Naechang Mountain Ho!

This weekend I was able to escape Seoul for the provinces again and do a mountain hike down at Naechangsan in Cholla province. We arrived just before the peak of the fall color season but the crowds will be much worse next week. Interesting to see how Koreans take their hiking gear so seriously, decked out in the latest professional climbing gear which has thankfully replaced the Swiss-inspired, long edelweiss sock look that was all the rage five years ago.

Naechangsan is THE most famous place in South Korea for its fall colors. Thousands of "trees on flame" line the walk up to the temple grounds, and the cable car to the top of the mountain being a two hour wait because of Naechangsan's notoreity and all meant that we had the pleasure of hiking to the summit on our own steam. Somehow I'm gettin' too old for all this trekking, until I see all the Korean grandmas and grandpas passing me along the trail!

Another summit conquered! I don't think copious amounts of dongdongchu (Korean rice wine) along the way fortified my spirits as my friends fervently tried to convince me of, but did, however, lead to frequent off-course slides down rocky tracks and into tree trunks. The buzz at the top was worth it, despite all the boozing, blood, sweat and no tears (well unless a few drops of rain count).

Right in the middle of a trendy neighborhood called Myongdong, a physically challenged, elderly Korean (Korean war veteran?) drags his way down the street with a music box blaring out trot music and a coin box tilted ready for donations. Many of Seoul's street beggars who have been maimed, use rubber tires wrapped around their limbs to cushion their movements and maybe even to accentuate the sense of rejection and lack of support from the society around them.

Over the rooftops yet again

And now for a more flattering image of life in Korea, the wonderful clay tile roof of a traditional house. The inner courtyard with rooms surrounding a small garden is an ideal I'd like to retain in my future custom-built, Oriental-inspired home. Dream on or "break your dreaming" as Koreans would say in their language.

Well the rooftop and farewell party for Mathew didn't quite go according to plan with the way the weather conspired against us. Interesting to be nibbling at party food and chatting while holding our umbrellas in place. It'll be sad to see yet another close friend leave Korea - the constant coming and going of expats here means that keeping up a sense of community isn't as easy as it is back home. The good news is that so many of us end up yo-yoing back to Korea sooner or later. It's astonishing how many people I keep running into who have been here off and on for more than a decade. Even David on my left has outdone me with his stint of fourteen years and I mean consecutively - wow! Is that what the future holds for me?

I've just finished reading Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" and was impressed with the range of different issues he contends with. Of course, having worked for Mackers (let's not even contemplate using the more exact name for fear of libels) back in my teenage years I was already aware of some of the abuses going on but the overwhelming extent such fast food franchises have on economic and sociocultural conditions around the world is staggering and scary. For some time now I have been trying to avoid the Western fast food chains here in Seoul and instead spend my hard-earned won at local ma and pa neighborhood restaurants where possible. It's not as easy here in Korea as it is back in Australia because there is a real lack of quality Western-style restaurants unless you are willing to fork out quite a lot of money at top-end hotels. Sometimes the craving for the taste of home makes me linger in front of a fast food restaurant door, my taste buds wanting a reprieve from the usual copious amounts of chilli paste, sesame oil, salt, garlic, and soybean paste that goes into most local dishes. From now on, I'm going to try harder at avoided the crap served up at Western franchises here and cook more often at home instead. Here goes...thanks Schlosser for the update - a must read, despite what all the Republican reviewers in the States are saying.

It's now official - the number of pet baby iguanas being flushed down the toilets of homes by irate Korean mothers has led to huge numbers of iguanas breeding up in the sewers of the city, and now overflowing out onto the streets where they enjoy feasting on garbage bags. At least, the situation isn't as extreme as those baby crocodiles grown up and now nipping at the heels of city residents in New York, residents that is who are brave enough to approach open manholes and garden ponds. What to do about this urgent situation?