Moving On......

Hi all,
I left Gwangju at 6:50am today and just arrived at the Seoul airport and checked in for my flight to Beijing.

I left Gwangju in the pouring rain....man, it was SHEETING down and somewhat of a struggle to get baggage and stuff into the taxi and then back out again at the bus station But the buses are really smooth here....comfortable, recline almost fully so you can sleep. So the trip was uneventful and somewhat quick. I was thinking about Korea vs Vietnam again this morning on the bus ride. I decided the big difference is that everything works in Korea. Nothing works right in Vietnam. Not that this is good or bad...but just how it is. If things go well in Vietnam, you celebrate. You expect things to go well in Korea.

When I checked in I was overweight AGAIN! 6 kilos...or 12 pounds. Gad....I told the guy I would take something out and put into my carry on bag. But then he looked and MISTAKENLY saw that I arrived just yesterday ...ha ha...wrong. I arrived in JUNE--not July. But I kept my mouth shut and waved goodbye to my bags. I didn't have to remove anything. I will have a bit more weight when flying home...but this makes me realize that I am going to have to go "light" on any purchases. The sad thing is that my big suitcase is only 3/4 full...but I cannot put anything else in because of weight restrictions.

I am sitting at the gate waiting to board and suddenly Chinese is the language heard. It will be very interesting shifting gears from Korea to China. I am finding that my recent experience in Vietnam...followed by Korea and now China gives me a very different perspective on place and culture. Perhaps the term I should use is "sensitivity". I have found that living in a place for an extended period of time is much more rewarding than just blasting through as we all do when being a tourist. I was just feeling comfortable in Korea and decided that a month is really not enough time to really get to know and more importantly, understand a place. I want more time here--especially since I finally began to feel comfortable.

Yesterday morning the sun was almost peaking through the clouds....so I jumped out of bed and decided MOUNTAINS! I had not been to the mountains yet and wanted to see a temple on the outskirts of Gwangju. I hopped on the 54 bus and was rolling into the hills by 9:45am. I read in the guidebook that the temple was only a 20 minute walk from the terminus of the 54 bus line.

When the bus arrived I saw all these older folks all decked out in hiking clothes. Wow...they had hiking boots, hiking poles, fancy jackets, hats...everything. I looked at my keen sandles with no socks (forgot them!) my old capris and a T shirt. No hat, no heavy duty shoes...nothing but a little bottle of water. Well, the temple was not far.

I took off with some old guys...and got talking to them. Talking is probably not the right word, but we were trying to communicate. I kept saying "temple"...and they smiled and said yes, yes. So after about 30 minutes I was wondering where the temple was. The guys branched off on another trail and pointed at another and said "temple". So up I went...and up, and up and up. About 1.5 hours later....I was trashed. The mountains here are really rugged and go almost straight up. My feed were muddy and dirty...I was out of water and it was hotter than hell. Hmmmmm, where is the temple?

Suddenly I top a ridge and see these big tooth looking rocks. Ah.....geez, I ended up taking the wrong trail and was on the top of the mountain. I sat down and called my TA to confirm that the temple was not up here. She almost died laughing. She said it was only a short walk from the parking lot...two hours or so below me. Duh....where was my map? I was lost again.

So I went down the mountain and ended up going to the temple at the end of this forced march type of hike. The one thing I learned is that the Korean Mountains are beautiful...but really rugged. All up....no up and down. I kept thinking about the soldiers in the Korean War and how difficult it must have been for them. Anyway, I made it down the hill--bought a gatoraide and managed to slug it down in one big gulp. I got back on the 54 bus and was back in my room by 3pm. So much for a short little trip to the mountain temple!!!! But I had an interesting time and actually got a huge amount of exercise.....which was good!

So......now I move on. Hopefully I will have internet and be able to post from Beijing. I am staying at a hotel right on the Beijing Normal University campus. It looks pretty nice. Hopefully the food will improve on this leg of the trip.

Adios....