This Post is Not Appropriate for Younger Viewers

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Or anyone grossed out by sexual "art" and toilet humour. Seriously, I'm not joking. There'll be another post for you to read, I promise. Last chance to turn back.

Well first of all, I know I've been even worse than usual with the posting. But I've had a hell of a time lately, lost (and found!) passport, etc. Sigh. To answer my cousin's query, I'm in Seoul right now. Sunday I fly to Bangkok through Beijing.

Gyeonju

To return to the story, I arrived in Gyeonju (the pronunciation is actually closer to Kee-yong-ju despite the spelling) by bus from Busan. It's only a couple hours north. The Korean buses are in excellent condition, over air-conditioned, just because they can be. They're also cheap, at least compared to Japanese transportation. Gyeonju is known for being a "museum without walls" of ancient ruins and temples, though the area around the bus terminal is dingy enough. Motels (모텰 in Korean, think of it as "wine cup, E I 2") are everywhere, partly contributing to the dingy atmosphere. It's odd, but it feels like every single motel, at least in the east coast cities, was built in 1974 and is now showing 35 years of wear and tear. I had chosen Hanjin Hostel, described in my guidebook like this: "You'll either love it here or it will freak you out." A hostel is always the best choice when travelling solo, both for the price and the chance to meet up with other travellers. Hanjin certainly did not freak me out, and though a bit dirty, the place was fine, with a helpful and energetic host, a sweet rooftop patio and a steady stream of good company coming in through the doors. In particular, I met a half-Jewish half-Christian Italian who studies the history of Indonesian Islamist parties. Good conversations.

And now we begin our descent. I settled into Hanjin, dropped off my bag in my room, caught up on some emails on the computer, and started thinking about my day plans. It's hard to have energy to do anything - it's hot, and humid. In my first few hours at Hanjin, I, uh, used the facilities. There is exactly one non-urinal toilet for the dorms on the second floor (6-8 people?) in a small cramped room. I went to do my business, and, well, the toilet didn't flush. So I did what any self-respecting individual independent traveller would do, I went to fix the problem myself. I lifted the cover of the water tank, fixed what I thought needed fixing, and went to return the cover. Then I dropped the cover. Into the water tank. It punches an orange sized hole in the bottom of the water tank, rapidly creating a special new waterfall and lake in the bathroom. I turn off the water, pause for a moment to reflect on my creation, an amused half-smile on one side of my face, frustration on the other. The two manage to sync into problem-solving mode and I sheepishly make my way to the hostel owner to inform him that

"I'm sorry, I broke your toilet. I'll pay for it of course."

"In thirty years, nobody has ever done that."

After inspecting the damage and hearing how I caused it, he calls the engineer. A few hours and 80,000 won (~$70) later, Hanjin has a brand new toilet water tank, and the owner is mopping the floors. His expression changes from the initial shock to a sympathetic, if amused complexion. "You very poor man. Dinner. With my family." hehe. I accept the invitation. The father (maybe around 65 or 70) and son (30s or early 40s) run the hostel together and we sit around the small table in the kitchen. The mother continues chopping at the sink. We talk a bit about the business. I ask the son why he went into the hostel business. "To make a living." On pressing him why exactly he chose this business, he replies "my father says it is good business so I joined". Hmm. The food was good, "Japanese udon, homemade" I'm told. The father in particuar was exceedingly nice to me over the next two days. A free drink here, a free joke there. Also an easy way to make friends.

"Hey, I'm __ from ___"
"Asher, from Canada"
"So what have you done in Gyeonju?"
"Nothing. I broke the toilet."

Okay, I did actually get out to see the town the day after breaking the toilet. The pictures are actually all from the sites and are therefore completely unrelated to the above story. The atmosphere was perhaps just as cool as the sites themselves. A misty mountain-top temple with a large stone buddha, gigantic grass mounds that are monarch burial sites, etc. See the pictures. From the Lonely Planet itinerary, I chose Samcheok as my next destination, a town 4 hours up the east coast. The Hanjin Hostel owner gave me a necklace (for free of course), a depiction of the old Korean kings. "Wear it as long as you're in Korea" he says. And I have.

Samcheok

It really began to rain, hard. It had started in Gyeonju and then just never stopped. You can see the pictures from the bus ride up. I shared the bus with an Irish guy and girl (not a couple they made clear) I'd met at Hanjin. Talks of Israeli-Palestinian and Irish conflicts to pass the time. We parted ways at Samcheok, as they continued up to Sokcho. Samcheok was not like Gyeonju. There was no hostel I knew about. So I elected for a motel. For 35,000 won ($30) I got a queen bed, big-screen TV and a computer in my room. Sweet, but lonely. No foreigners anywhere in sight to talk to. And I mean, nowhere. None in the motel, none on the streets, none in the tourist office, none at the sites. There were two big reasons to go to Samcheok: the penis park in a small fishing village and the Hwanseoungal cave. Ya, you heard the first one right.

Sinnam

Still under the pouring rain, I hopped on a bus for Sinnam, a teenie-tiny fishing village home to the Penis Park and a massive modern fishing museum. The story goes something like this: many, many years ago a young couple fell in love at Sinnam. They were to be married. But, before they could, the virgin girl drowned off a small rocky offshore island. The seas were too rough for her boyfriend to save her. Lonely Planet tells the rest well: "Shortly after her death, fishermen noticed that the catch was dwindling and soon the town was sure that this 'unfulfilled' girl had cursed the fishing grounds. All hope seemed lost, but when a fisherman heeding the call of nature did so facing the ocean, the next day's catch increased. Soon the village erected, um, erections in hopes that the penises would placate the frustrated ghost. The fishing yields returned to normal, and Sinnam's custom of showing Mr. Willy to the water remains to this day." Well, I had to check it out.

The bus took a harrowing hour to get there. The buses might be in good condition, but the drivers are maniacs. We actually passed a slow motorist on a two late mountain curvy road, in the rain, before you could see around the bend. When I got off at Sinnam, so did two other people. They were Seoul tourists here to check out the Park. An adorable couple with minimal ability to speak English, Min Jung Kim, Yong Kyu Lee and I spent the next half day together. The Penis Park is a park filled with gigantic 3-5 meter (I dont know feet, sorry) high penises carved with various themes and designs. See the pictures. Some are obviously quite new, like the electronically controlled "canon penis" which is attached to two wheels, made of black metal, and moves up and down, like a canon might... Most are bizarre. And there are penises everywhere. The benches, a waterfall display, souvenirs. Enough said. If you look into the distance, on a rocky island, you can just make out the statue of the 'unfulfilled' woman.

The fishing museum, next to the park, is notable for its quality. Interactive displays and holograms. You begin to think that somewhere along the way, someone realized that Sinnam's penis fetish was a useful tourist industry, built a whole lot more of them, and with the proceeds (you didn't think it was free to see the penis park did you?) created this state-of-the-art museum. See pictures. All in all, a good day. The only downside is that it didn't stop raining the entire time. But I had an umbrella and the cheerful company of those Seoul tourists.

Hwanseongoul Cave

Second day in Samcheok it stopped raining. I went to the see the most massive cave in Asia. It's hard to give a sense of the scale. There's a beautiful hike to get up there. Dad, if you're still reading this, you would have particularly enjoyed this. An uphill climb through the mountains. When you get within 20 meters of the cave, the temperature somehow drops 10 degrees C and you hear the sound of water flowing. They've conveniently built 2 km of metal walkways. The first 300 meters into the cave you basically walk over an incave river, with complete with mini-lakes, tributaries, and lighting to help you see the whole thing. It's hard not to have mixed feelings. It would be exceedingly difficult to view this cave without the help of walkways and lighting. But it reduces the sense of adventure and 'cool' as well. English signage was alternatively developed by a monk (with bridge names like "Confession of Sins") and a scientist (with techincal descriptions of cave features). After the cave, I decided to try a quick hike up the mountain with the time I had left. I was promptly chased back down by a thickening cloud of mosquitos. The pictures are a bit fuzzy but you get some idea of the cave experience.

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Photos

Breakfast Restaurant
Typical Korean restaurant. You sit cross-legged on the floor.

Big Bell
Gyeon-ju

The Misty Fog
Gyeon-ju

For a donation...
...get your name written on the tiles

Colourful
Gyeon-ju

Temple
Gyeon-ju

Burial Mounds
Gyeon-ju

Pretty
Last Gyeon-ju picture

Comments

[Liz and Ron]

writing style
I like yours. You should consider journalism.

[jordan]

Agree with Liz and Ron. I think you could do well in journalism Broken toilet must've definitely been a FML moment. H. cave sounds awesome. I wonder what it sounded like in there?

[Yong Kyu Lee]

Hi!! My friend^^
Hi, my friend . Do you remember me? I am Yong Kyu. we had met rainy me in the Samcheok penis park the 2009 summer. With my girl friend Min Jung Kim^^ I so late to your Blog visit . I am sorry~ The weather of the South Korea is much cold these day. Much snows had dropped excessively several days ago. We communicate often informing the news infrequently each other. It is my homepage address visit(http://www.cyworld.com/lyknim2) and leave writing to guest book. Good-bye. Next, again let's meet.