Eating 팥죽 on 동지날

I am now safe for the winter: I went to eat 팥죽 on 동지날 with my colleagues. 팥죽 (patjuk) is red bean soup with glutinous rice balls and 동지날 (dongjinal) is a traditional Korean holiday which falls on winter solstice, the 22nd of December.

Eating red bean soup on this day is an important traditional Korean ritual: it is believed to prevent evil spirits, and protect the people who make it (and eat it) from bad luck and epidemic diseases.

So some of the teachers at my high school invited me to come with them to a small temple near our school where we had red bean soup for lunch. It was delicious! I really like beans and the soup had a lovely rich, earthy flavour. It had rice balls in it, which are called "birds eggs" in Korean. The monks at the temple also brought us kimchi: this was honestly amongst the best kimchi I have tasted. I am not a huge fan of the stuff, but this was rather tasty. Since they are buddhists they don't eat meat and so instead of using fish sauce as the base of the kimchi sauce, they had used pumpkin and persimmon pulp: so much better!

P.S. The picture is straight off the internet. This was another one of those 'surprise' occasions on which I wish I had had my camera, but didn't.

Afterthought:
I am really enjoying being at the high school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I started conversation classes for all the teachers about 2 months ago and it has made the teachers so much more open and friendly towards me. I really feel almost 'part of the family' - more so than I ever expected.

A Fascinating Tea Experience

Last week I had a surprising and wonderful experience. Initially I had the usual 'what's going on here?' kind of feeling which we as foreigners in Korea know so well, but that feeling soon changed to one of curiosity, respect and humility. Mr Shin, one of the senior teachers at my high school - the one who's mother's funeral ceremony I attended - came along on Thursday and told me that his friend at the local court wanted to have English conversation lessons. Thanks to interpretation by the ever-wonderful Mr Kang (my high school co-teacher), it turns out that Mr Shin's friend is the chief judge of the Sangju district court and that he wants me to give him and his staff at the court English conversation lessons. To discuss the details, he had scheduled a meeting for us on Thursday afternoon.

So off the three of us (Shin, Kang, Jess) went to the court. An important-looking place of course, with metal detectors in the foyer and finger-print entrance-security in the corridors. Once we entered the chief judge's office I suddenly felt rather small and lowly: he has a huge office with the usual 'important' couches for entertaning guests - similar to the ones one encunters in other important places in Korea. We bowed our greetings and took our seats.

The judge sat at the head of the table and infront of him the typical equipment for a traditional Korean tea ceremony were laid out. This took me by surprise, but it soon became apparent that this was his way of showing respect to us for agreeing to meet with him, and in no time the tea ceremony was in full swing.

Kang did a fabulous job of explaining to me what the judge was saying about the various pieces of equipment, different types of tea, preparation methods etc. I commented that one doesn't come across traditional tea ceremonies very often, and Kang translated that this had to do with the Japanese occupation which tried to stamp out a lot of Korean traditions. Tea ceremonies are generally associated with people of higher social standing, then and now, and this explains why the judge would have 'treated' us to this: as a way of welcoming us, but also maybe to make us appreciate that we were in 'important' company.

It seems that traditional tea ceremonies in Korea were becoming less and less common, but have recently been experiencing a kind pf 'revival', as a way of relaxing in the formal setting of the workplace, and re-connecting with traditional buddhist beliefs and a healthier way of life.

So the equipment which the judge, Mr Song Bong-Kie, used was as follows: a main teapot (symbolic of the father), a secondary 'teapot', a kind of shallow cup with a spout (symbolic of the mother) and a few small cups without handles (symbolic of the children). The tea leaves - he used early-harvest green tea - are placed into the 'father' pot and then it is filled to the brim with boiling water. It is left for about a minute, no longer, and then the tea is poured into the 'mother' pot/cup. From the mother pot it is then poured into the 'children' cups.

'Dad' teapot - with the symbolically phalic handle, 'Mom' pot in the background (as usual) and the kids lined up next to them.

We were each given a little cup and could drink our tea. The green tea leaves can be re-used three times, i.e. the 'father' pot is re-filled with water three times. I must note that the 'tea set' is very small compared to our western tea sets: the pots and the cups. The tea tasted lovely: a clean, green tea kind of taste which I'm sure I couldn't even fully appreciate.

He told us that he also uses Puerh Tea from China, which he buys in compressed cakes for lots of money. I definitely got the impression that doing the tea ceremony the really traditional and proper way required access to lots of money.

They asked me whether I drink tea: I said yes, but that I drink tea from tea-bags and feel that one can hardly compare the two. I tried to look bashful and I think I communicated myself quite well :) Mr Shin himself is also quite a tea connoiseur and often brings me traditional Korean tea to try at school. But he refuses to try my rooibos tea as it is in a teabag!

Then a friend of the judge's, a buddhist tea mistress, came to join us. She is a highly-respected tea master/msitress(?) and is the one who taught the judge all about tea and tea ceremonies. This appeared to be the really special part as she used some very fancy implements to prepare 'Malcha' tea - powdered green tea of the highest quality.

Equipment for making Malcha tea - powdered green tea. (photo courtesy of 'The Internet')

She used a different kind of pot - similar to the 'mother' pot - for this tea. A special bamboo spatula was used to place the powdered tea into the pot and then a little cold and then hot water was added to it. She then used a very strange looking implement made of bamboo: it looked like a cross between an old-school shaving-foam brush and a whisk.

She stirred the mixture very briskly for a few minutes and it got all foamy and green - a lovely bright colour. We each had a turn to drink the tea straight out of the mother 'pot' and then she made a fresh batch for the next person: it had a very strong, rather bitter flavour, but also very fresh. I quite enjoyed it! The judge then gave me a tea set: this came as a complete surprise to me, and I felt very honoured and humbled. He explained that the tea set was pottery and made in a wood-fired kiln by a well-known monk at a nearby temple.

Mr Shin later told me that I was very lucky to receive that tea-set as a gift as one cannot actually buy them: the 'special' monk who makes them only gives them as gifts. Now the pressure is on - I will have to ask Mr Shin to help me buy the 'right' tea to drink from my unique and precious tea set - and ask him to help me make sure I do it all right. Come on over and I'll show you all how :)

My special tea-set, wrapped in the traditional Korean way.

Post script:
At no point during our meeting did we discuss the English lessons. The closest we came was the judge asking me whether I needed to see a dentist, and inviting us to a dinner meeting with himself and his dentist friend where we would (maybe!) discuss the English lessons further (?). After the dinner his dentist friend would be more than happy to check my teeth! To be continued...

Seoul 'Soul of Asia' Photos and News

At Gyeongbokgung Palace with Julian's co-teacher, Joe.

We've been to Seoul more than usual in the last month. Jules and I went up for Clint, a South African friend of ours' birthday a few weeks ago. Then, last weekend, we were in Seoul on a trip organised by EPIK, our employer here in Korea.

I must say I am impressed that they organise these kind of trips for us: it's a great opportunity for us to meet and network with other teachers and of course to learn more about Korea. And of for them to get us to write 3-page essays which they can presumably flash around as and where they need evidence of us having a good time and learning about Korean culture etc ! :) But we had fun!



There was quite a bit of overlap in the places we visited - unsurprising as they are amongst the top tourist attarctions in Seoul.

Gyeonbokgung Palace: this is one of the big, restored palaces in Seoul. It was originally built in 1394, in the Joseon Dynasty (the most recent of Korea's Dynasties), but has of course suffered at the hands of the imperial Japanese colonists and been rebuilt and refurbished numerous times. The palace has large grounds with various compounds and living and entertaining quarters scattered about, one of the most impressive being the King's entertaining house, which is bult in a pond. I enjoyed the palace and taking pics of the pretty traditional Korean buildings and structures. It's a huge place and it would take much more than a few hours to understand and appreciate its importance. We also saw a changing of the guards ceremony on our way through which was interesting as the 'guards' (they're fake, just for show) were dressed in traditional dress which was nice to see. There was also a traditioinal performing arts festival going on which was interesting to see.




N'Seoul Tower is a large tower on Namsan Mountain in Seoul. It provides great views over the city...which would be enjoyable weren't it so crowded and full of tourists taking pics of themselves with the view in the background. Funny how we all feel compelled to do that kind of thing - I'm also guilty. Almost feel like "I might just have regrets if I don't take that 'iconic' picture now, so let me take it just in case!"And of course all the couples writing love messsages on little tiles to display on the wall. There was even a man propsing to his girlfriend!




Gwanghwamun Plaza is a 'revitalised' part of the city which means it has recently been refurbished and touristied and commercialised. The city has recently erected two statues of Korea's most famous historic figures: King Sejong the Great (who supposedly single-handedly invented Hangeul, the Korean alphabet in around 1490) and Admiral Lee- Sunshin (who supposedly almost single-handedly won every single battle he ever fought, against Japan of course, and invented Korea's famous 'turtle' warships). These are surrounded by pretty, bright flower beds and musical fountains and once again hordes of people taking pictures! Gwanghwamun is the island in the middle of one of the busiest streets in downtwon Seoul. It is also conveniently near 'The Body Shop' and 'Kyobo Books' two big-city shopping highlights for me!


Insandong Market is a street in downtown Seoul which prides itself in being a part of the 'arty' district in Seoul. There are some traditional Korean arts and crafts on sale, but infirtunately, even here the kitch and commercialised tourism and souvenirs is making a mark. It does have a great atmosphere though and some lovely quaint cafes etc. Even Starbucks (that great all-American coffee shop) has been forced to write the name of tehir shop in Hangeul - Korean script to maintain the traditional feel of the place. We tracked down an Indian Cafe where we were more than happy to partake in a hubbly (=hookah in American English).


We also went on a DMZ Tour with the EPIK trip. This is something Jules and I have been interested in doing for a while: the DMZ is the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, and one can take oragnised tours of some of the significant buildings, monuments etc. in that area. It is a strange place: we had chatted to friends of ours about going on a tour, but they had said they were not interested as they were convinced it was all just voyeurism (the non-sexual variant).

Well, I wanted to see for myself, and I did. They were right: it is voyeuristic, and commercialsed and actually, bizarre. When one thinks about the suffering that happened in the Korean War, which the DMZ is a result of, and when one thinks of the suffering going on just a few kilometres north of the DMZ, in North Korea, then the rampant tourism commercialism and kitch-on-sale happening on the South Korean side of the DMZ is quite simply tasteless.

It's a pity, but my tour of the DMZ left me disturbed and confused: do South Korean people really want reunification with the poor North or is it just for the 'image' that they say so? Jules also wrote about our experience on the DMZ tour, probably a bit more eloquently than I have, so have a look here.

A Korean mourning ceremony

Mr Shin is a colleague of mine from the high school where I teach two days a week.
Yesterday his mother was killed in a car accident - she was crossing the street and was hit by a cargo truck. This news came as a big shock to Mr Shin and his friends and colleagues, as his mother was very healthy - it's actually Mr Shin's father who has been sickly and his mother has been taking care of him. By the sound of thing, Mr Shin was very close to his mother and her death has been terribly hard for him.

I was asked by my colleagues at the high school if I wanted to come along to the funeral ceremony or mourning ritual. I really like Mr Shin - he is 3rd in charge at our school which is a very important job and he is much respected, but he is a humble man and such a joker. He always offers me funky Korean tea and speaks to me in Korean - I am getting better at understanding him! Most recently he sat me down for about 20 minutes and gave me a lecture on all the different types of rice cake and how they were prepared and I had to taste them all - someone had bought a rice cake 'veriety pack' to the staff room! Anyway, he is a very jovial, generous and warm character, and I thought it suitable for me to pay my respects along with the other staff from school. It was such a different and interesting experience that I thought I had to share this with you.

So we headed over to the 'Mourning Place' at one of the big hospitals in Sangju this afternoon. Everyone was dressed in dark clothes - the smartest I could rustle up was a dress and a dark brown jacket which even felt a bit too jovial! We all (school staff) gathered outside the Mourning Place and then walked in together. The 'Mourning Place' at the hospital is divided into a couple of 'Mourning Rooms' for each family which is in mourning. The corridor leading into each individual mourning room was lined with huge flower arrangements with ribbons bearing wishes and the name of the deceased.

As we entered the mourning room we removed our shoes (thank goodness I had rememberd to put on stockings just before I left home!!). We then moved into a small side-room off the mourning room where there was a kind of shrine set up for the deceased. There was a framed photo of Mr Shin's mother and some flowers and I think traditional Korean food and drink - I didn't look too closely. We then did two full traditional bows to the photo of the deceased. The closest male family members were on one side of this small room. We then turned and bowed one full bow to them. In the full bow, you hold your hands out in fromt of you and bend your knees and lower your upper body until your forehead is just above the ground, then stand up fully and do it again. As we bowed to the family members, they did a full bow to us as well.

The whole time from when we walked into the room and removed our shoes, we heard Mr Shin wailing and crying. He repeatedly called 'Ayigo, Ayigo, Ayigo!' 'Ayigo' is a word in Korean for expressing emotions: similar to 'Oh my!' or 'Oh my god!' (American) or even better, the Zulu 'Hayibo'. It is sometimes used when people expresses surprise or anger or even tiredness and frustration. In this context it was obviously an expression of grief, intense grief.

We then moved into the main part of the mourning room which was laid out for eating and drinking, with low Korean-style low tables. There was a box near the door where we placed envelopes with money in them which we had prepared at school. They had chinese symbols stamped onto them reading 'in peace' and we wrote our names on them. We then all sat down and food was brought to us: rice, beef soup, side dishes, fruit etc. Mr Shin then came and sat with us. Shame, I felt so sad for him, his wailing sounded so sad and genuine and when he sat down he started crying big sad sobs and Mr Kang, my co-teacher, tried to comfort him and speak some kind words.

Wow, it was so humbling to see this big happy man looking so so sad. He said my name and looked surprised and genuinely appreciative that I had come. Wow, what an experience. He is one of the nicest people I have met since being in Korea and to see him so sad was quite something, a lot of the other teachers were also crying I think he is much-loved and his pain is his friends' pain.

Mr Shin and about 8 other male family members were wearing yellow hemp 'hanbok' robes/coats (traditional Korean dress). They were also wearing tall hats (looked a bit like the pope's hat) and two of them had sticks, kind of like walking sticks. The women wore white dresses with yellow hemp hats and hemp fabric belts. The children were wearing black clothes with a belt of the same yellow hemp fabric around their waists. Two of them came and sat with me as we ate - I think they were quite excited to have a 'waegook' (foreigner) there - they must've been a bit bored!

So together with the information Mr Kang gave me about the funeral/mourning rituals and some internet reading I have pieced together this:
The wailing is very important as an acknowledgement and expression of grief. It is also important to prevent the now wandering spirit of the ancestor from tormenting any living rleatives, as a spirit will always be envious of living souls. The oldest son in the family (in this case Mr Shin himself) is designated 'chief mourner' and is called 'sangju' (coincidentally the name of our town). He must do most of the wailing and greeting of visitors. He is also repsonisble for all the funeral arrangements like coffin, location of grave etc.

The women are repsonsible for the welfare of visitors paying their respects: they have to ensure that there is enough food and drink for everyone. In this case, I think there were also hospital/'Mourning Place' staff helping with the catering. The family must stay at the 'Mourning Place' for three full days. They will sleep there and take turns staying awake at the shrine and greeting visitors all day and night. It seems that the 'sangju' has to stay awake almost all the time. Mr Shin looked visibly tired and he honestly looked like he has aged a few years over the last days (don't tell him I said that!). The ritual looks like it must be exhausting and of course the grief itself must make you so weary. The sangju has to do a full bow with each and every visitor who comes to pay his or her respects. Wow, such hard work.

After the three day 'wake' (during which the body is not 'displayed' by the way, it is stored at the hospital), they will prepare the body for burial and then take the coffin up a mountain nearby and conduct the burial ceremony. Mr Kang told me that many people now cremate the bodies but Mr Shin's family is still quite traditional and they will have a traditional burial ceremony on a mountain. In general it seems that I witnessed a more tradtional mourning ceremony - many families don't wear the hanbok and have such an elaborate ceremony. This is obviously especially the case for Korean Christians, who would have a more western/Christian-style funeral.

So although it was a very sad occasion and I felt quite nervous of doing all the right things, I'm glad I went and paid my respects and could learn about yet another interesting aspect of Korean cultures. Rest in Peace, Mr Shin's 'Ommoni' (Mom)!

Konglish

“Konglish is the use of English words (or words derived from English words) in a Korean context. The words, having English words in a Korean context, or are made from a combination of Korean and English words.”

Konglish is one of the things which I really enjoy about Korea. It seems to be an attempt by Koreans to include some English and/or western language and customs into their lives which often goes awry and is amusing - well from our perspective anyway!
Konglish comes in many forms and guises, from English words written in Hangul (Korean script) to English written in English with Korean grammar or even English written in English with Korean sentiment (or craziness :)) added.

Stationery made in Korea boasts many Konglish gems. This is particularly true for the exercise books the students use for English lessons - these are sold specifically as English Notebooks, and usually bear some sort of English paragraph or phrase or sentence on the front. These are usually bordering on nonsensical and amuse me no end, while at the same time endearing the Koreans to me for trying so hard to 'assimilate' English!

Here are some classic examples:

"Children growing, Berds singing, Sun rising, Flowers blooming, and all the things in life..."

"Green. natural colour."

"A glass of milk. milk is the white liquid produced by cows, goats, and some other animals, which people drink and use to make butter, cheese, and yoghurt. Milk is processed on the basis of the maximum content of fat and solid not fat (SNF) it would ultimately possess."

"Oh such a kings weather we should go on picnic"

And of course the photo above "Memory..."

Wikipedia also quotes some other classic examples of Konglish as Apateu (apartment) and Hopeu (draft beer, from the German word ‘Hof’).

Here you can see another funny quirk of Konglish: the addition of the 'eu' sound at the end of most Konglish words/syllables.
We often joke that one could get by without much Korean if one just added 'eu' (pronounced a bit like the 'e' in 'her') to the end of every word e.g. "shampoo-eu chuseyo" (please), "french fries-eu chuseyo", "notebook-eu chuseyo" "juice-eu chuseyo" etc.
Our friend Clint, who's teaching up near Seoul, is called Clint-eu by his co-teachers, and this nickname has caught on amongst his foreign friends in a big way!

I decided to keep the best for last:
My FAVOURITE Konglish or Konglish-error-English phrase is one I came across on a bumper sticker on a car yesterday:

"Let's go Korea! The new demention"

It's a hilarious mistake as I'm sure they meant to write 'dimension' and not 'demention'.

From my perspective as an English speaker in Korea this is double funny: us foreigners are always joking about how Koreans are so incredibly proud of their technological and economic advances, they are very nationalistic and of course they would want to say that Korea is the 'new dimension' – it’s so funny that they ended up unintentionally saying that Korea is the newest place to make you go crazy (=demention)! Because that is quite often how we feel about it, even if it is an unfair judgement but that is nonetheless our experience!

Gyeongju: "Old Capital of Shilla Dynasty"

Gyeongju is one of Korea's tourist highlights. It is near the east coast of Korea, and took us about 3 hours to get there by bus. We visited this interesting city on the 27th and 28th December. Things have been kind of busy since then, what with skiing and Philippines holidays (oh DEAR!) that I am only getting round to posting a report about Gyeongju almost 2 months later. This is definitely one of thise 'time flies when you're having fun' situations!

Anyway, so, Gyeongju. Gyeongju and Sangju were once upon a time the joint capitals of Korea: this was during the impressive Shilla dynasty which ruled Korea for 992 years (from 57BC-935AD). To quote our Gyeongju guidebook : "A land where the rising sun lays its first rays, Kyongju [romanised spelling of Korean words is frustratingly variable!!] was the ancient capital of Shilla Dynasty where the splendid culture of Shilla was flowering for 992 years (Kim Yong-Nam 2008)." Sangju, the lesser known baby sister of Gyeongju, has since the Shilla dynasty sadly fallen into obscurity, that is until we stumbled upon it of course...

But Gyeongju has a number of impressive historical treasures. According to the UNESCO website "The Gyeongju Historic Areas contain a remarkable concentration of outstanding examples of Korean Buddhist art, in the form of sculptures, reliefs, pagodas, and the remains of temples and palaces from the flowering, in particular between the 7th and 10th centuries, of this form of unique artistic expression."
Two of these are recognised by UNESCO as world cultural heritage sights, and Gyeongju has itself has been designated "as one of the world's ten most historic sites for its abundant cultural heritages that have stayed in one place for more than two thousand years" (Kim Yong-Nam 2008). I daresay, these cultural heritages would be that much more intersting to me if they had up and left and not stayed in one place for more than 200o years...I can just picture the Buddhas, temples and royal tombs prancing around the countryside! How unruly!

Nonetheless, we had a really interesting time in Gyeongju. We managed to see both Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto, which are the UNESCO highlights of Gyeongju. The temple itself was not that different from other temples we've seen but the sheer size of the complex was certainly impressive. Seokguram on the other hand really was amazing and had a wonderfully peaceful atmosphere to it.

Seokguram Grotto is a cave in the mountainside where a large carved stone Buddha stands. He is surrounded by 'guards' and 'lesser gods' who protect him as he looks out over the East Sea: the sun is said to shine onto the Buddhas face at sunrise and "such structure creates a myserious but splendid spectacles" (Kim Yong-Nam 2008).

The walk up to the grotto was also really beautiful: it had recently snowed in Gyeongju and the beautiful brightly coloured lanterns which were strung between the trees made for irresistible photo opportunities! Jules, Emily, Shirley and myself certainly had a great time there! The other sights of interest which we managed to take in during our visit were the Tumuli Park where all the Shilla kings and noblemen are buried in huge tombs, the Chomsongdae Observatory tower and the Gyeongju National Museum.

Tumuli park was quite a sight: it is the centre of a vast number of burial mounds which are up to 22m high and have a dimater of up to 82m [This habit of quoting exact measurments of cultural and historical structures is one which I have inadvertently picked up from plaques and signs which accompany such sights - the guidebook is of course also full of them!] These tombs/mounds are scattered all around the city and really bring home to visitors how important this city is in Korean history. Of all the cities we've visited in Korea, Gyeongju definitely feels the most well-preserved in terms of traditional Korea: it seems to have blended modern high-tech buildings and so on quite well with its rich historical architecture and treasures.

The Chomsongdae Observatory tower was, well...cute. And a bit overrated. It looks like a tubby milk can made of stones. It is said to be the oldest observatory still standing in east Asia, and was built in 647AD. I guess this is very long ago for people to have been observing the night sky...but a quick google search verifies my thoughts: the Germans were at it 7000 years ago...take that Korea! Anyway, it is a cute little tower and is made of 361 stones, the number of days in the lunar calendar, which is a nice touch! According to Kim Yong-Nam (2008): "Chomsongdae itself is a very scientific construction and every stone holds all the symbpolic meanings." Nice. We took a photo of it nonetheless!

Our final visit in Gyeongju was to the National Museum. This is a very large complex at which one could spend days learning all about Shilla history and Korean history in general: but the rather poor English translations would certainly make this a rather tedious task! I really find it a pity that one of Korea's premier museums could not track down a single native English-speaker to smooth over the English in the explanatory notices which accompany most displays in the museum. The information contained in these notices was also a bit disappointing and not very informative: once again we noticed a heavy emphasis on dimensions and measurements and dates, and we were often left wondering what the significance of certain artifacts was. Anyway, the museum did enlighten us a bit in the glorious history of the Shilla dynasty and how and why it came to be so important to Korea (go there yourself to find out!)

So all in all we really enjoyed our visit to Gyeongju: we had our fill of sights and tourist attractions and had lots of lovely photo opportunities! Koreans certainly are proud of their history (no surprises there!), and rightly so: they have some magnificent treasures and I think Gyeongju was a great place for us to get to know these treasures a little.

One last rather amusing note: we have picked up a very strong pattern of anti-Japanese sentiment during our touristy visits around Korea. And of course from people we have met; one cannot deny how strongly the Koreans dislike the Japanese. These two countries have had innumerable wars and conflicts, and the jury is out as to who suffered more: The Koreans of course say they suffered much worse at the hands of the Japanese than the Japanese did at the hands of the Koreans. I'm sure the opposite is said in Japan. Either way, almost every temple, statue or other significant structure we have visited in Korea was at some stage burnt down or damaged by "a Japanese invasion" and later re-built by the Koreans. It's frightening, but for us it's got to the point of being a little amusing too: "If the Japanese didn't burn it down, it doesn't exist!"
The Japanese even managed to harm the Buddha in Seokguram Grotto which stayed perfectly preserved for so long: "According to many records of the past, there had been no significant deterioration until 19th century. However, during the Japanese occupation period, deterioration started. Shilla people's scientific and architectural genius [of course!] was so profound that some unexplainable principles had protected the structure from natural deterioration by humidity. But the Japanese attempt to reinforce the structure by applying cement rather worsened the situation by absorbing the humidity. Repair work by Japanese 1913-1915."

Now for the photos:

Bulguksa Temple:
This view of the temple is one of the most famous and adorns most postcards of the complex. So I can't claim this photo. But you would've figured out that I couldn't have taken it as the leaves are red and autumny (i.e. it was taken at least 2 months before we got there when things were rather wintery and brown...) and also, big giveaway: there are no tourists in the photo! Whoever took this photo must have had some clout and managed to clear away the hordes!

Jules and our lady friends on the steps in front of the main hall at the temple (Emily from the UK on the left, Shirley from Sangju - originally Canada - on the right)

Seokguram and the snow and pretty lanterns:

One is not allowed to take photos of the Buddha in the grotto, so this is another borrowed photo. (I'm sure way too many photos were taken during the Japanese invasion and did irrepairable damage to the Buddha! haha!) (That's if they had cameras back then of course :))

This is ths view from the Seokguram Grotto out over the countryside with the East Sea in the far distance.

After Seokguram, Jules and I decided to walk down to the bus stop at Bulguksa (About 2.5km down the hill). This was a beautiful wlak through the forest with a lovely golden wintery sunset. I must confess this was a bit of an 'aah' moment for me in Korea: it was the first time I felt like I was really IN nature and away from the otherwise rat-race-ish feeling that one generally gets in Korea (bigger, better, faster, smarter etc. etc.)

Tumuli Park

One of the many explanatory plaques - I hope you can raed it (click to enlarge) - it is so typical of the language used in these notices!

Chomsongdae Observatory

A donkey and cart statuette from the Gyeongju National Museum "it measures...and is xxcm from left to right...bla bla etc". You get my drift. Anyway, the donkey is made from clay and seems to have had a decorative purpose once upon a time. cute hey.

After all that sight-seeing a bit of candy floss was the order of the day!