7 days of Quietude

Yes, I know what you're all thinking: a week off? Why aren't you travelling somewhere?

Well, I do have an explanation. And it is this: I have been in Gwangju for nearly two months now and I still don't feel like I know the place at all. So a friend and I have decided that we're going to explore for the week. Go see things that every foreigner should see in and around Gwangju while we have some spare time. If we've exhausted that avenue by the weekend, then I'll go somewhere.

And oh, what there is to see in this city.

First of all, there's the museums. We saw the National Museum on Monday. I have to say, not too interesting, since we couldn't read most of the signs and there were some pretty bare bones displays up. Although I did learn that they used to bury people in giant jars back in the day. As in you build a jar that's just big enough to lay you in up to your shoulders and then you build an even bigger jar and turn it upside down overtop to cover your head and part of the lower jar. That's what's apparently lying in the really old tombs here. It was also interesting to see all the differences between the history in Korea and what I know of the history in England. As in they had guns before the Western World, their armor was much better than the westerners, even their tools seemed to be a little ahead of the game. It was really cool.

Then there's the fact that Gwangju used to be the destination of banished revolutionaries and government opposers (is that the right word?). So there's a very long and interesting history of political uprisings centred on our fair city. It started back when the Japanese were trying to take over Korea and the Korean farmers fought off the soldiers with their hoes and shovels. The stories continue on to include the high school students' uprising in the seventies and then the Gwangju Massacre on May 18, 1980. They have a plaza near downtown called Democracy Plaza, which we found accidentally last night. It's right on the premises of the old high school that started the students' uprising against Japanese-style education. The Massacre has its own memorial just outside of town, which includes the cemetery for all the victims and participants as well as a museum to tell the story of about a month's worth of events. This city is steeped in history.

For the rest of the week, I'll probably go to the Art Museum, down to the markets, and possibly even out to a Buddhist temple on the weekend.

There's always really interesting stuff to see in the most unexpected places. Walking through the streets here you can just feel an adventure around the corner. There's so many buildings where each floor is its own unique place. If you want to go to the gym, it's on the fourth floor of the building. The third floor is a PC room, the second floor might be a jimjilbang (hot bath/spa). Restaurants are stacked on top of each other. Doctors are right above dentists which are right above daycare centres which are right above clothing stores. It's incredible the way that there's so many different things in such a small area of the city. High density doesn't even begin to describe it.

You can imagine what the traffic is like then. Road rules? Try road suggestions. Red and green lights exist here, but only as ornaments for intersections. Surprisingly, there are relatively few accidents. People use their horns here and will lean on them if they decide to fly through a red light. It only happens right after the lights have changed, but usually there's one or two cars that will get through in that five second window between the lights changing and traffic moving. It's also uncanny how well the people know their cars here. We're talking down to the millimetre. And if you're not going fast enough, the guy behind you will creep up and lean on his horn to either get you going or get you out of the way. Yet there doesn't seem to be a lot of road rage. I put it down to the fact that you're driving like a maniac so all the tension gets let out there. I'm in awe every time I get in a cab.

So I think that there's enough here to entertain me without me having to go on a trip. Even if I just end up riding around the city on a bus.

I hope that everything's going well for you at home. Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year!