“It’s the Year of the… Rat…”
10 Feb
Hello from Korealand. Home of the fusion of many different Eastern traditions and celebrations, including Chinese Lunar New Year! In Korea, your age is different. Yes, that’s right kids. If you are born in, say November 1982… by the Lunar New Year in February 1983… you are officially 2 YEARS OLD in this crazy world. So when you meet someone here and they say how old they are, you can almost always assume it’s at least a year or two less. Interesting tid-bit.
But, the best part of the LUNAR NEW YEAR (aside from it being more accurate and sensical than whatever calendar we westerners follow) is that I GET FIVE CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF WORK OFF! And you know what that means… ADVENTURE TIME!
Amy, Amy, and I set out on our last Korean Adventure. We did a clean sweep of the southern bit of Korea, and in four days of traveling… saw about 10 different bus terminals and at least 5 different towns.
We started by taking the “overnight” bus to Busan. This bus leaves at 11:30 pm and arrives in Busan at 5 am. We hardly slept, the crazy driver was taking sharp curves at what seemed like 150 km/h. (Jerk.) But alas, Busan was dirty and smelly. We headed out immediately to Jinju, home of a really sweet fortress and a plethora of knowledge about the Japanese invasion in the 1960s.
At this spot, in the 1600s, a well known female entertainer took her own life and the life of an invading Japanese general by embracing him and throwing he and herself off this rock.
“Stop punching me in the head!”
From Jinju we bus’d to Jirusan National Park. The park was in the off season, and we were probably the only people in the history of Jirusan to pay 30,000 won to sleep in a chilly room at the foot of a mountain on Lunar New Years Eve. What were we thinking? We made our own fun. We awoke early the following morning to hike to the frozen waterfall. A mere 2.4 km hike took us over an hour, yet was quite strenuous. Amy left her mark at the foot of a temple on the top of the mountain, and we were off to Daegu.
“There’s the sign, where’s the MINBAK?”
I had to make sure it wasn’t me that was so odiferous.
The entrance to Nirvana is guarded by four devas:
… and a little demon man.
Hiking Photos:
We only stayed here for an evening, in a sexy love motel. After hitting up a delicious chinese fusion restaurant, we experienced what I might explain as the most disturbing disgusting thing I’ve ever tried. DOCTOR FISH. Yes, fish that are ‘doctors.’ Pretty much here is the deal. You put your feet into a tank at a really dressy princess-like cafe. The fish eat the dead skin and bacteria from your feet. You feel pampered. (When I told Sara about this, she was gagged and yelled… you can imagine.) I didn’t feel pampered. I felt bad for these scum of the ocean fish who were starved and could only eat my disgusting smelly food funk after a lonnnng mornings hike! (Grossed out yet?) After I got used to the fishes I wasn’t scared any more. Carl called it a ‘symbiotic relationship’ which can only be a good thing.
The following morning we headed to Gyeongju, the old capital of South Korea. There is an immeasurable amount of history and mythology in this city. It is covered in burial mounds that date as far back as the Silla Dynasty (50 AD to around 950 AD). The museums were filled with artifacts found in that very city and lakes in the 1970s, as well as restored temples that were mostly destroyed by the Japanese in the 1590s. We saw big buddhas, big temples, big graves, big fields. I felt as though I were a part of something much bigger than myself or this silly teach in korea experience. I was a warrior. I was there defending the fortress walls. I helped forge the steel swords. I cleaned wounds and healed soldiers. I was put directly in the time, and really learned a lot about Korean history.
It was a great final exploration of Korea, and totally worthwhile.
MRumianowski
Finally I’ve caught up with your most recent activities. You look happy and adventurous. I loved the scenes you’ve captured: the nature, the history and especially the pussy willow branch. Love you, Momma
does this mean I get 5 days off too… in Feb??!!