Seaside Part 1: When is the bus coming?

Date: July 31st-Aug 1st. Destination: Ganghwa-do. Transport: subway, bus, ferry. Activity: not being in Seoul.

The biggest of the West Sea Islands, Ganghwa, is home to rice fields, ancient sites and seafood restaurants. From Anyang we took the subway to Sinchon and caught a bus for 4,400won to Ganghwa-eup terminal.  Actually we found out later there were buses direct from Anyang and other suburbs, which would cut out some of the 2 and a half hour journey. There’s a tourist info in the bus terminal, which gave us a map and English guide book, but didn’t really speak English. However, the bus ticket vendors did, and easily directed us to which buses we needed to get around the island.

We headed to Oepo-ri, on the west side of the island, to catch a ferry to Seokmo-do. It was a 15 minute ride of sparkling water, sunshine and seagulls. Even on the return journey the seagulls were there, quietly bobbing on the water although no one was feeding them.

Alighting at the dock, there was a map showing one circular road on the island. We figured we could just follow it past rice fields and rows of gochu (chillies) until we found Bomunsa; a famous temple, once home to the Tripitaka Koreana (wood-carved Buddhist scriptures) and now known as a place to watch the beautiful sunset (isn’t every place in Korea a ’sunset spot’?). However, the road was considerable longer than it had looked on the map. After 40 minutes of gettng nowhere near where we wanted to be, we admitted defeat and headed to the nearest (and only) bus stop we had seen. And waited. And waited some more. And waited until finally, having headed past us back to the port some time ago, the bus arrived going in the right direction. We jumped on and took another 15mins to the temple. By now it was wrapped in shadows, with only the famous rock carving, 419 steps up the hillside, still golden-wreathed in sunlight.By the time we got back to the car park, the stalls were closing up and people were heading back to the ferry. We sat down to wait for the bus. Having waited no longer than 5 minutes, an ajumma cheerfully informed us there was no bus. The last one had already left. She went straight to the nearest car (a fashionable looking convertible) and told the owner to drive the poor foreignors back to the ferry. The man obediently began clearing the back seat which was full of foodstuffs and other things he’d purchased, whilst the wife sat in the front seat speaking on her mobile phone the whole time. We got in with many a ‘kamsa hamnida’ and rode in speeding luxury back to the boat. I noticed the man had a Buddhist rosary hanging on his mirror, so I did a monk-style bow as we left and he smiled and bowed back. The wife never so much as glanced at us the whole time.Having already chosen our accommodation in Oepo-ri (motels abounded throughout the island and seemed surprisingly vacant), we went in search of dinner. The tourist guide showed mouth-watering pictures of succulent eel and in every restaurant we passed there were curling masses of grey in tanks outside. Yes, this was the place and the time to enjoy this delicacy.

We chose a small, friendly-looking place where the ajumma greeted us and showed us a happy family munching away on shellfish. Sure, we said, eel please. We pointed at the eels in the tank and asked for that. She sat us down and we asked again for eel. Yes yes, she said. She went away and brought us some side dishes. Then we saw the ajoshi from the kitchen collecting a selection of shellfish from the tanks. Were they for us? We showed the picture in the guide book, writen clearly in English and Korean and asked again for eel. Yes yes, with a smile she nodded. And then she bought shellfish to the table. I suppose she assumed we weren’t speaking Korean so she didn’t listen to us properly. And maybe she was short-sighted so she couldn’t see the picture we showed her. Well, we’d never have thought to try shellfish barbecue without her making the decision for us.It was interesting, certainly. The size and variety alone of all those molluscs was quite breathtaking. And some of them were very tasty indeed. But others were a little too similar, and after a while it all just seemed like another bite of squidginess. There was only kimchi, seaweed and some small bird’s eggs to relieve the monotony, so even though she cooked us the whole collection of shells, we couldn’t eat it all. We kept glancing wistfully at the eels in the tank next to us who seemed to be coiling smugly at us. Next time, next time we’ll get you, eely friends!

The following morning we were up early to catch the bus to Manisan. This mountain is fabled to be where legendary first Korean, Dangun, performed sacrifices to the heavens. There’s an alter at the top (variously rebuilt throughout history) which is still used for ceremonies on National Foundation Day. At 469m, it’s the highest point on Ganghwa.

We got a little lost trying to find the path up to the mountain, which is in fact only 7 minutes from the bus stop (basically turn left instead of right when you see the school). But on our wanderings we passed through small, yet quite wealthy-looking properties, all growing some kind of crops in the space around them.Having eventually found our way to the beginning of the hiking course, we started off on an easy, gently sloping path following a stream uphill. It was a sultry day and families were playing in the stream whilst hikers kept dousing themselves with water to keep cool. As is a usual sight, many were covered head-to-toe in ‘fashionable’ hiking gear through which they were sweating profusely. I got a lot of looks for wearing a short dress, but damn it was above 30C and I wasn’t about to cover up just so they weren’t shocked.

As the path began to climb higher, steps became the norm, in some places man-made and in others formed from the natural rock of the ridgeline. It was so hazy it was difficult to see, even when the tree canopy was not obscuring the view.

It took quite a while to reach the summit, mainly because it was just so hot. Luckily there were shady spots and benches in many places along the way from which to enjoy our kimbap and watch the unbelievably long-legged spiders scurrying around the forest floor. There was one poor, chubby child who was whimpering and sweating the whole way up, only to scream and jump in fright when she saw an insect every time she stopped. I think when she gets asked “What did you do at the weekend?”, she’ll answer “My parents tortured me’.

At last we arrived at the legendary Chamseongdan, but were a little confused as all we could see was a large perimeter fence and the path veering off to the left as it continued across the mountain range. Some people were taking a picture in front of a sign on the fence. It seems that the alter was behind it. After climbing up some rocks we got a better view.But in the end we had to do the Korean thing and take a photo in front of a photo at the beginning of the walk, to show the what the real thing looks like!We headed back to Seoul a little sunburned, more than a little tired and very contented from our jaunt out of the city.

PS Thank you to Jonathan for the movie.

Visitor

I found this little guy sitting outside my apartment door. Actually, it’s so small I didn’t notice it until it moved.

An amusing day at the races

Located just south of Seoul, on Line 4 (light blue) subway, are both Seoul Racecourse and Seoul Grand Park; the former providing a legal outlet for gambling and the latter being something for the whole family incorporating zoo, amusement park and the National Museum of Contemporary Art.

Never having bet on a sporting event in my life, let alone been to a racecourse, I had little idea of what to expect. It was big, with a fair few crowds.

There’s a foreigner’s area with air-conditioned views of the track.

The track-side atmosphere was more exciting, but it was a pain in the arse to keep going up and down in the lifts to place bets upstairs.

Minimum bet is 100won. I tried to study the odds, but it was way too confusing so I ended up picking horses that were successful in most of their last races, or simply had cool names like ‘Aragorn’. I spent about 20,000won on 5 races and won 3,000won….so down by 17,000….yes, not very successful. Still less than I’d spend on a hat if I went to Ascot though.

More along the lines of my usual interests is the National Museum of Contemporary Art. It was an unplanned visit so we were pleasantly surprised to find entry was free as it was the last saturday of the month. And even more exciting was the special exhibition currently being held until 23rd August (see below).

As mentioned, the museum is in the grounds of Seoul Grand Park. A free shuttle bus takes you from the subway exit to the museum and in the humid weather this was the most comfortable way to make the journey. There’s a fairly average outdoor sculpture park, but the building itself is interesting to look at.The museum is big! We had time for only one exhibition, but boy was it a good one: 100 years of Korean Cartoon 1909-2009. It was all in Korean, but mostly self-explanatory following a chonological order. Here were my favorites, old to new.There were also some beautiful, funny and downright creepy pieces of art.The whole exhibition space was well-laid out and colorful. I especially liked the montages made from different comic characters in one landscape.An exhibition for all ages and nationalities!

beomgye, anyang

I’ve been in Anyang 2 months. It’s a suburb/satellite city of Seoul, but with the subway it’s pretty easy to get into the city centre. Here is a video of my apartment and a few photos.

There’s a Homeplus/Tesco 5mins away – Yay! Earl Grey teabags on demand!The river and parks are a nice place to walk, if a little crowded.Public art is popular. This piece provided someone with a handy place to lock their bike, which is not part of the scultpture!I’m told I live in the main area of the town. There’s an array of restaurants and watering holes a stone’s throw from me.Fun for all ages.It’s even livelier at night – the neon doesn’t turn off til dawn.

But the best thing is my apartment; bigger, newer and lighter than all my others.

Even the roof beats anything else, providing 2 putting holes…and a foot doctor path (walk along barefoot for therapeutic relief)…Not to mention the views.

Malaysia Truly Asia…

Yes, the commercial promises the world’s best dive sites, a shopper’s paradise and the world’s largest flower. But I stayed away from all that and spent the week in Melaka, a UNESCO World Heritage site variously influenced by Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Indian and English.

Melaka is a medium size city, although the historic centre is small and easy to walk around. Apart from some incongruously ‘restored’ red Dutch buildings, it’s a pleasant mix of chinese temples, colonial residences and ancient mosques, plus a healthy handful of tourist souvenir shops.

The streets further out from Jonker Walk are less well-kept, less cutesy and more interesting.

Melaka was known as Venice of the East due to its crucial role in the eastern trade network – all over and finished by the time the British took over in the 19th century. The seafront itself is now just a concrete mass of major hotels, shopping centres and parking lots (with a few cute kitties).

But to stay with the nautical theme, you can visit a reproduction Portuguese galleon which houses an exhibition on the history of Melaka. The crew were not very responsive though.

You can also visit a replica of the Sultan’s Palace and enjoy more dioramas there.

Probably the best thing was the river cruise. It’s a somewhat picturesque route…

which we had walked along earlier and seen this…

Monitor lizard!! At least a metre long. But nothing prepared  us for what we saw whilst on the cruise.

But even better than that!

Yes, monitor lizards having sex. Alas, I was so transfixed I didn’t think to take photos until it was nearly over and the pair of lizards swam off in different directions. Typical dinner date, I guess.

I wonder what exactly they were eating. I hope it’s the huge rats I saw on several occasions in the open sewers, rather than the profusion of stray cats. It was nice being in a country where they don’t dislike cats (I still don’t know why Koreans are so prejudiced against them), but I guess they’re not seen as pets, but rather, pest control. There was the cutest cat family in one restaurant we visited, who decided to rest under our table and enjoy their own lunch with us.

Other Malaysian animals I got up close and personal with were the mosquitoes. They were not as impressive as the monitors, but their bites did swell up to disproportionate sizes.

Melaka zoo was surprisingly good, I think because it featured animals in their natural climate (rather than yellowing, depressed polar bears that you usually see in zoos).

I touched an elephant for the first time (and also got elephant snot on me). There were lots of cute fluffy chicks in many of the cages. Then we realised they were lunch.We also saw some strange bear-like creatures getting their lunch via a hesitant zoo-keeper who had to quickly empty a bucket and retreat back along the gangplank before they chased him off.So with all this eating, we got hungry for our own lunch; chicken in black pepper sauce and pineapple fried rice

Scrumptious! In fact ALL the food in Malaysia – from the full english breakfasts to the chinese chicken rice balls to the coconut leaf rice and curries – was absolutley delicious!satay, Satay Celup Bukit Cinamango & chicken sandwich with fresh juices, Cafe Limau Limaubanana leaf curry, charppati houseNasi Goreng (fried rice) with chicken and seafood Tom Yam soup, roadside hut

Mmm…mmm….more mmm…..

Our hostel in Melaka, Tony’s Guest House was very colorful, decorated by the owner himself.Tony runs a small cafe downstairs, which offers a large variety of breakfasts and light lunches.There were only a few other guests, and for the size of the rooms, the price and the location, it was one of the best bargains I’ve ever stayed in.

It was generally quiet everywhere in Melaka; the taxi drivers expounded on theories to explain the lack of tourists from the recession to global warming. Personally, and somewhat reproachfully, I think it might be because shops and restaurants didn’t seem to have set opening times. We’d walk past a cafe serving breakfast one morning and the next day it would be closed, even at lunchtime. Or we’d return to a nice bar we saw one evening, only to find it closed by 6pm the next day. Maybe because there weren’t so many (foreign) tourists about, places just kept the hours convenient to them.

However, there was development everywhere. On the bus journeys to Melaka zoo and a nearby beach labelled as ‘fishing village’ on the map, there were any number of hotels or condos being built in the seemingly middle of nowhere. And plenty of resturants and roadside cafes too, just mostly all closed.

We returned to Kualar Lumpur to spend the final day seeing a bit of the city. Unbeknowst to us, our room was actually in an apartment on the outskirts of the town (also unbeknownst to us, run by Koreans!) but had a wonderful view of the sci-fi cityscape…It’s not a city made for walking around. And in the heat, who would want to do that anyway? But there is a nice monorail to use…We managed to get to a couple of ’sights’ before giving up.The Petronas Towers were, yes, tall! But we didn’t feel like queuing for the special ‘invitation’ you have to get to go up.China Town was the most crowded, commercial, cheesy place. We exited it as quickly as possible, not wanting to buy the marked up chinese merchandise I’d seen on sale in Beijing last year.

It’s sad to say, but the best thing about Kuala Lumpur, and this really does make up for everything else, was leaving it. Because, guess what? If you fly Malaysia Airlines, you can check your baggage in and get your boarding pass at the train station, then stroll around town until you’re ready to take the express train to the airport. Greatest system for travellers ever!So. Malaysia.

Melaka

Kuala Lumpur

Being stared at lasciviously and/or talked about directly in front of me as if I’m not there, despite the fact there are Malaysian women wearing less clothes than me

Food