Qingdao is a small enough city that I could do something that I normally don’t have the guts to do. Just get on buses and see where they go. Except for the first bus I got on which doubled back and negated the hours I had already walked, this worked out highly in my favor. I discovered the 31 bus goes to beach #1, and the 302 goes to beer street where the Tsingdao brewing museum is, and the number 1 makes a loop around the west part of town to all the stuff you would want to see.
Getting back to the side of town where my hostel is prooved to be a bit more difficult. But two school girls who were sitting next to me on the #15, which ended up going nowhere near where I needed to go, asked me where I was from, and then helped me out. The girl had perfect tape-recorder English. I asked if she learned at school from a foreign teacher, and she said she’s never had English lessons at school, she taught herself at home. They got off the bus and insisted on walking me two blocks away to the correct bus number, saying things the whole way like, “please turn left. Now go straight.” Maybe she is practicing tapes that train people how to be GPS voices. They were really delightful.
It’s been funny how many people have tried to hand me chinese language menus. Unlike Korean, which is brilliant, logical, and relatively simple where most people learn how to read and write before they learn how to speak, I know people who have spoken Mandarin for ten years and barely touched reading. One boy at a bus stop asked why I didn’t just read the sign, when I said I couldn’t, the light bulb went off behind his eyes, “of course!” and he bounded over to find the number I needed.
Zhan Shan Temple
Even in the rain this place was really hopping. I don’t know if it was a special holiday, or if there are just so many people in this area that it’s bound to be packed even on a Wednesday morning. There was so much incense being lit and thrown in the pyres that the sticks were lighting, causing a flame and ash was pouring out the bottom.
South of the temple on the road running perpendicular to the park, I ran into what is going to be a great new venue. A shop called the Instrument and Coffee Shop where a really hip young lady is opening up a music store/coffee shop/bar/music venue. I wish I could be more specfic about the location, but it was within close walking distance after I left the temple. Bus 314 also passes it. She’s not opening for two more weeks, but it looks like it will be a fantastic place.
And one more thing, this hostel, the Big Brother II, which was the only one not booked when I checked way back in July charged me 3 yuan for toilet paper for my room. TP is a hot commodity here.
This morning I shared my pomegranate with the lady at the front desk. She’s been all smiles and really helpful. She seemed really shocked when I shared my fruit with her, and when I came back this evening she had bought a moon cookie for me. So sweet.
For the dozens upon dozens of times I have travelled with absolutely no snags, plenty of time to grab a coffee before boarding, and all the time in the world, my self-confidence in travelling finally caught up to me. Thinking I could roll into Incheon airport an hour before my flight on a busy Tuesday business morning was not the best move.
Thanks to all the work folks who came out to dinner, and especially to Adam, Dan, Tyler, and Jon for a final beer soaked conversation at the tables outside the Family Mart. It still cracks me up that the tables outside of a convenience store are equally as legitimate a meeting and drinking spot as a bar. After a couple of hours rest at the sauna, I jumped on the subway to the airport to find that it both takes a lot longer to get around the magnitude of that airport, and that it was packed. I missed my flight by a good half-hour by the time I could talk to anyone, but they very graciously bumped me to the next flight to Qingdao for no charge (China Eastern Air).
When I checked back in again, I was told that my visa was not renewed in the fashion that I was lead to believe it was. Because I’m past my initial year, I had to go to the immigration office and get a re-entry permit, even though I was under the impression that my visa and everything was renewed and good to go. That wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except no one would tell me what to do in full. I get a ticket. The first lady says I need to fill out a form “over there.” I fill out the form. Get a ticket. The second lady says I need “permit stamps” to go with the form. Well why didn’t the first lady tell me that? I go to get the permit stamps – which are really just those, three nice stamps. I’ve already changed all my money to Yuan and US Dollars though, so I have to go to an ATM, get more Won, come back, buy the stamps from the lady who is doing Korean yoga in her seat and trying to ignore me, and then: get a ticket.
I don’t know what they do with those lovely stamps. All I know is that they didn’t end up as nice decoration in my passport.
After a final bulgogi bibimbop and some coffee, I make it without further snag onto the plane, and pass out for the brief hour and a half ride to Qingdao.
So far things are going well, and I am extremely grateful that people here are so helpful. There were no maps of the city to be found at the airport, and without the bus drivers prompting, there would have been no way for me to know which stop to get off at. The first thing I notice is that the visibility is horrible. Probably less than 1km. Another thing is the diversity in cityscape compared to Korea. To me, every Korean city and town essentially looks the same. I don’t know if one major developer has dibs on the entire country, or if all the developers build in the same style, but really, the whole country is a carbon copy of itself. Here there are the same highrise apartments in clusters, but the style of each cluster is a little different. The skyline is diverse with some unique buildings, and there is a much more liberal use of color here that doesn’t involve neon signs.
Instead of being a coastal industrial town, Qingdao has taken the route of making money by attracting people to the coast with beaches and parks along the water. It’s really nice, refreshingly clean, and a super friendly city. I’m going to hang out for an extra day and relax. The downfall is that I’m having trouble figuring out where the buses go, and other than taxis, there isn’t another form of public transportation. I have an aversion to taking taxis, even when they are cheap, unless absolutely necessary as a budget backpackers and exploration rule.
Last summer when I took the bike tour to the southern coast, I passed through a town that I thought was Gonju. It was this gorgeous mountain town with little mushroom houses and an amazing view. I know now that it wasn’t actually Gonju, but one of the national park towns on the outskirts. Gonju itself is a pretty typical city, but seemed a bit more rundown.
In Gonju I took the 7 bus to Magoksa temple. More than half of the buildings are under renovation, so now isn’t the best time to see it, although the Pagoda is a Tibetan style and is supposed to be one of three left in the world.
I wasn’t that impressed with Gonju on the whole, but I had a bus driver who made my day. It’s funny how one interaction with someone can change the perspective. I was ready to hightail it out of town and head to my next destination, but this guy was so helpful and kind that I stuck around to have some more adventures.
From there, my guidebook, said I could use the same bus #7 to get off at Seonggoksa, but was very vague about the bus stop, and how far away the temple was. The driver helped me figure out where to get off, but warned me that it was a hike. Here is the bus stop for anyone wanting to do the same:
From there it’s a 4km hike down the road and up a mountain. It really wasn’t that bad, and it was a gorgeous day. The temple isn’t so much a temple, but a shrine/statue park. It’s quite beautiful and peaceful with a few waterfalls. There was almost no one there on a weekday, and the views were great. Sometimes I really can’t help but wonder how much money went into all these statues though, and how many people that money could feed out of Buddhist generosity. But maybe the statues inspire people to donate more that can be used for those purposes?
From there I headed to Jinan, where my hotel room proves the point that hotels in Korea aren’t meant for travellers.
Again, I was warned about the walking involved in getting to Tapsa, a temple made by a monk who stacked huge piles of rocks into carns around the temple. I just wanted a lift to the entrance, but the cab driver took me around to the back of the park, and right to the entrance of Tapsa. This made my job easy, but I think I would have been more satisfied if I had done the hike around and had to work for it. There are supposed to be buses that go the front entrance, but early on a weekday morning, I didn’t find such a thing.
From there I hiked back over the mountain to the front entrance. The long hike everyone was warning me about is a mere 1km. The stairs are steep and many, but it doesn’t take long. At the front entrance at this time of the morning there wasn’t a shop open, a bus to be seen, or a taxi to be found. I ended up walking back to Jinan, which was really close. Maybe a 30-40 minute walk. If you like walking, you could do the whole trip without taking transportation at all.
Well, mostly bussing it, but walking quite a bit as well. Not quite as much as Simon Winchester did though. He started in Jeju Island and walked the entire length of South Korea, and then part of North Korea (highly supervised of course). Bybee reminded me how much the western male falling prey to the wiles of Korean women came into that book. I had completely forgotten about it, but now that she read it recently and brought it up, examples from the book keep seeping into my mind. Winchester epitomizes the different experiences that men and women have living in Korea. Living in Asia has taught me nothing if not that the vast majority of western men prefer having a relationship where they don’t actually have to talk to their partner as long as she looks hot and is the right amount of needy. Simon Winchester is normally an extremely intelligent and insightful travel writer, but even he was reduced to drooling in his beer and going on long winded rants that had nothing to do with the rest of the story when offered the attention of a gorgeous lady. Korea is a place where men get distracted to the point of losing their minds.
Somehow I avoided going to PC rooms the entire time I’ve been in Korea until today. They are every bit as disgusting and sleezy as I thought they were. My first attempt was foiled when I walked into what was labeled as a PC Resting room – which actually meant private booths with I’m not sure what all going on behind closed doors.
While the rest of Korea is getting hit by a monsoon, I’m in a sunny haven in Jeonju. But inside the PC room, there is nothing but cigarrette smoke, dark lighting, and games. I thought I’d take a minute to share a little travel tale while I checked to see if my flight to Jeju is cancelled. So far it’s not, but I’m not sure it’s worth going to typhoon island this weekend.
I started the weekend at bookclub in Seoul, which got an invite that I took full advantage of to go to Sinchang and stay with Bybee for a couple of days. She lives in an apartment complex in the middle of nowhere that is crawling with foreigners and we had a great night watching TV and eating western food at her friend’s house.
From there I went to Gongju, which overall is not what it says it is. It was the same, albeit dingier, as the rest of Korea, and except for the fortress doesn’t have much to show for itself. The map the info booth hands out shows a quaint, pretty town with a gorgeous river flowing through it. Really it is a dirty, run down place, with a trickle of water down the middle lined by the seediest of love motels. I did do some interesting things here, but since this PC bang has let me think it is uploading pics for the last hour, when really it hasn’t, I’ll have to save the walking stories for another day.
Filed under: Books
Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Fantastic follow-up to Oryx and Crake. A book about two friends, one who devises a way to destroy the world, and the one who doesn’t believe he’ll really do it. This is the aftermath, and actually runs concurrently with the events in O&C.
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
Heaven’s Keep by William Krueger
Probably the weakest of the month. A simple mystery about a plane that goes missing in Heaven’s Keep mountain pass. It’s a good little mystery, but nothing groundbreaking.
Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
A brilliant and really sad child’s tale about kittens that loose their mother, and each other, and are trying to find their way back to whatever it is they could possibly call home.
The Secret Speech by Tom Robb Smith
Sequel to Child 44. Good, but not outstanding. More violence, less plot than the first.
Nanjing 1937 by Ye Zhaoyan
Life of PI by Yann Martel
This is the second time I’ve read this amazing little tale. It was this months choice for the literature class I’m teaching to a brilliant bunch of middle school girls. I got so much more out of it this time than the first time, and we had a great time hashing it up and finding symbolism in class.
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
The Skull Mantra by Elliot Pattison
This is a fantastic cultural thriller set in Tibet.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Pursuit by Luiz Garcia-Rosa
It was really too hot to be walking around like a mad person trying to see all the sights. I made it to the UN park, which I don’t recommend walking to unless you happen to be in the area, or you are particularly personally interested in the cemetery. The park itself wasn’t that impressive, and was completely uncared for. There were some folks using it to run and walk their dogs. I took advantage of some green grass to take a nap, which I got called out for by another foreigner later, “Hey were you that chick sleeping in the park…..”
The statue park has donated statues from all over the world as a sign of unity. My favorite one was this one from Columbia:
Followed by a close second from the Netherlands. In some fit of humor, this baby was placed right next to the building for the men’s bathroom.
Here is Japan’s contribution, which I’m almost surprised was allowed:
At night I enjoyed some Makali with my friend Val and a real Makali house. Not that disgusting over fermented crap from a bottle. We couldn’t figure out how to order much off the menu, but the waitress was more than accommodating and picked a couple things she thought we’d like, and we did.
Incheon and Seoul don’t really remind me of much. They are their own cities in their own right. But Busan reminded me a lot of Boston. Maybe it’s the ocean, or the feel, but it just felt right at home.
And a little temple I found to the side coming down from the observatory.
Since I have exactly four weeks of teaching left in Korea, it seemed fitting to take the rare few days off work to travel in the country. I weathered the heat, a little redder and sore, and took a whirlwind tour of Busan, on the southern coast and Gyeongju, one of the historical capitol cities. Sometimes it’s better to travel alone as no one in their right mind would have tried to stuff in all I wanted to see in this kind of heat.
It was pouring rain when I rolled off a five hour bus ride in Busan. In the scheme of life, it’s funny how quickly something can go from disappointing to wanting it back. Although I had to change my plans, for the rest of the weekend, I would have done a rain dance in the street to get a break from the heat and unbearable sun. Winter in Korea is pretty bad. Summer is much, much worse.
Since I was only a few subway stops away, I checked in at Heosimcheong Spa in the Nogshim Hotel (Oncheonjang station exit 1). It claims to be the largest hotspring sauna in Asia. Although it was big, I wouldn’t consider it much more special that most jimjillbangs I’ve been to. It did have a nice outdoor rooftop hottub where you could get steamed, and on this day, rained on at the same time. I got a scrub-down complete with cucumber face treatment.
There were a ton of different pools, some quite large, but I really liked a side room all done in stone that had pools of different medicinal scents. I spent a while in the “philosopher’s pool” with pine and a giant stone carving of an old bearded white man’s face spitting water into the pool.
The rain took a reprieve and I headed to Haeundae Beach, which was gorgeously uncrowded and had huge waves from the storm.
A little jaunt into the aquarium. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been to one. It was worth it, especially the underwater tunnel.
I swear this guy was modeling for me. Notice the teeth.
There’s a gorgeous walking trail along the ocean off the western side of the beach.
The fabulous view from my fabulous friend Val's house.
There is a great train system in Busan. The subway is great, but I had no idea how much I liked trains. For all of 2,500W I took the train from Bukjeon station to Songjeong beach. From there you could take the 181 bus, but, me being the adventurous type, decided it didn’t look too far and walked. The ocean view was great, and then turned into a Korean construction view, and then a, wow, the hill to the temple is steep, why-did-I-decide-to-walk view. It is the only temple in Korea that I know of that is on the ocean, and is stunningly gorgeous and a little crowded and touristy, but well worth it.
Haedong Yonggungsa – Great Seawater Goddess of Mercy – Temple
And that is just the beginning. I’m having a borderline panic attack about how little time I have left, and how much stuff is in the air. I’m considering moving everything into suitcases and living out of them to remind myself how to do it, and also so I know how much stuff I have to get rid of since I need to pare everything down to one suitcase and a guitar once again.
Oh yea, and I also have to read the first third of Watership Down, which I’m not entirely looking forward to. Live of Pi was a challenge for my ESL students, I’m not sure what they’re going to do with this one.
Filed under: Travel
I haven’t done one of these for a while, but there are at least thirteen places I’d like to work and live, and since I’ve been scouring Dave’s ESL Cafe for potential fall opportunities, I will share some with you. If anyone is looking for an international teaching position, feel free to use the links and apply away. 🙂
1. English Academy school in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Unless most jobs in Asia it requires a full teaching certificate from your home country.
2. Immediate opening in Ulan Bataar, Mongolia. Pay not listed, but it says it is “competitive.” Not competitive with Korea, I’m sure, but…
3. Kurdistan – Degree and TESOL, but full teaching cert not required.
5. Jakarta, Indonesia – 38 days vacation. Sure beats what I have now. 🙂
6. Cairo, Egypt
7. Abu Dhabi, Dubai. $5,500/month People are flocking for this one, even if you do have to wear a veil to work.
8. Taiwan, a country I am sure I will work in in the future.
10. Organic farm and the first English language university in Honduras.
11. Moscow, Russia
12. Opportunities for unemployed math, science, business, and IT teachers from English speaking countries in Beijing, China.
13. And a job that I am actually applying for and hoping to get. I need a TESOL, and I’m fascinated by Manchuria. May be a good match. Harbin, China
There’s a whole wide world out there.
I thought I was leaving Korea for good in September, so I’ve been putting myself under some pressure to see the places in Korea that I hadn’t made it to yet. Moka Buddhist Museum in Yeoju is one of those places that I had circled in the guidebook before I ever came to Korea. After more than year, I finally made the bus trip down there with a new teacher at school who is actually interested in cultural things and not just drinking until they turn into a new form of Asian Cocktail.
My guidebook said Yeoju was forty minutes from Seoul Express Bus Terminal. After the actual two hours it took in the cluster of extraneous status symbol, I mean car, traffic, we finally made it to Yeoju by 2pm after leaving the house at 9am. As much as I love travelling around Korea, some days it’s hard to convince myself to leave the neighborhood knowing that even a simple trip to Seoul is going to take over an hour on either end. Why so many people insist on driving their own cars when the public transportation is arguably one of the best the entire world, I know, but refuse to understand.
Moka Museum is a really cool little place though. Well worth the visit. It’s a bit outside of town, the number 10 bus goes by it, or a taxi ride is about 10,000W.
The museum grounds are a statue park of different religions, mostly buddhist. It was a really gorgeous and relaxing place to be.
King Sejong, the creator of Hangul with his book.
The highlight is the actual museum, but of course, you can’t take pictures inside. I did sneak this one of the child of Samsara (the circle of living and dying with attachment) for my travel buddy.
And then there was this guy…..
With no concrete plans for a weekend in the fist time in ages, I set out to do what ruby does best. Pick a subway stop or two and explore. On Saturday, I barely made it out of the front door before the first adventure began. There is a particularly seedy looking building in our neighborhood that, although it appears to have a Buddhist temple on top, I was a little hesitant to explore. The building itself is one of the more ranshackle in our area. There is a billiards hall on the second floor, and on my walk home from work, it’s one of the places that always has particularly drunk men loitering around outside.
But since I was in exploring mode, camera in hand, daring wits about me, I decided to brave it past the filthy stairwell to see what it really is.
On the third floor is a beautiful shrine room. Even though part of the reason I came to back to Asia was to re-immerse myself in Buddhist culture, it doesn’t feel like part of everyday life here. Consumerism and an extreme materialism to the point of being disgusting has taken over, leaving the less than a third of the population that still even considers itself Buddhist on a shelf somewhere behind last years’ cellphones. There are still some great cultural holidays, and the occasional monk on the subway, but it doesn’t “feel” like a Buddhist country the way other places I’ve travelled do.
With no one around I did a few prostrations and sat for a few minutes, and then nosed around trying to find the rooftop shrine that I was pretty sure existed. On my way through the door to the rooftop I literally ran into a monk. He was at first shocked, and then pretty happy to see me. He even gave me a zucchini from their rooftop garden. I speak almost no Korean, and he speaks almost no English, but I did glean that he was in the Korean war from pictures he showed me and was quite happy to meet a young American.
We had tea together and a gorgeous little girl full of smiles came in. As far as I could tell, she said the monk is her uncle, and it seems like she almost lives at the temple. I got to thinking how different my life in Korea would be if I had become involved with these people earlier in the year.
The rest of my subway hopping weekend paled in comparison to hanging out with the monk and his niece. Even with such promising names as Imhak, Beagun, and Dong Incheon, it’s a little bit of a disappointment to get off at any subway station and just see more of the same. I know this is going to happen already, but still, there’s usually one little gem that was worth finding. The Mexican restaurant in Songnea for example, or the acupuncturist I want to try again when they are open in Imhak.
After a second day of rambling and going to the grocery store, I was on the final stretch home carrying a bag full of exotic cheeses from Home Plus, when a little tiny hand grabbed my arm. It was the girl from the temple. It appears what I’ve been looking for in Korea has been on my street all along.
Ruby Ramblings 