Ganghwa again: A mission for Quietness

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For directions and information click here.

Every now and then I get tired of city life. I don’t think I will ever pack it all up and move to the country. Actually, I tired it twice… Didn’t like it.

The first time I was living and going to school in Washington, D.C. The crime and the traffic got to me and the crazy notion of moving to Walla Walla, Washington was somehow put in my head. I had romantic thoughts of waking up early and doing country stuff before classes. I don’t remember now. Maybe I wanted to milk a cow or two.

Life in Walla Walla was so depressingly dull. There was nothing there. There was nothing to do. I had a boring job as a motel clerk and I was alway jealous of the guest because they would check out and leave Walla Walla.

The last straw came on the day I tried to get a library card. If anyone of you have ever been lucky enough to hold Montgomery County Public Library card or a library card from any of the surrounding counties, you know the caliber of book borrowing I was used to. I walked into the library in Walla Walla. Yes, there was only one. There might be more now, but when I lived there, there was only one.

It looked like it used to be a house and that, if ghosts exists this would be the type of place worth haunting. It didn’t have tons of books, but I figured I could find something. I went up to the counter to ask for a form to get a library card. The librarian was very friendly. She smiled and asked to see some ID and something with my address to prove I was a Walla Wallan.

I handed her my driver’s license and letter from my dorm. Her smile disappeared. She then informed me that I was not a resident of Walla Walla, but of College Place and that I could not get a library card.

The town I was living in was so small, that I would have never thought that it was actually two towns really close together. To add to my disappointment, later that day I found out that other than the school library filled with text books and research papers, College Place has no library.

The second time was when I moved out in to the country side of Japan after living in London, but I leave that for some other time.

This weekend was to be a little get away for Mark and me. We wanted to be “one with nature”. I was to be a quiet couple days in the woods.

We found a nice spot and set up our tent. Then we left go get some meat to grill and water. When we got back there was another tent set up and herd of ajuma dancing around and making a lot of noise.

We could tell from their supplies that the group of ajumas weren’t spending the night. We just had to wait until they left. They played games and make a lot of noise. At one point one of them got tired and decided to sit in our tent.

Yes, a person we did not know just walked up to our tent and plopped herself down. Later that same women walked to close to our firewood and fall on it.

Shortly before the ajumas left*, a small film crew came by. They just stood off to the side filming everyone. They stayed for a while filming. When they moved in for close ups Mark and I decided to go for a little walk.

* There were three men with them.

The night would have been quiet, but the people in the next camp over kept making noise. They had a screaming baby that screamed for most of the night. The kid wake up early the next day to get in some good screaming before the sun came up.

Once the screaming baby crew and the people in the tent next to ours left, another group came by. These people liked to pee next to our tent. They would walk into the wooded area near we were camped, but they wouldn’t walk too far in. Maybe they were afraid of bears? We and anyone nearby could watch them pee, but they didn’t seem to care.

When the next group of merrymakers came by we gave up. There would be no quiet weekend for us.

Part of the reason why our weekend went to badly had something to do with Korean society. Indiviually, Koreans are really nice, caring people… well, except to the really racist ones you’ll find every now and then. But, most Koreans are really very nice and will bend over backwards to help you.

But strangers here are grade A jerks. Strangers will bump into you, run you over, spit on you, swear at you, cut in front of you in line… There is really no sense of, “maybe we shouldn’t others might not like it” or “that’s not mine, so maybe I should leave it alone”. Remember our tent sitting friend?

Now it’s too cold to go camping. But we will take trips around the country and other countries.

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Gapyeong: meh

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Gapyeong

How to Get There:

1. by Bus:

You can get a bus to Gapyeong from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal which is near the Gangbyeon subway station on line 2, exit 4.
You can also get a bus from Sangbong Bus Terminal at Sangbong subway station on line 7.

2. By Shuttle
You can also take a shuttle from Tapgol Park in Jongro. This bus is purple, red and orange and will take you to the ticket office in the parking lot near the ferry to Nami Island.

Cost:

A round trip fare is 15,000KRW for an adult and 7,500KRW for one-way. You can buy your ticket to Nami Island before you get on the bus with a package fare, 23,000KRW. You should call for the Nami Island Seoul Center for reservations at 02-753-1245~8.

2. By Train:

Go to Cheongnyangi train station near Cheongnyangi subway station. The train station is behind Lotte Dept. Store.

Cost:

3,400KRW for standing ticket

4,000KRW for seated ticket

Notes and Opinions:

When there are no more seated tickets left they continue to sell tickets on the train. Whenever possible, buy your tickets ahead of time. If you don’t know what time you will be heading out, it is better not to buy your ticket ahead of time.

Standing for the whole ride is no fun, but the ride is less than 2 hours long. If you do have to stand, try to sit in one of the stairwells on the left of the train when heading to Seoul and on a right stairwell when heading away from Seoul.

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Jarasum Island/ Jarasum Campsite

How to Get There:

From Gapyeong Train Station

Follow the direction on the map and walk to road #46. Walk down road #46 towards Nami Island. You should see a sign that directs you to Namisum. Pass the firehouse and go under the bridge. Follow the green sidewalk and turn left. You will see signs to Jarasum Campsite soon after.

Phone:

031-580-2700

Notes and Opinions:

If you have a tent and you’re looking for a cheap place to stay, Jarasum is great. But it is not really a campsite where you can be close to nature or built a campfire.

You should make reservations before going during the summer or any festivals. Unfortunately most of the people who work there do not speak English and will say “OK” to anything you ask even when they do not understand what you are saying.

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Nami Island

How to Get There:

From Gapyeong Train Station

Follow the direction on the map and walk to road #46. Walk down road #46 towards Nami Island. You should see a sign that directs you to Namisum.

From Insadong

See Gapyeong “How to get There” information above under “shuttle”.

Cost:

Phone:

Information Center 031-580-8114

Seoul Center 02-753-1245

I don’t know if these number are for English speakers.

Notes and Opinions:

Nami Island is OK. There are lots of open spaces for picnics, but it’s really too far to go for a picnic. Everything on the island is over priced. It’s not as close to nature as the Naminarians think and it is way too crowded to be truly relaxing. While walking down romantic paths, we constantly had to watch out for cars, bikes, and Segways. Since it is a supposed get-away, there isn’t much to do on the island.

Map & Info

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Jarasum: We don’t speak English, but Ok

To camp on Jarasum you need to have reservations. To get reservations, you need to have a Korean National ID card. To have a Korean National… I think you see where I’m going with this one.

Last Saturday I called the camp office at Jarasum park to ask if it was Ok for me to camp there that day even though I didn’t have reservations. I got a very common reaction that Koreans give when having to speak English, giggles.

I find this extremely annoying. Grown people should not giggle when nervous. It’s normal for kids to do it, but adults should know better. I also think it’s odd that Koreans get nervous when speaking English. If you speak English, fine. If you don’t, that’s ok too. You’re a Korean in Korea. No one should expect you to speak English. So why get nervous?

So I call. No one there spoke English very well. I think there were about 3 people in the office when I called. They kept passing around the phone and giggling. Yes, they were all grown-ups. Finally one guy came on the line who spoke a little English.

I began to speak in Korean-English, using English words that most Koreans would know.

“I want CAMPING today. Can I CAMPING today? “

The guys says, “OK”.

Me: “CAMPING?”

Guy: “OK”

Me: “TODAY?”

Guy: “OK”

Me: “No RESERVATION. Still CAMPING ok?”

Guy: “huh?”

Me: “CAMPING today ok?”

Guy: “OK. Camping Yes”

During the whole conversation I heard a woman and a guy laughing in the back ground. It’s times like this when I think that sometimes, Koreans aren’t very professional when dealing with non-Koreans.

I don’t speak Spanish very well, but if I had to talk to a Spanish speaking person on the phone at work I most definitely would not laugh. I wouldn’t pass the phone around. I would put that person on hold, try to find someone who spoke better Spanish than I, and if that didn’t work, I would use the little Spanish I knew to help her or him. No one can expect me to speak Spanish so what ever little Spanish I know is fine.

Living in Korea I come across this nonsense all the time. Bank tellers start to giggle when I ask about transferring money. Grocery store stockers giggle when I ask for the location of items. The wait staff of restaurants giggles when I place an order. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a huge Jr. High class.

So, I get to Gapyeong and I see the campsite. Mark and I are very disappointed because it looks like a big lawn with tents and cars on it. No trees, no nature, no potential campfire. But, it will have to do since we’re already there.

We go into the office to get a camp spot. This is where we find out that there are no spots left. The weekend was big camping festival and the place was fully booked. Mr. “Ok” just doesn’t speak English. He didn’t know what he was saying.

It’s one thing to get to a crappy campsite. It’s another to no get to a crappy campsite and not be allowed in. And it’s a whole other thing to get to a crappy overcrowded campsite and not be allowed in because some numbskull doesn’t have enough sense to say, “no”, “don’t know” or nothing at all, instead of “OK”.

Nami Island: Where everyone and their Mom can be with nature

Nami is a huge tourist trap. It would be nice if it weren’t so crowded or if I could walk down a path without having to jump out of the way of bicycles, cars, or carts. There is some nature, but not that much.

It’s very hard to find a quiet spot on the island to be left with one’s own thoughts. Though, this is what the island was designed for. The bungalows on Nami are highly overpriced. The island is at best moderately scenic.

It would be fine if I lived in the area, but it’s not worth the time, effort, or money it takes to get there. I think it is just overhyped because “Winter Sonata” was filmed there.

…

Getting Tickets for Home

I didn’t get train ticket for Seoul in advance because I didn’t know when we would be leaving. When it was time to go there were no seated tickets left on the next train. We would have had to wait until 8:00pm for a seat. Getting out of Gapyeong was our top priority so we got standing tickets on the next train.

This is when I came across another annoying thing that non-Koreans have to deal with. If you are in Korea and you are not Korean, people forget that you are still a real person. Things like privacy and personal space are luxuries you don’t get.

As I stood at the counter getting information about the train, some creepy guy stood right behind me with his nose almost on my neck. I thought he was next in line and wanted to cut in line.

I turned around and ask Mark very loudly, “What’s with this guy?” I noticed that there was no line. It was just me talking to the ticket man and Mr. Creepy breathing down my neck.

When I got our tickets, I walked away from the counter. Mr. Creepy walked away too. He just wanted to know where the Foreigner was going. Unfortunately this is all too common. I’ve had strangers try to touch my face, hair, jewelry, and once an ajuma on a train grabbed a hold of my butt and refused to let go.

Next Adventure

Mark and I feel cheated out of a camping trip and a chance to be close to nature. Rather than trying out something new next weekend, we decided to go for something we know is good.

We’re headed back to Ganghwa Island and to the campsite with the hard to pronounce, obscenely long name. We were really impressed by it. This time we’ll climb further up for a better spot.

All Pictures

http://www.travbuddy.com/photos/blogs/3542060

Chosuk Camping on Ganghwado

More Photos 1 & More Photos 2

Ganghwa-do

How to Get There:

From Seoul

1- Via Gimpo Airport:

Go to Gimpo Airport on lines 5, 9, and the Airport line. Go to the international terminal where the bus stops are. You should wait at gate #1 for bus #3. The ride cost a little over 3,000KRW from Gimpo Airport. You can use your T-money but you must first tell the bus driver your destination. Here is a picture of the time table. It’s on the second row.

You can catch this bus at other stops in Seoul and Gimpo.

Get off at the last stop, Ganghwa Bus Terminal.

2- Via Bupyoung Station:

Go to Bupyoung Station on Seoul line 1 and Incheon line 1. Go to the underground mall and though exit 23. Walk straight. Look for a blue #90 bus’ bus stop. They come by pretty often, so don’t worry if you miss it. The ride cost a little over 3,000KRW. You can use your T-money but you must first tell the bus driver your destination.

Ignore the arrow in the photo on the left. That’s just where I was standing when I took the picture.

Get off at the last stop, Ganghwa Bus Terminal.

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Dongmak Beach on Ganghwa

How to Get There:

From Ganghwa Bus Terminal.

Go to the Tourist Information counter and get a map; one in English and one in Korean. Use your map to point to where you want to go when talking to cabbies or bus drivers.

• Take a taxi

This should cost about 25,000KRW and take about an hour.

• Take the #13 or #14 bus

Ask a bus driver which bus to take. Both buses come by quite infrequently. Don’t bother asking the lady at the ticket booth. She will only tell you the wrong bus number and get you hopelessly lost.

The bus may be parked at gate 10, any of the 11’s, 12 or 13. For some odd reason there are 3 gate 11’s.

When you board the bus tell the driver where you want to go. He will stop right there whether it was a stop or not.

This should cost about 900KRW and take about an hour, but you might have to wait up to an hour and a half for the bus at the terminal.

Once at Dongmak beach take any bus, going in any direction to get back to the terminal.

Notes and Opinions

There are many restaurants and convenient stores across the street to buy supplies. The Family Mart is open 24 hours a day and most of the restaurants open until late. Oh… and there is a noraebang!

The tent area has stones which can make sleeping quite uncomfortable. We put our tent on the small cemented area even though we have an air mattress. Camping on the sandy part of the beach is impractical since the beach slopes.

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Ganghwa Dolmen

How to Get There:

From Ganghwa Bus Terminal.

Take the #1 bus

Ask a bus driver which bus to take. Don’t bother asking the lady at the ticket booth. She will only tell you the wrong bus number and get you hopelessly lost.

This bus will be parked next to gate 1.

When you board the bus tell the driver where you want to go. He will stop right there whether it was a stop or not.

This should cost about 900KRW.

To get back just stand on the side of the road and flag down any bus. Unlike Seoul, you don’t have to be at a bus stop to get a bus driver to stop for you. When a bus stops, stick you head through the door and ask, “Terminal?” If he goes to the terminal he’ll nod his head. You will be

Cost:

Free

Phone: 032-933-3624

Notes and Opinions

You will be disappointed if you spend 3 hours to get here. This is a nice site, if it is one of many sites you visit, but not if it is thought of as a main attraction.

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Seokjo Buddha Standing Statue

How to Get There:

• From Ganghwa Bus Terminal.

Take the #1 bus

Ask a bus driver which bus to take. Don’t bother asking the lady at the ticket booth. She will only tell you the wrong bus number and get you hopelessly lost.

This bus will be parked next to gate 1.

When you board the bus tell the driver where you want to go. He will stop right there whether it was a stop or not.

This should cost about 900KRW.

• From Ganghwa Dolmen

Walk towards the road 48, the road the bus that brought you there drove on. Stand with your back to the Ganghwa Dolmen and turn right. Keep walking until you see a sign for the carved standing Buddha.

To get back just stand on the side of the road and flag down any bus. Unlike Seoul, you don’t have to be at a bus stop to get a bus driver to stop for you. When a bus stops, stick you head through the door and ask, “Terminal?” If he goes to the terminal he’ll nod his head.

Cost:

Free

Hours:

Always available for viewing.

Notes and Opinions

You will be disappointed if you spend 3 hours to get here. This is a nice site, if it is one of many sites you visit, but not if it is thought of as a main attraction.

Before we walked up the hill to the Buddha and the pagoda we left our bags at the little store at the fork in the road. She watched our stuff and didn’t take any money for it, even though we offered to pay. We did, however, buy water and snacks.

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Five-Storied Pagoda

How to Get There:

From Ganghwa Bus Terminal.

Take the #1 bus

Ask a bus driver which bus to take. Don’t bother asking the lady at the ticket booth. She will only tell you the wrong bus number and get you hopelessly lost.

This bus will be parked next to gate 1.

When you board the bus tell the driver where you want to go. He will stop right there whether it was a stop or not.

This should cost about 900KRW.

From Seokjo Buddha Standing Statue

If you haven’t seen the sign already on your way to the Budda statue, just go back to road 48 and walk going west, or away from the Ganghwa Dolmen. You should see a sign soon.

To get back just stand on the side of the road and flag down any bus. Unlike Seoul, you don’t have to be at a bus stop to get a bus driver to stop for you. When a bus stops, stick you head through the door and ask, “Terminal?” If he goes to the terminal he’ll nod his head.

Cost:

Free

Hours:

Always available for viewing

Notes and Opinions

You will be disappointed if you spend 3 hours to get here. This is a nice site, if it is one of many sites you visit, but not if it is thought of as a main attraction.

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Hamheodongcheon Campsite

How to Get There:

The directions are the same as the ones to get to Dongmak beach. They are both on the same road. If you can’t pronounce the name, just say, “camping” and point to your map.

• From Dongmak Beach

Take any bus going left to right when your back is to the beach . Tell the driver where you want to go.

The entrance is not very obvious, so again, make sure to tell the bus driver where you want to go.

Cost:

The picture above might be helpful if you can read Korean. The smaller fees are for entrance to the park. There is a mountain you can climb to visit a temple. Camping over night cost a bit more. Mark paid about 9,000KRW for him and me. Having camped in Korea before  I think the price is calculated like this:

2 adult entrance tickets: 1,500KRW X 2 = 3,000KRW

2 adults with own tent:   3,000KRW X 2 = 6,000KRW

total   = 9,000KRW

That’s how it worked at Muuido.

There might be tents to rent, but don’t count on it. It might be something that’s only available in the summer.

Hours:

Always open

Notes and Opinions

There is a 24 hour Family Mart right by the entrance where you can buy food and supplies. There is a restaurant or two within the campsite, but they aren’t always open. Unfortunately we didn’t see a noraebang.

There further you go up the better the campsites get. There are wooden platforms you can put your tent on, but you don’t have to use them. You can pitch your tent anywhere you find space.

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Oktokki Space Center

How to Get There:

From Hamheodongcheon Campsite or Dongmak beach

Take any bus going left to right when your back is to the beach. Tell the driver where you want to go.

From Ganghwa Terminal, take bus #14 tell the driver where you want to go.

Cost:

Adults = 13,000KRW

Hours:

9:30 ~ 19:00

Notes and Opinions

This park seems to be for kids, but it was on road 84 and easy to get to from our campsite. We had fun there and spent about 3 hours playing and taking photos. If you go, try the 4 season sledding in the back.

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Gwangseongbo

How to Get There:

From Ganghwa Terminal

This bus will be parked at gate 6 and will not have a number. This bus runs very infrequently. Tell the bus driver where you want to go.

To go back to the terminal take any bus that stops at the bus stop whether is goes to the terminal or not. If it doesn’t go to the terminal get off when the bus gets on road number 84. Right before the turn to road 84 you will see, on the right side, an add for a restaurant of a guy making noodles. The picture kinds looks like a KKK member.

Once on road 84 stop any bus headed north, (going in the direction opposite of the bus you got off of).

Cost:

Adult: 1,100KRW

Notes and Opinions

There is muddy fishing area nearby. Bring your fishing rod and prepare to get some stares.

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What is Chosuk?

Chosuk is the Korean version of Thanksgiving. If you are a traditional Korean, on Chosuk you would go to your hometown or your spouse’s hometown to visit family. Once there you would visit the burial places of deceased relative, clean their tomb stones and pay your repects by offering the spirits food and drinks. You would eat lots of food and play tradtional games with the kids. You might even catch a ssireum match or two.

Chosuk is the worst time to travel. Just like travelling around Thanksgiving in the states, everyone and their mom is on the road. I wanted to go to Jeju Island, but all the tickets were sold out. Camping on the east coast was out because all the train tickets were sold. The only places for us to go were areas that we could get to by Seoul mass transit.

The Big Island

If I were to go back I would rent a car or a scooter. The island is huge, buses don’t come by very often, no one seems to know the bus schedule, and taxis are hard to get anywhere other than the bus terminals. The guy at the Tourist Information office recommended renting a bike, but there no way that would have worked. The island is not only really big, but hilly.

There is also no way to get the bike rental place other than going by taxi. It’s right next to the Gapgot Dondae incase you want to give it a try. I don’t how much it costs to rent bike since it was closed when we got there, but apparently you can rent them for hours or days at a time.

None of the attractions are nice or big enough to spend a whole day to see. The ideal thing would be to spend a day going from attraction to attraction. That, however, is impossible because of the sporadic public transportation system. You never know when the bus will come, where it will go, or who can answer your questions about what bus to take.

During this trip Mark and I would go to the terminal bus station and ask about 4 people which bus to take and we would get about 5 different answers. It turns out that the bus drivers are the best people to ask. It takes about 5 minutes for them to give you answer since they have to go to the bus driver’s break room and consult a few time tables, but you can rely on their answers.

The whole time I was there I kept thinking, if only there were scooters to rent or a bus route map and schedule. I hope that a member of the Ganghwa board of tourist read this and decides to publish a bus route map.

Dongmak Beach

It cost us 22,000KRW to get to Dongmak Beach from the terminal station, but there were 4 of us. Our plan was to camp out on the beach. I had no delusions of swimming. Beaches on the west coast of Korea are glorified mud pits after the tide goes out and just plain muddy water when the tide is in.

There were many day tents on the beach when were got there so we figured that we were the only ones spending the night. Mark and I have a tent, but our friends Nick and Brittney do not. Their plan was to rent a tent. It seems like, had we done this in the summer there would have been tents to rent. But, this was October and all the tent renters closed up shop and migrated south for the winter.

It turns out that many things change here once the summer ends. The water at the foot washing station didn’t have running water. The shower facilities, despite the fact that there was running water, were closed. We tried to jump the fence and use it anyway, but random Korean tourist who just couldn’t mind their own business, kept telling us that we should use the foot washing station.

On the up side, the place was quite uncrowded!

At night we put up our tent and started a campfire. The fire seemed to spark the interest in many of the Koreans on the beach. They kept coming over starting awkward small talk while warming themselves by the fire. After a while some of them felt guilty for taking all our fire warmth, so they went out and got more wood, chopped it up and tended the fire for us.

Another Campsite

The rest of our time was spent constantly going back to the terminal to try to figure out how to get to other places on the island. We saw some sites, but not as many as we wanted to.

We eventually made our way to the Hamheodongcheon Campsite. Again there was no tent for Nick and Brittney to rent. But on the bright side, there was a GS25 mart nearby to buy food and supplies.

The campsite was huge and because it was Chosuk, there weren’t tons of people. There was one weird guy who seemed quite fascinated by us. He came by with his dog and just sat in our camping area and stared at us. We tried to saying hi, but he wouldn’t speak. Later on he sat on the street across from us and sang. We joined in and it seemed to frighten him. What a odd guy.

The shower facilities here were locked, the washing station did have running water.

Kid on a Ledge

This is not a travel entry, but just a weird thing that happen to Mark and me.

Late Sunday morning, while at Mark’s apartment, I was sitting at his desk wasting time on Facebook. I noticed a head bobbing around outside the window. I thought, at first, that someone was fixing something outside. But the person was just pacing outside the ledge.

Mark and I got up and looked outside to see what was going on. That’s when we realized that the person was just a little kid. He ran over to the corner of the building. Mark’s apartment is on the 6^th floor so I panicked thinking that this kid might fall to his death. I had no idea what to do. I don’t speak Korean. How would I explain to someone what was going on before the kid falls off the ledge? I quickly took some pictures to make it easier for us to get help.

I really didn’t have to think about this for very long, because Mark climbed out the window during my little panicky episode. He shuffled over to the kid and picked him up. Mark said the boy struggled a bit.

Mark managed to carry him over to our window and handed him over to me. I picked him up and brought him into Mark’s apartment. The kid was wear diapers and he had a bloody foot. He looked to be about six years old. He was obviously a mentally challenged kid.

I took his hand and led him through the apartment and out the door. I hoped that he would lead me to his apartment so I could tell his mom about what happened. As we walk through the hallway I saw another kid. I ask the other kid, “Is this your little brother?”

The older kid said nothing; not even in Korean. He took the diapered child’s hand and walked him to their apartment. The parents weren’t home. Mark came over. He had his co-worker on the phone to translate. We tried talking to the older brother, but he never spoke a word.

Mark went downstairs to tell the building’s security guard what happen. I stayed upstairs. I tried to get the older brother to close the window in his apartment. He just stared at me blankly. I began to think that he too might be mentally challenged.

Then I noticed the diapered child climbing out the window again. I pushed the other boy out of the way; he was stand at the door. I ran over to the window and grabbed the younger kid. Then I locked the window myself.

Mark’s talk with the security guard didn’t go well. The guard thought he was reporting the kid as a peeping Tom. Even with the co-worker as a translator, he couldn’t make the security guard understand how dangerous the situation was. The guard just couldn’t be bothered.

When the mom finally came home we tried to talk to her. By this time we didn’t have a translator so we showed her the photos I had taken. She thanked us.

Seodaemun Prison

More Pictures

Seodaemun Prison

How to Get There:

Cost:

Adult      1,500KRW

Child         500KRW

After 18:00 tickets cost 8,000KRW for adults.

Hours:

Mar—Oct   9:30 – 18:00
Nov—Feb  9:30 – 17:00
Closed: Jan 1, Lunar New Year, Chuseok, Mondays , Tuesdays after Mondays that are holidays

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Seodaemun Prison was used, in the early 1900’s, by the Japanese to imprison Korean citizen who were against Japan’s annexation of Korea. The prisoners were part of Korea’s Independent movement and they were brutally tortured during their time in the prison.

There were many manikins that demonstrated some of the type of torture used against the Korea prisoners. Before seeing the Seodaemun Prison I already know how cruel the Japanese could be. No one did torture like the Japanese during and before World War II.

Make no mistake. There were all sorts of atrocities committed by the Japanese towards the Koreans. It was probably even more horrendous than can be imagined. The written explanations on the wall however were so over the top anti-Japanese that is was a bit comical. The Japanese were always called, “the Japanese aggressors” and the Korean’s were all but painted with halos hanging over their heads.

Seodaemun Prison is a very educational experience. A trip here helps to understand the ill feeling the Koreans have the Japanese.

Songdo and the Flu of Swines

More Pictures

Songdo

How to Get There:

From Seoul take Seoul subway line #1 to Bupyoung then transfer to Incheon line #1. Get off at Techno Park station, Central Park Station or any of the stop in between.

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Global Fair & Festival

How to Get There:

From Seoul take Seoul subway line #1 to Bupyoung then transfer to Incheon line #1. Get off at Central Park Station.

Cost:

Adult      18,000KRW

Student  13,000KRW

Child      10,000KRW

After 18:00 tickets cost 8,000KRW for adults.

Hours:

August 7, 2009 – October 25, 2009

9:00 – 21:00 Check web site for more information

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Swine Flu

Koreans are scared of swine flu. I’m not sure how the everyday American feels about swine flu, but here people are scared. There have been many cancellations of public outdoor event for fare of spreading swine flu.

Personally I think that swine flu is a great thing for Korea.  I remember Korea one year ago. Let’s say you want to use the bathroom. It’s doesn’t really matter where you use the facilities, you run into the same problem. There is either no soap or you have to use a  bar of soap that is attached to the sink via a metal rod. Sometime the soap looks clean, but most of time it’s look like the place where all evil originated. I still haven’t figured out whether is better to use or not use the dirty bar of soap to wash my hands.

I always wash my hands. I either use the dirty soap, my own soap that I keep in my purse when I remember to bring it, or wash with only water. Most people, on the other hand, don’t even give the sink as much as a slight glance. They open their bathroom stall and head straight for the door.

Some other things in Korea a year ago are lots of open mouth coughing, open mouth sneezing, spitting and snot rockets. I can’t even tell you the number of times I have almost been spat on or been the victim of a snot rocket attack. For those of you how don’t know what a snot rocket is, look at the video below.

Now there is liquid soap in more bathrooms and hand sanitizer in many shops and fast food restaurants. In many public bathrooms there are new posters that given instructions on proper hand washing. Sadly there is still a lot of uncovered coughing mouths and I don’t think that people will ever stop spitting everywhere.

Along with the hundreds of hand sanitizer machines, there are also many “fluguns” installed where crowds are expected. This is a device that is suppose to kill flu germs, I think. I doubt that it works, since after being “flugunned” about three times in Songdo I had a cold the next day.

International Fair

Whenever I see the word “international” in Korea, I become skeptical. Take for example the international restaurant area right outside Lotte Word. They have a Japanese restaurant, a bad Chinese restaurant, a Korean version of an Italian restaurant and about 1,001 Korean restaurants.

So I was quiet surprised when I saw countries like India, Turkey, and Sweden being represented. Africa was lumped together as if it were one giant country and for a minute, as we walk through the “pathway of Africa,” I thought it would be nothing but bare-breasted women with baskets on their head, but the African Tribe Living Hall did have some nice African art and pottery exhibit.

The European Culture exhibit was a bit off. It seems that to the maker of the exhibit European Culture was just any and everything that wasn’t Korean. It was just a grouping of room with a bunch of stuff randomly place thrown about. Among the example of Europeanism was a gramophone, a moose head, and several Barbie dolls, one Mexican and one Native American.

We were excited to check out the Robot Science Pavilion down HIGH-TECH Plaza, but it too was disappointing. They did have robots that kids could control, but most of them needed maintenance. As I walked through the building I felt as if the designers of this exhibit just gave up and just put up movie posters.

Other than the gross misunderstanding of most non-Korean culture and totally misleading Robot Science Pavilion the fair was nice. There are carni rides and a short fireworks show at night.

Korea’s Aesthetics

One thing that Korea is famous for is plastic surgery. In Gangnam, the posh part of Seoul, you will find “Aesthetic Clinics” left and right. Even in the not so fancy areas there are many “Aesthetic Clinics” but most of them look a bit sketchy and far from aesthetically pleasing. I don’t know of anyone who has had plastic surgery while in Korea, other than an acquaintance here and there, but I do know Mark. He got he eyes done.

Surgery in Korea generally costs less than say, back in the states. I met a guy who had brain surgery last year on Halloween for about 2,000USD. He was a teacher and had the national health insurance. His surgery was covered by the government health insurance*, but non-necessary procedures will not be covered.

They are still pretty inexpensive though. That is why people who are in Korea either visiting or working, will get some “work” did done while they’re here. And, there are doctors galore to accommodate them.

Mark’s Eyes

If you have been following my blog you may have noticed Mark. He is featured in many of my entries. I met him this year at a Lunar New Year’s celebration event.

He used to look like this:

Now he looks like this:

Do you see the difference?

Mark had LASEK eye surgery and no long needs to wear his coke-bottle glasses. He looked around on several forums online to find a good doctor and picked Dream Eye Center. It cost him about 1,500USD because he got a “foreigner discount”.

The surgery itself took about 15 minutes with a few minutes of prep.  All the eye tests had to be done again to check for any changes in his eyes. This is what most of the time is spent on. He went in one Saturday with his glasses and left an hour and a half later with burning eyes minus the glasses. His vision improved over the weeks and months and has had several check-ups to make sure that everything is going well. His vision is now almost 20/20.

Before his vision was -5.5 and -6.1 but I can’t find the conversion to the 20/20 scale. Let’s just say that without his glasses, Mark was helpless and could not function on his own. For amusement, I used to hid his glasses right in front of him and watch him blindly feel for them.

Right after the surgery though, his eyes stung especially in the morning when woke up. He was constantly using eye drops. One contained steroids to strengthen his eyes. The other was to fight against bacterial infection. He still uses the eye drops that contains steroids.

* A Word about the National Health Insurance

I know of a few people you have gotten sick or had accidents while working in Korea and had the national heath insurance. Some have had no problem with paying their hospital fees, others have. The problem is the amount of the fee.

You do have to pay for medical attention. You might even have to pay thousands of dollars, or millions of won, for surgery and/or hospital stay. The national insurance will only pay part of your fees for needed procedure and will not pay for anything that is considered unnecessary. The co-pay is not small for some surgeries.

Most medical treatments here is a lot cheaper than in most countries and so is the monthly cost of health insurance. I pay about 85,000KRW a month. When I get sick and need to see a doctor I pay about 3,000KRW for my visit and about 3,000KRW for my individually wrapped medication. But if I needed major surgery I would expect to pay thousands of dollars.

That said, if you do decide to go to Korea to teach for a year know that the national health care is not free. If you never get any serious injures, it’s really cheap. Make sure to have some extra “should in case” money or extra health insurance.

Taiwan: The last days

More pictures

September 2-3, 2009

I spent the rest of my time swimming early in the mornings and late in the evenings. The rest of the day I scootered into town and tried to stay cool.

September 4, 2009

On my last full day in Taiwan Max, the owner of the Ipanema Surf House drove me to the bus station in Hengchun. I got there 10 minutes before the next #88 Kenting Express left for Zuoying. I think they run every 30 minutes, but I’m not completely sure. The last stop, my stop, was the Zuoying High Speed Railway station.

My train to Taoyuan left at 6:36am the next day so when my bus got to Zuoying my first priority was to find lodgings. My guide book was of absolutely no help in this matter. I walked into the station and found the tourist information desk. I asked the lady there how to get to the nearest hotel. She wrote something in Chinese on a post-it note and handed it to me. “Just show this to a taxi driver.”

“Do I have to take a taxi? Can’t I walk there?”

I try not to take taxis when traveling alone in new countries. In Seoul I try to never get into a cab. Cabbies in Seoul drive like they are insane. While traveling I feel safer in a bus or just walking. A bus driver is less likely to be able to murder me and dump my body without any witnesses.

Ok, my murder is not actually the reason for my not wanting to get into a taxi by myself. I feel that taxi drivers are more likely to rip off passengers when they think they are helpless and naïve. A bus drive cannot charge extra or take me the long way, but a cab driver can.

Another thing is that a cab driver can drop me off in the middle of nowhere either out of malice or miscommunication. In such a situation it might be hard to find another taxi to get back. If I took the wrong bus, I can just get on the same bus going in the opposite direction to return. I have also found helpful people on buses who have given me directions or advice.

This time, it seemed, I would have to take a taxi. It would be a 5 minute ride that would cost me 100TWD, but the directions, the lady said, were too complicated and I might get lost. If it weren’t so hot outside I would have put up more of a fight, but the heat melted away all my reservations.

When riding in a taxi by myself in a new country I always pay close attention to where I’m going. I look out for landmarks and try to memorize the directions. We past a really nice hotel and I hoped that I wouldn’t be taken there. It looked too expensive for me.

We pulled up to the hotel. It was the Garden Villa. Before I could protest a door man helped me out of the car and anther one carried my bag in for me. Because the Ipanema Surf House was a lot less expensive than what I was planning, I was way under budget for my vacation. I knew exactly how much money I had. I thought if the rate is less than that amount, minus the cost of 2 meals, I’d stay.

I walked up to the desk with no plan B. Where was I going to go if the hotel was too expensive? I inquired about the room rate and was told that it was 2300TWD a night. “Ok. I’ll like a room for one night please.”

When I got to the room I notice a card with all the room rates. The cheapest one was the room I was staying in and it was 4,800TWD. I don’t know how I got the discount, but I didn’t really care much.

The hotel had a view of Lotus Lake. I was so excited by seeing the pretty pagodas that I skipped lunch, forgot about the heat, and walk around the lake. An hour later I was drenched in sweat and had a headache caused by dehydration.

I went up to my room, took a long cooling shower and ordered room service. For such a fancy hotel, the room service menu wasn’t very good.

September 5, 2009

The next day I was at the THSR station very early in the morning. I looked at my ticket then at the prompter over head and figured out where I need to be to catch my train. As I was walking down the platform an older couple came up to me. They spoken in Chinese and were asking for help. They didn’t know where to go and they knew no English.

I looked at their ticket I and at the prompter. Their train left for Taipei 9 minutes before mine. I told them in English and with a lot of pointing that they needed to be at platform 2, section 5.

I get asked for directions a lot where every where I go. Once I gave a Korean ajumma my subway map and helped her to transfer lines. I might not look Asian, but I must look like I know where I’m going. If they only knew how often I get lost.

I eventually hopped on a plane headed for Incheon. When I got to the airport in Korea I found Mark waiting for me and was glad to be back in the land of the morning calm.

Taiwan: Nixon’s Head

More pictures

August 31, 2009

The beach was about a 5 minute scooter ride from the Ipanema Surf House. There is very little traffic along the road to the beach, actually there isn’t much of anything. There is a sign by the turn for the beach. It cost 10TWD to park a scooter there and 30TWD for a car. To rent a big umbrella, it is 300TWD, but I didn’t think it was worth it.

It was unforgivably hot in Taiwan. Around noon it was even too hot to go swimming. So, I would wake up early in the morning and go swimming. I had the beach all to myself. Even the people selling stuff wouldn’t be up yet. I would come back in the evening. At that time there would be a huge crowd of about 6 people.

The beach gets a bit more crowed on the weekends, but during the week people don’t show up until about 9:00am. I would leave around 9:30am. That gave me enough time to shower and head out for the town of Hengchun for lunch before the temperature got to high.

I have to say that the food I tried in Taiwan wasn’t all that great. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as life-changingly delicious as Thai food. Maybe when I go back to Taiwan to see Taipei I will get to taste better food.

There was one restaurant called Bossa Nova. The food and service was ok. I was a little freaked out when an employee’s five-year-old daughter showed up. She came skipping and a waiter sat her on a table. She took off her shoe and started walking on the table with her bare feet. No one told her to stop. When she finally hopped off the table no one bothered to clean to table top. Afterwards, I looked at my own table suspiciously.

September 1, 2009

Swimming all day isn’t much fun when you have to leave every time you get hungry and feel like passing out around noon because of the heat. So, one day after my morning swim, I did a little sightseeing; just one day. This was after all a week of relaxation.

I passed by other beaches along the Kenting road. None of them was as good as Baisha, but they all had restaurants across the street. The beaches in this part of Taiwan aren’t very long and have rocks in and around them.

My first stop was the Frog Rock Marine Park. The entrance fee was 20TWD and 30TWD to park a scooter. There is hotel in this park that is used for groups of students and families. The hotel is made up of traditional looking Taiwanese buildings. The namesake Frog Rock sits at the edge of the park. There is also a beach, but I was told that it is now closed because of the storm that hit the area in early August.

Stop 2 was Nixon’s Head. I didn’t think it looked like Nixon at first, but after I stared at it in the heat for a couple of hours I was able to see it.

Stop 3 was the lighthouse. This cost 40TWD to enter and 10TWD to park a scooter. This park had some nice views of the neighboring beach, but it was really hot. Once I walk up the little hill and had a look around I was dripping in sweat.

After this day I vowed not to go sightseeing again. I would spend the rest of my noons indoors with the a/c on high watching “Boys over Flowers” in Mandarin. The venture did make my afternoon swim much more enjoyable.

Taiwan: The Ipanema Surf House

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August 30, 2009

In the morning I checked out of my hotel. It was a nice hotel, but it wasn’t near the beach I wanted. This was a relaxing vacation, not a sightseeing one. I wanted to just lie around on a beach and not do anything for a week.

I asked the ladies at the counter for the best way to get to Baisha. They acted like this was a very near to impossible thing I wanted to do. “You have to take a bus into town, and then take another bus to Baisha. It could take a long time. Buses don’t come by very often.”

As we were talking, the owner of the hotel over heard our conversation. “I’ll take you for 300TWD.” I don’t know if this was way too much to pay or if it was a deal, but I was willing to pay it. I would rather be sitting on a beach instead of standing at a bus stop.

He took me to the Ipanema Surf House, which is run by a surfer named Max. He used to live in Brazil and is still quiet in love with everything Brazilian. It cost me 400TWD per night for a room.

The rooms can accommodated to fit many people. There were four beds in my room before I got there, but most were moved out to make it a one person room. The amenities are: free wireless internet, free internet when Max isn’t using his computer, free usage of a huge washing machine, and I think Max gives surfing lessons, though I don’t how much it costs.

The hotel I slept in the previous night cost 1300TWD a night. That hotel came a pool. Most of the hotels along the Kenting road cost about 800TWD for the low end hotels to way more money that I care to think about for the high end hotels.

I was able to rent one of the two scooters that Max owned for 400TWD a day. This was great for me because I had budgeted 800TWD per night for a hotel and 500TWD per day for a scooter. The scooter cost about 80TWD to fill up with gas which I did 1.5 times while I was there and gave it back to max with roughly the same amount of gas it had when I got it. Why don’t more people ride scooters?

Max just handed me the keys for the scooter. He only asked if I had a driver’s license. He never asked to see it or whether or not I could drive a scooter. He offered to give me a 10 minute lesson only after I nearly rammed his scooter into his guest house.

Baisha beach was not what I was expecting. I wanted an isolated beach and that is exactly what I got. There were no nearby restaurants or convenience stores. Every time I got hungry I had to scoot into town.

At the start of my mini-vacation I wished I had gone to Paradise Beach Resort in Vietnam. There I never left the beach. It cost 20USD per night and included 3 meals a day. But I purposely chose not to go to Vietnam because I had already seen Vietnam and I had never been to Taiwan.