This Weekend: Chungju, Danyang, and Gosu Cave

[In this episode, we wander aimlessly until an ajumma hand-feeds us, get on a boat, and spelunk.]

This weekend, Kristen, Tom, and Lee, and I headed out to Chungju, a town (or tiny city), northeast of Daejeon. Chungju is the proud owner of the Chungju Dam, a hydro electric extravaganza that has created one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. There are regular ferries on this lake, too, so it's an excellent opportunity to see the Korean countryside at its (mostly) unspoiled best. The lake stretches through to Danyang, a tiny little town that is best known for the surrounding caves.

Now caving is not my usual bag, so I was pretty excited when this opportunity popped up. (We went through Adventure Korea--I wanted to introduce the 'new kids' to the wonders of weekend-tour programs, and also it seemed like the easier thing to do.) I vaguely remember tromping around in Tennessee's Cumberland Caves when I was a wee one, and I remember enjoying it immensely, but I also remember it not being nearly as cool as this.

In order to be ready for the bus in Chungju at 9:10, we decided to head into the city on Saturday night and stay in a cheap room. We didn't get out of Daejeon until about 4:00, so we didn't really have anything to do in Chungju except wander and eat. We made our way through the market, which is always intriguing. As always, I took market pictures... (I think my fascination with market pictures comes from a deep guilt of never taking market pictures in Ghana.)

Here are some various kimchi dishes for sale--I don't think it's regular kimchi because I believe that there are fish inside it.

And here are some pajamas and various Ajumma clothes for sale. I was pretty happy with the way that these pictures turned out. They are quite delightful. Anyway, after leaving the market, we wandered through a more hip district, where it seemed like all the young people were, and then we stopped in a random SamGyeopSal restaurant--which turned out to be the best decision of the trip.

SamGyeopSal is meat that you cook on your own little barbecue plate, and they bring it to you raw. Or--in this case, you retrieve the meat that you want from a buffet in the center of the restaurant, and you pay a flat price. (This one was less than eight dollars.) Here is Kristen stirring up our first batch of meat.

 However, it soon became clear that the owner of our restaurant, a wonderful enthusiastic middle aged woman [or, ajumma] , didn't see many foreigners. She decided to come talk to us, to which I sort of responded--but she had NO English, and I had only very limited Korean. (As in, I answer yes or no to what I THINK the question is.) But she was so happy to see us that she just wanted to help us understand how to eat SamGyeopSal. The whole time she insisted that the men at our table needed more garlic--to become strong men. "Maneul, MANEUUUL!" As with  all Korean dishes, there is a proper way to consume SamGyeopSal. The meat should be eaten with a tasty red sauce, with a piece of garlic and wrapped in a lettuce leaf. The wrap should be eaten in one bite, so as to avoid lettuce-wrap explosion. Anyway, Lee didn't really get it, so she did it for him--and then PUT IT IN HIS MOUTH. We were laughing hysterically as we watched him just sit there with lettuce poking out of his mouth, a look of utter horror on his face.

From there the night descended into uncontrollable laughter (it actually bordered a little on hysteria), too much food, and one seriously amazing good time. She even took a picture with us.

(from Left to Right, we have the woman, Lee, Kristen, me, and Tom.) She insisted that she was fifty five but I didn't believe her. By the end of the night, we were calling her Ommah, or mom in Korean, and she gave us delicious glass-bottle pepsi, apples, and literally fed us until we were insane. Kristen and I were laughing so hard we were crying, and it was really over absolutely nothing. We decided we'd have to get out of there before someone offered us alcohol, because we were already so far gone that that was the LAST thing we needed.

After leaving the restaurant, we walked all the way across town, back through the market, along the river, and towards the bus station so we could find a place to stay near our departure point. We ended up staying in the Love Motel district, at a neon-lit, blinking cluster of buildings that cater to Korean couples. These buildings attract patrons through sheer gaudiness, and decorate the buildings with neon lights that make them look more like a cake than a hotel. Ours was named Titanic. Quite excited about the potential sinking that we were going to do, we booked two rooms at the unbelievable price of 35,000 a night. For this 35,000, we got a working computer, a huge tv, an amazingly clean room, a bathtub with JETS, and all of this fancy madness....

Anyway these types of hotels, if you don't already know, are designed so that couples who either a. both live at home, or b. have spouses, can spend some time away from it all for cheap. These are extremely discrete places. The hallways are dark. Cars license plates are covered with blue wooden planks, in case anyone is looking for them. Keys are left in a corner in the elevator, not with the desk woman when the deed has been finished. But for travelers, these things are the best thing in the world--because they really are paradise for half the price.

Our night was uneventful. We watched a plethora of English tv, like Scrubs, and then we crashed out early. We woke early and headed back to the bus terminal, met our Adventure Korea bus, and then headed to the Chungju Dam, where I aggressively played a broken "Wack a Mole" until our ferry was ready to depart.

On the lake it was frigid, because we were traveling so fast, but it was beautiful. The water was very low, and so layers of rock were exposed, with the most intriguing coloration from years of water rising and falling.

The mountains in this part of the country are jagged, with exposed rock. They look fuzzy in the winter, because there are no leaves on the trees. The cloudy day made things seem awfully sinister, and the freezing wind on the deck added to the feeling. It was invigorating.

As we got closer to our destination, the water became greener and greener, and there was more and more rock standing there, strong, still, and perfectly straight. Like I said in my last post, there is something inherently 'Asian' in my head when I see those kinds of rock formations. It just doesn't seem to happen elsewhere, not like this.

Our final destination was a ferry terminus some ways away from Danyang, situated inside this gorgeous valley. It is a part of Korea's "Eight Famous Sceneries", or things in this area that Koreans have uniformly decided are beautiful. That includes stone pillars, climbing mountains, and an all around glorious display of rock, mountain, and water.

From the ferry terminus we left these mountains and moved onto new ones--this time mountains that we could go inside. We visited Gosu Cave, or Gosudonggul. I was really unprepared for how beautiful it was inside--I had no idea how much the earth could do in its spare time.

The cave had been developed with rather precarious looking metal stairs, but they didn't move or teeter, so I was happy. There was a course which we should take--as there always is in a Korean tourist destination--but it was not a disappointing one. Stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere, forming in groups, forming in patterns, forming in enormous organ-pipe shapes that took my breath away.

The cave walls were one thing, but the ceilings were the most impressive. Looking up, row after row after row of dripping stone could be seen, stretching up into black forever. It amazes me how long this took, and how long it went on doing this without any eyes to watch it. There are so many things under the surface of the earth that we don't know about... so many beautiful things that we won't see until we look under the barriers.

I was also extremely pleased with how my camera behaved. I switched it over into Manual and actually felt like I had some grip on the controls for the first time since I've had it... and I didn't use flash for ANY of these pictures. Props to my awesome Canon. Switching cameras before coming here was a 100% good decision. Now if only I could get up the courage to do more people shots....

Anyway, more about the cave... inside the cave there were certain points where men with digital cameras and huge flash umbrellas waited to take pictures of couples and travelers tromping the cave course. They stood in front of some of the more famous stalactite formations, and it was kind of intreguing--these older men (adjoushis--the male version of ajummas), just sitting in these boxes with cameras, attached to the metal framework of our course. It must be an odd underground job. Despite the fact that they were doing tourist things, their little booths looked industrial to me, and I got a rather cyberpunky feeling from the whole thing.

The course was wild--curving through the cave, spiral staircases, wet with water that dripped from the top of the cave--at one point my friends were twenty feet above me. Tom said he thought that the cave was overly 'sensitized' and 'touristy', but I rather liked the course and the lights that lit up the different formations. It helped me get pictures, and it helped me appreciate everything.

Anyway Gosu Cave is a must see. It's not really a day trip from Daejeon, as it took us 2 buses and about 3-4 hours to get home, but if you made a weekend out of it, you could hit up some of the other caves in the area as well. (Gosu is extremely popular for tourists, and so in the summer months may be more crowded. There are others.) Also in that area, which I plan on seeing soon, is the famous Guinsa Temple.

Sunday's Excursion: Magoksa Temple near Gongju

[In which we ride the oldest bus in Korea on the twistiest roads in Korea, and are forced to eat temple food by an enthusiastic monk.] 

Lately Gongju has simply been the best place to start for intriguing day trips. People in search of some interesting destinations around Daejeon would do well to start there. On Sunday, we decided to enjoy the warmer weather and take the day to do something cultural. Kristen has a new coworker at her school, so we were treating him to the 'life in Daejeon' skit, but since we hadn't done anything other than eating and partying, we figured it was time to do something 'cultural'. (Though eating and drinking is basically a cultural experience here.)

We set out around noon to Gongju, and got our bus at the Yuseong bus station. The Yuseong station is a crowd of bus madness, pulling in and out through the traffic of a regular street. I don't know how these drivers manage to do this without killing anyone--or hitting the other buses--but somehow it all works out. People wait in the corner of the small lot patiently, and then when the bus arrives (destination written only in Korean), you make sure that you make eye contact with the driver so that he knows that you are actually getting on the bus.

The bus ride to Gongju is also quite beautiful, since you are passing around Gyeryongsan National Park. While in Gongju we walked across the city (not knowing we could pick up the Magoksa bus at the big terminal!) and took some silly tourist pictures.

The local bus station in Gongju is right by the market. Now when Stephanie and I went to Gongju in September, it was a big holiday, and so the market was closed as closed could be. However, on Sunday, it was a big old markety mess, and I was instantly in love. The buses pulled into little "ports" when they were about to leave, which meant that there was a covered platform where the destinations were listed. On the market side of the platform, some old people were playing "Yoot", a game that we played at the Traditional New Year's Party last week. At first I didn't know what they were doing, because they were doing it with such enthusiasm--and at first, in my direction--that I thought they were attempting to exorcise me or something. This ancient woman in a pink felt zip up tossed those sticks like a fortune teller, speaking in the harsh Korean dialect that the older people tend to use. (Which to me sounds SO much better than the whining tone that the younger city kids seem to have.)

Sneaky as I am, I took a video.

Anyway, we meandered around the market, looking at the fish, meat, various feet products, and, of course, RED PEPPERS!

These bags come up to my waste. Looks like Kimchi dipping season is soon.... One of my students mentioned it to me, so I think it is coming up. These are the peppers that go into literally every Korean dish imaginable. In the fall they were all laying out to dry, now here they are in huge bags.

 Anyway we explored the market, saw our fare share of weird animal products, boots, buckets, and oddities, and then we hopped on the bus to Magoksa.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of this bus, but it was probably the oldest Korean bus I have ever been on. It was mostly open, with a few seats. We sat in the back, on the raised part above the engine, and we slowly jerked through Gongju, then we were released into the surrounding countryside. We were at first in a city, and then we went through a tunnel, and arrived in what seemed to be a completely different country. The countryside was empty except for farms, occasionally grave yards, and these little cement houses. The road became narrower and we jostled and flew down the road and increasingly more precarious speeds, and I was feeling delighted. The only people on the bus were these ancient ajummas, who all seemed to know each other. Just like in America, life in the country in Korea must be a completely different world.

We arrived at the temple feeling ready for an excellent time, and then we began our walk. Magoksa was established during the Baekje kingdom, but was also a principle temple during the Silla period. And then, during Joseon (when the Japanese invasion of the 1590s occurred) the temple was a place of refuge. So, in short--most of Magoksa is now entirely intact--which cannot be said about most other temples in Korea. Unlike all the things in Buyeo that Stephanie and I visited two weekends ago, the Magoksa buildings haven't been moved, rebuilt or even repainted in quite some time.

Yet there are new buildings among them, and we had a very pleasant time strolling through the complex. We heard chanting coming from a service inside one of the main halls. I paused to listen for some time. A few monks spoke to us--enthusiastically explaining things in Korean which I didn't understand.

When we were about to leave, I heard the bell being rung, so I skirted close so I could see it. This tiny little man with a sort of bucket hat on was ringing the bell (I assume for dinner), and then when he saw me standing there, he began to talk to me. I mostly had no idea what he was talking about, but when I inquired about their temple stay program, he lit up and dragged us back to their office. (We were a little bit worried about the last bus at this point, but we couldn't be rude.)

Then after a long discussion, and many, many brochures, he said "I am very hungry!" Oh, well we need to leave, so I figured now was a good time to escape... because I had definitely convinced him that I understood MUCH more Korean than I actually do. Now was the proper escape time. But no, no, "I am very hungry and you are very hungry!" He wouldn't take no for an answer. We kept saying "bus, bus!" but he kept saying "time many time!" So we really had no choice. Lee, the new guy, seemed a little concerned, but I was happy to finally feel like I was traveling, and I just put my hands up in the air and said, "It'll work out."

So we went downstairs to the monk's quarters--a new building--and feasted on some delicious vegetarian bibimbap style food. It was delicious! And the monk came up to Lee and made a huge round sign with his hands, and then put it to his stomach. Then he grinned with this absolutely uncontrollable joy and bounced off to speak to more people. Then the temple secretary gave us this weird piggy bank thing and we set off.

It was a really odd experience, but one that I absolutely loved!

Holy Canoli, Batman! Seoul!

So this weekend I made my first trip up to Seoul from Daejeon to visit Stephanie! We had an excellent time. We ate at an Indian-Nepalese restaurant, an African (Ghanaian!!) restaurant, AND a Mexican Restaurant! We went to a beautiful palace AND a beautiful temple, and we even heard some amazing chanting. I bought shoes, shirts, and kitchy trinkets that I l-l-love! We even went to a book store!

I arrived around two on Saturday, and Stephanie and I went to Gyeongbokgung, or 경복궁, which was founded in 1395 by the Joseon dynasty. Since then it has been destroyed twice by the Japanese, once in the 1592 invasion, and again in the more well known invasion precluding WWI. One of the important figures in Korean occupation was Empress Myeongseong, who fought the Japanese until she was assassinated in 1895. I'm excited to find out more about her, but so far I don't really know much. All of these buildings were beautifully restored in the mid 1990s and early 2000s, and they're still working on other parts of the enormous complex. It is intriguing and breathtaking that this place is so old but so young, and also such an important symbol. There were many tourists there, but they were from everywhere--and more than 50% were Korean tourists. I heard some Japanese, and actually spoke it a little bit with an older woman. And by speaking I mean, I repeated what she said because I understood it, and she was dumbfounded and asked me if I spoke Japanese, and then I said "a little" and went on my way. But you know. Whatever you can get. Actually that day I spoke four different languages... because I spoke to the Japanese Lady, spoke Korean to folks, and English with Stephanie, and tiny Twi with the owners of the Ghanaian restaurant. Granted... I only used a few words in all but English, but, yeah I'd say that's pretty cool. I'll give myself permission to be proud of myself for that. :P

Anyway, the grandeur and impressiveness of this palace are just beyond beautiful. Everything is enormous, complicated, intricate, and well thought out. There are two impressive mountains standing behind the palace grounds, and they are distinctly Asian mountains. The rock formations are just not anything you would see in the US, and the way they stand is different from American mountains and African mountains. It might be easy to assume that rock is rock everywhere place to place, but no.

There are pictures from the weekend posted on facebook. I won't regale you with the entire story now because that post would just be too long, but check out my gallivanting, and hopefully you'll have a long enough attention span when I attempt to write about it!

Norebang is a BAD idea when loosing one's voice.

Hahaha. Last night we went to Norebang at about 5 in the morning. Norebang is Korean Karaoke, which literally, I think, means "singing room". You get your own room, with microphones, a tv to show you the lyrics, and a lot of awkward people screaming their hearts out. Even if they don't have a voice to scream with--holy buckets. And now I don't have a voice at ALL, haha. But I guess it was worth it. :D

Perhaps I gave you the impression that I dislike ALL my kids.

This isn't true. Yesterday I was just venting about the day ahead of me--Wednesdays beat me down, and this one definitely did. But Tuesdays and Thursdays--I like those kids a lot. I have one difficult class, but I know how to maintain it. It's my turf, I understand certain things.

Anyway, today I have a bunch of great kids. My favorite class is one where everybody gets really excited about role playing. They have so much fun getting up in front of class and acting out the story, which makes me really happy, because some of the other classes just get bored with it. There is one kid in this class who insists on saying "YES SIR CAPTAIN" every time I tell him to do anything. And when they need to, they work quietly, which is a blessing.

My two older classes on Tuesday and Thursday are fun too. Sometimes I can't control the last class, but it's because they fight all the time. And the one kid is bigger than me. The little kid provokes him, and then the big kid attacks him. So flat out, next time I'm just going to tell him that I'm not stopping the fight if the little kid says mean stuff. ^^; That's a terrible teacher move, but what am I supposed to do? My coworker was telling me, actually, that their little brothers are in our school too, and they are also friends, haha. Anyway I get the feeling that these two are the best of friends, and will be that way their whole lives. And that's something I like to see. That class is a lot of fun, when I can actually control them. 

Anyway, I DO like some of my kids. I just dread Wednesdays. You got my residual fear and frustration yesterday. But there is another thing too.. I am realizing that I am the TEACHER. Which is really new to me. I like to hang out with kids--especially the older ones. I feel bad for making them do work that they find boring and irrelevant. Because I know how *I* would behave--I would ignore that teacher and roll my eyes and complete the work just to say "Look I am smarter than your stupid book." And I have students that do that. But I haven't figured out how to fix that yet. So really what it is, is that these bored students make me feel like a bad teacher. Because really, I don't CARE if they do their work or not, so long as they understand me when I talk to them. But they aren't paying tons of money to come here to hang out. Their parents want to see results, and that means paper book work. I want to see understanding, and that definitely does not come from the books. Anyway, I have a whole 11 more months to figure out how this works. And the perks of the situation are that I have a great boss, and I got PAID today, which is fan-freakin-tastic, because I haven't been paid anything since June 30.

Speaking of getting paid! Yesterday I had a bank-account-creating adventure! .. Well I guess it wasn't really an adventure. But I learned the word for bank (은행). Being able to read is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself before you come over here. If you can read, it's so much easier to teach yourself simple words. If you go to a place, you can remember what you get. If you can't understand how to pronounce something, you can write it. If you need to tell a taxi driver where to go, you can write it, instead of trying to get him to struggle through your accent.

OH! And speaking of Taxi drivers!! I had a LADY taxi driver yesterday! A Lady! I've never had a lady taxi driver! I just imagined that she was the queen of badass back at the taxi lair. She was just an older lady--not a grandmother yet, but her kids were grown up, probably my mom's age. She wore driving gloves and I bet she could sock some people pretty bad. I thought it was so cool. :D

And today is the last day of work before a FOUR DAY WEEKEND. Yes, PLEASE, folks. And even better... Stephanie is coming!! Woo!! I also met another religious studies major last night, which was great! He said he went to a temple stay that was actually an "international" temple, which means that there were American folks there, and so their English was impeccable--and they could explain the meaning of things. I am so excited to do that. .. Now I feel bad because I can't remember the guy's name. But I remember his face. It was nice, though. I met a lot of new folks last night. We went out to the other side of the city, where my coworker's sister lives. I recognized a few things from when I went to my Ghanaian friend's apartment (I think, but it was dark), so I think it was in that general direction. Older part of the city. More oomph on the streets. There are a lot of fun and interesting people over there, and I saw a lot of new faces. Including this guy from Brainerd! What? :D Another Minnesota face. People said that there were a lot of folks from Minneapolis here; haha, I said "You know, it is a bigger city than people give it credit for."

Had my first drink of Soju, but it was a little sip. Pretty.. yeah gross. But then again, from what people told me about Palm Wine, it can't be grosser than that. :D Cuz it's certainly not like drinking bacon.