Land's End

This past weekend I had to fulfill my work obligations and take part in "membership training," which basically consists of a weekend retreat with my co-workers where we don't actually discuss work at all. Previously, we have visited Jirisan, and this time around the destination was Jeollanamdo, the historical site of the Korean political opposition on the southwest coast of the peninsula. We headed out early on Saturday and stopped for lunch at an old fortress that has been preserved as a historical site. Apparently, it was once the station of General Lim, one of the Joseon era heroes of Korean history for his fierce resistance to the Japanese invasion. While there, we also got to witness part of a traditional wedding, which was quite something to watch. From there we drove to the spot where the great 18th century thinker Dasan (author of over 500 political, economic, and philisophical texts) had been exiled and instructed his disciples in shirak, Korean pragmatic philosophy.

In the afternoon, we arrived in Haenam and took a cable car up to the top of Duryusan, the highest peak in the area. On a good day, one can see all the way to Jeju-do and see the outline of Halasan. Unfortunately for us, it was a high pollution day and Jeju was completely obscured.

Out of the blue, my director announced that he and I were going hiking while the rest of our co-workers rested and took me on a scramble up and down the steep side of the mountain on a trail that I'm sure is rarely used. Here is a look back at Duryusan from the helipad we hiked down to:

We headed back to the min bak where we were staying (basically a small country condo) and cooked our dinner of samgyeopsal and galbi. I was amazed by the amount of dishes that we were trucking around with us and our ability to recreate a restaurant-style meal on our porch:

The next day, we drove to ddang kkeut maul, literally "the end of the earth village," where we took a ferry out to Bogildo. On the boat ride out there, Jessica and I were intrigued by the sea of buoys that dotted the horizon. As we passed by them, we realized that they were part of a massive seaweed harvesting operation, which seemed to be the major part of the local economy:

Bogildo was once home to another important figure of Korean literary history, the great poet Gosan. Gosan spent his final days of exile in the wake of the Manchurian invasion in the 17th century on this island, which I wouldn't mind be exiled to if I had to be. This is the view from the pavilion where he liked to sit and read books, and a picture of the reflecting pond by his former home:

On our way back to Ulsan, we stopped by the green tea farm in Boseong for a brief visit. The Korean green tea industry has taken a hit as of late because of competition with China, so the farm, which used to be free to visit, now charges a small entrance fee. It was a surprisingly breathtaking site to see the terraces of green tea bushes and it certainly smelled of nok cha.

We enjoyed some soft-serve green tea ice cream (a first for me) and then wearily made the journey back to Ulsan. As my time here winds down, I am realizing I have less and less time to see all the sights in Korea that I want to, and it was nice to be able to see these parts of the country that I wouldn't have otherwise.