...although my game is just gonna begin once I procure my DS FROM DUTY FREE. YEAH! I am up for it times ten thousand. Jealous? You're jealous.
This will probably be our last post. *Cries* Don't be too sad. Keep in mind that I will upload the last of our photos once I get back home, so if they mildly amused you in the last two months remember that I shall do that and that our blog and its colourful attachments shall be burnt into the web of tubes forever.
Sweet! You know what's also sweet? I have clicky nails on the keyboard. I know that you don't care, but I have broken my habit of biting them on this trip. This last month I have made incredible progress. Now, give me a little something that goes like this: click click clickity click.
I am going to start this hopefully-not-too-epic-post with a quick thingamajig of what we've gotten up to since last postie. Err, another palace! Whoop! Changdeokgung is a mysterious place. Only open to the public via guided tourists, it's a very old palace that was refurnished and re-done in the 1920's, which means it has a strange mix of Asian and European architectural features. To me, it's fascinating. The palace also has an incredible secret garden where, I am not joking, right in the middle inner-city Seoul there is a private forest with an incredible series of square lakes, pavillions over the water, and a garden library. I am so incredibly envious.
Also: being around that many white people, in the English tour, after such a long time was intimidating and weird. I am going to severely miss being able to talk in a language that people can barely understand. Either that or I will loudly say something extremely awkward back in Sydney. Also: one of the last princes of the line forsook (a word?) what would have been a comfortable normal life and instead came and lived in the palace in relative seclusion (apart from the frustration of being in the public eye) during the 1960s and 70s. How very Korean of him; I have learnt that self-restrainment and repression for family duties is a trait that is embedded into the Korean psyche. How very learned I am on the Eastern ways.
After that, we completed a walk we had been meaning to do for a while. It was around the back of the very first palace we visited and at the back of Insadon. The area was filled to the brim with tiny art galleries, some of which we explored with delight, others we stayed in only for a second to relive the frozeness of our beings. Sweet little shops, quirky and filled with rad stuff, we came upon one that was called Mia Monger. Yes, as in, say, Fish Monger. I should have taken a photo, but my brain became addled with how much cool stuff was in it. It was pretty much just stuff that I have lying around my room too, which felt strange because it was like they went into my room, recorded what was in it, and made a shop based on it. It was pretty much just a vintage shop, selling curios and collectables from all eras past and awesome. When we enquired to the reason of it's name, the girl behind the counter just shrugged and said that it was a girl's name, and that there was no real reason. How bizarre. Anyway, we walked on further, consuming delicious Korean foodstuffs, and stumbled upon an OWL MUSEUM. It was teh most rad! It was absolutely packed with all things owl from all over the world; it was dark, musty, and complete perfection. And in honour I have decided to start an obsession; collecting owls. Because, come on, owls are way too awesome to be denied. Also: I feel that in entering my twentieth year I need to prepare myself for the madness old age brings. I will be: the crazy owl-collecting lady. Brace yerselves. Rishi, keep your 978 cats away from my dusty shelves and their soon-to-be precious goods.
The next day, we hit Lotte World. With our faces. At high velocity. It was one of the coolest days we have spent in Korea, despite the fact that it's one of the least Korean places ever, and more just...America. Except for the hotteok stall. We spent the day, from 9:30am - 10:30pm, screaming, queuing, and eating absolute junk food, in every particular order on repeat. It was amazing. Despite Mintie's fear of absolutely everything that spins and shakes and sends you up in the air at high and unpredictable speeds, there were only a few rides for which I was alone. So it was with bouncing sugary happiness that I spent the day dragging him on fun, and wearing cat ears that I bought. They are so cool. We pretty much managed to go on every ride at least once, the queues not as bad as I was expecting and yet sometimes grateful for the rest that the more sizable one's allowed us. Also: the more popular rides have a system which allows you to take a ticket, go and explore or eat, and come back at the designated time. Very very wise idea, I don't know whether other theme parks have employed this system, but it's a really good one!!! Do it other theme parks!
The next day we spent packing our bags carefully, to take them the almost two-hour trip to the other end of Seoul, moving out of the couple's house we so gratefully had a room in, and over to Mintie's uncle's house close by to the airport for our departure on Monday evening. And then we hit an interesting and utterly huge museum. It's the national museum in Seoul, and the level of Korean pride that you get from that emanates from that place is, at times, over-whelming. I was dead-tired from carting our heavy luggage the few hours before, but despite that we still managed to make it through most of the artefacts and time periods with sustained interest.
And then skiing! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! With the kids that we looked after at the study room! It was so fun, we have spent the last three days speeding down slopes and, for others, learning how to ski for the first time. Having only been once myself, it was a refresher lesson for me with Mintie and his group the first day, and then the second and third days hooning down the mountain slopes that were covered in the beautiful snow. I didn't know whether I was ready or not to go straight out there, and 10 seconds into the 'test' my new ski instructor gave me on the second day some n00bian idiot slammed into me, causing me to completely fall down tangled and cursing. Shaken up, this new group went straight onto the medium-level 4km course, which was intimidating and...heart-beatingly scary. However soon after I cursed at the bastards who whizzed past me, I soon became one and consequently flew past struggling beginners and annoyingly unpredictable fools. It felt way too good. The third day was strange. I met up with Mintie, went down the easy course with him slowly and cautiously, monstered the medium-level course with the extra free-time given to me, and then went right up the extraordinarily high mountain on a gondola, playing Korean games in which you get violently hit and looking out at the silent skiers and peaceful surroundings far below us. I then proceeded to have an awesome snow fight at the top with the kids, follow some down a small slope they were sliding on, and subsequently did something terrible to my tail bone. Goddamn it. Completely Excruciating. That is all. In absolute agony, we got on the freakho bus and I sat in watery eyes for two hours until we got to some godforsaken city (which actually has a really cool history to it, but I shall not go into here) where the kids were taken to a free movie. And I was treated in the emergency room of a department store. I know, what? It was really weird, but the woman rubbed gel on my broken butt, and shone a goddamn infra-red light on it. It felt okay. Anyway, I cried twice more as we sat on the coach that bump and shook me and had uncomfortable seats for another six hours in the dead of the night travelling back to Imo's. It was a tragic hell, but I survived. And luckily I don't think it's broken. It might not even be fractured, but only the next couple days will tell. This morning it felt a lot better, so hopefully the betterness each morning will only be exponential. Cross fingers. Especially for the plane.
We're back in Seoul. Preparing ourselves, buying the last of our gifts. Hopefully we will just spend all of tomorrow in a bathhouse or something. I need some recooperation before we head back to where all of you reside. I need a holiday to recover from the beast that has been this one. It's not been docile, that's for sure. I was going to do some sort of re-cap on thoughts etc. about what's happened, what I have learnt, and how's it's changed so many thoughts and actions I now take. However, that's kind of cheesy. I still might post some "post-thoughts" (oh wait, get it?! ...post...yeah) on this blag when I get back and have room in my brain. Right now, though, that's just not possible. Memory is full.
I can't even remember what I ate for dinner tonight. Oh wait, yes I do. Delicious Samgyetang. Oh god, that was amazing. Oh shite! There's a Wiki on it! Wikipedia 사랑 (sarang).
<3
Saturday, 19 January 2008
BLARGHEDY BLOG
This one is coming to an end now folks. It's the end of an Era.
My body is kind of aching, but that's ok. We packed as much in to the last week as we could, so we can basically laze around and do diddly for the last few days. Today, I bought some stuff that I wanted, I finished up buying gifts for all you lovely boys and girls, and I had some of that awesome awesome delicious chicken broth/soup/whole chicken + ginseng + love & effort known as Samgyetang.
But if we whiz back to about a week ago, I had just gotten back from Pohang and I was ready for some Seoul flavoured fun! We finally got around to visiting Changdeokgung, a huge Korean palace which is maybe the most interesting because it doesn't follow alot of the rules of traditional Korean Feng Shui or Pungsoo, but was still extensively used as a main palace.
I've been on a real "Shit, I nearly forgot that I'm Korean" kick lately. This kind of stuff might sound boring and dry as hell for most people, but I've really enjoyed learning about all this history that I should probably know, and probably would have known if my parents weren't weirdos who went to NZ so I could learn to speak English fluently.
The palace is distinctive both because it's architecture was designed to meld with the natural surroundings around it, rather than imposing the more strict forms that are normally used for Palaces, and also because it was rebuilt later and has a weird european feel to some of the rooms. There's also a "secret" garden out the back, which is less a secret garden and more of a forest. It has a huge square lake with an awesome island in the middle, as well as gorgeous pavillions and a royal library with an area for intellectuals to study and debate at the top. If the palace was offered to me as a residence, I would take it. Because it rocks.
After that, we walked down past another palace to an area known as Samcheong-dong. A weirdly snooty area full of strange little shops with high prices and Art Galleries, as well as a few cafes that seemed interesting. We ate a huge, cheap, delicious Korean meal at a restaurant and weren't even really impressed. Korea is amazingly impressive at doing one type of cuisine: Korean. It's really really hard to get wow-ed after travelling the country for so long.
Then again, we were wowed moments later by the OWL ANTIQUE MUSEUM. So damned awesome. This crazy lady, who made us a hot chocolate and some tea incidentally, had been collecting owls and owl-esque paraphernalia since she was a little girl, and now she charges people to enter the Museum that's loosely organised to show the sheer density of Owls that she owns. Utterly crazy. There was stuff from all around the world there, and they were all awesome looking owls. Owls are fearsome, cute and grumpy creatures. I got a shirt.
After that, we bought gifts and such at Insadong and enjoyed just being there. Despite the fact that we've only been to some of these areas a few times, they've grown on me to the point that I feel sad to leave each one for the last time. Don't get me wrong, I would much rather live in Sydney, but I find Seoul to be a really rad city without having anything really rad in it. It's just so crazily active and alive. Sydney can feel a bit sleep-walking sometimes.
The next day was Lotte World, One of the three amusement parks in Korea and I think it's the oldest. It was closed for the last year because of some accidents and deaths that happened there, but we didn't die when we spent the entire day there so HOORAY for that. After my near-death experience being flung about on the claw, when I spotted a similar ride at Lotte World I couldn't bring myself to consider going on it. Luckily, because we got there so early, We had time to go on pretty much every ride but about 5, which was every ride I wanted to go on. Seriously, who wants to be dropped from a huge height? That seems like a DUMB THING TO WANT. Then again, maybe not.
I really freaking enjoyed the rollercoaster I went on, as well as the other rides in things that are carriages that aren't rollercoastery enough to count as such. I sat and was attacked by vaguely egyptian things, as well as things that Koreans must imagine are Sinbad-esque and I had a ball. Who knew? We ate terrible food and stayed there all day so we could watch the laser light show and have an awesome time for a whole day. We were so goddamn tired when we got home. Mia from all the fun she had, and me from all the fun and also all the fear. So much fear.
Despite being tired out of our little little brains, we needed to move all our luggage so we took about four hours doing that. We had to pack it all together, with all the increased baggage that comes with Aunts that give you unnecesary gifts meaning well and then get it all the way to the train station. Lucky that we didn't have to change lines to get to my uncles place where it's all being kept. It was enough of a bitch as it was.
I really wanted to go to the Korean National Museum I had heard so much about, and I was suprised to still be suprised at how unnecessarily big it was. It's just so... huge. and... there. Unbelievable. We zoomed through it, partly due to tiredness, partly due to boredom and partly due to time constraints. We were still wowed by a couple of pieces, some with intricate faultless gold and silver inlay. There was also a statue of buddha that made us stop and just look at it with wonder for a while. Gorgeous thing.
Then: The skiiing. Oh man. I am the most uncoordinated guy in the history of the earth, and I attempted to aim my sliding body down a mountain with out hurting anyone. We went with the study room kids that we love, and they shot down the mountain with ease. I am old, apparently. Also, completely uncoordinated. It probably didn't help that all the ski-instructors were hitting on Mia, but it was all in good fun. I think. I eventually figured out how to make an "A" and how to not die as I went down the slope and even managed to enjoy myself. Good times. The trip back from the Ski-field (Did I mention it was a six hour drive?) Was hellish. We got back to home at about 3 am, had one shot of Soju to celebrate and to sleep it was.
Now it wasn't hellish because we got back late. It was because Mia broke her ass. Seriously. Read her post. I'm sure she'll tell you all about it.
Still, it was sad today to leave the person that took us in wholeheartedly and was a mother to us for half the trip or more. She promised to come visit me in Australia, and I promised to head back to Korea some day. She's a complete saint and someone that I won't forget. I think that's a sign of a good trip. Meeting awesome people.
So this is the last blog post. I want to wrap things up neatly, but I have no idea how. We've done so much on this trip, and I feel like I've changed alot too. Korea seems to have that affect on me. I've learnt tonnes, seen a huge amount of people, done amazing things and done boring hard things. I've realised both how much I know about Korea and also how little I know. I've been treated well by some, and badly by others and I've talked politics, economics and culture with pretty much everyone I've come across with varying responses. I've thought about history, and I've thought about relationships, romantic or otherwise. I saw a way of life that is so familiar and yet so foreign, one that could have easily been my own.
And a whole bunch of other things. There's no way I can wrap this up. None at all. I'm going to have a million stories to tell you all, partly because so much has happened and partly because I'm a tireless windbag. It's going to be great to see you all. I look forward to sharing my Duty-free liquor and listening to all the fun amazing things that happened while I was gone.
love.
My body is kind of aching, but that's ok. We packed as much in to the last week as we could, so we can basically laze around and do diddly for the last few days. Today, I bought some stuff that I wanted, I finished up buying gifts for all you lovely boys and girls, and I had some of that awesome awesome delicious chicken broth/soup/whole chicken + ginseng + love & effort known as Samgyetang.
But if we whiz back to about a week ago, I had just gotten back from Pohang and I was ready for some Seoul flavoured fun! We finally got around to visiting Changdeokgung, a huge Korean palace which is maybe the most interesting because it doesn't follow alot of the rules of traditional Korean Feng Shui or Pungsoo, but was still extensively used as a main palace.
I've been on a real "Shit, I nearly forgot that I'm Korean" kick lately. This kind of stuff might sound boring and dry as hell for most people, but I've really enjoyed learning about all this history that I should probably know, and probably would have known if my parents weren't weirdos who went to NZ so I could learn to speak English fluently.
The palace is distinctive both because it's architecture was designed to meld with the natural surroundings around it, rather than imposing the more strict forms that are normally used for Palaces, and also because it was rebuilt later and has a weird european feel to some of the rooms. There's also a "secret" garden out the back, which is less a secret garden and more of a forest. It has a huge square lake with an awesome island in the middle, as well as gorgeous pavillions and a royal library with an area for intellectuals to study and debate at the top. If the palace was offered to me as a residence, I would take it. Because it rocks.
After that, we walked down past another palace to an area known as Samcheong-dong. A weirdly snooty area full of strange little shops with high prices and Art Galleries, as well as a few cafes that seemed interesting. We ate a huge, cheap, delicious Korean meal at a restaurant and weren't even really impressed. Korea is amazingly impressive at doing one type of cuisine: Korean. It's really really hard to get wow-ed after travelling the country for so long.
Then again, we were wowed moments later by the OWL ANTIQUE MUSEUM. So damned awesome. This crazy lady, who made us a hot chocolate and some tea incidentally, had been collecting owls and owl-esque paraphernalia since she was a little girl, and now she charges people to enter the Museum that's loosely organised to show the sheer density of Owls that she owns. Utterly crazy. There was stuff from all around the world there, and they were all awesome looking owls. Owls are fearsome, cute and grumpy creatures. I got a shirt.
After that, we bought gifts and such at Insadong and enjoyed just being there. Despite the fact that we've only been to some of these areas a few times, they've grown on me to the point that I feel sad to leave each one for the last time. Don't get me wrong, I would much rather live in Sydney, but I find Seoul to be a really rad city without having anything really rad in it. It's just so crazily active and alive. Sydney can feel a bit sleep-walking sometimes.
The next day was Lotte World, One of the three amusement parks in Korea and I think it's the oldest. It was closed for the last year because of some accidents and deaths that happened there, but we didn't die when we spent the entire day there so HOORAY for that. After my near-death experience being flung about on the claw, when I spotted a similar ride at Lotte World I couldn't bring myself to consider going on it. Luckily, because we got there so early, We had time to go on pretty much every ride but about 5, which was every ride I wanted to go on. Seriously, who wants to be dropped from a huge height? That seems like a DUMB THING TO WANT. Then again, maybe not.
I really freaking enjoyed the rollercoaster I went on, as well as the other rides in things that are carriages that aren't rollercoastery enough to count as such. I sat and was attacked by vaguely egyptian things, as well as things that Koreans must imagine are Sinbad-esque and I had a ball. Who knew? We ate terrible food and stayed there all day so we could watch the laser light show and have an awesome time for a whole day. We were so goddamn tired when we got home. Mia from all the fun she had, and me from all the fun and also all the fear. So much fear.
Despite being tired out of our little little brains, we needed to move all our luggage so we took about four hours doing that. We had to pack it all together, with all the increased baggage that comes with Aunts that give you unnecesary gifts meaning well and then get it all the way to the train station. Lucky that we didn't have to change lines to get to my uncles place where it's all being kept. It was enough of a bitch as it was.
I really wanted to go to the Korean National Museum I had heard so much about, and I was suprised to still be suprised at how unnecessarily big it was. It's just so... huge. and... there. Unbelievable. We zoomed through it, partly due to tiredness, partly due to boredom and partly due to time constraints. We were still wowed by a couple of pieces, some with intricate faultless gold and silver inlay. There was also a statue of buddha that made us stop and just look at it with wonder for a while. Gorgeous thing.
Then: The skiiing. Oh man. I am the most uncoordinated guy in the history of the earth, and I attempted to aim my sliding body down a mountain with out hurting anyone. We went with the study room kids that we love, and they shot down the mountain with ease. I am old, apparently. Also, completely uncoordinated. It probably didn't help that all the ski-instructors were hitting on Mia, but it was all in good fun. I think. I eventually figured out how to make an "A" and how to not die as I went down the slope and even managed to enjoy myself. Good times. The trip back from the Ski-field (Did I mention it was a six hour drive?) Was hellish. We got back to home at about 3 am, had one shot of Soju to celebrate and to sleep it was.
Now it wasn't hellish because we got back late. It was because Mia broke her ass. Seriously. Read her post. I'm sure she'll tell you all about it.
Still, it was sad today to leave the person that took us in wholeheartedly and was a mother to us for half the trip or more. She promised to come visit me in Australia, and I promised to head back to Korea some day. She's a complete saint and someone that I won't forget. I think that's a sign of a good trip. Meeting awesome people.
So this is the last blog post. I want to wrap things up neatly, but I have no idea how. We've done so much on this trip, and I feel like I've changed alot too. Korea seems to have that affect on me. I've learnt tonnes, seen a huge amount of people, done amazing things and done boring hard things. I've realised both how much I know about Korea and also how little I know. I've been treated well by some, and badly by others and I've talked politics, economics and culture with pretty much everyone I've come across with varying responses. I've thought about history, and I've thought about relationships, romantic or otherwise. I saw a way of life that is so familiar and yet so foreign, one that could have easily been my own.
And a whole bunch of other things. There's no way I can wrap this up. None at all. I'm going to have a million stories to tell you all, partly because so much has happened and partly because I'm a tireless windbag. It's going to be great to see you all. I look forward to sharing my Duty-free liquor and listening to all the fun amazing things that happened while I was gone.
love.
Saturday, 12 January 2008
I am: Robot 4 Life
Right now, I am watching Robot wars. It's a Korean show called Super Robot Grand Prix. You won't be able to understand the site, but I linked it anyway. It's that incredible. There are nimble robots who are pwning huge heavy ones, and absolute monsters easily knocking down crazy insect-footed others. The "ring" is 2.2 metres wide and long, robots have to be between 20cm and 120cm, and there are specified ratios your robot has to be. Robots are also named. There was one called "Robot 4 Life". I thought it was apt. Robots for the utmost win.
I don't really remember where I left off. I am getting pretty tired, by now! How exhausting travelling is!! Only 10 days, or something Ludacris like that ch'all til we get back to the beat ch'all. Luda. Luda.
We spent the last day with the kids at the study room making moulds of our fingers with some Plaster of Paris and...other ingredients. Water, maybe? Anyway, it was pretty cool, and the fingers were way creepy. And while we waited for the things to set we played hangman and another word game, which I found way too fun for my age. And then we went to Gyungju World with two cousins! WOO! THEME PARK! Although tiny, it was pretty cool. There were a trillion kids there when we first got there, but towards the end of the afternoon the insane queues of tiny people with hands had left. We dotted around going to various rides, getting wet and cold from a water splashy rapid blow-up doughnut riding ride, I scared the shit out of Mintie by taking him on a GIANT CLAW THAT SPUN AND SWUNG, and then dared to go on the most 'extreme' ride of them allllllllllll. Mintie wouldn't come with me, so the cool cousin we lived with for the week came with. It was awesome. As my feet hung, we corkscrewed and looped at super speed. It was way better than the claw. We went twice. I also went back on the claw with her, which was just as scary the second time. Also, fairy floss was consumed. It was epic.
The next day was the last one in Pohang, so we finally went back to the temple we loved, that one called...Bulguksa! Just as incredible and beautiful as the last, the heavy grey sky slowly weeping it's tears, creating a dramatically different mood to the last time we saw it at sunset. Although it's not entirely original (most of it re-built in 1600s due to destroyations by the Japanese (as are most of Korea's material artefacts) in the late 1500s), the stairs leading up to it's main building are over 1200 years old. They look it too. It's gorgeous.
We then drove up a mountain near by, which on a less wet day we probably would have taken the old route 3.4km by foot from the temple, and went to an amazing Buddhist grotto. Seokguram is incredible. We were dropped off at the parking lot, and just us two walked the rest of the way in the thick mist and, at times, often pouring rains. It was way muddy. The grotto came upon us quicker than expected, a tiny Korean-style building off the side of the mountain. As we entered, it opened out like a tiny cave, into a small room, and then a circular room through another arch. Buddha's 10 disciples are carved on the walls around him, four gods that protect buddha in the archway, two guards either side of the arch, and other deities closest to us. Although the inner area is cut-off by glass to protect the site, the inner sanctum is still clearly used by monks. It has such an amazing atmosphere, the huge stone Buddha within is supposed to have reached Nirvana, and it so evidently is. It's so serene, the whole body is in the most relaxed pose; Buddha is clearly at peace with himself and the world. If I were to partake in organised religion, I think I would most likely choose Buddhism out of the big four. The western religions are "do this, to be this", whereas the eastern religions are more "be this, in order to do this"; it's so much more holistic, I think. Very cool.
Anyway, that's about it. We're back in Seoul. Ready to hit stuff up like palaces, Lotte World, and shopping before we go skiing in a couple of days. Sweet ass. I'm so up for it! Also: it's snowing quite a bit lately! Whhhhhheeeeeeeee!
XD
I don't really remember where I left off. I am getting pretty tired, by now! How exhausting travelling is!! Only 10 days, or something Ludacris like that ch'all til we get back to the beat ch'all. Luda. Luda.
We spent the last day with the kids at the study room making moulds of our fingers with some Plaster of Paris and...other ingredients. Water, maybe? Anyway, it was pretty cool, and the fingers were way creepy. And while we waited for the things to set we played hangman and another word game, which I found way too fun for my age. And then we went to Gyungju World with two cousins! WOO! THEME PARK! Although tiny, it was pretty cool. There were a trillion kids there when we first got there, but towards the end of the afternoon the insane queues of tiny people with hands had left. We dotted around going to various rides, getting wet and cold from a water splashy rapid blow-up doughnut riding ride, I scared the shit out of Mintie by taking him on a GIANT CLAW THAT SPUN AND SWUNG, and then dared to go on the most 'extreme' ride of them allllllllllll. Mintie wouldn't come with me, so the cool cousin we lived with for the week came with. It was awesome. As my feet hung, we corkscrewed and looped at super speed. It was way better than the claw. We went twice. I also went back on the claw with her, which was just as scary the second time. Also, fairy floss was consumed. It was epic.
The next day was the last one in Pohang, so we finally went back to the temple we loved, that one called...Bulguksa! Just as incredible and beautiful as the last, the heavy grey sky slowly weeping it's tears, creating a dramatically different mood to the last time we saw it at sunset. Although it's not entirely original (most of it re-built in 1600s due to destroyations by the Japanese (as are most of Korea's material artefacts) in the late 1500s), the stairs leading up to it's main building are over 1200 years old. They look it too. It's gorgeous.
We then drove up a mountain near by, which on a less wet day we probably would have taken the old route 3.4km by foot from the temple, and went to an amazing Buddhist grotto. Seokguram is incredible. We were dropped off at the parking lot, and just us two walked the rest of the way in the thick mist and, at times, often pouring rains. It was way muddy. The grotto came upon us quicker than expected, a tiny Korean-style building off the side of the mountain. As we entered, it opened out like a tiny cave, into a small room, and then a circular room through another arch. Buddha's 10 disciples are carved on the walls around him, four gods that protect buddha in the archway, two guards either side of the arch, and other deities closest to us. Although the inner area is cut-off by glass to protect the site, the inner sanctum is still clearly used by monks. It has such an amazing atmosphere, the huge stone Buddha within is supposed to have reached Nirvana, and it so evidently is. It's so serene, the whole body is in the most relaxed pose; Buddha is clearly at peace with himself and the world. If I were to partake in organised religion, I think I would most likely choose Buddhism out of the big four. The western religions are "do this, to be this", whereas the eastern religions are more "be this, in order to do this"; it's so much more holistic, I think. Very cool.
Anyway, that's about it. We're back in Seoul. Ready to hit stuff up like palaces, Lotte World, and shopping before we go skiing in a couple of days. Sweet ass. I'm so up for it! Also: it's snowing quite a bit lately! Whhhhhheeeeeeeee!
XD
Perhaps, my post will be longer than Mia's for once...
It's a silly thing, but I actually learnt that you can see light coming through a piece of paper more easily if you block out the surrounding light. It was explained to the kids as being see-through glasses, a case of false advertising so heinous that it should be punished by death.
Afterward though, I was in the mood for being judgemental withot much knowledge of what I'm talking about, so I was glad to head to an art gallery. It was called the Sonje Art Centre, and it kind of sucked ass. What kind of Art Gallery is content to have the only exhibition it has on a design thing entirely centred on Snoopy? Sure Charlie Brown and the crew are pretty nifty, but Jesus Christ. If your an Art Gallery, show some Art. We did pick up a few more Paik Nam Junes on the seen list. I tried to explain them, despite knowing almost nothing about them, to my relatives, but my attitude soured a little when one said that she though modern art was a con. Then again, Jareds explanation of why Rothko = Affecting was terrible. I do like quicksand, but I still need more.
The next day, I made a creepy finger out of plaster. That quite pleased me, because I like to freak people out. This kind of backfired me in the sense that I was the one so scared at the end of the day that I could hardly sit still in a car without feeling woozy. I think it's pretty much clear that I'm afraid of heights. I'm also a neurotic dude in general. This makes a giant swinging spinning claw a terrible place to find this out. Seriously, I was thinking about labour economics in terms of the Writers strike in America in order to calm me down from the CONSTANT SPINNING AND SWINGING ABOVE THE GROUND, but this just made me repress my terror until I got off the ride. I made a reference to the song "To live and die in LA" and then I bit Mia. I was a little confused.
I was a little bit more confused as we made our way to an end of year performance by a bunch of preschoolers. It was a fucking extravaganza. 20 different constumes, skits, choreography and a bunch of other tacky nonsense made for a difficult to understand spectacle of ridiculous proportions. They danced, they grooved and they stood motionlessly, struck dumb by the fright of stage. They all did a splendid job, and although I felt sorry for the kids, we got to eat some Galbi and it was goddamn delicious.
Korea for me is a country that I have mixed emotions about staying in. On one hand, everything is utterly, utterly aimed at satisfying Korean people. This means that I have everything that I have grown up with and find comfortable around me, and not only that, I get to be part of the majority. The feeling of being the majority is so different to living as a minority that when I hit Korea it was strange how strongly I felt it. However, Korea kind of sucks. It's full of bigots, idiots and bastards. Now, this is normal, but it feels like that they're less criticised here than in Australia and that is not allowed. Also, I hate nationalism, and Korea is the fucking world capital.
Going to Bulguksa again was as soothing as I expected it to be. It was raining, which added to the scenery but not my comfort. It's just a gorgeous open place. The courtyards and kept, styled gardens give a sense of space and security at the same time. Now, I'm not a fan of buddhism but they knew how to build to give a sense of peace and as a contrast to the hustle, bustle and more hustle of Seoul, it's an immediate relief. We went up to see Seokguram as well, a cave with a buddha in it. It radiates something that hit me as soon as I see it. I hope it's not, you know, radiation. People get sickness from that.
That was my post. A big palace, an area full of nice little shops and more shopping is to come. Then skiing, then we return. With duty free Alcohol. WOO! ^__^
Afterward though, I was in the mood for being judgemental withot much knowledge of what I'm talking about, so I was glad to head to an art gallery. It was called the Sonje Art Centre, and it kind of sucked ass. What kind of Art Gallery is content to have the only exhibition it has on a design thing entirely centred on Snoopy? Sure Charlie Brown and the crew are pretty nifty, but Jesus Christ. If your an Art Gallery, show some Art. We did pick up a few more Paik Nam Junes on the seen list. I tried to explain them, despite knowing almost nothing about them, to my relatives, but my attitude soured a little when one said that she though modern art was a con. Then again, Jareds explanation of why Rothko = Affecting was terrible. I do like quicksand, but I still need more.
The next day, I made a creepy finger out of plaster. That quite pleased me, because I like to freak people out. This kind of backfired me in the sense that I was the one so scared at the end of the day that I could hardly sit still in a car without feeling woozy. I think it's pretty much clear that I'm afraid of heights. I'm also a neurotic dude in general. This makes a giant swinging spinning claw a terrible place to find this out. Seriously, I was thinking about labour economics in terms of the Writers strike in America in order to calm me down from the CONSTANT SPINNING AND SWINGING ABOVE THE GROUND, but this just made me repress my terror until I got off the ride. I made a reference to the song "To live and die in LA" and then I bit Mia. I was a little confused.
I was a little bit more confused as we made our way to an end of year performance by a bunch of preschoolers. It was a fucking extravaganza. 20 different constumes, skits, choreography and a bunch of other tacky nonsense made for a difficult to understand spectacle of ridiculous proportions. They danced, they grooved and they stood motionlessly, struck dumb by the fright of stage. They all did a splendid job, and although I felt sorry for the kids, we got to eat some Galbi and it was goddamn delicious.
Korea for me is a country that I have mixed emotions about staying in. On one hand, everything is utterly, utterly aimed at satisfying Korean people. This means that I have everything that I have grown up with and find comfortable around me, and not only that, I get to be part of the majority. The feeling of being the majority is so different to living as a minority that when I hit Korea it was strange how strongly I felt it. However, Korea kind of sucks. It's full of bigots, idiots and bastards. Now, this is normal, but it feels like that they're less criticised here than in Australia and that is not allowed. Also, I hate nationalism, and Korea is the fucking world capital.
Going to Bulguksa again was as soothing as I expected it to be. It was raining, which added to the scenery but not my comfort. It's just a gorgeous open place. The courtyards and kept, styled gardens give a sense of space and security at the same time. Now, I'm not a fan of buddhism but they knew how to build to give a sense of peace and as a contrast to the hustle, bustle and more hustle of Seoul, it's an immediate relief. We went up to see Seokguram as well, a cave with a buddha in it. It radiates something that hit me as soon as I see it. I hope it's not, you know, radiation. People get sickness from that.
That was my post. A big palace, an area full of nice little shops and more shopping is to come. Then skiing, then we return. With duty free Alcohol. WOO! ^__^
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
He also made me realise that I am a Hedonist through and through.
And I quite agree (thnx Wikiz): "Modern day hedonists strive firstly, as their predecessors, for pleasure. But also, hedonists feel that people should be equal, and that the way to achieve that is through allowing much more personal freedom. Hedonists, in the words of an organization known as Hedonist International, "want joyful togetherness, anarchy, epicurean ideas, multifaceted joy, sensuality, diversion, friendship, justice, tolerance, freedom, sexual freedom, sustainability, peace, free access to information, the arts, a cosmopolitan existence, and a world without borders or discrimination, and everything else that is wonderful but not a reality today."(Hedonist Manifesto). This aligns almost perfectly with my views. See also: http://www.hedonist-international.org/?q=en/taxonomy/term/10
I am nearly finished 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. It's extraordinary. I have always had a major crush on Mr. Wilde. Now it is true love. If only he wasn't "into" men, and way too dead at the mo. I am glad that I have kissed his grave, though. Has anybody read this amazing, way-too-referency-to-art-and-literature-and-society-and-historical-figures-and-other-prominent-figures-that-would-have-only-been-known-to-the-Victorian-middle/upper-classes, sensual romp of a story? Truly a treat for my eyes and imagination. I think I may have finally found a book to clear away the terrible absence of reading that has plagued me for too long. I thank you, ever-so kindly, sir.
Anyway, this is a Korea blagity, so perhaps I should stick to topic. Err, well, at the moment I look like a smurf. I have a blue face mask on that one of the cousins made me wear. Not only that, she's a nail artist and did my nails last night, clear of course, after I protested against having the grotesque fake nails she so aptly applies. I have trimmed cuticles. I have never felt so girly in my lyfe. It's way strange. And yet, she looks like she could beat me up in a twitch. She spent a year in the Philippines having fun and partying with the locals. She went there to learn English. We spoke for an hour last night in the green tea bath, naked, and having stilted but absolutely not awkward conversation. She's way nice. But she learnt jack-all whilst 'studying' English.
So, in the last couple of days. What's a been a happening? Well, we're teaching kids again! Not exactly. It's more like we're doing pseudo-science - I'm not talking about homeopathy or astrology or anything like that, 'cause that would be just be annoying - with equipment like milk cartons, burnt sugar, and coloured glue. We failed to make bouncy balls. I was way disappointed. Especially after I chose an awesome lime green colour. We burnt the first batch of candy we were supposed to make. With the second lot of kids we made the candy taste real good. At least mine was. Also: mine was way artistic. Booyah! kids who made shithaus shapes. And then we were told that we should interact with the kids more, and that we weren't really there to do the experiments ourselves, but instead teach and help out all involved. Goddamn it. I like science, and doing it. Also, I'm competive. So with the weird black cylinder we made today, I decided not to make one. I'm okay with my merciless ways, if I don't participate at all. I just helped to cut out holes in the bottom of black-paper-covered milk cartons. It helped me see...things. I can't explain. It was kinda...silly.
Yesterday, we saw a temple. And then, climbed up and alongside a small-watered, but wide, river (apparantly it's huge and rapid-flowing in summer) for about 45 minutes until we got to a reasonable-sized but beautiful waterfall. The sound of water is soothing. The jagged rocks that line that waterway and the vast cliffs above are mesmerising. The temple was nice, if not one of the more ordered one's we've been too, though the newer buildings in the complex were...disconcerting. I like gravel. It makes for good sounds. Maybe in my old age I will be the ancient person who rakes the small rocks at temples. I would like that. A lot. Especially if I can play with radho technology afterwards in my little...gold-covered shrine.
We had sashimi the other day. My story doesn't end there. No, not only did I eat sashimi, but I saw what I ate, alive and literally kicking with it's fins. And then I witnessed the knife-wielding ajumma slice and dice it until it's skin, blood, bones, guts, and head were all neatly separated. Surprisingly, I felt refreshed after this experience. It felt clean, somewhat, to see what I was actually consuming. I could never do this with anything bigger than a chicken. It made me think about how I eat my produce, thinking vaguely that I could become a vegetarian, or someone who could eat meat only if I saw how they were manufactured from near their habitat to my plate. It sounds good in theory, but I find beef and pork way too delicious for this philosophy to become a reality. Goddamn my want of pleasure being of higher priority than that, say, of ethics.
Also while I was at this fish market: I saw cut-up whale. Apparently it's caught by 'mistake' sometimes, which 'can't be helped', but I am afraid that the temptation to catch it would be too great to believe that absolutely every one is a 'mistake', as termed. I also saw a huge fish (there are photos that will be uploaded soon, look for the one with the gloves for size comparison) that was on the back of a truck, which was apparently extremely rare to catch, and I presume extraordinarily expensive. It was heaps chunky.
Anyway, I'm sleepy. Lovely love! :)
I am nearly finished 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. It's extraordinary. I have always had a major crush on Mr. Wilde. Now it is true love. If only he wasn't "into" men, and way too dead at the mo. I am glad that I have kissed his grave, though. Has anybody read this amazing, way-too-referency-to-art-and-literature-and-society-and-historical-figures-and-other-prominent-figures-that-would-have-only-been-known-to-the-Victorian-middle/upper-classes, sensual romp of a story? Truly a treat for my eyes and imagination. I think I may have finally found a book to clear away the terrible absence of reading that has plagued me for too long. I thank you, ever-so kindly, sir.
Anyway, this is a Korea blagity, so perhaps I should stick to topic. Err, well, at the moment I look like a smurf. I have a blue face mask on that one of the cousins made me wear. Not only that, she's a nail artist and did my nails last night, clear of course, after I protested against having the grotesque fake nails she so aptly applies. I have trimmed cuticles. I have never felt so girly in my lyfe. It's way strange. And yet, she looks like she could beat me up in a twitch. She spent a year in the Philippines having fun and partying with the locals. She went there to learn English. We spoke for an hour last night in the green tea bath, naked, and having stilted but absolutely not awkward conversation. She's way nice. But she learnt jack-all whilst 'studying' English.
So, in the last couple of days. What's a been a happening? Well, we're teaching kids again! Not exactly. It's more like we're doing pseudo-science - I'm not talking about homeopathy or astrology or anything like that, 'cause that would be just be annoying - with equipment like milk cartons, burnt sugar, and coloured glue. We failed to make bouncy balls. I was way disappointed. Especially after I chose an awesome lime green colour. We burnt the first batch of candy we were supposed to make. With the second lot of kids we made the candy taste real good. At least mine was. Also: mine was way artistic. Booyah! kids who made shithaus shapes. And then we were told that we should interact with the kids more, and that we weren't really there to do the experiments ourselves, but instead teach and help out all involved. Goddamn it. I like science, and doing it. Also, I'm competive. So with the weird black cylinder we made today, I decided not to make one. I'm okay with my merciless ways, if I don't participate at all. I just helped to cut out holes in the bottom of black-paper-covered milk cartons. It helped me see...things. I can't explain. It was kinda...silly.
Yesterday, we saw a temple. And then, climbed up and alongside a small-watered, but wide, river (apparantly it's huge and rapid-flowing in summer) for about 45 minutes until we got to a reasonable-sized but beautiful waterfall. The sound of water is soothing. The jagged rocks that line that waterway and the vast cliffs above are mesmerising. The temple was nice, if not one of the more ordered one's we've been too, though the newer buildings in the complex were...disconcerting. I like gravel. It makes for good sounds. Maybe in my old age I will be the ancient person who rakes the small rocks at temples. I would like that. A lot. Especially if I can play with radho technology afterwards in my little...gold-covered shrine.
We had sashimi the other day. My story doesn't end there. No, not only did I eat sashimi, but I saw what I ate, alive and literally kicking with it's fins. And then I witnessed the knife-wielding ajumma slice and dice it until it's skin, blood, bones, guts, and head were all neatly separated. Surprisingly, I felt refreshed after this experience. It felt clean, somewhat, to see what I was actually consuming. I could never do this with anything bigger than a chicken. It made me think about how I eat my produce, thinking vaguely that I could become a vegetarian, or someone who could eat meat only if I saw how they were manufactured from near their habitat to my plate. It sounds good in theory, but I find beef and pork way too delicious for this philosophy to become a reality. Goddamn my want of pleasure being of higher priority than that, say, of ethics.
Also while I was at this fish market: I saw cut-up whale. Apparently it's caught by 'mistake' sometimes, which 'can't be helped', but I am afraid that the temptation to catch it would be too great to believe that absolutely every one is a 'mistake', as termed. I also saw a huge fish (there are photos that will be uploaded soon, look for the one with the gloves for size comparison) that was on the back of a truck, which was apparently extremely rare to catch, and I presume extraordinarily expensive. It was heaps chunky.
Anyway, I'm sleepy. Lovely love! :)
Nobody will be expecting a post this soon. It's like a ninja post.
WAHHHHHHHHHH
Nothing has really happened, but we have time to blog so we will!
We're in Pohang, which is a city that has a wiki entry that you'll never read. It has half a million people, and is so much more urban than Sydney that it isn't funny. Still the 25 storey high apartments, the endless groceries and general hustle and bustle. I'm not sure that Korea realises how to organise people in a way that is horizontal rather than vertical. The economist in me is sure that there's a rational explanation for all of this, but for now I'm still searching. Why can I get delicious cheap food here, like Seoul? Should I blame Aliens? (Or illegal immigrants?)
Yesterday, I saw a movie called Once. In an amazing co-incidence, I've only seen the movie Once, once. Isn't that strange? It's about an Eastern European cutie and an Irish lad getting together and yearning alot. They sing pseudo-indie singer songwriter stuff while yearning, and they don't have sex. The End. It's the kind of movie I enjoy though, so I'm sorry that I've ruined the whole fucking thing for you. Because it's probably worth watching. Once.
Also: We're teaching kids again! Only, this time we're conducting cool/lame experiments and it only takes 2 hours! Yesterday, we tried to make a bouncy ball but instead succeeded in making sticky colourful crap! Huzzah! Today, we tried to make lollies and instead made burnt melted sugar! Double Success! The kids here are better behaved but less interested. I found out that some of them want to be soccer players. It's kind of dull.
Today, we hit up this temple. It was pretty, like all the other temples, but now that we've seen the King of the Temple world, in Korea at least, it was hard to get excited. We went around the back of it down a rocky trail for about half an hour and it lead us to a giant waterfall. It could have been bigger, but it was still a sight to see. I could have sat there for hours, but the people we were with wanted to skedaddle so we did. The constant tripping is beginning to take it's toll so it was nice to do our zen thing and take a walk, see a temple and a waterfall then retire to a hot spring to relax for a few hours. My body feels so damned loose. I also feel weird because I've seen little boys naked and I'm not a paedophile. Weird times.
Anyone else following the primaries? Obama is handing out plates of ass. I hope the dude that I thought would make for awesome campaigning, given his AWESOME NAME, is actually a good politician. Sif not barrack for Barack. Obama will totally catch Osama. (Can you believe nobody knows where that dude is, or what happened still?)
Anyway, this is a big enough post for the little I've been doing. I saw fish get turned to Sashimi in front of me, I watched them bleed and gasp as they were sliced into edible fragments. I ate a live prawn, ripping it's head off as it twitched in my hands. Also, tons of crab. So damned delicious. I'm sorry for the vegetarians and other squeamish folk reading this, but imagine how freaked out Mia has been through this whole trip.
Time for me to go. Tschuss ^__^
Nothing has really happened, but we have time to blog so we will!
We're in Pohang, which is a city that has a wiki entry that you'll never read. It has half a million people, and is so much more urban than Sydney that it isn't funny. Still the 25 storey high apartments, the endless groceries and general hustle and bustle. I'm not sure that Korea realises how to organise people in a way that is horizontal rather than vertical. The economist in me is sure that there's a rational explanation for all of this, but for now I'm still searching. Why can I get delicious cheap food here, like Seoul? Should I blame Aliens? (Or illegal immigrants?)
Yesterday, I saw a movie called Once. In an amazing co-incidence, I've only seen the movie Once, once. Isn't that strange? It's about an Eastern European cutie and an Irish lad getting together and yearning alot. They sing pseudo-indie singer songwriter stuff while yearning, and they don't have sex. The End. It's the kind of movie I enjoy though, so I'm sorry that I've ruined the whole fucking thing for you. Because it's probably worth watching. Once.
Also: We're teaching kids again! Only, this time we're conducting cool/lame experiments and it only takes 2 hours! Yesterday, we tried to make a bouncy ball but instead succeeded in making sticky colourful crap! Huzzah! Today, we tried to make lollies and instead made burnt melted sugar! Double Success! The kids here are better behaved but less interested. I found out that some of them want to be soccer players. It's kind of dull.
Today, we hit up this temple. It was pretty, like all the other temples, but now that we've seen the King of the Temple world, in Korea at least, it was hard to get excited. We went around the back of it down a rocky trail for about half an hour and it lead us to a giant waterfall. It could have been bigger, but it was still a sight to see. I could have sat there for hours, but the people we were with wanted to skedaddle so we did. The constant tripping is beginning to take it's toll so it was nice to do our zen thing and take a walk, see a temple and a waterfall then retire to a hot spring to relax for a few hours. My body feels so damned loose. I also feel weird because I've seen little boys naked and I'm not a paedophile. Weird times.
Anyone else following the primaries? Obama is handing out plates of ass. I hope the dude that I thought would make for awesome campaigning, given his AWESOME NAME, is actually a good politician. Sif not barrack for Barack. Obama will totally catch Osama. (Can you believe nobody knows where that dude is, or what happened still?)
Anyway, this is a big enough post for the little I've been doing. I saw fish get turned to Sashimi in front of me, I watched them bleed and gasp as they were sliced into edible fragments. I ate a live prawn, ripping it's head off as it twitched in my hands. Also, tons of crab. So damned delicious. I'm sorry for the vegetarians and other squeamish folk reading this, but imagine how freaked out Mia has been through this whole trip.
Time for me to go. Tschuss ^__^
Friday, 4 January 2008
Happy of the New Year...Yerrr.
Woahhhh Nelly. We have not blogged for a while. Meeneoawwww. How intimidating to start writing about what we've done in the past who knows. But how absolutely thrilling for all our excited readers to enthrall themselves with our adventures once more....right? Neeeehhhhhhhh. ^____^ v
Welp, gee golly! Exciting and busy times! Okay, I'm going to start from the past couple of days. Just because okay right, and shut up it's Christmas. Sooooo...forthe last couple of days we've been in a completely different state of Corée du Sud. The first day in the city of Daegu we were whisked from the KTX (high-speed-I'm-travelling-at-300km/h-biatches-for-the-win-train) by yet another Komo (aunt) and cousin met. It then felt like a rather dazzling couple of hours after that, for as the afternoon sun set we sat in a hairdresser's having my hair "manicured" of all things, and Mintie's cut. Apparently it needed a little 'taming'. I didn't know whether the usual $150 treatment in Australia was because I was being pampered or was because I looked like some sort of electrocuted mammal to these Korean folk. I soon learnt, to my relief, that it was out of the niceness of the aunt forcing her hairdresser of a son to coat my hair in glue-like substance and then stick me under a rotating heater that spoke to me and played me Enya-esque musics. Apparently the treatment will last six months. I doubt that any of you will notice the difference. It went from blow-dried frighteningly straight to afro the next morning. It simply shines slightly. Oh also, everyone is bemused by the fact that my hair is naturally like this. They assume that I get perms all the time to look like this. I just laugh. Nervously.
More star-like treatment was felt that night as I was bought two-pairs of earrings by this unknown woman and Totoro (eeeeee!) thingies for our phones back home. Woo! When Mintie started complaining about where his showering of presents were, she bought socks. Lots of them. Hehe. >< href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludo_%28board_game%29">Ludo-esque pieces first home. We ate a lot (as it seems always these days) and it was fun. I imagine winning gloriously may have been part of that feeling.
The next day this pimp of an aunt (seriously, why is everyone in this family of pimp-esque character?! it's confusing, to say the least...) totally made a friend of hers drive us around for the whole day. First. We got to ride on a duck paddle-boat. It was Totally Rad. We were the only lunatics out on this freezing-cold lake yelling at the boat to quit taking us in the opposite direction whilst trying to creep up on real ducks sitting undisturbed on the shore. Or coast. Or bank...whatever. After being complete idiots in a mini-bamboo forest, we re-found the ajummas who were taking tea in a tacky-ass hotel, and drove on. It took us an hour to drive to probably the most gorgeous Buddhist temple I've ever seen. By now I think we've probably seen more Buddhist temples than most Buddhists. It's awesome. I totally love them. Almost on par with Gothic churches. But this temple was spectacular. Being the No. 1 Historic and Scenic Site, it's got to be pretty special. Unfortunately the look we had was rushed in at the end of the day, and although the temple's magnificant stairways and strikingly beautiful gilt-bronze Buddha statues were briefly appreciated, it was the sun setting on the incredibly stunning gardens and trees. I really hope to go back soon (hopefully in the next couple of days), especially to the reported grotto to be near-by. Oh man. I love grottos!
Enough of the now. Bleh, I'm sick of talking of it. Sorry, maybe it's just the uber-amounts of driving around and incessant eating of too much food that's getting me down. Let's go back to post-Christmas day!!
TIME WARP. PWWOOOSHHH.
26th. After last blag post. We saw the Gut! All I can say is: wow. It was pretty intense! The awesome old shaman woman who everyone loves and hopes to see when they go to one of these, was there, nevertheless also celebrating her 60th birthday! That was kind of strange, though, for at the start there came upon the stage, amongst the traditional Korean decorations and traditional paper etc., a man appearing to be from a game show or something. He was cheesy, and made us all sing Happy Birthday, of which he appeared to not even know the words to himself. And then something exploded and streamers draped themselves everywhere inconvenient at the front of the stage. It was the most un-Korean thing ever. Or maybe it was just so Korean I didn't even notice. And so thereafter were various old women in gorgeous traditional Hanbok (those awesome Korean dresses) of all colours, wielding knives and big-ass swords, slashing at invisible village spirits, and getting themselves into states whilst balancing atop very round pots and stabbing a gutted but quite intact pig with a huge pitchfork...yeeehhhh. That last one kind of freaked me out. I guess the message was: don't try this at home. It is unwieldy and scary.
After a lazy morning at Imo's (the one we love and adore), we travelled for about three hours to make it finally to our new home for the next week, and then some after our arrival back in Seoul following the next couple of days. They're extremely nice, if not unintentionally funny at times. Plus, they're amused that I put away tubs of ice-cream like a mofo. Plus, they can speak Engrish. It's a nice change to get people not to seemingly completely ignore me in their house. It's great, the luxury of somewhere to stay and left to our own devices without being obligated is fantastic. I forget how my freedom at home means so much. Bless.
We then slept. Heaps. And got blearily up to see an awesome museum. If I were to create a museum, it would be something in the vein of this one. Then again, I'm sure that if I was the Samsung CEO with an opportunity to not only do so, but also to name it after myself, it would look exactly like this one. Technology is rad. PDAs that automatically start telling you about an item upon approach make me squee. Probably one of the more decent collections in Seoul, we had the chance to see. I am now a Korean Celadon expert. And, more importantly, we are now the foremost Paik Nam June expert. We've seen his pieces almost everywhere we've been, including a random but extremely upper-class mall we stumbled upon (it was completely wtf!?), and he never fails to be completely inspiring and awesome. I heart Paik Nam June.
Next day was sleep, then basketball at three. A match!!! I need a team and a sport to follow in Sydney. I have discovered my talent at being a complete and utter fangrrl, and will soon take on this new-found passion. Anyone willing to suggest a sport and a team that will most likely win (winning more often than not is nicer, I find), feel free to let me know. 'Cause I will be there. So we cheered and shouted and chanted in tune with a smoking-hawt dude in a suit and white gloves in front of our stand. Oh. Man. Give me a moment to recover from his image. Okay, so we was great, really damn active at getting cheers started, and held the most anime poses I have ever seen in real life... Sorry. The match was great, though. The couple of African-Americans were clearly the best on the team sadly, but it made it great to translate the confusingly "Leddor Leddor" that was being chanted to 'Leather Leather' (a dude's name) written in English on a card held up by the hawt dude. Yells of "DEFENSE" came out Korean-stylez like 'T-Pain' so I just shouted that for the whole time. No worries, I sounded like everyone else there. NO-ONE WILL EVER KNOW. After that we went to Live Jazz! Alright!! The joint was Basement-esque, and in the student area of Daehagno which we like, so it was pretty smooth. The musix was not too shabby either! The first act was considerably better than the second, but we totally enjoyed ourselves, if not get over-charged for drinks while there. It was nice to chillax and listen to some live music, and admire the huge afro of a large Korean dude pumping Stevie Wonder tunes through his sax.
Grah, and then stuff. Sorry, writing is getting difficult. In amongst the next couple of days that came, we shopped for rad presents, failed to go to one of the best palaces in Seoul (we'll go again upon our return) due to someone else's lack of listening to someone else (me), saw a Van Gogh exhibition (which was eye-opening, and in which I have new-found respect for the dude), watched Dreamgirls and Ocean's Twelve at DVD rooms, and wandered Namdaemun Markets. The markets are great, even if it was SO GODDAMN COLD (-8 + WIND-CHILL FACTOR) that we had to drink Soju in a tent to keep warm.
And then came New Year's Eve!!! Woo! I can't remember what we did exactly during the day, but get a combination of any of the above things and I'm sure you'll get it roughly right. The night, however, was très awesome. Probably the best one in memory. It went approximately liek this: eat some delicious cook-ourselves meat and down two bottles of Soju at about 11.20 'til about 11.55. Walk about 30 metres up the road to behind the giant bell they ring 33 times. It was beautifully soft and deep, and the ancient metal seemed to shiver and threaten to crack. Yell, shout, and dance with randoms. Watch with glee at people letting off street-bought (for $1.30!) fire crackers. Whoop! Then head off down the street where a party of traditional drummers were stirring up the dancing crowd. It was so much fun. This was the one time when I have seen for myself Koreans actually letting go of their usual reserved selves during celebration (I think I've been too used to loud Wogs around me all my life), and dancing and singing for their lives. Awesome!!! ^__________^ And then we decided another bottle of Soju was fit to bring in the New Year before we were to take the last train home. Or not quite home, because the train cut out in two stops, and we were left to find an empty cab among the thousands full of other revelers. We finally convinced a dude who already had someone in the passengers seat to take us in. It was just TOO cold. Good times.
We then slept and lazed in front of ridiculous Korean TV + Star Wars for the next day following, happy but extraordinarily tired.
That is all.
I hope for our sake we get a chance to blag more often from now on. I'm sure we'll have much to say on the next week of teaching yet more children English, Lotte World (LOL AT EXCITEMENT OF MY FACE AT THIS), our skiing trip (whheeee!), and our frantic last days in Seoul. This trip = coming to a fast end it seems. But, it seems like we still have, like, four more holidays to fit in! What?!
Welp, gee golly! Exciting and busy times! Okay, I'm going to start from the past couple of days. Just because okay right, and shut up it's Christmas. Sooooo...forthe last couple of days we've been in a completely different state of Corée du Sud. The first day in the city of Daegu we were whisked from the KTX (high-speed-I'm-travelling-at-300km/h-biatches-for-the-win-train) by yet another Komo (aunt) and cousin met. It then felt like a rather dazzling couple of hours after that, for as the afternoon sun set we sat in a hairdresser's having my hair "manicured" of all things, and Mintie's cut. Apparently it needed a little 'taming'. I didn't know whether the usual $150 treatment in Australia was because I was being pampered or was because I looked like some sort of electrocuted mammal to these Korean folk. I soon learnt, to my relief, that it was out of the niceness of the aunt forcing her hairdresser of a son to coat my hair in glue-like substance and then stick me under a rotating heater that spoke to me and played me Enya-esque musics. Apparently the treatment will last six months. I doubt that any of you will notice the difference. It went from blow-dried frighteningly straight to afro the next morning. It simply shines slightly. Oh also, everyone is bemused by the fact that my hair is naturally like this. They assume that I get perms all the time to look like this. I just laugh. Nervously.
More star-like treatment was felt that night as I was bought two-pairs of earrings by this unknown woman and Totoro (eeeeee!) thingies for our phones back home. Woo! When Mintie started complaining about where his showering of presents were, she bought socks. Lots of them. Hehe. >< href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludo_%28board_game%29">Ludo-esque pieces first home. We ate a lot (as it seems always these days) and it was fun. I imagine winning gloriously may have been part of that feeling.
The next day this pimp of an aunt (seriously, why is everyone in this family of pimp-esque character?! it's confusing, to say the least...) totally made a friend of hers drive us around for the whole day. First. We got to ride on a duck paddle-boat. It was Totally Rad. We were the only lunatics out on this freezing-cold lake yelling at the boat to quit taking us in the opposite direction whilst trying to creep up on real ducks sitting undisturbed on the shore. Or coast. Or bank...whatever. After being complete idiots in a mini-bamboo forest, we re-found the ajummas who were taking tea in a tacky-ass hotel, and drove on. It took us an hour to drive to probably the most gorgeous Buddhist temple I've ever seen. By now I think we've probably seen more Buddhist temples than most Buddhists. It's awesome. I totally love them. Almost on par with Gothic churches. But this temple was spectacular. Being the No. 1 Historic and Scenic Site, it's got to be pretty special. Unfortunately the look we had was rushed in at the end of the day, and although the temple's magnificant stairways and strikingly beautiful gilt-bronze Buddha statues were briefly appreciated, it was the sun setting on the incredibly stunning gardens and trees. I really hope to go back soon (hopefully in the next couple of days), especially to the reported grotto to be near-by. Oh man. I love grottos!
Enough of the now. Bleh, I'm sick of talking of it. Sorry, maybe it's just the uber-amounts of driving around and incessant eating of too much food that's getting me down. Let's go back to post-Christmas day!!
TIME WARP. PWWOOOSHHH.
26th. After last blag post. We saw the Gut! All I can say is: wow. It was pretty intense! The awesome old shaman woman who everyone loves and hopes to see when they go to one of these, was there, nevertheless also celebrating her 60th birthday! That was kind of strange, though, for at the start there came upon the stage, amongst the traditional Korean decorations and traditional paper etc., a man appearing to be from a game show or something. He was cheesy, and made us all sing Happy Birthday, of which he appeared to not even know the words to himself. And then something exploded and streamers draped themselves everywhere inconvenient at the front of the stage. It was the most un-Korean thing ever. Or maybe it was just so Korean I didn't even notice. And so thereafter were various old women in gorgeous traditional Hanbok (those awesome Korean dresses) of all colours, wielding knives and big-ass swords, slashing at invisible village spirits, and getting themselves into states whilst balancing atop very round pots and stabbing a gutted but quite intact pig with a huge pitchfork...yeeehhhh. That last one kind of freaked me out. I guess the message was: don't try this at home. It is unwieldy and scary.
After a lazy morning at Imo's (the one we love and adore), we travelled for about three hours to make it finally to our new home for the next week, and then some after our arrival back in Seoul following the next couple of days. They're extremely nice, if not unintentionally funny at times. Plus, they're amused that I put away tubs of ice-cream like a mofo. Plus, they can speak Engrish. It's a nice change to get people not to seemingly completely ignore me in their house. It's great, the luxury of somewhere to stay and left to our own devices without being obligated is fantastic. I forget how my freedom at home means so much. Bless.
We then slept. Heaps. And got blearily up to see an awesome museum. If I were to create a museum, it would be something in the vein of this one. Then again, I'm sure that if I was the Samsung CEO with an opportunity to not only do so, but also to name it after myself, it would look exactly like this one. Technology is rad. PDAs that automatically start telling you about an item upon approach make me squee. Probably one of the more decent collections in Seoul, we had the chance to see. I am now a Korean Celadon expert. And, more importantly, we are now the foremost Paik Nam June expert. We've seen his pieces almost everywhere we've been, including a random but extremely upper-class mall we stumbled upon (it was completely wtf!?), and he never fails to be completely inspiring and awesome. I heart Paik Nam June.
Next day was sleep, then basketball at three. A match!!! I need a team and a sport to follow in Sydney. I have discovered my talent at being a complete and utter fangrrl, and will soon take on this new-found passion. Anyone willing to suggest a sport and a team that will most likely win (winning more often than not is nicer, I find), feel free to let me know. 'Cause I will be there. So we cheered and shouted and chanted in tune with a smoking-hawt dude in a suit and white gloves in front of our stand. Oh. Man. Give me a moment to recover from his image. Okay, so we was great, really damn active at getting cheers started, and held the most anime poses I have ever seen in real life... Sorry. The match was great, though. The couple of African-Americans were clearly the best on the team sadly, but it made it great to translate the confusingly "Leddor Leddor" that was being chanted to 'Leather Leather' (a dude's name) written in English on a card held up by the hawt dude. Yells of "DEFENSE" came out Korean-stylez like 'T-Pain' so I just shouted that for the whole time. No worries, I sounded like everyone else there. NO-ONE WILL EVER KNOW. After that we went to Live Jazz! Alright!! The joint was Basement-esque, and in the student area of Daehagno which we like, so it was pretty smooth. The musix was not too shabby either! The first act was considerably better than the second, but we totally enjoyed ourselves, if not get over-charged for drinks while there. It was nice to chillax and listen to some live music, and admire the huge afro of a large Korean dude pumping Stevie Wonder tunes through his sax.
Grah, and then stuff. Sorry, writing is getting difficult. In amongst the next couple of days that came, we shopped for rad presents, failed to go to one of the best palaces in Seoul (we'll go again upon our return) due to someone else's lack of listening to someone else (me), saw a Van Gogh exhibition (which was eye-opening, and in which I have new-found respect for the dude), watched Dreamgirls and Ocean's Twelve at DVD rooms, and wandered Namdaemun Markets. The markets are great, even if it was SO GODDAMN COLD (-8 + WIND-CHILL FACTOR) that we had to drink Soju in a tent to keep warm.
And then came New Year's Eve!!! Woo! I can't remember what we did exactly during the day, but get a combination of any of the above things and I'm sure you'll get it roughly right. The night, however, was très awesome. Probably the best one in memory. It went approximately liek this: eat some delicious cook-ourselves meat and down two bottles of Soju at about 11.20 'til about 11.55. Walk about 30 metres up the road to behind the giant bell they ring 33 times. It was beautifully soft and deep, and the ancient metal seemed to shiver and threaten to crack. Yell, shout, and dance with randoms. Watch with glee at people letting off street-bought (for $1.30!) fire crackers. Whoop! Then head off down the street where a party of traditional drummers were stirring up the dancing crowd. It was so much fun. This was the one time when I have seen for myself Koreans actually letting go of their usual reserved selves during celebration (I think I've been too used to loud Wogs around me all my life), and dancing and singing for their lives. Awesome!!! ^__________^ And then we decided another bottle of Soju was fit to bring in the New Year before we were to take the last train home. Or not quite home, because the train cut out in two stops, and we were left to find an empty cab among the thousands full of other revelers. We finally convinced a dude who already had someone in the passengers seat to take us in. It was just TOO cold. Good times.
We then slept and lazed in front of ridiculous Korean TV + Star Wars for the next day following, happy but extraordinarily tired.
That is all.
I hope for our sake we get a chance to blag more often from now on. I'm sure we'll have much to say on the next week of teaching yet more children English, Lotte World (LOL AT EXCITEMENT OF MY FACE AT THIS), our skiing trip (whheeee!), and our frantic last days in Seoul. This trip = coming to a fast end it seems. But, it seems like we still have, like, four more holidays to fit in! What?!
I'm not dead!
:o
Neither is Mia, if anyone was wondering.
It's been a really hectic time over here. Not only is it the crazily merry period between Christmas and that point where you realise that you need to let go that it's not holiday time anymore, we've been to-ing and fro-ing at a manic pace as I begin to realise that we don't have that much time left in Seoul. I know that I still have almost three weeks left in Korea, but when I subtract the time I'm spending here in Daegu, and then the week I'm spending in Pohang, and then subtract the skiing (!), then it leaves very little time to go shopping for all you lovely people reading this blog.
-_- It's probably nobody by now. (Shameless appeal for comments!)
So what have we been upto? PLENTY OF THINGS. After watching the performance of the Gut, which was at times mesmerising and at times sleep inducing, we left Gangwha for the cold cold coldness of Seoul. We stayed with, and are to continue staying with, a young couple that know my dad. They went to the same University as my dad, but about 20 years afterward. When they embarked on a two year long working holiday to Australia, picking fruit as they took time to see a country that wasn't Korea, they decided to find people who went to their university who had moved to Australia. Strange move I know, but not as strange in Korea. University links are very strong here.
So they met, had drinks, and realised that they were the only people in the meeting who had given up the Church, a strange coincidence considering that they went to a University specialising in Theology. So they became strange friends, considering the age gap, and now they've invited us to stay in a spare room that they have. Good times, considering that they're nice, young, funny and have given us a TV in our room so I can sit and watch freakin Star Wars in our off time.
Yoda = Awesome. Man I love that little green dude.
After watching The Golden Compass on the night we arrived (Maybe a 7/10? The books are classic, but the movie for me fell a little short), we went and visited Leeum the day after. The Museum is named that because the guy who funded it has the last name Lee, and he combined it with Museum. I shit you not. What a freak. I'm told his house sits behind these two awesomely majestic buildings.
It was the best designed gallery I've ever seen. Not only is everything looking shiny and flash, each piece lit perfectly for optimal viewing, but for a sum of 3 dollars or so you get a PDA with earphone that explains the piece you're looking at automatically. Huzzah for Samsung creating an Art Gallery! It's damned pimping. You get this bored sounding woman casually explaining how rare and awesome each piece of ancient korean Celadon is, while the explanation of the Modern art pieces ranged from helpful and informative to completely useless. Thanks for explaining that this piece is "beautiful" assholes. Did they teach you that in PDA Art Class?
Also, I saw a couple of paintings by Mark Rothko and I genuinely liked them alot. Jared, please explain why.
Really though, we saw far too much ancient korean pottery. Too much already! Even the old style paintings that I normally love was too much for me after a while. I must be a modern kid at heart. There was one painting of hills shrouded in mist that looked awesome, but became even more awesome when I was informed that he had painted it with his fingertips. Damien Hirst's "Dancing with Death" was better though.
The next day, we went to Jamsil gymnasium to cheer on my team, the Samsung Thunders! Ok, so I had no idea who was playing before we got there, it's true. But it didn't stop us from cheering on some guy named Leather as well as some other Korean basketball players who were genuinely "scoring deuces" and "making plays". It was superb. The cheerleaders were skanky but entertaining, the Mascots were genuinely hilarious and the dude in front of us who literally lead our cheerleading was energetic, anime-esque and I hate to admit it but pretty hot. He got us chanting DEFENCE when we didn't have the ball, chanting the teams name when we did, jeering at opposition free throws and consoling players who got whacked by the oppositions big black dude. We even won the game! The game itself was fun to watch, but the spectacle of the thing was much much more amusing.
The next day was finally New Years Eve! I completely forgot to make resolutions or anything of that sort. I think I need to listen to people more? Perhaps do better at Uni or something? I guess that's something I can ponder when I get back home, or even on my second holiday in Feb! Life is good. We had a really freakin great New Years Eve. We watched Oceans 13 (7/10) rocked a PC cafe for some internet goodness, and then out on to the main street of Seoul! They ring an old old old bell 33 times to bring in the New Year for reasons unknown to me, and then there are traditional Korean drums in the streets, fireworks being let off by people in the street that cost about a dollar, and huge amounts of Soju being drunk that contribute to the party atmosphere. It was probably very very cold. Luckily, I was very very drunk. We sat inside a tent on the street and shared a bottle of Soju, and then tried to get home with partial to high success. I mean, we did get there in the end, so that gets us some points right? I chatted with a fellow drunk dude who was getting home at the crossways, and I had to stop the cab at one point for some unexpected food recycling. Aint nobody can't don't say that I aint not caring for the environment. (I spewed! Thats like a seventuple negative! Take that Oxford!) (Dictionary folks!) Mia didn't partake in the environmental campaign because she is stone cold heartless. You could ask her yourself, but she's probably off somewhere murdering a couple of endangered bird species with one stone.
We spent a day at home, just resting from the night before, and then we headed to Daegu, Korea's fourth biggest city. It's an immediate change from the hyper-manic pace of Seoul but on the flipside it's kind of dull. There's still more shops downtown than in Sydney mind you, but that's because Korea is king of the massive and unnecessary. We went all the way out to an Area called Gyungju, which is home to the best temple in Korea known as Bulguksa. It was unbelievably beautiful, hard to believe it was built so long ago. Apparently it's much better in spring, but the starkness of winter has it's own charm I think. We walked around taking stupid photos, but I really hope to go back and have a more thorough look around. I have aunties who have turned out to be cousins who have promised to take me back. This time, I will wake up before 11. This, I anticipate, will help severely with the "sun setting". You'd think with all this technology, they would have invented a time machine or something.
Things that seem futuristic to Australians that Koreans already have.
Also: For some reason I've decided I'm serious about moving to Melbourne. Why not right? I mean it seems to just be better. What's not to like? Is it weird to think that when we finish our Uni degrees we could seriously coordinate ourselves and get the best sharehouse ever? Is this sounding plausible to anybody but me? (and Mia?)
I started writing this post 2 days ago, and I've already done things in between. Luckily, they were kind of boring. Still, we're a bit more stable for a week so I'll probably have time to blog a lot more. I hope everybody's post-NYE hangover wasn't too bad.
Also Also: There's a CUTE ASS PUPPY WHERE WE'RE STAYING. It's like a white ball of cute.
Neither is Mia, if anyone was wondering.
It's been a really hectic time over here. Not only is it the crazily merry period between Christmas and that point where you realise that you need to let go that it's not holiday time anymore, we've been to-ing and fro-ing at a manic pace as I begin to realise that we don't have that much time left in Seoul. I know that I still have almost three weeks left in Korea, but when I subtract the time I'm spending here in Daegu, and then the week I'm spending in Pohang, and then subtract the skiing (!), then it leaves very little time to go shopping for all you lovely people reading this blog.
-_- It's probably nobody by now. (Shameless appeal for comments!)
So what have we been upto? PLENTY OF THINGS. After watching the performance of the Gut, which was at times mesmerising and at times sleep inducing, we left Gangwha for the cold cold coldness of Seoul. We stayed with, and are to continue staying with, a young couple that know my dad. They went to the same University as my dad, but about 20 years afterward. When they embarked on a two year long working holiday to Australia, picking fruit as they took time to see a country that wasn't Korea, they decided to find people who went to their university who had moved to Australia. Strange move I know, but not as strange in Korea. University links are very strong here.
So they met, had drinks, and realised that they were the only people in the meeting who had given up the Church, a strange coincidence considering that they went to a University specialising in Theology. So they became strange friends, considering the age gap, and now they've invited us to stay in a spare room that they have. Good times, considering that they're nice, young, funny and have given us a TV in our room so I can sit and watch freakin Star Wars in our off time.
Yoda = Awesome. Man I love that little green dude.
After watching The Golden Compass on the night we arrived (Maybe a 7/10? The books are classic, but the movie for me fell a little short), we went and visited Leeum the day after. The Museum is named that because the guy who funded it has the last name Lee, and he combined it with Museum. I shit you not. What a freak. I'm told his house sits behind these two awesomely majestic buildings.
It was the best designed gallery I've ever seen. Not only is everything looking shiny and flash, each piece lit perfectly for optimal viewing, but for a sum of 3 dollars or so you get a PDA with earphone that explains the piece you're looking at automatically. Huzzah for Samsung creating an Art Gallery! It's damned pimping. You get this bored sounding woman casually explaining how rare and awesome each piece of ancient korean Celadon is, while the explanation of the Modern art pieces ranged from helpful and informative to completely useless. Thanks for explaining that this piece is "beautiful" assholes. Did they teach you that in PDA Art Class?
Also, I saw a couple of paintings by Mark Rothko and I genuinely liked them alot. Jared, please explain why.
Really though, we saw far too much ancient korean pottery. Too much already! Even the old style paintings that I normally love was too much for me after a while. I must be a modern kid at heart. There was one painting of hills shrouded in mist that looked awesome, but became even more awesome when I was informed that he had painted it with his fingertips. Damien Hirst's "Dancing with Death" was better though.
The next day, we went to Jamsil gymnasium to cheer on my team, the Samsung Thunders! Ok, so I had no idea who was playing before we got there, it's true. But it didn't stop us from cheering on some guy named Leather as well as some other Korean basketball players who were genuinely "scoring deuces" and "making plays". It was superb. The cheerleaders were skanky but entertaining, the Mascots were genuinely hilarious and the dude in front of us who literally lead our cheerleading was energetic, anime-esque and I hate to admit it but pretty hot. He got us chanting DEFENCE when we didn't have the ball, chanting the teams name when we did, jeering at opposition free throws and consoling players who got whacked by the oppositions big black dude. We even won the game! The game itself was fun to watch, but the spectacle of the thing was much much more amusing.
The next day was finally New Years Eve! I completely forgot to make resolutions or anything of that sort. I think I need to listen to people more? Perhaps do better at Uni or something? I guess that's something I can ponder when I get back home, or even on my second holiday in Feb! Life is good. We had a really freakin great New Years Eve. We watched Oceans 13 (7/10) rocked a PC cafe for some internet goodness, and then out on to the main street of Seoul! They ring an old old old bell 33 times to bring in the New Year for reasons unknown to me, and then there are traditional Korean drums in the streets, fireworks being let off by people in the street that cost about a dollar, and huge amounts of Soju being drunk that contribute to the party atmosphere. It was probably very very cold. Luckily, I was very very drunk. We sat inside a tent on the street and shared a bottle of Soju, and then tried to get home with partial to high success. I mean, we did get there in the end, so that gets us some points right? I chatted with a fellow drunk dude who was getting home at the crossways, and I had to stop the cab at one point for some unexpected food recycling. Aint nobody can't don't say that I aint not caring for the environment. (I spewed! Thats like a seventuple negative! Take that Oxford!) (Dictionary folks!) Mia didn't partake in the environmental campaign because she is stone cold heartless. You could ask her yourself, but she's probably off somewhere murdering a couple of endangered bird species with one stone.
We spent a day at home, just resting from the night before, and then we headed to Daegu, Korea's fourth biggest city. It's an immediate change from the hyper-manic pace of Seoul but on the flipside it's kind of dull. There's still more shops downtown than in Sydney mind you, but that's because Korea is king of the massive and unnecessary. We went all the way out to an Area called Gyungju, which is home to the best temple in Korea known as Bulguksa. It was unbelievably beautiful, hard to believe it was built so long ago. Apparently it's much better in spring, but the starkness of winter has it's own charm I think. We walked around taking stupid photos, but I really hope to go back and have a more thorough look around. I have aunties who have turned out to be cousins who have promised to take me back. This time, I will wake up before 11. This, I anticipate, will help severely with the "sun setting". You'd think with all this technology, they would have invented a time machine or something.
Things that seem futuristic to Australians that Koreans already have.
- Tons of TV channels on mobile phones to watch. Seriously, everybody seems to be watching TV on the subway.
- Thin glasses that you wear that serve as a screen for a portable movie player. So damned cool.
- Navigators on dashboards that can do anything from tell you what lanes can turn which way, where the speed cameras are, plot the fastest route to a destination on the fly and play DVDs.
We had this 8 dollar meal, and it was astoundingly good. Korea sets records for value for money meals. It had prawns and soft tofu made with rocks. Don't even deny. or try. to. deny.
We've done alot more than this. We went shopping, we failed at seeing things and I think there was an awesome Jazz club in there that I completely forgot to post about. That place was awesome though, I learnt that I liked fruity beers. Not gays. But beers with fruit flavours.Also: For some reason I've decided I'm serious about moving to Melbourne. Why not right? I mean it seems to just be better. What's not to like? Is it weird to think that when we finish our Uni degrees we could seriously coordinate ourselves and get the best sharehouse ever? Is this sounding plausible to anybody but me? (and Mia?)
I started writing this post 2 days ago, and I've already done things in between. Luckily, they were kind of boring. Still, we're a bit more stable for a week so I'll probably have time to blog a lot more. I hope everybody's post-NYE hangover wasn't too bad.
Also Also: There's a CUTE ASS PUPPY WHERE WE'RE STAYING. It's like a white ball of cute.
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Thanks Wikipedia for teaching me what Yuletide means...
Huzzah! Christmas! I become the most ridiculously sentimental person around this time of year. The slightest mention of it gets me squeeing and glomping anything that vaguely makes reference to the Yuletide ( ;D ) and its festivenosity. Luckily it was I who was Santa this year, so I wasn't squeeing or glomping any old, bearded, and tubby men.
Christmas Eve was unusual!! It started off with Imo making us an unusual breakfast consisting of what I can't remember. But it was set out on the plate with awesome amounts of decorative power. What a rad. Anyway, then we set off to the study room, on the way picking up things like breads and corn from what appeared to be a co-operative food store (awesome) and a Christmas cake. It's a very strange thing for me, but although Christmas isn't the biggest holiday here (pretty small actually), everyone seems to buy a cake for Christmas! What the hey?! It's like: Cake = Western food, Christmas = Western tradition, thus Christmas = Cake times. I am confused. Oh, also, I had an awesome cherry ice-cream from the store we bought the cake from. It was my replacement for eating the crazy amounts of summer cherries I usually consume around this time of year. Oh. Man. I really miss those now.
We then finally turned up to the study room, a little bit late and wishing that a little more snow had fallen in Gangwha for Christmas. Sigh. The rest of the day was spent making cards for each other (we all wrote a message and decorated each one), playing random games and messing around with the kids. I'm not going to really mention the Christmas 'lunch' we had. Let's just say I only ate a billion mini-Snickers because they were the only palatable in sight. And 'cause, shut up, it's Christmas. And then I was a dude in a beard I couldn't breathe through and mittens I couldn't pick anything up with. It was a challenge handing out the bags of scarves each of the kids received. And then the kids wondered why Santa was so skinny (doesn't he eat at all?) and a boy pulled at my beard. I got air, but hopefully I am never Santa again. Don't make me.
After saying a long and sad goodbye to the naughty kids who we almost came to love, we hopped on a bus to Seoul. We followed the Lonely Planet guidebook we have been using quite a bit, to a place in Insadon, the touristy place that I didn't like and then did. Anyway, we had a banquet. A banquet of bulgogi. It was quite impressive! And, most importantly, delicious. It was nice to sit back for a while on Christmas Eve at a relatively nice place and delight ourselves in some damn good food. My penchant to food blag was turned on. Also: the cinnamon alcoholic spirit (moju)that came with the meal was teh rad. I'm so loving the cheap alcohols here. Were you aware? Eastwood, you'd better deliver to me some dodgy store that sells Soju at a good price.
We then looked around a small four-level shopping place that wrapped around a courtyard, that was absolutely buzzing with people. Most of the stores were unique and cool, and we found some places which stock some gifts we'll definitely buy. Sweet. After wandering around the city a bit, taking in the crowds and some hotteok (apparently a special 'diet' one...that was different) along the way, we made it to Seoul Station at about 10:30, ready to take a 5 hour train to another state. After collecting our ticket, and being intimidated by the massive amounts of food people were bringing (seriously, there were grocery bags filled of it), we finally got on the train. With some water and gum. And then came the uncomfortable-my-seat-is-unpredictable-why-can-I-get-no-sleep-people-keep-eating journey to the seaside.
We arrived at the pitch-black beach at about 5:30am. People were abound, food stores were thriving (seriously, people, stop eating at every given moment), and even crappy souvenir stalls decided to open on that cold cold morn. Crazy bastards. We walked up and down on the beach, watching people let off mini-fireworks, people huddle around candles and cakes with lit sparklers, and then discovered that the sun wouldn't rise until 7:37 and that we couldn't last for that long in the cold. So dodgy Udon noodles were had, and we huddled in the tiny station room being squished by people going to and fro from the cold beach to the fooderies. At about 6:45 we scored a sweet spot on some rocks, awfully close to tiny waves that broke on the shore, and trying to conserve as much heat as possible. Also: the cliff in the distance had a giant, what looked to be a P&O liner, ship on it's top. I assume it was a pimpin'-ass restaurant. Or that sea-levels have dramatically decreased on that coastline in the past five years. And then the sun rose, after what seemed to be eternity. The sky got light in beautiful blues and crimsons, the horizon streaked in greys and oranges. Can't really describe it, but the beach is one of the best places to be in the morning.
We then took a short bus ride to a temple, which was a bit average and random, but cool nonetheless because we got to go into the main temple, which you can rarely do. And then to the snow!! WOOT!!! Although, it was more a fake snow field in amongst regular fields of sheep and other things. Like trees. But sledding is way fun! Especially if you're on a plastic doughnut that is over-blown-up and you have rules like "no-hands". Near death = fun. Also, hard-plastic regular sleds are cool too!!!! Because you're like "Whheeeeee, down hill, then wheee! up the mini-hill barricade at the end, and then arrgh! backwards down the mini-hill barricade".
That is all. It was tiring. It was sleepless. But we got back to Seoul that night with nowhere to stay and the last bus to Gangwha gone. So we bath-housed it up! Because you can stay in those places for about $7, soak for ages in different pools bubbling hot and full of green tea. And get pummeled by a spry and mega-strong Korean dude who uses both hands and a foot at times. And then you can sleep there. For $7. The 40-minute beating was extra, but it was a Christmas present to me.
And then this morning we woke up and went to another Banquet in Insadong! OMFG IT WAS THE BEST MEAL I'VE HAD IN KOREA. It was a freakin' Buddhist monk's banquet, that is why. It was vegetarian, it was roots picked off the sides of mountains, it was delicious. One of the best restaurants I have ever been too. Atmospheric and gorram great value. We got something like 20 panchan (side dishes), deonjung soup, some fried stuff, and some rad-ho rice. It almost converted me to Buddhism. Can you beat that? Didn't think so.
This was an awesome Christmas. It was the most untraditional I think I have ever had, but has made me see that breaking away from tradition can still be all types of fun and happy. Woo! Vive la good times!
Merry Yuletide all! Hope you are all well!! *Likes all with an intensity only festivities and likeness for all can bring*
PS Tried to upload photos, but this PC place is shit. The screens are only 19 inch and are CRT monitors. Whatever.
Christmas Eve was unusual!! It started off with Imo making us an unusual breakfast consisting of what I can't remember. But it was set out on the plate with awesome amounts of decorative power. What a rad. Anyway, then we set off to the study room, on the way picking up things like breads and corn from what appeared to be a co-operative food store (awesome) and a Christmas cake. It's a very strange thing for me, but although Christmas isn't the biggest holiday here (pretty small actually), everyone seems to buy a cake for Christmas! What the hey?! It's like: Cake = Western food, Christmas = Western tradition, thus Christmas = Cake times. I am confused. Oh, also, I had an awesome cherry ice-cream from the store we bought the cake from. It was my replacement for eating the crazy amounts of summer cherries I usually consume around this time of year. Oh. Man. I really miss those now.
We then finally turned up to the study room, a little bit late and wishing that a little more snow had fallen in Gangwha for Christmas. Sigh. The rest of the day was spent making cards for each other (we all wrote a message and decorated each one), playing random games and messing around with the kids. I'm not going to really mention the Christmas 'lunch' we had. Let's just say I only ate a billion mini-Snickers because they were the only palatable in sight. And 'cause, shut up, it's Christmas. And then I was a dude in a beard I couldn't breathe through and mittens I couldn't pick anything up with. It was a challenge handing out the bags of scarves each of the kids received. And then the kids wondered why Santa was so skinny (doesn't he eat at all?) and a boy pulled at my beard. I got air, but hopefully I am never Santa again. Don't make me.
After saying a long and sad goodbye to the naughty kids who we almost came to love, we hopped on a bus to Seoul. We followed the Lonely Planet guidebook we have been using quite a bit, to a place in Insadon, the touristy place that I didn't like and then did. Anyway, we had a banquet. A banquet of bulgogi. It was quite impressive! And, most importantly, delicious. It was nice to sit back for a while on Christmas Eve at a relatively nice place and delight ourselves in some damn good food. My penchant to food blag was turned on. Also: the cinnamon alcoholic spirit (moju)that came with the meal was teh rad. I'm so loving the cheap alcohols here. Were you aware? Eastwood, you'd better deliver to me some dodgy store that sells Soju at a good price.
We then looked around a small four-level shopping place that wrapped around a courtyard, that was absolutely buzzing with people. Most of the stores were unique and cool, and we found some places which stock some gifts we'll definitely buy. Sweet. After wandering around the city a bit, taking in the crowds and some hotteok (apparently a special 'diet' one...that was different) along the way, we made it to Seoul Station at about 10:30, ready to take a 5 hour train to another state. After collecting our ticket, and being intimidated by the massive amounts of food people were bringing (seriously, there were grocery bags filled of it), we finally got on the train. With some water and gum. And then came the uncomfortable-my-seat-is-unpredictable-why-can-I-get-no-sleep-people-keep-eating journey to the seaside.
We arrived at the pitch-black beach at about 5:30am. People were abound, food stores were thriving (seriously, people, stop eating at every given moment), and even crappy souvenir stalls decided to open on that cold cold morn. Crazy bastards. We walked up and down on the beach, watching people let off mini-fireworks, people huddle around candles and cakes with lit sparklers, and then discovered that the sun wouldn't rise until 7:37 and that we couldn't last for that long in the cold. So dodgy Udon noodles were had, and we huddled in the tiny station room being squished by people going to and fro from the cold beach to the fooderies. At about 6:45 we scored a sweet spot on some rocks, awfully close to tiny waves that broke on the shore, and trying to conserve as much heat as possible. Also: the cliff in the distance had a giant, what looked to be a P&O liner, ship on it's top. I assume it was a pimpin'-ass restaurant. Or that sea-levels have dramatically decreased on that coastline in the past five years. And then the sun rose, after what seemed to be eternity. The sky got light in beautiful blues and crimsons, the horizon streaked in greys and oranges. Can't really describe it, but the beach is one of the best places to be in the morning.
We then took a short bus ride to a temple, which was a bit average and random, but cool nonetheless because we got to go into the main temple, which you can rarely do. And then to the snow!! WOOT!!! Although, it was more a fake snow field in amongst regular fields of sheep and other things. Like trees. But sledding is way fun! Especially if you're on a plastic doughnut that is over-blown-up and you have rules like "no-hands". Near death = fun. Also, hard-plastic regular sleds are cool too!!!! Because you're like "Whheeeeee, down hill, then wheee! up the mini-hill barricade at the end, and then arrgh! backwards down the mini-hill barricade".
That is all. It was tiring. It was sleepless. But we got back to Seoul that night with nowhere to stay and the last bus to Gangwha gone. So we bath-housed it up! Because you can stay in those places for about $7, soak for ages in different pools bubbling hot and full of green tea. And get pummeled by a spry and mega-strong Korean dude who uses both hands and a foot at times. And then you can sleep there. For $7. The 40-minute beating was extra, but it was a Christmas present to me.
And then this morning we woke up and went to another Banquet in Insadong! OMFG IT WAS THE BEST MEAL I'VE HAD IN KOREA. It was a freakin' Buddhist monk's banquet, that is why. It was vegetarian, it was roots picked off the sides of mountains, it was delicious. One of the best restaurants I have ever been too. Atmospheric and gorram great value. We got something like 20 panchan (side dishes), deonjung soup, some fried stuff, and some rad-ho rice. It almost converted me to Buddhism. Can you beat that? Didn't think so.
This was an awesome Christmas. It was the most untraditional I think I have ever had, but has made me see that breaking away from tradition can still be all types of fun and happy. Woo! Vive la good times!
Merry Yuletide all! Hope you are all well!! *Likes all with an intensity only festivities and likeness for all can bring*
PS Tried to upload photos, but this PC place is shit. The screens are only 19 inch and are CRT monitors. Whatever.
Festive Cheer!
I've had the most haphazard christmas of my life. It totally worked out.
We headed back into Gangwha for Christmas Eve, in order to attend the Christmas party that the study room holds for the kids. These kids really do live in some terrible situations so I'm becoming increasingly touched at how much just buying them some truly awful chicken and pizza does for them. We played dumb games, like spinning 5 times, getting a lolly with our FACE and then eating an onion ring dangling from a string. The kids obviously love that shit. It was sad seeing them for the last time, but we have cards with their sentiments and a whole lot of memories I guess. One of the little girls (we took photos!) was so cute that I wanted to kill her, preserve her and stuff her so I could gaze up on her cute little visage ^__^
On arriving back to Seoul we went and had a banquet of delicious bulgogi proportions! We went to a nice restaurant called Gogung and indulged ourself in probably the best bulgogi I've ever had, awesome Bibimbap, and a bunch of other delicious side dishes! We were also served a traditional alcoholic drink called Moju which is made with Cinnamon. Totally delicious. The staff were all in traditional Hanbok and they gave us an awesome Maesil (asian plum! Thank you wiki!) tea to finish. I am so a fan of banquets.
After that, we took an overnight train to Gangwundo, the coldest part of Korea in order to do something a bit random for Christmas. The train was packed and uncomfortable, but it had a buzz to it that was welcome. I figured the lights in the carriage would be turned off to let people get some freakin sleep, but it never happened. I am not a fan of broken sleep.
I am a fan of beautiful sunrises. It's a nice way to celebrate anything really, you just stand and watch something beautiful just happen. There's something satisfying about it that I can't really quantify. You stand - Sun rises. It was cold as fuckery, and the waves were crashing close to us, but the beach just got prettier as it became light. People let off shitty fireworks and were generally happy. If you had told me that I'd be watching a sunrise on the eastside of Korea for christmas, I would have been very confused. I would probably have guessed I would have been playing PES on christmas day.
We went from there to a temple that sounded really awesome, but when we got there... wasn't. Maybe we've seen too many gorgeous temples, but this one wasn't as good as the rest of them. Modern buildings and weird banners are enough to give it a couple of black marks. It was special in that the temple let us in to the main prayer hall, something I normally have to view through a window. It's so striking being surrounded by candles infront of a huge golden buddha and other statues. The murals and paintings on the screens were gorgeous as well.
Temples are just rad.
The snow-park was random too. After being promised a bunch of different things to do, it only really had a slope that we could sled down. And sled we did! It was like
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
except colder. We lay in the snow at one point and had the most retarded snow fight in history. It was almost like we were both smacked in the face as children and it affected the development of our brains. Good way to spend christmas.
We got in Seoul too late to get back to where we were supposed to sleep, so we crashed at a 24 hour bathhouse. Although this may sound bad, it means I got to soak in a Tea bath and scrub myself uber clean, as well as watch Mia get bashed by a "masseuse". Seriously, dude was cracking her back and pulling at all her joints, making her hug herself and such. She assures me it felt good. I was not game to try getting beaten up. Maybe next time. They have sleeping facilities, but I had forgotten that DUDES SNORE. SHUT IT, OLD DUDE. I'M TRYING TO SLEEP, NOT IMAGINE WHAT FORESTS SOUND LIKE DURING LOGGING.
We woke up uber relaxed, and I ran on a treadmill for absolutely no reason. Then we made our way to Sanchon restaurant. I cannot describe how good this place was. We were served 20 different things. Each was special in its own right. They make authentic temple food. I believe them, because there was a monk eating behind us. I've had some of the things that I was served a million times, and this was like eating them for the first, awesomest time. Look at the photos of the delicious food. Rishi, Jared, Bob, this restaurant is entirely vegetarian. I would have loved to bring you here. I'm going to try and get rich so I can fly you all over.
Good times.
We're planning to see a shamanistic dance known as a "gut" (Pronounched Guhht) pretty much... right now. Anything can happen at these things, they're rare for even Koreans to be able to see and we're watching some of the best dancers. More when we get back. I'm personally hoping they get up on two parallel swords with bare feet and start dancing on them.
We headed back into Gangwha for Christmas Eve, in order to attend the Christmas party that the study room holds for the kids. These kids really do live in some terrible situations so I'm becoming increasingly touched at how much just buying them some truly awful chicken and pizza does for them. We played dumb games, like spinning 5 times, getting a lolly with our FACE and then eating an onion ring dangling from a string. The kids obviously love that shit. It was sad seeing them for the last time, but we have cards with their sentiments and a whole lot of memories I guess. One of the little girls (we took photos!) was so cute that I wanted to kill her, preserve her and stuff her so I could gaze up on her cute little visage ^__^
On arriving back to Seoul we went and had a banquet of delicious bulgogi proportions! We went to a nice restaurant called Gogung and indulged ourself in probably the best bulgogi I've ever had, awesome Bibimbap, and a bunch of other delicious side dishes! We were also served a traditional alcoholic drink called Moju which is made with Cinnamon. Totally delicious. The staff were all in traditional Hanbok and they gave us an awesome Maesil (asian plum! Thank you wiki!) tea to finish. I am so a fan of banquets.
After that, we took an overnight train to Gangwundo, the coldest part of Korea in order to do something a bit random for Christmas. The train was packed and uncomfortable, but it had a buzz to it that was welcome. I figured the lights in the carriage would be turned off to let people get some freakin sleep, but it never happened. I am not a fan of broken sleep.
I am a fan of beautiful sunrises. It's a nice way to celebrate anything really, you just stand and watch something beautiful just happen. There's something satisfying about it that I can't really quantify. You stand - Sun rises. It was cold as fuckery, and the waves were crashing close to us, but the beach just got prettier as it became light. People let off shitty fireworks and were generally happy. If you had told me that I'd be watching a sunrise on the eastside of Korea for christmas, I would have been very confused. I would probably have guessed I would have been playing PES on christmas day.
We went from there to a temple that sounded really awesome, but when we got there... wasn't. Maybe we've seen too many gorgeous temples, but this one wasn't as good as the rest of them. Modern buildings and weird banners are enough to give it a couple of black marks. It was special in that the temple let us in to the main prayer hall, something I normally have to view through a window. It's so striking being surrounded by candles infront of a huge golden buddha and other statues. The murals and paintings on the screens were gorgeous as well.
Temples are just rad.
The snow-park was random too. After being promised a bunch of different things to do, it only really had a slope that we could sled down. And sled we did! It was like
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
except colder. We lay in the snow at one point and had the most retarded snow fight in history. It was almost like we were both smacked in the face as children and it affected the development of our brains. Good way to spend christmas.
We got in Seoul too late to get back to where we were supposed to sleep, so we crashed at a 24 hour bathhouse. Although this may sound bad, it means I got to soak in a Tea bath and scrub myself uber clean, as well as watch Mia get bashed by a "masseuse". Seriously, dude was cracking her back and pulling at all her joints, making her hug herself and such. She assures me it felt good. I was not game to try getting beaten up. Maybe next time. They have sleeping facilities, but I had forgotten that DUDES SNORE. SHUT IT, OLD DUDE. I'M TRYING TO SLEEP, NOT IMAGINE WHAT FORESTS SOUND LIKE DURING LOGGING.
We woke up uber relaxed, and I ran on a treadmill for absolutely no reason. Then we made our way to Sanchon restaurant. I cannot describe how good this place was. We were served 20 different things. Each was special in its own right. They make authentic temple food. I believe them, because there was a monk eating behind us. I've had some of the things that I was served a million times, and this was like eating them for the first, awesomest time. Look at the photos of the delicious food. Rishi, Jared, Bob, this restaurant is entirely vegetarian. I would have loved to bring you here. I'm going to try and get rich so I can fly you all over.
Good times.
We're planning to see a shamanistic dance known as a "gut" (Pronounched Guhht) pretty much... right now. Anything can happen at these things, they're rare for even Koreans to be able to see and we're watching some of the best dancers. More when we get back. I'm personally hoping they get up on two parallel swords with bare feet and start dancing on them.
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Why is this beach is still not clean...strawberry!
I have volunteered for a few things. Probably less than I should. Giving blood, working in a museum, given my time at fete stalls for a Nursing Home ...actually, they're all a bit bourgeoisie now that I look back upon that fragment of a list. Dammit.
Anyway, I feel like I can say that I have done something a bit bigger now, something on a more internationally-minded scale. If you didn't hear about this, you are either unconscious or completely (unintentionally) ignorant of the news like I usually am. Yesterday was voting day for South Korea and voting day is a public holiday, where people generally do nothing. Seriously, only about 50% of the country voted, too. Those lazy bastards rival the Spanish and their own siesta-lazy-habits. So, we decided to not be lazy and head down to one of the many beaches covered in oil to help with the clean-up. I got up at 5 am. Don't even. We got on a bizarrely-decorated bus of happy Christians, ate some strangly fake from-a-packet hotteok (those sugar-filled things I love from the street stalls), and I drank some new bus-sickness medicine. This little bottle of stuff knocked me quite clearly out, which was a good thing, but the fact that it contains caffeine and nicotine freaks me out. Just a wittle, aiight?! I'm already addicted to coffee, so there's no problem there, I just don't want to come home a chain-smoking McSmokey stab...face. SOoOoOo, after I regained consciousness in the freezing air that was breezing off the bay, we trundled over to pile of things sealed in plastic wrapping. From fabric gloves, to plastic gloves, to ponchos, to a breathing mask which let me not breathe at all, and an attractively charming thick plastic jumpsuit-style overalls with attached-to-the-leg-via-electrical-tape gum boots. Or is that gumboots? Or gum-boots? Oh man, we were teh hawtest bitchez outta town (we were in the country).
And then we cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned. We scrubbed rocks 'til our fingers ached. I hunched over extremely disheartening puddles of thick, sticky oil, literally scooping up the gloppy mess onto the rags and random clothes donated for the cause, until the fabric was so sodden with filth, it was barely possible to tell whether you were mainly holding the rag or the oil. Keep in mind that we were there ten whole days after the actual oil spill, and of which this particular beach had been occupied by hard-working volunteers for all ten days. Sad, indeed. Especially to think that along the 30% of Western coastline affected, there are still countless beaches which have not yet been attacked. Grah, it makes me sick and angry. What an environmentalist I have become!! (NB: I will probably still drive my tank of a car back home. Sigh, such is the torn state of mind modernity brings upon those who clean oil spills and own tanks.)
We worked all day, and although no visible improvement could be beheld, it felt strangely satisfying. I can clearly see why people devote their lives to things like Greenpeace and other crazy bastard hippy organisations. And so we were touted as 'Heroes' on the ride back home and got hilariously drunk via the brilliant liquid that is Soju with the ajumma we always stay with (who is, if we haven't already mentioned a bajillion times, absolutely awesome great fun cool). We now call her 'Imo', which means 'Aunt', so basically we love her. Sarang Imo!
Gergh, how come I am running out of time!!! Sometimes I hate that I embellish my writing so. So, err, yes. Yesterday we walked around Dongdaemun markets, which is basically just a huge area full of different markets which specialise in different areas and such. I saw as many shoes as I will probably in one space at any one time, I ate Green Tea hotteok (which was rad) and Chrysanthemum bread filled with red bean, and we walked in on the most random out-of-the-back-of-a-car dodgy markets I have ever been to. Seriously, that place was filled with garden implements, jeans, old musical instruments, ancient TV sets (I'm talking 1950s or so), tapes (c'mon Korea, get out of the gorram 80s), knives, and, errrrr, 'adult toys'. Yeah, that was kind of creepy, because there were, like, five stalls in that tiny pavillion dedicated to those 'specialist products'. And they were creepily popular with old men. *Shiver*
Today we went to a student area! Best area yet! Woo!!! ^____^ I do heart student places so. We first went to a "park" (...it was a "park" as opposed to a park, because Korea is dodgy as hell and DOESN'T SUPPLY PARKS WITH GRASS. Seriously, Korea, don't try and cheat me like that again) that is famed for buskers, and we got an excellent comedy duo who sang hilarious songs (via furious translating by my very own automated Korean robot) on guitars and told people to piss off because they weren't clapping. Also, the dude started talking to me in English and as he was asking me where I was from, I completely didn't realise he was talking to me. I looked behind me instead. Good one. After that idiocy, I got a nice rendition of 'Unchained Melody', which is always a cool song to have sung to you. So we just wandered for the day, finding awesome shops (I bought Astro Boy earrings!), and a cool little cafe where everything was handmade (trinkets and food!) where we sat and drank tea and had a mini-selection of cheeses. So Western right now. Anyway, we ended up hanging around that area for ages, had dinner and a bottle of Soju, and then set off with plans for seeing the city lights and to ice-skate.
I DID NOT GET TO ICE-SKATE. >< >< >< NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Lame x 46.
Damn you population problem. Anyway, the city lights were absolutely stunning, particularly because they follow a little stream that runs through the city centre, and I got strawberries covered in red toffee on a stick. So awesomely delicious, you ain't never tried something as fine.
STRAWBEWWY WUV!!! ^____^ v
NB: I'm postin' some photos up roight now! 68 to be exactle!
Anyway, I feel like I can say that I have done something a bit bigger now, something on a more internationally-minded scale. If you didn't hear about this, you are either unconscious or completely (unintentionally) ignorant of the news like I usually am. Yesterday was voting day for South Korea and voting day is a public holiday, where people generally do nothing. Seriously, only about 50% of the country voted, too. Those lazy bastards rival the Spanish and their own siesta-lazy-habits. So, we decided to not be lazy and head down to one of the many beaches covered in oil to help with the clean-up. I got up at 5 am. Don't even. We got on a bizarrely-decorated bus of happy Christians, ate some strangly fake from-a-packet hotteok (those sugar-filled things I love from the street stalls), and I drank some new bus-sickness medicine. This little bottle of stuff knocked me quite clearly out, which was a good thing, but the fact that it contains caffeine and nicotine freaks me out. Just a wittle, aiight?! I'm already addicted to coffee, so there's no problem there, I just don't want to come home a chain-smoking McSmokey stab...face. SOoOoOo, after I regained consciousness in the freezing air that was breezing off the bay, we trundled over to pile of things sealed in plastic wrapping. From fabric gloves, to plastic gloves, to ponchos, to a breathing mask which let me not breathe at all, and an attractively charming thick plastic jumpsuit-style overalls with attached-to-the-leg-via-electrical-tape gum boots. Or is that gumboots? Or gum-boots? Oh man, we were teh hawtest bitchez outta town (we were in the country).
And then we cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned. We scrubbed rocks 'til our fingers ached. I hunched over extremely disheartening puddles of thick, sticky oil, literally scooping up the gloppy mess onto the rags and random clothes donated for the cause, until the fabric was so sodden with filth, it was barely possible to tell whether you were mainly holding the rag or the oil. Keep in mind that we were there ten whole days after the actual oil spill, and of which this particular beach had been occupied by hard-working volunteers for all ten days. Sad, indeed. Especially to think that along the 30% of Western coastline affected, there are still countless beaches which have not yet been attacked. Grah, it makes me sick and angry. What an environmentalist I have become!! (NB: I will probably still drive my tank of a car back home. Sigh, such is the torn state of mind modernity brings upon those who clean oil spills and own tanks.)
We worked all day, and although no visible improvement could be beheld, it felt strangely satisfying. I can clearly see why people devote their lives to things like Greenpeace and other crazy bastard hippy organisations. And so we were touted as 'Heroes' on the ride back home and got hilariously drunk via the brilliant liquid that is Soju with the ajumma we always stay with (who is, if we haven't already mentioned a bajillion times, absolutely awesome great fun cool). We now call her 'Imo', which means 'Aunt', so basically we love her. Sarang Imo!
Gergh, how come I am running out of time!!! Sometimes I hate that I embellish my writing so. So, err, yes. Yesterday we walked around Dongdaemun markets, which is basically just a huge area full of different markets which specialise in different areas and such. I saw as many shoes as I will probably in one space at any one time, I ate Green Tea hotteok (which was rad) and Chrysanthemum bread filled with red bean, and we walked in on the most random out-of-the-back-of-a-car dodgy markets I have ever been to. Seriously, that place was filled with garden implements, jeans, old musical instruments, ancient TV sets (I'm talking 1950s or so), tapes (c'mon Korea, get out of the gorram 80s), knives, and, errrrr, 'adult toys'. Yeah, that was kind of creepy, because there were, like, five stalls in that tiny pavillion dedicated to those 'specialist products'. And they were creepily popular with old men. *Shiver*
Today we went to a student area! Best area yet! Woo!!! ^____^ I do heart student places so. We first went to a "park" (...it was a "park" as opposed to a park, because Korea is dodgy as hell and DOESN'T SUPPLY PARKS WITH GRASS. Seriously, Korea, don't try and cheat me like that again) that is famed for buskers, and we got an excellent comedy duo who sang hilarious songs (via furious translating by my very own automated Korean robot) on guitars and told people to piss off because they weren't clapping. Also, the dude started talking to me in English and as he was asking me where I was from, I completely didn't realise he was talking to me. I looked behind me instead. Good one. After that idiocy, I got a nice rendition of 'Unchained Melody', which is always a cool song to have sung to you. So we just wandered for the day, finding awesome shops (I bought Astro Boy earrings!), and a cool little cafe where everything was handmade (trinkets and food!) where we sat and drank tea and had a mini-selection of cheeses. So Western right now. Anyway, we ended up hanging around that area for ages, had dinner and a bottle of Soju, and then set off with plans for seeing the city lights and to ice-skate.
I DID NOT GET TO ICE-SKATE. >< >< >< NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Lame x 46.
Damn you population problem. Anyway, the city lights were absolutely stunning, particularly because they follow a little stream that runs through the city centre, and I got strawberries covered in red toffee on a stick. So awesomely delicious, you ain't never tried something as fine.
STRAWBEWWY WUV!!! ^____^ v
NB: I'm postin' some photos up roight now! 68 to be exactle!
I'm not sure what you've heard on the news.
There was an oil spill on the west coast of Korea. The damage was catastrophic. Entire communities were robbed of their livelihood, a catastrophic event that is always more serious than anybody is able to comprehend. They think it'll be 10 years until all these fishing areas will be back to pre-spill levels.
BUT THEN MIA AND I ARRIVED.
And it was still just as bad as before. I spent 6 hours cleaning rocks goddamn it, why won't you go away Oil?
It was presidential election day, electing some douche named Lee Myung Bak, which meant it was a national holiday for all. The (awesome, awesome, AWESOME) lady we're staying with told us that we were going to go to a temple that's only reachable by boat, but BAM a different teacher offers to take us to clean rocks and OFF WE GO.
Volunteer work > Fun > The concept of us being on holiday.
It took about 2 hours by bus, and were one of thousands of volunteers there to try and such up the Oil with cloth. It seems so goddamn futile. Oil washes up constantly as you go to spots that people have already cleaned before. There's still a cm or two of oil layered on top of rocks in spots. Scientists are saying that years worth of clean up have been done in weeks. I have so much respect for the volunteers who are going in day after day. I guess a conscription army is useful for something. The smell of the crude oil is so strong that it's making people sick, and some people are in there, cleaning, day after day.
Dongdaemun market, a huge clothing market at one end of Seoul, was similarly awe-worthy but not as depressing. It seriously never seems to end, with giant buildings full of similar clothes stores as far as the eye can see. I wish that I was exaggerating. I got an awesome watch for 5000 won, which is about 7 bucks, but the battery is dead already -_-. We looked for clothes, but we didn't see that much. Mia got a TOTORO sweater, and I got some cons with stars on them, which makes us both officially consumer whores. Good times. We ended up watching Children of Men in the DVD room because of a vague recommendation of Sam's ringing in my ears and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. Great times.
After watching National Treasure 2 today (please forgive me, oh filmsoc gods, my uncle had the power to choose since he was buying tickets), Mia and I woefully failed at DDR. Oh man, we are so freakin terrible. I was suprised that a crowd didn't gather to watch us suck so goddamn hard. Like a golfball through a garden hose. We played a game that was very similar to Wario Ware, which was welcome despite me losing, and then I got lapped twice by Mia at Daytona. There seems to be a running theme here.
We headed to Daehagno, a very cool area with an odd history. It was the location of Seoul University, the most prestigious university in Korea, before they realised that they could sell the prime real estate they were on and move to much swankier facilities on the outskirts of Seoul. Instead of the surrounding Uni student catering area shutting down, the land that was once a campus has become a thriving youthy place, pulsing with youthiness. No joke. Marronier Park has an Art Gallery and Theatre attatched, and there seem to be about a hundred little theatres in the area, all pimping different stage productions. Little cafe's are hidden away with coffee that I can drink ( :o ) as well as little stores in which to by RADSOME things. The food was suprisingly dissapointing, with nothing engaging to offer, but we are picky, picky fools.
Marronier Park is a bit of a busking centre, but I was a little dissapointed today. Maybe it was because it's winter, but we only spied two groups. Two dudes playing Guitar were absolutely hilarious, yelling at kids, making jokes about how Koreans are too conscious of each other and insisting that some local crazy dude was Japanese to a foreigner while belting out old favourites from the 70s was well worth coming to the area for, while we only heard a couple of songs from a hip-hop trio calling themselves the snow brothers. It was dark, and they had managed to gather themselves a pretty good crowd, bantering while setting up and generally providing a lot of laughter and warmth. I think my favourite area in Seoul so far.
We ended up cooking some Bul-go-gi on a hotplate in front of us, while sharing a bottle of Soju ( You will all be drinking Soju with us once we get back. It's just way too much fun ) then walking through the city looking at the gorgeous and huge lights that have been set up for Christmas. LOOK AT THE PHOTOS. (there's one of me looking mighty ninja) There was some tart singing too, but we didn't really stay around for that. We kept walking all the way to another market and strolled through it as it was closing down. Hopefully we'll get to hit it tomorrow morning. Apparently my cousin wants to buy me food from Outback Steakhouse. He thinks its funny. Lets hope it doesn't actually happen.
I hope the holiday season is treating you all well! I hope you're all seeing each other and constantly telling each other how much you love each other. Also: I hope you haven't died from the awesomeness of seeing Amanda Palmer or whoever else fabulous is in Sydney these days. We have presents for you. And some of you have my concert tickets.
Regardless, Love!
BUT THEN MIA AND I ARRIVED.
And it was still just as bad as before. I spent 6 hours cleaning rocks goddamn it, why won't you go away Oil?
It was presidential election day, electing some douche named Lee Myung Bak, which meant it was a national holiday for all. The (awesome, awesome, AWESOME) lady we're staying with told us that we were going to go to a temple that's only reachable by boat, but BAM a different teacher offers to take us to clean rocks and OFF WE GO.
Volunteer work > Fun > The concept of us being on holiday.
It took about 2 hours by bus, and were one of thousands of volunteers there to try and such up the Oil with cloth. It seems so goddamn futile. Oil washes up constantly as you go to spots that people have already cleaned before. There's still a cm or two of oil layered on top of rocks in spots. Scientists are saying that years worth of clean up have been done in weeks. I have so much respect for the volunteers who are going in day after day. I guess a conscription army is useful for something. The smell of the crude oil is so strong that it's making people sick, and some people are in there, cleaning, day after day.
Dongdaemun market, a huge clothing market at one end of Seoul, was similarly awe-worthy but not as depressing. It seriously never seems to end, with giant buildings full of similar clothes stores as far as the eye can see. I wish that I was exaggerating. I got an awesome watch for 5000 won, which is about 7 bucks, but the battery is dead already -_-. We looked for clothes, but we didn't see that much. Mia got a TOTORO sweater, and I got some cons with stars on them, which makes us both officially consumer whores. Good times. We ended up watching Children of Men in the DVD room because of a vague recommendation of Sam's ringing in my ears and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. Great times.
After watching National Treasure 2 today (please forgive me, oh filmsoc gods, my uncle had the power to choose since he was buying tickets), Mia and I woefully failed at DDR. Oh man, we are so freakin terrible. I was suprised that a crowd didn't gather to watch us suck so goddamn hard. Like a golfball through a garden hose. We played a game that was very similar to Wario Ware, which was welcome despite me losing, and then I got lapped twice by Mia at Daytona. There seems to be a running theme here.
We headed to Daehagno, a very cool area with an odd history. It was the location of Seoul University, the most prestigious university in Korea, before they realised that they could sell the prime real estate they were on and move to much swankier facilities on the outskirts of Seoul. Instead of the surrounding Uni student catering area shutting down, the land that was once a campus has become a thriving youthy place, pulsing with youthiness. No joke. Marronier Park has an Art Gallery and Theatre attatched, and there seem to be about a hundred little theatres in the area, all pimping different stage productions. Little cafe's are hidden away with coffee that I can drink ( :o ) as well as little stores in which to by RADSOME things. The food was suprisingly dissapointing, with nothing engaging to offer, but we are picky, picky fools.
Marronier Park is a bit of a busking centre, but I was a little dissapointed today. Maybe it was because it's winter, but we only spied two groups. Two dudes playing Guitar were absolutely hilarious, yelling at kids, making jokes about how Koreans are too conscious of each other and insisting that some local crazy dude was Japanese to a foreigner while belting out old favourites from the 70s was well worth coming to the area for, while we only heard a couple of songs from a hip-hop trio calling themselves the snow brothers. It was dark, and they had managed to gather themselves a pretty good crowd, bantering while setting up and generally providing a lot of laughter and warmth. I think my favourite area in Seoul so far.
We ended up cooking some Bul-go-gi on a hotplate in front of us, while sharing a bottle of Soju ( You will all be drinking Soju with us once we get back. It's just way too much fun ) then walking through the city looking at the gorgeous and huge lights that have been set up for Christmas. LOOK AT THE PHOTOS. (there's one of me looking mighty ninja) There was some tart singing too, but we didn't really stay around for that. We kept walking all the way to another market and strolled through it as it was closing down. Hopefully we'll get to hit it tomorrow morning. Apparently my cousin wants to buy me food from Outback Steakhouse. He thinks its funny. Lets hope it doesn't actually happen.
I hope the holiday season is treating you all well! I hope you're all seeing each other and constantly telling each other how much you love each other. Also: I hope you haven't died from the awesomeness of seeing Amanda Palmer or whoever else fabulous is in Sydney these days. We have presents for you. And some of you have my concert tickets.
Regardless, Love!
Monday, 17 December 2007
Kerrayzee Koreanz
I climbed a Mountain. Capital.
Booyah! I expect applause...I'm still waiting.
Those who have fear of heights, heart conditions, or are under 16 should not climb mountains. I guess neither should the infirm, something you probably would have described me yesterday. I went to bed the night before, stuffy head, body aching, and attractively blowing my nose every three seconds. Way hot. The night was spent shifting and sneezing and feeling as if I were awake for the entire night (I wasn't), listening to the woman outside my room flick through a textbook and study all through the night for a test the next day. She was pretty cool. Well, she's the wife of a Mountain Pimp, so I guess you've got to be somewhat awesome if your husband has scaled something like 200 mountains.
I digress.
I awoke. Sunlight. Eye burn, Bride of Dracula stylez. Felt average to awful, but was determined that I was to not sit out the scalement of a mountain. Some would say I am "obstinate". I would prefer "determined" but...eh, they would probably be right. Shower. Consciousness. Dress. Shoved the Pocahontas furry-band (not Pocahontas-furry) that the Pimp bought yesterday, of which he also purchased for us gloves and a hat for Mintie that made him look like a paedophile (I am not even joking...way scary), into my pocket. Took a massive wad of tissues. Sneeze.
We got on a bus, and waited at a station for a group of old men to turn up. Waited in the goddamn cold for half-an-hour with the mountain set to be conquered hovering above the skyline behind us. Too many apartments.
My thoughts exactly: Mountain. I will conquer you. I'll take you out for a meal with Mr. and Mrs. Pain. Order up some violent quiche. You want some? Delivered by First Post. The post which hurts the most.
Leg freeze. Undo by walking through slums at the base of the beast. Dogs bark. Tunnel. Concrete path. Upwards.
Oh man. That mountain rained down the pain. It was stunning. It was breath-snatchingly beautiful. But it nearly killed me. It probably would have helped if I had of taken medicine, and had shoes that wouldn't prompt fellow mountain-climbers to exclaim how slippery they would be via various hand-gestures pattered with Konglish. Barely being able to take in oxygen = not so cool. But I made it. I scrabbled over rocks, hang off trees and untrustworthy handrails, and realised how flexible, strong, and how much stamina I truly have. It's nice to realise that we can all be beyond the selves we know. It's amazing that after I almost fainted at the first 100 metre ascent, I managed to climb another 625 more. Imagine that. Having no knowledge of time = helpful! Also: coming down = harder than you would think, and hell on the joints. Oh God. I sound, like, 97. I ache today. I think I need arthritis tablets or something.
No words can describe it. Pictures do almost as little justice. I can see how something like this would be so addictive. The pure adrenaline as you reach the climax of the mountain makes your hands shake and your heart race as you look down at the sheerness of that which has been past many hours before. That didn't stop a 50-something-year-old man doing a gorram freakin' handstand on top of the rock we reached. Please don't do that Mr. Halabuhji (Grandpa). I really don't need to worry about another person up here.
What I won't forget, though, is the gorgeous snow-topped boulders, the wandering leaf-covered stone stairways, and the Buddhist Temples dotted the way through the Mountain. It's beauty succumbs almost to that of the spiritual and if I was not slowly dying I am quite sure I would have converted to Mountainism during my climb.
Correction: Apparently it was two mountains.
Booyah! I expect applause...I'm still waiting.
Those who have fear of heights, heart conditions, or are under 16 should not climb mountains. I guess neither should the infirm, something you probably would have described me yesterday. I went to bed the night before, stuffy head, body aching, and attractively blowing my nose every three seconds. Way hot. The night was spent shifting and sneezing and feeling as if I were awake for the entire night (I wasn't), listening to the woman outside my room flick through a textbook and study all through the night for a test the next day. She was pretty cool. Well, she's the wife of a Mountain Pimp, so I guess you've got to be somewhat awesome if your husband has scaled something like 200 mountains.
I digress.
I awoke. Sunlight. Eye burn, Bride of Dracula stylez. Felt average to awful, but was determined that I was to not sit out the scalement of a mountain. Some would say I am "obstinate". I would prefer "determined" but...eh, they would probably be right. Shower. Consciousness. Dress. Shoved the Pocahontas furry-band (not Pocahontas-furry) that the Pimp bought yesterday, of which he also purchased for us gloves and a hat for Mintie that made him look like a paedophile (I am not even joking...way scary), into my pocket. Took a massive wad of tissues. Sneeze.
We got on a bus, and waited at a station for a group of old men to turn up. Waited in the goddamn cold for half-an-hour with the mountain set to be conquered hovering above the skyline behind us. Too many apartments.
My thoughts exactly: Mountain. I will conquer you. I'll take you out for a meal with Mr. and Mrs. Pain. Order up some violent quiche. You want some? Delivered by First Post. The post which hurts the most.
Leg freeze. Undo by walking through slums at the base of the beast. Dogs bark. Tunnel. Concrete path. Upwards.
Oh man. That mountain rained down the pain. It was stunning. It was breath-snatchingly beautiful. But it nearly killed me. It probably would have helped if I had of taken medicine, and had shoes that wouldn't prompt fellow mountain-climbers to exclaim how slippery they would be via various hand-gestures pattered with Konglish. Barely being able to take in oxygen = not so cool. But I made it. I scrabbled over rocks, hang off trees and untrustworthy handrails, and realised how flexible, strong, and how much stamina I truly have. It's nice to realise that we can all be beyond the selves we know. It's amazing that after I almost fainted at the first 100 metre ascent, I managed to climb another 625 more. Imagine that. Having no knowledge of time = helpful! Also: coming down = harder than you would think, and hell on the joints. Oh God. I sound, like, 97. I ache today. I think I need arthritis tablets or something.
No words can describe it. Pictures do almost as little justice. I can see how something like this would be so addictive. The pure adrenaline as you reach the climax of the mountain makes your hands shake and your heart race as you look down at the sheerness of that which has been past many hours before. That didn't stop a 50-something-year-old man doing a gorram freakin' handstand on top of the rock we reached. Please don't do that Mr. Halabuhji (Grandpa). I really don't need to worry about another person up here.
What I won't forget, though, is the gorgeous snow-topped boulders, the wandering leaf-covered stone stairways, and the Buddhist Temples dotted the way through the Mountain. It's beauty succumbs almost to that of the spiritual and if I was not slowly dying I am quite sure I would have converted to Mountainism during my climb.
Correction: Apparently it was two mountains.
It was 725 metres high. It sounds a lot more impressive if you say 2400 feet
I was so excited to be going up a mountain. I remembered scaling mountains as a child, jumping from rocks and shimmying down poles as being fantastic fun. I'd run circles around my parents and their friends, both literally and figuratively, in the awesome atmosphere of a winter mountain.
Goddamn it, I must have been an annoyingly exuberant child. Climbing mountains is hard as shit.
Seriously, when we started walking up the mountain I thought "man, it's not going to be this steep the whole way is it?", considering how steep the incline was. Then the paved bit ended, and we were going up rough wooden steps. Then rough stone steps. Then just... goddamn rocks. And then we were having to climb freakin boulders with the help of a handrail. Or navigate around boulders with a rope. Or just have to magic ourselves around really difficult situations.
After 3 hours of that bullshit, we get to the top, and there's... what? a rock?
It was awesome.
My dads friend is part of a big rock-climbing group called "Blue Mountain". None of them really know why it was named that, but they want to make a trip to Sydney and see them one day. They're are all super-pros at climbing mountains, considering that they climb these giant difficult things at least once or twice a month. My dad's friend reckoned that he'd climbed 200 in his life, some outside Korea like Mt Fuji.
But the pro's decided it was too dangerous to bother going up to the top of the mountain today, and opted to go to a valley behind it instead. My dad's friend decided that if we had come from Australia to climb the mountain, then we were damn well seeing the top.
It was so goddamn scary grappling over rockfaces with only a hand rail and unsure footing to rely on. When I looked down, it dropped right down to ground level. The 18 storey high deathboxes looked like the toys of ants. My dad has sadistic friends.
The thing about describing this is that all the pro's are so difficult to pin down, while the con's are numerous. There's something special about putting yourself through toil for leisure by climbing mountains. There's pain there, to be sure, but if you revel in it, it gives you time to reflect on yourself. It's a testing of your limits, your confidence and your trust in your own body.
Like I said, it's hard to describe. There's also the scenery, which is just as hard to describe. The photos do it no justice at all, but are beautiful nontheless. I guess it seems more beautiful when you've had to earn it inch by inch, and have it hit you when you finally look up from the ground.
Meanwhile, the grandpas who do this regularly have a ball, looking happy to be bounding from rock to rock, even taking photos with Mia and singing as they toil their way down. There's a saying in Korea, there are no bad men amongst those who climb mountains, and it's persuasive. They all seem so calm and peaceful. Good bunch, the lot of them.
That was my deep, insightful mountain climbing experience. I hope you're all well.
Goddamn it, I must have been an annoyingly exuberant child. Climbing mountains is hard as shit.
Seriously, when we started walking up the mountain I thought "man, it's not going to be this steep the whole way is it?", considering how steep the incline was. Then the paved bit ended, and we were going up rough wooden steps. Then rough stone steps. Then just... goddamn rocks. And then we were having to climb freakin boulders with the help of a handrail. Or navigate around boulders with a rope. Or just have to magic ourselves around really difficult situations.
After 3 hours of that bullshit, we get to the top, and there's... what? a rock?
It was awesome.
My dads friend is part of a big rock-climbing group called "Blue Mountain". None of them really know why it was named that, but they want to make a trip to Sydney and see them one day. They're are all super-pros at climbing mountains, considering that they climb these giant difficult things at least once or twice a month. My dad's friend reckoned that he'd climbed 200 in his life, some outside Korea like Mt Fuji.
But the pro's decided it was too dangerous to bother going up to the top of the mountain today, and opted to go to a valley behind it instead. My dad's friend decided that if we had come from Australia to climb the mountain, then we were damn well seeing the top.
It was so goddamn scary grappling over rockfaces with only a hand rail and unsure footing to rely on. When I looked down, it dropped right down to ground level. The 18 storey high deathboxes looked like the toys of ants. My dad has sadistic friends.
The thing about describing this is that all the pro's are so difficult to pin down, while the con's are numerous. There's something special about putting yourself through toil for leisure by climbing mountains. There's pain there, to be sure, but if you revel in it, it gives you time to reflect on yourself. It's a testing of your limits, your confidence and your trust in your own body.
Like I said, it's hard to describe. There's also the scenery, which is just as hard to describe. The photos do it no justice at all, but are beautiful nontheless. I guess it seems more beautiful when you've had to earn it inch by inch, and have it hit you when you finally look up from the ground.
Meanwhile, the grandpas who do this regularly have a ball, looking happy to be bounding from rock to rock, even taking photos with Mia and singing as they toil their way down. There's a saying in Korea, there are no bad men amongst those who climb mountains, and it's persuasive. They all seem so calm and peaceful. Good bunch, the lot of them.
That was my deep, insightful mountain climbing experience. I hope you're all well.
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