Thursday, October 30, 2008

Andong

I had a very vivid dream last Friday night (probably facilitated by the lack of sleep) that I was late for the train to Andong on Saturday morning and I ended up driving all the way. Since I don't have a car in Korea it is unlikely that this was a premonition of any sort, but I definitely had to run at each possible interval in order to ride the very boring, hunger-inducing 4 hour 17 minute train journey to meet Simon in the south-east of Korea. I guess he wouldn't have been too impressed had I missed the train, either.

Now one thing I must commend Andong for is its particularly helpful tourist information center. Really, it is not so much the center itself that I must commend, but the provision of no less than two maps to help us navigate the optimistically-titled "city". There was a general map with pictures and information about the tourist sites, plus another more-to-scale map of the city center with markings of all potential points of interest (decorative gate, food street, Dunkin Donuts) along with bus times and numbers for all of the surrounding destinations we might have wanted to visit. Very useful.

After checking into our love motel (with a disappointing lack of coloured glow lighting) it was perhaps an indication of Andong's worth as a tourist destination when the bus driver hadn't even heard of the soju museum. It was convenient that he spotted the sign as we drove by so that he could give us door-to-door service, but for a Saturday afternoon we didn't expect the museum to look so decidedly shut. Nevertheless the security guard ushered us in, and even turned on the lights for us to have a look around. Simon contemplated how I managed to ace my science GCSEs as he had to explain the distillation process to me that I'd failed to recall, and I read The Queen's thank you letter after her visit to Andong with momentary patriotism. We figured we weren't going to receive that thimble sized sample of soju at the end of our self-led tour.

So we walked back to the city proper, drank some coffee, and headed out to Jebiwon - "No, it's not a Star Wars character, though this huge rock-carved Amitaba Buddha (Icheon-dong Seokbulsang; admission free; 24hr) does bear a faint resemblance to Jabba the Hutt." [Lonely Planet - sometimes I think I'm too scathing, but for a published book, this definitely is.] Again I'm glad the bus driver told us where to get off, as even when we were let loose in the street there weren't any obvious signs. It was hitting sunset as we arrived so we didn't hang around long to look at the stone Buddha head in the dark (or indeed hike up any hills for better views), and since Simon failed to even mention this excursion in his blog post, it's evident why.

Even though Andong is famous for its meat, we failed to enquire into famous restaurants. The meat we ate that evening (chosen from one of the many restaurants down "Food Street" largely to its close proximity to where we were standing when we decided we were hungry) was good, but whether this was due to the excessive marinade or the actual quality of the cow, we weren't sure.

On Sunday we took a scenic walk by the river 3km out of the city to the folk village. It could have been more pleasant were we not walking by a pavement-less main road, but at least the sun was shining and the way was still adorned by the beautiful reds and yellows of autumn to distract us from the whooshing cars. We detoured by the oldest brick pagoda in Korea underneath the railway line before reaching the village that was reconstructed/relocated due to a dam-induced lake that would destroy all surrounding cultural relics. Apparently KBS do some filming in this village since it looks so authentic, but I also imagine the lack of tourists around makes it a convenient set. Apathy got the better of us as we decided not to take a look around the museum. We took the main road back to Andong, ate dak galbi, drank more coffee, and I'm glad Simon accompanied me home as that wasn't a 4 hour 17 minute train journey I fancied doing alone again.

So to sum up. Andong is famous for its soju, traditional masks and meat. I'd say we failed to really experience any of these things, so I'd say a big congratulations is in order for us. I had really wanted to get to the mask festival earlier this month but I was busy dancing it up at that time, but I'm thinking if I want to go again, that'd be the time of year to do it.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Digging for potatoes

It's been a busy month with Halloween decorations going up left, right and center in preparation for the "Halloween Fun Day" next Saturday - yes, that's right, Saturday - where all children and parents will come and bob for apples, among other activities. Rain was forecast for today, so I prepared an exciting pumpkin craft to stick around my classroom, but luckily the sun shone on brightly facilitating the planned sweet potato dig.

We went somewhere out and beyond Uijeongbu (i.e. out and beyond the north of Seoul) to a lone sweet potato patch somewhere in the middle of some farmland. I don't know if this is kindergarten owned land, or a random patch that the bus driver decided would be a good place for potato digging. Nonetheless, we all got our hands mucky pulling apart potatoes for the kids to take home. Much like the mass-production-bat-making lines Marie and I have been instigating in the classroom, this seemed rather like child labour as the bus driver shouted commands and urged faster picking. No prizes for guessing what's on next week's menu at school.

Simon's in Busan at the moment, but tomorrow morning - after David's birthday party tonight and thus a potential struggle out of bed and aching head - I will meet him four hours out of Seoul in Andong. It's famous for its soju, traditional masks and meat, so hopefully there will be much relaxing and won't be too hardcore on the sight-seeing...

Monday, October 20, 2008

Chuncheon and Gangchon

Simon is currently visiting in Korea after three months of travel around south-east Asia. I've happily given him full access to my apartment, and more beneficially to me (aside from scintillating company of course), my limited kitchen facilities.

After much deliberation and scouring of the guide book, this weekend we decided to go to Chuncheon (춘천) - a city just north-east of Seoul and conveniently accessed by train from Cheongnyangni station. Living in the suburbs in the north of Seoul, travel in Korea has so far necessitated a lengthy journey to Seoul Station or the Express Bus Terminal, so finding a close by exit is proving the prospect of further Korea trips a lot more convenient. The Sunday evening trafficked trip to Gangnam followed by a multi-transfer subway journey home was never the most appealing end to a weekend away.

Anyway, we took a taxi from Namchuncheon train station to the love motel we had unnecessarily phoned ahead for. This "Ritz Motel" was described in the Lonely Planet as having an underwear vending machine, which I believe was a big selling point for Simon. On arriving, this proved to indeed be no lie, along with the optional orange glow lighting and the complimentary toothbrushes and protection on arrival. As the man behind the counter made numerous phone calls, rifled through several directories and gave us no less than two maps to find our way around this easily walkable town, we figured he didn't usually get many questions regarding the tourist sights from his usual clientele.

Indeed it is worth mentioning how positively ridiculous the number of motels Chuncheon houses. If we hadn't already pre-booked our very respectable seedy accommodation, we most definitely would have easily checked into one of the other hundreds of motels we could see. Apart from the regular convenience stores and churches dotted around, on first impression Chuncheon didn't seem to be offering a whole lot else than cheap sleeps for the couples of the area.

So anyway after detailed directions, on Saturday morning we got a bus to Gangchon (강촌) - a small neighbouring town. Now although neither of us are nursing broken hearts (and thus not gagging at the couple culture of Korea), there was an incredible number of couples in his-and-her motorcycle helmets - presumably rented from the dozens of bike rental shops interspersed among all the dak galbi (닭갈비) restaurants - riding past us as we opted to walk the alleged 2km to Gugok waterfalls (구곡폭포).
This definitely seemed to be a popular weekend activity among courting young people. The waterfalls themselves were made beautiful by the array of reds and oranges that autumn has brought, but the walk at any other time of year may have been deemed unworthy. Still, it certainly made us feel better about our fitness as we ambled past a pair of panting Korean enthusiasts, who had no doubt taken their car to the entrance.

This said, walking the 530m up Kumbong mountain (검봉산) put me straight, but I never like to be outdone by the old people in excessive hiking gear. Not being anywhere near 1000m Simon decided it was less of a mountain and more of a hill, but not being an avid hiker a 530m-high hill was mountain enough for me. We had actually intended to hike up Bonghwasan, but Simon assures me that climbing the wrong mountain is a becoming a regular feature of his travels.

Back down the mountain, though the waterfall entrance, back along the 2km to the center of Ganchon with a unpalatable iced coffee break, followed by a long wait at the bus stop watching an old man sporadically falling asleep and dropping his bus money, seeing the train go both to and from Chuncheon and debating the wear of couple clothing in the UK, we finally got back to Chuncheon eager for a shower and a re-coop. A mis-read of the map led us to go straight to sampling the local dak galbi (spicy chicken barbeque) down Dak Galbi Street. It got the thumbs up from Simon.

On Sunday, after a leisurely start and a long breakfast, we took a wander by the lake from the sculpture park to the war memorial. Despite being Chuncheon's probable only real activity, we opted out of taking the ferry/swan pedalo across to the not particularly exciting looking island. Still, the prospect of a relaxing weekend away with minimal sight-seeing to do and more book reading/blog writing opportunities sounded very appealing, and indeed all requirements were fulfilled. Simon's off in Gyeongju now for some more actual sight-seeing. Our weekend away was definitely enjoyable, but it's probably only a recommended destination if you, like me, live in the north of Seoul and are looking for an easy escape out of the big city.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fall picnic

One day in Summer, it was was suddenly Autumn. The air is cool, jackets have come out, and my windows are getting a nice layer of condensation on them in the mornings -- very reminiscent of the mould that ensued this time last year. I love it. It's like British weather all year round, except that it doesn't rain so much. Actually I think I have a rose tinted vision of British weather. Still, it's like British weather on the few nice days that they get there.



Last Wednesday the whole school took an all-day field trip. The 5 and 6 year olds went to Seoul Forest (I believe a bit of a misnomer) while the 7 year olds went to some children's theatre center. This center was apparently part of the pioneering of public early childhood education in Korea. Anyway, the kids kicked around some changing autumn leaves before I fell asleep during what seemed to me to be a highly dubiously entertaining children's puppet show.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Birthday in Korea

So I guess it's a bit strange to be celebrating away from home, family and friends in England, but I'm lucky to have made a great bunch of friends who I could celebrate with in Korea instead.  It wasn't much different to a regular weekend night out, but there was drinking in one of the many bars in Itaewon (with an irregular but appreciated influx of presents and ice-cream cake), followed by salsa dancing at Caliente (but this time with more tequila shots and beer than usual, and possibly less successful double spins), followed by taking advantage of the empty dance floor at the Hard Rock Cafe.  And of course all my friends and fun -- I couldn't have asked for a better birthday party :)

Monday, October 6, 2008

Seoul Salsa Congress 2008

My feet ache. No wait, let me amend that. Every cell in my body aches. Or it feels that way. But it's the good kind of ache -- the kind where I know I've had one hell of a weekend and I only have to catch up on lost sleep at work. And as a lot of us know, hyper-active children are very conducive to such situations. Not.

Anyway. The Congress. Three days of workshops from world class salsa professionals learning a mix of On 1 steps, On 2 shines (it seems all the cool kids are dancing on 2 these days, making that year's worth of on 1 experience a little frustrating), Columbian-style salsa (those Swing Latinos were just AMAZING, and so damn fast!), and Afro-Fusion moves (whatever the hell that is).

Performances from said professionals in the evenings helped ease the aching feet before all night parties ensued, but getting a bit of social dancing in at two previously un-attended salsa bars in town was definitely worth it, even if it meant lacking in sleep before a full day of dancing the next day. Had to skip out on Sunday evening's activities in lieu of sleep to prepare for aforementioned hyper-active children today, and given all the dancing I had no choice to put my sweaty suede and satin shoes in the washer. I write with baited breath for a pair of utterly ruined dance shoes. A good excuse for a new pair.

Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a more fun weekend.

...and I didn't, but I got one anyway. This weekend was also the Seoul Fireworks Festival, and following a bet with Sebastian that it wouldn't happen, Jaideep (salsa friends -- not that that really needs clarifying these days) hired a private yacht to take a bunch of us on the Han river to watch the fireworks. OK, so we were quite far away and they didn't look all too spectacular anyway, but the weather was perfect and the company was even better. These opportunities just don't come along very often, and I guess drinks will be on Sebastian next time...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Jangheung Art Park

Last Friday the kids went on a field trip to the Jangheung Art Park. Since "it is a good natural way for children to learn English", I went too. Can't say the kids learnt much English that day, but listening to explanations about the art exhibits was certainly good for my Korean.

"A Place of Emotional Experience
"Jangheung Art Park provides a space where exhibits and interaction come together to provide an exceptional experience which all members of family can enjoy. Jangheung Art Park is where "art - nature - humanity" coexists. The Art Park hopes to provide people with the opportunity for families to come together and directly interact with culture. It provides the opportunities for new experiences to be encountered."

I'm not sure there was much in the way of 'emotional experience', but there was definitely fun, and it's always good to have a morning off teaching.