That being said, these last two weeks have been both hectic in and out of school, leaving me little time to even check my email. I've got a backlog of quite a few stories I need to post, and I'll eventually get around to it, hopefully sooner than later.
On Sunday, over the long May first weekend, Jim, Brian, and myself went for one last taxi ride adventure together around the eastern side of the island. The forecast was for rain, but I hoped I could avoid it by simply ignoring it and not preparing at all.
We all met up at the bus stop out front of City Hall in Jeju-si, from there our driver drove us out of town. Since Mr. Monkey was busy, probably with some tourists, he recommended another "Best Driver" for us. He looked an awfully lot like Mr. Monkey and was very friendly and helpful throughout the day, perhaps he was his cousin.
Our first inclination was to stop for some coffee before doing anything, it just so happened that the first place we came across was an illy's coffee shop at Daum's main headquarters, just outside the city. Daum is a major Korean search engine, why its main headquarters are on Jeju, I can't be too sure; maybe they were sold on the Korea's Hawaii propaganda too.
The cafe inside the lobby of the building is quite nice, too bad the building is no where near anything that would bring in customers, except for the staff at the headquarters itself. There is plenty of comfortable seating room, access to computers and there is even a Nintendo Wii setup.
As we left the Daum building, the rain started. Our driver recommended we stop to check out some Jeju horses at a nearby field. With the rain pouring down, it was interesting trying to get video and pictures, but Brian as always managed to come out with another brilliant shot:
All of the horses we saw were numbered; standing there in the rain, they looked eerily like they were in a prison camp.
Our next stop on the tour was the 제주4.3평화공원 (April 3rd massacre memorial museum and park). The building is this huge coliseum shaped structure, with an equally impressive dome memorial with the names of the victims from the massacre. As you enter the museum inside the building, you descend through this dark cave, adding to the atmosphere of the experience.
Once you emerge from the cave, there is an unnamed monument at the exit with an enormous funnel above, casting light down onto it.
The museum was extremely well put together, and had a well documented history of the massacre on Jeju and the events surrounding it.
Along the walls were clay-cast remains from the massacre, making it even more chilling:
The casts of faces, skulls, skeletons, bodies, and various other poses and forms protruding from the walls was enough to give anyone the idea of how bad it was.
The most interesting and possibly disturbing display was the re-created Darangshi oreum cave. The entrance to cave explains how victims of the massacre were dumped there, later recovered, cremated, and the cave sealed.
There were about ten bodies or so discovered in the cave, and it's possibly one of the best preserved sites of the massacre.
The cave is so very real looking; with a video monitor playing back the footage of the recovery team's documentation, it gives you a good impression of what it was like when they found it:
As we left the museum, I found this great brochure with a marked map with the many sites and major locations involved with the event; and it was in English too!
As Brian and I use the restroom, Jim finds a piece of the Berlin Wall outside the building and accidentally destroys some of it in the process of his examination:
Originally we had decided we were going to checkout Darangshi oreum, but because of the weather we needed to make a few changes. We opted to head to Ilchulland, a park where you can find a little of everything that Jeju has to offer.
More signs of tourists over the weekend, with buses swarming outside the Seongeup village.
Tourists unload onto the entranceway to Ichulland; I cringe a little, Brian laughs.
We make a short detour to check out the gift shop, something that I haven't really done since coming to Jeju. Jim and I both pickup a dolhareubang t-shirt, which actually look quite decent.
As we're walking we run into to some more foreigners, a mother and daughter from Oakville who are touring about the island as well. We talk for a bit, and then part our ways as Brian, Jim, and myself head off for the lava-tube caves they have at Ilchuland.
While not as impressive or big as the Manjang caves just east of Jeju-si, they were enough to give any visitor a feel for what they were like; very cold and damp, I certainly wouldn't want to live in them like the ancestry of Jeju has.
When we had come to the end of the tunnel, we made a 180 and headed out of the sub-terrain for a warmer climate: the cactus habitat.
It was extremely humid and warm inside the greenhouses that contained the rather large collection of cacti and plants, which was probably what they need to survive and flourish. It brought up memories of my trip along the west coast on the bus ride of torture, which I had tried to forget.
We were all hungry, so before we left for our next stop, we stopped at the tourist restaurant on site, which wasn't very busy. Jim ordered some 비빔밥 (bibim-bap), while Brian and I both got some portion of a spicy pork dish. For 6,000 won, it was a well put together meal. No complaints all around.
Once we had finished our last portions, we scurried off back to the cab and headed just five minutes down the road to the famous Kim Young Gap museum/gallery. It used to just be a gallery, but after he passed away in 2005, it was transformed into a partial museum as well, preserving his works and studio where he worked on his photos.
We got a bit confused and headed up a random dirt road at first, but eventually got back on track and entered this very creative and unique garden, adorned with interesting volcanic rock figurines.
When you first walk into the gallery, immediately to your left is Kim Young Gap's office, which is perfectly preserved as the way it was before he died.
From there you enter into his studio gallery, which contains all of his works; many of which were absolutely stunning. His concentration is on landscape art, and he has a wide variety of seasons and styles throughout his gallery.
Some of my favourites were the snow covered oreums, with horses in the foreground. He seemed quite fascinated with this one particular oreum, which was captured from several different angles in various photos.
After trying to negotiate with the attendants, Brian and I finally figured how we could get some prints of his works and bought a few for ourselves. I asked them about where the oreum that repeatedly showed up was, and they gave me the name of it; I would love to go out camping in the hills as he did, maybe for a weekend, to experience nature and get some amazing footage of the climate and scenery.
Brian seemed interested as well, so perhaps that will be added to the list of things we've got to do in the coming months. I'll certainly take note of it.
His signature piece was a wall landscape mural, which he had achieved by camping out around oreums on days at a time, with very little regard to his health or welfare. Perhaps it's one of the reasons he died relatively young, but it was what made him such a great and unique photographer; no one before him has ever attempted such a feat, and he emerged with the work to prove his worth.
After scoping out the gallery and grounds outside, our time was nearly running out. The weather had improved at this point, so I suggested we maybe try a nearby oreum. The cab driver agreed, and took us to a spot he knew well. It turned out to be a somewhat interesting trail.
Tragically, we were following behind this loud family of Koreans, who insisted upon yelling at the field of cows which were at the base of the oreum. Both Brian and I were attempting to capture a nice shot of the livestock, which is a rarity to see so many on the island, but couldn't help but laugh at the screams coming from the Korean children and their father.
Jim was keeping track of our time, as we were scheduled to meet back in Seogwipo in front of E-mart to rendezvous back at my place for an afternoon/evening BBQ. When we had finally reached the base of the oreum, it was time for us to go, unfortunate maybe, but we were probably better off avoiding the Korean family, as they would probably get even more annoying in our attempt to enjoy the serene scenery.
We walked back towards the parking lot and got back into our cab. We were driving along the southern road headed west, when we came upon a most spectacular view of the many oreum and countryside.
Ordering our driver to stop, we immediately hopped out and over a fence to scamper up a hill to get a better view point.
It certainly made up for the summit of the oreum we might have climbed had we had the time, and patience.
Not long after we all met up in front of E-mart to reconvene back at my place for a well prepared potluck of sorts. Salads, fruits, and meats all off all kinds were prepared and enjoyed by all.
It was a particularly great way to send Jim off on his way to Canada; we presented him with a Jeju flag, signed by many on the island to wish him well in his new endeavors.
He is now settled in London, Ontario, where he will be taking his masters in journalism over the next couple of years. I wish him well and all the best.
Photos by Brian Miller
1 comment:
Nice !!!
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