Slumin' It

Now that Winter Intensive has begun I actually have quite a bit of free time on my hands. Not only that but I work during the mornings now so that the time I do have off isn't clouded over by the concession that I'll eventually have to go to work!

Spending the first part of the week with my family, running from Junggye to Gangnam and back, I didn't really get a chance to appreciate my new schedule. Come Thursday however I was out of work by four o'clock and had nothing to do until 11:00 the following morning! While it was too late to try a trek up the side of Bulamsan, which I've yet to do, I felt like the end of a beautiful day needed to be enjoyed outside. Thus, Nate and I went off on a 'nature walk,' that we had explored a week or so before.

Nature Walking

Just down the street, or to be more exact, up a hill and down the other side, there lies a small park that leads up a rather large hill from which you can look down on our little corner of commerce. The last time we did this walk we went all the way up and over the hill. Coming out on the backside we were shocked to find what looked like a sort of shanty town just kind of throw together and discarded some many years ago.


We stood for a while on the hillside just wondering how exactly such a slummy place could exist here in Junggye while everything else about it seems to scream Korean middle class. Perhaps that's why it's tucked away behind a hill, safe from the unadventurous Foreign Teachers eyes as well as those of 'respectable' Koreans. Who knows, I probably never will.

Headed down the backside

Anyways, it was quite a site to see what Nate could only describe as 'the real Asia.' This is exactly what it looked like. Set against the foothills of Bulansam, this small 'town' looked like it could have just as easily existed thousands of years ago in the same place, without the rusted motorbikes of course.

Bulamsan, the secret village, and highrises in the background

As we slowly walked down the embankment that sharply separated this settlement from the newly paved highway, we stopped at the sight of a young girl on a roof. Dressed in a tattered purple jacket, a girl of no more than 11 crouched over a stick that she was carefully smoothing down while her small, and dirty, canine companion looked on. The two of us stood, fascinated at this sight of this simple activity, knowing full well that just over the hill tens of thousands of children her age were shelling out tens of thousands of won to learn a language that she might have never heard of.

Unable to pull away we watched her go about her whittling until the stick was smooth enough to give to her little friend. By that time however the pup had lost all interest in playing with the stick and instead had turned his attention towards us staring at him. We finally caught the girl's eye and tried to cheerfully wave hello. She abashedly turned away without showing a great deal of interest, but, knowing we were still watching, continued to try and entice her dog to play with her carefully cured stick.

As the sun began to set we realized that we had only twenty minutes to get back home and shower before our final DYB band practice. Hurriedly making our way back towards Eunang Sa-gori neither of us could get over the fact the we hadn't thought to bring a camera and thus were left with only a faded memory of this little girl, who, inexplicably, offered a sort of insight and vision into Korea that I think both of us might have been looking for but had, until then, left undiscovered.

Anyways, a week or so later we found ourselves back on this 'nature walk' headed up and over the backside of the hill. Entering from a different trail head this time we stumbled upon a cement bunker dug out of the hillside. While we have no idea how old this thing is, why it's there or who would have used it, it sure was cool to play around! Though the entrance was once guarded by barbed wire, it had long ago been brushed aside, presumably by someone taking shelter in it. . .and no, certainly not by teenagers looking to party in the woods, I'll guarantee you that!

Enter the Bunker. . .

Bunker Hill?

After a war-enactment photo shoot of warding off North Koreans with sticks, we headed back towards the trail.

Gunnin' for the enemies!

Hide 'n Seek: Korean Version

At the top, we stopped at the summit work out station to try out the different twisty machines and I gave the 'inverter' a shot. Not quite sure what this thing does but you loop your feet into some bars on the bottom of it then lean back to flip your head to the ground and feet towards the sky. We've seen people hang like this indefinitely while others use the smooth axle to rotate back and forth from right side up to upside down. Me, I just liked flipping myself, yelling while I went, realizing I was causing a ruckus, and taking off down the backside!

Rooftop with a view

Armed with cameras this time we began the short decent down the far side of the hill towards our secret town. While I managed to get a few shots of the area and some rooftops, these pictures really don't do justice to the stark contrast of this settlement's existence in the middle of what is otherwise a highrise concrete jungle.

Nestled in the foothills of Bulamsan

To our dismay, the only thing we found on the rooftops were pots of fermenting kimchi. Hardly as exciting as our previous visit. While we didn't get a glimpse of this mystery child, I would be willing to bet that my wandering feet take me back over the hill a few more times while I'm here. Whether I'll be armed with a camera is yet to be known, but hey, if I see her again, I'll tell her you said hello.

Rooftop Kimchi Pots

If you're ever in the area, try not to stick to the main roads, it all grows so dull after a while. Actually if you're ever anywhere, try not to stick to the main roads. If that's all you do then all you'll ever see are things that everyone else already has. . .and you know that their pictures are probably better than yours. . .so just steal 'em off flickr and tell people that's where you went. . .that's what I do! (Just kidding, by the way. . .all pictures on this site are the product of the my or Nathan Kochanski's eye and thus are open to the public for use. . .unless you're willing to compensate me, in which case I'll humbly accept.)

Never mind that mumbo jumbo, what I meant to say was, whenever you're out and about, don't forget to stop and smell the slums, sometimes that's all you need to realize that life isn't always sweeter on the other side of the hill!