안동...part II

Who knew there was so much mask history out there? Well now I do. It seems every place in the world, for their own special reasons, has a mask. I was able to see thousands of these at a mask museum in Andong. The museum was less than two dollars and huge and full of a multitude of shapes, colors and sizes of masks. Some scary, others bright and decorative, others still boring or plain. We saw many masks from Korea, but many more from other countries across the globe.

  It seemed appropriate to make the visit to this particular museum on the same trip as going to the fortieth annual Andong Mask Festival. The festival was lively and crowded. There were lines of stalls and tents selling food and drink and knives and socks (??). Some arts and crafts tents for making your own mask. Several stages were set up, some for music, some for dancing, and a huge main stage in the middle, so densely surrounded by people it was hard to see. But the chanting was so loud and could be heard from anywhere at the festival grounds. Chilling and sweet.  Women dressed in traditional Korean garb, called a hanbok, were doing the princess dance that reenacts the fleeing of the princess from the town/city upon the many foreign invasions that have taken place over the hundreds of years.  

revolution brewing?

There is a movement growing and building in America today. There are people with voices that are ready to speak… together with their friends and neighbors. The 99% are angry at the 1% for having so much control in our supposed democratic process. Influencing our every day lives in many ways, big and small. I wish that I could be in our beautiful country during these exciting times of uprising and communication. Occupy Wall Street, now a few weeks underway, is gaining momentum and refining it’s purpose in New York. I eagerly await more news and information from those brave and peaceful campers! 

photo credit

Occupy Wall Street link: http://occupywallst.org/

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." --Thomas Jefferson

안동...part one

안동 (Andong) is a small city south east of Seoul about three hours. It is said to be the most conservative place in Korea, priding itself on maintaining ways of life that have been quickly forgotten in recent decades as Korea has been undergoing a massive transformation into an advanced and modern nation. Andong sits nestled amongst mountains and rivers, farmland and foothills. It is quiet, the air is clean, the roads are narrow and the people are relaxed. It is a stark difference from the intensity of Seoul, and a nice relief to be out of the city for a little while. The high speed train does not travel to Andong, so we boarded an early morning bus to take us on the journey. The busses here are crazy nice!  So there was no dread for the long journey, rather a nice relaxing chance to dig into my book (do I ever really take my nose out of a book?) or stare out the window at the ever changing landscape.

We arrived still early in the morning and met with Josh's coworker and her husband, a couple who we have spent a little time with already. They are from the area and did a stellar job at showing us around. We went out of the main city on narrow winding rural roads, through never-ending apple orchards or rice paddies, yellow with the coming harvest. Our destination was a village in the middle of nowhere, where the river makes a horseshoe bend. The village is a snapshot into a life that is hard to find anywhere anymore. A simple, quiet world exists out there. The roads are not paved.... nature is raw and untouched. The men and women who live there are open to having visitors and welcome people to glance into their lives, walk through their farms and enjoy their little piece of the world. I imagine that these people are able to make a decent living for themselves by the art projects they are happily working on to sell to the visitors like us. I was glad to be able to visit this place, for the sheer beauty and simplicity of it, but as with almost everything in this country it was, well... crowded. So many people wanted to see this pristine place that it lost it's value, in a way. I would have given up my opportunity to see this place just to know that it exists somewhere, still untouched and unspoiled. But none the less, it was a gorgeous day and the sun was filling me with good energy and I made the most of the feelings that I was overcome with, vowing to revisit them later.

It was a day of walking and hiking and more walking. We went to a temple, high in the foothills, this temple is the oldest known wooden structure in all of Korea. Amazing. The place was huge! The size itself was a shock, let along the complexity of the structure. The sign posted nearby said that the structure was first renovated in the early 1300's, so it is estimated that is has been around for hundreds of years prior to that. The compound is made up of ten buildings built into the side of the mountain. The buddhist temples that are densely scattered throughout Korea are really incredible. They each differ in style, shape, colors, and size, yet have a similar structure. The thing that stands out the most to me is the location of these massive structures. Most often they are on cliff edges or tucked into mountain valleys, or built on the highest point of a hill overlooking a valley or the city. The tranquility felt at each one, however, is similar. The bells softly chime with the breeze and the smell of burning incense add to the mystical atmosphere of the temple grounds.

Yoeido and chinese food in the metropolis

The weather is turning slowly into a crisp autumn. The nights are cool, the afternoons warm if you're in the sun, cold in the shade. I love the changing of the seasons, and what better way to spend them than outside, walking into unknown neighborhoods, finding new spots that add to our whole perception of this giant city, Seoul. We set out of our humble abode unsure of where we will go, deciding on the fly to take the number 360 bus to the end of the line, to the western end of the city, where lies Yoeido, the island in the Han river that is home to a plethora of parks, including a wetland marsh, and a major business area, home of the tallest building in Korea, that giant pink "sixty-three" building. The Koreans are very proud of this building. Like Portland's "big pink" it towers over one edge of the city, next to the river. 

After reaching our walking limit we headed to Iteawon to meet up with our bunch of people to taxi en masse to the eastern edge of the city for a much raved about chinese restaurant in an obscure university neighborhood near Ttukseom. This place must have been the right spot, for on a street lined with chinese restaurants and shops this one stood out for it's line of dozens of people waiting in the cool night for a table inside. A man with a killer mullet acted as host and griller of lamb skewers outside over an open flame, just inches from us hungry patrons, waiting for a seat. 

Being as we had a large group we waited a long time, but the wait was worth it for the food was supreme! I am not a huge fan of chinese food, based on my experiences with the greasy grocery food chinese food I am used to in the States. This was something entirely different. Authentic and spicy and still greasy, but in a good animal-fatty kind of way as opposed to a bunch of vegetable oil. We sat in the brightly lit restaurant, with a knack for all things pink, and drank big bottles of Tsingtao beer (a real treat compared to the crap beer that Korea has to offer) and ate course after course of lamb stir fry, glazed chicken, lamb skewers, sticky buns, steamed grass with fried egg, and of course the usual panchan (side dishes). 

A saturday well spent. And because it is a long weekend the adventures did not stop there...