Ganghwado - First Day
Got back on Saturday night from a little exursion out to Ganghwa Island (Do) in the West Sea. It was fun. I went out there with my friend Tracy (I'm sure you've seen her in pics) planning to camp , but the weather turned on us the first day and that part of our plan never recovered. We ended up staying two nights in the Hyatt Motel in Ganhwa-eup which was actually a decent room for $35 a night.
Anyway, it was raining when we got there and so we decided to get the room and then walk to the History Hall which was supposed to be pretty close. So I toss on my raincoat and grab my umbrella and I'm ready to go. Unfortunately, Tracy has brought neither a poncho nor an umbrella. We try to share, but there's not really room for us both so I give up and let her have the umbrella (I did, afterall, have a raincoat on, right?) Yeah, a raincoat that comes to your belt is a raincatcher. It makes sure that every single square inch of material south of it's hemline is going to be wet. Really wet.
So I'm wet. I'm wet and it's still raining and Tracy is still relatively dry. I mean she's damp around the edges but my shoes are full of the water that is by now running in rivulets down my calves. We are (not surprisingly if you've evcer gone anywhere in the company of Tracy and myself) lost. We have a map. It is raining so, of course, Tracy has the map (she does, afterall have the umbrella). The map becomes soaked and begins to disintegrate as if it were made of sugar.
We end up walking probably two km in the rain. On sidewalks and on the edge of streets and highways where there is no thought apparent about pedestrian traffic. Every two minutes or so Tracy manages to whack me about the head and shoulders with my umbrella. We get there. We pay. We go in and walk around and look out from the ramparts into the rain. It looks quite like the rain we've been looking at for the last half hour or so except that because this rain is falling on the sea instead of on the city streets there is less to see. We climb to the second floor of a gazebo which provides a repite from the downpour and a higher vantage point from which to view the rain. We decide to skip viewing the rain through the mounted binoculars and go inside the museum.
The museum is interesting in the way that small, poorly funded, poorly translated museums are interesting. That is, in pointing out the discrepencies and inconsistencies in and among the different displays and plaques. There was a big bell and some cool weaving and a kind of wood block printing system I would have liked to see hands-on. And loads of patriotic tripe about this and that battle against foriegn invasion forces, French, American, Mongolian and Japanese. Not in that order I suppose..... At this point Tracy points out that she had no idea that her country had been attacking Korea in the late 1800s. I admit that I too was ignorant of this fact. We agree that it was probably for a dumb reason and go back outside to call a cab.
We got the cabbie to stop at the place that was like HomePlus but not and bought Ramen. MMMMMmmm, Ramen.
Anyway, it was raining when we got there and so we decided to get the room and then walk to the History Hall which was supposed to be pretty close. So I toss on my raincoat and grab my umbrella and I'm ready to go. Unfortunately, Tracy has brought neither a poncho nor an umbrella. We try to share, but there's not really room for us both so I give up and let her have the umbrella (I did, afterall, have a raincoat on, right?) Yeah, a raincoat that comes to your belt is a raincatcher. It makes sure that every single square inch of material south of it's hemline is going to be wet. Really wet.
So I'm wet. I'm wet and it's still raining and Tracy is still relatively dry. I mean she's damp around the edges but my shoes are full of the water that is by now running in rivulets down my calves. We are (not surprisingly if you've evcer gone anywhere in the company of Tracy and myself) lost. We have a map. It is raining so, of course, Tracy has the map (she does, afterall have the umbrella). The map becomes soaked and begins to disintegrate as if it were made of sugar.
We end up walking probably two km in the rain. On sidewalks and on the edge of streets and highways where there is no thought apparent about pedestrian traffic. Every two minutes or so Tracy manages to whack me about the head and shoulders with my umbrella. We get there. We pay. We go in and walk around and look out from the ramparts into the rain. It looks quite like the rain we've been looking at for the last half hour or so except that because this rain is falling on the sea instead of on the city streets there is less to see. We climb to the second floor of a gazebo which provides a repite from the downpour and a higher vantage point from which to view the rain. We decide to skip viewing the rain through the mounted binoculars and go inside the museum.
The museum is interesting in the way that small, poorly funded, poorly translated museums are interesting. That is, in pointing out the discrepencies and inconsistencies in and among the different displays and plaques. There was a big bell and some cool weaving and a kind of wood block printing system I would have liked to see hands-on. And loads of patriotic tripe about this and that battle against foriegn invasion forces, French, American, Mongolian and Japanese. Not in that order I suppose..... At this point Tracy points out that she had no idea that her country had been attacking Korea in the late 1800s. I admit that I too was ignorant of this fact. We agree that it was probably for a dumb reason and go back outside to call a cab.
We got the cabbie to stop at the place that was like HomePlus but not and bought Ramen. MMMMMmmm, Ramen.
posted by C. at 11:50 PM
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