Day 350 in Korea-Nami Island

Last Sunday I made the trek out to Namiseom, or Nami Island, with my Wop Wop Kiwi friend. It was another one of Korea’s little surprises!!

We left Guri at around 12:45ish and took the subway to Mangu station, where we caught the brand spankin’ new Chuncheon line. Not quite halfway there, an older Korean man got on the subway and greeted us quite warmly, leading me to ask my Wop Wop Kiwi friend if she knew him. Turns out, she didn’t know him, but he was retired Seventh Day Adventist minister who was carrying around an English book about religion, looking for just such an opportunity: two foreigners who couldn’t escape his questions. Luckily, he just had translation questions. I’ve often had problems with people being overly pushy about their religion here. Anyway, we helped him with his questions and we talked for a little bit. After a few stops he got off and we said our goodbyes.

About 30 minutes later we pulled into Gapyeong Station, which is a 10 minute taxi ride or about a 30 minute walk from Nami Island. We caught a taxi which didn’t really do us a whole lot of good, since so many people were walking there that we ended up going at about the same pace. Oh well.  We both decided we were hungry so we popped into this restaurant next to the parking lot. We ordered two servings of Chuncheon Chicken Ribs which turned out to be waaaaaay too much. We ate as much as we could and walked to the entrance of Nami Island.

Nami Island is a little…different. It’s named after a man called General Nami who died about 500 years ago. The history of the island itself is a little long, but the main thing you need to know is that about 5 years ago, Nami Island “declared independence” from Korea and became Naminara, or Nami Republic. Of course, this is mostly a publicity stunt, but it’s still kind of fun. To get to the island, you have to take a ferry. Normal (aka not fun) places say you have to buy a ferry ticket, but Namiseom requires you to buy an “entry visa” at “immigration.” Cute, right? 

We bought our tickets, hopped aboard the ferry and we were on our merry way.

Greeting us on the wharf was the first of many strange sculptures. There was a tree where the leaves were made out of little light bulbs and a stone totem pole waterfall. Walk a little bit more and there’s a sign that indicates that there are wild ostriches on the island. For a while, I thought it was one of those things that they did just to make themselves seem more eccentric, but after talking to my co-teacher, I found out that there really are wild ostriches running around. We just didn’t happen to see any that day. 

 

There are a lot of little different things to do on Nami Island. You can rent electric tri-ways (kind of like Segways but with three wheels), regular bicycles, family bicycles, ride a little train, or just walk around and enjoy the scenery, which is breathtaking in many places. Along one side of the island is a long dusty path lined with incredibly tall trees on both sides, with bits of the Han River peeking through in places.  They also have a Song Museum, a small museum paying tribute to the history of Namiseom, and various little shops scattered about the island. There’s more located on the island, but sadly we didn’t get to see everything.

The island is well known for being a romantic destination. There were couples everywhere, which in Korea is a tad bit more interesting (to me, anyway.) Couples in Korea often wear “couples’ shirts.” They always match; sometimes it’s just matching colors and other times the shirts complete each other. For example, one of the sets that I saw last week had pictures on the back of the significant other’s “hand” on their back. It’s a romantic destination partially because of the scenery but also scenes from a famous Korean drama, “Winter Sonata,” were shot here. The two main characters shared their first kiss on Nami Island, so a footbridge was renamed “First Kiss Bridge” and there are little snowman couples all over the area, paying tribute to the scene in the drama where the main characters build a snowman together.

The entire day was just very enjoyable and refreshing, although we wore ourselves out by walking around the island. It’s a trip we’re talking about taking again in the fall when the leaves are changing. I can’t even begin to fathom how beautiful it will be then!

More pictures can be found at my new photo blog!

Day 343 in Korea-Donggureung

Donggureung:

Two weeks ago, I finally went to one of my Guri’s most famous sites: Donggureung. Donggureung is a collection of royal tombs dating back to around 600 years ago. This blows my mind. Being from Kansas, I’m not used to seeing things older than 150 years. The strange thing is, for me anyway, people here were using it as a meeting place, playing badminton and climbing trees.  Right next to the tombs of people that have been dead for 600 years. 

Strangeness aside, it was a very pleasant day. I live at a very busy intersection so I’ve gotten accustomed to lots of horns honking, random people yelling who-only-knows-what and lots of traffic noise. It was a wonderful respite to spend the day not only surrounded by tombs of dead people but deep inside a forest as well. My initial thought was to blast my iPod while I was walking through but then I realized that I would be missing out on a lot. As soon as I took off my headphones, I could hear woodpeckers doing what they do best, bees buzzing all around me (although I could never see them, which really freaked me out), and the occasional yell from an excited kid. It was so refreshing!!

Most of the tombs are roped off so you can’t actually see the detail involved. Fortunately, three are open for wandering. Unfortunately, because of my busted toe I was only able to climb one before the stupid toe started hurting. The rest of the time you can only admire from afar. 

The one tomb that I did climb was quite interesting. Each tomb is actually two hills: a large hill with a smaller one on top, containing the actual body itself. On each of the large hill there’s a collection of animals, statues of civil and military officials, and other sculptures, including a stone lantern and a large stone table. In front of each of the tombs is a shrine and a shed. The shrine hosts the ancestral rites for the respective royal buried at that tomb and each shed has a tombstone inscribed with the royal’s achievements. 

One of the things that I really liked about Donggureung was they had a very well written English explanation for each of the tombs, which doesn’t always happen in Korea. It really helped me to appreciate the history and the accomplishments of Korea and its residents even more. The best part was the entrance fee was only 1,000 won, about 90 cents. It was beautifully kept and very well maintained. If you’re reading this from Korea, I highly recommend a visit!