Every Time It Snows(I)

From late in the afternoon Yesterday, December 27, 2009, it started to snow for the first time in this part of the country, much enough to cover the street up to 3cm height. With the falling snow, the entire village changed into a white world dramatically, making everything on earth clean and pure white. That's probably why most people, particularly children, as well as dogs, are pleased when it starts to snow.

From the eye of a driver, however, a snowfall means a terrible obstacle in maneuvering his or her vehicle in an appropriate manner on the road. The worst case, however, usually come in the aftermath of a snowfall when the temperature drops pretty fast to below freezing point, especially near the mouth of a tunnel. A so-called 'Ecology Tunnel' was constructed last summer at the 'Gingmaeii Mountain Pass' through 'Gyeongmyeong-ro' which connects 'Gongchon-dong', Seo-Gu District to 'Gesan-dong, Geyang-Gu District in the northwestern part of Incheon City.

Some Unknown Facts about the GI Waterway

As a further step over the controversy about the GI (Gyeongin) Canal project, the waterway construction has finally been implemented. Unfortunately, however, the quarrels between the central government and the environmentalists haven’t come to an end yet. As a native Incheoner and local supporter for the project, I was able to take some time to find some unknown essential facts about the waterway as follows;

To understand the relationship between the GI Waterway and the Gulpocheon (Watercourse), we need to know about the Gulpocheon and its history, as well. The Gulpocheon is a watercourse or river which is running across the vast western Seoul plains, including Bupyeong-gu and Gyeyang-gu of Incheon City, Bucheon City, Gangseo-gu of Seoul, and Gimpo City, etc., to Han River. From the administrative eye, it’s a second grade regional river or watercourse which basin size and the length reaches to 134㎢ and 21㎞, respectively. There are more than 1.5 million inhabitants living around the area at this point of time.

The history of the watercourse actually dates back to late 13th century, during Goryeo Dynasty, when the militarists Choi, Choongheon’s son tried for the first time to construct a kind of substitute artificial waterway primarily to transport grains paid as taxes from southwestern parts of the Korean Peninsula more safely, other than through the ‘Sondolmok’, a narrow and dangerous strait between Ganghwa-do and Gimpo, exposed to frequent shipwrecks. It’s late Choseon Dynasty, however, when the watercourse appeared to shape like its present status. The name ‘Gulpocheon’ itself in Chinese character reflects the facts, too. In short, the Gulpocheon is an artificial waterway which can be characterized as a canal from the historical point of view.

A Flood Control Channel Construction was begun to Prevent Frequent Floods

Geographically, the Gulpocheon basin has some problems in treating rainwater because of its pretty gentle slope and the narrow width. And the middle and the lower reaches of the stream basins are pretty low-lying areas with 5.5m above sea level, and therefore rely mostly on the compulsory draining when the Han River water level is rising during the rainy seasons. In fact, it has the structural problem, exposed to frequent flood damages.

In July of 1987, the basins experienced a severe damage, including heavy casualties by a big flood. The Construction and Transportation Department established a basic plan for a comprehensive Gulpocheon water control project in this area in 1991, and the Gulpocheon Flood Control Channel was introduced in 1992 as a part of the plan.

Though the plan was introduced only to prevent floods at the beginning stage, other ideas like utilizing it as a purpose of vessel transportation was later emerged as well, and finally the so-called ‘Gyeong-In Canal Project’ has been formed. As the canal project was delayed, a temporary flood control channel project was implemented in the meantime, and the temporary channel construction was completed in June 2003 with the 20m width and the 14.2km length size after 2 years’ construction period to avoid roughly 2 year-frequency floods (precipitation 114mm/day, flood waters 270m3/second) . It turned out, however, that the temporary channel was not enough to prevent the bigger sized floods than the average 2-year frequency floods. In September 2003, the government made its final decision to construct the permanent flood control channel in the first place and reconsider the necessity of the canal project.
Accordingly, the so-called Gulpocheon Flood Control Channel 2nd State Project that can handle the maximum 100-year-frequency floods was implemented. The core of the project was to expand the width to 80m from 20m, and construct a road on the southern bank of the channel to resolve the traffic congestion problem around the area..


Construction of the Environment-friendly Flood Control Channel and the Organization of a Council for the Regional Development

On August 26, 2004, a council for the regional development was finally formed as local residents, local government officials and related NGO members were participating in the meeting, primarily to discuss the way to construct a environment-friendly flood control channel and to resolve any problems that can be occurred during the process.

In March 2007, meanwhile, the DHV-Saman Consortium which has performed an economical efficiency of the Gyeong-In Canal reported a new result of B/C 1.76, demonstrating an economical side of the project. And the prime minister hosted ‘National Policy Coordination Meeting confirmed to begin the canal project shortly after KDI reported another report of B/C = 1.07, also indicating an economical side of the project. Finally, the construction of the canal started on March 25, 2009.

The Fall of the Leaf in Incheon(II)

(Left - A panoramic view from the top of the 'Samnangseong Castle')

One of my favorite places to visit near my home in northwestern part of Incheon is Ganghwa Island, especially 'Jeondeungsa Temple' which was reportedly built in AD381 during the ancient 'Goguryeo' dynasty at the skirts of 'Jeongjoksan' Mountain'. Actually, I can get there within an hour and half in most cases by driving my SUV through the 'Choji Grand Bridge', connecting 'Choji', southern part of Ganghwa Island to the mainland; 'Daemyeong Port'. On my way to the mountain, additionally, I can look around some historic sites, such as 'Chojijin' fortress, built in 1656 for the first time and later became a big battleground, defending Joseun Dynasty from the foreign invasions primarily in late 19th century when American, France and Japanese troops started to pour into this country of Morning Calm to nudge the rulers, central or provincial, into opening its doors to the outside world for trading and cultural exchanges, etc.

I was able to visit the temple in the spring of 1967 when I was in the 6th grade of 'Seogot' Elementary School as a school field trip for the first time. At that time, we had to cross the river by a ferry boat together with two chartered buses on board at 'Tongjin' because there was no bridge connecting the island to the main land at all. At this point of time, however, there are two bridges available to and from the island.

The Fall of the Leaf in Incheon(I)

I can taste and actually smell the fall of the leaf from the middle of September every year. After a long, hot and humid summer, cool and barmly autumn tints season is finally coming around the corner.

The 'Chuseok' holidays, one of the biggest national holidays in this country, dating back to more than 1,500 years ago, is coming this time of the year in our nation. Actually it comes on August 15th each year in the lunar calendar. In the case of this year, it comes on Saturday, October 3rd, bringing the weekend to a long weekend. In South Korea, the day before and after New Year's Day (lunar) and Chuseok are nominated as holidays as well. The 'Chuseok' in Korea is a festival which thanks to those ancestral gods who has helped their descendants to have a good year, as well as practicing a feast to the ancestors with some songpyeons, half-moon-shaped rice cakes (stuffed with beans or sesames and flavored with pine needles), rice wines and the first fruits on the table.

Shortly after practicing a feast to the ancestors at home, family members (mostly male members) go out to visit their ancestral graves with a roll mat and a kettle rice wine and some fruits and cakes. In my case, it takes only several minutes to get to the grave site which is located at the skirts 0f a nearby mountain by walking. I think I am pretty fortunate, ain't I?

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (IV)

On August 2, 2009, the 3rd day of my summer vacation, my wife and I decided to visit our secret place to hide from the outside world one more time, a narrow beach near the Two-brothers Rock, instead of go fishing with other members. As soon as we got to the place with a small lunch box, we erected a small tent on the pebble beach to slipped into swimsuits in it.

Actually, the beach is not ideal for swimming because there was no sand to accommodate swimmers comfortably. There were only rocks covered with numerous oyster shells and the water temperature was pretty low, considering the time of the year - peak summer. It's not safe to touch any rock after reaching to the other side of the beach by swimming other than the beach pebbles because the oyster shells attached to the rocks pretty tightly were dangerously sharp like the edge of a knife. As a matter of fact, I got some cuts on my palms and fingers inadvertently. Notwithstanding all of such things, however, it's like a paradise to stay in. It's too beautiful, peaceful and relaxing place to leave, as well.

We spent a couple of more hours in the haven before returning to our base camp, and waited other members who had joined the captain on the offshore fishing trip...

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (III)

The sea was continuously calm and the sky was very bright and sparkling.. brilliant. It was a glorious day, with little sign of any storm clouds to come. The water looked like a big, emerald blue carpet. My brother-in-law started to catch a fish with his lure fishing rod, as shown on the picture, shortly after the captain had dropped the anchor about one nautical mile away from the port.

Most of the other members, however, were using a fishing reel with a longline with several hooks on it, usually used in deep sea fishing, respectively. Soon I was able to catch a frog flounder from the bottom of the sea, about 20 meters deep. Actually, there was no specific skills needed to hook fishes other than the bait. Since fishes, such as frog flounders like to hang around near the bottom of the sea, we put fishlines deep into the water as possible. We can estimate the depth of the sea by the feeling of the sinker touching the bottom through the line. The catched fishes are thrown into a water basin under the deck after being released from hooks.

The captain moved the ship frequently to other places to allow his fishermen and women to catch as more fishes as possible within the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea. If any fishing boat approaches the line, a Marine Police vessel ship near this area gave warning not to cross the line inadvertently.

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (II)

Our daily routine on the island started from early in the morning the next day, August 1, 2009. It's sunny and breeze day. Shortly after breakfast with fish soup, we walked along the beach west bound over the hill to the core of 'Dumujin'. As we went down the steps from the top of the hill, we could get a splended view of crystal blue seawater and the surrounding rocks of fantastic shape, including the Candlestick Rock, Lion rock and Two-brothers Rock, etc., as well as the peaceful and nostalgic horizon. I can surely say it's enough to be called as 'Mt. Geumgang in the sea', in view of its breathtaking view. We started to look around every corner of this area, while posing each other to take pictures individually or as a group, before returning to our base camp at the village. During the bad weather with the gusting wind, especially in winter time, however, it's reportedly not allowed to have access to this area.

Around 11 o'clock in the morning, we went on board a fishing boat 'Parangsae-ho' to go fishing to the sea (offshore). Anothe reason for the sailing was for sightseeing, of course.

A Trip to Baegryeong-do Island (I)

One of my longstanding dreams is to go into retreat to a remote island far from the bustling city in mainland to relax for a week or two. And, finally, I was able to make my dream comes true. On July 31, 2009, together with my wife, brothers-in-law, their spouses, and sisters-in-law, I went on board a ferry steamer, the Princess, connecting Incheon Yeonan Wharf to the island of Baegryeong-do, located in north-westernmost Seohae (Yellow Sea), which is only 12 KM away from 'Jangsangot', Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Actually Baegryeong-do is a part of Incheon, specifically 'Baegryeong-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon Metropolitan City.' Therefore, Incheon citizens can have the advantage of getting 50 percent discount of passenger fares from early this year.

The ferry left for the island at 1 o'clock in the afternoon on time and the sea was calm and peaceful enough for the passengers to enjoy their voyage. We reserved our seats on the 2nd floor and the decision turned out to be right because it's more comfortable, comparing to the 1st floor. I started to read a paperback novel 'The Pelican Brief', written by John Grisham, while sipping beer out of the can. From time to time, I went out of the cabin to hit the deck for fresh air. The ferry was running throuigh a broad expanse of water toward the north.

Around 5:30 in the afternoon, four and half hours since the departure, the ferry reached Baegryeong-do after a couple of stopovers at 'Socheong' and 'Daecheong' Island on its way. After transferring to a passenger van at 'Yonggipo' Port, located at the southeastern part of the island, we started to move to our final destination 'Dumujin'. En route to the location, we stopped by at 'Kongdol' beach. As the name indicates, the broad beach was covered by numerous small satiny pebble stones. The Korean word 'komgdol' can be interpretted into English language by stones that looks like soybeans. Swimming, however, is not allowed at the beach probably because it's too dangerous to swim. The depth of water turned out too deep to guarantee a safe and pleasant swimming.

We proceeded to 'Dumujin', our final destination, through mostly paved country roads to unpack our luggage and suitcases at a local fishman's house which served as our base camp during our stay on the island. The fisherman owns a raw fish restanrant, named 'Parangsae' (Blue Bird) at the waterfront and two fishing boats, as well, with the same name.

A Memoir of the Old Places of My Military Service in Late 1979

During the two and half years of my military service, I spent the first 7 months in Yeoncheon, northern Gyeonggi Province, surrounded by the snake shape, crystal blue Imjin River as a second lieutenant, from late 1970's to early 1980's. The military bases where I served were actually located northern part of Buksam-ri village which was located in the so-called 'civilians are not allowed to trespass without getting approval from the regional military authority'. Recently, I was able to take time to visit the Buksam-ri Ferry site which is one of the places that brings back some particular memories that were scorched into my brain many years ago.

In retrospect, the period of my military service can be said as a 'convulsive historical events', including the assassination of president Park, Jung-Hee on October 26, 1979 and the following military coup on December 12, 1979. I experienced the whole events as a platoon leader of the 80th Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division. I was on watch (officer) at the company headquarter located at Ssuggol in the night of October 26, 1979 when I got a phone call from my boss, Lieutenant-colonel Lee Seong-geun around midnight to check if everything was ok in my unit. There was an 'Jindotgae' watchdog alert issued from the authorities an hour before, therefore I just finished to take subsequent actions to my soldiers through the line of command. As an answer to my personal question about the nature of the alert, he just mentioned that it's probably a normal watchdog alert for the soldiers to be fully prepared for any possible attack or happening in the frontier. Based on the facts, accordingly, he didn't know what actually had happened in the center of Seoul on that day; the assassination of the president by his close staff.

From early in the morning of the following day, October 27, 1979, however, the situation was changed dramatically as sad and solemn pieces of music were broadcasted continuously from the radio without any explanation or comment. And soon the back-to-duty order for all officers and/or noncommissioned officers who resided outside barracks was released from the regiment headquarter as well. Personally I had to visit a small farmer's house near the Buksam-ri Ferry site in which one of my fellow platoon leaders in the company, lieutenant Park, lived with his newly-wed wife by renting a room to address the order to come back immediately.

For about a month and half from that day to December 12, 1979, security was pretty tight throughout the military bases across the nation. All military officers and soldiers should wear war attires with light military equipments during the period of time. From time to time, I was able to hear news about the progress of trial for Kim Jae-gyu, ex-KCIA chief, who had assassinated President Park from radio or TV. I can clearly remember a particular situation in my unit during the night of December 12, 1979. My unit was posted at the 'Gunja' mountain bunkers due to an RCT(Regiment Combat Training) at that time. Late in the evening near midnight, I just started to fall a sleep in my sleeping bag after a hard day of maneuvering with my soldiers when I heard a siren, signalling an immediate gathering on the ground outside of the bunkers. Interpreting it as another harsh training, we were prepared to get a following order soon.

On the supply road below the ridgeway, dozens of trucks were ready to accommodate our units and move to somewhere else. It turned out later that we were destined to move to someplace near Seoul to put down the military coup, headed by general Jeon Doo-whan. Fortunately, however, the maneuvering schedule was cancelled at once and we were ordered to return to our base as soon as possible to wait following orders there. And a shortcut to our base in Ssukgol where our company headquarter was located and 157 OP where my platoon HQ was located from the Gunja Mountain bunkers was crossing the river by a ferryboat at Buksam-ri Ferry. It took about an hour for our troops to reach the Gunnam ferry by marching over the mountains and through Hwangji-ri. It's very cold early in the morning (around 2 o'clock) on December 13, 1979, but not enough to freeze the river. My soldiers were severely tired after a day-long maneuvering and the lack of sleep for a couple of days since the start of the R.C.T. which is the abbreviation for the Regiment Combat Training.

Though the river was covered by ice, it's not thick enough to cross the river by walking on the ice. The small ferryboat, therefore, should made round trips several times to carry my platoon soldiers to the other side of the river completely. The big tree shown on the picture was there on site 30 years ago to witness everything, as well. I was there at 157 OP until late March of the following year before moving to the frontier between the South and the North Korea to do the mission of defending the DMZ, by switching the mission with the 81st Regiment, as a platoon leader of the same 2nd Battalion of the 80th Regiment.

The 27th Anniversary of YANGSANBAK Club

Last Saturday, 13th June 2009, a garden party was held to celebrate the 27th anniversary of the founding of "Yangsanbak" club which was started as an old high school classmates' association in 1982. We attended a same middle and high school for 6 years. (Dongsan Middle and High School located in old town Incheon.) I attended the same elementary school (Seogot) with one of my old friends in the club as well. The party took place at the parking lot, annexed to a commercial building for which I own, and opened around 5 o'clock in the afternoon and continued until 9 o'clock in the evening. The weather was pretty good, so sunny, breezy and comfortable day just before sunset that can accommodate a happy and pleasant outdoor barbeque party. One of the secret reasons why the club can be lasted and survived such a long period of time is that couples of hubby and wife should attend every gathering and furthermore wives have practically been playing more important roles in every aspects of the club, including accounting of the membership dues, etc. And our monthly gathering was set for the second weekend from the beginning, and not changed ever. That's probably another reason for the long-lasting friendly gatherings between and within our members.

BAEDARI Secondhand Bookstores Street

Friday, June 5, 2009, late in the afternoon, I was able to hang around on the so-called 'Baedari Secondhand Bookstores Street' in the old city of Incheon, across the 'Jungang (Central), Jayu (Liberty) or Yankee Market' because I had some spare time shortly before a meeting appointment with my second cousin who is a teacher at a nearby high school, just to have some drinks (Soju) together. The district name "Baedari" can be translated directly into Korean language as 'Ferryboat Bridge' or a small pier where ferryboats can anchor in. Until early twentieth century when the Kyeongin (Seoul-Incheon) Railroad was constructed for the first time in Korea, there was reportedly a waterway to this area from the coast. Though the waterway is completely covered with the pavement of broad street these days, folks in this district still experience floods during the rainy season in summer because it's pretty low-lying area. During it's heyday in 1960's when I was an elementary school children, I remember there were numerous small businesses and street vendors, selling almost everything from American GI's military clothing, cigarettes, liquors, canned foods, diner supplies like sausages, etc., to every types of book crowded in the street. There were several ice cake factories like 'Changyeongdang', etc. through the street as well. From the late 1960's, the street began to be called as 'BAEDARI Secondhand Bookstores Street' as more than 50 bookstores settled in both sides of the street. Now, however, only several bookstores remain, primarily because the people's living standard has been upgraded. Students, who were the biggest customers of those bookstores are no more visit ther street to buy those used textbooks or reference books at a new school term. And, partly because they don't need to rely heavily on reference books or dictionaries, thanks to the so-called information age which enables them to get necessary information from the Internet. Besides, the number of population in the background area has been decreased for the last 20 years as new suburbs, such as Yeonsu and Songdo, etc, were developed in a large scale.

A JANGNEUNG Tour

Recently, I was able to take time to visit 'JANGNEUNG', the tomb of King Wonjong (1580-1619) and his wife Queen Inheon (1578-1626), the father and mother of King Injo, 16th monarch of Joseon Dynasty. It's located in Pungmu-dong, Gimpo City, 20 km away from my place and took about 30 minutes to reach there by driving on Route 307. In retrospect, I visited the historical site in October 1972 when I was a high school sophomore for a school excursion for the first time, and had chances to go there several times more thereafter. Actually the tomb was one of favorite places to visit for an excursion for students from elementary to high school in Incheon and its vivinities, and it looks like the same today as well.

It is my understandin that there are total 19 tomb sites of Joseon Dynasty's royal family, primarily for its kings and queens, in South Korea. And most of the sites are located around Seoul. JANGNEUNG is located comparatively far from the heart of Seoul, and the site was selected because it's perfect to accommodate the royal family's bodies from the eye of Poongsu, oriental geomancy. It's reportedly took 11 hours to carry the death carriage to this area from Seoul some 400 years ago

Western-style Single Homes in South Korea (II)

After crossing the street, dividing 'Angol Village 2' and Baengnyeonggol' by riding on a bicycle, I came across more than a dozen single homes, mostly made of wood. And some houses are still under construction.
Owners of those houses seemed to be retired or semi-retired middle-aged couples in their 50's or 60's because, otherwise, it would not easy for them to commute to and from workplaces located in big cities like Seoul, Incheon or it's vicinities through the New Airport Bridge which connects the island to the main land, leaving the toll rate of 3,600 Won per one-way trip to Incheon and 7,400 Won per one-way trip to Seoul aside.
In most cases, as fas as I know, the construction materials of those single homes are imported, primarily from North America, because domestic suppliers are not afford to produce the quality goods at the competitive prices due to the so-called economy of scale by the poor demand across the country in South Korea.
But it's not necessarily mean that South Korean people prefer condominiums, apartments or villas to single homes. In fact, many people in this country have dreams to live in 'white houses on the hill' sometime in the future. The problem is that they can not afford to make their dreams come true because the appropriate sites to build the dream houses are too expensive to buy, and also they are too busy to take time to prepare any detailed scheme.

Western-style Single Homes in South Korea (I)

If you are a tourist from abroad or an expatriate, you may wonder if you can find any high-end neighborhood or village with a lot of beautiful western-style single homes with manicured lawns and flowered gardens in South Korea.
As a matter of fact, it's becoming more and more difficult to find decent single homes, particualarly in mega cities like Seoul and Incheon because those metropolitan cities are almost covered by apartments, condominiums or villas, due mainly to the lack of land for human habitation isince the cities are surrounded by the so-called greenbelt. But it's too early for you to give up because you can still have chances to find some even in Yeongjong Island where the airport is actually located.
Last Sunday, May 10, 2009, my wife, daughter and I was invited to visit my brother-in-law's home (above) in Unseo-dong, near the airport, to have lunch together with his family members. including my parents-in-law, visiting them as well.
After lunch, I was able to go bike hiking with my compact digital camera in my pocket.

Elementary School Alumni Association

Saturday, April 25, 2009 - Fourty-one years after graduating Seogot Elementary School, I was able to have a good time with a group bus tour to 'Mongsanpo' beach resort in Chungnam Province with my elementary school classmates as the 1967-68 class alumni association had recently been formed.
More than 45 old boys and girls came to the bus parking lot near Incheon Seo-gu District Office around 7 o'clock early in the morning to get into the bus to hang out . Actually, many of my old classmates, both boys and girls, were familiar to me because I was able to meet them from time to time so far. Several peope among them, however, were like totally strangers to me since I couldn't remember anything about them, including their features and behaviors, etc. Actually all of my memories on them were blacked out. I had a hard time to match up some of my old friends' names to their current features, as well. As a matter of fact, fourty-one years are far enough to change teenage boys and girls into middle-aged men and women with crow feet at the edge of their eyes.
On our way to the beach in the bus, we spent most of our time to say hello to each other, while sipping up coffee or having some rice cakes and pork served with 'soju' or whatever individually wanted. It took approximately 2 hours for us to get to the destination. At the beach resort, meanwhile, we had a great time to play 'Jokku' game, a Korean-style foot-tennis, and foot-baseball game together like naive children before taking group pictures. Also, we enjoyed barbeque party at the courtyard of a nearby beach house. (Second from the right in the picture is me.)

Traditional Korean-style Funeral Service

I just got back from Anmyeon-do, Chungnam Province, after attenting a funeral service for one of my wife's relatives who was 91 years old. The funeral service was prepared generally by traditional style, including using an old Korean-style bier or a flower-decorated death carriage to a tomb located at their (ancestral) family graveyard at the skirts of a mountain near the village as shown on the photo. In fact, it's not easy nowadays to witness this kind of old-fashioned funeral service across the nation, especially in a big city like Seoul or Incheon, though it could not be something like 'once in a lifetime event'.

In Korea, generally, a funeral service is progressed for three days (two nights) after an announcement of death. Therefore mourners should make a condolatory call during this period of time, and condolence visits are made normally from early in the evening to midnight as bereaved families are standing at the side of the coffin. In Korea, in most cases, the coffin cover is not opened to mourners to show the face of the dead. Many relatives and close friends of bereaved families, however, stay overnight at the funeral home with the bereaved to express their sympathy as talking about the life of the dead while drinking Soju or playing cards. Early in the morning of the 3rd day, the corpse is finally carried to its burial site. Sometimes a brief farewell rite is progressed on the street in front of the house in which the dead person lived before the death en route to the graveyard.

Mt. Cheolma Tracking (III)

As I went up to a hill, there was a trail that's pretty well beatened-out by numerous walkers or trackers. The forest was not able to make its flowers and trees come into buds and leaves yet, despite of the fact that it's the so-called 'Cold Food Day' and 'National Arbor Day' or tree planting day. We proceeded into an elegant and comfortable ridgeway to find a military outpost about 50 meters ahead of us. The left-hand side trail from this point leads to the Gongchon Water Purification Plant and the right-hand side trail leads to Gajeong-dong and Cheongcheon-dong, but this direction was not allowed for civilians to proceed because of the military camp located in the middle. Finally countless rhododendrons appeared at the other side of the post in front of us. We were able to wind our way to reach a ridge which is used to be exposed completely to the hot sun light in high summer about 200 meters ahead. The ridge has no visible tall tree due to the strong wind in the severely cold winter season, too. While resting for a little while on the ridge, we could look back clearly at the Yellow Sea, a new international airport located in Yeongjong Island and even Jeondeungsa Temple in Ganghwa Island. Then we poceeded to the trail which leads to the summit of the Mt. Cheolma. The trail was comfortable thoroughly.
Finally, we reached to the summit. In the midst of dreamy fog, Bupyeong town was entirely seen below. If fortunate enough, we can see Namsan Tower and Mt. Bukhan in northern Seoul, Mt. Gwanak in Gwacheon City as well. With an expectation that we can see Mt. Cheolma decorated with numerous sengreens and rhododendrons about a week later, we finished our tour.

Mt. Cheolma Tracking (II)

Shown on the left-hand side is a signboard for prohibiting cultivation of any agricultural product because the site is reserved for the construction of 'Gongchon Elementary School' beginning the first part of the year 2009. The small-sized mountain beyond is my family-owned graveyard where up to 12-generation of my ancestors, including my grandparents, are resting. On the occasion of my visits to my ancestral graves usually made shortly after ancestors memorial rites done at my place on New Year's Day (lunar) or Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day), it takes only 5,6 minutes by walking, thanks to its closeness. I believe the site can be called as 'Myeongdang' (a good graveyard) in view of its location; sunny place facing south, though I am still not a Chinese-Korean geomancy expert. It is my understanding that there is no basic difference between the selection of building sites and that of
graveyard sites.

Mt. Cheolma Tracking (I)

On April 5, 2008, Saturday. in the afternoon, when such a beautiful light fog that looks like a profound expectations a young sailor must have before leaving for unknown harbors far away for his maiden voyage, I was able to start to go for a hiking through Mt. Cheolma around my house with my wife. Because I was encouraged by a memory of this time of year of those numerous rhododendron and sengreen flowers bloomed on every sides of the mountain when I was a small boy, though it would not probably looked exactly like the 'Yagsan (Mt.) of Youngbeon' appeared on a famous poem by Kim So-weol. The round trip takes approximately an hour and half. My favorite course for the summit is walking through the Simgokro street from my place. Actually I was used to enjoy the sudden silent and comfortable atmosphere from the bustling urban life as soon as I enter to the non-paved trail from the main street. Soon Gwangmyeong Apartment complex appeared on the righy-hand side through the forest, and the summit of the mountain, as well as the goal of the tracking far away. I can still remember the name of this area as 'Utgol (Upper hill).