Jeondeung-sa Temple

Last Sunday, September 26, 2010, I visited Jeondeungsa Temple, located in southern part of Ganghwa Island, for the first time since last spring with my wife to commemorate the 28th anniversary of our wedding-Day.

Mayor Song's Mission Impossible (미션 임파서블)?

(The above photo was taken from the top of Mt. Cheolma in my neighborhood on Sunday, August 22, 2010 in the late afternoon.)

People wish to be happy. Originally here in Korea, however, there was no Korean alphabet i.e. 'Hangeul' word or diction for happiness before early twentieth-century when the Chinese character word '幸福(행복)' was imported from Japan after Japanese scholars in the 19th century made the word by combining two independant Chinese character '幸(행)', which means a fortune or good luck, and '福(복)', which means a good fortune or wealth, together. (Still East Asian countries share, entirely or partly, Chinese characters in addition to their native languages, though each country, let's say Korea and Japan, pronounces the same Chinese words differently in most cases, and owe much of their cultural heritages to the characters, believe or not.)

The word 'happiness' in English is reportedly one of the words that the Japanese translators had experience a real hardship in translating it into Chinese characters, as well as introducing those western conceptions into the East Asian cultural community. A Korean alphabet word '사회', or '社會' in Chinese character, is another example.

Actually the correct meaning of the word 'happiness' in English, or 'bonheur' in French, is a 'good time allowed by the Lord or God' and, therefore, it's based on the orthodox Christian religion's concept of God. Since there was no conception or thinking of such kind in East Asia at that time, the Japanese translators had no choice but to make the Chinese character word by combining the two independant words '幸' and '福', closely related to the material wealth, with each other.

Now here in Incheon, unfortunately, the controversy over the construction of a new main stadium in Seo-gu (District) for the 2014 Asian Games still hasn't come to an end, while many of mayor Song's fellow citizens, including his enthusiastic supporters, are keeping their eyes on his final decision. It is my understanding that the most important role and/or mission of any city administrator is to strive to make everybody happy to a large extent during his tenure, notwithstanding any difficulties on the way. Particularly, in this part of the world, 'the greatest happiness (행복) of the greatest number' depends on the material wealth and prosperity.

Hopefully, mayor Song will make a right decision at the right time for all concerns, paving the way to make his mission possible and make his own people happy, as well.

A Trekking Holiday in Jeju-do Island (VI)

It took approximately 20 minutes for our team to arrive at 'Wudo' harbor by the car ferry, which can accommodate more than 240 passengers and a dozen of vehicles. As soon as we arrived at our base camp, namely 'Olle Pension' located at northeastern part of the island, most of our members moved to nearby 'Hagosudong Beach' in swimsuits to cool our hot bodies.

The beach was pretty calm and tranquil under the late afternoon sun with some teenage boys and girls laughing and playing in the emerald green colored water and several camps set up at the seaside surrounding the beach.

As we returned to the base camp, a barbecue party was ready at the front lawn aside of a swimming pool. Night was approaching slowly at our new horizon in a dreamy mood in Wudo Island on August 2, 2010.

A Trekking Holiday in Jeju-do Island (V)

Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon on the same day, August 2, 2010, all of our members, including the MTB hiking team, were on board a car ferry, operating from 'Seongsanpo' to 'Wudo', a small island located east of Jeju-do (Island) for more adventure in this interesting island.

Actually, we had jumped to Seongsanpo directly from Seogwipo City by the mini-van after having lunch together to save time. It's about one and half hour ride without experiencing any traffic congestion as always be the case in Jeju-do Island; an ideal place for rent-a-car, rent-a-bike and rent-a-motor scooter, and therefore a 'blue ocean' for the vehicle rental business, comparing to the main land in South Korea.

A Trekking Holiday in Jeju-do Island (IV)

Around noon on the same day, August 2, 2010, the walking tour team was in Jungmun Beach, walking through Shilla Hotel lobby and various amenities, in the well developed resort - Jungmun Tourism Complex, Seogwipo City, after making a short visit to 'Sanbangsan' resort on the way. It turned out that the beach course was the Olle Trekking Course Number 8, known for one of the best trails among the whole Olle trekking courses.

You are required to exercise caution, however, if you want to swim or surf at the beach because of the extraordinarily turbulent waves.

A Trekking Holiday in Jeju-do Island (III)

Around 9 o'clock in the morning on August 2, the second day of our trekking holiday in Jeju-do Island, the the walking tour team was climbing up the Songak Mountain. The trail turned out to be a part of the Olle trekking course number 10.

In particular, the cliff shown on the photo looked like those in Oahu, Hawaii, in its breathtaking view, scale, taste and features.

A Trekking Holiday in Jeju-do Island (II)

After having a hot Korean style breakfast with bowls of rice and dishes of oarfish stew seasoned with soy sauce at a seafood (raw fish) restaurant near 'Yongduam', we started our journey around the island.

The route for the MTB hiking team was planned to ride bikes through Iho Beach, Shineom-ri, Aeweol Port, Gwakji Beach to Hanlim Port and then have a lunch break there. The itinerary for the walking tour team, however, was planned to get into the mini-van directly to Hyeobjae Beach to enjoy swimming and then move to nearby local villages through Olle trekking courses, not far from the beach. The mini-van returned to support the bike team after giving us a ride to the entrance of the beach. It's a typical hot and humid, but fortunately pretty sunny and breezy day, as well, in Jeju-do Island on August 1, 2010. We were able to swim at the clean, peaceful and emerald or green jadeite-colored Jeju beach for over an hour before visiting a nearby tourist information center to get an idea how to have access to the closest olle route available.

We walked along the Olle trekking course No. 14, surrounded mostly by fishing villages decorated with low whinstone fences until we had a lunch break at a local hamburger restaurant. After lunch, we walked through the road number 1132 westbound to our stopover point near 'Jeolbuam', a part of the Olle trekking course number 12.

A Trekking Holiday in Jeju-do Island (I)

I was in Jeju-do island during the first part of this week for a summer vacation with my wife. It's our first visit to the southernmost island of the Korean Peninsula since August 1989.
Practically, the tour was arranged as we join an Incheon MTB team, most members of which were our family friends, for its bike hiking adventure on August 1-3, 2010, taking a turn around the island counterclockwise starting from Jeju City westbound, though my wife, one of her friends who was an elementary school teacher and I decided to go trekking mostly along the famous Jeju Olle courses instead of riding bikes.

To meet the MTB team members at Gimpo (Domestic) Airport checking counter in time to be on board an Asiana flight departing 7 o'clock for Jeju Airport, my wife and I had to leave home early in the morning around 5:30. The most convenient and reasonable way to go to Gimpo Airport from my place was to take a taxi to Geomam Station, leading to take an Airport Railroad Line eastbound.

As soon as we arrived at Jeju Airport shortly after 10 o'clock, all of our team members started to move to the airport parking lot across a street in front of the airport building to get into a mini-van awaiting for our arrival. The minivan, including all of the bikes, had been transported by a car ferry steamer from Incheon through Jeju Harbor the other day.

A Trip to 'Ejak-do' Island(II)

[Left – A breathtaking view of a strait between the islands of Dae (Big) Ejak-do and So (Small) Ejak-do), as well as the surrounding islands from the top of the 'Mt. Bua'.]

After a brief lunch with bowls of rice, ramyeon and some frozen crabs as side dishes, all of our team members left our base camp pension for nearby 'Bua Mountain'. The road en route to the tracking courses near the summit was mostly paved and the neighboring villages were developed pretty well by the folks with much needed help probably from the county authority. As proceeding through the narrow and rocky mountain trail, finally, we were able to reach to the top of the mountain, and the panoramic view from the spot was really fantastic. We were particularly happy with the fact that we could see almost everything from the islands-scattered Seohae (Yellow Sea) in the west to the numerous skyscrapers in Songdo new town and other modern villages in mainland Incheon opposite side, thanks to a big telescope established at the ridge. And the climax was a view like a watercolor painting of a strait between the islands covered by a thin sea fog.

A Trip to 'Ejak-do' Island(I)

On July 24, 2010, I was able to leave for my annual two-nights/three days’ summer vacation together with my wife, brothers-in-law, their spouses, and sisters-in-law as usual. After parking my passenger vehicle at the designated parking lot, I went on board a ferry steamer, the Rainbow, accommodating around 320 passengers and connecting Incheon Yeonan Wharf to the island. Actually the island, DaeEjak-do, is a part of Incheon, specifically 'Ejak-ri, Jawol-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon Metropolitan City.' Therefore, Incheon citizens can have the advantage of getting 50 percent discount of passenger fares, 20,000 Korean Won for a round trip for each passenger. To get the discount, you are required to give your resident registration number to the reservation desk or ticketing counter of the ferry boat company, enabling them to verify your Incheon City residency. I picked up boarding passes at the ferry boat counter in time.

The ferry left for the island at 08:40 in the morning on time and the sea was calm and peaceful enough for the passengers to enjoy their voyage. The ferry was running through a broad expanse of water toward the west after departing the mainland. Around 10 o’clock in the morning, about one and half hour since the departure, the ferry went into the dock of the island after a couple of stopovers at 'Seungbong-do' and 'SoEjak-do' Island on its way. After transferring to a light truck at the nearby parking lot, provided by the owner of our reserved pension, we started to move to our final destination ‘Jangkol’, located at 458-1 Ejak-ri, Jawol-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon, near ‘Jakeunpul’ seaside resort.

Shortly after arriving and checking-in at the pension, we moved to the nearby ‘Jakeunpul Seaside Resort’ which was located only one minute walking distance from our pension in swimsuits. The beach was not crowded at all as expected, not similar to those resorts at the mainland, and therefore pretty calm and peaceful enough to relax.

(The wooden post shown at the center of the photo indicates it's one of the places where a famous Korean TV variety comedy show 'One Night/Two Days' was shot on location last year.)

South Korea in the Year 2010

The World Bank recently announced that South Korea's GNI (Gross National Income) per capita last year reached to U$19,830, increasing U$2,700 from U$17,175 calculated by the Bank of Korea for the same year. The gap is reportedly occurred due to the difference in applying the exchange rate between the Korea Won and the US Dollar. The Bank of Korea simply applied the average exchange rate of last year to the assessment. The World Bank, however, applied the average exchange rate of the previous 3 years, so as the data not to be influenced by the rapid change in exchange rate during the short length of time.

The GNI per capita, anyway, stepped backward to the world's ranking number 54th, 5 stairs downward comparing to the previous year. Considering the fact that South Korea's overall economic scale (from the eye of the GNP) is the world's 15th, our nation's GNI per capita is still far lower than those of the advanced countries. Based on the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), measuring the actual purchasing power of consumers, allowing for the different prices of commodities by each country, the GDP is ranked as the world's 13th and the GNI per capita ranked as 48th, respectively. It is generally expected the GDP world ranking will be rising and particularly the GNI per capita will be over U$20,000 in this year.

As the South Korean government forecasts it's economic growth rate can be reached to 6% by the end of the year, the IMF revises it's forecast to 5.75%, as well. The Bank of Korea says "If the exchange rate could be kept lower equilibrium this year, it would be a matter of time for our nation's GNI per capita to return to U$20,000 level." It also says "The remarkable rising of the World Bank's ranking in terms of GNP, GDP and GNI per capita, etc. can be expected, too."

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* GNP per capita shows what part of a country’s GNP each person would have if this GNP were divided equally. Knowing a country’s GNP per capita is a good first step toward understanding the country’s economic strengths and needs, as well as the general standard of living enjoyed by the average citizen. A country’s GNP per capita tends to be closely linked with other indicators that measure the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the country and its people. For example, generally people living in countries with higher GNP per capita tend to have longer life expentancies, higher literacy rates, better access to safe water, and lower infant mortality rates.

Mayor Song's Big Mistakes

There are big controversies over the construction of a new main stadium in Seo-gu (District) for the 2014 Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea. Incheon was awarded as the host city of the games at the 26th OCA general assembly in April 2007 held in Kuwait and the construction plan for the Seo-gu main stadium was announced by the city officials in early 2008 and supported by the central government shortly thereafter.

The central government actually did Incheon a favor to unfreeze sufficient size land of the so-called green belt in Yonhee-dong, Seo-gu, to construct the stadium and the city officials have already compensated more than 80 percent of the land to those owners on site. And the magnificent design has also been completed as shown above.

The quarrel started as the mayor-elect Song Young-gil visited Kuwait to meet OCA chairman late last month, shortly before his inauguration as the administrator of Incheon, and announced that he was able to persuade the OCA chairman to allow the host city not to build a new stadium in Seo-gu, but re-use the existing Munhak World Cup Stadium, located in Nam-gu in the same city, as the main stadium, a venue of the opening and closing ceremonies for the games, as well as various track and field events, by simply renovating it to host 5,000 more spectators from the existing 50,000 capacity. It is reported, however, that the OCA officials recommend the main stadium’s capacity should be at least 70,000 for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Basically, I share his concerns about the increasing revenue deficit of the city as a newly elected mayor of the city. I believe, however, he made a couple of big mistakes: Firstly, he has brought down the decency and pride of Incheon and even the national image, and humiliated his own supporters, as well as his predecessors, by making a sudden, unscheduled and rude visit to OCA chairman and doing diplomatically ill-mannered and/or immature behaviors from the international standpoint, ignoring the diplomatic channel. As a mayor of the big city like Incheon, Mr. Song should pay more attention to become a good city administrator, rather than a sly politician who is an expert in playing a political engineering game that is still prevailing in domestic political horizon, unfortunately.

Secondly, he should have tried to communicate with his own people i.e. Incheon citizens as a first step, primarily with the Seo-gu residents who would be greatly influenced by any change in this regard before leaving for Kuwait. More haste, says the proverb, less speed.

One thing clear, at this point of time, is that any community in which an individual simply cannot expect even what would happen tomorrow to him or to his family can't be entitled to be called as an advanced and stable society, apart from his inaugural commitment to make Incheon the economic capital of the Republic of Korea. Mayor Song is now leading innocent Incheon citizens into the battlefield and encouraging his own people to fight with each other by his terrible mistakes, intentionally or unintentionally.

It would be appreciated if he could change his mind to build the main stadium in Seo-gu District as originally planned for all concerned, however, because I wish him every success and would like to participate in his success in the forthcoming future as the mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City.

Muchangpo Beach

Thanks to some extra time and budget, I enjoyed a short vacation at Muchangpo Beach, which turned out to be one of ideal places for my family vacation in this country. Personally, I don't like those bustling beach resorts like Haeundae in the south, Gyeongpodae in the east and the nearby Daecheon in the west of the peninsula or even Waikiki in Hawaii where my wife, daughter and I visited for a week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our wedding in late September 2007, primarily because there are too many things I need to pay attention to, interesting or not, in those well-known beaches, among others. At Muchangpo, however, I was able to relax peacefully, while sunbathing and reading books. One of the good things and virtues the beach provides to me was that I could have access to the beach pretty easily after parking my car at the street beside the beach. And also I could look over the panoramic view of the sea and several islands scattered along the coast with no disturbance from any source while sitting at a beach chair comfortably. (In the photo) My wife was reading a book while comfortably sitting in her beach chair, as well.

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When it comes to accommodation at the beach resort, there a lot of reasonably priced hotels, motels and pensions. In my case, I paid only 40,000 won to check in a nearby hotel room. The price only cover room fee, excluding any meal service like continental breakfast, for example, as usual in South Korea. There are numerous seafood restaurants, pubs and convenient stores, etc. around the beach, instead.

It took just two and half hours from my place near Incheon Airport to reach the beach mostly through the Seohaean or West Coast Highway, including a 30-minute stopover at Hwaseong Rest Area to have lunch and buy some refreshments.

An Old Korean-style Garden

Recently, I was able to take time to hang out with my old friends and their spouses, including my wife, in Jeongseon-gun County, located in the southern part of Gangwon Province, which is one of the birthplaces of the most popular and well-known traditional Korean folk song 'Arirang' around the world. As a matter of fact, there are several types of Arirang Song in Korea, mostly similar, but different in their texts, melodies and rhythms, respectively. Experts, however, generally agree that the Jeongseon Arirang is pretty close to the original form of the Song of Arirang, dated back to some 600 years ago.

The above picture taken from the Jeongseon Arari Chon, a kind of folk village which was established by the county authorities, shows emotional mood of the old Korean-style village, an eternal birthplace in our heart.

My Son's College Graduation

Last Friday, February 26th 2010, I attended a college graduation ceremony for my older son. To celebrate his hopeful graduation and getting a job as an airline employee at this 'decent job shortage' period, almost all of my family members, including my parents, were able to join the event to present a bouquet of various flowers to him, take pictures and have lunch together at a 'Bulgogi' restaurant near the campus thereafter.

Every Time It snows (II)

From the first working day of the year 2010, a real heavy snowfall attacked the central regions of the Korean Peninsula, leading to paralize almost the entire national public transportation system in the greater Seoul and its vicinities, except the subway system.

The snowfall actually began around 6 o'clock in the morning of January 4, 2010, shortly before the morning rush hour, and continued until high noon. And the aftermath of the snow was terrible for most drivers and pedestrians, as well, because they had to crawl rather than driving and walking on their way covered by more than 20cm high snow by exercising extreme caution.

Weathermen announced the snowfall recorded as the highest for the last 100 years in this region, believe or not. In the past, before my village was not urbanized, however, even the heaviest snowfall didn't matter in most cases because most residents, farmers and their school children simply didn't need to go out of their houses since it's their slack season and winter vacation period. They were able to enjoy their comforts by staying at ondol rooms all day long with family members, relatives and neighbors, eating sweet potatoes and playing the game of yut, a stick game.