Visiting Maggie in Tongyeong

Over the weekend, Norbert and I went to visit Maggie in Tongyeong. Tongyeong is a small oceanside town west of Busan down in the south. It was a long bus ride, which means Norbert complained a lot. He really is too big to fit on the buses comfortably for long.
It was really fantastic to see Maggie and she is a very good tour guide. First she took us to see the old turtle boat down in the harbor.
They call them turtle boats cause they have an armored top just like a turtle. Admiral Yi used them to repel the Japanese invasion in the late 16th century.
The downtown was decorated already for Buddha's birthday and some kids were playing on a fountain covered in the lotus lanterns. They were so cute and yelled out "Hi!" as we passed.
Tongyeong is in a much smaller valley than here at home in Cheonju. So they had a cable car going up to the top of the highest mountain around the town. It was a really cool trip and so much easier than climbing the mountain.
We made some new friends in the cable car. These ladies were so friendly and had a little English so we go to know them a bit. The one on the left gave up and went back down while we were climbing the last leg of the peak.
It was worth the cable car ride and the little hike at the end to see the view from the top of the mountain. It was amazing and gorgeous and beautiful. (Yes those are three words that mean the same thing.)
Check out the view for yourself. You can see the harbor and the mountains and the boats. And only a little bit of haze.
Since it was spring, there were many flowers in full bloom growing at the top of the mountain. I had to get some pictures of them. I love spring!
Maggie got caught up in the lovely spring day as well and started posing for me, her very own little photo shoot. This shot was my favorite! She has the expression of Betty Page or one of the other pin up girls from back then.
After that we started to hike down the other side of the mountain. This was more off the beaten path and much quieter. We encountered two different temples on our way down the mountain. The first was very small, just a few buildings around a courtyard, but it was beautiful and isolated and peaceful.
There was a little bench area in one corner of the terraced yard. From there you had an excellent view of the valley. We rested there and it was so nice, Maggie took some pictures of us. This one disturbed Norbert from his nap on my lap.
And this one is in front of the massive tree that had to be hundreds of years old, maybe thousands. I love trees like that. Sorry to overload on the couple pictures, but they were both so cute and I am really gonna miss him when I go so bear with me.
Speaking of my baby, I love this picture cause Norbert is 6'3" and is usually much too big for just about everything here in Korea. This is the first thing that he is dwarfed by here. Yay!
This was at the second, bigger temple that we ran into coming down the mountain. It seemed very old but well kept up. I love all the little hidden temples and shrines in the mountains. Since we were down south, there were palm trees mixed in with the normal conifers and deciduous trees. Palm trees in Korea, who would have thought?
As Maggie and I were enjoying the peaceful serenity of the Buddhist temple, Norbert got into a fight with the painting on the door. Yes, sometimes he argues with inanimate objects, but so do I so it works out well. Careful though, the door has a sword....
This is the front of the temple with the big doors and sign with the name which I can't read. But since it is a really old temple, it is Chinese characters to represent Korean words, so all the Korean classes in the world would not have helped. So there is me in front of the temple, posing as I do.
And yes, I was climbing a mountain in a skirt! I guess the Korean girls have rubbed off on me. But I still refuse to climb in high heels.
That night we went back to Maggie's (really nice and bright) apartment and hung out. The next day we were taking the boat tour out around the islands. There is a Maritime National Park there, so it is gorgeous and a half. This little girl didn't really like the boat ride I don't think.
It was an absolutely beautiful day. We had sun but not too much heat, clear enough to see far from the boat. It was just a great day, you can see the island behind the flag here. Norbert took this picture, thanks!
I always forget how cold it is on the water. So after a while, Maggie and I retreated back into the cabin, though we were a bit windblown. Norbert had fun taking pictures of us.
We ended up pretty far out to sea, but you could always spot the fishing boats because they were constantly surrounded by circling sea gulls. Lazy birds, can't catch their own fish!
There were many Koreans out fishing on the islands and the rocks. They must be really serious about it cause I still can't figure out how some of them got up on the rocks they were fishing off of. It was fun to spot them and wave though.
After a while of touring the islands, we stopped at one of the big ones to look at the shrine dedicated to Admiral Yi. He and his men had used it as their base of operations during their fight against the Japanese. (Koreans love anything that involves fighting the Japanese, even more if they beat them. Think how the Irish feel about the British.) This was his archery range.The soldiers would shoot across the water and hit the targets on the far side. Most beautiful archery range I have ever seen, puts camp to shame for sure.
In a lot of ways, traditional Korean architecture looks very uniform. And it is, but the differences are all in the little details which is the really cool thing about it. Look at the roof tiles from the shrine, can you see the turtle boats?
After the boat tour, we decided to get some grub before heading home to Cheongju. After 3 different restaurants refused to serve us because we were foreigners, we finally found a good barbecue place. Someone should explain that foreigners eat and drink a lot, it would be in their best business interests to serve us. But I digress, that is why I like my town more, no weygook prejudice. Our lunch/dinner was very good and a bit different from what we normally get in Cheonju, check out the quail eggs, peapods, and massive prawns.
Norbert and I were so amused by the big claws still attached to the prawns that I made him play with his food so I could take a picture.
All in all, a fantastic weekend. Thanks Maggie for putting us up and being our tour guide. I am really glad I got to go see the southern tip of Korea, I feel I have traveled pretty well now. I only wish I had the time and money to see Jeju...Well maybe one day.
Tongyeong was beautiful and I was so happy to see Maggie, but it was strange as well. I have always received stares from the Koreans here in Cheongju, there just aren't that many of us. It never bothered me. The people in my neighborhood are really used to us because there are quite a few. But in Tongyeong, it is such a small town. They only have 12 foreigners in the whole place. The stares were increased ten-fold, to the point where they were hard to ignore. As I mentioned before, 3 different restaurants refused to serve us because we were foreigners, and when we got off the tour boat, there was this crowd of people we had to walk through. They got really excited and started yelling and cheering at us and trying to touch us as we passed. It was like the creepiest red carpet ever. It was certainly an interesting experience. It taught me how lucky I was to be in a college town where we foreigners are very much accepted. It could have been a much harder year. On the other hand, perhaps I would have learned Korean more if I had been in a place without so many foreigners. Very interesting weekend....