Tripping With Toby: Wet and Wild in Gyeongju

October 24, 2019- Wet and Wild in Gyeongju

It rained all day. That made interesting surfaces to navigate. We went to a village and temple where we faced ramps and steps galore. A combination of wet sand on stone caused us to move slowly. At one point most of us were juggling a receiver and headphones so we could hear Jinny, an umbrella, and camera/phone. Some also contended with a cane or walking sticks.

True to form we had no idea where we were or what we were seeing. On the bus going somewhere, Jinny talked at length about fishees , frogs, clouds, and hidden monks. Actually, the monks weren’t hiding but were hitting objects shaped like fishees. When asked what the fishees were made of, she said it was oodoo. I was among the first to realize that was wood. Duncan, our troublemaker, kept asking about fishees parroting Jinny’s pronunciation.

We ended up at Gyochon Village where we had dinner last night. There was a school and rich man Choe’s house to see. We also had time for coffee and relaxation. The school was closed, and in typical Korean style, the house was unfurnished. It began pouring, so several of us ducked into a cafe only to find it was an ice cream parlor. The youngest couple here (Kent and Belinda, ages 55 & 53), ordered ice cream. The rest of us camped out. When the rain abated, we went to the bus. The driver was nice enough to pull it closer to the entrance and rush out with umbrellas for those with none. He got ticketed for his trouble. What Jinny didn’t tell us to check out in the village was a drumming school. One of our group found it and had fun.

Bulgogi is a typical Korean dish. It means fire meat referring to the meat being cooked over a flame. Our next stop was a cooking lesson where Chef Andrew put us through our paces. He did a demo then supervised our progress. We followed his lesson closely since our bulgogi would be our lunch. It was delicious. We compared our dish to his and there was little difference. Perhaps ours was sweeter. He then introduced us to green apricot vinegar which is good enough to drink. An explanation of how he makes soy sauce followed with a reluctant endorsement of Kikoman if you absolutely had to stoop to store bought.

Our temple complex of the day was the Bulguksa where printing plates of clay were found pre-dating Gutenberg. The setting was stunning with bridges, waterways, soaring staircases, and waterfalls. We dutifully followed Jinny like lemmings from temple to temple oohing and aahing at each representation of the Buddha. She consistently directed those with mobility issues to steps without railings instead of ramps or to slippery ramps instead of less hazardous steps. She asked me if David could go up one flight in particular and I told her to ask him. One of the younger people was having a bad knee day, but Jinny tried to drag her over to steps instead of a route with easier access.

We hung out in the rain for an hour until it was tea time. We met with a monk in a traditional tea house on the temple grounds and enjoyed tea, sweet cakes, and a lively discussion translated by Jinny. There was a translator there who might have been a student of the monk, but Jinny jumped in and preempted her. You could see the tension build. At one point, Jinny asked how many of us were Christian. Only one person’s hand went up. The score was 1 Presbyterian, 3 Jews, 1 Catholic (Jinny) and 6 of no religion. Surprised us all. By the way, the main discussion was trying to understand Jinny’s interpretation of the monk’s philosophy of life and meditation. She went on about how we know a cup is white or a flower is pink to something about picture frames. David clarified it by saying that It boiled down to “think outside the box.” We also discussed his view of prayer as introspective and a tool to help improve ourselves as well as pray for others. He was clear that the Buddha was not a god. We took a group photo at the end and got a kick out of their version of saying “cheese” to encourage a smile. They say, “ kimchi.”

Dinner was on our own again. The bus stopped at a small grocery store and we bought supplies. Some of us met in the hotel lounge to “dine” on cheese, crackers, chips, and candy, but my ramen bowl wasn’t permitted by hotel policy. Only snacks. After one taste of the broth, I had no problem tossing it. It was too spicy for me, although Jinny had assured me it was mild. We later found out there was a bar menu of burgers and pizza which, although expensive, was lots less than the hotel restaurants. Obviously, Jinny wasn’t aware if it when we arrived or she would have suggested it when we balked at $70 hotel restaurant dinners.

Tomorrow we have an early departure time. We have to be in Busan to tour the Hyundai factory.

Toby