Boeun - The Armpit Of Korea?

Asia » South Korea » Cheongju
May 1st 2011

Published: May 1st 2011

Edit Blog Post

Tink And Laura

Beopju-sa

Huge Buddah.

Dear Blog Readers,

Typing ‘Boeun, South Korea blogs’ into Google comes up with some interesting hits. Thankfully, this blog comes at the top of the list followed by a few hotel websites which must be fake since there are no actual hotels in Boeun – just dodgy, decrepit looking motels (my personal favourite being ‘Alps Motel’ where the only thing going well for it is its irony). There is also somebody who has posted on the Yahoo website, “Hi, I am looking for this satellite earth station in Boeun, South Korea on Google Earth.” The only thing that could make this person sadder is by writing a weekly blog about life in Boeun. The beautifully well written blogs from Stephanie and Betty also make appearances but then comes this – ‘Boeun – The Armpit Of Korea’ by Wad In Korea.

Unfortunately, pretty much everything in his blog is true. He comments about the embarrassment of riches that cause tourist(s) to flock in the tens to Boeun. He photographs the appalling bus terminal, the murky river reflecting the odd coloured apartment blocks. To rub salt into the wound that has been created upon reading about my beloved Boeun, he tops it off with, “If any

Co-teachers

Eun-bi sporting the one glove.

teachers actually didn't research their job locations, and ended up stuck in Boeun for a year, I think I would die from laughing. I bet it's happened!”

I want to hate Wad In Korea, but I can’t. I want to tell him that everything in his blog is false and a pack of lies, but it isn’t. So you can imagine the struggle that Laura and I now faced to try and make Boeun the best place in South Korea for her Mum to visit.

Luckily she could spend the first couple of days resting and getting over the tiredness of jet lag. On Tuesday, my lessons were about England. We were talking about special days and celebrations. We commented on the difference between Peppero Day and Remembrance Day (let’s hope we don’t have too many South Korean school children eating packets of chocolate sticks at the Cenotaph this year). I was also telling them about Bonfire Night. Mr Oh likened it to the Chinese New Year in January, “In Korea we celebrate the New Year using the Lunatic Calendar.”

In the last period, Mr Oh asks, “Is there any traditional songs in England?” before rousing the

Cherry Blossoms

Lining the river.

class into a rendition of ‘Arirang’ which is the unofficial national anthem of Korea. I hit back with a rousing solo performance of ‘God Save The Queen’ which was met with rapturous applause (they’ll clap to anything) before discussing, and agreeing, about how rubbish the lyrics are. After the humiliation, I thought about declaring this day as ‘Simon Day’ on the Lunatic Calendar.

Laura’s mum certainly brought the English weather with her as it’s been on and off radioactively raining during the week. Wednesday was particularly gloomy but not actually cold. It was a classic English Spring day. Unfortunately, for the teachers, I think the fact that the Sun wasn’t visibly shining meant that it was actually freezing cold. The heaters were put up to sauna like temperatures to compensate. I contemplated the connotation of my armpits with a place in Korea but I refrained.

Admittedly, I was genuinely more intimidated about going to the Post Office than the radioactive rain that was belting it down. I posted a present home for my housemate (don’t worry Pete – your package is still being compiled) and the woman gave me a load of freezer bags. The reason? Apparently, “for

Christine

Laura's mum outside the Buddah.

being handsome.” Unbelievable.

It is well known, and blog written, about my hatred for taxi drivers. From our first day in Delhi or post-mugging in Lima, we’ve had our fair share of terrible taxi rides. Korea has so far been reasonably good. We’ve only really had to endure one particularly unpleasant piss-smelling taxi on the way back from Cheongju. However, on Wednesday night, my hatred for taxi drivers was reignited. Not only was I ripped off by being charged 3000Won for a taxi ride that lasted less than two minutes to get to school in the pouring rain. In the evening, after a pleasant meal in Cheongju, Laura, Christine and I needed to get a taxi back to Boeun. Bearing in mind that last week, we managed to get back for 42000Won at midnight after the rate increased, we were all expecting a price around the 35000Won mark, maybe 40000Won at a push.

I clocked the taxi driver pressing a button on his machine half way through the journey but couldn’t read the Korean for it because it was so small. The small print must have just said, “I’m about to rip you off.” The rate magically increased

Fire Extinguisher

The five story wooden pagoda in Beopju-sa is the only one left in Korea because all the others have burnt down. This tiny fire extinguisher was the only thing that could put out a potential fire.

at a rate of knots and we ended up being charged 49000Won! Now, I want to make this perfectly clear. I am not angry about the money. I know the price difference is a matter of Pounds and it’s not like I’m not earning a good living out here. No, the reason I’m so angry is because these taxi drivers think that we are completely stupid. Do we really have the word ‘MUG’ written on our foreheads? The issue is that they now think it is acceptable to rip us off simply because we can’t argue back at them like we would do in our own country. And that is what makes my blood boil.

On Thursday, the midterm exams began at our school which meant no lessons and the joys of desk-warming. In the afternoon, some of the teachers, myself included, went to Songnisan to climb a ‘mountain’. The ‘mountain’ in question was little short of a small hill but that didn’t stop the full hiking gear being worn, huge visors, and gloves (sometimes just one glove – MJ). The views were spectacular and we were able to get into Beopju-sa (famed for the tallest free standing Buddah,

BEST Room

Boeun Educational Support Team.

and more impressively, the largest rice cauldron in all of Korean history) without paying the entrance fee! The ancient temple looked great in preparation for Buddah’s birthday next week (I don’t know how old he is though). In the evening, we went out to a restaurant with all the teachers and ate a varied number of root vegetables and mushrooms freshly picked off the hillside. We then went to norraebang where I banged out a couple of ‘usuals’ (Johnny Be Good and Let It Be). I was seriously considering Slipknot’s ‘Wait And Bleed’ which was highlighted in large bold letters outside the singing room but didn’t think it would go down well. My passable Johnny Be Good was followed up by the music teacher who was actually unbelievable. Her singing was phenomenal. If she sounds that good in a norraebang room, I wish I could hear her in a none echoing, terrible sound system setting.

Friday was an important day for us Brits. It was the Royal Wedding. The only wedding I care about this year is my older brother’s so I was watching it with a twinge of, “Pfft, my brother’s wedding is going to be miles better

On The Lash

The foreigners causing mayhem on the mean streets of Boeun.

than this.” My brother also got engaged before Prince William so I like to think that he was setting the trend. Anyway, I did feel quite patriotic and it was good seeing all the pomp and circumstance. I wish the news reporter had started his interview with the campers outside Buckingham Palace at two in the morning with, “Are you, in fact, the saddest people alive in England?” All the patriotism and pride that I felt was quickly diminished because Piers Bloody Morgan was presenting it all on CNN. The man zaps any ounce of patriotism out of anybody’s English soul simply for the fact that he comes from the same country as us. I had to go onto the BBC website for a bit of normality.

As a result, our weekly Friday evening meal with the foreigners was pushed back half an hour so that we could finally find out who Kate Middleton was wearing. Who? She’s not carrying a person. I was slightly disappointed. I was hoping she’d be a real commoner and act like one. Maybe come out of the hotel wearing a gorilla costume chinning a bottle of White Lightening and sticking two fingers up

In our hotel room

Are they trying to kill us?

at all the onlookers instead of waving them. Alas, no, she was trembling like a leaf clutching hold of her father’s hand for dear life, “Please don’t let me go.” Her father also looked like he was bricking it. At one point I envisaged him getting up to the front, turning to the Queen, taking her hat off and throwing up in it. Unfortunately, everything went off without a hitch. The only thing CNN could fathom that went wrong was Prince William taking longer than about 2 seconds to put the ring on Kate’s finger.

Stephanie’s sense of direction was markedly better than describing where the restaurant was, “Go away from our apartment near the Post Office, “ could have been difficult to find. It was recommended to us for its excellent chicken soup. Six of the eight of us ordered it only to be told it won’t be available for another 3 days. Absolutely gutted. The restaurant was famous for its oysters. Pretty much every meal had them in it. We’re all a bit dubious of seafood in Boeun since it’s about as far from the coast as you can get in South Korea. We all braved it

Chapel

A nice chapel on the way down to Suanbo.

though and ordered things off the menu with the aura of, “let’s just see what happens shall we?” Laura wasn’t up for it though. Amazingly, the restaurant was happy for her to order some fried chicken [i[tothe restaurant so she could eat with us!

We planned to get up early to catch the bus to Suanbo on Saturday morning but we ended up sleeping in so we didn’t arrive there until mid-afternoon. The weather was absolutely terrible so we found the nearest hotel to where the bus dropped us off. It included an air conditioner unit gaffa-taped into the window and a flashing neon sign outside. We headed straight to what Suanbo is famous for – hot springs and spas. I love the spa’s in Korea. The whole naked thing that instantly deters the foreigner has washed over me and I’ve been in enough embarrassing situations in Japan to now know the etiquette by heart. The spa was great and as I was relaxing, or should I say, pummelled by an industrial strengthed massage chair, Laura exclaimed, “An ajumma asked me to scrub her back!”

Suanbo is also famous for rabbit, duck and pheasant dishes. Consequently, every single

Pheasant

She's happy having a picture taken with one but not eating one!

restaurant sold them and it wasn’t cheap. Laura and her Mum weren’t keen on the meat selection on offer so we went for some galbi and I had a side dish of pheasant man-doo. It was pretty good actually! This morning we found a little café which sold some pastries amidst the rabbit, duck and pheasant on sale for some breakfast. We hiked up to a posh hotel to frequent their spa which boasted an outdoor bath overlooking the town. It was a spectacular sight now that the sun was back out.

We’ve just had lunch at Pizza Hut in Chungju and it was quite a bizarre experience which seems blog-worthy. Last time we went to Pizza Hut, we came with our co-teachers so there was no chance of any misunderstanding or miscommunication. This time was different. As we walked in, the woman on the till radioed upstairs to the seating area something along the lines of, “Oh no. The waygook’s are here. Be prepared. Be very prepared.” We were quickly ushered to our seats as the petrified waitress fumbled her way through telling us the menu.

A regular pizza, one drink, some buffalo wings and two salad

The Salad Bowl!

Only one between three of us. One!?

bars. First mistake. There were three of us. We needed to buy three salad bars. Fair enough. The waitress goes away and comes back two minutes later with one bowl. We look confused and ask where the other two bowls are. She could sense the logic had gone out of the window but insisted that we should share the salad bar between three of us with one small bowl. So we took it in turns to get the salad bar individually! Then the pizza came out. Only two plates. Now I’m not being ridiculous here am I? I’ve learnt how to say the number three in both the Korean and Chinese style so the least they could do was get us three plates and three salad bowls! What would happen if there was thirteen of us? Bloody bedlam!

On the bus back to Boeun whilst I was looking out the window I was able to think about everything I love about Boeun just after some logic flew past. Being in the heart of South Korea has meant that we’ve really been able to see the ‘true’ Korea. The real deal. The sort of place where Baskin Robbins is welcomed

Hikers!

Here's the group at the top!

with piles of flowers outside the main entrance. Ajumma’s selling the produce that they’d been harvesting during the week sitting on the road side. Restaurateurs enjoying your custom. A place where foreigners are not the norm and being welcomed with open arms. We love our diamond in the rough because we’ve been able to experience Korea for what it is and being able to experience a town where Western culture and styles have not yet infiltrated everyday life.

So is Boeun the armpit of Korea? Well, in conclusion, maybe it is. As long as the armpit belongs to Angelina Jolie after she has washed, shaved and moisturised in a hot spring bath overlooking Suanbo with the sweet fragrant smell of cherry blossom emanating from it.

Tink and Laura

Additional photos below

Photos: 26, Displayed: 26