2012 Travel Diary #17: On hiking in Korea
29 March 2012. “Have you got proper hiking boots?” That’s the standard question from concerned Koreans when I told them I was going to walk up Jirisan. I was familiar with the Korean custom of dressing...
View Article2012 Travel Diary #18: The hike to Beopgyesa
29 March 2012. The road through Jungsan-ri stops in a car park beyond which are the Jirisan National Park office and a barrier across the road. Jungsan-ri is the start of the shortest (but not...
View Article2012 Travel Diary #19: Beopgyesa Temple and those Japanese feng-shui stakes
Beopgyesa Temple (법게사) is the highest in Sancheong County and at least the third-highest in Korea. The good people of Sancheong believe that Beopgyesa is the highest temple in South Korea, a claim...
View Article2012 Travel Diary #20: Rabbit Stew and Love Shots
Beopgyesa the previous evening, before the rain 30 March 2012. The ice on the mountain trail the previous day had given me metaphorical cold feet about proceeding upwards beyond Beopgyesa to Jirisan’s...
View Article2012 Travel Diary #21: Seong Cheol’s birthday, Park Chan-soo’s museum and...
Venerable Seong Cheol (left – photo: Buddhism.org) and Park Chan-soo (photo: LKL) 31 March 2012. The impact of the love shots is still fogging my brain when Mr Yoon arrives at 9:30 in the morning....
View Article2012 Travel Diary #22: The Burial Grounds of the Royal Joseon Placentas, and...
1 April 2012. Yes, it’s 1 April, and no, this article is not an April Fool’s joke. Sunday in Sancheong town, and the National Assembly election campaign is in full swing. All along the main street, the...
View ArticlePostcard Teas, near Bond Street tube – for your supplies of Korean nokcha
One of my top tips for London is Postcard Teas, tucked away in Dering Street, close to Bond Street and Oxford Circus. The genial and knowledgeable proprieter Timothy D’Offay sources his teas from small...
View ArticleHahaha – the first Hong Sang-soo film I’ve enjoyed without trying
OK, it was the second time I had seen it. The first time, I had slept through it. But that was because I had been entering into the spirit rather too much by indulging in a drinking session of Hongian...
View ArticleThe Guardian hikes the Baekdu-daegan
Cheonwangbong, the summit of Jirisan (photo: Daniel Adamson / The Guardian) There’s a nice piece in The Guardian this week about hiking the Baekdu-daegan. The author starts at Cheonwangbong peak,...
View ArticleMun Ik-jeom: dutiful son and smuggler of cotton seeds
A close-up of a portrait of Mun Ik-jeom at the museum devoted to his work in Sancheong-gun Mun Ik jeom (문익점, 文益漸) was a rare individual who was honoured by the kings of two royal dynasties, first by...
View ArticleIf aliens landed in Gyeongnam, would they think Koreans worshipped the turtle?
Looking back at some of my travel photos, I can’t help but notice the prominence of turtles in the south of the peninsula. The symbolism of the turtle is explained briefly in the Life in Korea website...
View ArticleMMLG2: Arrival in Sancheong
The ultra-premium Johnnie Walker Blue Label Dunhill Trunk – for sale at Incheon Duty Free Incheon, Thursday 5 September, 2pm. As I leave the plane at Incheon, one of the hostesses says: “I hope it’s...
View ArticleMMLG3: Preparing for the Expo
Donguibogam Village, Sancheong-gun, Friday 6 September, 7am. Four hundred years ago, a ground-breaking medical encyclopaedia was published. The Donguibogam, literally the Principles and Practice of...
View ArticleMMLG4: Honouring the spirits, feeling the gi
A statue of Heo Jun with Pilbongsan in the background Donguibogam Village, Sancheong-gun, Friday 6 September, 9am. In the daylight, I am beginning to get my bearings. The Sancheong World Traditional...
View ArticleMMLG5: The official duties
Donguibogam Village, Sancheong-gun, Friday 6 September, 2pm. After lunch, I realise that I now have to perform my ambassadorial duties. My sense of gloom is at odds with the enthusiastic spiel that I...
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