I Almost Died. Seriously.

I went river rafting with some friends in Gangwon-do over the weekend. Gangwon-do is a really beautiful area about two hours to the east of Seoul. We stayed at a pension next to the Naerim River.

This was the view from our balcony. See? Motherfucking beautiful, right?

Here's my boat setting out.

What's wrong with me?

Don't we look like winners? Sadly, it didn't quite end in success for us.

Our guide told us the water is crazy after rains. Definitely there was some craziness going on. Whether it was the river or him, I am unsure. Regardless, we ended up standing on a rock in the middle of a bunch of rapids as our raft filled with water and sank/floated away. No one thought to take a photo, so here is my own rendition of it.

I saved Mark but Darino was lost downstream.

After watching our guide futilely untangle a rope for a while, we came to the conclusion that he was probably not going to rescue us. So, remember, if similar circumstances befall you, lie on your back, facing downstream as if you were being crucified - the Jesus position. Don't pray, though, as closing your eyes will make it more difficult to avoid large rocks. 

Luckily, we all made it to safety without major injury. It was actually pretty exciting! The second time around was sort of annoying, though.

As I was discussing with the other Americans in the boat, I was surprised by how dangerous the rafting was. I mean, we never had to sign release waivers. The British and Canadians with us listened in semi-disgust.

Afterward, we had dinner outside our pension. Here are some Korean men cooking our samgyeopsal on a homemade grill.

Awesome. 

Such a traumatic episode forces us to confront our own terrifying fragility. It makes one stop and think about the important things in life, why we're living the lives we are and making the choices we've made. It's heavy stuff.

Contemplating life and other complex, worrying issues.

Luckily, soju is a complete mind eraser.

Weekend in Samcheok

I went to Samcheok on the eastern coast of Korea over the weekend with some friends. It was very green and beautiful with all the spring rain.

Mark never smiles.

Samcheok (read about it here) is known for two things - beautiful caves and penis park. For some reason, I find this very appropriate. Titter titter.

Deryk, Graham and I (right to left) hiking!

The caves were very big. And very dark. So much so that I didn't really get many decent photos. Though, I did snap this one:

The Bridge of Confessions

We walked over the Bridge of Confessions after first crossing the Bridge of Love and trekking past a heart-shaped rock formation in the Valley of Hell. Will I sound jaded if I say it seems like the people who named these things were trying to offer some sort of commentary on relationships?

After a day of hiking and caving, we went out for dinner and drinks. There was much drinking of soju. I also learned that the novel I'm currently reading, about the Spanish Revolution, is not going to end well. I probably should have been tipped off by the inscription in the beginning - Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee (500 won to you if you can guess the book title).

We found an "American Bar" which means it has a kitsch jumble of Americana and still serves soju. All riiight. Just don't talk to any drunk Irishmen. They may seem amicable, but they will insult you, lecture you about the newfound necessity of the appendix and then take your shot without even asking. You've been fairly warned.

Japan Part III: Kyoto

The main hall of Toji Temple in Kyoto

Our final stop in Japan was Kyoto, the more recent former capital of Japan (794 - 1868). I'd heard Kyoto referred to as the cultural and historical capital of Japan, so I was interested to see it.

The five-storied pagoda at Toji Temple.

Our first stop was Toji Temple, one of Kyoto's most famous landmarks. The five-storied pagoda, originally built in 826, is the highest pagoda in Japan. It has been struck by lightening and burned down 4 times. Which makes me think that maybe they should have stopped trying. But they seem to be having better luck lately.

I think I was expecting something like Nara, but Kyoto is actually a large city and quite modern-looking in most parts. Although it is home to 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines, as well as an imperial palace, most of the city looks similar to Osaka. In fact, an article in the New York Times recently discussed Kyoto's identity crisis.

That said, there were still many interesting and beautiful things to see in the city. Since it's a big city and the different tourist sites are pretty far apart, we rented some bikes.

For some reason, I thought wearing a mini-skirt would be a good idea that day.

Close by our hostel was a really delicious rice cake shop. The lady working there made our rice cakes to order.

Surprisingly, although they use basically the same ingredients, Japanese rice cakes taste different than Korean rice cakes. The Japanese version is lighter and smoother in texture, and from what I saw, there is less variety.

We also went to the sake museum, to see how sake was made. As we learned, you get a free can of sake with your 300 yen admittance fee.

Mmm, nothing like a can of sake at 11 A.M.

My favorite part of Kyoto was Gion, traditionally the geisha district. Sadly, we didn't actually see any geisha (although, I read a very interesting blog post about the maiko and geisha who still train and work in Kyoto today). There are also a lot of beautiful temples and shrines in the area.

While walking in Gion, we wandered into the Yasaka shrine, also know as the Gion shrine. It was so beautiful at night!

Basically, being in Japan sort of made me feel like I into the Miyazaki film, Spirited Away.

Japan Part II: Nara

 We decided to go to Nara for a day, the former former capital of Japan (710 - 784, The Nara Period). Besides the temples and heritage sites, Nara also has some interesting wildlife. Like, the very friendly deer.

There is a legend that a god rode in to protect the new capitol of Nara on a white deer. Since then, deer have been regarded as the heavenly protectors of the country, and are allowed to roam freely around the city.

I wanted to pet one but was afraid they would bite off my fingers. Silly me, Nara deer don't eat fingers. Nara deer eat only special Nara deer cookies.

I'm pretty sure the deer live off of cookies alone. Just like me in college.

As the sign warns, be careful.

"The deer of Nara are wild animals. They can occasionally attack people, so please be careful."

We saw several small children getting chased by hungry deer.

Nara was beautiful, for the forests as much as the temples and shrine. We took the walking tour of the city, which took us about 4 or 5 hours.

We went to Todai-ji first, a Buddhist temple which has the distinction of being both the largest wooden building in the world and holding the largest statue of the Buddha in the world.

The main hall of Todai-ji.

Surrounding the Buddha are two large guardian statues. They look pretty intimidating. Here is one of them.

Here is the statue of the Buddha, or in Japanese, "Daibutsu" (Which I'm pretty sure translates to "big Buddha").

It was very big.

Inside the temple, we saw a long line of children with their parents. At first, we thought it was something special for Children's Day. But, actually, it is related to a temple tradition.

There is a hole in one of the temple's support beams that is said to be as large as the Daibutsu's nostril. If you can squeeze through the hole, it is said you are guaranteed enlightenment in your next life.

Small Japanese kids. Lucky.

In practice, this means a lot of children will be granted enlightenment in their next life.

Afterward, we walked to Nigatsu-do, a smaller, neighboring Buddhist temple. It was very pretty.

Before coming to Japan, this was how I pictured everything in the Japanese countryside.

Then, we walked through the Katsugayama Primeval Forest. There are stone lanterns all along the trail. I wish we'd been there at night, as it looks like they still light some of them up.

Japan's temples and shrines give the feeling of being in harmony with nature. Perhaps this is the Shinto influence in the culture? All in all, I think Nara was my favorite of the cities we visited. It was definitely the most beautiful.

Japan Part I: Osaka

Since I got three days off for Children's Day (May 5th) and my school anniversary, I decided to go to Japan at the last moment. We found some cheap tickets on a Korean travel site and ended up flying to Osaka for a long weekend.

We did many things in Osaka! There were many things to do...

We went to a conveyor belt sushi buffet! (Sometimes they call this Sushi kuru kuru, which means sushi-go-round hah.)

...And then we felt a bit ill.

We went to Osaka Castle. It is very big.

I am standing in front of a koi pond. The koi were huge. As in, seemed to be too huge to become fully submerged in the pond, huge.

They have many interesting things in Japan. Like the beer vending machine.

Wow.

We also learned about Japanese culture. 

For instance, the South Park episode "Whale Whores" perpetuates the idea that the Japanese hate Whales and Dolphins, given how much they hunt and eat both. But, this is completely untrue. The Japanese actually hate octopuses. 

Osaka is known for the very delicious street food, takoyaki, "octopus dumplings."

They eat sooooo much takoyaki. All this octopus-eating eventually evolves into this:

A huge light-up octopus. Japanese tour boats come by every 10 minutes and one lucky person gets to fire a laser canon at the octopus. Having been successfully 'slain,' the octopus sings cheerfully about delicious takoyaki and everyone is joyful.

So, I Was in Japan a Few Days Ago and...

While a guy friend and I were in Osaka, I realized I'd forgotten certain feminine products and had to buy them. We went into a 7-Eleven and I grabbed a box of said feminine products and a few other things I'd forgotten to bring.
"Do you really need that other stuff? Or, are you just buying it for distraction?" my friend asked.

I proceeded to tell him that yes, I needed them. I'm a 23 year old woman, I said, I don't get embarrassed about buying tampons at this point. As I said this, the Japanese girl behind the counter rang me up and then proceeded to carefully wrap up my tampons separately in a brown paper bag.

As my friend pointed out, in Japan, they'll apparently be embarrassed for you.



Oh, and this was The Cutest Thing Ever.

Don't Wait Until Your Golden Years

A traveller! By my faith, you have great reason to be sad: 

I fear you have sold your own lands to see other men's; 

then, to have seen much and to have nothing, 

is to have rich eyes and poor hands.

- Rosalind, As You Like It

Shakespeare might not have approved of traveling but it has always been one of the most important things to me. I love seeing other cultures, learning other languages, trying new foods - I think it improves you as a person and makes you appreciate your life more. In some ways, I'm dreading going back to the United States after my contract ends and getting a career where I can't travel often.

Also, I read and hear so much recently about 'peak oil' that I think maybe I shouldn't waste time if I want to see the world. If you haven't heard much about this, my layman's understanding is this: there isn't that much more oil to be discovered in the world and what we have found is running out rapidly. Once we hit 'peak oil,' it will afterward become increasingly difficult and costly to extract oil. In fact, we'll never run out of oil, but it will eventually become more expensive to extract than it's worth.

Many people think we'll hit peak oil in the next 10 years, if we haven't already. There was a very interesting documentary on all of this, A Crude Awakening. Or, you can go to NPR (the only thing I really believe in religiously).

When we do actually run out of oil, economies will collapse, massive famine and poverty will ensue, etc. But on an extremely myopic and self-centered level, all this makes me think that I need to travel now. Unlike our parent's generation, there won't be any waiting 'til our Golden Years for us.

My Time in 'Nam

 

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

I went to Vietnam over winter break but in my laziness, I'm only getting around to posting pictures now. So, Dad, here's what you missed seeing in the 70's.

 

Some electric green rice paddies, as seen from our sleeper traincar.

The countryside was very beautiful. 

A house we saw on the side of the road.

There were lots of beautiful palaces and old buildings to see, too.

A lake with a bridge in Hue.

I met my friend, Anji, in Hanoi and then, we caught an overnight bus down to Hoi An in central Vietnam. 

Hoi An is very well known for its custom tailoring. I got lots of clothes made, blah blah blah. Here's a picture of restaurant we ate at.

The restaurant next to the street market in Hoi An.

From Hoi An, we took a 22-hour bus trip (OMG 22 HOURS WTF!!) to Saigon. Somewhere in the middle of that, I ordered breakfast IN FRENCH. It was pretty exciting.

The next day we took another bus down to Vĩnh Long, a fishing village in the Mekong Delta. While there, I had to take a motorcycle taxi while carrying all my luggage, wearing a miniskirt and a falling-off helmet with a driver that seemed to maybe be sporting a coke nail. I thought I might die, just a little, as we weaved through heavy motorbike traffic, uninhibited by traffic lights. But man, I gotta say, motorcycle taxis are AWESOME and SO MUCH FUN.

We hired a boat to see the floating market the next day. Some of the produce is tied wooden poles on the boats so people know what each boat is selling.

The floating market

Although Vietnam is a much less developed country than Korea, they have a  much larger tourist industry. So, while finding chocolate banana pancakes in Korea is almost impossible, in Vietnam they are in almost every restaurant. Things were pretty touristy.

 Chicken noodle soup, just like mom used to make?

Except for this soup I had. This was not touristy at all. I tried to man up and ignore the fact that my lunch was squinting at me. But, in the end, I couldn't get past the fact that the soup also (unsurprisingly) smelled like something with a dead animal head in it. Sorry, Vietnam, I guess I'm not as open-minded as I thought.

 

The Vietnamese food pyramid

We found this food pyramid outside an elementary school in Hoi An. Even though they are communists, Vietnamese people worry about their consumption of salt, sugar and oily foods JUST LIKE US!

 School's out!

Except instead of Mom in a mini-van, Dad will pick you up from school on his moped! Heck yeah!

Ferries & Caves

Last Sunday, I went sightseeing with some friends to Chungju in the center of Korea. We took a bus down and then rode a ferry to see beautiful lakes and rocks!

 As promised, the beauty was shocking.

 It was a bit cold and dreary but this turned out to be for the best since I'd forgotten to put on sunscreen.

I was on a boat.

After the ferry ride, we went hiking to see a big natural stone arch. 

 The Stone Gate

It was pretty cool. It's hard to see them but if you look closely there are some tiny people in the corner of the above photo. The arch was, in fact, huge - a scale not really conveyed by this photo. So, obviously, the thing to do was climb on top of it. And here's the view.

 

Pretty, no?

Our tour guide told us this area was where nobles used to enjoy themselves and 'play with women.' Niiiiiice. 

Afterward, we wen't to a really big cave. This sign was posted near the exit. I thought it was a good life message to keep in mind.

Wise Korean sign.