Tag: Korea Trips

Sacheon is known in Korea for its Aerospace industries so when it puts on an Air Show it makes it big. Its one of the staple festivals in Korea and draws a large crowds. This is one of the few times Sacheon gets quite busy and crowded. The streets near our apartment are turned into a impromptu parking lot where people are shuttled onto the air field.

There quite a lot of booths to checkout from Korean souvenirs to foreign foods that still have that Korean side flavor. (I will still accept the Gyro even though it has cabbage and Korean pepper. As a waygooking myself I know how hard it is to get true foreign ingredients.) This year there were Tron bikes you could rent to drive around. It was all fun and games until soon after someone realized his bike was crippled.

The unique part to me about the air show is the displays allow you to get up close and personal with alot of the hardware on display. I feel like most of the airshows I went to you never could really get that close to the planes. I also am starting to think I am right just based on the one US display of the A10 Warthog. The plane was roped off and the guards were weapons ready in case someone needed persuasion to stand down. To be honest maybe this aggressive US stance is just to deter the Korean children. I have been here so long that I would have not been that shocked to see the Korean kids doing a pull up on the Apache rocket pods. Speaking of Apache we did get to have our family picture in front of it to continue the family photo tradition.

The main attraction is the Black Eagles (like U.S. Navy Blue Angels) that do a performance each day of the air show. Working and living in the area we know the performance by heart since they practice it the week before. Its a very fun time if you love the sounds of jets running full afterburner and banking hard. If you don’t like that sound then it must be the worst two weeks of the year. I have an instinctual need to just start grunting and cheering when I hear those fighter jet noises similar to Frito in Idiocracy when the police are blowing up his car. You can Google it. So it is a great two weeks for me.

This picture was actually taken during the Olympics torch running ceremony in Samcheonpo when the Black Eagles performed. The bridge is the one you take to Namhae. (Google added the black and white effect and I left it)

We decided to go to the Taebaek Snow Festival and to make it even more authentic we stayed at a traditional Korean home instead of a modern hotel. We had a feeling we were going to be roughing it when the intermediary for the rental was concerned about how a Westerner might not be used to the lack of amenities. I imagine my wife won over their concerns talking about her love of history and how much she like the architecture. While we survived the night I can understand why it is not as popular during the coldest time in winter. The “traditional Ondol”* heating works… but pretty varying temperature spread based on if you are near the fire pit or on the chimney side. Even being on the far cold side I wished there were little spits I was rotating on or a mechanism like the hot dogs at the QuikTrip. Just something to flip me occasionally so my cooked side and frozen side would change out intermittently. Some time around 6am the fire died out and we were up and ready to put on a coat.

After a stop at the local GS25 to get coffee and Mt. Dew we were ready to take the short drive over to the snow festival. We started off by parking and once again being amazed at the Korean festival bus efficiency. Once at the base its around a 1/2 mile climb up to the sites past multiple stands selling foods and grocers selling local specialties. The first stop was the ice slide which was a hit with the kids. There was also a grill your own food station.

Further up the mountain was the snow displays. There were many winter Olympic themed displays this year since the winter Olympics are being held in Korea. The ice maze was also quite fun. We didn’t stay too long due to the lack of sleep the night before. We stopped at the food stalls at the bottom for a quick corn dog before heading out. I think this is something we should probably attend again if we stay in Korea longer.

*Ondol Heating – I am not Meg and will not write a history lesson on it. Just Wikipedia Ondol.

One weekend in July, we took a trip up to Seoul with my parents to do a little sightseeing. It was the rainy season, so we had to change our plans a little bit, but what we did in the end was probably more interesting than our original plans.

We took the subway to City Hall to see Seoul Plaza and Deoksugung Palace. When we emerged from below, we found ourselves in the middle of a protest rally at Daehanmun Gate (the entrance to the palace). The gate is apparently a popular spot for political protests. This particular rally was for a far-right group, which seems to support U.S. troops and a more hawkish stance with the North.

[Side note: Trump’s visit to Korea this week was met with protests by those who are against the U.S. President and possible war with the North – along with a small number of pro-U.S. protests – though all protests were banned in many parts of downtown Seoul as the government enforced “security zones” around the President’s Blue House and the National Assembly.]

The issue of political protests in Korea is complicated and I could do an entire post on it, but suffice to say Koreans have a long history of protest. Since at least 1919 with the March 1st Movement against Japanese colonizers, Koreans have found public demonstrations to be an effective way to push back against their government. Oftentimes, such protest can be dangerous – as when the Japanese military gunned down unarmed students, or when the Korean military gunned down unarmed students – but that seems not to deter people. Millions of Koreans turn out regardless. When we first arrived last year, Korea was in the middle of mass protests against then-president Park Geun-Hye (the “candlelight revolution”). Because protests are so common, they are well-organized and sometimes even family-oriented. Aaron’s coworker took his son to one of the anti-Park protests, saying he wanted to teach him how to do it right. Besides, he said, “At least this time, they won’t be throwing tear gas canisters at us.”

We didn’t stay long at the Daehanmun protest, and I’m not certain what was said, but there were speeches and some singing and a lot of flag (American and Korean) waving. Since the area immediately in front of the gate was pretty busy, we decided to skip a visit to the palace.

Wandering instead over to Seoul Plaza, we happened upon a fair put on by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. There were booths and a stage and some kind of raffle going on… the usual fair activities. The kids insisted on visiting the “learn how to use a fire extinguisher” booth, and some guy let Lena loose with an extinguisher until she smoked out the place.

Dad declared it all to be far more interesting than a museum.

But the next day, we went to a museum anyway. The War Memorial of Korea was built in the early 90’s on the former site of the Korean army headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul. It commemorates the wars of Korea, and in particular the Korean War. Thousands of items from Korea’s military history are displayed – including numerous tanks, aircraft, rockets, boats, and vehicles – along with a memorial to the Korean and U.N. soldiers who died during the war.

It is probably one of the most impressive museums/memorials I have ever seen. The grounds are vast and beautiful. The building is enormous and beautiful. There are sooo many items, and I don’t know why but I just find it really impressive to see so many full-sized vehicles inside a building. They have everything from a Turtle Ship replica to Kim Il-sung’s limousine. We only had a few hours to wander around the museum and grounds, but I could have taken longer. Even the kids enjoyed climbing all over the jeeps and tanks.

If you’re ever in Seoul, I highly recommend a visit.

We finished up our visit to Seoul with a day at Lotte World, a theme park right in the middle of Seoul and the other major Korean theme park aside from Everland. The highlight for me is the fact that most of it is indoors (useful on rainy days, as it was on our visit). Cramming all that “fun” into one big space is really quite impressive (you could almost high-five people going past on the roller coaster). The other part of the park is outdoors on a island in a lake. Unfortunately, due to the downpour, we could not visit this part of the park. It was fairly empty when we first arrived, but by the afternoon it was full of high schoolers in uniform wandering about in groups. I wouldn’t mind returning sometimes, and I’m sure the kids wouldn’t, either.

We had to make a quick trip to Seoul a couple weeks ago to get a few things at IKEA. To make the journey at bit more worth our time, we stopped for a day at Everland, Korea’s largest theme park.

Everland was originally a nature park – if my poor translation of a plaque in the park was correct – then was turned into a theme park in 1976 named “Farmland.” Lots of gardens and animals. Then more animals. Then a snow sled. Then more animals and more rides. And eventually big fancy rides and a water park and, as of last year, pandas.

It was, honestly, a fabulous place. It felt like Disneyland back in the day, before everything became too pricey and commercialized (Hyperspace Mountain? Really?). The park was huge, with a variety of things to do, much of which was kid-friendly – everything from a K-Pop hologram concert to Korea’s largest wooden roller coaster to pony rides (!!) to a safari drive. Tickets were reasonably priced at about $120 for the family (compared to $120 for 1 adult ticket at Disneyland). The food was reasonably priced and the things we ate were delicious (compared to Tokyo Disney, where we spent $30 for a palm-sized pizza and shrimp burger that were gross). There was a shaved ice stall on practically every corner, a beer garden (beer garden!), and, of course, churros galore.

The only downside was the lines. Lots of people, lots of lines. However, since Korea is not an early rising kind of place, you can enter the park when it opens at 10 am and knock out several rides before the crowds start showing up around noon. This was not the case in Japan – a country seemingly full of morning people – where Disneyland had a massive line of people waiting an hour before it opened at 8 am and all the Fastpasses were gone by 11 am.

Everland also had several thoughtful elements of convenience – something I’ve noticed is typical in Korea. For example, throughout Korea, bathrooms have special kid features, such as kid-height sinks and bathroom stalls with kid-sized toilet seats and even baby chairs on the wall with a five-point harness so the mom who is using a baby carrier has someplace to put baby. Everland sits on the side of a hill, with many sloping paths, so in addition to chair lifts and gondolas, there are several moving walkways to save you having to walk uphill.

They also still allow families to bring in practical items, like wagons and food coolers. We even saw one fellow standing on the back of a motorized wagon. I didn’t even know they made those.

So, I’m pretty sure we’ll be returning to Everland at some point, if for no other reason than the churros and beer.

Every May, the city of Jinju celebrates the Nongae Festival at Jinju Fortress (Jinjuseong). It is a traditional arts festival that “presents the spirit of Jinju and the loyal spirit of patriotic Nongae.”

Who is Nongae? She was, like most Korean historical figures, a complete and total bada**.
Do you remember, in my post about Seollal, I posted a picture of a statue in Jinjuseong of General Kim Si-Min? Without much detail, I mentioned that in 1592 he and an army of 3800 men held Jinjuseong against a Japanese invading force of 20,000. And in my post about April, I mentioned Admiral Yi Sun-Sin and his turtle boats defeating a (much larger) Japanese naval force at the Battle of Sacheon in 1592. Well, all of that was part of a larger conflict known as the Imjin War (or Imjinwaeran War, or the Japanese Invasions of Korea). I could (and may, if I have time) write an entire post about this war, simply because of the many bada** Korean leaders and fighters (warrior monks!) that appeared during it.
In the late 16^th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi* unified Japan and began looking toward Korea and China. In 1592, he invaded Korea with around 160,000 soldiers. They made a lot of progress across the peninsula, but became locked in a stalemate and declared a truce. When peace negotiations failed, the Japanese tried invading again in 1597, but ultimately failed to make further progress. Hideyoshi’s death in 1598, combined with the Korean navy interrupting their supply lines to Japan, led the Japanese to finally withdraw from the Korean peninsula and eventually resume normal relations.
During the initial invasion, Jinjuseong was targeted by the Japanese as a strategic stronghold that would allow them access to Jeolla province in the west (a rich, agricultural region of the peninsula). Some 20-30,000 Japanese soldiers were sent to take Jinjuseong in what was supposed to be an easy victory for the Japanese. But General Kim was a clever and well-prepared man who had the foresight to acquire a couple hundred arquebuses (an early hand gun) that helped the small Korean force repel the Japanese. It was one of the greatest Korean victories during the war.
Unfortunately, this rather pissed off Hideyoshi, who sent another force several months later with 90-120,000 soldiers determined to obliterate the Koreans. And obliterate they did. The few thousand Korean soldiers at Jinjuseong were killed, along with 50-70,000 Korean citizens.
To celebrate their victory, the Japanese gathered in Chokseongnu Pavilion in Jinjuseong and summoned all of the gisaeng to entertain them.

Gisaeng (another interesting subject that could consume an entire post) were basically government slaves who functioned as “entertainers.” This included everything from dancing and composing poetry to sexual services and even to medical care and diplomacy. Gisaeng occupied the lowest status in society, but because they were government employees, so to speak, they were also highly regulated and carefully trained. Many were accomplished poets and artists, though their talents went unappreciated because of their low social status. Gisaeng lived throughout Korea, but most worked at the royal court in Seoul.
Nongae was one of these gisaeng. But she had other plans to “entertain” the Japanese soldiers. Putting on her finest dress and jewelry, the beautiful Nongae sat down upon a rock next to the Nam River underneath Chokseongnu. She began singing and playing a geomungo (Korean harp). Naturally, the Japanese were enthralled by her beauty and several went down to the rock, but only a Japanese general dared approached her. Nongae smiled and flirted with the general, then invited him to dance. Nongae embraced the general tightly, used rings on her fingers to lock her hands together, and threw herself off the rock into the river. Unable to escape her grasp, the Japanese general drowned along with Nongae.

Throughout the years, Nongae has been celebrated by various Korean authors and historians for her patriotism and loyalty. The rock from which she jumped is known as Uiam (“righteous rock”) and her spirit is honored in Jinjuseong at Uigisa (“righteous gisaeng shrine”), apparently the only shrine in Korea dedicated to a woman. Her rings, a symbol of her loyalty, adorn the Jinju Bridge that crosses Nam River. The city has long held a festival honoring Nongae’s spirit, but they began the Nongae Festival of arts in 2002.

The festival is held over three days the last weekend in May. It began with the ritual honoring Nongae’s spirit – “Uiambyeolje” – superintended by women and involving song and dance. A variety of other songs and dances were performed throughout the festival, as well. There were booths showcasing traditional foods and drink, pottery, wood chopping, books and writing utensils. We tried some traditional Korean rice tea, and puffed rice with some kind of ginger toffee. There were commercial booths selling Jinju strawberry jam, Jinju silk (the city produces 70-80% of Korea’s silk), and other local specialties. We bought a delicious pineapple smoothie from Buddhist nuns. We got ice cream and watched part of a traditional “intercultural” wedding (the groom was Dutch, I think). There were booths devoted to traditional clothes, as well: one to choose your hanbok and one to have your hair and makeup professionally done. Groups of beautiful Korean ladies in hanbok sat on the grass underneath the trees, surfing the web on their smart phones. There were pony rides, archery games, strolling drum bands, a place where kids could draw Nongae on a leaf and hang it on a “tree”… and several other booths that were not yet set up when we were there (we left before the party really started). And all of this was just in the fortress. Across the river was an even bigger party and we could see an entire street full of booths, plus a temporary dock on the river with boats and jet skis for rent.

The highlight of the festival every year, which unfortunately we missed, is a nighttime reenactment of Nongae’s sacrifice. The audience sits on a pontoon platform floating on the river and watches actors reenact the battle, the rock encounter, and Nongae grabbing the general before leaping into the water. As you can imagine, the sight of actors fully clad in traditional clothes leaping into the water in a display of patriotic loyalty is rather popular with the crowd. I hope we can see the reenactment, if we return next year.

*Toyotomi Hideyoshi is remembered by the Japanese for a number of achievements, and by non-Japanese for a number of atrocities. I’m sure you can guess what Koreans think of him. A million Koreans died during the Imjin War (one-third of their population at the time). And there is quite literally an ear (and nose) mound in Kyoto known as Mimizuka (“ear mound”), a monument dedicated to the war trophies Hideyoshi sent back to Japan: the ears and noses of tens of thousands of Korean citizens. Such “trophy” mounds from the war are actually found in several places throughout southern Japan. Mimizuka has been a point of contention between Korea and Japan, especially in the late 20^th century, when Japanese educators refused to include the site in history textbooks – and when they finally did, tried to argue that it was a monument to the spirits of the Koreans who were killed. A Times article written in 1997 on the 400^th anniversary of Mimizuka’s dedication stated that few Japanese knew about the monument’s existence, and yet nearly all Koreans did. … And if you watched Martin Scorsese’s depress-fest Silence last year, you may be familiar with the persecution of Christians in early 17^th century Japan. Hideyoshi got that ball rolling when he crucified 26 Franciscan missionaries and Japanese Catholics in Nagasaki in 1597. The imperial government – which initially welcomed St. Francis Xavier as a possible bridge to European trade and Catholic missionaries as a counterbalance to powerful Buddhist monks – became fearful that Christianity was a precursor to colonialism (as it had been elsewhere), so outlawed the foreign religion. Over the next few decades, hundreds of Japanese and missionary Christians were killed and those who remained became the Kakure Kirishitan, “hidden Christians,” worshiping in secret until the religious ban was lifted in 1873. Western missionaries who arrived in the late 19^th century were shocked to discover around 30,000 Kakure Kirishitan in Japan at the time.

Mother’s Day last month was a beautiful, beautiful crystal clear Sunday, and I told the family I wanted Starbucks and a drive. The closest Starbucks is down in Samcheonpo, so I don’t get there very often (not a fan of their coffees but they have the best chai around). There’s also this bridge we pass on the drive down there and I’ve always wanted to know what’s on the other side.
So, after a quick stop at Starbucks for my drink and some snacks for the kids, we followed the bridge west across Sacheon Bay. There was not much in the area immediately past the bridge: a rest stop with a large tourist map of the region; some homes; what we thought was a historical site but turned out to be a pension and a love hotel on top of a hill; a couple of concrete piers; lots of fishing boats sitting on the mud while the tide was out. The view across the bay to Sacheon was lovely, however.

On the large tourist map, the kids noticed a statue of a bunny riding a turtle on one of the nearby islands, and they insisted we investigate.
We continued down the road to Seopo, and I did my best excited-dog-in-the-front-seat-with-the-window-open impression, yelling “It’s so prettyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!” into the wind while admiring the gorgeous views. Vibrant green deciduous trees mixed with darker pine trees along the tops of the hills, farms and homes cascaded down into valleys where terraced rice fields had recently been flooded in preparation for planting. Rows of mountains faded into the distance in lighter and lighter shades of blue. Yellow wildflowers were popping up along the road. And Koreans have a thing for tree-lined roads, so the narrow highway we followed, curving along the hills, was covered with a leafy canopy much of the way. In between patches of trees, we could catch glimpses of the bay behind us sparkling in the afternoon sunlight.
After a cold, leafless, and mostly smoggy winter, the green trees and flowers and clean air were almost magical.
And as the land warms up, people get to work. More than once, we had to pass an old Korean man driving his tractor between fields (and play chicken with oncoming drivers along the narrow road). Elderly couples and some families were tending their fields and gardens. One young boy carried freshly-plucked and characteristically massive Korean green onions (daepa) to his mother while the family pup trotted alongside him.
We turned south, back towards the bay, and we could see long stretches of mud flats exposed by low tide. Poking out of the water – and found all around islands in the bay – are bamboo weirs. This traditional fishing method, known as jukbangnyeom, involves driving long wooden beams into the sea bed and stretching bamboo screens along the top to catch fish in the fast current of the incoming tide. Apparently, anchovies comprise most of the catch, and these Jukbang anchovies are supposedly one of the best regional products. Anchovies are commonly used for making soup stock in Korean cooking; you can buy large bags of dried anchovies in the grocery store. They also sell bags of a much smaller anchovy, which is used to make anchovy stir fry, or myeolchi-bokkeum – quite literally a pile of tiny dead fish, sadly adorable beady eyes and all (so small they look like noodles, but one bite and you realize how wrong was that assumption).

Following the road over a couple of bridges, we arrived on Bito Island. We honestly didn’t know much at the time. We just kept driving along, looking for that whole turtle/bunny thing. On the south side of the island, we took a wrong turn, and came across a harbor full of fishing boats, a long footbridge to a small island even farther south, a group of ajummas cleaning some kind of fishing net, and a pile of clam shells that was literally the size of a house (I’m not even joking… I thought it was a huge pile of sand before a closer look revealed it to be shells). Naturally, we had to stop and walk around.

After our kids charmed a few of the old ladies with their “annyeonghaseyo” and Lena’s formal bow, we walked along the edge of the concrete-enclosed harbor to the big footbridge. Turns out, that little island is a fishing park: the Bito Marine Fishing Park. For a small fee, you can take your gear across to some floating docks out on the water and waste an afternoon hoping a hungry fish comes your way. For an even smaller fee, you can just walk around and take pictures. And for what I assume must be a not-so-small fee, there are dome-shaped huts, each with a kitchen and bathroom and an outdoor picnic table and each on its own platform out in the water, available to rent.
According to an advertising poster of the island hanging on the wall outside a bathroom, somebody has/had big plans for the place. Fancy little hotels, some kind of sports field, something that may or may not be an amphitheater. I’m not sure if all that is still in the works, but as it is it’s an interesting little park. The kids spent some time romping on what must be one of the most beautifully situated playgrounds I’ve ever seen. But other than that and fishing, there wasn’t much to do.

Unless you’re also into clams. Because I hear this place has the best oysters in Korea. And if that massive pile of shells is any indication, raking for clams – clamming?? – is pretty popular. A few of the ajummas were wandering along the edge of the water, bucket in hand. And as we drove away from the harbor, we saw an entire family – grandma, grandpa, mom and dad, two grade school kids – hobbling into the rocks and mud with buckets and rakes. I read somewhere that these are Manila clams, a large clam species found in Korea’s coastal marshes and yummiest in their spring breeding period. Apparently, the locals make a soup out of them.

Continuing down the (only) road on Bito Island, we immediately noticed a large bunny statue at the base of a forested hill. Nearby was a parking lot – sure sign of a tourist site. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the large bunny statue was of a standing, hanbok-clad, concerned-looking mama bunny holding a swaddled baby bunny and surrounded by several small bunny and one small turtle statues. Behind the statues, slightly up the hill, was a large fenced enclosure with at least a few dozen bunnies. Real bunnies. Real, fluffy, and adorable bunnies. Big, fat, and lazy. Palm-sized, fluffy baby bunnies. Fast bunnies. Hungry bunnies. Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies. Only, in Korean. So it should be tokki, tokki, tokki.

After our brief encounter with the Bito-Island-cage-full-o’-tokki, Aaron and I have decided that we absolutely must return with bags full of sliced carrots. A friendly Korean family shared some weedy vegetables with the kids to feed bunnies, which was fun, but I’m pretty sure we can kick it up a notch.
Anyway, we could see some kind of observation tower on the top of the hill, so decided to walk up and check it out. It was a short but very steep climb over a few switchbacks that ran up the side of the hill. Exhausting, but worth it. The observation tower not only offered a gorgeous view of the surrounding region, but the tower itself was constructed to look as if it was sitting on the back of a turtle. I thought it was pretty cool. Taking the path down the back side of the hill, we walked past various construction projects, some Korean picnic tables cantilevered out over a cliff, some kind of stage or amphitheater down near the water, and eventually another clearing full of statues. This time, panels told a story about a bunny and a turtle, and there were statues of the bunny and turtle, some artsy mirrored columns, as well as a boat (?) and what looked to be the bunny’s house.

I looked up the name of the story when we got home and discovered that it is a well-known Korean fairy tale, “Rabbit Visits the Dragon Palace” or “Byeoljubujeon.” The story goes something like this (shortened for your convenience)…
Long ago, the Dragon King ruled the seas. One day, he developed a seemingly incurable illness. His physicians told him that the only thing able to cure his illness was the liver of a rabbit. However, no rabbits lived in the seas and nobody had ever seen one. Nevertheless, the king asked for volunteers to go fetch the liver of a rabbit. The only volunteer to step forward was a lowly turtle, who argued that he alone was able to both walk on land and swim in the seas. So the Dragon King bid the turtle bring him a rabbit.
The turtle left the Dragon King’s palace and swam to a nearby shore, where, conveniently enough, a rabbit happened to be hopping by. The turtle and rabbit greeted each other, exchanged pleasantries, and discussed each other’s homelands. The turtle told the rabbit that the Dragon King wished to entertain a guest in his palace, and asked if the rabbit would like to visit. The rabbit agreed but wondered how he could survive underwater. The turtle explained that the rabbit could ride on his shell, and that the magic of the Dragon King would allow him to breathe.
So off they went to the Dragon King’s palace. After greeting the Dragon King, the rabbit soon learned that he had been tricked and that the king intended to kill him and take his liver. But the rabbit, being a clever rabbit, told the Dragon King that rabbit livers were so valuable rabbits had to hide them in the forest. And this, in fact, was exactly what the rabbit had done with his own liver. But the rabbit flattered the king and offered to retrieve his liver from the forest so that the Dragon King might be cured of his illness. The king agreed, and asked the turtle to take the rabbit back to shore so he may get the liver.
Back on shore, the rabbit bounded away from the turtle, saying, basically, “Haha, you losers! As if!” And neither the rabbit, the turtle, nor the Dragon King were ever heard from again.
I’ve read several versions of this story now, and there are many slight variations. Sometimes it is just a Sea King, not necessarily a Dragon King. Sometimes it is the Sea King’s daughter who falls ill. Sometimes the Sea King is merely a hypochondriac and is not really ill. Sometimes the rabbit parties hard in the palace. Sometimes he gets a government position. Sometimes the Sea King suspects the rabbit is lying and tries to kill him immediately. Sometimes the rabbit has to prove he removed his liver by showing his “third hole” (I assume belly button?). Sometimes the rabbit claims he was cleaning his liver by a stream and accidentally left it drying on a rock. Sometimes the rabbit and turtle become good friends. Sometimes the rabbit gives the turtle persimmon seeds as a “rabbit liver” and this cures the king. And I haven’t read anything about this, but apparently some versions give the rabbit a wife and/or girlfriend who waited so long for his return that she turned into an island (legend says this is Mok Island, one of the islands next to Bito). And in the storytelling panels around the Bito Island park, it looked as if the rabbit drowned on his return.
I have no idea what precisely are the origins of this story. One academic paper I read argued that it is a Korean derivation of “The Crocodile and the Monkey” tale from India, brought by Buddhist monks across China, and that it appears in the Samguk Sagi records of 1145 as an already-known older tale. But a local news article said “Byeoljubujeon” was a satirical novel written by an unknown author during the Joseon era (1392-1910). So… who knows? I’m guessing it’s an old tale that has had many retellings over the centuries.
But the latter origin story was used as justification for the whole Bito Island Byeoljubujeon thing we visited, as Bito is presumed to be the location of this novel. The Sacheon City Government even had the International University of Korea confirm that the island and its surroundings matched the novel’s setting. They designated it a tourist attraction a few years ago, and have been building it up as a themed park to stimulate tourism in the area.

I’m rather hesitant to say that a themed park based on an ancient tale of rabbit livers and turtle rides, located on an obscure island at the end of a long country road, is going to be a raging success. But, I’ll be honest: the views were spectacular, the bunnies were adorable, and I’m already making plans to return.
Well played, Sacheon City Government. Well played.

Since Connery’s school was off last Friday, we decided to take a mini-trip to Busan. It’s about a 90-120 minute drive, depending on traffic. We stayed at the Westin Chosun Busan, which sits right on Haeundae Beach – a large, powdery soft sand beach that was pretty empty, as swimming is forbidden this time of year. In summer, it looks to be insanely crowded. Haeundae is one of the swankier, touristy parts of Busan, and there were construction projects and upgrades in progress everywhere.

We walked along the (concrete) boardwalk, ate at an Indian restaurant, visited the aquarium, then returned to the hotel to swim in their indoor pool. Well, the kids swam (they have a nice little kiddie pool); Aaron and I sat along the edge and watched some grannies do a swim aerobics class in the adult pool. Then Lena decided to jump with all her might just as I was leaning over to help her out of the water and she headbutt me full-force right in the nose. As some of you may know, I had sinus surgery a few months ago, so it hurt like a @#%N*&$! After sobbing like a Bieber fangirl (I’m not, btw), I spent the rest of evening with a terrible headache.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much relief overnight. If the stone bed photo I posted a couple weeks ago is any clue, you may realize that Korean beds are pretty firm. Very firm. And I have lower back issues. We normally sleep on a Sleep Number air mattress and I have my side cranked all the way down to “hammock” setting. And since Aaron still has issues from his Korean Hercules shoulder injury, there was a lot of mutual groaning and rolling and whispered swearing going on throughout the night.

The kids also seemed to sleep poorly. Lena likes to rotate like clock hands during the night, so Connery woke me up wailing about being pushed off the bed. Both of them had nightmares, and somebody was sleep talking.

Suffice to say, everybody woke up cranky.

The kids’ crankiness continued through our brief stop by Costco (they didn’t have two of the three things we were going for) and the drive home. By the time we reached our apartment, I was in full Grumpypants Mama mode, giving American moms everywhere a bad name in the parking lot. It wasn’t as bad as the time I lost my you-know-what and shot-put Connery’s backpack into the bushes (not my best moment), but let’s be honest… combining kids and travel can be a bit, uh, challenging.

I kinda felt bad about this later, though, once I realized that both kids had high fevers. Oops. We spent the rest of the weekend sitting on the couch watching Aaron play World of Tanks and The Odd 1s Out videos on YouTube (Connery’s new favorite thing).

So, in the end, it was kind of a crappy mini-trip. But, I took a bunch of photos that made it look fabulous…

We made it! After an uneventful 10-hour flight from Honolulu, during which the classy flight attendants of Korean Air made sure we never went hungry, we arrived in Seoul. Naturally, the kids only fell asleep the last hour of the flight, so most of my memories of Incheon airport include an exhausted and grumpy little boy yelling at us and any passersby about how much he hates airplanes and travelling and bathrooms and Korea and pretty much anything else that is not his bed. On the plus side, immigration was completely empty by the time we coaxed Mr Grumpypants down the corridor. (Side note: I tell you what, Korean people know how to disembark an airplane. And a 747, no less.)

It was cold and foggy as we made the drive into downtown Seoul. It was a long-ish drive, but city planners apparently have a thing for fancy bridges, so there were plenty of interesting sights to see en route. Our hotel is one of the swankiest I’ve ever been in – not so much for the facilities as for the service. Lots of help, lots of helpers, lots of suits and ties and bowing. Our room looks out over the city, with at least a half-dozen mega-TV advertising screens, drivers who take lane lines as a suggestion, and one surprisingly loud whistle blowing traffic cop in view. The hotel definitely caters to the business class, I surmise from the shoe shine box, nespresso machine, and full sized bottle of cognac in the mini bar. Think glass-and-marble-bathroom. It’s kind of a strange place to watch two young kids yell, “Pooooooooop!” in each other’s faces and collapse in giggles.

Speaking of poop, another side note: Koreans are right up there with the Japanese when it comes to butt hygiene. The bidet in our bathroom does nearly everything for you. It warms the seat, warms the water, gently sprays the necessary places, dries the necessary places, turns on a charcoal air filter when things get a little stinky, and I’m pretty sure I saw “massage” and “sanitize” features, as well, but I’m already impressed with just the three buttons I’ve pushed so far. Aaron put a bidet on our toilet back home, but it was pretty cheap. It’s not so much a You Will Secretly Smile When You Walk Down the Street bidet, and more like Ice Cold Fire Hose Surprise bidet. I’m fairly certain we’ll be upgrading when we return.

Because of jet lag, the kids were wide awake at 4 am this morning. I didn’t plan on doing much today, but we wound up walking around quite a bit. My kids have some kind of Contrarian Mode switch that makes them get all hyped up when we’re in the hotel room, but whine about their shoes and being tired as soon as we go out. A brief stop for bubble tea helped the situation a bit, but a large grassy field helped even more (apparently, running in circles turns the switch off). Immediately next to our hotel is a large underground tunnel, originally built as a bunker (and probably still useful as such), but today a kind of shopping mall. Dozens of tiny mom-and-pop shops sell everything from prescription glasses to slippers to tobacco to wall art. Prices seem reasonable, I suppose, but our perspective could have been altered after visiting the Lotte mall direcly above it, where kid pants are $100 and an apple is $10. I’m curious who pays this. Chinese tourists? I hear that’s a thing.