The story so far: Days 1/2 and Day 3

The view from the balcony on this fine, cold day is breathtaking. I just love mountains and they are here in abundance. The trees ¹ are beautiful, red and gold and there are magpies² aplenty. Breakfast time: Fruit loops seem incongruous in this setting, but I can't face kimchee at this time of the day! We meet up, check out, collect our guide for the morning, jump in the van and off we go to the mountains.

Bhuddist temples and burial sites

Tuesday 14th November 2000

We're in Kyong Ju - although I'm not sure if that is the name of the town or the area. It is a world heritage site, and steeped in history. People travel from all over Korea - and the rest of the world, but not in such great numbers - to see these places, and it is very easy to see why. We drive for a while, ever upwards towards the top of a mountain, and the guide gives us a bit of local history. (NB: at some point I will research the names, dates etc. and complete this entry, but I want to get this down while it's fresh) We pass a golf club and are told (surprise!) that it is a hobby for the wealthy. The reason: land is at a premium and, therefore, very expensive and golf courses take up a lot of space. The road winds slowly up the mountain, it was built 25 years ago before it's advent it was necessary to tramp for at least an hour by foot...... we're suitably impressed and grateful.

The Shrine and Grotto

The Bhuddist shrine³ which is to be our first port of call was built by a rich man, who was very poor in a previous life. The story is that as he was born - as the rich families son - a poor man in the village died. When the child was older, he explained his history, and his previous self's mother was brought to live with him. He became the local mayor and did many good deeds. After a dream sent by Bhudda he converted to that religion and built a shrine in memory of his mother and a temple in memory of his parents. If you see what I mean. The shrine at the top of the mountain has a granite carving, 3 metres high, which was somehow brought up from the valley. It used to be exposed to the elements, but now a wooden grotto has been built round it. It is possible (after somehow pre-registering) to go into the shrine to pray with the monk - but the registration process wasn't explained. The unregistered must file past this truly impressive, if not awe-inspiring, sculpture and wonder how on earth it was achieved. Below the shrine is a spring, and it is said that for every cup of water you drink from this spring you will appear 10 years younger. I approach the spring with the encouagement of the guide and my colleagues. Surely I don't look that bad....? The water is sweet and very cold - but I don't feel any younger. I'll stick to the L'Oreal (surely I'm worth it?) in future. We start back down to the temple. On the way we encounter hoardes of schoolchildren, aged between 10 and 14, who stare in wonderment at the only westerner on the mountain that day⁴, waving and shouting hello. I'm glad to have caused my colleagues so much merriment. It is a light-hearted party that pile back into the van for the short drive down the mountain.

The Temple

This temple⁵ is set in beautiful gardens, the maple trees are truly beautiful. There are some large carved stone turtles and elephants, and then suddenly, there it is. A wooden edifice, it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, most recently about 25 years ago. The former entrance is no longer used, and we trek around the outside and enter the courtyard through a side door. It is, as it were, a working temple, with about 40 monks living in the quarters here, although we only see one of them. The 4 giant instruments to wake the world and send the world to sleep are here, it is quite clear from looking at them that they are not just ornamental. There are some pagodas in the courtyard, and several shrines. The guide explains that the number 4 represents death, so the pagodas are 3 or 5 stories high. There are shrines to the several different "sides" of Bhudda, but for me the most impressive is the one with 1,000 hands, each with an eye in the palm. We don't have time to count them, however before we're whisked off to the inevitable shop where we are able to buy paintings made by the monks. They are truly beautiful, but I manage to resist parting with $200 for something I really don't need. We skirt past some peculiar piles of stones, remnants of shamanism, and are invited to add to the piles or create our own to bring luck. I find a Japanese penny, which is lucky, so I make a pile too. I hope it works, but as an atheist I feel a bit of a fraud! Walking back to the van I'm accosted by 2 girls, about 12 years old. With much giggling and blushing they ask for my autograph, and get more embarassed when my colleagues all collapse in a heap in hysterics. I write my name for them, and make them pose for a photograph, which leaves their schoolfriends gaping in awe and envy. Or maybe they all had indegestion. I tell them that one of my colleagues is Jacky Chan (true) but they are less than impressed with him!

We stop off briefly at the folk museum and gift shop, where all manner of traditional Korean arts and crafts are for sale. Finally I give in and 15 minutes later alight the van clutching my purchases⁶ Jade and amethyst are mined in this area. The guide nearly chokes laughing when I tell her one of my children has Jade as a 2nd name, and that I'm a vegetarian - she assumes I'm a leftover hippy, and whisks us off to see some excavated burial mounds.

The Burial Mounds

These are in the middle of town and have been made into a park. Three mounds were opened, of the 25 or so which were discovered, a small one for practice and 2 - which were joined - for "real". Many treasures were found, and it is clear that these are the burial plots for kings and their families. Only the smaller mound is open to the public - it is well presented, as though it has been cut away - although, unfortunately, the artefacts on display are only copies. Very good copies, it has to be said, I'm sure that only highly trained archaeologists can tell the difference. It dawns on me that the gravesite is probably still choc-full of treasure, since the way the mounds are constructed precludes all but the most careful and painstaking (not to say skillfull) excavation. They are an arrangement of air, earth and stones, covered with grass. Some are large, some are small, but seen alltogether it's pretty impressive.

Kimchi - again!

Our guide and our chaperone from company HQ apologise to me that it is another Korean meal (I really have nothing against it, I don't know why they think I should) and this time it's the real McCoy. I squash my poor aching knees into something resembling the lotus position, and the kimchee returns with a vengeance. There is such an abundance of food, but not too much: oysters, kimchee, beansprouts, salad, unidentifiable stuff, vegetables etc etc. Then comes the miso soup (this I can't stand, but I'm too polite to say so) sticky rice cooked with red beans in bamboo pots (yum), whole deep-fried fish, tofu soup..... and the traditional drink: coke. The trip to the loo brings some surprises: flip flops are provided (because it's outside and we have, of course, taken off our shoes) and little squishy, padded floral cushions on the seat. We take our leave of our guide and hop back in the van for the trip back to Seoul - only 3 or 4 hours, and we're dining with all the big cheeses (plus one of my Korean colleagues from Germany) tonight. Can't wait. Korean again!

Traditional Korean Traffic Jam and yet more Kimchee

I settle down in my comfortable seat with my book. I've obviously become blasé to the scenery, and motorway driving is soporific, soon I'm nodding off, and I'm not the only one. We're awoken for a pit-stop, more hole-in-the-ground toilets, more Polo mints⁷ and a bottle of water. Back in the van. We grind to a halt just outside Seoul, and crawl in with the rest of the world. I ask if something is going on, and they all look blankly at me. What do I mean by that? Well, I expand, maybe an international football match, trade fair, giant rock festival? Oh no, they tell me. This is normal. It takes us nearly 3 hours to drive 25kms, which means we're running late. We finally make it to the hotel, where we check in at the speed of light and rush upstairs with the whizzy porters. I've gone up two floors, and a quick check of the numbers in the lift have confirmed that Koreans are, indeed, truly superstitious. Firstly, the Ground floor is number 1 (as it is in the USA and Russia - as far as I recall) There is no 4th floor, although the lift attendant tells me that some buildings have an F floor, and also no 13th floor. I'm on the 10th, and since it is my 2nd stay at this hotel (back at the Grand Intercontinental, Seoul) I have been made a member of the Silk Road Club. Wonder what benefits that brings me? None is highly likely, since I'll probably never be here again! We zoom back downstairs, and are force-marched the few hundred yards to the restaurant. Traditional, and since the menu never seems to vary, I'll spare you the details. It is agreed, by the biggest cheese there, that on the morrow, after our day's programme is finished mid-afternoon, that our driver will take us to the famous East Gate market for some serious shopping. We have been warned.

And so ends day 4, I collapse gratefully into my clean sheets and dream of temples, trees and spicy pickled cabbage.

Day 5 - Wednesday
Days 6/7 - Thursday/Friday