The Temples of Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai smells like incense and flowers. In the streets, bikes whirl by as men shove foreigners in the back of red trucks for tours and golden spires reflect the sun onto the water in the moat. Street vendors shuck coconuts and grill skewers as a mix of foreigners and locals bustle about the shops.

My first day of my trip I find myself in a cafe tucked behind a museum. A jazz trio is playing Etta James by the bar and I’m having my sixth meal today. It’s noon.

“Summer time, and the living is easy.” Yes.

Chiang Mai, old city

 

While my trip to Japan was very much immersed in nature, this trip was all about culture. Chiang Mai, which means “New City” is in Northern Thailand. The city is home to more than 300 temples, with at least 30 of these temples in the old city alone. The old city is a square in the heart of Chiang Mai. A moat is decorated with the remnants of stone walls.

Most of my free days in this city I didn’t have a plan. I would open Google maps and choose a direction along the old city to follow. It was easy to find temples, food, and I could easily find my way back by following the city walls. Chiang Mai is a tourist spot, however, it is a different kind of tourism. The tallest mountain in Thailand is in Chiang Mai. This brings in a specific group of tourists. There aren’t bars and shows to go to like you will find in Bangkok. While busy, Chiang Mai is peaceful. SO I purposely got lost every morning and these are the temples that I stumbled upon:

Wat Chiang Man

Wat Lok Molee

This one was actually one of my favorites. While it was small, it didn’t boast the gold detail that most of the others did. It was placed along the north road of the Old City but once you passed the gate it was quiet.

Wat Chedi Luang

The grounds for this temple were pretty expansive to the other temples. This place was beautiful. I recommend going earlier in the day. I went in the later afternoon and the sun was in a place that made in hard to take pictures. This temple had the most tourists, with the exception of Doi Suthep.

Doi Suthep

This is known as the Golden Temple on the mountain. There are two ways you can get there: hike or truck. There are smaller temples to see on the hike up but it is a moderate hike. I didn’t have too much time so I opted for the truck. This temple is the more well known temple in Chiang Mai. There is a fee of 30 baht for foreigners, it’s the only temple that I had to pay to get into. The grounds here are also quite large and there are small souvineir shops all around the entrance. Lots of food too! While the temple is beautiful and definitely worth seeing, it is very touristy.

Soo many steps

Chiang Mai from the mountain top

I’ve read about others becoming “templed-out” in Chiang Mai. All of the temples have a similar structure, but I do think they each have their own character as well. Chiang Mai has a lot to offer besides temples; you can set out each morning without a plan and fill your entire day easily. However, I never grew tired of the temples.

-K.

Lost On a Mountain in a Typhoon

 

“Oh, that’s not water…” I hear this as the wooden box is already tilting what I thought was water into my mouth. The sake was warm and smooth, mixing with the salt that was added. I’m pretty sure my mom told me something about drinking things strangers gave me…

It was day two in Japan and an old man with purple hair had showed our group how to approach the temple, and given us sake. In reality it was a ploy to get the foreigners to donate yen to the temple, but I was aware and willing. You have to be careful with Japanese yen. A simple 500 yen coin is actually close to 5 dollars and I was still in the mindset that coins were small amounts.

Day 2 and 3 were pretty calm. It was beautifully sunny. We biked through small fishing villages, stopped at shrines along the route, gawked at the mountain views, and watched children sumo wrestling at one of the shrines. The food was excellent and the company better. By the end of day three we had biked 49 kilometers.

Day four was the long haul. We had all prepared ourselves the night before. Two of the girls cooked a fantastic stir fry with salad. We decided not to drink that night. Instead, we set alarms to wake up early and head out. We would be biking 54 kilometers and it would take all day. There was a typhoon just south of the island that we would be getting some rain from, but nothing too bad- it would just be annoying. We had a plan and were ready to head out. When does anything ever go to plan?

It started raining almost immediately. It was light at first, but the first major decline made the raining pelting and it was hard to see. We were moving slower to be sure that the tires didn’t lose traction. The winding roads made it impossible to see what was around the bend and slipping meant risking running into traffic. We paced ourselves, made plans for few stops and stuck together. Most of the time, it wasn’t that bad. We had on layers, we had bought ponchos and back pack covers. Eventually we took a turn onto a road that led away from the coast and into the forest. The covering gave us some relief from the rain. We were probably about halfway through at this point.

When the rain really started to pick up we could hear some grumbling in the distance. Just a truck, it’s fine. A man in a small pink car pulled over in  front of us and got out. He spoke no English but motioned for us to put our bikes in his car and us in the back. However, there wasn’t enough room for all of us. Honestly, as tempting as it was, I really wanted to do this. I had biked/walked the entire trip so far. I really wanted to finish this on my bike. He gave us his business card with a phone number and drove off.

Here is the thing about the Japanese people on this island. They were by far the most kind people I have ever come across. This man figured out that there were many of us making the trip. He spent most of the day driving our route checking on us, even buying some of the others coffee. He was genuinely concerned. He had good reason to be.

At some point we were supposed to go through a town. After that we would ride through a tunnel and come to a fork in the road. There we would turn right. By the time we got into a small coastal fishing port it was lightening pretty frequently and the rain had picked up. I was uncomfortable. We were out in the open, soaking wet, riding metal bikes. Once we got through the port there was a tunnel, so we turned right. Turns out, this road just took us over the tunnel and back to the front of the tunnel.

What? We had done everything we were supposed to do. After some deliberating we decided to go the other way. The road was bigger and seemed to look like everything else we had been riding on. So we went left. We rode up a mountain. Along the way we had begun to see run off from the mountains coming across the roads. Nothing big, ankle deep water that was flowing down hill.

Once we got onto the mountain these small flows got bigger. Nothing alarming yet, but it was raining hard and it was going to accumulate. It was around 4pm and going to get dark soon, 3 of us had decided to trek up the mountain and see where it led, one stayed behind to knock on the door of a house with the map and ask where we were. We all agree that we wouldn’t go to far so as not to get separated. As we are standing on the mountain in the midst of running water and passing debris, a bright flash comes down. One of the girls throws her bike and runs away. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were on top of a mountain, out in the open, during the eye of the storm.

Soon after we can see our fourth person coming around the bend with flashing lights behind him. He had flagged down a police officer to help him. We made it off the mountain and to our camp. It was beautiful, but flooded. We were taken to a home stay run by an old couple. The girls crowded the kitchen with the wife to help make a home cooked meal while the guys set the table and laid out the beds. The husband showed us pictures of him and his sons fishing as his wife passed out drinks. She gave us figs that had been steeped in a cinnamon broth and he would pull her aside and ask her how to say certain things in English. 25 of us sat around a table eating a home cooked meal in a warm traditional Japanese house. In the morning they loaded up their van and helped us get to the port, after serving us hot green tea. I will never forget their hospitality.

In the end we finished. We biked the whole thing. A total of 103 kilometers(give or take since we got lost) along the coast of Tsushima, Japan. It was hot and hilly, then cold and hilly, but my God I would do it all over again.  Maybe not during a typhoon.

-K.

Bike, Camp, Drink

The crows in Japan don’t “caw”, it’s more of a “haw”. Hearing this”ha-ha-ha” echo throughout the forest while you are trying to get up a mountain on a bike in the last of the summer humidity is really inspiring… Somehow I have managed to get myself to this point. Tuesday night, 9/14, a co-worker and I sprinted to the bus stop after work to catch a bus to the coast. We then took a ferry to a sleepy island halfway between Korea and Japan: Tsushima. Now, I find myself sweaty, tired, halfway up a mountain and being laughed at by a damn bird.

This all started about a month ago. When the full moon hits in the third week of September, Korea celebrates Chuseok. This is comparable to the U.S. Thanksgiving. You go to see family and eat a lot of food. For foreigners, its a chance to go explore without having to take days off of work. I had been looking at Japan but couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. Tokyo was what I was considering, until I stumbled across a travel group. This was a trip to Tsushima, Japan where we would bike the coast and camp along the way. This is what I was looking for: a chance to do something out of the typical tourist realm.
These trips can be a bit a gamble. They usually take around 30 people and you never know what mix you will get. The last travel group I went with was a little strange and nobody really meshed that well. This trip? The people were crazy in the best possible way. My co-worker (A) and I grouped up with 4 others pretty quickly and we all stuck together through out the whole trip, but everyone on the trip was pretty awesome.

Once landing on the island, we all packed our things and headed to the first camp site. But first, sushi. We stopped at a conveyor belt sushi place- you can’t go to Japan and not have sushi. Then we set off. The bike ride the first day was 7 kilometers. Not too long, but we had to go over a giant hill. It was steep and hot and I was beginning to regret everything. But the view from the top!
Once we reached the top I forgot about my struggling. There was a beautiful glimpse of the sea, and the breezy ride down went through a forest that was perfectly still. Definitely worth the uphill battle.

A and I pitched our tent, showered with the bugs (aren’t camp site showers the best…), then grabbed some food and a bottle of wine from the market near by.
The next several hours were spent in a tent playing card games and getting to know our new friends. 
The next morning is was time to set off again.
We had 26 kilometers to go and there was so much to see along the way. A and I packed up and took some pictures around the camp site before heading out. The next days would end up turning into a real adventure.

-K.

Back in my element- 6 month update!

Trying to get comfortable in my sleeping bag, I can hear giggling and chatter in front of my tent. When I open my eyes, I can tell the sun is starting to come up so I glance over at my phone. 5:00 am. I haven’t slept at all- instead I spent all night on a bus with a travel group to go camping. Might as well watch the sunrise.

After an intense month of 12 hour teaching days, N and I decided we needed a relaxing weekend away. N found a travel group that had planned beach camping in Samcheok, along with some other activities. So it was five am, and I was in a tent maybe ten feet from the sea. Definitely relaxed.

The morning was pretty calm. We ate breakfast with our feet in the water, took a nap in our tent watching the waves, then went canoeing. The water was beautiful and the fall weather was just creeping in, so it stayed around 70-72 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Later that day we went to the Penis Park. Korea is speckled with these odd parks- toilet museum in Suwon, Loveland (a park full of statues in sexual positions) in Jeju, Penis park in Samcheok, and there are a few others throughout the country. There is a story here, though. A couple had gone to the beach for some intimate time together. The young lady had climbed out onto a rock but the tide came in pretty quickly and she got stranded. She died on the rock, a virgin. After she died the fisherman weren’t able to catch any fish. That is, until one day a lonely fisherman decided to help himself… into the ocean. Apparently this is what the spirit of the poor virgin wanted because the fish returned. Therefore, a Penis park was erected along the beach. Pun proudly intended.

The stranded virgin

The landscape of the park was gorgeous, set in the mountains but still on the rocky coast. N and I explored a little, laughed at the phallic statues, laughed even harder at the elderly couples making lewd gestures on the penis shaped benches. For such a conservative country, they have a good sense of humor about this kind of thing- one adjusshi (elderly man) climbed onto one of the longer benches that was surrounded by penis statues and began doing push ups on it. The others found him hysterical, his wife buried her face in her hands. After that we went down to the shore. The rocks created little tide pools full of crabs, snails, fish, and sea glass.

Rocky shore of the Penis Park

When we returned to the camp, N and I were informed that there was a small chance of rain that night and that there was a pension available if we wanted. We decided that our water resistant tent was enough, the pension was a bit expensive and we were tough. The rest of the evening was spent on the beach with beers, fireworks, and music. The group we were traveling with had a good mix of nationalities- Estonia, Siberia, Canada, N is from Whales, Singapore, Philippines, Ireland- it was an interesting bunch. We all scoured the beach for wood and built a fire. The staff brought out speakers and drinks- it was a good time. Then the rain came. It was not a light rain.

10 minutes later, N and I are standing in our tent with all of our belongings in our hands. The tent is closed, but it was raining on my head and I was ankle deep in icy rain water. Water resistant my ass. We quickly took down our tent and the staff was amazing and helped us find a small pension. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t stop raining. The next morning we all ate breakfast together and ran to our tour bus to go to Hwanseong Cave. I didn’t think I would go through it- I was cold, all my clothes were wet, and I was tired. I honestly figured if you had seen one cave, you’ve seen them all. This place was cool.

Hwanseong is the largest cave in Southeast Asia. There are railed trails all throughout and different paths you can take into various caverns. They have certain features lighted and signs (with English!) featuring fun fact or stories behind the formations. The are beautiful waterfalls in the cave. It was a good way to end the trip.

Now I’m home. I’m rested and relaxed and realizing that I have finished half of my contract. It is crazy how fast it goes. I was feeling pretty homesick, but this weekend really set me back on track. In two weeks I have a 5 day camping trip in Japan and I can’t wait. Then, in early October I will be going to Thailand for my first solo travel trip!

If you have any suggestions for solo travel, please leave it! I’m a bit nervous about it.

-K.

 

Yoga Jonesing

I can feel the sunlight on my eyelids. Even with my eyes closed I have to squint a bit. So I roll over and bury myself deeper down into my comforter.

Please not yet. I’m not ready. I don’t want to.

…Monday.

Work has become my new home. The kids are on their fall break- one month off of school. However, academia in this country is competitive. When the kids go on break, most of them are sent to an all day English academy. This means that I am arriving at work at 9:40 am and leaving work around 10:15 pm. I have a break in the afternoon- most of us make a bed for ourselves in the seminar room and sleep until it’s time to prep for the afternoon/evening classes. This lasts for a month.

I’m tired, to say the least. With no energy and always being at work, I’ve become a bit homesick. I miss the apartment on the pond that I was in, and I really really miss my cat greeting me at the door when I came home (all he was really interested in was being fed…). I was talking to someone back about it and was given this in return: “It’s like Yoga Jones said- this is all temporary. Except your in Korea, not prison. Make the most of it while you’re there, because it won’t last forever.” Fair enough.

So I set a couple of goals for myself to combat this mandala-esque ailment. I know, though, that if I don’t write it down, it won’t happen. So here it is… what I will do to combat being homesick.

1. Keep myself busy. This sounds so obvious it’s stupid. I’m already insanely busy this month. But because I’m busy during the week, I don’t feel like doing anything on the weekends. So I end up sitting in my apartment, alone, thinking. That’s when it is the worst. I mean c’mon, I’m living on the other side of the world, why am I sitting on my bed on a Saturday afternoon?
2. Try new things. I’m perfectly fine doing things alone. But I absolutely dread going places alone if I don’t know exactly what to expect or where to go. This has held me back from doing a few things that are on my list. I need to just suck it up and force myself through it. Plus, if I try something new and end up loving it…
3. Find a hobby. There are going to be days that I can’t keep busy or may not have found something new to try. I need a fall back plan. Hopefully making myself branch out will help me discover some new hobby. We will see.
4. Surround yourself with positive people/things. When your friends are also your co-workers and you are all working for 12 hours everyday during the week and hang out on the weekends… it’s hard to not gripe about workplace blues with each other. But that can’t be all you talk about. Being in a bad mood just makes me miss sitting on the kitchen counter talking someone’s ear off on the phone about my frustrations. This is where I need to follow the advice I have given others. Happiness is a choice. It’s a much harder choice if you dwell in negativity.

We’ll see how this goes. I have some traveling coming up in the next two months that should also keep me preoccupied. If you have any other remedies, let me know!

 

-K.

Snap and Chat: 4 month Update

As I spin my fork through some rice mixture, I listen to the newest arrival go through the new teacher first day ritual: where are you from, have you been to Korea before, how do you like it so far? Y, who has become one of my closest friends, is talking various things over with the poor, exhausted girl when I overhear Y say that she has been here 3 months. My eyes dart up realizing that she arrived one month after me and I have officially been here 4 months. I have completed about a 3rd of my contract. New Girl asks me how I like Korea so far.

That last question is the big one. I was probably asked this question a thousand times my first week, 500 the next. It isn’t an easy question to answer. It’s not that I disliked my first weeks here, but there is so much to take in that it’s hard to have an opinion while you take everything in.

“It’s exactly what I needed” is all I can say.

Truth be told, I have never sat down and made myself think about whether or not I am happy here. I haven’t had time, I’ve been way too busy living a life that, at one point, I just assumed wasn’t meant for me.

 

Rafting, Hiking, Caving in PyeongChang

At the end of May I went on a weekend trip to PyeongChang, which is where the 2018 winter Olympics will be held. Korea has a plethora of “adventure groups”. You can pay a base fee for a tour guide to take you through various activities in an area- some touristy, some remote. So, one Saturday morning I set out into the mountains with three girls that I knew and 20 other people I did not. This weekend has become a cornerstone weekend for me- something changed in me that weekend both physically and mentally. I don’t know how to explain it, but I could definitely feel it. I haven’t been that relaxed in many years.

Sitting in a small inflatable raft, I paddle my oar through shallow water and listen to the people in my boat talk about their journeys and experiences. At a glance, I am surrounded by mountains, cranes fishing for their dinner, and practically nothing else- no wifi, no service, no connection to anything beyond the mountain peaks. I needed to disconnect in order to connect with myself.

 

Shopping in Myeongdong

Walking down the alley, there aren’t clear lanes. People are muddled together, signs are flashing, brightly painted buildings with signs that I can’t read tower and lean over me I can hear the vibrations of everyone talking around me, but I can’t understand anything they are saying and over the ambient noise of the crowds the shop employees are shouting their daily deals to bring in customers. Crowds make me anxious. Myeongdong is an internationally sought after shopping district. Asian girls fly over from China and Japan for the shops and infamous street food. It’s the most overwhelming place I have ever been.

 

I used to grocery shop at 1 am. The crowds in a Walmart on a Saturday afternoon would cause me to panic. Shop owners don’t want to sell me a bamboo sheet mask here, however. The exposure to the waves of people was incredibly off putting for awhile. I’ve made some friends, however, that politely force me into these rough waters. While it still makes me insanely uneasy, it’s getting better. I needed to be pushed to grow.

 

Future adventures

If I were to update you on everything I have been up to, this blog post would never end. I do have plans for the next months, however. If you do want to see more frequent updates, check out my social media listed on the right.

Korea has a lot to offer within a day’s travel time. Nami Island is definitely on the list, along with Jeju Island.

Thailand is almost official. I have a short vacation coming up in September and I have my sights set on Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Japan is also a two hour flight away- it would be stupid not to take advantage of that. Look out for my updates on these adventures!

Have you been to Thailand? What do you suggest as a must-see?

K.

 

Bungee Jumping at Chung-ju ho Lake

I regret everything. That was the only immediate thought in my head as I fell toward the ground below. Once I was a few seconds into my fall, it was the complete opposite. How freeing.

On a hiking expedition with my co-workers, I managed to find myself standing at the top of a 62 meter scaffold, getting strapped in to jump off. The metal tower swayed and creaked in the wind. I had two heavy harnesses around my feet and one around my waist. The men strapping me in didn’t look at me, or try to calm me. They led me to the edge, counted backwards, and that was it. The rest was up to me.

The thing is, I didn’t need calming. I took a deep breath and just let myself fall. What happened? Just two months ago I was crying in the Beijing airport at three am because I had never felt so stranded and scared (even though I refused to admit it to anyone). This was not the same girl who had to pace her apartment for two hours convincing herself to just open the damn door that first morning in Korea. Here she was: arms up, deep breath, fall. I didn’t even close my eyes, I let myself watch the up-side-down world bounce and spin around me and soaked in the sensation of free falling, only to bounce back up.

It’s funny how often the events going on in your life and what they represent directly
coincide with the personal matters going on in your life. This past week was awful. I am emotionally wiped out with some things going on back home. A few days after the worst day, I was looking back at my jump video and pictures and it just clicked: arms out, breathe, fall forward. I let some of my personal inhibitions go and chose to dive into something without letting my fears hold me back or hide how I was feeling. This was not pre- Korea me. Pre-Korea felt this way for a long time, was too scared, too proud, and too cautious.

After the fall we went on the most beautiful hike. It wasn’t easy. It was the most intensive hike I have been on yet. A few times I stopped to look around me, trying to force myself to accept that I couldn’t keep going. But it didn’t feel right. I refused to give up, I pushed myself far out of my comfort zone, and it was worth every gasping, wheezing, breath. Rocks jutted out from the surrounding mountains forming cliffs over the lake. The trees bowed out of the line of sight creating curtains to frame the landscape. A group of us sat at the top of the mountain for about an hour. There was some casual conversation, but for the most part we just took in the scene.

 

 

If I had given up on what I knew I wanted, I would have regretted everything.

-K.

What is that? Where am I? How did I get here?

It starts as a slow creeping glaze across the eye that begins to pour into the face. The eyebrows begin to furrow and, depending on age and agitation, the lips turn down guiding smile lines with it. As a teacher with several years under my belt, I am beginning to perfect this look; my mother is a pro after three children. The “Did you seriously just ask me that?!” look.

After explaining directions three times, in three different ways, “Any questions?”

Students: “So, what do you want us to do?”

I have become the student, so to speak. The past few weeks have been a series of mishaps. Maybe I got arrogant in settling into a new country. If that is the case, I have been put back in place. This began with a squid.

 

What is that?

L had come to see me from Pohang and arrived late on a Saturday night. We were both hungry and stopped at a place I had not yet been to by my apartment. Since it was later, we tried to ask if the restaurant was closed since the only people in the place were leaving. The smiling middle aged man waved us to a table and waited for us to settle before taking our order. “Chicken?” L asked with a sweet smile on her face. Turns out that this restaurant only served sea food.

I’m not a big fan of seafood. I can handle salmon and shrimp, but that is about the extent of it. This was scallops. The problem was that before we ordered, the side dishes had been set down and we had dug in. I told L that I could handle some scallops and it would be fine. Our waiter smiled, turned on the stove that was built into the table and told us 15 minutes. I was not prepared. Oh, was I not prepared. He came back what I assume was 15 minutes later and lifted what I had thought was the stove. It was actually a box that had soup inside. Scallops, oysters, clams, all still in their shells. Then I saw it. The bulbous head poking out of the water between bean sprouts: the squid.

Our waiter saw me looking at it and smiled. He grabbed the tongs, grabbed the head and held the squid in the air, showing off his proud work. He took a pair of scissors and snipped right up the tentacles, which flopped and plopped back into the broth of the creature soup. What he was doing for us is considered special service and the food comparable to a nice steak dinner back home. As I was staring at what was before me, I could hear L take in a deep breath suppressing a giggle.

“Beer?” I heard faintly as I was taking in what I ordered. He was giving the look. He could tell that we had no clue what we ordered. I’m sure in his head was something similar to “damn westerners” since I have thought that about myself many times.

“Absolutely” was all I could muster up. We ate a little then pretended like it was time for us to go. The waiter poured our leftovers into a make-shift takeout container that I believe to be grocery bags. We giggled the whole way down the street nearly to tears.

 

Where are we? 

The purpose of the trip was the Jinhae Cherry Blossom festival. It is one of the more famous festivals and was on my to-do list before arriving to Korea. L, C, and I met in Pohang and stayed with L. Early the next morning the three of us set out for Jinhae with a loose map in our minds of where we were going. The first bus was to Masan. Once getting to Masan we would take an inter-city bus to Jinhae. No problem.

I don’t know much about the area, but I’m not sure if Masan gets a lot of foreigners. We were up in the mountains on a rainy and chilly day. As we were wandering around trying to figure out which bus to take, people would stop in their tracks to stare at us. At this point, I’m used to being stared at, but this was more of gawking. It was also the first time I had seen silk worms served as street food. I knew that eating silk worms was a thing, but I hadn’t seen it yet. The sight doesn’t bother me. The smell is awful: heavy, earthy and hot. I could still smell it on me when I got back home.

Eventually we found our bus. We got on a packed and humid bus and got off at the stop that said Jinhae. We followed the crowd of brightly colored umbrellas to the festival: singing, dancing, street food, and worms. What I was pining after was the famous Lover’s Bridge, an an aspect of the festival that mmade it so famous. No matter where we looked, we could not find it. The festival was at the base of a mountain. We decided that we would scale the mountain to the look out tower, then we would be able to see the bridge. Tired, wet,  and cold yet sweating from the exertion, we reached the top of the mountain. No bridge. Finally I found some one to ask.

“Oh that bridge, very famous, 45 minute walk.”

Nope. Wasn’t  happening. We took pictures, ate food, and enjoyed the festival. It was fun and the flowers were beautiful. We never made it to the bridge, but looking back, it’s just a bridge.

 

How do we get there?

The adventures with L don’t stop there. This past weekend was the Jindo sea parting. Once a year the tide becomes low enough that you can walk between islands. There is an urban legend behind this about an old lady and a tiger. I was dying to go. Through a series of not-so-detailed texts, L and I mapped out our journey. We would meet in Gwanju and take a bus to Jindo. Saturday morning I take off for Gwanju by express bus. It was a 6 hour trip. I slept a little and read a little.

Once arriving at Gwanju I get a text from L. She left Pohang and traveled 5 hours North. She was somewhere around Seoul. Oops. We tried to come up with a plan to meet in Suwon, but we ended up both going home. Bright side: The two books I read were amazing. Both very different, but relatable in their own

ways. “I’ll Give You The Sun” even beats out my absolute favorite, “Looking For Alaska”. Even though the characters are very young, what they go through reaches everyone: stupid decisions, loss, and gain. I read the whole book in 12 hours.

 

-K.

I’ve got Seoul, but I’m not a soldier

Monday morning I climbed into a black mini van with a man who speaks virtually no English. Mr. Kim grabbed my bag, opened the van door for me and waited until I was seated and buckled to get in himself. He has a warm smile and brow lines that show his genuine concern for those around him. He was the first face that greeted me in Incheon airport as someone who was more than a stranger. Just a small aging man, holding a sign with a name he could not read, but knew who I was the moment he saw me (I was the only passenger that wasn’t Asian). It was an hour and a half drive to Gangnam in Seoul and it was completely silent.

Many times, I would catch him glance my way and I could tell he wanted to talk, but couldn’t find the language in his head. He pointed at some buildings and- I assume- told me what they were. I would just look and nod, not totally sure what I was nodding to, but appreciating the interaction. Communication is tough; it’s not something I am good with in person and definitely not in any form of confrontation. However, communication of all kinds is essential for me now.

Alley in Gangnam

My training in Seoul was intense. I learned a lot, probably came out a better person in some sense, but it was by no means fun. I had been told it would be intense, but my co-workers also talked about the many sites they were able to see while in Seoul. My experience was different. It was more studying than I had done since college, the most exhausted I had felt in a long time, and it was the first time since Korea had even become a thought, that I sincerely considered other options.

Training was 5 brutal days, with our final exam Friday morning. Thursday, when everyone in my training group decided that we were too fried to study anymore, we decided it was time to see a small piece of Gangnam. My roommate in the hotel room was Korean, and training to be a bi-lingual teacher. She lead us through a maze of tunnels and alleys until we reached the heart of the area. Most of the group had been in Korea for awhile, it was just myself and a girl from California that were new. So, naturally, we had to have authentic Korean BBQ and soju. I’m not sure what kind of alcohol to compare soju to. It’s rice based, but much like vodka, has the hairspray smell and after taste, but goes down much smoother. That’s the best I’ve got. 1 shot and 1 beer had me pretty relaxed, though. The food was amazing and the soju took off the edge.

Friday came and went. I passed my test and was taken back to Dongtan by an enthusiastic cab driver who sang smooth Korean jazz the whole drive back. I liked him, but I was tired. I slept like a log, only to wake up and head back to Seoul the next day. This was the Seoul I had been searching for.

J works for my school, but with the younger ones. She arrived in November, and before I left the states I did some intense investigating and found her on Facebook. We met Saturday morning and hopped onto a bus, our first stop was Namsan tower. Here we went through an “Alive Museum”. This was where the painting on the walls were distorted to look 3d and you could become part of the painting. The tower was beautiful, but it was a bit hazy. From the top of the tower, you can really see Seoul for what it is- a mesh of a buzzing advanced city mixed with an ancient culture and broken up by the mountains.

Namsan tower in Seoul

Coming down from the tower was not easy. We had taken a bus up, but decided to walk down the other side. As in, we chose to walk down a mountain and oh can I feel it today. We made our way down and wove through the crowds who were beginning to become more dense. Stopping every so often to make sure everyone that had joined our outing was in sight, we made our way to a small building just outside of the crowded alleys and markets. Here, in a small hole in the wall, we took a Korean class. Now, J knows a lot more than I do so she sat in a different class. I learned the alphabet and the words for bus card, banana, milk, me, you, and go. I have three more classes, and then they say I should be able to read basic Hangul. I will keep you posted.

-K.

Suwon & So On

My trip to Suwon last Sunday was my first time outside of Dongtan since arriving. In Ohio terms, I would compare Dongtan to Columbus, while Seoul would compare to New York City. I have already fallen in love with aspects of this little city, but was excited to venture elsewhere. This meant getting a taxi on my own; something I haven’t even done in the states. Luckily, my driver was kind and once I said Suwon Station, he nodded his head and off we went.

To get out of Dongtan, you have to spiral out of the semi-circle shaped city. In the last leg of Dongtan highway, the taxi scoops down into a tunnel, cutting through one of the surrounding mountains. Creeping into the daylight at the end of the tunnel, you are reminded that Dongtan is a very new city. The other side of the mountain is a skyline of cranes and dirt piles. Skeletons of buildings waiting to come to life splotch the dirt and fresh concrete. If I remember correctly, the city was started around 2010 to house families who have ties to the Samsung factory here and many parts of the city are not completed. In fact the Wikipedia page, which was updated in April of 2015, describes Dongtan as still in planning phase.

Hwaseong Fortress North Wall

It was a 15 minute drive to Suwon and it cost me 12,000 won(a little less than $12)- much different that the states. Once I was in the station I was able to immediately meet up with my friends, S & E, and the exploration began.

 

Up in the mountains over looking the main stretch of Suwon is the Hwaseong fortress. From the station the three of us set off in the direction of the fortress. We walked along crowded narrow streets, bright with food and clothing signs attempting to draw in the people. It was a nice walk, and it was comforting to catch up with someone who I knew from home. The walk was short, and before I knew it we began to see evidence of the fortress. It was all uphill from there, literally.

 
What does a fortress do? Protect it’s people. Where are fortresses most protective? On a mountain, of course. I knew that. I knew there would be some uphill trekking. At points, however, I wouldn’t call it walking uphill- more of an incline so steep that when I stood up I was staring at concrete roads in front of my face.

Statue of King Jeongjo. Hwaseong Fortress, Suwon

Right outside the gates to the inside wall is a bell. Ring the gong three times, each bellowing ring bringing hope and prosperity to your friends, dreams, and most importantly, your family. This was the common thread throughout the fortress which was built in the 1700’s. Many of the small informational signs talked about the many ways the King would honor his mother: living quarters, massive feasts, etc.

Bell near the North Wall

The wall has towers that over look the most scenic parts of Suwon to become a mesh of ancient fortress swallowed by the steel company buildings and towering glass windows. Keep in mind, though, that much of this fortress is far from ancient. When Japan invaded Korea ages ago, almost all of Korea’s physical history was wiped out. While I am pretty sure some of the outer stone walls remained, reconstruction of the living and worshiping structures were completed in the 1970’s.

After exploring the North Wall, the King’s monument, and the main part of the fortress, we went to see Buddha. This was probably my favorite sight. Peeking through the evergreen pine trees is a glimmer of vibrant gold jetting out of the side of the mountain. Within the fortress, it was hard to see, but when we came out to a courtyard full of children on bikes eating rabbit-shaped cotton candy ( which I also indulged in), the statue was hard to miss. We all immediately wanted to see this statue, but boy was it work to get there. At this point, we had come down the other side of the mountain, and now had to go back up.

Golden Buddha in Hwaseong Fortress

At the foot of the statue was a table full of candles and small post it’s with hopes, well-wishes, and Hangul scribbled and stuck to an acrylic window. The area smelled of incense and pine, which hung in the quiet air. There was a staircase that lead down to some structure beneath the statue. We all agreed that it was most likely a holy place and that it wasn’t a tourists’ place to be. We took our pictures and quietly scaled down the other side of the mountain to end our day.

 

-K.