Monday, October 23, 2006
DMZ Tour
This Saturday, Sam and I joined some friends (Trent and Emily, who worked with Young Life when I was in the main office...they're teaching in a town that's northeast of Osan) for a tour of the DMZ, the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea. We wanted to go see the DMZ now, in case things were to heat up with the North. (Sidenote: To put many of your minds at ease, while we were in the DMZ, one person in our group asked our soldier-guide if the nuclear happenings up north have changed things at the DMZ. Nothing has changed, and the U.S. and South Korean soldiers are not at all fazed. They realize that this is yet another desperate attempt for Kim Jong-Il to try to gain the power he craves.)
Our bus started north at 11:00. After about an hour of driving, we arrived at our first stop: a military building outside of the DMZ. We were taken into a large room with a huge window that looked out over the DMZ, and North Korea. We were given a brief description of the various landmarks that we could see, and then were able to go outside to look through some binoculars and "take pictures". Funny thing is that we were only allowed to take pictures from behind a yellow line that was about 20 feet back from the viewing area wall...we weren't sure why, must have just been protocol! The views were a bit hazy, but it was neat to have our first view of the North.
Second stop was "Tunnel 3". After the war, North Korea started to dig numerous tunnels that were supposed to take them underneath the border and into the South. Fortunately, 4 of these tunnels have been found. We put on our hard hats, and headed underground. The South built 3 barrier walls in this tunnel, once they discovered it, and then opened it to the public. The tunnel walls were black, and we learned that the North Koreans had painted the walls with coal on their retreat out of the tunnel. They then tried to convince the south that they were simply mining, even though there isn't ANY coal in that region. When that explanation was turned down, the North Koreans changed their story and accussed the South of digging the tunnel (which was proven false because the direction of drilling for the dynamite holes went from North to South). Interesting fact: if the tunnels had been completed, the North would have been able to transport 10,000 troops into the South in one hour.
Our third area to visit was the Dorasan Railway station. This station was built by the South in hopes of unifying the Northern and Southern railways. The dream is to one day be able to take a train from Dorasan to Pyeongyang (the capital of North Korea). The North was originally on-board for the railway project;however, now that the South has completed the track, Kim Jong-Il refuses to allow a test of the railway to take place. Dorasan was a ghost-station. It was uncanny to see the ticket booths, waiting room, screening area, and arrival/departure board...ready, but empty.
This is a picture of the MDL (military demarcation line). Every 100 yards, a yellow sign on a white post is placed (like the one on the far right), along the entire length of the DMZ border. The shorter white posts are placed every 50 feet in the JSA (see the second blog post below for more explanation)
Here is a shot of "Propaganda Village", a village on the northern side of the DMZ. It was given this name because NOBODY lives here...but, the North is trying to give an appearance of prosperity. The tall structure is a massive flag pole...built to ensure that the North's flag pole stood taller then the South's.
Here are Emily and I in our hard hats...having just emerged from Tunnel 3. The tunnel was pretty short and wet...we had to walk stooped over. It was interesting to see the dynamite holes, and the black "coal" on the walls.
Here's Sam all ready to head through the doors for a trip to Pyeongyang (North Korea's capital)...maybe someday!
Here is the line that we had to take pictures behind at our first stop on the tour. You can notice that it's pretty far back, and impossible to get a good shot. The guy to the right of Sam is doing what we all did. I actually got up on Sam's shoulders to try to get a better shot, but a Korean soldier quickly came over and made me get down...oh well!
DMZ Tour...continued
Here's where the tour got exciting. Sam and I had no idea that we would actually be going INTO the DMZ when we signed up for this tour. We didn't know that civilian groups were even allowed in. But, that's where we headed next. We arrived at "Camp Bonifas", the military base on the outer, southern border of the DMZ. Our passports were checked, and then we were taken to a meeting hall, where we were "briefed" on the situation at the DMZ. We were given release forms to sign, and badges that we had to wear for the duration of the trip. Our military-guide was amazing. He was incredibly knowledgable, and the information he gave us was very eye-opening.
After the briefing, we headed out to the military buses, and were on our way. We knew we were actually entering the DMZ when we passed through a series of two large fences with barbed-wire twisted along the top. These fences run along the entire border of the DMZ. All along the fences, painted-white rocks were pushed between the links, and lined along the ground. We were told that these rocks are monitored frequently, and if anyone tries to mess with the fence, the rocks will be moved and the guards will know exactly where the line was breeched...a little primative, but sounds like it would be effective.
We weren't allowed to take pictures between our departure from Camp Bonifas and our arrival at the JSA. On our way, we saw the barracks of a special tactics response team who are able to be fully decked out in their equipment, in their vehichles, and anywhere in the JSA within 60 to 90 seconds...very fast! The JSA is the "Joint Security Area". It is in the dead-centre of the DMZ, and it is an area where the two sides meet to discuss the cease-fire agreement, relations and border issues. The ROK (South) soldiers have to remain on the Southern side, and the KPA (North) soldiers have to stay on the Northern side. In fact, there is a cement slab that runs the entire border length in the JSA. We were taken into the building where the armistice (cease-fire agreement) was signed at the end of the Korean War. Two Korean soldiers were standing guard. One of them was at the head of the table, and the other was by a door at the far-end of the building. We were told to stand around the table, and then our guide pointed to the side we were standing on, and told us that we were officially standing in North Korea. In the very middle of the table were three microphones (they were placed along the border line of the two countries), which recorded every word spoken in the building. Both North and South Korea had access to the audio feeds. We were told not to obstruct the ROK soldier's guard in any way. We were further instructed not to pass behind the guard who was by the far-side door. The door led to North Korea, and if we made a move to pass him, he would assume we were trying to enter the North, and would take us down.
After our time in the building, we headed back outside to a platform facing the North side of the border. We then had 7 ROK soldiers guarding us. While we were standing there, a KPA soldier came out of the building across from us, and stood post at the door. Our soldier-guide let us know that there was also another KPA soldier at the window watching us with binoculars, and then pointed at a guard tower beside their building, where another soldier was also watching us. Wenwere told not to try to speak with the North Korean soldiers, not to make any gestures, and not to try to non-verbally communicate with them. This was probably the most intense part of our tour. We could actually "feel" the tension in the air, making us very aware that these two countries are technically still at war. Sam said that at that moment he felt like he had a gun aimed at his chest (to give you an idea of what it was like to stand there).
Next we headed to a place in the JSA where we were surrounded by North Korea on 3 sides. We had an excellent view of "Propaganda Village". Both the Southern and Northern sides are allowed to have one village in the DMZ. On the south side, these villagers are only allowed to live in the village if they are born there, or have ancestors who lived there before the war. Women are allowed to marry into the village, but men are not. This is because members of the village are given complete tax exemption by the government, and the men in the village are also exempt from the 2 years of military service that is mandatory for other South Korean men. The village in the southern side is called "Freedom Village", and the residents actually make a good living from the rice paddies that surround it. The soldiers have tagged the village in the North, "Progaganda Village", because NOONE lives there, and loud-speakers used to spout out propaganda all throughout the night. People are never seen in the village, and the lights are on timers to go on and off at the same time every day. North Korea built this city to give an appearance of wealth and prosperity. They also placed an enormous flag pole in the middle of the village that holds a 600 lb. flag (supposedly they have to take it down when it rains, because the extra weight of the water causes the flag to rip!). It seems like everything they do is done with the intention of trying to appear bigger and better then the South.
Our last stop in the JSA was at the "Bridge of No Return". At the end of the Korean War, North and South Korean POW's were brought to the middle of this bridge. They were then given the option to go North or South, but were told that once they chose, they were never allowed to return to the other side. This story highlighted the fact that there are numerous families who have been divided by the border. Although South Korea has tried to open a famiy reunion centre, again, the North is unwilling to have their citizens exposed to anything outside of their borders.
This trip opened our eyes in so many ways. This was the first time that we have ever come face-to-face with communisim. We have also been reminded of the true plight of the North Korean people, and the suffering they go through because of shortages of food, and the dictatorship of such an extreme leader. Our USO tour-guide encouraged us to remember the North Koreans in our prayers, and we encourage you to do the same.
At this point, we were surrounded by North Korea on three sides.
The Bridge of No Return
In this picture, I am standing in North Korea. (notice that I am standing in front of this guard...definitely did NOT want him to take me down...his is a ROK soldier).
The blue building on the left is where the Armistice was signed. Notice that the guard is standing half concealed by the building (in case gun fire was to break out). It's hard to see in this small picture, but a KPA soldier is standing at the top of the stairs of the cream-coloured building (which is on the North side)
After the briefing, we headed out to the military buses, and were on our way. We knew we were actually entering the DMZ when we passed through a series of two large fences with barbed-wire twisted along the top. These fences run along the entire border of the DMZ. All along the fences, painted-white rocks were pushed between the links, and lined along the ground. We were told that these rocks are monitored frequently, and if anyone tries to mess with the fence, the rocks will be moved and the guards will know exactly where the line was breeched...a little primative, but sounds like it would be effective.
We weren't allowed to take pictures between our departure from Camp Bonifas and our arrival at the JSA. On our way, we saw the barracks of a special tactics response team who are able to be fully decked out in their equipment, in their vehichles, and anywhere in the JSA within 60 to 90 seconds...very fast! The JSA is the "Joint Security Area". It is in the dead-centre of the DMZ, and it is an area where the two sides meet to discuss the cease-fire agreement, relations and border issues. The ROK (South) soldiers have to remain on the Southern side, and the KPA (North) soldiers have to stay on the Northern side. In fact, there is a cement slab that runs the entire border length in the JSA. We were taken into the building where the armistice (cease-fire agreement) was signed at the end of the Korean War. Two Korean soldiers were standing guard. One of them was at the head of the table, and the other was by a door at the far-end of the building. We were told to stand around the table, and then our guide pointed to the side we were standing on, and told us that we were officially standing in North Korea. In the very middle of the table were three microphones (they were placed along the border line of the two countries), which recorded every word spoken in the building. Both North and South Korea had access to the audio feeds. We were told not to obstruct the ROK soldier's guard in any way. We were further instructed not to pass behind the guard who was by the far-side door. The door led to North Korea, and if we made a move to pass him, he would assume we were trying to enter the North, and would take us down.
After our time in the building, we headed back outside to a platform facing the North side of the border. We then had 7 ROK soldiers guarding us. While we were standing there, a KPA soldier came out of the building across from us, and stood post at the door. Our soldier-guide let us know that there was also another KPA soldier at the window watching us with binoculars, and then pointed at a guard tower beside their building, where another soldier was also watching us. Wenwere told not to try to speak with the North Korean soldiers, not to make any gestures, and not to try to non-verbally communicate with them. This was probably the most intense part of our tour. We could actually "feel" the tension in the air, making us very aware that these two countries are technically still at war. Sam said that at that moment he felt like he had a gun aimed at his chest (to give you an idea of what it was like to stand there).
Next we headed to a place in the JSA where we were surrounded by North Korea on 3 sides. We had an excellent view of "Propaganda Village". Both the Southern and Northern sides are allowed to have one village in the DMZ. On the south side, these villagers are only allowed to live in the village if they are born there, or have ancestors who lived there before the war. Women are allowed to marry into the village, but men are not. This is because members of the village are given complete tax exemption by the government, and the men in the village are also exempt from the 2 years of military service that is mandatory for other South Korean men. The village in the southern side is called "Freedom Village", and the residents actually make a good living from the rice paddies that surround it. The soldiers have tagged the village in the North, "Progaganda Village", because NOONE lives there, and loud-speakers used to spout out propaganda all throughout the night. People are never seen in the village, and the lights are on timers to go on and off at the same time every day. North Korea built this city to give an appearance of wealth and prosperity. They also placed an enormous flag pole in the middle of the village that holds a 600 lb. flag (supposedly they have to take it down when it rains, because the extra weight of the water causes the flag to rip!). It seems like everything they do is done with the intention of trying to appear bigger and better then the South.
Our last stop in the JSA was at the "Bridge of No Return". At the end of the Korean War, North and South Korean POW's were brought to the middle of this bridge. They were then given the option to go North or South, but were told that once they chose, they were never allowed to return to the other side. This story highlighted the fact that there are numerous families who have been divided by the border. Although South Korea has tried to open a famiy reunion centre, again, the North is unwilling to have their citizens exposed to anything outside of their borders.
This trip opened our eyes in so many ways. This was the first time that we have ever come face-to-face with communisim. We have also been reminded of the true plight of the North Korean people, and the suffering they go through because of shortages of food, and the dictatorship of such an extreme leader. Our USO tour-guide encouraged us to remember the North Koreans in our prayers, and we encourage you to do the same.
At this point, we were surrounded by North Korea on three sides.
Here is Sam with the concrete slab that separates the JSA into North and South areas. Sam's face is on the North side of the line.
The Bridge of No Return
In this picture, I am standing in North Korea. (notice that I am standing in front of this guard...definitely did NOT want him to take me down...his is a ROK soldier).
The blue building on the left is where the Armistice was signed. Notice that the guard is standing half concealed by the building (in case gun fire was to break out). It's hard to see in this small picture, but a KPA soldier is standing at the top of the stairs of the cream-coloured building (which is on the North side)Sunday, October 22, 2006
The Amazing Jimjibang
After our DMZ tour, Trent and Emily, and Sam and I headed to a Jimjibang in Seoul to spend the night. What are Jimjibangs, you ask? Well, they're my new favorite thing about Korea! To put it simply, a Jimjibang is a sauna hotel. Here's how it works...a weary traveler enters the Jimjibang, pays 10 bucks, receives a Jimjibang uniform, and free access to all of the Jimjibang amenities. They are thus able to leave the hustle and bustle behind, and enter a small utopia in the middle of the city.
Our Jimjibang had 5 floors, and a basement. The basement held the separate male and female bath and sauna rooms. We're talking every kind of bath imagineable: jade baths, charcoal baths, mugwort baths, massage baths, cold baths, steam baths, waterfall baths, yellow soil baths...you get the idea! I won't say much about this...but here's why the men and women are separate...everybody's naked...and everybody's fine with it. The North American traveler has no choice but to become "fine with it" too...kind of freaky, kind of freeing (enough said).
The first floor of the Jimjibang was the locker room floor. When we walked through the doors we were given a shoe locker and a normal locker for our bags and clothes. No one is allowed to leave the locker room unless they are: a) naked, and heading down to the sauna area, or b) wearing the given "uniform" and heading up to the other floors of the building. The second floor had a restaurant, a snack shop, a large screen tv, bookshelves with tons of books (unfortunately, no English copies available), and massage chairs. We had dinner in the restaurant on this floor, and I have to say that I really enjoyed their bibimbap and seaweed soup. Sam had the bulgogi (a meat dish), which came with rice and lettuce leafs to wrap it in.
On to floor 3 - known as the "entertainment floor". This floor had a workout room, another snack shop, another big TV, internet access rooms, and a PC room (video game room). Floor 4 had tons of cool relaxation rooms...a limestone room (where you could lie on limestone), a pebble room (where you could lie on warm pebbles, or bury yourself in them...I loved it!), an oxygen room (where you could lie down and breath in oxygen-rich air), and a mud-dugout room (where you could lie in a little cave-like tunnel and have a bright, red light shine on you). Notice that most of the rooms involved "lying down"...it was great! The fourth floor also had another big TV, another snackshop, more massage chairs, and some tables and chairs (which came in handy for some fantastic game playing). I have to say that the massage chairs weren't that great. I decided to try one, put my 1000 won in, and then had my back beaten by the chair for 2 minutes, before I'd had enough and had to jump out. Sam was gracious enough to finish off my remaining 8 minutes...and he actually liked it!
On to the fifth floor...the sleeping floor. This floor had a men's sleeping room, a women's sleeping room, and a snore room (which is kind of stupid...even if a person was aware that they were a snorer, why would they choose to go to a room where they knew they'd be kept awake by everyone else's snoring...hmmm). The men's and women's rooms had about 160 beds in each...sort of bunk bed style. The beds were really just mats, some were in little cubbies on the floor, and some were on higher, raised "bunks". They came equipped with a towel-like blanket, and a hard, square pillow. I opted to use another towel-blanket as my pillow, and then slept like a baby in my cubbie until morning. Sam had a harder time sleeping because he chose one of the raised platform bunks, and it was too short for him to completely stretch out. We live and learn! Although floor 5 is the "designated" sleeping floor, the Koreans pretty much sleep anywhere, on all of the floors...very funny to see!
We now know how to travel in Korea in style. Every city has one of these saunas...even Osan. Although I have to say I will NEVER visit the Osan sauna. One thing I don't want to hear while sitting in the baths is, "Teacher, teacher...hi!".
This is Sam in the oxygen room, breathing in the intense oxygen (direct from the source). 
Here are Sam and Trent, enjoying the delicious food in one of the restaurants.
Sam is demonstrating what most people do when they are at the Jimjibang...people were sprawled out on the floor EVERYWHERE...even in places that didn't seem comfortable to sleep.
This was my favourite room...the stone pebble room...a room full of little, warm pebbles that you could lie on, or bury yourself in. It was like one of those "ball rooms" that you play in as a kid...but better, cause noone's throwing the balls around.
Here we are in our Jimjibang "uniforms". This photo was taken outside the oxygen room.Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Reading Partners
Laura liked this story, so I thought I'd post it for her...One of the things we do a lot of in our classrooms is "copycat" reading. Basically, the whole class turns to a page in the textbook and reads it together with the teacher - the teacher says a few words, and then the students copy the teacher and say the same words. This is how the whole page gets read.
I've been trying to teach my kids how to actually look at the words on the page when they are "reading after me". Seems kinda obvious...there are the words, please look at them while you read...but most of the kids look half dazed, stare at the ceiling, or play with their pencils while we "read" the English words together.
The other day I was looking around the room and noticing how few students were looking at the book's pages, and how few students were even turned to the right page in their book. Here's the thing: if you don't look at the English word when you say it, you're not gonna know how to say it next time you see it. Makes sense, right? How do you explain that to a little ESL student?
I came up with the plan that we would all pretend there was a little person living in our finger who wanted to learn how to read. To make my point, I picked up my pen, and proceeded to draw a happy face on my finger. Then I demonstrated that if I held my finger over the words, my little friend could read them too. When I looked up from my demonstration, there were 13 little hands all raised in the air, with the pointer finger extended, waiting for me to draw a face for their new "friend" and reading partner. When everyone had freshly drawn finger-faces, we continued with the lesson.
You know what? Not only was it completely adorable to watch the kids skim their fingers over the English words so that the little smiley face could "read"...it actually worked! The kids are now looking at the words as the read them. This little victory made me feel like a million bucks!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Seoul Tower
Sam and I went to Seoul Tower today. Seoul Tower is, as the name suggests, a huge tower on Namsan Mountain, in the middle of Seoul. Our Korea book said that the best views of Seoul were from this tower, so we decided to check it out for ourselves.
Our journey began with a sandwich at the subway station. We were fortunate enough to stumble across an Isaac Toast (pronounced "Isaac Toast-ah" by the Koreans), and enjoyed our "VIP" sandwiches (eggs, baloney, cheese, cabbage, red sauce, and orange sauce on toast...surprisingly delicious!). Then, with food in our bellies, we set out to find the trail.
Unfortunately, we first of all stumbled across the wrong trail. It was heading up the mountain, so we thought it could be exactly what we were looking for. It was extremely wide and paved, and there were tons of people jogging on it. Hmmm. After about 5 minutes of walking upwards, our trail started heading downwards...which is exactly when we decided this couldn't be our path. 5 minute climb, no tower, path going downward = not the right path!
We headed back the way we had come and were able to set out on the RIGHT path shortly after that (confirmed by some foreigners who were coming down the path). This path was pretty much stairs the whole way to the top. The views we had from the top, however, were definitely worth the work-out! Seoul is gigantic...a huge city with mountains surrounding it. The city stretches back into every possible piece of land in the valley.
Some other highlights from the top: a nice viewing deck, a man entertaining the crowds with his guitar and microphone, the smell of popcorn, a surprise "run-in" with other former Trinity students (how do we run into people we recognize in a city this huge??), and a little old woman selling cotton candy that she made in a foot-pedal powered cotton-candy machine and twisted onto a wooden chopstick (it was delicious, and only cost a dollar).
When we were all viewed out, we decided to catch the mountain gondola back down...for the experience. It was beautiful to see the lights of Seoul shinning out into the night...very pretty! The book was right...best views of Seoul we've seen!
Here we are at the top of Namsan Mountain. Seoul is huge! It stretched on and on...what you see behind us is just a little piece.
This is the gondola that brought us safely down the mountain.
Here's Sam on the "wrong trail"...luckily we figured out it was the wrong trail pretty quickly.
Here I am, looking half dazed as I scan the Seoul skyline (this was half way up the mountain).
Sam, enjoying his Isaac Toast-ah on the subway.Friday, October 06, 2006
A Note to Aunt Jo...
We absolutely loved having you here! Your visit brightened our hearts :0) Thank you so much for coming, for bringing so many treats, and for adventuring with us.
We'll never forget:
- the bus driver who was able to make you sea-sick, even though we never left dry ground
- racing through the subway station, trying desperately to make our next train
- Patrick (need we say more?)
- learning new card games
- the Chestnut jelly treat(???) we all received as a "welcome" to Korea
- the little Korean girl in a hanbok asking if you like "hot todays"
- our inability to eat Isaac Toast
- sliding down the mountain on the "trail of death"
- getting you to eat all kinds of food, and your willingness to try a bite of everything
AND
- tears at the airport ("ya big baby")
We love you, and we miss you already.
Know that you're always welcome...if you ever want to come back, there's a comfy "yo" with your name on it.
Love,
Sam and Becky
Monday, October 02, 2006
Our Trip to Gyeongju
As many of you know, Aunt JoJo is here visiting. We wanted to show her a good time, so we decided to head down to Gyeongju (pronounced "Key-Ong-Jew"...for those of you who were wondering how to pronounce a 'g' when it's right next to a 'j') for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We packed a lot of sight-seeing into those three days...here's the story and some pictures...
Friday broke bright and early...at precisely 9:00 a.m, for those of us in apartment 1206. We knew that there was a bus from Osan to Gyeongju that left at 10:30, and one that left at 11:10...guess which one we caught? Sam and I aren't the best at morning starts, and fortunately for us, JoJo isn't much of a morning person either...so the 11:10 bus suited us just fine. The ride down was semi-uneventful, besides the fact that our bus driver had the annoying habit or jerking the bus back and forth as he sped up and then slowed down and then sped up again (I'm sure this was his thought process: "Gotta give it more gas. Oh, too much gas. Slowing down. Too slow - need more gas. Not that much gas...", and on and on it went).
When we arrived in Gyeongju, we were dismayed to realize that we had been dropped off at the "Inner-city Bus Terminal", when we in fact wanted the "Express Bus Terminal". Sam looked in our Korea book, and from the map we gathered that the two terminals were about 4 blocks apart, so we decided that we would pay for a taxi to take us to the right spot. We approached one driver, showed him the name of the terminal we wanted to get too, and were about to get into his cab when he pointed at the building right behind him, and then turned away. Much to our surprise, the "Express Terminal" was only about a 5 second walk from the "Inner-City" one. Cab ride definitely not needed. What did we learn from this? Never trust the maps in the Korea book!
Next on the agenda: find accomodation. We had only walked about 20 feet when we were approached by a man with a business card, asking us if we needed a place to stay. Then, another man with a patch over one eye, told us he was the owner of a backpacker's guest house (the first guy must have been his round-up guy...round up the tourists and bring them to me). Being a little sketched out at first, we weren't sure whether to follow him or not. That's when
he told us, "Why not come and see and then decide", which made perfect sense, so we followed him. The rooms were average looking, and "Mr. Park" (as we came to know him) gave us the deal of $25/night for all three of us (roughly $8 each isn't bad, eh!). We decided to stay, which was a great decision because Mr. Park used to be a tour guide, and the information he gave us on where to go, what to see, and how to get there was worth it's weight in gold! Within 30 minutes of our arrival, he had helped us plan out our tourist activities for the next three days.
Day One: First on our list was a trip to Gyeongju National Museum. On our way there, we passed a number of ancient royal tombs (the pyramids of Korea, if you will). They looked like perfectly symmetrical hills...but they were, in fact, the resting grounds of ancient dynasties. Here's how they did it: dig a hole, put down gravel, build a wooden room, put the deceased in the room, cover it with tons of rocks until it is shaped like a hill, cover the rocks with dirt and clay, and finally, plant grass on the dirt. On to the museum, where we were able to see tons of old statutes and pagodas, as well as the "Divine Bell" (Story of the bell: rumour has it that the sound of the bell can be heard for 3 kilometers when rung...I heard the bell, it sounded divine, but I can't tell you if the 3 kms is accurate, as we were standing approximately 50 feet away when it rang). Next up, we saw an ice-storage room that had been dug into a hill around 640 A.D. The sight used to have an entire palace with a fortress wall around it, but now all that's left is the one ice-storage room. By that time it was dark, but on our way back towards town (and dinner) we
stopped to view an old Observatory that had been built around 50 A.D. It was all lit up and was beautiful to see. As for dinner, we somehow ended up wandering around an area of town that had extremely limited restaurant options. We managed to find a place and had a pretty good meal before heading back to our guest house and crashing into bed.
JoJo in front of the ancient observatory.
Here's my artistic shot of the pagodas and the sunset.
Sam and I in front of one of the ancient statues of Buddha at the museum.
Friday broke bright and early...at precisely 9:00 a.m, for those of us in apartment 1206. We knew that there was a bus from Osan to Gyeongju that left at 10:30, and one that left at 11:10...guess which one we caught? Sam and I aren't the best at morning starts, and fortunately for us, JoJo isn't much of a morning person either...so the 11:10 bus suited us just fine. The ride down was semi-uneventful, besides the fact that our bus driver had the annoying habit or jerking the bus back and forth as he sped up and then slowed down and then sped up again (I'm sure this was his thought process: "Gotta give it more gas. Oh, too much gas. Slowing down. Too slow - need more gas. Not that much gas...", and on and on it went).
When we arrived in Gyeongju, we were dismayed to realize that we had been dropped off at the "Inner-city Bus Terminal", when we in fact wanted the "Express Bus Terminal". Sam looked in our Korea book, and from the map we gathered that the two terminals were about 4 blocks apart, so we decided that we would pay for a taxi to take us to the right spot. We approached one driver, showed him the name of the terminal we wanted to get too, and were about to get into his cab when he pointed at the building right behind him, and then turned away. Much to our surprise, the "Express Terminal" was only about a 5 second walk from the "Inner-City" one. Cab ride definitely not needed. What did we learn from this? Never trust the maps in the Korea book!
Next on the agenda: find accomodation. We had only walked about 20 feet when we were approached by a man with a business card, asking us if we needed a place to stay. Then, another man with a patch over one eye, told us he was the owner of a backpacker's guest house (the first guy must have been his round-up guy...round up the tourists and bring them to me). Being a little sketched out at first, we weren't sure whether to follow him or not. That's when
he told us, "Why not come and see and then decide", which made perfect sense, so we followed him. The rooms were average looking, and "Mr. Park" (as we came to know him) gave us the deal of $25/night for all three of us (roughly $8 each isn't bad, eh!). We decided to stay, which was a great decision because Mr. Park used to be a tour guide, and the information he gave us on where to go, what to see, and how to get there was worth it's weight in gold! Within 30 minutes of our arrival, he had helped us plan out our tourist activities for the next three days.
Day One: First on our list was a trip to Gyeongju National Museum. On our way there, we passed a number of ancient royal tombs (the pyramids of Korea, if you will). They looked like perfectly symmetrical hills...but they were, in fact, the resting grounds of ancient dynasties. Here's how they did it: dig a hole, put down gravel, build a wooden room, put the deceased in the room, cover it with tons of rocks until it is shaped like a hill, cover the rocks with dirt and clay, and finally, plant grass on the dirt. On to the museum, where we were able to see tons of old statutes and pagodas, as well as the "Divine Bell" (Story of the bell: rumour has it that the sound of the bell can be heard for 3 kilometers when rung...I heard the bell, it sounded divine, but I can't tell you if the 3 kms is accurate, as we were standing approximately 50 feet away when it rang). Next up, we saw an ice-storage room that had been dug into a hill around 640 A.D. The sight used to have an entire palace with a fortress wall around it, but now all that's left is the one ice-storage room. By that time it was dark, but on our way back towards town (and dinner) we
stopped to view an old Observatory that had been built around 50 A.D. It was all lit up and was beautiful to see. As for dinner, we somehow ended up wandering around an area of town that had extremely limited restaurant options. We managed to find a place and had a pretty good meal before heading back to our guest house and crashing into bed.
JoJo in front of the ancient observatory.
Here I am in front of the old ice-storage building...the room underground was huge!
Sam and JoJo in front of one of the pagodas at the museum.
Here's my artistic shot of the pagodas and the sunset.
Sam and I in front of one of the ancient statues of Buddha at the museum.Day Two - Hike Day
Our second day was "Hike Day". We had been told, by Mr. Park, that there were tons of ancient buddhist relics along a trail on Namsan Mountain, so we headed out to see what we could find. On our way, we stopped at "historic site #1", an old royal pleasure ground. The palace isn't there anymore, but we saw a cool water canal that the kings and nobles used to float their drinking cups in while they wrote poetry. Next stop on the way to the mountain, a temple, where we saw 3 buddhist statues, and spoke briefly with a monk who was trying to learn English (he gave us each a free postcard of the site...very nice!). Then...the mountain! JoJo now says that we were trying to kill her that day, but Sam and I had NO idea how intense the hike was going to be! We call it our "treasure hunt hike" because every half an hour, or so, we'd come across a cool relic. Some things we saw: a headless Buddha, rock carvings of Buddha, a statue of a cross-legged Buddha sitting on a lotus leaf, and an old hermitage (like a temple, but extremely removed from society). The trail was pretty intense...lots of steep parts and lots of rocks to climb over. We had been told that there was a large Buddha carving in rock at the top of the mountain, however, so we pressed on. The view from the top was well worth the climb (JoJo agrees!!), and the large statue at the top was cool to see.
After we made it to the top, the next challenge was getting down. We didn't want to go back down the same way we had come up, because frankly, that's boring. So we set out in search of an alternative path down. Well, we found one: I will herein refer to the trail down as "the death path". Let me first say that none of us had good hiking shoes on...we were all wearing sneaker-type shoes with no tread. The path down was incredibly steep! JoJo and I were slipping and sliding all over the place, grabbing on to trees for dear life (Sam did a bit better then us girls). There were even parts of the trail where a rope was provided and we had to repel down the rocks...very cool! We eventually made it down, and headed back to our guest house for a brief nap. That evening was taken up by a visit to more royal tombs (we were allowed to enter one, and saw the cross-section of how they made it), and a trip to a park to see part of a Korean opera...interesting costumes, but it got a little boring since we had no idea what was happening in the story. After the opera, we had a fabulous dinner of dalk galbi (spicy chicken stir-fry), and then went home to rest our weary bodies.
JoJo and I in front of the headless Buddha...one of our first finds on the trail.
Here's Sam with the cross-legged Buddha on a lotus leaf.
This Buddha image was carved right into the stone...not sure if you can make it out, but Sam's holding his hand the same way as the Buddha.
Here I am at the top of Namsan mountain. The large carved Buddha is behind me (look to the right of me, and up a little bit from my shoulder, and you can see the round head).
Here's JoJo repeling down one of the steepest parts of "the death path".Day Three - Bulguksa Temple
On our last day in Gyeongju, we headed to Bulguksa Temple, a famous temple in the area. The architecture was beautiful! We spent a good amount of time just wandering around and looking at all the different shrines. A lot of them had "No Photo" signs outside, but we managed to get a few by playing the "dumb foreigner who didn't see the sign" card. After our time at the temple, we caught a bus up the mountain to the "Buddhist Grotto", which we found out is a famous "World Historical Site". We walked down a long path to an area that had a temple-looking building that was built right up against the mountain side. When we walked in, we saw that part of the mountain had been dug out, and a huge stone Buddha was in the niche, with tons of statues carved into the walls around him. It was really cool to see, because it had been there since 751 A.D. It felt like we were standing in history. After that, we hiked back up to the bus, and rode back to town. We had a little time to kill before our bus ride back to Osan, so we walked around Gyeongju for a bit, bought some snacks, and then headed to the terminal. Our ride back was great...we had a different bus driver - one who knew how to maintain a steady speed. All in all, a great weekend!
Here I am outside of one of the main buildings at Bulguksa.
Here, Sam and JoJo are in front of the other big pagoda on the temple grounds.
Here's Sam in front of part of the main building.
Here I am outside of one of the main buildings at Bulguksa.
Sam and I in front of one of the two big pagodas on the temple grounds.
Here's JoJo in front of a cool drum that was sitting on the back of a big turtle.
Here, Sam and JoJo are in front of the other big pagoda on the temple grounds.
Here's Sam in front of part of the main building.
