Hot and Humid in Korea!!

It is so hot and humid here in Korea. We talk about humidity being bad in Texas, but it is nothing compared to this. Within minutes of leaving my air conditioned hotel room, my shirt starts sticking to me. It is really difficult to enjoy being outside and is always refreshing to return to the room. I bet the fall would be great here, however. I've seen such nice photos of the autumn leaves, and I know the humidity wouldn't be such a problem then.

Aug. 23, 2006--Busan (Continued)

A strange coincidence occurred on the subway as I made my way from the temple I visited to the area with the spa/sauna. The same man who had sat beside me on the train in the morning going up to the temple entered the same car I was in on the return train and sat beside me. I know it was the same man, because he was carrying a small Bible and reading it. My guess is that he is a lonely person who rides trains much of the day while reading his Bible as a way to be around people. But what a coincidence it was that we ended up in the same cars together twice in the same day.

Well, I went to the alternative spa I had spotted. And I'm so glad that I did. First, it was a very nice facility, but it wasn't the lavish hotel-like place that had been recommended by the guidebook. This was an almost brand new place that obviously serves the local people. (My guess is that locals buy a monthly pass.) And it was only $4 compared to the $10 price of the hotel spa. Although I had expressed anxiety in my previous posting, all went well. (It helps that I had read about the procedure and had seen a National Geographic or Discovery Channel film about the same kinds of spas in Japan. I bought my ticket in the lobby and was told to go to the 3rd floor. (The 2nd floor is the women's spa.) I took the elevator up and entered in a small vestibule. A man there took my ticket and indicated that I should walk up to the far edge of the vestibule (just before a step to the locker room floor). Then he indicated I should remove my shoes and step up to the next floor barefooted. When I did, he picked up my shoes and walked with me to a locker. He removed the key and handed it to me and placed my shoes in a plastic tray on the bottom of the locker. Fortunately, the procedure here was like in Danish spas. I knew to use the streachable band for the key to put it around my wrist or ankle after removing my clothes and locking them inside. While undressing, I watched the others to see what they were doing. After undressing, they were walking to a glass door and entering. So I did the same, picking up a small towel from a basket just before passing through the doorway.

As I entered, I could see the washing stations all around the front walls and in a small nook in the back. In the center and toward the back and on the sides were the facilities for bathing and sweating. I walked to a washing station to my right, sat on the short plastic stool and proceeded to soap and rinse myself all over. Because I knew how fastidious they are in these places about being clean before entering the pools, I repeated the process a second time. While I was still rinsing for the last time, a man who had been beside me pointed out some soap on my left shoulder; he probably feared I would contaminate the water by missing it if he didn't show it to me. (I'm glad he did. I think I would have gotten it, but one of the worst things you can do is get soap in the clear pools.)

I went to the biggest pool in the center where there were already about 8 men soaking. I stepped into it onto an inner step. Then I stepped further down to the bottom of the pool which made the water come to just below my waist. I sat down on the ledge where I had first stepped in. The water was nice and warm. I relaxed while looking around the facility to see what else was there. I saw a man and his young son bathing each other in the nook in preparation for entering the pools. They were scrubbing each other with a rough cloth (and probably with some salts I later saw in a box) until their skin was red, and they took a long time doing so. I saw four other pools, and I saw a hallway people went down. When I got too warm, I went to investigate using my hand to check the waters. The pool to the side was not as warm as the one I had been in, but it was warm. The one just behind the pool I had been in was HOT! The two pools on the back wall were both cold with one being colder than the other. The less cool of the two was long enough for people to swim a short lap and had two spouts of flowing water--one that was wide and nice for pouring over the whole body to cool it down and the other with a powerful force for massaging the body as one moved around underneath it. Down the hallway were two saunas--a wet one that had cobblestone floors and walls covered in lava and stones, and a dry one with wooden floors and benches and baking tiles covering the walls. (One should never make the mistake of leaning back against such tiles!!)

My routine became to go between three areas--the big hot (but not the hottest) pool, the cold (but not the coldest) pool, and the dry sauna. In time someone talked to me, and I was surprised at who it was. It was the little boy. He was 11 years old and takes English in school every day. He and his father then visited with me for sometime as they accompanied me from pool to pool to sauna. Others nodded and/or looked my way at times, but no one spoke. I wonder how many of them were disturbed that I was there? I can imagine that they wondered if I cleaned well before I came into the water.

After 1 1/2 hours, I soaped up and rinsed off again and exited the door. I stood on the mat just outside and dried off with one of the towels. Then I walked to my locker, put on my clothes, carried my shoes to the vestibule, sat on the stool there to put them on, and walked out. I felt so refreshed. It was a great experience and it made me feel good, too!

I looked for a snack at the train station near my hotel when I got off the subway, but I didn't see anything that looked especially good. I did, however, find a Danish hotdog restaurant serving Steff Holberg hotdogs (with no one inside the restaurant other than the employees). I went to a 7-11 and bought myself something else Danish--a small carton of Danish strawberry yogurt and drank it for my snack.

Aug. 24, 2006--Busan to Gyeongju

I got up at 6 again, but I was glad to do so today. I wanted to get to the subway before rush hour, since I needed to take it all the way across town to the bus station with my luggage. I got a seat and the car never got crowded. When I got to the bus station, there was a bus ready to leave for Gyeongju, so I got right on. I arrived by 8:30!

There were helpful women at the tourist kiosk next to the bus station. And when I told them the name of the hotel I had chosen from my guidebook, they pointed it out to me; the top floors were visible from there and were distinguished by a special orange color that none of the other buildings had. I checked into the hotel, but I couldn't have my room then; the rooms were being cleaned and prepared. I left my luggage and went out into the heat and humidity of the day.

Gyeongju is an old capital that has lots of burial mounds and ancient temples and houses. As the guidebook says, it is difficult to walk far in the city without coming across something historical and interesting. I picked out a route on the map that I had gotten at the tourist office and headed to a nearby park to see some of the tombs. I wandered around several of the tall mounds, then I entered another park across the street that has one of the few tombs that is opened to tourists.

It was a tomb of one of the old kings. They had cut the mound into a half-section so that tourists can enter a doorway and see the layers of the construction and the spot of the dead king. When they buried him, they put him in a wooden casket, built a small room around it with heavy wooden beams, mounded rocks several yards (meters) high over it, and then put sod over that. (One other tomb I visited the other day said that they had mixed lime with the sod to make it concrete-like to discourage people from digging into it. I don't know if they used lime in this one or not.) The far wall from the entrance to the tomb was the simi-circular cross-section of the tomb construction. At the base of it, was a plexiglass vault showing the remains of the king. Of course, all that could be seen was dirt and the gold and jade jewelry he had been wearing. Over time, the wood had deteriorated and the stones had apparently fallen in to flatten even these items. It was fascinating, however, to be seeing a real grave from so long ago (1500 years or so).

I walked through the rest of the park on my way to the next attraction. But it was so hot!! There was a water fountain where I stopped and scooped up handfulls of water to try to quench my thirst. And there were benches under trees where I sat and fanned myself with my Japanese fan I carry with me. The next potential stop was an old observatory. I could see it through the fence and shrubbery, and I decided it really wasn't worth paying to go inside to see it closer. I continued walking to the National Museum. But it was a LONG walk taking to the edge of town.

When I tried to pay, I was told that the museum was free. My guidebook didn't suggest any days that were free, and when I came out they were charging people. I don't know why it was free when I arrived except possibly for the fact it was before noon. Anyway, it is considered to be one of the best museums in Korea. It has lots of gold, silver, jade, glass, crystal, pottery, bronze, etc., from the area tombs and ruins displayed in 3 different buildings. It also has a wonderful old bell that took 30 years to cast and has a very nice sound (which I was able to hear because someone was disrespectful and knocked on it while I was there). Almost as good as the exhibits, however, was the air conditioning inside the buildings. How I hated to leave.

One thing I saw at the museum and have seen all over Korea is jade cut into what they call "comma" shapes. I think I would have called it "cashew" shapes myself. I wonder why that shape was so popular? I don't think I have seen anything jade here other than in that shape. They are incorporated into necklaces, bracelets, crowns, etc.

It took probably 1 1/2 hours to walk back to my hotel area from the museum. The sun was beaming. I was frantically looking for a place to eat. Finally, one block from my hotel I stopped at a small place (3 tables) with no customers. The lady spoke only a few words of English. I understood "rice" and "kimchee," but that was enough. She prepared me the best meal I have ever had in Korea. It was a mixture of kimchee and thin slices of chicken cooked in a metal pot. On the side were served a bowl of rice, a place with a small piece of fish (tuna?), and various vegetables and sprouts. When I started eating the kimchee with chopsticks, she came to correct me. Then she almost panicked as I started to spoon the rice into the pot. She indicated I should use the spoon to take a bite of rice from the rice bowl, and with the rice still on the spoon dip it into the kimchee-chicken mixture to complete a bite for the mouth. Later, I could tell she was worried that I was too slow and that the kimchee-chicken mixture was getting cold. But it really was a fantastic meal. UMMMMMMM!

I had to do laundry back at the hotel. The $5 "identical bag" (compared to the one from Copenhagen I had been wearing last year that was wearing out) I bought in India last year has a problem. They must have used shoe polish on it or something, because my pants are turning black from it rubbing against them! After 5 days, the sides of my pants were filthy. I washed pants, socks, and underwear. Fortuntately, the black came off. Because there were thunderstorms outside, I didn't go back out for the rest of the day.

Aug. 25, 2006--Gyeongju

I left the hotel today carrying my umbrella as a parasol. I got a little red on the face and the arms yesterday with all the walking I did in the sunshine. I don't want to burn more than that. So I am joining the Korean tradition (for both women and men) of carrying an umbrella to keep the sun off me.

There was an elderly German couple at the bus stop this morning. It's so nice to see older people traveling independently. They were going to a temple, but they said the village I was going to visit was "absolutely lovely." So they had already been there and walked the 1.5 km (.8 mile) to the village from the bus stop, walked up and down the hills to see the old houses, and walked back to the bus stop. My guess is that they were in their early 70s, but they could have been even older.

The village I visited was Yangdong Folk Village. It was the country home of high officials and prominant writers 300-400 years ago. It is filled with nice large old houses with tile roofs and small cottages with thatched roofs. Unfortunately, the richest people lived on the highest levels, so to see the nice houses with walls, tile roofs, etc., it is necessary to climb up one hill after another! But the views from each were nice, and the architecture was interesting to see. These are not abandoned buildings, however. People still live in them. It is allowed to enter the gate and look around without being too intrusive. People living in them creates another problem, however. Koreans do not tend to be tidy people. They leave stacks of things in yards. They collect things for future possible use (I guess). Anyway, what it means is that yards and porches can be junky looking. It was not easy to find beautful views for pictures due to each place having a mess of some kind to spoil it all. Overall, however, it is a very beautiful little village.

Back in town I bought 3 steamed buns hoping they would have bar-b-que inside. Instead, they had sweet red bean paste. I ate two of them. They were fine, but sweet red bean taste is just a little too rich tasting for me to enjoy it much. I gave the 3rd one to the lady at my hotel when I returned to the room. Unless we have heavy rain, I will go out tonight and have a night meal for a change.