South Korea. Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Gyeongju, Damyang
August 26 - September 21, 2008Yes, you read that correctly... Lob From Canada. In Korea, here's generally how it goes when I meet someone on the street:
"What is your name?"
"Rob," I attempt to say clearly and slowly."What is your name?"
"Lob?" they repeat.
I try a different version that seemed to work for Spanish people... "No, Robert." "Lob Lobert?", they say, excited that they understand me completely the first time.
"Yes, that's it... Lob," I concede. At least its a closer version than the stir-fry version I make trying to repeat their Korean names.
Landing in South Korea, I was overwhelmed by the massive rows of cloned apartment complexes that merged with a skyline otherwise dominated by large green hills (or mountains as the locals prefer to call them). Beneath, the neon cities are an epileptic's nightmare of flashing advertising for restaurants, DVD viewing rooms, karaoke clubs, and many other dubious 'entertainment' establishments that fill many floors of the commercial buildings. Luckily, my friend Minja, whom I'd met in Bosnia last summer, was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and ease my transition into South Korea.
In Korea there are many foreigners, but I am sure I was one of the only tourists. All the rest were teaching English, and it seems like a pretty good gig... From what I gather, the tax-free pay is very competitive with my salary as an engineer back in Canada... plus, the rent is included and the work hours are way less! A strange phenomenon among the westerners was the proliferation of extremely awkward North American guys who end up in South Korea. From casual observation and some well-placed eavesdropping, I am certain that these guys would be hard pressed to extract a phone number from a girl holding a telephone directory, yet in Korea, they are walking hand-in-hand with beautiful bombshell girlfriends! It seems this is the place I belonged in my early 20's!
As a cultural generalization, the Koreans seem like very strict law-abiding, organized, and very conservative citizens, yet there were some notable contradictions that I could not resolve. 1) Traffic... while it is not acceptable to J-walk on an obviously empty street, it seems perfectly acceptable (buses included) to run or ignore red lights. 2) The Elderly... given respect simply for being older, many elders have evolved into extremely rude and pushy individuals without respect for anyone else not sporting the ubiquitous white gloves and massive face-visors. Even on a jam-packed subway train, the seats reserved for the elderly and handicapped remain vacant. It doesn't even seem acceptable to sit in one of these seats and then willingly relinquish it when someone eligible comes along. Even more strange, these elderly and disabled seats are always at the end of the trains immediately next to the emergency buttons and fire extinguishers. Call me crazy, but my first choice of someone to weild the emergency axe or fire extinguisher wouldn't be old grandma with a walker and cataracts. 3) Sex... while it seems that Koreans are relatively sexually reserved as a culture, there are loads of neon drive-in love motels, fully equipped with private parking lots, free pornography, bigscreen TVs, moodlighting and mirrors, kingsize beds, energy drinks, hourly rates, and a no-identification-required check-in. These love hotels came in extremely handy for me since they were the only affordable accommodations in this non-touristy country...
While I spent most of my time in and around the bustling port city of Busan, I also managed to visit some outlying places of interest, including the temples of Gyeongju, the streets and malls of Daegu, the Biennale Art Festival in Gwangju, the bamboo forests of Damyang, and the traditional folk village near Andong. I have to apologize in advance for the misspellings, mistakes, and omissions in the text below, but I don't have my notes with me and am working from memory...
Near Busan, South Korea. Seaside temple.
Near Busan, South Korea. Me and Buddha. My belly will be this big after eating all this Korean food!!
Hae Un Dae Beach, Busan, South Korea. Beaches, innertubes, and right within the city!
Daegu, South Korea. 3rd largest city in South Korea, taken from a rooftop...
Daegu, South Korea. The front door on a bar, which mirrors my thoughts about many places in the world with respect to US Soldiers!!
Somewhere south of Gwangju, South Korea. Green Tea plantation.
South Korea. Typical temple designs and colours.
In Korea there are many foreigners, but I am sure I was one of the only tourists. All the rest were teaching English, and it seems like a pretty good gig... From what I gather, the tax-free pay is very competitive with my salary as an engineer back in Canada... plus, the rent is included and the work hours are way less! A strange phenomenon among the westerners was the proliferation of extremely awkward North American guys who end up in South Korea. From casual observation and some well-placed eavesdropping, I am certain that these guys would be hard pressed to extract a phone number from a girl holding a telephone directory, yet in Korea, they are walking hand-in-hand with beautiful bombshell girlfriends! It seems this is the place I belonged in my early 20's!
As a cultural generalization, the Koreans seem like very strict law-abiding, organized, and very conservative citizens, yet there were some notable contradictions that I could not resolve. 1) Traffic... while it is not acceptable to J-walk on an obviously empty street, it seems perfectly acceptable (buses included) to run or ignore red lights. 2) The Elderly... given respect simply for being older, many elders have evolved into extremely rude and pushy individuals without respect for anyone else not sporting the ubiquitous white gloves and massive face-visors. Even on a jam-packed subway train, the seats reserved for the elderly and handicapped remain vacant. It doesn't even seem acceptable to sit in one of these seats and then willingly relinquish it when someone eligible comes along. Even more strange, these elderly and disabled seats are always at the end of the trains immediately next to the emergency buttons and fire extinguishers. Call me crazy, but my first choice of someone to weild the emergency axe or fire extinguisher wouldn't be old grandma with a walker and cataracts. 3) Sex... while it seems that Koreans are relatively sexually reserved as a culture, there are loads of neon drive-in love motels, fully equipped with private parking lots, free pornography, bigscreen TVs, moodlighting and mirrors, kingsize beds, energy drinks, hourly rates, and a no-identification-required check-in. These love hotels came in extremely handy for me since they were the only affordable accommodations in this non-touristy country...
While I spent most of my time in and around the bustling port city of Busan, I also managed to visit some outlying places of interest, including the temples of Gyeongju, the streets and malls of Daegu, the Biennale Art Festival in Gwangju, the bamboo forests of Damyang, and the traditional folk village near Andong. I have to apologize in advance for the misspellings, mistakes, and omissions in the text below, but I don't have my notes with me and am working from memory...
Near Busan, South Korea. Seaside temple.
Near Busan, South Korea. Me and Buddha. My belly will be this big after eating all this Korean food!!
Hae Un Dae Beach, Busan, South Korea. Beaches, innertubes, and right within the city!
Daegu, South Korea. 3rd largest city in South Korea, taken from a rooftop...
Daegu, South Korea. The front door on a bar, which mirrors my thoughts about many places in the world with respect to US Soldiers!!
Somewhere south of Gwangju, South Korea. Green Tea plantation.
South Korea. Typical temple designs and colours.
Food, South Korea. Typical spread of food... no, I cannot name them all!
Temple, Gyongju. Walked around the artificial lake and listened to a jazz concert being played in this ancient temple site.
Monastary, South Korea. Monastary out in the mountains near Busan.
Tongdosa Temple, Yangsan, South Korea. Looking up at the ceiling in the monastary at the paper lotus flower decorations.
More food.
Me playing photographer with my little camera in the bamboo forest near Damyang.
Bamboo forest near Damyang just after a seriously intense rainstorm.
Bamboo forest near Damyang just after a seriously intense rainstorm.
Different bamboo forest... I just like to climb things sometimes!
A little photoshop magic to make this Crouching Tiger, Hidden Rob scene!
Minja posing at the Biennale exhibit in Busan.
Minja dancing through the flowers in the traditional village near Andong.
Minja dancing through the flowers in the traditional village near Andong.
