Winter Sonata. ''Romantic” trip to Chuncheon Part 2

In the morning we woke up later than planned. It was so quiet in the apartment of our host. Such quiet I have not experienced on the long run up till now. What was scary in the evening when we got here suddenly appeared to be so bright and full of sun.

That settlement had been 30 years old up till now as our host explained. Indeed he had what people in Korea hardly have any longer. Keys to his apartment. A set of small metal thingies which give a feeling of a real home.

This morning it was even colder. -23 according to weather forecast. We were laughing our cold off all the time. After all two women on the go is always lots of fun, once they start joking it never ends.

The plan for today was seeing islands on the lakes. Several of them had been also pictured in Winter Sonata. It had been a one chance in a million to see what Korean people consider romantic.

We headed towards Jungdo Island on the lake near city center. This time we had been from Europe and from India for the purpose of taxi driver curiosity. Freezing cold got even inside the cab. 15 minutes after leaving the apartment we could not feel our feet any longer. Ajoshi wasn't much talkative either. He had been watching tv on his car and probably cursed the fate of his job. Blue morning sky was totally clear, whiteness of the snow unreal for the city's vincinity, looked like taken straight from Queen of Snow fary tale. Would anyone through a piece of ice into my eye this day? Or would I meet someone who would melt it away?

On a ferry to Jungdo Island it seemed that only foreigners can be crazy enough to do any outdoor sightseeing in this weather. Just us and the captain of the floating device. A thought crossed my head, what if something happens to this boat in freezing cold like this. Sun reflected on the icy water. By this time Yukti was hungry but we were still stubbornly on the go. Weird are these foreigners.

        -   Call us 5' before you want to go back. - worried captain told us.

         Apparently he was not sure if we get lost on the island or not. It was the nicest ever approach in my life, private ferry services for not that expensive price of 5000KRW. We got off at the bank and we saw the island. Not a desert island though, a bunch of Koreans headed desparately to the ferry from the freezing cold outside. And us...headed exactly there.

We saw a plastic orange tent serving as a waiting room for a ferry. Somebody resourceful had also made a live fire in the metal barrel exactly like for homeless people somewhere around dark corners of NY or any other city. . In such circumstances the very fact that there is a roof waiting somewhere makes one happy. Very happy. Even if the aircon is noisy washrooms are not private and the nightwatch sees all of your actions.

After 200m of a walk Yukti asked:
-    Can you stand this?
-    No I can't Yukti, it's over. Let's get somewhere under the roof and try to figure out what's here.
-    Ok.

We got inside the local equivalent of something between a kiosk a convenience store and a restaurant. In the middle of it coal heater was settled under traditional huge pot boiling water for whatever reason. Ajoshi behind the counter merely glanced at us and got back to reading Chosun Ilpo. Frozen, we slowly let ourselves relax near the warmth. Feeling of desparation appeared on Yukti's face when we bought onion chips just not to annoy the owner of our shelter too much.

-    All this way from Suwon and we bought chips. We sit and we eat chips. This is something we can do at home.

Burst of sarcastic laugh on my side had put a period to this statement. No matter how motivated I am, -23 degrees is not a temperature for me to handle. My camera would also give up soon.

We headed for a walk towards the pension where they pictured Winter Sonata. It crossed my mind that I understand what is it what Korean public considers romantic. The camp site combined of some 30 small wooden cabins which can fit a family was situated at the lakeside. Away from the city noise, away from civilization. Remote, and underdeveloped for a Korean standard at least. In a country of constant homogenous constructions and no diversity such places can indeed be called romantic. They touch this gentle part of soul in a person.

-   Can you imagine walking hand in hand with a beloved one on crunching snow like this in freezing cold? - asked Yukti.
-   Yes Yukti, oh yes, I can.

Same thought apparently crossed our heads in the very same moment. Indeed, this would be nice.

Sarcastic humour left us soon as we headed to a homeless barrel. It had been surrounded by a lot of ajummas and girls on sightseeing. Finally we were not only two desperados. They shared with us whatever they had, it touched my heart not for the first time how they share whatever limited resources they have. These were some sticky cookies and pieces of baguette. Filled our stomaches for the time being. Because you are a guest and because you are welcome. Such is Korean heart. Such is the part of it which I genuinely love.

Back in downtown we asked for anything to eat and proud locals had recommended us Dalgalbi of course.

-   Apero hagu uenchok and you are there. Straight and on the left.

I looked ahead and thought that no, Dalgalbi can wait until I visit Chuncheon anytime in my life again. Maybe that time it will be different? Somehow, I don't remember when, we ended up at E-Mart because it was warm. Finally warm.

Such was the trip to a city of Chuncheon. It left me with the impression that what humans perceive as romantic is what touches the primeaval part of human consciousness which is connected to nature. It brings me up the words of Gary Snyder, converted buddhist and poet: ''Culture which cuts off from natural and wild life around us and which denies the wild life inside us drives to very dangerous phenomena which will probably destroy humanity one day”.

Chuncheon 16^th January 2011

"Romantic" City of Chuncheon Part 1

 - Ah, so you can't have coffee with me because you go to Chuncheon. Right. Make sure you take lots of cloths because it will be very cold. Have fun. - my good Russian friend stated philosophically. 

I never care much for weather forecast in Korea, because it is hardly reliable and because in winter supposed to be cold. Frost, snow and blue sky are what makes a good winter.

Sometimes it makes that winter too good. We met at 9 am on a very chilly Saturday morning and bought tickets to Chuncheon which is north-east from Seoul area. The bus was warm and comfortably brought us to the destination, however on the way we passed a lot of smaller and bigger places which the further we went the more they looked like some middle of nowhere. 

 More and more in the middle of nowhere...

After getting off the bus we headed to downtown area which for some reason is called Myeong-Dong. Taxi driver, very happy for the given weather conditions smiled at us and asks:

-  Juoyo? Cold?

-   Aju juoyo... after that Yukti says something I could not understand quite well. Taxi drivers have two different favorite sports here. If I go on taxi with a girl, they ask where we are from and they usually start from guessing that we are from USA.

-  Where are you from?

-  France. - says Yukti with a joking spark in her eyes – and she is from USA.

Our ajoshi seemed to be more than happy that I was from USA and Yukti was from France for the purpose of this short ride to the city center. Another favorite hobby they have is asking a man in the cab if I am his wife or not and if he is going to kiss me or not. This is at least as much as I understood once when I was with a guy on the cab in the evening. But this time I was with Yukti, my amazing Indian friend who always smiles and the hobby version was much less annoying.

Once in downtown we had seen that the center was called Myeong-Dong for a reason. It apparently attempted to be a copy of Myeong-Dong in Seoul even with Myeong-Dong shoes for a tourist who would go to this city for shoes.

Well, we got here for sightseeing, not for shoes. Myeong-Dong shoes can wait, they are available in Seoul. Or not? Maybe not? 

Soon after however we got to the street marked with a very nice chicken on it's pavement. It was Dalgalbi street. We wanted to eat at last and try something new.

One of the attractions in ''romantic city of Chuncheon” is the local food, Dalgalbi. It is chicken on the grill with cabbage and tok – rice cake. However every restaurant was so full that we thought it must be some festival going on. The only empty one happened to be a place reserved for bigger groups. At last we just got to any given restaurant.

Dalgalbi was very nice but very spicy ( yes, I learnt to like spicy food!).

Even Yukti despite being a vegatarian had a bit of Dalgalbi. While we were assisted by a very helpful and elegant ajumma, some ajoshi hooked us asking Korean favorite question:

-  Where are you from?

After few introductions he admitted that he knows parts of India quite well and that he had been to Warsaw. We were very impressed by the gentleman's language skills, the conversation went on smoothly with him repeating every now and then who he is what had he done so far and how is he smart. And that he knows India and Poland and traveled in business there, of which he seemed to be very proud. He seemed to be proud of himself too. But wait, is this just Korean or is it simply male?

His daughter, a fresh lancet beauty, knew him obviously better than us and said:

-  Never mind him, he likes to know everything best.

Culturally shocking attitude here. I have seen some young boys carrying around their girls' handbags after they watched some soap operas, but I had not seen a daughter to be so equal in relations to any father here in Korea so far. Later we learnt that the man works for Hyundai and this is the reason why he knew our countries quite well before. As a modern Korean financial aristocrat seems to be excused from cultural norms and does not care for them much. He, his daughter and her boyfriend had seated for a sophisticated Dalgalbi luncheon on my 1.

-   Look at these individuals over there. - said Yukti.

Meanwhile on my 3 I had a nice picture of guys with black uniforms, longer hair in pony tails, 3 out of whom looked apparently Japanese. They had something on their necks which looked like rosary with a small penis attached. My neighbors looked at us every now and then and I kept looking at them. One moment I was tempted too much and I asked for a photo permission. This is how I have a photo with this gentleman. Obviously I asked what this small penis meant.

- It is religious symbol for first son. First baby – ajumma politically corrected herself.

Was it a baby or was it a penis? I don't know yet. Nevertheless the individuals seemed to be just as interested in us as we had been in them. In the background crowd of people had been patiently waiting for their turn, others were eating and drinking, some were sitting normally, some on the heated floor. The Dalgalbi luncheon fiesta was at it's most! 

 Was it a baby or was it a penis? I don't know. Dalgalbi fiesta went on.

After lunch it was time to decide what to do. Sitting in Cold Stone we had studied a map. Our host whom I found on couchsurfing lived in the eastern part of the city, hence we decided to see what that area offered to us and cover the rest on Sunday.

Not for the first time it had been a real struggle to go out into -17 degrees outside. Blue sky was not helping much anymore. But, Dear Reader, it would be rather pathetic to end up eating only local food, wouldn't it?

Why -17 in Chuncheon? Time to answer this question now. It supposed to be my destination for Chusok, but hell, it wasn't. Don't ask me why, ask the sky. Part of it was weather.

-17 happens to be a number on the termometer outside of the window, and the red liquid inside does not wanna move any bit higher, no matter how hard I pray for that. Now I have time for travelling, so I need to stand merciless – 17.

Yes, but this is not an answer to the question, why was it my destination. Part of it is the city's size. It is small, compact, surrounded with the lakes, settled among mountains rising straight from the water, it is a misty resemblance of Norway to unfamiliar ones. Another reason is that they had pictured South Korean most famous drama here, Winter Sonata. I have not seen any piece of it, but I was curious which surroundings and views Koreans would consider especially good for a romance scenery. 

Therefore we headed to the famous Soyang Dam by the local bus. The ride had taken us very high above the water level. Sceneries were absolutely beautiful. Slightly blue mountains covered here and there with snow and the steel blue lake far down below us which water had not been frozen yet and a blue sky. Absolutely astonishing. 

 Steel blue waters of the lake, blue sky and freezing wind. Winter Sonata.

If it only wasn't so windy! Our ''romantic trip” to Winter Sonata site had started more than chilly and it was my very self who had done this to us. Apparently I have some masochistic traits.

The wind had taken away all our warmth. Resourceful Korean overcommercialized capitalists whom I curse so often this time had been so resourceful and placed a building on top of the dam. It was reasonably warm in there.

After visiting the dam we decided to see the Museum in Chuncheon, but as a nice lady in the tourist info said, it was closed as of today. Therefore we headed to the Ethiopian War Memorial.

-Yuk shi closed. - said the watchdog downstairs with apparent attempt to shut the door in front of our faces.

-  But it is 5:55 – said Yukti, who is more than resourceful when needed.

This was how we made it inside the memorial for the Ethiopian war efforts which also shows a lot of culture. Items presented inside are really taken from Ethiopia or inspired by it's ancient culture remembering King Salomon and Queen Saba. The fresquos on the roofs are worth a glympse. They feature Ethiopian early churches from 3^rd and 4^th Century A.D. and the daily life of the villagers. Some everyday usage items and other artifacts are on display. It was the quickest sightseeing in my life, in 10' we were done with the Memorial Hall.

It was dark. Temperature fell to 23 in the negative. Hardly ever I could feel my skin being slowly frozen, despite my thickest possible outfit. It happens when it is below -20. 

 Happy masochist who is the owner of this blog.

Nolens volens we went for the Ethiopian Espresso since we were next to this place. Inside the coffee house I had seen many artifacts taken from Africa which were very real, neither of them had been made in China.

We sat by the window slowly defreezing ourselves. We both knew it was enough for today. Last issue to solve was to find our host from couchsurfing. Before that however we enjoyed taste of real African coffee which I know so well. It won't be modest to admit it, but Ethiopian coffee is welcome on my table ever since I know Krzysztof, a fellow traveller, who married a girl from Ethiopia. Twice a year or so he arrives with huge quantities of coffee in Warsaw, some of which gets safely delivered to my address. 

 Sometimes we were only silent...

Among the aroma of the seeds we enjoyed conversation about common female topics, at moments only sitting quietly. Outside of the window moon reflected in the iced water which even from inside seemed to crunch and whisper. What did it want to tell...?

We were on the way out when the owner took a chance to explain us the history of his coffee house. A word ''book” worked magic again. Jung Dae Cha is a second generation of owners who manages this coffee business. He says that it is the oldest coffee house in the entire South Korea. It started as soon as the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie visited Chuncheon in 1968 and had put his tent in the very spot where the coffee house is. The Memorial was opened to keep the memory of Ethiopian troops who participated bravely in the bloody times of Korean Civil War.

One hour later we finally reached the destination. Our host welcomed us with his warm house. Himself being very sick made this effort despite of any circumstances because commitment to a once given word matters. We spent the evening having interesting conversation about ancient medicine and Judaic belief.

Two hours later Yukti was sleeping and I was laying in total darkness wondering what the next day might bring...

To be continued...

Chuncheon, 15^th January 2011