weekend recap . . . weekend preview

Being landlocked is a challenge. I think, speaking as a Michigander, there is truly something in the water. My family rarely travels where open expanses of water cannot be seen. It has an unshakeable need to be near water and to feel the weather coming off the waves; it’s an unfathomable connection with the nature of water. I am part Great Lakes.

Last weekend, Alex and I took a two hour bus to the coastal fishing city of Mokpo (목포). Mt. Yudal (유달산) rises humbly to the west of the old city. The old section still bustles with the fishing trade. Creatures of all variety hang like angels from fences and wooden planks, or lay flat on fishing nets to be preserved by the sun and salt. If they can catch it, they can dry it, or cut it fresh for your immediate consumption. What’s your pleasure?

The main market is a crowd of purveyors and buyers, the only immediate difference being the wading boots. Outside of the markets, the harborside street is a wash of drying carcasses, fishing nets, boots, gloves, and stern, weathered faces. It isn’t glamorous, but it's certainly alive (except for the fish).

hard day's labor in fish market

 

variety of drying fish

weather moving in



drying  

Further to the east a new city is cropping up beside its own humble Mt. Ibansan (이반산). It’s still Mokpo, but the more modern and touristy side, complete with a boardwalk, it’s own shopping centers, and special parks to accomadate the flood of families moving into recently built apartments. Close to many attractions, including its cultural area of museums and the famed Gatbawi Rocks, it’s a cleaner version of the hard life lived in the markets only a few miles away. The boardwalk was beautiful and the streets wide, yet it lacked the character of the old city.

orchid cultivation

Buddha carved into mountain

lights in newer shopping district

Alex and I stayed our night in a hotel near the international ferry terminals and dried fish markets. We spent our first day taking in the Maritime Museum, and walking the town. The following day we managed to hike a great deal of Mt. Yudal to catch the horizon full of cargo ships and Admiral Yi’s munitions island. It was a short trip, but the part of me that is Great Lakes felt revived.

Highlight: Drinking a Budweiser in a bar called the Texas Moon while subjecting the Koreans to Flogging Molly’s “Drunken Lullabies”.
Midlight: Realizing that our minute Korean skills are actually making it easier to travel.
Lowlight: Deciding to take the train instead of the bus home. So much time at a standstill, it added over an hour to our return trip.

This coming weekend, we leave for our first visit to Seoul. On the agenda: Changdeok-gung (창덕궁 "Palace of Illustrious Virtue"), built from 1405-1412 then burned to the ground by the Japanese only to be reconstructed to its former glory by 1610. The last Korean royal family member died here in 1989. It’s extremely private and includes a 78-acre woodland on its grounds. We will also visit Gyeongbok-gung (경복궁 "Palace of Shining Happiness") which shares a similar history with Changdeok-gung (built, burned, rebuilt). Most structures on these grounds, which sit next to Korea’s Blue House, are relatively new and not nearly as beguiling as those of Changdeok-gung. Still, we’re told, it’s worth the visit.

Saturday (Alex’s Birthday!!!) we will be touring the DMZ, 3rd infiltration tunnel, and other war-related places along the 38th parallel. We’ll possibly spend some time at the War Memorial Museum, as well. Beyond these certainities, we have kept our schedule open to meet with friends, and choose our own adventure.

 

 

Mt. Yudal hike