Toe's Place: August 2005

August 19, 2005

I visited Yi-Kyong's favorite library branch and then after lunch took bus and subway to downtown Seoul, where I revisited Daehan Cinema - I meditated in Starbucks for a while there - and then wandered around, going to City Hall, Namdaemun market, and Shinegae (sp?) department store. It rained on and off and aside from Starbucks it was a dismal day. Alas, today is my last full day here, I leave tomorrow. I'll miss Korea. This is probably my last post.

View from Daehan Cinema

August 18, 2005

We left Sorak mountain and went back to Seoul. Not far from the mountain on the way back we visited a Buddhist temple near the beach. The main building was destroyed by a forest fire a few months ago, only some smaller buildings and a large stone Buddha statue on top of a hill remained. We also saw a small golden statue of a Buddha with many arms, it reminded me of some kind of Hindu god - I don't know what people saw in such things. It was so hot, I wish we had gone to the beach instead. Still, there was a nice view of the coast.

The drive back to Seoul was very long, and we had to drop my sister-in-law and her husband off at the Gimpo airport, near/in Seoul. Traffic was very slow in a lot of places, as it often is. We got back around 10 pm, I think. Fortunately someone let me borrow an MP3 player, so it wasn't that bad. The song I listened to the most was sung in Japanese by a Korean singer, I was told. Also, there are a lot of nice rest stops along the way, with large, cool dining halls with coffee and etc. I had an iced mocha coffee - very good.

August 17, 2005

I took a short hike (2.8 km) up Sorak mountain and visited an old cave with a Buddhist shrine. A monk was there praying. I went inside and it felt oppressively lonely in there - if I understand right, in the past monks would go to the cave alone and live there. I don't know how they did it. I also saw a giant Buddha statue at the base of the trail. Alas, it didn't really feel like climbing a mountain because there were tourist shops all along the trail. I also went swimming in the East Sea near the mountain.

There's much more of a military presence up here (about 30 miles south of the DMZ, maybe?). On the way to the beach traffic was stopped to let several tanks or motorized artillery pass by, and I saw a lot of jeeps and soldiers on foot, and a lot of barbed wire. In Seoul, I didn't see much, even near the U.S. base, everything was very low key as far as I could tell.

Buddha statue

Sorak mountain

August 16, 2005

I won't be able to upload pictures to my blog for a few days since we took a road trip to Sorak mountain near the East Sea (never call it "Sea of Japan" in Korea). I'm writing this from a PC bang (PC cafe) at the hotel I'm staying in. At least it's cool in here.

August 15, 2005

Ancestor ritual 9 pm to about 11 pm.

August 14, 2005

In the morning I went to a methodist church. Christianity is widespread in Korea, and everywhere I go I see church steeples. The sermon was in Korean, but I had an English Bible and the reading was 1 Proverbs, which says that wisdom is found in the streets. After church I went to a Zen Temple. There was a Dharma talk, and the speaker (forgot his name) at one point said that the truth unfolds before us, every moment. Our center is like the unborn, it doesn't live or die. We talked about a few passages from Swampland Flowers, a hard-to-find Buddhist book.

Painting on the side of a temple building. I still
haven't found out what dragons symbolize here.

August 13, 2005

I took a long walk through the center of Seoul today. After lunch I took the subway to Dongjak station, just south of the Han river, and crossed the Dongjakdaegyo bridge, getting some nice photos along the way. Then I walked along the Han river on a bicycle path until I got to the Banpodaegyo bridge, then headed north in Yongsan-Gu, past the U.S. military base. I visited the Korean War Memorial, which is very impressive - it's centered around a giant dagger or knife pointed toward the sky. Then I got lost until I found Seoul Station. A vagrant pointed the way to Kyobo Bookstore, where I ate supper, then I took a subway and bus back home.

With a few exceptions people were very nice. Almost everyone I talked to, soldiers, police, vagrants, bus drivers, and regular folk were friendly, and many of them helped me find my way despite my horrible Korean.

View from bridge over Han river

Korean War Memorial

This guy was sitting near other vagrants at Seoul Station. He
knew a little English and pointed the way to Kyobo Bookstore.

August 12, 2005

Today I visited a Korean folk village in Kyonggi province and Lotte World in Seoul.

I've been in Korea about a week now and I like this country. Seoul is so big, a real metropolis, and the province I visited was a beautiful combination of mountains and tracts of massive buildings. The buildings here are amazing, my pictures don't do them justice.

En route to Seoul (from Yong-in City) .

A house in Seoul - this is where I'm staying.

Lunch - bibimbap with acorn jelly.
I liked it, actually.

Lotte World indoor amusement park.
It's much bigger than it looks here.

August 11, 2005

I think it rained a little today but mostly the weather was good. We took a subway to Namdaemun market near/in downtown Seoul where I bought a plastic golden pig and a few other things. For lunch I had some kind of potato-noodle soup, it was strange but good. Name...? I forgot.

After Namdaemun I saw some old Korean houses and nearby a time capsule that will be opened in about 400 years.

In the evening I went to Carrefour supermarket and after shopping ate bibimbap in the food court.

Near subway station

View from Carrefour garage

Namdaemun Market

Time capsule

Time capsule close up

Korean rock near time capsule

August 10, 2005

I took a long nap in the morning and then after lunch I visited an old Korean palace and folk art museum in Seoul today. The palace comprises several buildings, many of which were rebuilt after they were destroyed by the Japanese during the occupation.

The rain today was very heavy at times. Is this a typhoon?