Wee Paws

When a hilly city is also a megacity and the street signs are in unfamilair <to me> script, it is a recipe for confusion.
Thankfully, I have my compass with me.

Yes, the googleMaps and GPS technology are wonderful things, but when the markers and InternetOfThings added to the maps are very conjested, and also <to me> unreadable, I just walk and walk and walk.
Yesterday the place I sought had a Primary School and a Buddhist Temple near by.  I found both but..  Both were not the ones adjacent my destination but were rather, another different primary school and a different temple.
I thankfully, got to see the side streets <to me lanes>.  Everthing is so clean and organized.  Here, though, I had trouble finding my salvation coffeeShopWIFI.  I have no SIM now... only two more days on land.

A patisserista helped me find my way.  As usual, I'd over estimated my distance.  My destination was much closer than I'd guaged from the map.  I had wandered into a whole diffferent neighbourhood. I had gone under the tracks, thinking these were the tracks I'd just exited at Sakuragicho Station, but noooo, it was a completely different line.  So, my logic was sound, but my assessment of the landmarks was flawed.
Kudos to me though, I didn't need a TAXI.  I am though, sick of hauling luggage, and now, at this juncture, that is so very over. <Well, except for Vanc.>
In a couple of days, WIFI will be sketchy.  I will be on the Pacific, with pay-as-you-go internet, so might give it a pass, moreso than a play.  We shall see.
I have been writing, other than this blog, and am pleased about that.
Right now, I am listening to Hayden's Cello Concertos.  It is very soothing.
My room is teensy, but clean.
I cased out the local area last night and know now where I am in this Yokohama on the waterfront. 

I am happy and so in love with living.  People are marvelous, everywhere.
Do not believe what the media spouts.
Rain.  I have seen very little over the past 60-ish days.
And yes.  I do miss Maestro's wee paws.
~~n Post35 Day58/75

Recurring Thoughts

Forced Labour Cave.

While you read about my recurring thoughts, as you dismiss them as trivial, or as things you had figured out long ago, be listening to the birdies.
I captured 5 minutes of bird sounds with my phone on Mang Oreum. It was the first hottish day.  The leaves are finally popping out of their buds, and beginning to obscure my views of the pimpled landscape that exists as the slope of Hallasan and down to the sea.  The Oreums are little bursts of lava, creating little mountains (300+ of them) that pock the slope of their mother volcano.  These forests are so lovely and fragrant.  Lots and lots of pine.  The undergrowth is different from what we have at home, but the scrubby flowers and greens are the same.  There is lots of red clover, and forget-me-nots, and other familiar little greens. My recording is an m4a file, which was supposed to overtake mp3 but never did that and the sound is so compressed it is sad, so go into the bush and listen to your local birds.  Or wake up early.

Just another crater.

And as you listen to birds, I will be foolish with my recurring thoughts, and also give you a couple more recent crater and cave shots.
I have left Jeju, and am in Busan, awaiting my boat to Japan.
Recurring Thoughts
Chewing:  I have watched lots of pretty young women chewing.  Their cheeks are full of food.  Stuffed full.  And they chew and chew and chew.  With nice lipstick, untouched. Kinda like a gopher except for the lips.  So, I have been trying it, except for the lips.  Like my Mom always said, chew your food.  So, no more wolfing.  I am gonna gopher it now.

Pier Gasan East China Sea

Golf Scrapers:  I have not taken any photos but the landscape is populated with golf driving ranges that make ours look like toyland.  These are 10-storey green nets.  It seems the goal is to see how high you can hit the ball, not how far.  If I find a photo I'll add it later.
Masks:  The whole uncover your face or you will be stigmatized and criminalized and get sideways glanced is so outdated.  Everyone wears masks, especially on bad air days.  Flowered, black, medical, construction, full face, mouth only, nose mouth, balaclavish, grannies, fashionistas, children, everyone.  Bus drivers, barristas, fishers, bankers, yogis.  It is laughable that face covering has some kind of criminal or religeous significance when air pollution is the reason.  Protect your lungs.

Squid Shadows

Musak:  On the busses, in coffee shops, blaring from hotel atria across onto the beautiful sea.  It is the anthem.  No, it isn't Celine, but I am not a DionFan and whatever they are singing about, it feels like it is the mountain-top proclamation of the new world reality.  Young guys at pedestiran crossings are crooning and swaying to this IkMan.  I am not a friend of the soaring ballad.  Here, it is a universal #itsOK.  I find it exhausting.
Dogs: Two classes:  small in human clothing.  white coat and independent or placidly on a rope. Jindo is the Korean national dog.  Lovely, one-person dogs.
Cats: Furtive.  Sneaking around. Same.
Toilets:  Lots of heated seats.  I want one.
Age: Even with limited English, at least 30 people have manufactured, "How Old?" Really? I do not know from their reaction if I look younger or older. I have been pitched on wrinkle cream at least 3 times. I give the truthful answer. Le sigh.
Packaging:  WAYWAY to much.  Sadly, options are slim. Recycling is mandatory, but the trash is loaded with plasticy metallic brightly coloured packaging.

Last Gonae Sunset

It is a bad air day here today, the fourth in 35 days, so not bad.  But, it makes me grateful for the fresh air at home.  I will never be complacent.

~~n Post 34 Day54/75

Climb a Mountain

Alpine Flora.

Yesterday, I climbed a mountain.  This morning I awoke with dreams of a lover (not you) whom I accept, as is, and who also accepts me as I am. I think I have reached the summit.  Then next, still barely awake, I find that Iron Castle has released Seven Arrangements, darkly inspired by Notre Dame, hours before she burns. And, though I took longer than precribed to complete the climb (Yeongsil UP and Eorimok DOWN), and on my way down, I felt like I had spuriously joined some kind of pilgrimage like the ones in Peru or Hawaii or Nepal, this morning, I do not feel that way.  I sense that the up and down added to me somehow.
I am a crone.
I travel alone.
This fine morning, I feel alive with a darkly string quartet and my dreams.

there she blows. Halla lava cap

Deep set eyes
Heavy brow
Long straight nose
Thin lips
Weak chin
The face of my male forebearers
Blue in the eye
Hair flying knotted sliver and brown

We can find our best face in the mirrors and tinted car windows.
But people see us as we are.
Creased brow
Squints of curiosity
Pursed liplines

Yeongsil UP - above tree line

Satisfaction comes when you climb the mountain, alone.  There are other climbers who chatter with their companions, but the languages are foreign so it is the birds and the winds that accompany me.  I cannot see myself.  I hear my breath.  I pause as needed.  This is not a race.
Hallasan is a volcano.  When I arrived on Jeju, I thought that the first mountain I had seen, from the ferry terminal, was probably Halla.

Crater on Oreum visible
Coniferous visible.

It is a small island, how big can its main mountain be?  Yesterday, I was faced with the folly of my know-it-all style.  Halla's crown is a solid volcanic bubble, a collar, high above its skirt of meadows and then forests. I did not make it to the crater, <<the trail I chose does not go that far>> but I did get to see her cup.  I feel achievement and also, that I do not deserve her full majesty, not yet.

Stone and timber trail DOWN

So, yes, climbing Hallasan is a "must-do" for the Jeju tourist, and I would not say to avoid it. The forest is very lovely.  I attended at the end of winter, and the tree buds still were not out, but the upside there, is that the view is retained. 

The trails are challenging.  

View thru winter
deciduous forest

Yeongsil is mostly stairs (countless) and walkways, with intermittent rocky (think stream hopping) segments.  Eorimok is almost all volcanic rock trails with 8x8 timber steps locked in.  Neither is easy.

6 hours. About 17 kms. Feels like more. They said it should take me 4.

click on the pictures to get a better view

~~nem Post33 Day49/75

Photo Friday IV

I am a tourist. Too many images.

One pavillion. Hallim park

Vessels. Trad.village. Hallim Park

Hyeopjae Beach erosion! Prevention

Smart!

Trad.village Hallim Park. Thatch. Big pots.

Sculpture. HallimPark

Playful. Grandfather.
Harubang

Pots

Bon Cafe - Gonae

Hallim Park

JejuCity Bus Terminal

Balcony Sunset Gonae

~~n Post32 Day45/75

Secret

Or maybe supression.
I have been on Jeju-do for 23 days.  Some days I have wandered.  Some days I have stayed close to Gonae.  On Tuesday I took the bus to JeoJi. On the way back, while waiting for the return bus, a young fellow spoke to me.  (Few do.)  We talked about this and that and I mentioned I'd like to see caves, and he thought I'd said graves; the previous week, April 3, had been the Memorial Day for the Jeju Massacre.
"Haha, no caves! Wait! What? Massacre?"
I had learned through my years of teaching, about the GwangJu 5.18 Democratic Uprising in 1980, where protesters were slaughtered.  It predated Tiananmen Square June.4.'89, but was less known, because of there being less media coverage and no internet.  But "no," he said, "this was not it.  This was Jeju."
Whether it was his English, or his reluctance to churn up sorrowful past, we turned our conversation to caves, and I was left to ponder and google when I got back to my room.
So, in the sliver of time between the liberation from Japanese occupation, and the Korean War that resulted in the DMZ and two Koreas, there was a time.  People thought.  People expressed opinion.  People stood.  Military postured. Foreign powers (USSR, USA) stepped up. Governments were foundational.  Police was local. And Jeju was still an island, separate from the penninsula.
It was in 1948.

Estimates of up to 60,000 people on Jeju were slaughtered, women and children too.  Rape and torture.  Running to the caves. Police siding with the citizens. Radical splinter groups with power. It was the fear of Communisim by a military that had spent 35 years under Imperialist occupation. No time for discussion on Jeju.
I read the Wiki link about the JeJu Uprising (April 1948-May 1949).  So, no, I don't have my university degree in the history of this situation.
But, 60,000 was estimated to be up to 1/4 of the population of the island at the time.  And of course there are still people around who rememember, and people whose parents ran and hid.  And people who were raised in the shadow of this slaughter.  It is a small island.
But the WORST part is that the government of Korea made it a crime - <read CRIME>, to discuss this event.  No internet.  Isolated population.  No news. Never happened.  For at least 40 years, it was surpressed. Artists were jailed for writing, painting, portraying these events.
Oh, the people.  Today, I wonder if they look at me and are triggered.  Maybe she is American. There are plenty of old folks here (I am old), but even older, out and about, on the bus, in the fields, at the markets.  They remember.

There is latent fear and survivors' guilt.  These social layers do not evaporate.  They sift and become layered into the consciousness of people.  Babies.  Youth.
Korea embraces the beauty of Jeju, but they have a "dialect", I am told. BUT? Is this the Quebec of Korea? JeJu is an island.  A modern, busy place with unique landscape and lovely infrastructure. It is playful. But the people seem proud, not pushy toward a tourist, rather, I'd say, actually stand-offish. Independent.
Go Islanders Go.
I wrote this poem when I finished reading the wiki.  Humbly shared.

April 10 on a Jeju coast
I learned last night
About a week ago
That fifty years past
A secret was cast
Of Death

Women and men lost
And children and faith
For wanting a whole
No division for fear
And dread and loss
Of Breath

But the Boys had their say
Even the police agreed
And to caves they fled
Rape and slaughter
Piles of bones
Of Earth

Then say no more
Shouted the Gods of Now
We'll Jail!  We'll Kill!
Speak not or have
No bread for children
Of Birth

Artists wrote and were slayed
Writers drew and exiled
Though now it has some voice
What yet bleeds in the
Cells of Jeju
Of Truth

nem 10/4/19

I know.  It is not my politics.  It is not my business.  But, I sense it.  That is me.

~~nem post 31 Day 44/75

  

Beautiful Game

My pattern for travel is to sit tight.  Months satisfy me, but if I cannot visit for multiple months, well a month is okay.  Short vacations are time wasted with travel, luggage, rubber necking, and just when you think you are getting a sense of the place, you leave, and for me, unsatiated.
I am now two weeks in my adopted neighbourhood on JeJu Island (province), South Korea.  The municipality (eup) is called Aewol-eup and my neighbourhood (ri) is Gonae-ri.

The vicinity runs along the north west coast of the island for about 5klix between the seashore and a 4-lane highway, about a kilometer inland, and then across the highway.  It is farmland, and tourism, and pockets of low-lying houses with lovely walls and roofs.  The farms and the hotels and the houses cohabit the landscape.  There is no separation.
Commercial districts are few, with most of the commerce, other than convenience stores and high-end restaurants and coffee shops to serve the many tourists, centred around the Port at Aewol.  It is an impressive modern port.

I walk about an hour to Aewol, to the south for groceries, and about 45 minutes to the north, just for the walk. It is all a sea walk, with protection from the traffic and frequent places to sit and enjoy the expance of the South China Sea.
But closer to home.  My little place.  As a tourist we want to go out.  We want to see things.  But sometimes that prevents us from seeing what is in our own front yard.
For example, last week, seven small horses arrived in the quaintly walled field right below my balcony!  But the biggest local deal though, the one that took me the longest to realize was happening right, literally, under my nose, is the Football <read soccer> field and park that is being built below me.

It isn't open yet.  Full astroturf. Beautiful bleachers, lighting, bathrroom, consession, and even a performance venue.  It is tucked in on flat land, that might have been excavated over the years, between an ocean cliff, and the mountain side that houses my hotel.  There has been a small crew of workers with one piece of lifting equipment quietly paving and landscaping since I arrived.
They have placed two gentle harubangs as greeters.  They have planted palms.  They have hung a sky-high net to trap kicks that clear the fence on the north, and the mountain lobs the balls back to a catch-trench on the south.
It is not done yet.  There is no signage.  People are stopping by to take a look.  One gentleman walks his beagle there at night.  It is quiet.  I have only heard one game so far, but think it was a practice.

This is a fabulous venue. Ocean front, for the beautiful game.  I have such respect for these 4 to 6 workers.  Today I went in for a closer look.  I walked through as they were setting up.  I took my time. I felt the turf. I walked the field. Then as I was observing their paving from the bleachers, I was asked to leave, and complied of course, after telling them that I thought it was so so beautiful and they were gracious.
I doubt I will be here to see the opening of the park, but this hotel has a great vantage if watching the beautiful game is on your list.

~~n Post30 Day40/75

Haenyeo Co-ops

I was shy to take these photos without getting names and permission. I am in awe of these women. Out almost every day. They are a co-op. Free divers and seafood harvesters. It is Jeju heritage and many women are not spring chickens. 

(Click photos to enlarge. The video is a UNESCO project.) 

Haenyeo Wiki

Gonae Haenyeo

I came around the corner as they were finishing their daily business. I had seen the boats off shore and now, having seen the video, I realize they were working. There is another village Haenyeo group 3kms north.

Last seaweed back to sea

Gonae's Haenyeo

Gonae Haenyeos' sea view

Tallied weighed on the spot

Some don't get weighed

Take: Two full + one partial cooler.

Quick clean 'n' outta there

Current price. Deal.

Are they abalone shells?

Guts and seaweed

Is it abalone?

Packing gear after cleaning catch

Statues frequent shoreline

The buyers and the divers.

~~n Post29 Day35/75