Korealist 2009: 8, 10

8: Actually visit Busan

This is one of those on-the-beaten track places that hides some of those off-the-beaten track sites. Unfortunately, I didn't hit any of those. This was a purely tourist-trap trip.

KyungHee managed to find a tour package for 80,000원, which is actually cheaper than train tickets. The tour covers a temple, Haeundae Beach, an island, and THE FISH MARKET. Not being too thrilled about exploring Busan (I wish I had read its background before, but it's too late now), I accepted the idea of being herded like cattle without sacrificing too much of my dignity.

So I woke up at 5:50am (actually, I jumped out of bed because the sun was shining brightly and I thought I had slept through my alarm) and speed-dressed. KyungHee was going to pick up the bus at her stop then call me when the bus reached my stop. Around 6:20 she texted that she's getting on the bus, and it would be around 5 minutes. So I ran out of the house (forgetting jacket and sunglasses) and around 6:25 I got on the bus. Apparently, it was the wrong one, and we didn't end up meeting up til we arrived at Seoul Station.

How long had it been since I had eaten a fast-food restaurant breakfast? A long time, and it gave me a stomachache. Eating my Burger King croissanwich and tater tots, I suddenly had visions of McGriddles floating through my mind, even though I think I've only eaten it once. A glimpse of Napoleon Dynamite, too, but the McGriddles stole the spotlight.

We arrived in Busan after an uneventful train ride. The first place we headed to was 용궁사, or Dragon Palace Temple. I like to mix some culture and history into my trips, so this to me was the redeeming part of the Busan trip. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let-down; the name is way cooler than the temple itself.. Rebuilt during the Japanese occupation, it was rather new and flavourless. Nonetheless, I guess it was good to experience a modern-style temple, although I infinitely prefer the older ones. Also, it's the only temple that's right on the ocean.

in front of Dragon Palace Temple

We hit Haeundae (해운대, or 海雲臺). 海 means sea; 雲 means cloud; and 臺 means I have no idea. I looked up the hanja and came up with three definitions: heights, support, or typhoon. Take your pick. Height makes sense, since Choi ChiWon's rock carving (from which the beach gets its name) is on a hill; typhoon can make sense since it's on the beach. I'm going to go ahead an risk ruling out 'support' though.

It was rather cold, and I didn't have any beach materials, so it wasn't that exciting for me. We walked up the beach a bit, then went inland to see if we could find a decent pair of sunglasses (my eyes have been really sensitive to light lately). No dice, so we walked around a bit more before getting on the bus for the island.

KyungHee on Haeundae Beach

About 15 minutes away, and perhaps 1 kilometre, was 동백섬 (Camellia Island). Actually, it's more appropriately called 동백공원, as land reclamation has turned it into a peninsula. It was a nice walk, and we got to see Nurimaru House, the sight of the 2005 APEC Summit. Even better, though was the Tarzan bridge: a reinforced jungle bridge constructed of fresh wood with steel bars. A girl was trying to be an "urban" Korean girl (aka SISSY!) by pretending to be scared of the bridge and KyungHee started making fun of her rather loudly. It was funny.

Nurimaru House, with 광안 Bridge on the left

Last stop: 자갈치 시장. Which, of course, brings us to:

10: Eat live octopus

We bought it, and I splashed on the sesame oil and ate it. It was good while eating it, but I think it's one of those things that you experience once in your life, enjoy, and never do again. The suctions would latch onto my mouth, and a few times it kind of hurt. And one has to chew a lot to make sure the tentacles don't attach to one's throat, and I feel a little sick when I have to chew raw octopus too much.

they were sticking to the chopsticks

Korealist 2009: 2

2: Climb Mt. Bukhan

7 June, 2009

Did the hike, took the pictures.

D, Elli & I left bright and early (no joke!) for Bukhansan. After getting conned by a parking lot operator (we paid 5,000 on a side lot instead of free in the park lot), we started the trek up. It wasn't bad, and the view was nice from the top. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see much, but we did glimpse the north part of Seoul to the south and Uijeongbu to the northeast.

We had a nice jog down, using a different, less accessed and more scenic route.

On Bukhansan there are the newly-renovated remains of Bukhansanseong (North Mountain Fortress); we deemed it proper to head to Namhansanseong (South Mountain Fortress), where we grilled burgers for dinner. Yum!

at the summit marker

D & Elli looking towards Uijeongbu

Korealist 2009: 18

18: See the Zen Rocks in northern Seoul

끝. Sammi and I headed to 독립문 Station today to see the strange Zen Rocks. Running late, I caught a cab and got the added benefit of seeing Dongnimmun "Independence" Gate, ironically named, as it was built during occupation.

We began the long, hot trek up 인왕산. There was a map at the base, but we were a bit too preoccupied (searching for a washroom) to notice it. So we just continued uphill, not realizing what we were looking at until we returned and found the map.

This was by far one of the most conflicting visits I've ever been on. This whole area is rife with the conflict: modernity vs. tradition. Although it is a Buddhist area, and the rocks are 'Zen Rocks,' it's a place where shamanism is actively practiced.

Temples, while serene, have to me never conflicted with modernity. I guess because 1) in my mind, Buddhism is an enlightened religion; 2) it has survived into modernity and 3) monks with glasses, cell phones and cars aren't uncommon.

However, shamanism is different. To me, it represents the animalistic, the id, the Dark Ages. It is a pre-modernity religion that didn't survive industrialisation; it's a supernaturally-based religion that didn't survive the move towards reason; Asia's shamanism is England's paganism with one exception: paganism is essentially dead, while shamanism is dying. Granted, it is making a slight comeback, but that's due only to the swing of the pendulum, when people decide that emphasising old traditions and preserving nationalist practices are important.

Also, I remember stories from my mother's childhood about the shaman rituals. She told of one woman who, babbling continuously, danced on the edge of a sword without getting cut. She said that even as a kid, she felt like she was in the presence of something evil. Even though, in post-war Korea where she often had to skip meals, these rituals offered free food, she avoided them because they creeped her out.

So it was conflicting, leaving modern Seoul and walking up that mountain, void of the decent trails normally found in parks, listening to the gongs; seeing people traipsing around in brightly-coloured hiking garb, then a man praying in a pure-white silk robe; stumbling up the rugged, neglected paths, then turning around and seeing skyscrapers and high-rise apartments, expertly designed and built to a myriad of blueprints.

A man praying alone on a rock outcropping

I'll admit, heading up the mountain towards the shrine was a little spooky to me. I don't know if it's my mother's stories, or just the mysticism that surrounds the place. The people we came across didn't help me feel better; it was like some Twilight Zone episode, where you keep running into weird people. The man who was either sleeping, praying or drunk; the man who was shooting birds with a slingshot; the man who just stood around and stared at us (Sammi and I separately thought to ourselves that he might try to murder us). It wasn't until we were leaving the area that the creepiness left. Maybe it was the mountain releasing us; maybe it was the spirits leaving us; maybe it was all psychological and the western guys we ran into made the whole undeveloped spooky place feel a little less foreign.

Contrasting the id vs. the ego; the animalistic vs. the civilized; the supernatural vs. the enlightened; the obsolete vs. the modern -- enjoying the serenity and beauty of the natural scene, while being haunted by the ghosts of my mother's childhood -- this was my trip to 인왕산.

That said, I can't wait to visit again. Though I heard it, some strange magic intervened and I couldn't see the elusive shaman ritual in all of its mystical glory. I want to witness it.

But even better, who's up for a camping trip there and telling ghost stories?

Korealist 2009: 20

There is no number 20 on Korealist 2009, but there should have been.

So here's the honorary 20: Conquer Duryunsan.

Last year, I traveled to Jeollanamdo and visited a temple called Daeheungsa, located on Duryunsan. story here. I wanted to climb the mountain, but the monk with whom I was speaking told me not to go, since it would soon be sundown and he didn't want me to get hurt. However, I rather obstinately (and I suppose in character) told him that I would go quickly and return unharmed.

It was late afternoon when I left the temple and hit the trail to Duryun Peak, and sometimes it was a little difficult to see the trail with the little light that filtered through the dense trees. However, I did manage to reach the ridgeline.

the ridgeline where I had to turn back

That was as far as I got. I knew I had to go back down, still 330 metres short of my goal. Even then, it was a little dangerous going down in the twilight.

Last weekend, over one year later, I conquered my peak. And then some. In the company of friends -- Daeyong, Elli and Sharon -- we started up the trail a little after noon, giving us plenty of time for our trek. This time the ridgeline yielded much more to see; instead of a bluish haze, we could see the South Sea, dotted with islands. Unfortunately, no glimpse of Jeju-do.

the ridgeline...again

After we reached Duryun Peak (630 metres), we went back to the ridgeline, and decided that we had enough energy to climb Garyeon Peak (703 metres).

weird pose...but I'm there!

I hate starting things and not finishing them. Now I have closure.

Korealist 2009: 3

3: Watch a Bears baseball game in Jamsil

Done, and done. I decided to give myself an early birthday present, so I picked a game against Doosan's rivals, the SK Wyverns. The Bears delivered, with a 15-2 win.

Idiots on a bus

My trip gave me a chance to reflect on some of my very, very wrong conceptions of Western and Korean society. Let me just start out with a disclaimer that no matter where one is from nor how much one tries to prevent it, ethnocentrism will creep into one's mindset when living abroad. It's just too easy to compare cultures and to remember "how good it was" back home.

When I'm walking around, getting the one-arm shove, being stared at, or hearing people clear their noses (through their throats) at a dinner table, I often slip into the mindset that I come from such a courteous, conscientious culture. When that happens, the easy way to return to reality is to swallow a dose of "we think we're still in college," a.k.a. a group of 20-30 year-olds. Might I suggest a festival?

Large festivals will definitely draw expats. This is great for expats who want to experience a facet of their host country's culture, but also can leave distasteful memories when they fail to conduct themselves in a respectable manner. This reflects badly on Westerners, but Americans in particular; even if the individuals are Australian or Swedish, the automatic assumption to the untrained Korean ear is that any white person speaking English (or, sometimes, any foreign tongue) is American.

It was on the bus from Mokpo to Jindo. There was a group of three people; two were Australian, and one, I think, was British. Thank God I don't have to claim any of them! We have enough imbeciles giving us a bad rep.

I had decided to avoid them the moment I saw one of them boarding the bus with a half-empty soju bottle. Unfortunately for me, there were precious few empty seats when I boarded. They took 3 of the 5 back seats, leaving two empty. I didn't care if my avoiding them would offend them; the last thing I wanted was to be bathing in vomit. I wisely took a seat in a row cattycorner to them.

True to form, they proved to be overly loud, obnoxious, overbearing and ethnocentric. Not only did they lack any form of volume control, but they even sang on a bus. SANG. I cringed during the silence between my songs when I heard them.

I debated for awhile whether to confront them or not. I was sure they were bothering the rest of the bus, but I didn't really want to create a loud conflict that would add 'violent' and 'aggressive' to Koreans' list of adjectives describing Westerners. So I swallowed my bile and sat in silence, and now I rather regret that. I wish I had asked them, politely, to lower their voices, just to prove that we're not all a crowd of drunken rabble-rousers. I'm ashamed to admit that my courage failed me.

Why would they get drunk and get on a bus? Did they not see what problems that would pose? It was only noon, for crying out loud!

Cue in the waegugin factor. Often, foreigners can get away with things that Koreans can't get away with. Sometimes we get extra services. Sometimes, a cop won't prevent you from jaywalking, just because of a language barrier. Sometimes you can have seats to yourself because people don't want to sit next to a foreigner.

But the waegugin factor cuts both ways. Sometimes we get ripped off just because we're foreign. Sometimes cops hone in on you because you're an easy target. All too often, people will stare at you, just because your hair is different, your skin is different, and you have a big nose.

Perhaps, in their minds, those three on the bus justified their behaviour because Koreans are heavy drinkers and do occasionally cause a ruckus in public places. But they must have forgotten that in a foreign country, they do, in fact, represent Western society, English-speakers, English teachers, and like I mentioned, Americans, regardless of their country of origin. Because no matter how educated a person is, or how objective a person tries to remain, one's perception of a people group will be formed by one's exposure to persons of that group.

It's time for us expats to recognize that we aren't as important as we think we are, we're not as immune as we think we are, and that we are held to a higher standard of behaviour because we are representatives of Western society, and our actions will influence Korean perceptions.

Korealist 2009: 7

7: See the parted waters in Jindo

I walked the ocean road in Jindo!


Each year, the ocean parts in Jindo, due to the moon's influence on ocean currents, etc. But the mythical version is so much more fun.

Centuries ago, Jindo was full of tigers. One day, Jindo's inhabitants decided to sail a raft across a narrow inlet to the island of Modo. Unfortunately, they left dear old Grandmother Bbong to be eaten alive by the tigers.

Grandmother prayed to the Dragon King to be reunited with her family. The Dragon King told her to cross the rainbow to Modo. When she went to the sea, there was an arced passageway leading to Modo. She began to cross, but in her haste and excitement, she was overcome. Her family, also discovering the passageway, rushed to her, and she died in their arms, happy to be reunited.

The nice thing about legends is that you never have to include reality: why didn't the island's inhabitants learn how to swim instead of living there for years? how could you leave Grandma behind? why would Grandma want to be reunited with the people who deserted her? But as I said, you never have to even consider these things; it's a legend.