The Beauty in Light and Dark, Water and Fire.

It was the weekend of the 9-10 Oct and Sandy, Ashli and I had decided to check out the Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival (“historical and luminescent beauty of the lanterns at the Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival” – Korea.net: www.korea.net/news.do?mode=detail&guid=50279 ). It was to be an overnight trip from the Saturday to the Sunday as it was too far for us to get home that same night after seeing the lanterns, so we researched (well... Sandy researched) places to stay.

We were only hopeful and not sure of accommodation as this festival is relatively popular with the locals so we didn’t know if we would actually be able to find a room to stay for the night. (ENTER INTO THE Equation – Jjimjilbang “a place of too many naked people and a very unpleasant night’s sleep” anonymous: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang ).

Sandy exhibiting our lunch for the train ride
(Pb&J Sandwches and apples)

We climbed on our train in hope and arrived in Jinju at about 16:00.

Just as we set foot out of the Jinju Train station it starts to pelt down with rain. We stand under an awning for about 10min before we are able to hail a taxi and when we do, we still have to run 20m to the taxi and get soaked in the process.

We give the taxi driver directions to the motel we had researched and what would normally be a 10-15min taxi ride turned into a 40min taxi ride because of the traffic volume that was in the city to see the lanterns. After paying way more then we should have for that taxi trip we get out to find out that the 1^st motel we want to stay at is derelict, as was the 2^nd ...

This picture is only a dramatisation as real images may offend sensitive viewers

... and we couldn’t find the 3^rd. In slight panic mode we eventually find a place called Motel Buckingham (as in where the queen lives) but it is super expensive (as in KW90 000 for the room). Worried that we will not find anything else we take the hit and pay for a room for the 3 of us.

We dropped our stuff and took a 20min rest before taking a walk down to the riverside where all the lanterns were. 

AND NOW FOR LOTS OF PICTURES...

For no reason at all (even with the flash) I couldn't get my face to show up in this picture. Oh well - it still looks cool!

Overlooking the river of Lanterns - the blue ring thing is the waterbed bridge I talk about later

It was at this point that we begin to try and meet up with people. It was ridiculous – it took me 40min of phone-calling and searching  and standing around waiting to be found before I met up with Alan, Lisa and Marelize (just a few of the wonderful people I flew to Korea with – they stay in Deagu).

From Left to Right: Sandy; Alan, Marelize, Lisa, Geoff (Duhhhhh!)

Sadly they could not stay long as they had to catch their train back to Deagu so after a brief catch-up we said our good-byes and they headed on their way home.

Sandy and I were now really hungry, so we went in search of food and I picked up what amounted to McCain frozen chips that had been wrapped in dough and the whole thing dunked into a deep fryer. It tasted fantastic! I can’t remember what Sandy chose to eat but after we went and found waffles and the Korean version on éclairs for Dessert.

The things on the bottom left of the picture, yes the things on the stick with bumps all over it - that is what I ate!

Next on the meet up list was Deborah and Andrea who were down from Deajeon. Sadly that fizzled before I could even start looking for them as it was getting late and they were keen to try and get a train back to Deajeon (which in the end they couldn’t do and had to stay at a Jjimjilbang­ – “ag shame” as we say in SA. I am so glad I was not them that night.

Next and final on the meet up list was Ashli (who had gone earlier in the day with her friend Libby). Ashli had found Soekie – another friend I flew from SA to Korea with and they were together – YES PLEASE!!! – 2 Birds with one stone (please excuse the slightly sexist term used here – pure coincidence)! Now this was a mission in itself. We had been in contact for the majority of the night trying to figure out where to meet her and every time we thought we had found the right place it was not the right place. The problem stemmed from the fact that they never stopped moving long enough for us to catch up with them  - number 1. And number 2. The lantern displays were on 2 side of the river and somehow we always seemed to find ourselves on opposite sides of the river. This proved to be a problem because of the volume of people that had come to see the lanterns – we could barely move walking so it took ages to cross the river to get on the correct side. Eventualy we think we will find them as they say they are at the main staging area and they will be there for a while. After getting direction to that area (we thought) Sandy and I set off only to not find them and stumble on a break dancing battle instead.

It was super cool to watch these Korean’s move. One guy in particular was great BUT STILL NO ASHLI AND SOEKIE! I was so tired and annoyed now so I gave my phone to Sandy, who coordinated with them for the rest of the night until we eventually met up. As it turned out, the stage area we found was in the opposite direction we needed to go to find the MAIN stage where Ash and Soek were watching a few performances. Soekie was actually there with two of her friends – Rachel and another chap who was from the UK. They were both very cool. Once we met up it was 22:50 and we were all really tired, so we headed back to our motel and decided to stop for some coffee on the way at a supper cool coffee place. Ashli was not up for it so she went back to the motel and Sandy and I enjoyed Green tea Latte and black Earl Grey tea respectively before we went back to the motel and got a good night’s rest.

Our motel room after our good nights sleep

All this and I have not even told you about the festival itself...

Well it was like this see...

The river had probably about 50 giant lit floats that were of different things. There were sports lanterns, traditional Korean lanterns and animated characters. There were also animals and a couple of other categories. Lining the river were stalls upon stalls of food places and theme park games. Oh and of course there were a number of lanterns lining the river banks as well. There were 1000’s of people there to see this stunning spectacle – as I mentioned the moving room (it was like friars on Tri-Varsity weekend). The Lanterns were truly beautiful to see. At one point there was a tunnel red lanterns that you walked through and each lantern had a message hanging from it. It was so red and awesome. 

There was even an opportunity to make and put your own lantern on the river (which Sandy did with aplomb). We also paid KW1000 to walk on the floating bridge to get up close and personal with the lanterns. It was really cool and you had to have good balance as it was like walking on a water bed.

Here follows a link to of some of the Lanterns we saw:

http://picasaweb.google.com/114678189069578518037/LanternSlideShow?authkey=Gv1sRgCLOk9pyStYypKg&feat=directlink

Please tell me if the Link doesn't work

The morning after we headed to Dunkin Doughnuts found breakfast and headed home...

That was lantern weekend :)

Still to come on Geoff’s Asian Adventures:

2010 Korean F1 GP - Frustrating and Exhilirating

Halloween Folly and I guess peer pressured insanity;

Playing soccer against the Korean Army ;

FINALLY A USEFUL COUPLE OF POST THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE COMIONG TO KOREA;

and

Jumping off mountains

 

Up, UP, AND... What?... Wait... is that RICE WINE!?

A little while back, I was at GoKeyon (My main School) and I was doing what we in the ESL (English Second Language) teaching profession call desk warming (My classes were cancelled but I was required to be at school to fulfil my contractual hours). It was midterm exams for the students so I had no classes to teach.

While merrily sitting at my desk I 1^st got told I could go home early and then later got asked, after noticing that the teachers had all changed into active ware and track suits, if I wanted to go “mountain climbing” with the rest of the staff after school. Sitting at my desk in my formal shoes; semi formal, pin stripe brown trousers; and rather brightly coloured formal shirt (all for professional looking purposes), I thought, even though I was in no way dressed for it, WHY NOT. So the school day ends and I climb into one of the teachers cars (who has a head-rest covered with Cats ears at the top – I thought it fitted her personality rather well) and off we go in a convoy of 3 car to a destination unknown (save for one teacher who was trying to get us all there).

At this point I will mention that I was not the only one in my “Number 1’s”. The headmaster joined us and he was even more formally dressed than I was.



Top and Bottom: Entrepid Teacher of GoKyeon Middle School before we head off on our merry hike



After drifting off to sleep on the way there, I awake to find I am SERIOUSLY IN THE HILLS. It is stunning views all around as we pull into the parking lot. We had driven to a temple that was on the way to Geonju. The temple (now here is where a conceited western view may detract from the person I am) was like all the other temples I had seen. Beautiful. But... Seen 1, seen them all... kind of vibe. Sigh. OK – individualistic, Western need for NEW and EXCITING things the whole time, rant, over with.

We begin our TREK and I quickly realised that this “Mountain Climbing” hike is no joke. It was akin to going up “Lions Head”...

...in lovely sunny and warm (now at any rate-as winter and freezing temps are slowly crawling towards me) Cape Town but doing so, distinctly less fit than I normally am. We begin going 12 strong in the group but only 6 of us got to the top as the stragglers slowly dropped off the back. Half way up, the One Teacher, the Science teacher, says, “Stop Now. Take Break”. He proceeds to pull out 2 quartz of Makalee (Rice Wine); Tofu; and 2 bags of Dried Squid; oh and some chocolate that was like a Snickers bar.

I actually think it was this brand...

FLASHBACK PREVIOUS 4 YEARS OF MY LIFE:

It was like I was back at Rhodes with the old Mountain club going on a hike or a climb – all we had was gear, bread (generally savoury loaf), and drinks – in my case some HUNTERS

FLASH BACK TO THE VIRTUAL PRESENT...

I had 2, 200ml glasses of the wine, my chocolate, and was fed Tofu (Something the Koreans do when hands are not free – the feed you like you are 2yrs old). It was strange being fed by a man who was twice my age when I actually had free hands to use my own set of chopsticks. I’d rather not dwell on the weird :-P

Well fed and watered we continue on our journey for the crest of the mountain and after about 30min we get there and I can report that the beacon at the top told me that we were 961m above sea level.

 Victorious Hikers at the top... (KOREANS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT BY PROFESSION: Science Teacher; Mrs Won (My Co-Teacher), Grade 2 Register Teacher, PE Teacher, Korean Teacher

Admiring the amazing view suddenly I am offered more wine. This time it is a different kind. I politely declined though as I wanted to get down the rather steep slopes with my limbs still attached.

On decent, it was like a 60 degree decline. Really steep. So steep that the female teachers really struggled to stay on their feet, particularly my co-teacher, Mrs Won. After getting back on level ground again, we all went to the tea room at the temple that is provided free of charge for visitors. I really love the tradition behind meal and taking your shoes off and sitting on floor cushions and stuff. I am really enjoying that aspect of meal times. Tea was drunk and then it was back in the car –

View from the top of the hike

Respite After the Hike - At the Tea Room

Me with the 2 pregnant Teachers: One is the 1st Grade Register Teacher and the
2nd is the Art teacher, as well as the estate manager

BUT WE WERE NOT GOING HOME...

We stopped at this tiny place pretty much situated in a shack and met two other gentlemen there (presumably they had something to do with the school or Edu dept. It was there that we had supper. Fish soup and fish stew thing. Neither of which I was too keen on because of all the bones. My headmaster was getting frustrated at the way I was trying to grab fish that I could see had no bone and he said: “No, no. Not like that. Like this” and proceeded to take an entire fish (bones, head, tail and fins and all) with his chopsticks and drop it on my plate. Add to that the teacher who had all the wine on the hike, tried desperately to get me drunk on Soju, which I continually refused. Right at the end of the meal we were given platters of Mushroom which I enjoyed and tucked into. Due to my difficulties with the fish and my enjoyment of the mushrooms none of the teachers around me would let me stop eating he mushroom they would keep bringing out more and putting them on plate, which is considered rude to refuse, so I kept eating them until I felt sick. Sigh.

Coming up in the exciting Asian Adventure:

Ja, Well, No, Fine - it's Deajeon (also know for the weekend as Little South Africa);
Korean Formula 1 Yippy!!!;
"Come on Baby Light my... Lantern";
Woobang Land - The park that provided much amusement and completed a life dream;
Sports Day at GoKyeon!

That was the first outing I had with my teachers, let’s see where the next one take me :)

Posts on the Inaugural F1 Korean GP, My Visit to a Korean Amusement Park, Jinju Namsan Lantern Festival, Deli Tours 2010-Deajeon, and Sports Day at GoKyeon to follow soon...

Yoengchoen in Pictures (Some good, some not so much...)

From my roof top, over looking Yoengchoen. Pic Taken by Sam

Arty Pic taken over Choesok by Courtney

Don't you think those mini tracktors are awesome?!!

Wicked Sunset Pic (I think)

LOOK!!! ZAKUMI!!!!

Walking through the Forrest at the back of my place in September

Ashli (Front) and Sandy heading into the hills for a walk on a warm day in September

Yes Mart - one of our local SPAZA Shops

Pretty much how all the SPAZA Shops look in terms of stock layout



Looking West from my rooftop




Looking East from the roof top



The Fountain outside the Citizen Centre

View overlooking Yoengchoen from the Hills behind my place

You know why I showed this picture... if you don't then you don't quite know my well enough :-P

DUNKIN DOUGHNUTS Selection

Looking down a street that views my building (at night)



Panorama from the bridge looking South



DA VINCI Coffee shop (a favoured haunt of us Yoengchoen-nites) lit up at night

My Building. My place is the 2nd row centre

Looking South West down my street

My Bus stop to get to school in the morning

What all the streetssurrounding the train station look like on market day (Any date that ends in a 2 or a 7)

The Spices at Yeongchoen Market

Yoengchoen Train Station

Crossing the Bridge from the one side of Yoengchoen to the other

A cool park in the middle of the city

Waiting for Buses at the Yoengchoeng Bus Terminal

The Yoengchoen Bus Terminal Ticket Counter