Seoul Notes

Now that May is coming to a close, I should tidy up a few of these unfinished posts. I always feel so optimistic when I settle down to write one, but inevitably a baby cries; it's time for school pick-up; the children clinging to my legs have started pulling each other's hair or I get distracted by thoughts of laundry or lunch or work emails or a doorbell rings and I simply wander off. And so, in no particular order, and with no particular motif, refrain, or theme, here is some more of Seoul and its environs:

Children's day (May 5th) was a National Holiday here in Seoul (except for the children at the French school - but it was a Wednesday 1/2 day). We were warned that all parks, museums and amusement parks would be crowded beyond enjoyment - so we headed to the National Cemetery for a picnic - as you do. Although we weren't the only ones with this idea, it was a pleasant open-space with a river, tombs, statues, steps, and flowers.
Nami Island was recommended to us for a day-trip, so one Sunday we did the hour-long drive to this "pedestrian" Island. We took a boat to the Island, and then explored via toy train and family bicycle (other options included tandem bikes, toy motor cars, personal golf-carts, electric scooters, and sky-bikes on tracks through the tree tops. It was very crowded and vehicle-ridden for a car-free place, but we had a nice time. The Island was used to film parts of the Korean mini-series Winter Sonata, which I watched before leaving Canada, so I was happy to see the celebrated locations. There are many artists selling their wares (the most prominent created small clay figures of peeing boys and nursing women), and to highlight the artistic nature of the island, they disguised their public washrooms as "toilart studios." There were folksy warning signs about the killer mosquitoes (no mosquitoes in Korea - hah!), live concerts and comedians, and pretty scenic views of the waterway, and strange little cottages you could rent if you wished to stay over on this crowded lively retreat. On the way home we were stuck in traffic as usual, but we were diverted by the hawkers selling snacks, fruit and sundries right in the middle of the 8-lane expressway. Personal safety is not paramount in this city.
On Buddha's Birthday (8th day of 4th lunar month, another National Holiday), we took advantage of VIP seating for the lantern parade. The lanterns were lovely, and the giant illuminated paper creations quite astonishing (Jamie particularly enjoyed the young Monk riding Thomas the Tank Engine, and Pororo hugging a baby Buddha). Temple congregations work all year to create their own hand-held and float lanterns and come out in vast numbers (it's all about quantity) to show their stuff. Many lucky parade-viewers were given lanterns, but by the time I know I should be shouting for one, my babies had had it and we headed home. It was a very very long parade. Before the show there was a Buddhist street fair, and we were illuminated further by the many English-language signs advertising booths devoted to such things as "Stamp! Realize! Love!," "Good day, Good people, and sharing clothes!," and "Imagination the Buddha." We were the only foreigners who didn't make a lotus lantern, or queue to have old men write us out a family precept, but we watched them bathe a statue, we made a fish lantern and stamped our way to love, or at least a bandana for Jamie.

A while back my supper club went to a high-end Noraebang for Korean karaoke. Your group is given a private room with microphones, instruments, a playbook, a video screen, a plate of fried food, many beers and a bottle of whiskey (for beer bombs - but this is a family blog). If you happen to be a group of tone-deaf foreign women with inside connections to the music scene (?) you are also given four young Korean men who will sing to you and pour your drinks and dance (??). They will also, it seems, perform a magic show complete with live bunnies (the furry sort) who will hop around your table and let you cuddle them. Apparently a uniquely Korean experience; and as we were there for 4 hours and left nary a drop of whiskey or with any remaining vocal chord - I guess we experienced it "to the full," but enough of that.

Look, here are some beautiful Spring flowers.

This is the police presence mustering in preparation for a protest. Guess who was protesting? Handicapped children. I tried to capture the scene where the police had downed a young woman in a wheelchair - but you will just have to imagine it. Apparently every week the few remaining "Comfort women" (victims of Japanese soldiers during the occupation) come out to protest and demand an apology from Japan and many Japanese tourists run up to apologize to them individually, but I haven't seen this myself. I have seen many student marchers, and more mustered police - but so far everything remains orderly.

Ah Korea, how I love that you mob my children wherever they appear; that you provide for them playrooms filled with large teddy bears to jump upon; that your stations have child gates, your potties have baby seats, and your department stores nursing rooms. How I love that you use English without really understanding it; that you name your English schools things like "Toss English" or "Prestirium Language Institute"; that it's okay to name your tandem bikes "Lespo"; that your beach signs warn against "regretful things" that will make your family and friends "feel sad by acceidental mistakes,"and your "underground cave experiences" need to have a no high-heel policy. How I love your enthusiasm for participation which leads to mobs of old ladies sharing a three-person train seat, tourists joyfully indulging in pre-programed "experiences" to the delight of gathered crowds (here, underneath the bikes for lesbians, an ajumma does some top spinning), and also makes you think that one motorbike store is good, but 150 motorbike stores are better, and causes you to believe that the best business to open on my street with 17 coffee shops is another coffee shop. So there are my notes; some sour, some sweet, and life tinkles along until we meet again. Good night and a "Mobile Flash Butt Welding Machine" to you all.

Korea tourism: Gyeongju and Jeju

Visiting temples and palaces is a good way to remind ourselves that we are indeed in a country with a history and culture different from our own. Although I have been doing some reading about designs and building techniques - the history of the place still remains largely unknown to me. I read one book about the contribution of Korean women to "traditional arts and humanities," where I learned that their ability to participate was rare enough that most of the accomplishments during the Chosun period came from high-status prostitutes, known as "flowers who understand words," or the few Dowager Queens fierce enough to contest their male councilors (thoough these ones tended to be poisoned or torn apart as far as I can make out). Largely, however, English-language histories of Korea (apart from the Korean war) are rare, and April touring with Brian's visiting parents only underlined how little we actually know about this country that is our new home. With that caveat (also pleading poor memory and a baby who has had a month-long war with the laptop) - here is a quick run-through of our two-week April adventure.

Ah Seoul, there are always new things to discover. With the parents I finally visited the "hidden garden" (Biwon) of Changdeokgung Palace (free-roaming Thursdays - now suspended it seems). This was much bigger than I expected, more on the scale of Central Park, and there were many nice stone-work chimneys and pavilions for poetic princes to ponder for posterity. We returned to Bukchon to see the Hanok homes, and found the very small, but beautiful, maedup museum; some of us dressed in Hanbok at Namsangol Hanok village (one of our Seoul City Tour Bus stops); we saw the lights of Seoul Tower at night and did various boating activities around Yeouido during the day. It was nice to do tourist Seoul again, visiting markets and palaces and museums that we hadn't seen in a while, and I found a street that sold nothing but motorcycles and motorcycle paraphernalia and one that sold nothing but Buddhist monk outfits (summer and winter selections with accessories) - if there is one thing Seoul excels at, it is quantity. After a week of Seoul, seeing if not searching, we headed out of town to see a little more of the country.

We took the fast train (and then the medium train reminds my precise son) to "beautiful Gyeongju" (meaning "congratulatory district" - so catchy these place names). Our taxi-driver who took us to the station hailed from Gyeongju and asked what we were interested in seeing there. Revealing my above-noted ignorance I suggested that it was very old and there were many historical parts. But indeed, the place was chock full of Royal tombs (the grassy hills in the photos above - there are 35 tombs and 155 tumuli in the city, and 455 in the outskirts), ancient observatories, 31 national treasures, a lovely Temple and many stone Buddha statues that always make me feel very calm. We enjoyed the exposure to Shilla Kingdom, and exploring tombs in the rain. I learned very little about its history though, as English signs were confined to telling us things like: "caution of stairs" and providing informational tidbits like: "among the military stone figures, a Western figure is attractive." (That's him in the middle - he is a looker isn't he? It's his bulbous nose, bulgy eyes and giant ears that give him away I guess). Monday was museum closing day so we missed the 16,333 artifacts extracted from the tombs, and the hotel charged us to use the pool - but otherwise we enjoyed seeing this part of Korea.

Then it was off to Jeju island, the "Hawaii of Korea" and, at only 75 minutes from Seoul, the top beach resort destination for city-mini-breakers. Luckily we were off-season, so the beach wasn't mobbed. It was pretty cold though. Kids love beaches, but we only had 3 days - so instead of running and playing at the waterfront, they got to climb mountains, scale volcanoes, descend deep dark dank caves and spend long hours driving in cars past scenic oceans views. They are very good kids, and so accommodating.

It was very nice to see the natural features of Jeju - such a welcome break from crowded built-up Seoul. Jeju does a very thorough job of promoting itself and icons of the island include the grandfather statues which litter the Island (most are replicas, some conceal telephone booths or trash cans) as well as representations (mostly statues, some cartoon mascots) of women divers. The romance of the women divers, who scour the ocean for saleable sealife diving with only a mask and their tremendous lung capacity, is hard to resist even once you know that the women who have been doing this for centuries were the poorest members of society forced to preform this hard labour from early childhood until late old age. Today the few remaining women divers are almost all over 40 and you can see them (now wearing wetsuits) walking along the highway carrying their sacks of shells and seaweed, or huddled in groups around fires on the shore.

Here is a lovely photo-montage from Hallim park. There were gardens, caves, lava tubes, bonsai gardens, rock gardens (the feature mid-left is called "Lovers Rock" just one of the many Jeju attractions designed to inspire honeymooners), a historic village and an aviary. We ate prickly-pear cookies and hid from the rain with a python; what more could you ask for in a tourist attraction?

Here we are at Cheonjeyon waterfall (three-tired and much climbing). We enjoyed the various depictions of musical nymphs who descend nightly to bathe in the ponds, and Jamie thought he saw his new friend, the dragon Lava-Badda, hiding behind one of the waterfalls.

Oh - here we are doing more exploring: Mt. Halla (namesake of the Hallabong tangerines that we ate voraciously); the very steep trek to volcanic crater Songsan Ilchubong, birthplace of Lava-Badda; the lava-tubes of Manjang; and a dragon-head rock formation that Jeju City lights up at night for tourist delectation. Generally between the fields and the sea, things were a bit more relaxed than at home - but Jamie trudging up the crater under his own steam caused the usual sensation and crowd-pleasing. Teenaged boys chanted little encouraging songs for him; young girls mobbed him for photo-ops; and ex-military men tried to put him on their backs to ascend the heights. We made it up to the crater alive, but the crowds convinced me that I would stick to off-season for return visits to this fascinating island.