Was it worth it? No. I am officially too old for this shit. I got home by saying the name of my dong to a cab driver. (And before you get carried away there a "dong" is a neighbourhood. So, telling a Korean cabbie the name of your neighbourhood isn't as vague as it sounds, because most Koreans have small dongs. Got him yes!!!)
Moving on.
Some friends and I went to Sokcho between May 6 and 9 as we were fortunate enough to have been granted a holiday by our principals for the Children's Day celebrations. On this occasion, most Korean parents take their little angels to Everland or the cinema or some such while the foreign English teachers of Korea take to the east coast of the peninsula and breathe fresh air for the first time since they arrived. At least Stephen, Marina and Sarah and I did. We found ourselves a brilliant little hostel (a rare thing in Korea) near the centre of town from which to base our explorations into the Seoraksan National Park and Naksan Buddhist temple. Also high on my list of fond memories were:
a) The bike ride around the town lake
b) The final night's feast, in which I felt someone from the table next to us tugging at my sleeve and offering me fermented fish. I ate 5 pieces to prove something (I'm not sure what) before he revealed that Korean men eat this raw and pungent delicacy which tastes of ammonia as it is their local version of Viagra. Which caused no end of laughter at our table - especially considering that earlier to this I had bitten off an entire fish head and eaten it without realising what it was. It should be mentioned however, that every second ingredient here is eaten for its "vitality," and that I don't believe in shamanism anyway because I am a Mojoist. But anyway, it didn't stop the others from making jokes about priapism all night, as I tried to roll over in bed, in vain.
c) Sunset over Seoraksan, from the hostel rooftop:
d) The giant standing Bodhisattva of Naksan temple who looks out over the East Sea (it ain't called the Sea of Japan over here - be careful on that one):
e) Naksan Temple architecture, which is the same in colour scheme to all Buddhist temples across Korea:
But without a doubt the highlight of the trip was in visiting Seoraksan National Park ("Korea's most beautiful") according to many Koreans and foreigners alike. It's the height of Spring now, and there was plenty of water running down from the mountains, on the top of which we could spot the melting snow (it's nice to see somewhere has plenty of water). The plan is to return to Seoraksan in the Autumn and do a bit of comparing and contrasting, as the park becomes incredibly colourful with orange and brown.
Here, yours truly stands between the giant sitting Buddha of Seoraksan, and in the background, the peaks of Ulsan Bawi, which we were to scale later that day, in between stops for beer and bibimbap on the way.:
The untouched landscape of Korea is beautiful. And the entire country looked like this at one point I imagine. These days, Korea is highly urban and dense with people everywhere, apart from areas like this. Admittedly, Koreans do a good job of preserving areas like this and are rightfully proud of their national and provincial parks. One distinction I have picked up between Koreans and "Westerners" is this attitude towards space. They become uncomfortable if they are separated from the group. It's the communal versus individual thing. Many of them would prefer to charge up the mountain in groups of a hundred or more; we'd more likely use a park to get away from work, our neighbours, or just the general pace of life. The main beach of the country, Haeundae, gets so crowded in summertime that you can't see the sand anymore for the mass of humanity on the shore. There's loads of beaches in Korea, it's just that Koreans would prefer to be around each other. I have a friend who has taught here for 8 years now. She travelled back to her parents' town in her native South Africa recently and felt so uncomfortable by the silence and space that she slept with the light on! Korea does this to people, but I plan on leaving before I become a big girls' blouse.
Job done!
We rounded out our trip to Sokcho with a dance off in the foreigner's bar - which I believe I won, though I'm not game to check the photos that Stephen took as evidence. Unfortunately, I was dragged from the floor halfway through Daft Punk's Da Funk and wasn't able to complete my "Saturday Afternoons - A Montage": an artfully combined triage of the Lawnmower, Shopping With Children, and Reading the Herald While Sipping Coffee. But nevermind, there's always next weekend. And before then I've got Korea vs Ecuador at World Cup Stadium tonight (hooray!), open class with Korean parents in attendance on Tuesday (boooo!), and God knows what else, because I''ve abandoned making too many predictions after 5 weeks of life in this chaotic country.
Although I predict that I won't be eating fermented fish anytime soon.
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