children's day = play day

dear diary–
thursday was children's day, a national holiday here in korea which meant no school. i love these random holidays. to celebrate our time off horace, young, and i booked a tour to see damyang and baengyang-sa. in damyang there's a bamboo forest plus it was the last day of the bamboo festival and baengyang-sa [white sheep temple] is in the naejang-san national park. the day started off at 5am. we needed to meet young at yeongdeungpo station by 7:30am. that's the one downer about living in ansan. it always takes at least an hour to get to seoul. of course horace had the wrong station and we we were walking around yongsan looking for young. by the time we figured it out it was already 7:40am. the train was scheduled to leave at 7:45am and we were 4 stops away. needless to say it felt like we were on the amazing race as we quickly made our way to the pit stop. luckily we made it with a few minutes to spare. for awhile there i didn't think we were going to. we sat in the first train with all the other tour members. there were a lot ajummas [korean for married woman, basically mom types] which was so cute to see. since there were three of us we were separated however on these trains you can move the seats so that they face each other. the trains in korean rock! one of the ajummas sat with us. we weren't even travelling for 10 minutes before the ajummas busted out the snacks. these ladies are prepared. and they were kind enough to share with us. we were given kimbap, cold bean noodles, cherry tomatoes, coffee, fruit, etc. i, too, had packed some snacks so i shared my cucumbers and corn crunkies with them. they gave me the big thumbs up for the corn crunkies. i love ajummas. the trip took about 3 hours to get to baengyang station and from there we had to board a tour bus to take us to damyang. our friendly ajummas were on our bus too. YEAH!!! we had three hours in damyang. to which we could tour the bamboo forest, check out the festival, and do whatever else we wanted. we headed for the bamboo forest first. as we started to approach our ascent up both horace and young wanted to eat before walking so much. seeing that i wasn't hungry from all the snacks i had on the bus i decided to venture through the bamboo forest on my own. here we parted ways and my solo adventure begin. it was actually quite nice to be on my own walking through this amazing forest. bamboo it cool! my main goal was to see the waterfall. they had a map but it was all in korean. it was time for my cub scout instincts to take over and figure out which path went where. at one point the wind picked up and listening to the bamboo blowing in the wind was so beautiful and peaceful. i could have layed on the ground and listened to it forever. very soothing. seeing that i always have a way of finding where the korean dramas or movies have been shot todays trip was no different. the movie r-point shot some scenes in the bamboo forest. photo op anyone. i love how the koreans are so into their dramas and movies. i think i am korean. as i continued my journey there was one area that had several different types of birds in cages hanging from the bamboo. not really sure what this was about. a mini-mini zoo perhaps? all the koreans loved it. they were taken pictures of every bird. a few minutes later i was standing my the waterfall. it was a man-made one but still enjoyable. i'm not sure what it is about me and waterfalls but i really like them. maybe its the inner dolphin in me wanting to be near water. i stood there for awhile just taking it in and watching all the families take their pictures in front of it. off to the side was a little drinking fountain where you drank out of bamboo cups. i continued along the path to see what else i could find. at the top of this one incline there was a grave site. i climbed over the bamboo fence to get a closer look. its so cool to see these giant mounds that are graves. even better that it was within the forest. it was now that the rain started to fall. i found a little pagoda covering to stand under for a bit. off in the bamboo were two ceramic pandas and one person dressed in a panda suit. a little random. the panda man scared a couple of little kids who were there. i guess they don't like seeing a 6 foot tall panda walking and waving. i hung out there for awhile and then continue on my way when the rain slowed down. now i was off to explore the bamboo festival in the rain. which had started to come down harder. i crossed the river by taking a bamboo bridge. on the other side were more vendors and food stuff. i walked to the end where there was a performance going on. it was a woman singing accompanied by a man on the drums. it was quite enjoyable to watch. by now i was completely soaked. i saw a woman selling ponchoes so i ran after her. not sure why i even bothered since i was completely drenched but i purchased on anyway. so here i stood in damyang in basically a white trash bag. the arms were a tad short and i had a hard time covering my bag too. i decided i'd head back to the bus. at least i would be able to dry off some. on my way there were a bunch of people in the river with bamboo baskets trying to catch fish. apparently it was some kind of contest. these kids were going crazy in there. its nice to see that the rain didn't put a damper on the days events. this time crossing the river i took a little rock bridge. as i made my way back i found a bamboo leaf with a poem on it lamented. lucky me finding presents. near the parking lot where the bus was park was a little covering. i stood under there since i wasn't sure which bus was mine. the tour guide who spoke very little english was there. he asked where my friends where and i replied with i don't know. an older couple from my bus were there too and when they headed for the bus they told me to follow them. the woman tried to speak to me but since she knew little english and i knew little korean we didn't get far. when we got to the bus it was literally rocking. the ajummas were have a dance party in the aisle. i made my way to the back, busted out my camera and starting shooting some video and photos. these ladies were busting a move. i loved it! one ajumma offered me a shot of soju which i took and then gave me a quail egg. so sweet. eventually the ajummas conveinced me to join to them and so i did. there i was dancing in the bus aisle with a group of wild and crazy ajummas. it kind of felt like i was back at the christmas party with p when i was dancing with the sequince lady. let the good times roll. i'm not sure how long the dancing went on. it felt like forever. everytime a new ajumma noticed i was dancing they got excited. they kept yelling out "woo". the ajumma i was near was a dancing queen. she could move. i threw the hula wave into my dancing and she copied me. cute. then they all started coming up to me giving me the big thumbs up. there's was a korean man who spoke english and he told me that they all thought i was very good and number 1. i think i made the ajummas happy. and then the music stopped. sadness. korean bus dance party 2005 had ended. it was time to leave for baengyang-sa. we seconds to spare horace and young made it back to the bus. they had missed the whole dance party.

at naejang-san national park is the baengyang-sa [white sheep temple]. the temple was established in 632 when is was called baengma-sa. the name changed in the late 1600s when a well known monk preached so well that a white sheep came down from the mountain to listen. [thats my little history tidbit for you]. the views around the temple are amazing. there's a coy pond, another pond with a bridge, and lots of mountains. watching the rain hit the water was so beautiful. the energy there was amazing. you felt so at peace. the temples themselves were amazing too. there was so much to look at. everything was so green and lush. there is nothing like looking at a temple and behind it stands this giant mountain reaking of spring. if only it had been sunny. seeing that i was still wet and very cold i decided to leave horace and young again and walked back to the bus. when i got to the parking lot i didn't see a bus. before completely freaking out i noticed the tour guide standing in the street. the bus had gone into town [about 100 km] so the ajummas could get some food. he asked where my friends were and i said at the temple. as we stood there the older couple from before approached. together the four of us walked toward town. the tg [tour guide] tried talking to me. we had very little luck with that. every time i said something he told me "no understand." he did ask if i was an outcast since i always seemed to be alone. i said yes. he said he was an outcast too. finally we made it to the bus. once aboard there was no dance party happening. oh well. apparently there are lots of hiking to be done here. it something i might look into doing especially since there are hotels right in the area. horace and young eventually made it back and we were off. back to the train station. the journey home was much like the journey there. the ajummas shared some snacks with us again. they are just too kind. i got back to my apartment around 11ish and was completely beat. what a great day.

be well…

souvenirs bought:
a gold pig for good fortune
a red towel with buddha picture and korean writing

snaps from damyang/baengyang-sa…
Links

• damyang/baengyang-sa