Tuesday, May 22

Monday I went shopping in the area around the Incheon Bus Terminal subway stop where May had told me to go in search of gifts for Jay’s bosses who have gone beyond the call of duty to show me the sights of the area and treat me to ferry rides and lunches.  Korea has long established practices in many areas that are strange to a Canadian, and one of them is the purchase of ‘gift sets’ as a thank you.  May said that I would find them in the big Shinsaegae and Lotte department stores near the station.  They are baskets and boxes of fruits and things packaged in a very fancy way.  Jay suggested that the guys might prefer a bottle of liquor and a box of oranges from Jeju Island, and that’s probably what they’ll get because I’m such an unpracticed shopper that I wandered around the stores for hours and saw nothing except some funny little Korean socks that I bought as gifts for my friends.  I don’t think anywhere else in the world has such silly socks as Korea; I really like them. 

Today was more successful, although it almost failed too.  I followed my ‘Rough Guide’ on the subway to the far north of Seoul again, an hour and a half to the stop where I caught a bus.  All went well until I got off the bus and discovered that my idea of 100 meters and the ‘Rough Guide’s are different.  I almost gave up after looking around, jumping to the conclusion that the bus had left me in the wrong spot and asking 2 taxi drivers for help, but they didn’t understand a word I said.  Fortunately I then asked a bus driver who pointed me further up the road, a distance that I won’t even try to estimate since it’s clear that I have no idea how far 100 meters are.  Some people might find this fodder for jokes, including the group of ajjashi, men of about my age, that I met on the hike.  The walk up Mount Bugaksan along the Seoul Fortress Wall is more of a stair climb.  In my weakened condition, it wore me out in record time.  I stopped at one of the shady rest spots to drink some water and eat some of the apple and cheese I had brought with me.  That’s when I met the group of ajjashi.  One started to talk to me in English that he said he had learned in the military but forgotten.  It was true he didn’t speak much, but he discovered that I was Canadian and that I had come all the way from Incheon by subway and bus.  The latter fact shocked him a bit.  Then he got down to a very common early question in Korea; “How old are you?”  I could answer that in Korean, and then one of the other men finally piped up in English; “ He sixty two.”  Then he looked at me and said what I think was; “ You good body.”  Out of the blue I responded; “New bra.”  It  surprised me that I had said that, but I was convinced that they hadn’t understood until I heard as they continued along the trail the last man who had spoken English to me say something and all the others roar with laughter.  I carried on to the top and along the wall looking out over Seoul until I thought I’d better return the way I had come because although I knew that the Fortress Trail carries on in a circle around Seoul linking all the hills, I didn’t want to go down farther and then have to climb back up or to end up in a part of the city that I didn’t know.  Near the gate I saw a deer.  Unlike the ones at home, it was full size but still spotted.  On the long subway ride home I was dehydrated and weak until I bought a bottle of barley tea and felt much better.  As nobody is permitted to take pictures on Bugaksan because of its strategic location above the Blue House, Korea's equivalent of the US White House, I include more shots of Buddha.

Jay with one of the many Buddahs at the temple on the hill near his apartment.  In the distance you can just see the tall buildings of Song-do, the newly reclaimed area of Incheon where Jay's school is located.

A ceiling of lanterns and another Buddha at the same temple

A worker touches up the paint on a small statue in preparation for the birthday this Saturday.