Monday, April 18, 2011

안녕 (an informal hello in Korean, like "hi". Pronounced "an nyoung")


a folk village structure... more on this below
Well here I am in Korea for a WIRB meeting called "IRB Summit 2011". It's being held in Daegu and the WIRB chairs were invited to attend. Exciting? Yes! I came a couple of days early so I could spend some time seeing a bit of the country before the meetings. So now, before I hit the sack, I'm determined to get a few pictures up on this blog!

I don't have time for the post I really want to do... it's 9:49 on Monday evening, April 18 and I'm beat. Between a little jeg lag and a full day of walking, I need to make this short and sweet. Besides, I'm using the hotel computer and it doesn't seem to upload my pictures very quickly.

Hot towels and a glass of water... the first of many on the flight. It was 11.5 hours from SeaTac to Incheon Airport (Seoul).


On the back of the seats were computer screens. They showed movies, but also had a selection to show the progress of the trip. This shows us before leaving Seattle.

And this is when we crossed the international date line!

Today went to the a Folk Village. It took a taxi and 2 busses to get there but it was so worth it. I'll post more later. I am here right now with Adele and Owen, two WIRB friends so we spent the day exploring together. Owen should get a reward for navigating us all the way there and back without any mistakes! We weren't sure how to get back at one point, but after a little problem solving, we did it! To be specific, we had to match up the Korean symbols for the name of the town we were headed for... from the map to the bus schedule. Tricky? Ya. A lot! So here are a few pictures of the folk village adventure.


This is a little food counter place in the bus stop at Guangu. Ever eat at a bus depot? I've always been afraid to, but this place had fabulous udon soup.


This is the folk village. It's basically a Korean "Jonestown" where people still live and preserve the orignal Korean way of life. Original as in mid 1500's before the Japanese invaded Korea. It was different than anything I've ever seen but so interesting to walk around and peek into the different little places it held.

Look at this cute Korean grandma... What you can't see is the funny little cart she was pushing. Not really even sure what she was moving, but she was chugging right along. I like the contrast of the traditional clothing and the car. Oh, and the port-a-potty for the workers at that house!






Many of the homes in the village were occupied by people who seemed to run a business of some sort out of their home. This one sold planter pots. Couldn't see if they actually made them here, or just sold them.

In other homes we saw a tea-house and a bonzai plant nursery. I'll post more on those later.

Ok, I'm off to bed. More later!


4 comments:

  1. I hope you are having sooooo much fun!!!! I cant wait to see more! it is so weird to think that it can be night time for you when I am wide awake!! I keep thinking "SLOW DOWN!!" The concert with Eileen Ivers went great! Love you!

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  2. The pictures look amazing and a bit familiar from when I was there 23 years ago! I am glad that you have great people to travel with. What great stories you will have when you return. We are all doing great - I love you.

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  3. Pictures are amazing Brenda. I'm glad you're having so much fun. It was nice to see pictures of Choi. I look forward to hearing about the trip when you get back:) Safe travels to you!

    Heather

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