Beijing

Beijing

I have to give Beijing a lot of credit and respect for officially wearing me out each and every day I was there. By 6 pm I would collapse back at the hostel and try to think back to all I had done that day, which made me even more tired. I walked, I climbed, I got rained on, I got sunburnt, and I almost got hit by cars, bikes, scooters, buses, you name it, while trying to cross the street. And that was when the light was green.

My first day in Beijing I did the two biggies: Tiananmen Square (from now on referred to as T-Square, since I always have trouble spelling it) and the Forbidden City. T-Square was…big. That’s really the best way to describe it. It takes about ten minutes to walk from one side to another, which is exactly what I did. I took the obligatory picture with Mr. Mao, and even got asked to have a picture taken with this lovely lady here to the left, as I was taking a break to look at my map. 

The Forbidden City was incredibly impressive, and enhanced by my pre-China viewing of "The Last Emperor." Those Chinese emperors sure knew how to live in style. From the Hall of … to the Hall of …, I just walked around, took pictured, dodged zillions of tourists (just like me, of course) and found peace in my favorite part of the Forbidden City, the Imperial Gardens. The mistresses knew how to live in style too. Back there I was best able to think back about 500 years and imagine how pleasant it must have been to be royalty…aside from the backstabbing and affairs and such, of course. 

My favorite day of the whole time in Beijing was the Great Wall Day. Upon recommendation by my friend, I booked a tour through my hostel, as much as I like to do things on my own. Our hostel took us past the very busy section of the Wall to a more remote, farther back part of the Wall – part of which had been destroyed by the Mongols just a few centuries earlier. We were blessed with extremely good weather – the best I’d seen in over a month. After a quick orientation and some information from our guide, we were let loose to roam free for a good three hours to take pictures, wander, and enjoy the wall with only about twenty other people. And last, as was my intention ever since I moved to Asia, I was able to replicate my mom’s Great Wall picture from 28 years ago! I even whipped out the raincoat for effect, even though it definitely wasn't cold nor raining. The sheer greatness and impressiveness of the Wall, which was built over the span of two thousand years from modern day XiAn to past Beijing, was incredible to observe firsthand. 

My last day had a profound impact on me and my perception not only of China, but of the part of the world I was in and where I was headed to. After wandering through the Temple of Heaven complex, (where the emperor used to go pray to the heavens for a good harvest every fall) I made my way back to T-Square for better pictures, and to go to the National China Museum.

Of course, I’m a museum nerd, so it’s only natural that I wanted to head there, but I was also curious to see this particular museum, as it was put up by the National Government of China – which is still communist. They controlled what you read, saw, and learned. As Americans, most of us have grown up with the perception: communism = bad. Yet, as I looked around these cities, with their Gucci and Prada stores, I kept thinking ‘all our perceptions of communism don’t seem to be playing out in this country, right here and now.’ The horrors of the Great Leap Forward failure and the years of famine during Mao’s early leadership seemed to be only memories of the past as I looked around modern China.

But then I went to the museum. The bottom floor was the ‘Ancient China’ exhibit, which was a beautiful display of Chinese bronzes, pottery, ceramics, etc., that ran the course of history from pre-civilization to the proclamation of the Republic in 1911. From there, I went upstairs, and after gawking at the revolutionary Mao portraits (quite reminiscent of the French Revolutionary portraits I remember studying in high school) displayed gallantly in a red exhibit room, I made my way to the side wing, entitled the “Road to Rejuvenation.”

This was what I had come to see. In honor of the 100 years of the Republic, (made official in 1912) the display covered everything from the start of the party, led by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, all the way to the current president Hu Jintao. I was most fascinated by the English translations on the display panels. For example, “the founding of the CPC was an earth-shattering event that brought new vitality to the Chinese revolution,” or how about “socialism is the only way to save China.”

This was verbatim ‘revolutionary’ propaganda that I had read about in history books, phrases desiged to evoke emotions and instill patriotism in all loyal civilians, and I was seeing it for my very eyes. I almost got swept up in it, but my mind wouldn’t let me forget the horrors of the Great Famine and the purges, in which millions of innocent Chinese civilians died. Had it been worth it, in a country so big as China? Were the people happy they were living in communism, with limited freedoms such as YouTube and Facebook? Or were they happy, because they didn’t know anything differently? These questions and dozens more were spinning through my head as I left the museum, hurting my brain. 

T-Square as seen from the museum

Once again, Beijing earned my deepest respect for not only wearing out my feet, but wearing out my thinking cap as well. All of my studying had paid off to paint a pretty good picture of Chinese history in my mind, solidified by my museum visit.  I hope that I can take that knowledge, especially as I head to Southeast Asia to see more countries affected by communism, and use it to help answer some of my endless questions about its place in the modern world. But first, I had a little more of China to see.

Xian: A City of Contrast.

To me, Xian is the single most important city in China, as the old capital of a civilization rivaling only that of ancient Rome. It is where classical Chinese script originated, where the Han dynasty was founded, and where Buddhism and Confucianism first took root in China. It remained the imperial capital through eight dynasties, and became home to the crossroads of the thriving Silk Road. It was, and still is, a magnificent display of historical, cultural, and imperial significance...not to mention its consumer culture significance, with  designer stores, massive shopping compounds, and a McDonalds and KFC on every corner.

Perhaps today its importance as a major Chinese city is eclipsed by Beijing and Shanghai, but ask any Chinese person who lived 1,000 years ago, and they would have told you Xi An, (or Chang An, as it used to be called) was the place to be. Today, the most standout sight that people (okay, tourists) go to Xi An for is the site of the Terra Cotta Warrior army. And that is precisely where I found myself on my second morning in China, after a long 12 hour travel day the day before from Hong Kong.

But before we get into talking about 2,000 year old statues, (you can't wait, I know) let me share with you some of my first impressions of China, a country I've wanted see since before I can remember.

As I stepped off the plane and followed the very convenient signs to the airport to city bus, bought my ticket, and waltzed on the bus, (the exact repeat of how I had gotten to the airport from Hong Kong in the first place, waltzing and all,) I very distinctly remember thinking "This too easy. I want to be challenged, I'm supposed to be traveling in CHINA, being hot and smelly with about a million other people who don't speak English, crowded every which way, and not zipping around in air conditioned buses." Little did I know that somebody upstairs definitely heard my thoughts, and decided they would make me eat my words in a very short time.

I stepped off the bus, saw the landmark my hostel directions had noted, and set off walking. The broad, paved streets and wide sidewalks lined with shops accented the hustle and bustle of a big city – with 7 million inhabitants, I suppose it has a right to act like one. However, there were definitely signs that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. The actual signs, for one, written in Chinese, but thankfully some had English below them. Another thing was the mass quantity of motorscooters and bicycles, in their own little traffic lane. And last, as I made my next turn into what turned out to be the Muslim Quarter, not my hostel’s street, I realized that I was most definitely somewhere new. My thoughts changed to: “This is going to be fun.”

But remember when I said I thought things were too easy? My thoughts changed precisely, one more time, when I followed both the guide map I had with me and the written hostel directions, and wound up lost not once, not twice, but three times. New thoughts: “You’re an idiot. China is hard.” Luckily everyone at the other hostels I managed to find were kind and helped guide me in semi-the-right direction, at least far enough for me to ask another person. 

I finally made it after a good hour of traipsing around in the opposite direction of where I was supposed to go, but the good thing was that at least I orientated myself a little better around the city. After I dropped off my stuff, took a shower, and had some time to settle, I got my ticket to Beijing straightened out at the hostel desk, and decided I’d had enough adventure for one day, so stayed in the hostel to chat and get a feel for China from other travelers who had been in the country longer. 

The next day was really exciting for two very important reasons. First, I finally got to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, imprisoned under the earth for over 2,000 years until about 30 years ago. Second, I discovered Chinese breakfast street food. I’ll start with that. 

My excitement began bright and early as I got up and got myself ready early, ready to head to the bus terminal and catch a bus to see the warriors. As I tromped down the street towards the East Gate (one nice thing about Xian is that the inner city is surrouded by these walls, so if you ever get lost you just have to walk until you hit a wall,) I walked by a curious looking stand with people lined up behind it. Eggs, chopped veggies, processed meat, and other items I don’t think I can name were all set up neatly in little metal bowls next to a fry griddle, manned by an older man or woman who was cooking up something that looked really unhealthy…therefore delicious. And just a few meters down? A different yummy looking thing. I picked the one with the least people in line, paid my 3 yuan (about 40 cents) and happily munched on my breakfast, swinging the little plastic bag it comes in just like everyone else striding down the sidewalk, looking like they had places to be. Think something like a breakfast omelette with some sort of spicy sauce and Spam in it. Delight. (apologies for not having an appropriate picture for you – I didn’t want to interrupt the masters at work - but the woman sitting on the right of that picture kind of resembles a breakfast street vendor.) Too bad finding coffee wasn’t as easy as finding breakfast.

But enough about that, let’s get to the statues. A walk, a bus ride, and a long line of tourist hawkers that you have to walk through to get to the entrance later, and I was about to  enter the site that, only 35 years earlier, was countryside and a potential well. In March 1974, a group of farmers was digging a well when they happened upon, according to Wikipedia, “the largest pottery figurine group ever found in China.” 

Built and structured to protect the Emperor Qin, the ruthless yet brilliant Emperor responsible for the modern name China, (Qin is pronounced “Chin”) the warriors were buried sometime around 240 BC, but since then have been destroyed by plunderers and pillagers, leaving them broken and damaged. Restorers have worked to painstakingly reconstruct the life sized statues, of all various military dress such as General and Archer, “from the fragments of the crushed figures.” This guy was one of my favorites, the Warrior figure, on display in his own case. 

After many a History Channel documentary, to finally see the warriors in person brought me chills. They were magnificent, lined up in rows in a huge pit that is yet to be fully excavated. There were actually three pits, but I saved the largest and most impressive one for last. Though I had to deal with being pushed and shoved by frantic Chinese tourists scrambling to get pictures with their camera, videocameras, iPhones, iPads, you name it, I was still taller than all of them…so I won. I also put my headphones in to drown out the tour guides yapping and the mass of people running around. Double win. 

When I came back from the Warrior site, I decided to brave the crowds and take a wander through the Muslim Quarter again, since this time I was neither lost nor weighed down by all my stuff. It was a fun wander, with tons of food stall, souvenir shops, and a mess of people. The architecture was a mixture of Islamic, Chinese, and what I presumed to be Central Asian. Here is my new friend who caught me taking a picture of the pretty Arabic script behind her, and then proceeded to take my camera and take a picture of me holding one of her sweets that she shoved in my hand for a prop. 

As touristy as the Muslim Quarter was (note the bright neon signs) I appreciated it for still existing, for it represented the medieval, multicultural capital as a result of the Silk Road. Muslims came to Chang An over 1,000 years ago to trade and establish an important part of world history, so to still see their integration and influence in this little pocket of Chinese society was pretty cool. The words of one of the displays at the Xian Museum summed up a description of Chang An nicely: "with the opening of the Silk Road, the city has become the first international metropolitan in Chinese history, and has been known as an oriental capital of civilization." The street food wasn’t bad either. 

On my last morning in Xian, I braved the rain (after getting caught without an umbrella, during which I composed some of this blog on my iPod in an underground metro tunnel) and walked a short distance to see the Little Goose Pagoda. To my delight, it was now a (free) museum complex, which included a beautiful garden, the pagoda, the temple it is attached to, and the Xian History Museum. Ohhh. 

I started with the gardens and temple complex, which I had mostly to myself at 9 in the morning, except for a handful of elderly people doing their tai chi thing. As I walked through the pretty, peaceful grounds, I came across some Buddhist statues from about 700 AD, according to the plaque. It was right then that it hit me: This was Xian, former capital, where Chinese civilization as I knew it had been founded. Here was history, right in front of me, a testament to the strength and power of the ancient Chinese for creating a long lasting society, which has been modified and adapted to the changing times. That was why I was here, that was why I came to China, to see how the past has fused with the present. But for me at that moment, only the past existed.

So, from Muslims to Buddhists, from 2,000 year old guy statues to old guys selling breakfast on the streets, my introduction to China was pretty interesting. It definitely laid the framework down for what was to come, and it helped concrete a solid picture of where China began and how far it has come since then.

Beijing is up next! I hope your September is off to a lovely start!

Hong Kong

Hi there!

How are you all doing? Happy September – are you ready for fall? Mmm crisp apples, pumpkin pies, sweatshirt weather, Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes…please enjoy it extra for me this year! I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend as well. 

I’m two weeks on the road now, and it is absolutely flying by. Blogger.com and Facebook were both blocked in China, so I wasn’t able to get anything out until now, as I am hanging around Bangkok Airport until the metros open up. It was kind of nice being a little disconnected, however, I still had e-mail and chatting access on my little iPod, which has come in quite handy whenever there’s free wifi around. 

I started in Hong Kong two weeks ago, and I’ve been going full force ever since then, which makes me think I definitely deserve this upcoming week of vacation in Thailand with Sara. So, while we lay on the beach, drink adult beverages, and eat fresh fruit, you can read a little bit about my one-and-a-half-turned-into-three days in Hong Kong if you’d like. 

So, Hong Kong. I arrived bright and early Tuesday morning, with the intention to get in, get my visa processed, dump my stuff, and get a ticket into China as fast as possible, preferrably the next evening. Well, that didn’t happen. I got as far as dumping my stuff, when I got so nervous about not getting my visa processed (Chinese visa restrictions are scary – don’t tell me it’s not true. Not to mention ridiculously expensive) that I decided I should wait until I actually had my visa-ed, passport in hand before I booked a ticket out of Hong Kong. 

So that left me free for the day! I called my friend Joddi, who is working as a model in Hong Kong – I met her last year just as she was finishing up a teaching contract in Gwangju, and we’ve kept in touch. She was busy until the evening, so I had the whole day to get started exploring. 

My first few thoughts regarding Hong Kong, as I made my way to Central Station, were: “How are buildings even allowed to be that big?” mixed with “I can’t stop looking up.” So, you can get an idea of how I wandered myself around the impressive downtown district – skyscraper after skyscraper, with a bunch of fancy desiger stores thrown in the mix. 

Macau...supposedly?

From Central, my main objective of the day was to get up to Victoria Peak, which was highly recommended by my mom, who had lived in Hong Kong for three months a little less than 30 years before. I took the bus all the way up to the highest peak of Hong Kong Island, and was rewarded with a bird's eye view of the city below. On the other side of the peak, the scenery was completely different, with lush greenery leading down into a quiet bay. I overheard someone pointing out the island of Macau to whoever he was with...so of course I (discreetly) took a picture.

After wandering the souvenir shops and enjoying a coffee, I took the famous tram back downtown. The tram has been in operation since 1888 and is an important element of Hong Kong's history, or so said the little plaque thing in front of it. I spent the next couple of hours wandering the Mid-Level and Soho areas. These trendy neighborhoods with galleries, restaurants, and shops reminded me immensely of some parts of London, which of course makes sense as Hong Kong was under British government until 1997. Here and there, though, I'd catch glimpses of back alleys and streets that reminded me I was definitely still in Asia. 

That night I met up with Joddi and we had fun catching up about our lives and travels since we saw each other last over some Chinese desserts. I had to excuse myself early to go to bed though, as I hadn't had a proper sleep in four days. 

The next day was visa and train day, but first Joddi and I had made plans to meet up again - we decided on a little adventure to Stanley, an area in the southern part of Hong Kong. After a short bus ride, it seemed unbelievable that we were just a few miles from the city - Stanley had a cute little beach, a waterfront lined with shops, cafes, and restaurants, and a nice park. We enjoyed browsing the markets, taking some pictures, and stopping for a little snack, but the best part was just to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a few hours. In Stanley, it was easy to imagine Hong Kong as a sleepy little fishing island, just as it was a few hundred years ago. 

After Stanley I zipped over to Kowloon, my first time on the mainland, via underground subway as I was pressed for time. I burst into the visa office with just a few mintues to spare, my heart pounding as I was so nervous that there had been a problem.

“Hi, I’m here for my-“

“Reciept?”

Reciept produced. Breath held. She walked back to the desk, dug around for a minute, and procured…my passport with a shiny new visa sticker in it! I was going to China! 

I skipped out of the office (okay, not really) and navigated my way along the busy streets of more designer stores and fancy hotels with awesome harbor views to get to the train station. As I walked along the waterfront I looked back periodically to check out the never ending skyline, built among the hills of Hong Kong Island. Definitely an impressive sight.

At the train station, I discovered that I happened to be planning my train travels right smack dab in the middle of the Chinese summer holidays – no school meant lots of traveling, therefore nearly all the tickets for that evening and the next day were booked up. My only option was a 27 hour slow train to Xi An, which would delay my China time by a day. Instead, I looked into flights, as much as I had wanted to do the whole thing overland. But of course, travel is all about being flexible and changing plans as you go, so when I left the train station, I had an airline ticket ready to confirm for the day after. 

Hong Kong Skyline

Happy with my plan, as it was better than nothing, I walked back towards the harbor…and stopped in my tracks. During my time in the train station the sun had gone down, and in its place was a bright, glittering, electric skyline stretching as far as the eye could see. It was stunning, and I had to stop to keep taking pictures as I walked closer. I arrived at the edge right as the nightly Light and Sound show was starting, which wasn’t anything special but still fun to watch. After the show I found my way to the Temple Street Night Market, where I enjoyed some stir fried squid and some kind of vegetables – point and choose style. 

Dinnertime!

So, on my third and last day in Hong Kong, I decided to just relax a bit – after taking care of some things at the hostel I met up with Joddi for the last time and accompanied her on her daily errands – even mundane things like grocery shopping can be fun when you’re in a foreign country. We said goodbye after a wonderful three day reunion – who knows what the next country we meet up in will be?

That evening, I decided to take the Star Ferry across the harbor – what used to be the only means of transportation to Kowloon and has been in operation for over 100 years (the company, not the same boat.) The ride was fun, and only cost me about twenty cents. My main purpose for going back was just to see the night skyline again, so after wandering and killing time until it got dark, I staked out the perfect people watching/viewing spot. Soon dusk fell, and as the lights began to light up the hills and water, I thought about how lucky I am to be able to do what I’m doing – really a once in a lifetime opportunity – and that I had to remember to take advantage of it. Before the trip, I was worried about rushing things, being too anxious for the next thing I was going to see, and not ‘living in the moment,’ in my anticipation to get home. But, as I sat on that bench, looking out over the shining lights over Hong Kong Harbor, I can guarantee you that at that minute, I was completely in the moment. 

Next up, China! I’ll post soon – have a great rest of your week everybody!

Goodbye Korea, Hello World

Hey everyone,

As you know, my time in Korea has finally ended - after a whirlwind weekend goodbye session I've spent the past two days in Hong Kong, and will head to China tomorrow. For the next three months, my journey will take me from China all the way down to Australia, ending with a stop in Fiji before my flight back to the states. I'm expecting to arrive the day before Thanksgiving after two years and four months away from home. 

Last week and weekend I tried to spend as much time with my friends as possible, and we spent much of our time reminiscing about our memories from Korea. I've had so many more experiences, learned so much more about the world, and seen more places than I could have ever imagined I would when I first came to Korea. Each trip, each weekend, each place has wonderful memories that will remain with me forever. 

A question that I've been thinking lately is this: what or who has influenced me the most during my time in Korea? As important as the traveling, the studying, the exploring, and the teaching has been, I don't think I would be who I am today without my friends in Korea. I've met such a wide variety of interesting, kind, caring, inspiring, and loyal people here, and I feel so lucky to have crossed paths and connected with them. As I've said before, when you live in such an isolated community of expats, your friends here truly become your family. They're the ones you turn to, who understand, who listen, and who can give advice. They're also the ones you create some of the best memories with, ones that will extend far beyond Korea, with people that you know you'll see again in the future, no matter what country they're from. 

For my friends alone, Korea has been the best experience ever, but of course there are so many other factors that have made my life here better than I ever dreamed of. My school has been kind, generous, and accommodating to me, and really, it's my coworkers and students that I've  spent the most time with out here. 

I have to thank my coteachers (JuAe on my left) who became like family to me, and were such great role models for me to observe and learn from. I also have to thank my coworkers (this feels like an Oscars speech,) and all of the other teachers and staff members, who always made sure I was called over to the treat table and  included in the walk to lunch. 

But really, I think the people that I most have to thank are my students, for accepting me, for respecting me, and for helping me become a better teacher. I cherish every little conversation and high five that I've shared with one of my kids, for that was our way of making a connection and building a relationship. Leaving them was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, and I know I'll be thinking about them for a long time. Everything else: Korea's beauty, the culture, the food, the simple way of life, the possibilities for travel and exploring, have added so much to the incredible life I've lived here, and they deserve mention for contributing to my happiness.

Looking forward, I have a really big year coming up, as I continue to follow my dreams of backpacking from Asia to Australia, then head back to North America for some much needed home time. After that I'll be heading to South America for about three months before ending my travel year with a summer in South Africa. In my twenty fourth year I think I'll hit about twenty four different countries. Beyond that, my future will be determined by boards of reviewers and judges who will either accept or deny my applications for a Fulbright Spain teaching grant and then graduate school. We'll see what happens.

I attended church this past Sunday for the last time at the International Lutheran Church in Seoul. Pastor Steve led a wonderful service, as usual, but something about this Sunday seemed extra special. Whether it was because my friend Maggie (from Mankato!) was there with me, whether Pastor Steve included me in the prayers for my upcoming journey, whether all of the worship songs at the service were my favorites, or even whether I was running on about three hours of sleep, I'll never know what made it so special, but I do know the cover of the bulletin definitely had something to do with it:

No matter what life will bring in the future, and no matter how many plans I continue to compulsively make, one of the most important things I've learned from my time in Korea is that all I can do is enjoy and love every moment. 

Live in the moment, live like you're dying, live your dream. 

See you in November, Minnesota! Best wishes to you all for a wonderful rest of your summer and start to the fall!

A Week in Taiwan

Hi everyone!

Though I have just a short time with a million things to before I leave Korea, I wanted to take a few minutes to write about my most recent adventure: a week in Taiwan. I took advantage of my seven official days of summer vacation to zip to the tiny island just off the coast of China. Coincidentally, one of my good friends Katie had wanted to go to Taiwan as well, so somehow it magically all came together and we were lucky enough to meet in Taipei on our first night there and spend the vacation together, with a bonus visit from her parents.

Initially, I'm not really sure why I wanted to go to Taiwan in the first place, as I didn't know anything about it. But, that made it fun because I had no agenda or expectations for the trip, which made for a really great place to discover, explore, and experience. Katie ended up being the one to make a rough itinerary for us, as she had some friends who had been there before, so we loosely based our plans on their travels. 

After finishing camp (Gina teacher no more) and spending a fun weekend with my friends in Seoul, I flew out on Sunday morning, for a quick hour and a half flight. After the transit to the city from the airport and dropping my bags at the hostel, I was off to start exploring Taipei. 

My first stop was the National History Museum, which boasted a nice collection of Chinese artifacts and art. If your history is a little fuzzy, all you need to know right now about Taiwan is that even though many Taiwanese have shared Chinese ancestors, modern day Taiwan identifies itself as a vey different people, based on the past few hundred years of separatism, with waves of migration to Taiwan from the mainland in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. They do not call themselves Chinese, as many of them and their parents, even grandparents were born in China. However, their history beyond a few generations does originate with China, which is why a great collection of Chinese art was brought to Taiwan during the Chinese civil war, for fear that it would be destroyed by the Communist Chinese. 

Taipei Botanical Gardens

My walk through the city in the late afternoon sunshine to get to the museum was really interesting, and I felt like I encountered different types of buildings and architecture every corner I turned. The streets were typical wide lanes with sidewalks, but the most disconcerting thing I noticed was not being able to read any of the signs, something I haven't experienced since I went to Japan last year. 

After the museum and a walk through the botanical gardens to get back and meet Katie, I spent some time enjoying the sunset in the 2-28 Memorial Park, dedicated to the memory of the hundreds of innocent civilians killed in a massacre that began with a protest against martial law in 1947, right after Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist government takeover. A beautiful monument to a sad event, though the innocent didn't die in vain, as martial law was finally lifted in 1987 by President Chiang Ching Kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-Shek.  

Next up was a reunion with Katie, my future travel buddy for the week, who was bouncing in from a week in the Philippines with her family. (Lucky girl, eh?) After the hugs and chatting we headed back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep for our exploring day.

The next day was packed full of walking and touring the city. We hit up the impressive Chaing Kai Shek memorial, followed by a walk through the historical district and a visit to Longshan Temple. Katie and I agreed that it was one of the most beautiful temples we have ever seen. Taiwanese temples are incredibly ornate and intricate, with amazing attention paid to fine detail and embellishments. Somehow we stumbled right into the middle of a Buddhist holiday, so there were tons of people paying their respects and giving offerings of sweet smelling flowers, fresh fruit, and incense. It was a really cool experience to be a part of, we definitely got lucky with our timing! 

Dragons guarding the temple.

Next up was the National Palace Museum, which contained the best Chinese art in the world, due to the Nationalist government moving everything to Taiwan during to war for safekeeping...then they just never brought it back. Which gave us a great opportunity to be dazzled by the beautiful jade carvings, parchment paintings, calligraphy, bronze works, and much more. No pictures, unfortunately. 

Our last stop for the day was the Shilin Night Market, the biggest in the country. A night market, present in nearly every city in Taiwan, is basically just a street market, but, you guessed it, at night. The lights, the smells, the people, and the stalls combined made for a really fun night of wandering an sampling some of the food. A good end to a busy day. 

The next days we had hoped to go hiking at Taroko Gorge, a famous hiking trail a few hours from Taipei, but unfortunately all access points were blocked due to some heavy storms the week before. Instead we decided to try a local hiking trail, on what was called 'The Four Beasts' mountain. That meant that the Elephant, Lion, Tiger, and Panther trails made up our afternoon, and we ended up hiking on almost all of them, farther than we had anticipated.

 The hike was really fun, and it was in a tropical climate so I got to share my space with huge bugs, lizards, beautiful butterflies, and palm trees! Every so often there would be a break in the trees and we'd say hi to Taipei 101, one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. We basically hiked straight  up right away, then gradually worked our way to the peak as we edged around the city, from south to east. It was a great way to spend an afternoon and to see a different view of Taipei. We had absolutely no idea where we were when we finally reached the bottom, but with some luck we wandered into a nearby neighborhood, found a bus stop, and hopped on to get to the nearest subway station. 

From there it was back to our new home, the luxurious Golden Palace Hotel, to get ready for the evening. How did we end up in a hotel? By coincidence, it turned out Katie's dad had some business to do in Taipei on the same day as when we were there. With some last minute arrangements, he and Katie's mom flew in from nearby Hong Kong (where they headed to for business after the Philippines, before returning home to South Africa) to meet us for dinner and see us before we left Taipei the next day. It worked out perfectly! After getting ready we met up with her parents and had a wonderful dinner together. It was fun to finally meet them, and we felt so spoiled to get to stay in a nice hotel for the night - thanks Mom and Dad McAlery! 

The next day, after saying goodbye at breakfast, we zipped down to the train station to catch our train to Zouying, before transferring to a bus to get to Kenting, our beach destination. I was curious to see more of Taiwan, and I discovered the landscape, at least the part we were traveling in, looked pretty similar to Korea. Taiwan is pretty small, about 250 by 40 miles, and over half of it is covered with low, rolling green hills. The train and bus ride revealed a largely agrarian countryside, with cultivated fields in between the towns and an occasional city. 

We were both really looking forward to relaxing and laying on the beach, as it was our first vacation from work since February. Armed with sunscreen, sunglasses, books, and music for the beach, (sidenote: despite my immaculate over preparedness for my trip, I somehow managed to forget my swimsuit...good thing Katie had an extra!) we showed up in Kenting...and experienced the worst weather of the trip. We must have lucked out too much in the beginning of the trip, because the two full days that we had planned to do nothing but lay out for were nothing but gray skies and rain. Fail.

But, we are two positive and well minded girls, so we decided that since we still had two days of vacation left, we would just have to make the most of it. And we did.

The first rainy day we both agree was a blessing in disguise, since we ended doing one of the coolest things of the trip: we spent the day at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium. Now, I've been to Sea World and saw Shamu do his thing, and I had a great time with Mom at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, but this place blew them both out of the water (excuse the pun, even though I definitely said that on purpose.) The aquarium was fantastic, with all sorts of displays and exhibits on Taiwan's marine life and coral reefs, and then another section about the waters of the world. Each of the three main exhibits showcased a special display: first up was the giant whale shark, then we admired two adorable beluga whales swimming around us, and finally we watched the penguins waddle and splash around. The aquarium was a six hours well spent on a rainy day, and we finished it off with a nice diner at a restaurant on the beach. 

For our final beach day we decided to stake it out at a beachside cafe, suits on and towels at the ready in case the sun peeped out, but was a no go. Despite the rain we basically simulated everything we would have done on the beach while sitting at the cafe, so we read, listened to music, chatted, and even indulged in some beach drinks. Throw some lunch, dinner, and coffee on our tab and we became the cafe's best customers of the day. We even got some snacks on the house. Right at the end of the day we went for a venture in the ocean, so we can at least say we swam in Taiwanese waters!  

And just like that, our vacation came to an end. Since we had splurged on high speed rail tickets for the train journey there, we took the 5 hour slow train back to Taipei, arriving just in time to drop off our bags, dress up a bit, and go out for a final dinner...in Taipei 101. Katie's dad's business partner, Molly, had graciously offered to take us out since we missed her the first time in Taipei. We had a fantastic meal of Taiwanese dumplings, (very similar to dim sum) and spent a fun evening getting to know Molly and her husband Michael. What a great way to end our trip.

After a 14 hour travel day, I'm now back in Korea, getting ready for my final week of saying goodbyes, seeing my kids one last time, and packing up to move out of my apartment and begin the next step of my journey: the journey home. I'll do one final update before I leave Korea, and will be continuing to write on my blog. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful week. 

Summer 2012: July

Well, we’re now up to July, which seems to have come much, much too soon. The semester wrapped up July 20th, so after my birthday I had a week to work on my travel plans while the kids were testing, then we had a week of Olympics lessons (which was equally as fun for me to research and learn about while making the lesson,) followed by our last week of classes, which was technically my last class teaching them. I said goodbye to my country school and my adopted-this-semester third school students, but luckily I won’t have to say goodbye to my main school until right before I leave. The goodbyes are getting harder and harder, but again, since I want to save that for another time, I’ll just continue on with all my fun this past month.

The first weekend in July I took advantage of a free weekend to make a trip up to Daegu, the third largest city in Korea, to use as a base camp for Haein-sa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been on my list of places to see ever since I arrived in Korea.

After a three hour trip to the north east, I spent the entire sunny afternoon walking around Daegu, exploring the downtown, the historical city center, stumbling into parks, people watching, and of course, taking some time to chill at a local coffee shop.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early to hit the bus station and catch a bus straight to the temple, about an hour’s ride away from Daegu. When I arrived at the start of the hike, (just a simple walk along a path, more like) I was immediately struck by the beauty of the mountains - the bright morning sun was shining, but there were still some light clouds blowing over the mountaintops. 

After about 15 minutes of walking through the peaceful mountain trails, I reached the front entrance of the temple complex. I headed up a long flight of stone steps and was rewarded with a magnificent display of traditional Korean temples, which had been in existence (though most have been rebuilt due to a series of invasions) since 802 AD, tended to by monks and Buddhist patrons.

Occasionally during my wandering there was some chanting, drumming, and bell ringing during an honor ceremony, which added to the atmosphere nicely. Among the mix of people there were monks, Korean Buddhists, Korean tourists, and there were many international tourists as well. I chatted with a group of American high school social studies teachers, as well as overheard a tour being conducted in Spanish. But, like everyone else, I spent most of my time just wandering around, enjoying the peace and tranquility.

So why was this temple complex so famous? Because it also holds the largest collection of well preserved printed woodblock Buddhist texts. According to Wikipedia (who can explain this better than I, ) "the Tripitaka Koreana is a Korean collection of the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures,) carved onto 81,258 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. It is the world's most comprehensive and oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Hanja script, with no known errors." 

You can read more about it here.

The library display was impressive, and so amazing to think how much effort must have been put into making each and every print, with such precision and detail. After viewing the Tripitaka, I spent some time just sitting on the ledge watching the clouds blow over the mountaintops and listening to the chants. What was I thinking about? As always, how lucky I am to be able to experience and see such incredible places like Haeinsa, and how much my two years in Korea has opened my eyes to the world.

Well, it was a good thing I enjoyed the mountains that day, because after a whirlwind week of teaching classes about the Olympics, (can you name all 26 sports in the London Olympics? ) I was off to the second highest peak in South Korea, located in Seoraksan National Park.

So, I wouldn't call myself an astute hiker by any means, or even a hiker, but I love mountains and I love climbing up things. So, when a weekend opportunity came to make the trip up to Seoraksan, I decided it was about time to give the famed mountains a try. Seoraksan, located in the northeast corner of the country, just about an hour from the DMZ border, has been on my list since I arrived in Korea, and though it's a long trip to make in a weekend, it was worth it to me to squeeze in before I left Korea.

Well, the experience was quite different from what I expected, but it was fantastic nonetheless. My friend Dan and I made the two and a half hour trip from Seoul bright and early on Saturday morning, though we were warned of the impending rain. We decided that it was worth it to go in the rain and try the hike, just because I didn't have many more opportunities.

The rain and fog turned out to be a blessing in disguise - it didn't even rain most of the hike, and made the air quite cool and pleasant for hiking. Though it limited our visibility, what we could see was different terrain than anything else I'd seen in Korea, with lots of rocky blocks in between the verdant trees and bushes. We started the hike just after lunch, and decided to take the four hour up, three hour down trek straight to the peak.

The hike was the most difficult one I'd done in Korea, with lots of scrambling up (sometimes quite slippery) rocks and trails. However, our morale was boosted by the herds of brightly clad Korean hikers, most of them over twice our age, who were cheerfully trekking up the trails, rain gear and all, and who happily offered us food to share as we crossed paths.

We made good time, reaching the peak within about three hours, but once we got to the top it was freezing! At the top we couldn't see much due to the rain clouds (most of which we were actually above at that point, see left) but the mist actually created an eerie, even mystical atmosphere from the top, since we couldn't see what was below us.

After a high five and a picture, we headed back down, and had a more difficult time due to the slippery rocks and our tired legs. We made it back just before sundown, and collapsed in the back of the bus. We were wiped out, but satisfied with our hike. You win, Seoraksan. Nicely done.


I had about five days to recover (sore for three of them, I might add) before my next adventure the following weekend, which took me to the opposite side of Korea, for the annual Boryeong Mud Festival. What is a mud festival, you might ask? Well, basically it is hundreds of people running around...throwing mud on each other. No joke. Here is Alyssa demonstrating the use of the 'mud paintbrush,' designed for maximum mudding, on Pat.



One of the best parts of Mudfest was that it was located about 20 meters from the beach, so once you got muddy and dirty enough...you could just run down to the beach, wash yourself off, and start all over again. There was also a stage and some DJ music playing on the beach, so you could get a little dancing in in between the mudding and the washing off if you wanted to. After setting up a tent on the beach a little ways down to sleep in and dump our stuff, we headed back to the mud area to, well, get muddy.

The mud stations were outside the festival gates, but you could pay five bucks to get a wristband and enter the area full of what I like to call 'mud toys.' Among the mud toys were giant blow up slides, an obstacle course, a mud arena, and our personal favorite, the mud prison. The dudes who worked at the mud prison had the best job ever, as all they had to do was stand and throw buckets of mud on the people who stood inside the mud prison. Not too shabby.

After a sufficient few hours of getting muddy (which, we all agreed, made our skin feel great,) we went into the ocean to cool off and clean off before getting ready for a fantastic seafood stew dinner. But our fun wasn't over for the night. The three of us had been able to receive free tickets for yet another festival in the same location, which boasted a big-name concert lineup that evening. We headed back near the Mudfest area to watch the Wonder Girls, an internationally famous Korean girl group, and then for the concert headline performance, Akon.

The concert was a ton of fun, as was waking up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach the next morning. Sunday proved to be just as beach-worthy as the day before, but I had to take off for Seoul in order to meet up with Sokhom and Meghan for concert number 2 of the weekend...MBLAQ!

I don't know if you recall my minor obsession with this Korean boy group, but it's definitely still there. When Sokhom found tickets on the Internet a few weeks ago we had no idea it was being promoted, and were lucky enough to snag tickets before they sold out a day or two later. So, to refresh your memory, MBLAQ was the first K-Pop group I was ever interested in, due to their extremely catchy song 'Stay' that I kept hearing at the gym. The rest is history, and I might even be able to thank MBLAQ and their K-Pop friends for convincing me to stay in Korea for an extra year - my interest in Korea definitely increased once I started getting interested in K-Pop.

So, the day was finally here when I'd be able to see them perform 'Stay' and all of my other favorites, thanks to Sokhom treating me to the concert for my birthday! Before the concert we of course had to take pictures with our boys (pictured: Lee Joon, aka Gina's Boyfriend if you are one of my students.)

Of course, the concert was amazing, and our tickets were so close I could have fought through about five rows of screaming Korean girls to reach out my long arms and touch them. I'm pretty sure I had about a foot on said screaming girls, so I had a great view the whole time also.

And then...it was all over. The entire weekend seemed to blur together, but all I know is that it was fun. Really fun. I spent the whole next week teaching summer camp for four hours in the morning with my trusty co-teacher Miss Yoo, which mostly consisted of games, snacks, and chatting. I had the afternoons free to work on getting things ready for my departure, which made Friday come much sooner than expected...and then I was off again!

This time the destination was Jangheung, Sara's town, and one of my favorite places in Korea for its home-like feel, free of all the hustle and bustle of the city. When I go to Jangheung I feel like I escape to the cabin for a weekend, and this weekend didn't disappoint.

The occasion was the annual Jangheung Water Festival, which took place on the Tamjin River, right smack in the middle of the town. Jangheung's pride and joy is the river, with a stepping stone bridge to cross over, three or four bridges (pictured), and with tons of walking trails, garden paths, and pagodas placed along the riverbanks. I had already spent many a weekend enjoying what Jangheung has to offer by the river, but this festival blew me away with how much fun it was.

The entire event was focused on the riverbank...and in the river itself. There were boat events, water slides, swimming pools, water sprayers, and sectioned off areas of the river to swim around in. The weekend was perfect, boasting sunny skies and temperatures well into the nineties.

So, after my Friday night arrival, the next day we waited for about twenty of our friends to trickle in all day Saturday, while we hung out right by the water, alternating laying out, swimming around in the river, and walking around to enjoy the international food booths and watch the festival events.

After spending the day enjoying the festival in the sun, we went out for a fantastic beef barbecue dinner, as Jangheung beef is well known around the province (hence the cow in the above picture.) It was a great mix of people, some of which I hadn't seen for most of the summer, so it felt like a big family reunion. It was a great way to end the month, and it felt like an end to the summer as well - the next time I'll see most of those people is when I'm about to leave Korea. I spent this weekend with people I've grown so close to over the past two years, and though we're all about to go our own separate ways in just a few weeks, I know that in my heart, we'll still be family.

Okay folks, that's it for now. I've got four more days of teaching camp, then I'm off to Seoul for the weekend so that I can fly out on Sunday to Taiwan! I'll be traveling for a week with my friend Katie, and then when I return I'll have one more week to fit in my goodbyes, tie up loose ends, and take off for my next adventure. I'll update you more on my trip and my plans next month, so until then take care and enjoy the rest of the summer. And for all of you back home in Minnesota...see you in less than four months! Much love.