Taiwan - Days 3 and 4

So, as I mentioned before, I had met a really nice native on the plane who offered to help me out. I had mentioned that I wanted to go to the North Coast and he happened to have a house there. Normally I dont entrust strangers to take me to strange places in foreign countries, but Taiwan is known for its hospitality to foreigners, and this guy was genuine, so I took him up on the offer. I called him at about 930 and he came to pick me up at 10am. We drove about 45 mins north to the northen coast of Taiwan, near a city called Jioufen. He has a weekend house there, which is quite amazing. The scenery of the mountains and the ocean was breathtaking and very beautiful. He drove me to his house and showed me around his little neighborhood. By little, I mean about 45-50 houses, very small. There is an elementary school on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with only about 50 kids. Possibly the school with the best view in the world, or at least close. After checking out his house and view, wedrove through the mountains on to a town called Reifung. On the way, he showed me an old coal mine in the mountains. It is now in ruins, and adds to the mountainside nicely. It is nestled right into the side of the mountain facing the ocean, and looks almost like an old palace in its current shape. As we are driving through the mountains, we look at his town from above, and he points out the graveyard hill. The "graves" are colorful, extravagantly decorated mauseleums, all on the top of the mountain, overlooking the ocean. The entire mountainside is littered with them. It's hard to describe, but there are some pictures of them on the picture site. During this drive is when I decided that I wanted to rent a scooter. He (George was his name) had to leave at 12 to go pick up his son, so I was on my own after that. I was just planning on walking around and hiking, but a scooter was a much better idea. After getting to Reifung, we found a place to rent a scooter (which I never would have found, it was nestled in an alleyway off the main street, with no signs or anything.) So, George helped me get gas, and told me goodbye. He was very helpful and I thanked him for helping me, and he acted like it was no big deal.
So, after renting my scooter for about $8 American, I set off with no plan, and no real idea of where I was. But, I'm not one to get lost easily, so I wasnt worried. I set off along a coastal road from Reifung, heading to the city of Keelung. Keelung is a big-ish city right on the coast, abou 8km from Reifung. I had read that there were some fun things to do there. When I got there, it was just a harbor and some buildings. Nothing pretty about it, nothing extraordinary. So, I took a quick scoot around town and headed back the way I came. Good scenery of the ocean and mountains, but nothing to write home about.
I headed back to the town of Jioufen, since that was somewhere I knew how to get to. I drove along a coastal road, taking in the sights, and sweating like i've never sweated before. It was bout 95 degrees, and the humidity was stifling. Wearing a helmet didn't help, so I made sure to have a huge bottle of water with me to cool me off. It stayed cold for about 10 minutes, then got hot from the sun. It was quite miserable actaully, but I didnt mind at the time. I stopped periodically to check out some interesting things. I found a small island off the coast that I headed over to. I drove off the road, down to the tip and saw some people fishing, and nearly broke my scooter. There was a gap in the road which I did not see til I got up next to it. I stopped just in time, but as I tried to walk the scooter across, but hand accidentally pulled on the throttle, and the scooter took off. I let go, it dropped to the ground and made a horrible clanking sound. Luckily, it was ok, but I made sure to stay on the pavement from there on out ( I wasn't the only scooter in that area, but definitely the least experienced.
I saw a staircase leading to the top of the small mountian on the island, and decided to take it. After walking about 7 minutes, I saw a fork, and took the path to the right. About 40 meters later I saw on old lookout tower. A small enclosed cement cylinder with 4 lookout holes in either direction. I walked in and took a look out through the holes, and understood why they put the tower there. Taiwan was under martial law for 40 years, and were constantly fearing an attack from mainland China, so these things are scattered all over the coast. I trekked back to the path, and headed up the rest of the mountain. Nice scenery, easy climb as it was all wooden planks. After getting back to my scooter I was dreadfully hot and needed some new water. I saw a building which looked like a museum, and went in asking for water. A security guard immediately ushered me out and pointed to a staircase just next to the front door. I went up there and not only found a bathroom, and some water, but a full shower. I filled up my water bottle with the coldest water I've ever tasted (also filtered), then decided to take advatage of the shower. I stepped in with my shorts on and turn the cold water on to drench me. This may have possibly saved the day for me, as I was severly uncomfortable in the hot weather. I soaked my shirt, cooled off, and headed back to the scooter, dripping wet, refreshed, and ready for more adventure.
I was dry in about 10 minutes, so the wetness didn't last long. I drove back to the Jioufen where George had taken me, as the mountain roads seemed very intriguing to me, and looked fun to drive as well. I drove around, and came across signs for "Gold Ecological Park." I had read about this park in a tour guide, so I decided to head that way. About 30 minutes later I arrived in the parking lot and headed to the gate. I went to go purchase a ticket when I looked at the hours and saw that there were closed Mondays. Very dissapointing that the only day they are closed was the day I was there. No worries, though, becasue they kept the grounds open. The park was a gold mine back in the day, and its based on a mountainside with a bunch of exhibits and artifcats, and even a couple old tunnels that you can go into. Obviously, these attractions were closed, but they left the grounds open for people to walk around. So I went in and explored. I saw the old gold cart tracks, which people can walk on, and the entrance to one of the tunnels. There was a mountain to climb with a platform on top where there used to be some sort of shrine or outdoor pavillion. I coulndt tell, and the signs were in Korean, so i had to guess. But, I climbed up there and saw some columns and other cement shapes in the form of what used to be a building. A great view of the ocean and town, and I met 4 people from Singapore who all wanted to take a picture with me individually, so I obliged. I meandered back on down the hill and back on to my scooter to explore some more.
As I was heading to the next mountain I saw signs for the "Ruins of POW camp." I was intrigued, so I headed that way. At the bottom of a hill, in a very nondescript location, next to someones house, was a little memorial park with the old Gate post and outer wall of a Japanese POW camp they had during WW2. Turns out there were over 1,000 Taiwnaese and foreign people tortured there. They made them work in the mines and fed them very poorly, beat them, etc.. The Japs were incredibly ruthless over here during the war, and people still hate them for it both there and in Korea. Anyway, after snapping some photos and reading the description, I headed on.
The last part of my day took me to the best part. I saw a huge, massive mountain right on the coast that I wanted to get to the top of. I was prepared to park my scooter at the bottom and trek up the paths for 3 hours. However, at the parking lot, a small, paved path led on. So, I followed it, and I followed it...and it kept going. I thought for sure it would stop at any moment, but it was nearly all the way up the mountain. It took about 20 minutes to go up the path, and once at the top, the peak was onle a 500 meter hike away (not height, distance). I saw a little pagoda on the peak, and headed that way. About 15 minutes later I reached the pagoda and realized it was not the peak. Another 100 meters away was a rock formation that was the true peak, about 30 meters above the pagoda. The pathway stopped, and getting to the base of the rocks was a rope to pull yourself up. Crawling up the rope, I realized that the rope led directly under a very very large rock. I went in, and saw an opening just big enough for me to climb up through. I also saw spider webs, so it had been a while since someone had been here. I swatted them away with my shit, and pushed on through the hole. Now I was truly on top. I sat on the large rock and just took in the view for about 15 minutes. One of the best views I have ever seen. Gorgeous blue ocean in front, with the town of Jioufen right on the shore. Mountains all around, lush greenery, and a view of graveyard hill. The picture in the post is from the top of that mountain. One of my favorite pictures I've ever taken.
After resting and catching my breath, I headed back down the scooter and back to Reifung to catch the train back to Taipei. I returned the scooter, and then i looked at my arms and realized they were incredibly burnt. Thats what happens when your arms are outstretched for 6 hours and exposed to the sun. Either way, I headed to the train station and got a train back to Taipei for my last night in the country. That night I just went to a nice restaurant and got a good meal, sampled some local Taiwan beer, and headed home, as I was very well spent from the day.
My last day was a short one. My flight left at 5, so I had to leave Taipei by 2 to get to the airport. I only did two things the last day. First I went to a museum of Taipei history, which was free of charge. Not much interesting going on, just some artifacts, articles, diagrams, typical museumy stuff. I wanted to watch a movie in their history theatre, but the last showing was at 10am on Tuedays, and I got there at 10:30. Bad luck again. It was there I learned that the city was enclosed in a wall and had 5 gates, of which only 1 remained standing to this day. So, after seeing a map of where they were, I headed to go see the last remaining gate.
Another dissapointment. After finding the gate, I couldnt get very close. It was under renovation and surrounded by a work fence. Nevertheless, I was able to get up to the gate and take a picture of the entrance adn its surroundings. I find it funyn that literally 6 inches from one side is a highway bridge going right past it. So close that if someone pulled their car over next to the gate, they could easily hop on top of the gate. The past meets the Present for sure.
Anyway, thats the end of my trip to Taiwan. A great trip, very fun, very exciting, I learned a lot, and I saw a lot of great things. Not bad for a trip planned with 24 hours notice. Next posting to be coming soon!

Taiwan - Day 2

On Day 2 I decided to venture out of the city and into the wilderness. I woke up with no real plan, just some ideas. So as I was eating breakfast I read through my guides and materials and decided to go to a town called Wulai, about an hour south of Taipei. The guide I had said it was famous for its hot springs and beautiful scenery, and much more. So I figured out how to get there, hopped on the metro, caught a bus, and arrived in the little town of Wulai at about 10am.
The town was very nondescript, small, nothing exciting, just regular old houses and buildings that have been there for years. There was a beautiful temple nestled in the hillside, and a pristine colored river running through town. When I say town, I mean 1 street, literally. I strolled across the first bridge over a stream and got into the main shopping area of the street. One of the first things I saw was an Atoyal Aborigine museum. Naturally, I decided to go in and check out the history of the area. The museum was pretty small, three quaint floors of mostly reading, pictures, and a few artifacsts. Turns out, there have been people here for many years, and much like other cultures, the more advanced Chinese came in and started killing em, taking over their land. Basically the same way the US did with the Indians, and the British did in Australia. So, this served as a small reminder of that, and told of daily life in aboriginal land. The coolest part was a handmade xylophone that they let you play, with insturctions on what to hit for a traditional song.
As I exited the museum I made my way down the shopping street, enjoying the sights and sounds of pure Taiwanese culture. At the end of the street was a larger bride leading to a hiking path, hot springs, restaurants, and a train station. The path and train tracks went about 2km up the mountain to a tourist resort and cable car station to get across the river and on top of the mountain. I decided to take the train since it was historical (the tracks were old gold mining cart tracks) and only could be done here. Plus, I would do enough walking later on. The train width was literally the width of a gold cart, and only 3 cars long. Very small. A good picture of it on the picasa site. It started to drizzle when I got to the station, but I didn't mind, since it was about 95degrees, and I hate hot, humid weather.
As the train approached the other station, it started pouring, as seen in the picture above. At this point, I decided to get an umbrella, as the raindrops really hurt my head. These were the largest raindrops I'd ever seen. Plus, I was already cooled off and didnt need to continually get soaked. At this point, I decided it was lunchtime and sat on the balcony of a little store/restaurant to watch the raindrops.
My next stop was to get on the cable car and go to the top of the mountain. It had temporarily stopped due to the rain, but was running again by the time I was done with lunch. I got a ticket and hopped on, taking in the site of the beautiful Wulai waterfall and its surroundings. At the top of the mountain was a nice hotel resort and an "amusement park." This amusement park did not have any roller coasters, and barely any working rides, it just provided amusement.
I walked around the grounds of the park and found most things to be closed or run down, but still enjoyed the walk around. The grounds were littered with little waterfalls, bridges and other nice scenery. I found a hiking path called the Fern Walk and decided to take it. The shrubbery and foliage surrounding the trail was immense, and at times it felt like I was hundreds of miles from civilization. I hear noises I have never heard before, some very loud birds or bugs or other creatures. At the end of the trail I stumbled upon what looked to be some kind of obstacle course. There were wooden obstacles with numbers on them from 1-25. I came in at the end, as #25 was the first thing I saw. I decided to do all the obstacles I could, and completed them all, some backwards, some properly. The best was a chair that you sit in and it zips you down about 30 meters. Pretty fun. Pictures of many of them on the site.
At the bottom, I wandered through the rest of the amusement park and found a couple working things, a merry go round, mini-bumper cars, and a swingset. After exploring the rest of the area, I decided it was time to head down the mountain.
After getting back on teh cable car and on the train again, it was now about 3pm, and I was extremely hot. Luckily, the town offers a free hot spring, and swimming in the river. I didnt bring any extra clothes, or a swimsuit, but didnt care. I found the entrance, and simply went into the river wearing my shorts. The water was very clean, had no smell, and looked very blue. Was great to swim in. After cooling down, I decided to go into the hot springs. Wulai means "hot" in Chinese. When the people discovered this town, they came across pockets of natural hot water in the river, so they named the town Wulai. Very clever indeed. So, the town took some of these pockets and rocked them off into mini-hot tubs that were naturally heated. The people here think its great for the skin and body, but who knows. It was refreshing nonetheless, and good to be able to sit in hot water that didnt smell like chlorine. After about an hour of going between the hot spring and the river, I decided it was time to go home.
As I was wating for the bus, I ran into two other foreigners, and we ended up splitting a taxi back to the metro station. I found out they had been living there for 6 years, and were both fluent in Chinese. One was a translator, one a regular teacher, conducting class in Chinese. Very cool, and a good opportunity to see Taiwan from there perspective.
After making it back to the hostel, showeing, and relaxing for about 20 minutes, it was time to hit the Shilin Night market. This is the most famous, and largest, night market in Taipei. I hopped on the metro again, and arrived at the market at about 7pm. My first goal was to find food. Before I even made it to the right streets, I was surrounded by people, scooters, vendors, and other various items. There was no order to the market, just pure chaos and insanity. At least thats how it looked to me. I wandered around for a bit and decided to try a few small things at a couple different places for dinner. I found a weird fried hot dog with chese and potatoes, some authentic spicy noodles, and homemade dumplings. All were very good, and very cheap. I wandered around the streets, loooking at various items, displays, getting lost amongst the crowd, jsut meandering on through the market. I eventually made my way back to the metro station, got myself a fresh-pressed watermelon juice drink, and headed back to the hostel. 2 hours of market wandering was enough. I got back about 10:30 and decided it was time to hit the hay. Monday would be a very busy day for me, so I needed sleep.

Trip to Taiwan - Day 1

I found out on Wednesday, July 1 that I did not have to be in school on Monday July 6 and Tuesday July 7. So, naturally, I decided to take a trip. On Thursday I booked my plane and hostel for Taiwan from Sat Jul 4th through Wednesday July 7th. It was a great trip with many highlights, and amazing scenery.
I read that Taiwanese people are very nice, and always help out tourists and foreigners. I found this to be true before I even landed. On the plane to Taipei, the man sitting next to me was from Taiwan, temporarily living in Korea. He talked to me about Taiwan, answered some questions, and helped me out with information. When we landed, he helped me through the airport, and took me to the right place to get a bus. On the way, he bought me a cold Coke, and at the bus stop, he paid for my ticket to downtown Taipei. Once in Taipei, he helped me get a taxi and told the driver where to go. This was a great way to start my trip. It's not that I wouldn't have been able to find the bus and get to my hostel, but his generosity in helping, and offering to pay for the transport was wonderful. He told me he had a coastal house in the north, and gave me his number to call him on Monday. This would prove to be helpful as well.
Anyway, after checking in to my hostel and picking up some tourist maps, I ventured out into the vastness that is the city of Taipei. My first stop was the Taipei 101 Tower. It is currently the tallest building in the world, although the Burj Dubai will pass it once completed. It is not just a tower, but a huge mall and shopping complex, as well as a symbol for the country of Taiwan. It was only completed 5 years ago, and the entire section of the city in which is sits was rice patties less than 20 years ago. They call it "Taipei's Manhattan" now, and it has become the hub of shopping, nightlife and entertainment in Taipei.
I first grabbed a quick bite in the food court, then headed to the observatory elevator. Here, they make sure you know that this is the worlds fasted elevator. Taking you from the 5th floor to the 91st in a mere 35 seconds. The guide on the elevator first said this in Chinese, then English. Hard to give a 20-secodn spiel twice in 35 seconds, let alone in two languages. Yet, she did it. Once I stepped out of the elevator, a magnificient view of Taipei and its surroundings awaited me. The inside observatory level has an audio tour which tells you kep facts about the city, and the history of certain lankmarks within view. Helpful, but not the greatest thing in the world. I decided to head upstairs to the outdoor level to get the full effect. In 3 directions all I saw was just buildings, buildings and buildings. To the north were mountains, and I could see the city slowly crawling up the base. One interesting fact; there are two identical bridges crossing the river, pretty much parrallel to one another, called McArthur Bridge 1 and McArthur bridge 2. Named after Gen Douglas MacArthur. They love him in Taipei.
After gettin my fill of the city, I decided to head to the memorials, and see them from the ground level. It was only a 10-minute walk over to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen memorial hall. He was the first person to defy the communists, and he established the current political party still in power. He was basically Taiwan's George Washington, only with a few minor differences. He wanted Taiwan to be the capital of the entire country of China, and for a while it was. He did not want to be a separate country, but rather the controlling portion. Some parts of his history were a bit muddled, as the translation from Chinese was not perfect. Either way, a glorious memorial. They have guards posted in front, and I was able to see the "changing of the guard" ceremony. A large crowd formed in the main hall and watchd as the new gaurds slowly marched in, the old guards stepped down, they twirled some guns, made some noises, and then the new guards slowly walked away as the new ones went up on the podiums. Many pictures of this on the photo site.
Quick note; while touring the grounds, I noticed several teenagers in several different groups performing dance routines, and practicing. I found out later this is a common occurrence in many public places. Some are for fun, some are for school projects. Either way, better than sitting at home watching TV. I also had 2 high school seniors approach me with a sign that said "Nice to meet you," apparently they are going around, finding foreingers, and videotaping them saying this phrase, adn they will put it on youtube. I happily obliged, and snapped a pic with them.
After finishing at SYS memorial, I headed over to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial. Another stunning memorial perched atop a billion stairs in a grand courtyard. CKS was the successor to SYS, and really drove hard against the communists. His legacy is not as positive as SYS, as CKS has many people who still resent him and his period of ruling called the "White Terror." Basically anyone who was presumed to be a communist was tortured, imprisoned, or killed. This obviouslyt irked some people. Still, most people are fond of him and what he did for Taiwan. On the groudns of the memorial are also Taipei's two most important theatres, both stunningy built in traditionsl Chinese architecture. The whole complex also has a very beautiful pond and nature area (as did SYS memorial), and is guarded by a large, 5 arched traditional Chinese gate. They also have the changing of guards here, and I was able to see them do the final performance. Much the same as the SYS memorial.
From there, I headed over to the Longshan Temple. This is a Taoist temple with simple gorgeous and detailed architecture. Before I walked in, I noticed a stage set up across the street where they were preparing for a traditional Taiwanese puppet show. I watied for a few minutes, then headed to the temple. Once inside I was amazed at the amount of people. None of them were tourists, they were all there to pray, reflect, respect, etc.. All of them had several sticks of insence in their hands and where bowing repeatedly, silently mouthing words, then putting the insence into gold cauldrons. At the rear of the temple was a large table filled to capacity with offerings of food and goods. It was like nothing I'd seen before, and I felt a little out of place taking pictures. But the temple was gorgeous and I enjoyed walking around the grounds, looking at all the different statures and sculptures.
After the temple, I went back to the puppet show stage, where the show was fully in progress. I found a seat off to the side and watched for about 15 minutes. I had no clue was the story was, but the music and theatrics told me all I needed to know. A wonderfully entertaining show I definitely can't see in the US.
For the last stop of the day, I headed to one of Taipei's famous night markets. They are all over the city, and stay open till the wee hours of the morning. This one was basially a long stree with vendors and shops all along both sides. The name given to this one was snake alley. I discoverd why as I was leaving. I strolled down taking in the sounds, sights and smells of a place that is distinctly Taipei. I needed to eat dinner, so I was looking for someplace that didnt have hanging animals in front of it. After walking past hundreds of little shops and brushing off tens of merchants yelling at me to buy their stuff, I found a little stand cooking what looked like great food. I took a seat, and the owner hadned me an English menu. I made my choices, then watched as the chef cooked on the grill right in front of me, basically attached to the table. He put the plates on the edge of the grill, where I could reach them, and after dramatically flavoring, flipping and sauteeing my food, threw it on the plate for me to enjoy. And enjoy it I did. Authentic, flavorful, filling, and cheap. A great choice.
While walking back down the alley I noticed a crowd of people gatherd around one store. Naturally, I went in for a closer look. Inside a cage was a large yellow snake, in the middle of devouring a frehsly-killed rat. I looked again and noticed a wall full of snake cages, and hundreds of rats anboved them, unknowingly waiting for their turn to be entertainment. On the counter was a now-full snake, calmly sitting, letting people pet him. I ran my hand across it a few times, then decided to call it a night.
A very busy, entertaining, cultural and fun day had come to and end. A great start to a wonderufl weekend-to-be. I took the crowded metro back to my hostel and attempted to sleep oin the 90 degree heat. There was AC, but it was barely functional. Either way, I fell asleep and was ready for the next day.

long time

I realized it's been a month and I havent posted anything, which is quite tragic. A lot has happened since then, and I just never think about writing here, which is why theres a long delay. But, some of the highlights of my last month....

Sports Days

The school held a sports festival in which the girls all competed in the homeroom classes in various events stretching over 2 days. There were normal events like basketball, running and cheering competitions. But there were also some crazy event I have never heard of. One was a bike race where the slowest person wins. The goal is to go as slow as possible without stopping or falling off. Every race I saw the winner was basically the last person to not fall off or stop, and no one actually made it to the finish line. A goofy concept, but tricky. Another weird event is what I call the "back races". This is where the girls line up and bend over so their backs are parallel to the ground. One person then runs on top of them, with the help of 2 guiders on the ground. As soon as the girl runs over your back, they stnad up, run to the fornt of the line, and bend over again, repeating this process until the girl running on top reaches the finish line (in this case, about 100m away). Quite the spectacle, and they have it down to a science, holding hands and making a perfectly circular run to the front. Very entertaining. Among the other events were what they call "foot baseball", otherwise known as kickball (where the girls refused to advance more than 1 base at a time for fear of being out), dodgeball, which consists of a small area with people from the other team surrounding the outside as well and on the opposite side of the area, wrestling, relay races, a spirit parade and team jumproping. Truly quite the spectacle, and there are over 200 pictures of the events on picasaweb.

Trip to Seoul

This past weekend I went to Seoul and met up with 2 friends form DC. They were heading to Thailand for work, and had a 27 hr layover in Seoul, so I spent a day playing tour guide. We went out for a nice traditional dinner and Korean fun on Sat night before going back to their govt paid for 5star marriott hotel. In teh morning we headed off to the biggest palace in Korea, and the most famous, Gyeungbokgung, which I had seen the first weekend at orientation. I had missed the changing of the guard, so I made sure to see it this time, and the precision is quite something. The guards stand very still, not moving. People wil go up and touch then, hug them, some even kidd their cheeks, and they do not move, very intense. After touring there we went to the Namsan Tower, which is an observation tower on top of a mountain. It was a cloudy day, so we could not see as far as we wanted to, but the massiveness of the city was very prevolant when all we could see was building and more building until the end of the fog. Truly amazing.

As far as teaching goes, I am getting the hang of it, and enjoying classes more and more. When the girls listen, and pay attention, they have a great time, I enjoy myself, and they learn. I'm sure thats the case with any classroom anywhere in the world, and it's amazing the difference in my attudide after a class when they are good or bad. Teaching is a learning process, and I learn more and more every time. There is no better feeling, though, when the students actually learn something from me, and enjoy themselves while doing it. To hear something I've taught them a week later in normal conversation is definitely a great feeling.
Only 4 weeks left in the semester, and one of those is an exam week, so my work is dwindling down. Time to start looking to travel and plan my summer vacations.

Hopefully I'll have more to post sooner rather than later.

DMZ and wilderness trip

For the weekend of May 15/16, I booked a trip with a friend of mine to do two separate adventures. On Saturday we went to a national park and saw some incredible scenery. The only problem was that it was raining literally the entire day. We headed up to Seoul the night before and stayed at another friends apartment. We met the bus the next morning at 7am. We nearly missed it, since neither of us printed off directions, or knew exactly where in the terminal we were supposed to meet the tour. It was only after somehow stumbling upon a computer and finding the number, at 7:05, did we talk to them and find out where to go. After a nice 2 hour bus ride, we arrived at the ferry dock. We were to take a nice scenic ride down a river lined with gorgoues mountains. Everything was nice, except for the rain. I would have stayed up on top of the boat the whole time had the weather been nice, but I spent 95% of it inside glancing out the windows in between card games. Nobody to blame for that except nature I guess. Still, nice scenery. After that we headed to the Gosu Cave. This is just like any cave, discovered accidentally in the mountains, and all kinds of nifty rock formations. It was a very long pathway inside, and it was self guided. Some points were very skinny and very low, hard for people over 5 foot to get through. This was the main reason I booked this tour, and it was very cool to see all the different rock formations and natural spring lakes inside. There was a crazy climb down a spiral staircase that went around abiout 13 times, very dizzying. After this adventure we headed to a natural rock formation in the river somewhere. At this point, I was drenched, so I didnt really care about being wet. After parking, we got off the bus and checked out eh rock formation, then started to head up the staird to the top of the mountain for a better view. At the base of the stairs I pass a Korean man who looks at me, soaking wet, and he hands me his umbrella. Astonished, he gave me a thmbus up, and walked away. Korean people love to take care of the foreigners, thats for sure. After trekking through the mud and seeing the stone gate at the top of the mountain, we headed home. All this adventure, bus rides to/from Seoul included, took 13 hours. We were exhauseted when we finally made it back, but a nice trip nonetheless.
Sunday's trip was the the DMZ, the heavily guarded 4km wide strip of land that separates North and South Korea. There were 4 stops on this tour. First was the farthest north point in Korea before actually entering the DMZ, Immingjak. This is also where we had to hand over our passports to register for access for the DMZ. There was an observatory with binoculars to see into the DMZ, and we could even see a few people in there. The freedom bridge is here, a bridge that no one crosses. At the fence there are many signs, flowers, and other things hoping for re-unification one day. A very eeries feeling, and one-of-a-kind in the world. There was a wall of rocks in which they had collected a peice of earth from 86 battles, from 64 countries, around the world. All dedicated to peace, which is a tad ironic. On the other side of Immingjak is a little museum and memorial to the Korean war. Among the artifacts outside were a line of tanks ang a flag circle with all the countires who helped Korea in the war effort. Yet, in the middle is a plaque which only thanks the USA for their contributions. I found that interesting. After seeing all the sights here, we moved into a little village inside the DMZ. There are a couple villages in which people actually live in the DMZ. They were allowed to go back to their native towns a few years back, but there are restirctions. They havea strick curfew of 11pm, and soldiers watch them constantly as they farm their 7 hectacres of land. But, for all this trouble, they live tax free and get free high-speed internet. In this village is where we had lunch. After checking out the gift shop and seeing the farmers in action (with soldiers watching their every move) we headed to the 3rd infiltration tunnel.
The North Koreans built a series of tunnels underneath the border in order to invade the South. There are rumored to be around 20 of them, so far only 4 have been discvored. The 3rd was the largest and is the closest to Seoul. it would have had the capability of sending 10,000 soldiers an hour through the tunnel. It is over 1500 meters long, and we were allowed in 265 of them. They dug an access ramp 350m long to get into the tunnel about 10 years back, which in itself is a bit tiring. The tunnel is 76m below ground, so the angle of the access ramp is quite steep. Inside the tunnel, we got a very chilling feeling. Knowing that the purpose of it was to conquer, and was hidden for so many years is quite eerie. We were able to walk in the tunnel, and were luckily given helmets. The walls are very low, not more than 4 1/2 feet in some places, and was walking crounched over 90% of the time. I must have hit my head about 30 times. They did not allow pictures in the tunnel, which is quite a shame. The north painted the walls black after the war was over. They did this to cover up the fact that it was an infiltration tunnel. If they were ever discovered, they would say that they were just old coal mines. But, seeing as how the nearest coal is hundreds of miles away, that plan didnt work out too well. After making the tiring trek back to the top of the access ramp, we checked out the grounds of the area. There were several fences with sings marking landmines, still active. They don't know how many are out there, but they don't want to discover them either.
From here we headed to the Dora ebservatory. This is the highest point in the DMZ. From here we could see into Kaesong City, the 2nd largest city in the North. We also could the the "propganda village" right on the border. This is a "town" built by the north to serve one purpose; propoganda. Nobody lives there, despite the hundred or so houses. 6-12 hours a day a loudspeaker plays all kinds of northern propoganda for whoever wants to listen. In the middle is a 165m tall Eiffel Tower look-a-like with a massive North Korean flag on top. Opposing this on the other side is a slightly smaller tower and flag for South Korea. The sheer braiwashing that the North conducts is incredible. Seeing the proximity of the two villages brings a whole new reality to the North/South conflict.
The last stop on our tour was the Dorason train station. This station actually connects the North and South. However, nobody goes there. This was built in 2003 as a main station for the Trans Eurasion railrod they hope will one day come to Korea. It was a huge deal, and President Bush was even there for the groundbreaking. The only trains that go to the north are 2 per week, with only supplies for the Kaesong City factory. The hope is that one day, Korea will be unified, and the tracks will connect Seoul to the Trans Siberian and Trans China railways, making rail travel possible from the edge of portugal all the way to the edge of Korean penninsula. But, until that happens, this incrediby untlra-modern, massive station sits dormant, with the only people being tourists and visitors. A sad state of affairs, yet a sign of just how optimistic the South is of being unified again one day.
All this makes me severly wish for unification, but also brought to my attention just how far away that is from happening. It was a great experience, and one that will not be around forever. A true once-in-a lifetime experience.

May 9th - Day with the teachers

Today (may 9th) I spent the day with 4 of the teachers from my school. One of them, Mr Shin, had invited me to spend the day at his house about 2 weeks earlier. I wasn't sure what this meant, but I of course accepted. Well, the day before, he gave me a schedule of what was to happen the following day, and told me 3 other teachers would be coming along. So, one of the teachers picked me up, along with her 7 year old son, and we rode to Mr Shins house. There we met the other 2 teachers, and Mr Shin's adorable 5 year old daughter. We ate fruit and chatted for a bit, then headed off to partake in the day's activities.
Our first stop was a really old temple, of which I forget the name now. We walked around the outskirts of the grounds, where there were really nice totem poles and other various carvings. It was really nice and pretty, and there are tons of pics on my pictures site. I played the Korean version of Rock, Paper, Scissors (called Kai, Bai, Bo) with the little boy while we were walking, and he threw paper every single time, which is funny it its own right. We took a walk up the road to the temple, with the teachers pointing out various things along the way. After a nice hike, we reached the temple, and it was simply gorgeous. All the temples in Korea look pretty much the same, with the same paint schemes and architecture, but this one looked like a little town square, and overlooked a nice vista. After checking out the main area, we headed up a very steep staircase to the top of the area, with another temple, and an incredible view of the area. At the top there was a natural spring, of which we could drink from. Natural spring water tastes amazing, at least here in the Korean mountains. After explloring all the areas, we headed down and ate a traditional Korean lunch of bibimbap, then headed to our next destination.
The next stop was some sort of Flower park/mini zoo/family fun place. We entered through a tunnel of flowers and headed up a steep climb, all the pathways surrounded by flowers. After what seemed liek thousands of different flowers, we reach the top, and I see a bunch of animal cages. The animals that they housed were a baboon, goats, deer, hamsters, what looked like badgers of some kind, birds, a bunny, 2 peacocks, and a baby black bear. No order or reason behind them, but thats Korea for you. The baboon was reaching through the cage to grab at some guys ice cream, and he gave it to him. The baboon proceded to eat the ice cream exactly like a hum being, even tearing off the paper; simply amazing. After walking around the grounds and seeing various statues, flowers, and a pond with a bunch of pinwheels, we headed for the exits. Everyone was hot and tired, and we called it a day.
It was great being with other teachers, and learning from native Koreans about nice places and historical thigns, a real nice cultural experience, one that a simple tourist would not get. One of the teachers and her husband took me out to dinner later that night, then we went to a Nooraebang, which is a a room where you sing karaoke. A good nite, a fun day, and a great experience!

Weekend in Taean

So I spent my 4 day weekend in Taean, about 2 hrs by bus from here, with some friends who live there. Saturday was Buddha's birthday, so we (along with hundreds of other Koreans) trekked to the famous Haemi temple to celebrate. Like most temples, it was on top of a mountain, so we had to hike up a mountain to get there. The whole pathway was lined with Buddha lanterns all the way to the top. We spent most of the day looking around the temple, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and even enjoyed a free traditional Korean lunch of bibimbap. We made a second stop at a different temple where I got to partake in a traditional Korean dance with some musicians, and loved every second of it. On Monday I spent the morning hiking up Mount Paqua, taking the long route, crossing over rocks and using ropes to climb at certain points. Today was spent attempting to go to the beach. It was a great day when we left, but once we hit the beach, it was foggy and cold. We tried another beach, same thing. Apparently, if you were a couple miles inland the weather was warm and clear, but at the beach it was cold and foggy. Very strange. So instead we took a nice 2 hr walk around Wongbeuk and enjoyed some stunning scenery there. Be sure to check out the pics I have posted from the weekend, about 130 of them. More to come later!