The East Side

Today was the day to tour the East Side of the Island and the day started out very windy (10 mph winds with 20 mph gusts) and snowy. The good thing about the wind was the fact that the snow was coming down sideways and not really sticking to anything or anywhere. The bad thing about the wind was that it just made the cold (about 32 degrees) feel a lot colder (about 20 degrees). Fortunately I am of the species with opposing thumbs, and I used the skill afforded me to put on a warm coat - then we were off!

Our first stop was the far end of Jeju called Seongsan Ilchubong, or Sunrise Peak. While we were not there in time for any sunrise views, the Peak and the crater at the top were still a sight to see. Here is a picture of the little hill we were about to climb. Since underground sea water mixed with the lava during the creation of Seongsan - a hydrothermal erruption - it formed a gorgeous crater on the backside. Here I am with the crater after lugging myself up that hill. Sidebar: I am so literate on the the geological science of the area because a few of the info maps were actually in English and if I ever saw English, I read every word.

After our little walk, we went out to eat lunch with another of JaeShin's friends. I am spending A LOT of time with folks I do not even know and probably doing everything an international traveler is NOT supposed to do. Even so, everyone has been so hospitable and JaeShin is going out of his way to make sure I am comfortable and content. His aunt calls both of us several times a day, and I hope she is not threatening him too severely. [But] the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.... (even when thine aunt doth not threaten thee.)

There was a gorgeous drive on the eastern coast, and even though it was so cold, there were still a few flowers blooming. JaeShin kept telling me how much prettier everything was in the Spring and Summer, but it was not looking too shabby in the dead of winter. Since Jeju is the site for a the filming of a couple of Korean TV dramas, we made a quick stop where "All In House" is filmed. Of course I knew nothing about it, but here is a very popular and well known structure from the show. I guess you can call this a Korean "Southfork." In fact, if you enlarge the picture and look closely, you can see a statue of a camera man coming out of the top of my head!

Our next stop was the Jeju Folk Village, but on the way I had the opportunity to explore more rocks. There are plenty of rocks to see, and this rock wall was along the coast between the road and the sea. For whatever reason, people come through and stack the rocks up in these litttle peaks and the wind does not blow them over. In fact, the rock walls that are so abundant on Jeju to not use any mortar. The rocks are just carefully stacked and the cracks and crevices allow the wind to pass through. It is really an amazing sight.

To finish off an absolutely great day, I had an unexpected treat. At the folk village, there were your typical old houses in the tradition rock and and straw style, but I found pigs and funeral stuff! How perfect is that!!! As you can see, this one and I were bonding, much to the chagrin of the lady that was wanting to feed him. Oink! Oink!

One of the rooms had a disply showing how the traditional meal is laid out for the funeral rites, so I HAD to get a picture of that. This last picture shows rocks that are used to mark a grave. There was no English sign designating this as such, and JaeShin trying to describe what the rocks were used for was quite comical. You had to have been there to really appreciate the all the wild gesticulations that go into explaining a grave marker. All I could think about was how Papa Selwyn would have had a stroke if I had ever designed a monument like this for his Harnett Memorial Park. He gave me the freedom to design different things, but nothing here in Korea is "in keeping" with anything in that cemetery!

The West Side

Thursday morning meant I got to meet my "island guide" in the light of day. When he picked me up, he told me that we would see the Western side of Jeju. Fortunately, Jae Shin's English is better than my Korean, but the language barrier meant we just said what was important. It was great to meet a friend's nephew and explore the island with someone that had lived there all his life.

We explored everything that was underground and underwater, and then proceded to check out the scenery from the surface. The saying on Jeju is they have plenty of wind, rocks and women and they do not have any gates, beggars or thieves. I can attest to the fact the rocks are everywhere. The rocks have been used to make endless rock fences all over the island. Other rocks have been carved into these stone grandfathers which can also be found in abundance on Jeju. As you can see I made an effort to bond with the little native grandfathers. After this picture, Jae Shin lightened up a little bit and with the help of my dictionary and his phrase book, we were able to have some real (and real funny) conversation.

Jeju is full of legends and history. While it is not a clear view, the rock behind me in the sea is Yongduam Rock. It is a dragon that was turned to rock by something bigger and badder. (The moral of that story is to not upset the ones bigger and badder than yourself.) You can read all about it at this site - www.parandeul.co.kr/yongduam.htm. As you can see, angle and lighting help alot with visualizing the dragon and we had neither.

After a full day of power touring, even the floor looked good when I got back to the hotel. ;)

Let The Journey Begin

Look out Jeju, here I come.

My big adventure began with the getting there. Jeju is about as far as you can get from Dongducheon and still be in South Korea, so there was a lot of country to cross. Instead of taking the easy way out (plane), I decided to take the KTX (bullet train) and the ferry, because I wanted to actually see the land I was traversing. Besides, I have never been on a high speed train, and as soon as I found out Korea had one, I knew I would ride it one day. After too little sleep and too much last minute packing and repacking, I finally made my way to the subway station.

An hour and a half on the subway to Yongsan and a two hour layover at the train station was completely uneventful - which means I must have just been tired. The ride on the KTX was about three hours, and while it would register as uneventful on the Snelling Scale, the ride was captivating. Nothing takes your breath away like pressing your face to the window and watching the majestic scenery fly by at nearly 300 km per hour............ then WHOOOOSH the northbound KTX passes a mere 24 inches from your face. Forget majestic nonsense, nothing takes your breath away like watching your life flash before your eyes in the reflection of another high speed train. After that happened to me the second time, I decided to forego the scenery and took a nap instead.


I arrived in Mokpo (the south western coast of Korea) with about an hour and a half to spare. There was a sign that said "Mokpo Harbor" and I figured my boat had to be in the general direction of the harbor, so I decided to go walking. Although I had to stop and ask directions, (there are ALOT of places to get on a boat in a harbor) I found my way to the ferry terminal with 10 minutes to spare.

Here are my fellow passengers boarding our ferry for the final four hour leg of the trip. There is also a picture of my "stateroom" on the ferry. Keep in mind it is a Korean stateroom, so I had all the amenities of a floor. Chairs are so overrated. There was a TV in the room, but guess what the odds are for either of the two channels to have English programming. (zip) I spent some time outside on the deck, but it was a wee bit chilly. While chugging along at 20 knots is nothing compared to 300 km/hour, it can still pack a wallop when the temperature is only about 40 degrees.

The scenery was beautiful, and there was rarely a time when an island or two were not in view. When you have islands and rocks, you have lighthouses. At one place, I could count five lighthouses on different islands and points. This lighthouse was the most unusual and one of the largest. I did not see any sea gulls, and that was a little disappointing. Everyone knows a ferry ride ain't a ferry ride without throwing food to the gulls.

I finally arrived on Jeju about 8:30 PM where I my "never met before" friend, Jae Shin, picked me up and took me to my hotel. In the excitemet of trip preparation, I decided I was going all out and reserved a room with an ondol bed - which is an oxymoron, because ondol means no bed. A heated floor and floor mats sounds great when planning, but after 12 hours of traveling, I was beginning to question the wisdom of that choice. Fortunately for me, I was the only traveler and there were multiple floor mats in the room. After I prepared my "bed" it looked more like something from the "Princess and the Pea" rather than anything Korean.

I will leave you with the view from my hotel window:

Still here.......somewhere

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

I just realized that two weeks have gone. *poof* Just like that.

The past couple of weeks have been a bit unusual, but things seem to be settling down. I cannot write about it here, but there has been a lot going on and keeping the chaplain really busy. The chaplain (probably the Battalion Commander too) was very glad for this field exercise to finally begin so he could have all the soldiers in one general place at one time. With alcohol off limits, there is a good chance our battalion can make it through the next few weeks without making any more headlines.

Since everyone is tucked securely in their tanks and tents, I am off on a little trip. I will have the chance to mix a little volunteering with sight seeing, so it should be a fun. Stay tuned, because it should not take 10 days for the next post.

hmmmm.....unless I do not have internet access where I am going - then it will take about 7 days.

I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet

....and there shall be earthquakes in divers places... Mark 13:8

Seems there was an earthquake on the peninsula last night. After it happened, I just looked at Meghan and said "Did you hear something?" Knowing good and well what I thought it was, but then not really believing it. Meghan was too funny, she just looked at me and said, "DUH! The building just moved!"

Move is a bit harsh, lets just say it vibrated, and we did not just feel it - we heard it. One minute we are just minding our business and going about our evening routine and the next second the building "moves." As far as earthquakes go, this was pretty minor - but it was our first.

Nuclear tests and now an earthquake just goes to show how we really do not know what to expect from one minute to the next.

Culture-fied

It seems that Miri is single handedly trying to culturize a certain bumpkin. We have already attended Handel's Messiah, Nanta, a Broadway show from Korea, and the ballet. There is an opera in my not too distant future, but tonight it was the Vienna Boys Choir. It was a fun experience, and those boys can sing. I think my favorite part was the encore when they sang three songs from "The Sound of Music."

Of course we could not get together without our customary stroll down the street to offer our financial support to a street vendor and then head over to a convenience store to load up on a variety of chocolate. I have named these little trips our $30.00 walks. We got off cheap tonight, but it was nearly midnight, so our spending options were limited.

The Dust Offensive

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These last couple of days, I have let my obsessive compulsive self run rampant - like vacuuming four times. Not sure why this is called a disorder - I like it.

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Since teen forces that have been drafted into service develop MP3 induced tunnel vision when cleaning, many fail to notice dust bunny agents taking cover. These rogue insurgents were no match for the M.O.M. Radar System and superior fire power from the U.S.S. Shop-Vac. On land, troops led by Mr. Clean attacked the dust bunnies that had dug in on flat surfaces. After much rinsing and wringing of the M1 Abrams cleaning rag, these sneeze inducing forces had been eliminated. In spite of a fresh lemony scent, experts have advised that the air is safe to breathe and there is no evidence of residue or proof of a rumored chemical attack by the Mr. Clean forces.

Remaining dust forces had regrouped and formed a secondary headquarters under the bed and out of the reach of the unweildy vac. Intel provided reports of socks and a book that had been taken POW and were being held in that desolate wasteland. Fears that these POWs would be used as human shields forced leaders to turn to Black Ops. Delta Force Mop with the Top Secret self wringing attachment stealthily retrieved the POWs. Commanders will neither confirm nor deny reports that the destruction of dust forces had anything to do with the recovery of POWs. Rumors of a possible coup by the minority dirt faction might explain the reports, but conspiracy theories are rampant.

Initial reports are sketchy, but more details will be fortchcoming as they are provided.

Just Cannot Get Used To This.....

I love waking up, looking out the window and finding an unexpected surprise:

Back In The Saddle

The smell of horsey poo and hay is like a drug for Erin, and she had been cold turkey for too long. Even though she did not have any of her real horse gear, Erin was on a horse and that is all that mattered. She looked like a red-neck bumpkin out there in her camouflage hunting boots, jeans, hoodie and vest - not like someone ready to ride English, must less jump. The Koreans at the stables were all dressed like they were ready for a horse show, so someone was sticking out like a sore thumb. We rented her a helmet and some chaps, then she was ready to go.

Erin was really wanting to jump, but these instructors had never seen her ride and most jumpers have their own horse. After they let her ride for about 20 minutes, they moved her to the jumping ring. They placed the cavaletti on the ground and Erin walked her horse, Sugar, over the obstacles. A little bit later, the instructors set up two obstacles and moved the bars into an X so Erin could actually do a little low jumping. I thought she was finished for the day, but they changed the second obstacle into a 2 foot jump and Erin was soaring - literally and figuratively.

At this particular stable, there are about 6-7 elderly Korean men that care for the horses. They bring the horse to the ring already tacked up and then take the horse from you when you are finished. Since Erin has always done this for herself, she asked and they let her groom her horse. I think this surprised the men a little bit, and a couple of them even got a chuckle out of it when she was cleaning out Sugar's ears with a towel and kissing her on the nose.

Even though it is a four hour round trip subway ride, I imagine we will be back.

Happy New Year!

Proverbs 6:9 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

Two all nighters in one week - whoever planned New Years and Christmas so close together was not thinking about us. We had a fellowship at the chapel where everyone got together and played a variety of games like Scrabble, Spades, Phase 10, Dominoes, Bingo and of course X-Box. We also ate lots of food, so we could start 2007 out with a sugar rush.

At 11:45, we moved into the sanctuary for a prayer service. Afterwards, many went home, but there were a few die-hards that stayed on for more games and such. Even when others had dozed off in the wee hours, the chaplain was still glued to the X-Box. Hey, it was Nascar! They played for about 7 hours straight, and this picture was taken about 6:45 AM.
Erin, a budding photographer, managed to take pictures of a few guys recovering from the chaplain's wild party. The fellow deep in ummmm....... prayer?..... on the sanctuary pew is the new Chaplain's Assistant, Ricky. He seems to have a high tolerance for Snelling shenanigans and is pretty good at Spades too.

And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the assistant wrapped in a swaddling sleeping bag, lying in a pew.

I think we will keep him.