings, people packed together like sardines and tons of traffic. In some areas, I wouldn't have been far from the truth. It certainly is busy with many sites and sounds and lots of interesting people. Many of them are willing to share their stories. Nonetheless, not much unlike London, this picture fails to acknowledge the large amount of open space that is contained within the city area. Although much of London's open space is flat parkland, most of Korea's parks are raised on contours, which tower high above the city. It's not uncommon to wonder around a popular area, and see a large hill looming right in front of you, begging to be climbed. For this reason, Seoul attracts a large climbing community, where crags have been bolted to be scaled by those adventurous enough to bring a rope, harness and some chalk.

Another aspect which characterizes Seoul is it's history. Sadly, many celebrated sites were burned down during various Japanese occupations. The main palace of Gyeongbokgung is a notable example. Still, the stories remain and much work has been put into restoring ancient buildings. Seoul is particularly famous for being the home of many venerable palaces: they are certainly a pleasure to explore.

During my time in Korea, I've had the opportunity to explore Seoul on a couple of occasions. Through these trips, I've had a good mix of encounters. I have explored the magnificent palaces, strolled amongst Shaminist people and relics, and experienced hustle and bustle of the crowded city itself. I certainly wasn't disappointed about what Seoul had to offer. 

My first trip was within a month of living in Daejeon. I remember having had a heavy night the previous evening. It began with a friend and I finding a bar, and ordering a chicken based dish. Although the waitress warned us that this was extremely hot, we reassured her that we could manage. We couldn't have been more wrong. We ended up being served with perhaps the spiciest dish I'd ever tasted. Each mouthful made me feel as if I was breathing fire through my mouth, nostrils and ears. We found the beer that we'd bought insufficient to wash away the taste and unfortunately there was no milk on the menu. Instead a couple of litres of pineapple juice offered a little relief. Later we drunk more beers to numb our burning tongues. We soon found ourselves daring each other to snack on the boiled silkworm pupae which had been left as a side dish. Crunching into a few of them, I found them to have a sweet, sickly taste that one may expect of cocooned bugs.

My head was groggy when I woke up the next morning. I had little time to pack, but managed to get off in time to meet my friends at a nearby subway station. We jumped into a taxi to the bus station and bought three cheap tickets to Seoul. The price was about 8,400 won, which equates to around four British pounds for a two hour journey. Not bad, I thought. I don't remember too much about the journey and I am likely to have slept for the majority of it. I do recall, however, spending a little time reading through my travel guide, deciding what I wanted to see in Seoul. I chose a sizeable palace called Changyeonggung as a good starting point. It didn't seem too touristy, boasted beautiful views and linked onto a UNESCO certified shrine.

The journey took us from the bus onto the Seoul subway. Although this was clean, the ride was long and we found ourselves standing most of the way. The train emerged from underground to cross a bridge over the river Han, treating us to some early views of the city. We eventually arrived in Anguk station. Finding accommodation was now our top priority. We hadn't booked a place to stay but had instead been informed of a nearby motel. This we couldn't find and so we wondered towards the local market where there were some motels marked on my map. No recommendation had been given for these motels in the travel guide. We were soon to find out why...

The first one we came across was called 'Tomgi' hotel. It was small and walled in by a surrounding car-park. You had to walk through the car-park gate before you could get to the entrance. We entered the foyer and spoke to the receptionist. She was young and pretty, adorned with a red blazer and a short skirt. We inquired first to the cost and she told us one night would cost 50,000 won. 'A reasonable price', we thought. We looked at a picture of the room and saw something we weren't expecting. In the centre of the room was a four poster bed, covered in what looked like red velvet bedding, surrounded by candlelight. We immediately realized that we had discovered a 'love motel.' These are accommodations which are rumoured to be places where men would take lovers or prostitutes after a night out. Our further questioning backed up these rumours. We were told that we would be unable to check in until 10pm.

At this point we'd spent over an hour looking for accommodation and wanted to explore Seoul. Despite the strangeness of the situation, we decided to take one of these love motels, if only they'd let us check in earlier. I was of course happy to sleep on the floor. We wondered towards the next motel, which little to our surprise was named 'Hotel Cutee.' Again we stepped inside, ready to book a room and dump our luggage. A lady was again behind the counter in similar attire to the previous one. As we approached, her face registered an expression of shock.

"Do you wante a roome?" She said.

"Yes please."

Looking over to my friends and back to me, she asked me "girl-priends?"

At this I didn't know what to say. Clearly our impressions of these hotels had been correct, hence their name. However, my instinct and quirky sense of humour caused me to wind her up a little.

"No, " I said, "sisters.."

It was a strange thing to say, and I'm unsure why I said it. The three of us, couldn't have looked less alike. It was certainly unlikely that a Brit, and American and a South African would be brothers and sisters. The receptionist's face changed from surprise to absolute revulsion.

"Three?" she asked in alarm.
"Yes, three." we said

"erm welle..." she said in broken English, "checke-in; ... ten o'clocke."

We thanked her politely and left the building. At that point we decided to put off the accommodation hunt for now and try to find some food. It was well past lunch time, and I could feel my stomach rumbling. It wasn't long until we were on the main Jogno road, in down-town Seoul. The crowded streets had been replaced by a large, congested road and the stores were becoming more and more Americanised. We even saw a Subway sandwich shop. Since we were feeling a little repressed on the western food front we decided this would be our lunch-stop. I ordered a steak-and-cheese, foot-long baguette, feeling reminiscent of my favourite takeaway sandwich back home. Although I felt a little guilty about breaking my pledge not to eat western fast food, I found myself gorging on the sandwich. It was very similar to the Subway sandwiches I remember from England. We left feeling satisfied and resumed our search for accommodation.

We decided to jump in a taxi, to the Seoul backpackers hostel which was apparently nearby.  The taxi driver didn't know the location and dropped us off outside a historic building. It was only a ten minute walk down a couple of back alleys to find the hostel. It was quite easy to find, even though the hostel had changed its name. It was now called 'Banana Backpackers.' We were happy to have finally found a place which wasn't a love motel. Furthermore, the hostel looked inviting and cosy. Alas, to our regret, there were no rooms.  Instead we were directed next door, where there stood a guest-house. Contrary to the hostel, the guest-house felt a little deserted, looking derelict from the outside. However, the owner seemed friendly and offered us a whole six person dorm to ourselves. We viewed the room, which although plain, seemed decent enough. Allowing my friends to go and do some shopping, I lay down on the bed, happy to have an afternoon nap.

I woke late in the afternoon, and decided to get up for a little evening exploring before the palaces closed.  It was only about a fifteen minute walk to Changyeonggung: the palace that I had earlier decided to explore. Whilst getting there, I walked past another large palace called Changdeokgung (the names are confusing I know). After a little investigation, I realised that they were offering guided tours around this palace. However, I decided against it, since the queues were large. I was harbouring for a little peace.

Onwards I walked to Changyeonggung. Noticing there were much fewer people around, I paid the entrance fee. I found the entrance to be quite spooky. There was a large courtyard, with a paved stone ground.  There were few people around, and you could really feel the open space around you. I stopped to appreciate the  sight before moving on. After getting past the initial courtyard, I came across the palace grounds themselves where all the historic residences had been re-erected. Further exploration took me up a hill where I found an interesting monument called a 'Taesil.' This is a statue built for a baby born into royalty. In times long gone, the placenta and the umbilical cords were deemed sacred, and so were encased inside these monuments. 

Magpies followed me as I explored the palace grounds. I was most impressed by a large pond, and the ample fish it contained. I found some benches where I stopped to have a cup of coffee. An old man greeted me, asked where I was from and welcomed me to Korea. I looked around and noticed him and his friends had formed a retirement gathering. They'd seemingly come to reminisce on past times aside the tourist coffee machines. I couldn't help but wonder if they had free entry passes. After I was contented by the palace, I ambled towards the exit. Dusk was upon me and night would soon be approaching.

The location I exited was different to where I had entered. It was the entrance to Jongmyo shrine: a Confucian site dedicated to the ancient kings and queens of the Joseon dynasty. It was connected to the palace by a footbridge, about 50m in length. The bridge spanned across two high fortress walls which enclosed the two palaces and the shrine respectively. The bridge was raised above the main road, and I was glad not to be stuck in the congested traffic below. A row of naked trees lined each side of the road, which faded into a backdrop of the cityscape on the horizon.

I crossed the bridge and entered the shrine. I was greeted not by restored palaces and pagodas, but by a small woodland with a path leading around. In the centre of the wood, I could make out the silhouette of a couple of dog-sized creatures, shadowed by the branch of a tall tree. I edged closer, trying to be stealthy. At first I thought these to be foxes. After all they had faces which reminded me of foxes. Nevertheless they're bodies were more stout, perhaps the build of a badger. They were rather strange in appearance. I'd never seen anything like them before. I pondered a little on their identity, perhaps they were raccoons, or some Korean version of the badger. They watched me with caution as I withdrew my telephoto lens to get some close-up photos. Unfortunately I was hindered by a barrier which wouldn't let me enter the woodland. They didn't move from their position. I snapped them several times, joyful to have spotted some interesting wildlife in Korea. I later learned these animals to be called 'raccoon dogs.' They have been hunted over recent years due to the luxury value of their fur.

I descended down the path, around the wooded area. On the way down, I was passed by a man who told me it was a beautiful day. I tried to ask him what the animals were, but he didn't seem to have noticed them. We parted and I headed towards the shrine. Emerging from the tree-lined path, I spotted several buildings. Each one looked very similar to those at the palace. I took some time to peek inside a few of them, appreciating their sense of spaciousness. The setting sun was adding a soft light to the scene. Several men dressed in khaki dungarees were starting to follow me in a flanked formation. I turned to one of them and, he pointed to his watch to indicate closing time. Soon I was passing under the shrine gates. Around ten park-keepers were following in close suit behind me. I felt that I'd had a rather constructive afternoon. Evening had emerged, but the night was young.

I next found myself amidst a large war memorial statue, with elder men gathered around. Flowers were being placed and I could tell that this was a rather emotional time. I spotted in the vicinity a large concrete square where many males were gathered around concrete benches. On these were a pair of men playing a game which I assumed was chess. On closer inspection I realized that they were not playing chess, but Padduk - the Korean version of the Japanese game of Go. Each board was placed on the centre of the bench. The players were seated cross-legged on each side. I watched the scene with curiosity. A stocky Korean man with a peculiar German-like accent approached. He spoke to me in broken English, very interested in where I was from and what I was doing in this park. He somehow came to the assumption that I was German. I wondered from his obsession if he had travelled to Germany.

After talking for a little while, the man invited me to watch a game of Padduk. We both moved to a crowd, where an argument was starting. Although the man tried to introduce me, they seemed much more interested in the inter-workings of the game. It wasn't long until I found myself in midst of an altercation. I could hear masculine Korean voices all around me. This lasted a short while, until the man on the right was declared the winner. He rose up with a gleeful look of victory on his face and put his hand up in the air to declare his championship. They then packed the game counters away in plastic boxes.

After the game had finished, I said goodbye to my new friend and wondered onwards. Finding my way back to the Jongno main road, I looked across the road to see an interesting sight. Underneath a tall building, there lay a park. Just before that were rows and rows of pictures. On closer inspection I discovered that they were in fact a memorial of the Korean war. Many solemn Korean faces were wondering around, viewing the pictures. I presumed they were accompanied with poignant memories. I walked a few rows, but found the information too much to take in. I knew soon I had to reunite with my friends and so I headed back towards the Jogno main strip to meet them.

The night wasn't too eventful. We met outside an American chain called Redmango. This is renowned for serving frozen yoghurt as a healthy alternative to ice-cream. We vowed to return here and went on a quest for food. Being the main area of Seoul, this area was packed with food restaurants, of various nationalities. We settled for Vietnamese in the end, and had a delicious meal of what I recall being spring rolls. Following that, we returned to Redmango for some frozen yoghurt, which was again most satisfying. We finally got a drink and returned to the accommodation.

When we arrived we realized that the room was not heated. The duvets were rather thin and we were worried we would get a little cold. On my bed there was an electric bed mat. A spare duvet was nearby. I decided to let the girls have these, and took just a duvet for myself. The night however, proved rather cold. I woke up shivering late into the night. Reportedly, I was talking in my sleep until the early hours of  morning. My bad sleep spell ended when I stuck my head under the duvet. This proved much warmer. However, I woke up with a nasty head cold.

The next day we only spent the morning and the early afternoon in Seoul. Much of this was spent checking out and finding somewhere to have breakfast. We found a cafe which served bacon and eggs. We were happy to eat these after so many weeks of Korean food. After this, we walked towards Mt. Namsan which is the home of the Seoul Tower - Korea's equivalent of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately we didn't have time to climb it. Instead we stumbled upon  Seoul Cathedral. It was Palm Sunday and many Christians had gathered inside and around the Cathedral to go to mass.

That was the conclusion to our trip to Seoul. The cold which I developed lasted for several days. As soon as my co-teachers realized I was sick, they took me to a doctors to get a prescription for some medicine. This was followed by a trip to the pharmacy to pick up the drugs. I was given some pills in clear plastic packages and a 200 ml bottle of some pinky red liquid. I was to take a dose of these each day and had no idea to what any of them were. After a little research I learnt one of these was penicillin. Medicine works different over here than the UK. You pick up what you need as soon as you develop any symptoms of illness. Makes a little more sense this way, I guess.

That concludes my first trip to Seoul. I have in fact been to Seoul a couple of times, and I will write about the fascinating Shamanist walk another day. In the next blog, I will write about my trip to Busan which involved a stay with Tibetan Buddhist monks. Links to photos have been posted below. Thanks for reading and I will post again soon. 

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Seoul Part I

Daejeon Hiking

Hiking in Korea is a popular pastime. I don't need the backup of statistics in order to be able to demonstrate that hiking is the most popular leisure activity in Korea. All I'd have to do is take you to a popular san (or mountain), donned with a pair of walking shoes and a bottle of water. We would be joined by thousands of Korean hikers, all in their spangling new hiking gear, ready to march in a procession to the summit beyond. In a country composed of 70% mountains, these trails prove to be steep and tiring. However, there are plentiful water stops along the way. Here you can stop to fill your bottle with natural spring water from heights above.

Bomunsan

On just the second weekend of living in Daejeon, I was craving the mountain air. I'd already heard that there were some mountains on the outside of the city, very close to where I lived. One of these is the tourist mountain of Bomunsan. Lying right inside the ring-road which encircles the city, this seemed the perfect peak for my initial hike.

Towering at 457m above the skyline of the city, Bomunsan is one of the several mountains which can be seen from outside my house. It's accessibility makes it popular with visitors to the city. However, this doesn't mar the views which can be seen from the top. We later discovered that you can get spectacular night time panoramas of the city from a viewing platform situated only half way up the mountain. The view from the top was just as stunning. However, it was a steep climb to get there.
 
On the way to the top, we spotted a war memorial; some hula hooping kids, who were much better at the exercise than myself; a refreshing water fountain and an outdoor gym. We also discovered two pagodas at the top of the mountain, but only decided to hike up to one of them. Lots of Korean hikers joined us on the way to the summit and many children stopped by to say hello, practising what English they knew. I also invented a new classification of food groups, called 'Korean Weird Snacks.'

Here's some photos of the trip:

 

Gyejoksan

Another interesting hill hike in my area was around Gyejoksan. The day started with a cup of coffee and a taxi dropping us off just on the edge of the ring-road. This is a funny road, as it seems to both serve as a way of letting traffic into the city and to stop people from getting out. In many areas an impenetrable wall raises the highway above the ground. We spent around half an hour, looking for a way through, and after asking several directions managed to find a tunnel under the road. We passed under and through a village, climbing towards the summit of the mountain.

It wasn't too long until we had reached a plateau, and a sign which pointed off in many directions. A beautiful view of Daechong-su could be seen through a clearing in the trees. This is an artificial lake, blocked off by a large dam called Daechong Dam. We headed a little towards the lake to discover thick blankets of powdered white snow carpeting the north face. Despite the warm air, this didn't seem too strange, since it had snowed heavily in Daejeon just several days before.

We decided to backtrack, taking some directions from some Korean locals, and embarked on a steep climb to the summit. Further we trekked, then down a little and then up again, until we reached a fortress wall. Here we rested for a while, taking some time to breath and have a picnic, realising that we'd in fact climbed Gyejoksanseong (sanseong means mountain fortress wall). The mountain peak lay on the other other side of the valley. The wall itself was awe-inspiring. Barriers lay alongside to stop people wondering off the edge of the wall. However, this didn't stop locals climbing over the barrier, walking so close to the edge that if a strong gust of wind came they would be blown to their doom.

We got to the end of the wall as dusk was approaching, and descended, feeling pretty tired from a day of hiking. We didn't end up in Daejeon, but in a small village with a lot of dogs. They seemed to have vendettas against us. On first sight of us, they were barking and pulling hard at their chains. Fortunately, these chains were strong. We made it down to the bus stop in one piece.

We must have walked for over and hour. Night fell and we ended up in a village of which I have forgotten the name. We realized we were pretty hungry, only having had bread and oranges to feed on all day. We set our first priority in finding a restaurant. We could only find one in the village, advertising itself as serving 'mexican chicken.' Reluctantly, we went inside and were greeted by a party of drunk elder Korean men. We tried to make some conversation with them, finding the situation quite awkward yet funny at the same time. They offered me some rum and coke, which I gratefully accepted. Thinking it'd be nice to gain a little rapport, I attempted a meek 'gonbae', which means cheers in Korean. They seemed quickly offended, as I'd broken an honorific law of Korea. You should only say 'cheers' if your elder cheers first. However, they didn't let it linger and we spent half an hour, being entertained by the drunk locals of this small village. Eventually they left the restaurant, and we were left to eat our chicken alone.

When it was time to leave, we wondered if we would be able to get the bus back to Daejeon. To our good fortune, buses were running and we managed to jump on one into the city. It dropped us off somewhere in Daejeon, but we weren't sure precisely where we were. Being early evening, and still having travellers curiosity, we decided to walk towards the other end of the city. We wondered again for about an hour, before we found a local watering hole closer to where we lived. We decided to spend the rest of the evening there, concluding a rather drunk end to a wacky day.

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So that ends another short story of a couple of adventures in Korea. I'll next write about my impressions of Seoul. See you soon.

Here's the album for Bomunsan:

Bomunsan

The Baekje Dynasty

A History Lesson

A long time ago, not too long after the Romans invaded Britain, the land of ancient Korea became distinctly divided into three kingdoms. The Gorguryeo dynasty was situated to the north, and included most of what North Korea is today. The south was split between the Baekje dynasty to the west and the Silla (pronounced Shilla) dynasty to the east. This was a dangerous age in Korea as there were many battles fought between these kingdoms and the borders were constantly changing. Japan and China also had parts to play in this history, and allegiances between the dynasties of Japan, China and Korea were constantly changing. However, much of the period involved Baekje allied with Japan and Silla allied with China. Eventually Silla's relationships with the Chinese Tang Dynasty proved strong and they managed to defeat the Baekje and Gorguryeo dynasties, creating for the first time a unified Korea.

Although sadly, most of the historical sites in Korea have been burnt down, the stories still remain and the sites have undergone major restoration works. A curious traveller can still explore many of these places, hiking along ancient fortress walls whilst imaging how the palaces and cities they encircle would have looked almost two thousand years ago. It's common to see restored wooden pagodas dotted around the sites, painted in deep red and raised to a level high enough for stunning views of the cities and mountains beyond.

The Baekje dynasty is said to have based it's first capital not too far from present day Seoul. However, some time during their occupation they came under attack from the north by the Gorguryeo dynasty and were forced to move their capital further south. A new city was established named Ungjin and is now known as Gongju.  Later again, they had to move their capital to a city which was then called Sabi. It's name today is Buyeo.

Gongju and Buyeo are conviently located around an hours bus ride of my current base in Daejeon. During my few weeks in Daejeon, a curiosity of Korean history and my thirst for hiking high around a fortress wall got the better of me. I decided to travel to Gongju, and experience it for myself. 

Gongju

I remember we left for Gongju on what seemed an apocalyptic day. Three of us were travelling, and being our first trip out of the station, we embarked on an adventure to discover the bus station. Getting off at a nearby subway station, we started a 45 minute walk to the station, not knowing the weather we were about to face. As we walked, the skies darkened and darkened, and heavy winds blew dust in our face. The air felt muggier, as the humidity increased. We could feel a storm approaching, but onwards we walked. As we past, we were surprised to see two young ladies dancing on a podium outside an electronics shop, in shirts and hotpants. They were singing advertising messages to the passing traffic as the wind howled against them as if it was trying to blow them off the podium. As we walked further, we could feel the yellow dust which had swept eastward from China blowing in our faces. Our walk was longer than we had wanted and I really hoped that we would make it to the bus stop before the heavens opened.

Alas we did, and within 10 minutes of buying our tickets and boarding the bus, the sky shed tears over the valleys of Daejeon. We couldn't see much out of the window, the rain was heavy and the sky was thick. Our fingers were crossed hoping that this rain was only contained within the valley, and it would subside once we got to Gongju. I decided to study some Korea, taking my focus away from the world and weather outside. When my attention returned, the rain had settled a little. We had left the city, and were driving along a river  towards the town of Gongju.

The bus dropped us off just outside the bus station terminal. The rain was still a little heavy and we sided with a five minute taxi ride over a thirty minute walk to the fortress. The fortress's name is Gonsanseong, and has been built on top of a river. Situated adjacent to the fortress lay a conveniently located tourist information office. Due to our irrevocable charm, and perhaps the fact we looked like Western Tourists, we convinced them to part with a few of their English audio guides. Feeling readily equipped, we decided to enter the fortress. 

The interior of the fortress felt rather sparse itself in places, as there was a lot of open space and not so many buildings. However what made the fortress interesting was the 2.4 km fortress wall which you could navigate, spotting views of the town below. The audio guide proved useful, inside as you could touch it to designated signs to learn the relevant history. There were many tales to be told of people who had lived there and battles which had been fought. The hike around the wall proved more arduous than we had expected. We'd expected only a stroll, but there were points that you'd have to climb a great many steep steps to reach the highest point of the fortress. They say that in summer you can practice shooting arrows off the fortress wall, into the river, and I meant a mental note to return here to try this. 

The rain and the steep climbs eventually caused us to become tired of hiking the circumference, and we decided to head to the centre where the palace apparently lay. We were soon to be disappointed though, as there lay not a palace there, but low metal fences which marked their original placement. The guide, helped us here as it contained multimedia videos of how the palace used to look, and certainly made the trip more interesting. I vaguely remember a story of a king and some rice cakes, but wish I could remember more to tell the story here-wither . 

After exploring the fortress, we had just enough time to explore the tomb of a famous Baekje leader known as King Muryeong. Scattered all over the land of Korea, you can find burial mounds similar in concept to the Egyptian pyramids. A dead body was encased in a coffin and buried underground. After this a large pile of dirt was dumped on top of the coffin, and left to be carpeted with grass. Around the site of King Muryeong's tomb are many burial mounds. Unfortunately all but one have been pillaged by grave robbers and  poor King Muryeong was left all alone in ground for a long time, until he was discovered by Korean archaeologists. It was not actually possible to visit his tomb itself, but an expedition has been set up under one of the pillaged burial mounds where you can crawl inside a couple of replica tombs, and a replica coffin. The tiles inside the replica tomb were interesting, resembling a pile of antique books stacked neatly on a shelf.

We finished the day in a restaurant just on the outskirts of Gongju which was named 'Cape Town.' This was quite fitting for one of the member's of our group as she is South African. She told us when experiencing the restaurant however that it didn't remind her too much of home. Not much to our surprise on entering the restaurant, we found that it was a little on the dear side. We were so weary at this point however, that we didn't really feel too fussed about this. I opted for a cheaper meal on the menu, a little bit cautious about if at first as it was called 'octupus chilli rice.' I'd had a Korean chilli based dish called 'fire chicken' a couple of weeks previously, and it turned out to be the spiciest dish I'd ever experienced. The fire chicken was so strong that I felt as soon as I ate it that I was breathing fire through my nostrils. Fortunately this octopus dish was quite mild in comparison and I ended up enjoying the food and the comfortable atmosphere.

When we left the restaurant, we realized that it would be hard to flag down a taxi as we were quite far out of the city. We had to walk down a dark alleyway, and although a little nervous, we made it back to street-lights in one peace. We then bumped into a Korean student of Gongju university who voluntarily went out of his way to walk us to the bus station. We thanked him gratefully, grabbed a bus ticket and some snacks, and jumped on the bus. On the way back, I was recalling how the audio guide had mentioned a great battle that had been fought at Gongju,. The Baekje dynasty lost this battle and fled to another town, now known as Buyeo. I slept that night knowing that I would soon visit Buyeo, willing to complete the story.

Buyeo

It was only a couple of weeks later that I brought action to that pledge. Myself and a friend boarded the bus to Buyeo, on a much sunnier day, looking forward to another fortress adventure. On arriving in Buyeo, one of the first things I noted was that there weren't any traffic lights in the town. This was quite different to Daejeon, where there are a great many traffic lights scattered around the city, which seem to slow both the traffic and  pedestrians down.  We were quite hungry when we arrived and our first priority was to find a restaurant where we could eat lunch. Usually, in Korea this isn't too difficult a task, as it is just as common for people to eat out here as at home. However, we were feeling quite fussy and we didn't stop until we found a restaurant which took our fancy. We opted for one we found in the lonely planet called Gudurae Dolssambap, with a wooden touristy looking exterior and a rustic, cosy feeling interior. The food was reasonably priced and decent, and we left quite satisfied.

We left the restaurant. Soon after walking down the road towards the river, we came across a sculpture park. This contained much wacky and wonderful modern art including what looked like an egg inside a stomach, a giant red 'O' and another giant red 'C'. Akin to most parks in Korea, it also contained its own outdoor gym. This particular one had a bench press, which I wondered over to try out. Being the only two wayguks (Korean word for foreigners) in the vicinity however, it wasn't long before I had an audience of several young Korean children watching me. One of them decided in fact that the weight was not heavy enough for me, and decided to pull the bar back towards the earth as I was trying to lift it. Deciding it was probably better not to cause any injuries this early, we wondered down towards the river where we had a chance to watch a Korean baseball team practising on the river bank. Ferries that had been built as if they were traditional Baekje longboats were sailing along the river, and it wasn't long before we were edging to have a ride on them ourselves.

We walked over to the harbour and bought a couple of tickets on the ferry. After a quick break to buy some souvenirs, we were summoned on to the ferry and much to our surprise, we seemed to be sharing board with a large Korean retirement party. Many grandmas and grandads were talking amongst themselves, taking in the stunning heights of the rocky crags and hills which towered above the river. The boat soon stopped at Busosan fortress port and one of the older Korean women came forward and beckoned for us to get off the boat. We would have liked to have stayed longer, as the journey felt peaceful and the views from the boat were beautiful. However, we didn't know how much Taekwondo the passengers on the boat knew, and Mr Miyagi taught me when I was youngerthat you should never mess with your elders. This particularly applies to Korea.

Busosan was the main fortress ground where the Baekje empire relocated their palace after being defeated by the Gorguryeo dynasty at Gongju. The fortress itself had a different feel to Gongsanseong, the latter being built on top of dirt. However Busosan is much more rocky, with dramatic cliffs and stunning views over the river below. After buying some ice-cream, we climbed up a steep hill from the port to a small temple and a spring in which only one type of plant is rumoured to grow. Allegedly slaves had to put a leaf from this plant into the water that they carried to their superiors, to prove that it came from the spring. We took some time to soak in the beauty of the temple and then pushed ourselves up a steep climb to relax on large outcrop at the top of the cliff. This cliff, I later learnt, had a very sad story, as it marked the very end of the Baekje empire. When Silla had Baekje cornered inside Busosan, the inhabitants, including 3000 court ladies, decided to leap off the cliff, plummeting to their doom towards the river below. They did so, as to be captured by Silla soldiers would be a great dishonour to them and their people.

Further exploration took us up to the peak of Busosan (san actually means hill or mountain), where a viewing pagoda allowed us to see the river below. Up to now the walk had been very crowded, and it was just starting to settle down. It was getting quite late and we were getting quite tired, so we started to head away from the river, towards the north exit. We went through some woodland on the way and took a short-cut finding ourselves in an open field on a hill. Feeling quite sleepy, we thought it would be a good idea to have a nap here, lying down under the soft sunlight and resting our eyes for about half an hour. When we woke, we realized that most people had left, and followed in their footsteps, not wanting to get locked inside the fortress. Just as we exited the field on which we had slept, we turned around and noticed a sign. It marked the field as being the former palace grounds of Buson. We left feeling a bit guilty that we may have defamed such a reverent place. 

The evening was a little uneventful, we had a couple of beers before getting the bus back to Daejeon. The journey back was sleepy, and just before I shut my eyes, I hoped that no ghosts of Busosan would come back to haunt me in my dreams for sleeping on their former home.

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So there ends my story of the exploration of the Baekje kingdom. It's been much longer than I expected, but my relationship with writing usually causes this. My next post will be about the several hikes I have embarked on since I've been on in Korea. I'll write back soon, hope you enjoyed this post.

P.S. here are the flickr links for the Gongju and Buyeo albums:

Gongju

Buyeo

Time for Blogging

It's a little after 9pm in the evening, and I've just returned from a delicious meal ofGimbap. This, for the uninitiated is a meal of beef, tuna, kimchi or cheese with pickled vegetables; wrapped in a rice layer and again wrapped in a layer of seaweed laver. It's very similar to the sushi Californian roll. On the way back from the restaurant, I had the pleasure of experiencing a beautiful twilight. Lately, we've had some very rainy weather in Korea, but tonight the clouds were high and the sky was beginning to clear. As I climbed the hill towards my apartment, I saw a backdrop of the Daejeon cityscape. Neon lights were starting to blossom in the distance, as the deep blue sky was fading into darkness. Behind me I could see the lines of the mountains, silhouetted by a near full moon. Here I sit, writing these words in my blog, happy to have the time to do so.

I'm starting to feel a sense of mastery of my job now. Of course I should plead modesty and claim that I am by no means yet a 'great teacher.' I still have a lot to learn, not only on the specifics of what and how to teach, but more so on the essence of relating to and motivating the students. However my efficiency is increasing, and I am feeling more productive during the day. This is giving me time to get more done in the evenings, and I'm really starting to appreciate the free time.

My intentions over the next couple of weeks are to use a moderate amount of this time, to get my blog up to date. There are many travels and adventures I've wished to write about, but simply haven't found the right occasions. Perhaps I did have the time, but not the time management skills to use it. I'm getting better though, and I hope to get this blog up to date before my girlfriend arrives in a couple of weeks.

The other bit of good news is that I've been able to get my entire Korean photo collection on-line. I will therefore be linking to photo albums as I write. Anyway, enough of the babble and onto my first account of my recent travels: a historical exploration of the Baekje Kingdom...

P.S. just in case you were curious, here's a photo (not mine) which resembles the Gimbap which I had for dinner tonight:

An update

It's been very hard to find time to write in the blog over the last couple of months or so, so I apologize for the late update. I've simply been busy lately, planning, teaching, socializing and travelling. Have felt a little guilty, as there were many things I wished to have written about, and fortunately my schedule has freed up a little over the last week or so. All I've had to do is work wise is to supervise one exam and teach 2 classes this week, so have had time to catch up on things.

A lot of this time has been spent on catching up on my reading, since the book I've been trying to read hasn't had much love until recently. It is called Shogun by James Clavell, a novel about fedual Japan during the early 17th century (I think). The main character, Blackthorne, finds himself stranded in feudal Japan where he is captured and later housed by Japanese warlords. He finds himself in strange situations, unable to understand the culture and completely bewildered by the language. Eventually he manages to pick things up however. The main thing is I feel right now that I'm really feeling that I relate to this character.

Before you panic, don't worry. I haven't yet been captured by any Korean warlords. Mr Kim of the distant north hasn't attempted an invasion yet. There has I hear however been little coverage of the sunken South Korean warship in the media in the west. There is speculation over here that the boat was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, worrying many of the locals over here, their sons being currently under military service. Despite these concerns, I am still returning every evening safe and sound to my cosy Daejeon apartment, eating well and staying healthy.

However, I do relate to the development of Blackthorne's character as he experiences the new and fascinating culture. Many things I have to say are very different over here. For one thing there's the language, which is improving but still very basic. There is the constant frustration of wanting to start conversations with people but not knowing what to say. On this front, I find it helps just to smile at people and show them that you're willing to learn. I've found taxi drivers make great teachers, one even taught me how to count from one to ten when I was counting his fare. People also seem to think differently over here and in school I've constantly got to be careful of what I say to who. There have been times where I've unintentionally overstepped these cultural boundaries, and I have to admit it's very easy to do.

An example of this was with my settlement allowance, a sum of about 300,000 won which I was contracted to receive as salary during my first month of staying in Korea. I quickly learnt however that my school had actually spent that money on my behalf on household essentials, before I arrived in Daejeon. This took me a while to comprehend at the time but in retrospect I think of it as a nice gesture. In the west we would think of the money as ours and solely ours. Over here the thought was more that I will be very confused about what to buy when I arrive, so they will do the buying for me. This wasn't however where I overstepped the mark however. I did so by asking the wrong person for information about this issue, hence offending the person who was responsible for the settlement allowance (sorry about the passive voice, I want to keep anonymity here). I think he felt that he lost a little bit of face in this situation by being approached by someone else, and late became angry with me. Fortunately this situation has long since fizzled out. One thing I really like about the Koreans is that they're easy to forgive and forget.

On the big plus side, I'm really enjoying my life over here. Although I find myself disorganized with the planning sometimes and find myself planning late at night. Teaching is generally really good fun. With most of my classes I think I've built good rapport on the students. I taught them how to say the phrase 'Hey, I know you' with good intonation, and they greet me now in the corridors with the same phrase and a hello. My teaching lessons are a little Pavlovian in a way. I have learnt to group the students into three teams and give them points based on their teams performance. The winning team then gets chocolate at the end of the class and I find this a great way to keep them motivated. However to me chocolate is just part of a game, as I attempt to make my classes more fun and less regimented. The students can take it a lot more seriously and may get upset if I give out points for unfair reasons. It's amazing to think that you can motivate a group of ten students with three or four cheap chocolates which don't measure to more than a square centimetre.

My travelling adventures have also been fantastic, and there's been so much that I've wished to blog about. Maybe if I get a little more time I will write down some of the stories. Generally though I've spent weekend climbing mountains and hiking around fortresses. There's quite a bit of history in this place and lots of pagodas and temples can be seen as you explore both the cities and their outskirts. However I have come to learn that many of the historical look almost exactly the same. I think this is partly due to the face that the buildings have been raised and burnt down so many times that everything got rebuilt in the same style. They still are very pretty however, and can give you good vantage points over some beautiful mountain views.

The hikes over here are something else. Koreans seem to really love their exercise, and hiking is an extremely popular thing over here. It's common to go to a mountain on a nice day and see masses of Korean leisure hikers with their expensive hiking equipment and a resolve to get to the highest point they can. They do so en-masse meaning that to go hiking to escape the crowds can often turn out a futile objective. I have learnt lately that there are more that their are places you can go to escape the large crowds, but I haven't found a hike so far yet where we have been alone in the countryside. Very different from hiking in the UK. Up every major hiking trail it's common to find large tents serving refreshments, boiled eggs and pancakes; outdoor gyms and plenty of toilet stops. However most hiking over here does tend to involve lots of steep climbing, and I haven't been on a hike yet here where I've not find myself out of breath. Mind you, I do have an instinct to head for the highest point whenever I see it.

I've had some other interesting travel experiences which I wish I had more time to write about. I've visited both Seoul and Busan, the latter of which was my favourite trip so far. I had a chance that weekend to stay in the Korea Tibet Buddhist Centre and spend a weekend eating and exploring with Buddhist monks. I learnt a lot about Buddhism that weekend, and found the monks very nice and hospitable people. The cherry blossoms were blooming over Busan that weekend and had just began to fall. One street was lined with pink petals and so the five of us in our party, consisting of a Tibetan Buddhist monk, a Korean born Tibetan monk in training, a Korean-American girl an American and myself, decided to pick up the cherry blossoms and throw them over passing Korean hikers. To this gesture the hikers thanked us and carried on their way.

Anyway, I better get going. It's school sports day today and I can hear crowds of people cheering outside. It's probably a wise idea to join them. I won't post any photos yet, but am in the process of getting all my travel photos so far in Korea on Flickr. I will post the links in another blog post soon.

Ciao for now!

Daejeon Dis-orientation

I'm sitting in the small room of my apartment content that my lessons have been planned for the rest of the week. The air is crisp tonight, and the sky is much clearer than it was before a blizzard hit Korea last night. The whole country became covered in snow. Outside, I can hear the conversations from the convenience store downstairs. I know little about what they're saying but I've learnt all you need to do is bow and say 'kamseh hamnida' (Korean for thankyou), to create a big smile on their face.

Since I arrived in Daejeon I haven't really experienced culture shock. I've often felt awkward or confused with certain situations, but the whole 'shock' malarkey hasn't really hit me yet. The real difficulty around here of course is communication, as very little English is spoken. I was naive in thinking before I arrived that it would be different. We were informed in our training that children here are taught English from seven to eighteen years of age. That's a whole eleven years of learning the language. However, the majority of English vocabulary I hear produced around here is limited to 'thank you', 'America' and 'hello Mr Chris'.

This doesn't stop me from trying to have conversation with the locals however. I managed to learn from a taxi driver that Hanbat stadium is actually a baseball stadium, despite the fact it has statues of footballers outside. I used Korean vocabulary from my translator and vigorous gesticulations in order to achieve this. After paying the 10,000 won or so for the taxi journey, I seemed to had left the taxi driver in a fit of hysterics. I guess my Mankorean accent may have been a little too much for him.

It's been two weeks since my bus from the orientation arrived in this city. We were dropped off in the famous abandoned 'Science Expo Park,' and formed lines in the foyer of a large building. Our lines filtered through into a smaller lecture theatre, where a very important man (presumably the head honcho for Daejeon education), was giving a speech to a room half full of Korean teachers. Most of the speech was in Korean, but various parts of it were translated, none of which I remember. It wasn't long however until we were individually called over to the representative of our schools; the people who were assigned to look after us for the remaining year.

I was amongst the last names to be called out, and was amongst the few with two representatives. I walked up to them, shook there hands and sat on the seat between them. In between speeches, they introduced themselves as Mr Yun and Miss Han. Mr Yun was the elder of the two and had an aura of superiority about him. I could tell he had authoritative status in the school. Miss Han on the other hand turned out to be younger than myself and seemed quite shy. She is to be my co-teacher for the rest of the year. In the midst of my confusion and tiredness, and found both teachers rather hard to understand, but managed to retrieve my luggage from the large truck which had followed our bus from Seongnam-si. Unfortunately I lost my Polish hat during the chaos. I grieve for that hat as I was particularly fond of it.

I jumped in a large people-carrier with Mr Yun and Ms Han, without a chance to say goodbye to my western comrades. We drove through the city, and I made what conversation I could with my new Korean comrades. I came to quite like them, finding Mr Yun quite a funny character and Ms Yun very helpful. However, I was still having problems adjusting to the new accents and their limited (but better than most) English. After about quarter of an hour, I left them to converse in Korean and admired the view of the city as we drove alongside the wide river. I chuckled as we passed a female Korean hitch-hiker, for no other reason than she was dressed in traditional Hanbok clothes. 'Obviously Korea is a place which wishes to retain it's history,' I thought to myself. We entered an underground car-park and went up eighteen floors in a lift. When the lift doors opened, we were in the hallway of a grand hotel.

Unfortunately this wasn't to be my place of residence. The school was hosting a ceremony in a conference room, since it was about to be renamed and re-opened in a few days time. I wasn't to go into the conference hall and patiently waited outside with Mr Yun. Occasionally I was introduced to members of the school. Everyone seemed very happy to see me and I had a chance to meet the teachers which I would be sharing a classroom with. I learnt how to say 'pan-ga-wae-yo' or pleased to meet you in Korean. It got me far on the rapport building front, but not so far on the conversation front. We later went down to a buffet meal, where I was served some of the best food I'd had since I'd been in Korea. I made light conversation with Mr Yun at the dinner table and he called me his new friend. I was introduced to many people that night, Mr Kim, Ms Kim, another Mr Kim, and another one, Mr Yeong, Mr Cheong and lots of other names I couldn't remember. I left the hotel that night wondering if I'd just starred in a Korean version of Reservoir Dogs.

We drove next to my apartment, the part which I'd most been waiting for. I was extremely tired at this time and just wanted to collapse on a bed. My first realization about the apartment, was that it was set in quite a slummy area. I noticed a gravel pit and an old furniture dumping ground adjacent to the complex. However, the building itself is brand-new, and all I had to do was walk inside to see it in a different light. The apartment is big enough for one person and was well equipped. The only thing missing was curtains or blinds in the bedroom, the latter of which I am still awaiting to this day. I slept well that night, and was taken to equip the rest of my apartment from the large Tesco Home-Plus supermarket the next day. Mr Yun also took me to meet his wife at a kindergarten, and we were given two cartons of ginseng milkshake to thank us for meeting their acquaintance. Mr Yun and I then said goodbye, and I was told to meet in the school 8.30am on Tuesday.

 I lay down on my bed to nap knowing that when I awoke a brand new adventure awaited me.

P.S. photos of my local area and apartment can be found at:

Daejeon - House & Hood

They took my blood, urine and breath away...

It's been a while since I last managed to write here.

Of course I've been intending to, and have so much that I've been meaning to tell you about. However, life has been hectic and time has been short.

Since I last wrote here, I've got through the orientation, which included the medical which I was blogging about last. That was a strange ordeal. Hundreds of westerners were lined up like cattle, and herded through a variety of medical tests. They tried to gather as much information about our bodies as they possibly could. Our height and weight was measured; our hearing and blood pressure was tested; our blood and urine was sampled; and our chests were irradiated with x-rays. A few days later we were given forms which told us we were HIV negative and free of syphilis. It's good to know these things! I also discovered my blood to be of the superior O- type. I'm not sure if they have vampires here in Korea, but I'm glad of the high garlic content of the food...

However the day after the medical, they buttered us up a little by taking us to a traditional Korean folk village, in Yongin, just outside of Seoul. Perhaps it was EPIK's way of saying sorry for sticking needles in us the day before, but it was duly appreciated. The village itself was beautiful, with thatched roof huts dotted around, giving a very rustic feeling. Although thee snow on the ground thawed throughout the day, icicles could still be seen hanging from the roof of a hut sitting alongside a frozen watermill. We saw performances of acrobatic drum dancers, who cartwheeled along the dusty floor, followed by a long streamer which hung from his hat. There was a tightrope walker who also kept falling on the rope, and using his groin to trampoline himself back to standing position. Both displays were amazing, and I've never seen anything like it in the west. Lunch was fantastic also, a Korean style hot-pot with lots of kimchi and side dishes. 

Following the folk village, we headed off to a town called Inchon to visit an arts and ceramic museum. We explored the area seeing lots of cute and wacky sculptures and learnt a little about the firing process. Following that, we went into a room to paint something for ourselves. Laid on the tables around us were watered down palettes of green, black, blue and red paint and our task was to take a cup or plate and paint it with the artistic flare which would rival Van Gogh or Bansky (depending on ones style). There were many impressive designs by the teachers-to-be around me. However I was happy with my cup design, containing token bear on the front and Thomas the Tank Engine and a mini Ringo Star on the back. Unfortunately the paint faded a little when the cup was put in the kiln, and a lot of the lines and colouring have faded. However the original design can be seen below.

The day ended with another delicious meal (above) of soup, rice, fish, lots of meats and the regular selection of kimchi. My nightmares of Korean nurses screaming at me, due to removing the swab from a needle wound too early drawing blood were replaced that night. Replaced by sweet dreams. Dreams Korean huts, snow, gorgeous food and... kimchi. Lots of kimchi...

It was a good thing I rested well that night, as the next four days were to be intense. We were bombarded with information and a hell of a lot of it. Information about lesson plans, good activities to use in the classrooms, Korean culture, Korean history, how to handle culture shock and more. On top of that, we had Korean lectures in the evening and by the end of it, all we wanted to do was either sleep or go out and drink copious amounts of soju. On this occasion, with one exception I opted for the former option. I must be getting old. 

However one night four of us decided to go up and see the Korean temple, outside Seong-nam just past the outdoor gym which I mentioned the other day. Lacking time during the day, we opted to hike up at night. Although I took my head-torch up with me, I didn't really need it as the path was well lit and compacted for easy walking. However the path up was steep and we were glad of the mountain spring we found half way up. I filled up my bottle from the spring and the water there tasted sweet and fresh, some of the best water I've ever tasted. The path up to the temple was curiously lined on both side by Chinese balloons, giving an authentic aura as we approached the temple gates. 

We were stopped in our tracks by barking dogs and we had to approach the temple cautiously. Once we realized that the dog noise was actually coming from inside the temple, we were tempted to knock on the door and ask for a cup of tea. However we decided that the poor monks who lived there probably wouldn't appreciate that, and descended back down the hill promising ourselves that we would one day return. We spent the rest of the night with a few beers and a couple of sojus and I learnt an interesting thing. The polite way to call a waiter over here is to shout at them to 'come here' or 'yogio'. The difference in cultural manners over here is constantly eluding me.

Another night we had a good reason to celebrate. We'd discovered that day the schools and level we'd be teaching at. I found out that I'd be teaching high school boys (6th form UK equivalent) in an Eastern region of Daejeon called Daegu. I am now in my apartment there, writing this blog. However it is getting late and I don't have time to tell you yet of how I came to be here. I shall leave that story for another day.

Until next time...

P.S. pictures of the folk village and ceramic museum can be found at:

EPIK Field Trip