I have more photos from Busan than I can count, but here are some worth sharing here.
Here's a stone Buddha decorating the entrance to a golf practice range, on a narrow escalator/stairway leading to Busan's observatory tower. Behind me, across the stairway: a small Buddhist temple, though it's not all that scenic.Not pictured: in front of this Buddha, a pair of feet are drawn on the asphalt, to mark where I am supposed to stand and bow.
Yesterday, I did a mad dash around major sights of the city, including the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, the only one in existence in the world. It houses the remains of various UN alliance nations' soldiers who died in the Korean War, though some of the participant nations, notably the US, have taken their remains home, and instead have buried those who survived the war, but wanted to be buried here after death.This is the British Commonwealth (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK) monument at the cemetery, honoring those soldiers from the five nations who do not have any known graves.
A plain, undecorated soldier is befriending two Korean children at this monument, Canada's national monument at this cemetery.
For kangaroo and woz. This is rather plain, but is Australia's national monument built here in 2000.
Also for kangaroo and woz. The Daunt Waterway is named after, and honors, a 17-year-old Australian private who was killed in action in 1951, and is the youngest person to be buried here. Such a short life, wasted on a senseless war that killed millions and destroyed almost all families on this land - and none of the war's goals (unification of Korea, in one form or another) were ever accomplished.The South Korean right-wingers continue to show great Confucian deference to the Americans. Yes, the US led the multinational effort to defend South Korea, American commanders led these nations' troops, and more Americans died here than anyone else (except the South Koreans themselves, as well as the North Koreans and the Chinese on the enemy side). But the effort was truly multinational; sixteen nations sent combat troops, five more sent non-combat personnel, and all deserve South Korea's thanks.
Just outside the cemetery lies a sculpture park, consisting of artwork from the participating UN nations as well as South Korea (which was unable to join the UN itself until 1991). This is "The Bridge of Love," by Bo Karberg of Denmark.
This is "Like a River Flows," by Alain Vaugier of Canada.
This one is aptly named "Conflicts Toward Unification," and is by Antonis Myrodias of Greece.
I then took a lengthy subway ride to the far north of the city, to the fine Buddhist temple of Beomeosa. At the entrance, I could find these wooden Maitreya Buddhas for sale. Christy, I know you love these - the Chinese Happy Buddha!
Meanwhile, DiAnne will certainly appreciate these turtle tombstones, though I couldn't tell what the significance of these - just two of dozens at the entrance - were.
After a long climb up from the main entrance, I came to the main courtyard. The stone pagoda to the right is very typical of Korean Buddhist temples.In the middle, above the staircase, is Daeungjeon (大雄殿), or "Hall of Great Hero," always the main hall of any Korean Buddhist temple. In it can be found the Amidabha Buddha, the Sakyamuni Buddha, and the Medicine Buddha, from left to right.
Here is the Maitreya Buddha, in a side hall. I wasn't supposed to take photos of any interior elements, but as I didn't know - and nobody was praying inside - I got away with this one. Unfortunately, he's not the Chinese Happy Buddha in this application.
Lining the walls of this Maitreya room: thousands of little lighted Maitreya Buddhas!
Gwaneumjeon (觀音殿) is another common hall in Korean Buddhist temples, and as the name gives away, is dedicated to Kwan Yin, our beloved transgender matron saint. Inside this faded building can be seen a golden statue of Kwan Yin. To the sides, covering the walls, are thousands of little lighted Kwan Yins, like the Maitreyas of the previous photo. Quite a sight - though I had to keep my distance, out of respect for the dozen or so people inside in prayer.Beomeosa has a code of conduct for visitors, much like those found at Italian cathedrals. First, no "revealing clothes" are allowed; that includes my trademark Ally McLesbian miniskirts. Second, the temple owns many grottos, monasteries, and other retreat facilities in the surrounding mountains; while it's perfectly okay to go hiking on temple grounds, cooking and alcohol are not permitted.
17 comments:
Rachel, thanks for the range of art, culture and nations that have contributed so much to where South Korea is today. War costs us all - the human costs of war teach us nothing it seems. Even when we lose, we don't seem to realize it.
This has been an amazing experience here at this blog - to travel right along with you, and learn so much.
woz
Glad to know that you're enjoying my reports.
I am far from done. In fact, I STILL don't know when I am going back to the US.
Ally McRepuke
Wow!
This is great!
It really is like we are tucked away in your pocket. What an incredible way to learn Korean art! All about Korea.
I wonder what my grandfather would say about all of this, of us, this new communication form. He fought in the bloodiest battle of the Korean War, I wonder if he would even recognize it now.
Very cool Ally! TY!
I do like those Happy Buddahs, but those miniature candles all lit up like that is just hypnotic.
Me too, Christy - those glowing miniatures stay with me.
Christy
Didn't know that your grandpa fought here. He has the thanks of the South Korean people - perhaps a bit too much of it.
He won't recognize a thing here - things have changed so much since he was here.
Actually, my mother joined my trip to Busan, and we tried to find her old home, which she left in the late 1950s and never returned to until this time. Everything had changed over those 50 years; the railroad track she used to play on are no longer single-track, but multiple track, there is a new station that she doesn't remember, and just about all buildings have changed. Only the ancient street and alley patterns remain the same. I think I got it down to the exact alley, but that's as best as I could pull it off.
It's even worse in other cities like Seoul. At least, Busan stayed in South Korean hands throughout the war, and didn't get bombed. Seoul, on the other hand, was bombed completely into oblivion, and was occupied by North Korea twice.
Ally McRepuke
Yes, Darlin, my grandfather was there. A US Marine. He piloted the first ambhib to hit the beach at Guadalcanal.
First to the beach, lost most of his men getting there. Then he lived in a foxhole on the beach for the next 10 days.
He never spoke of it, or rarly spoke of it I should say. But we all knew he was living with shellshock.
When he died some 50 years later, he went out the hard way. He lost his mind a week or so before he passed. His mind went back to Korea mostly.
He screamed out one day. 'Kill her! Kill her! She has a grenade in her hat!' And, apparently in his memory it was too late.
He flashed back to his fellow soldiers eating his pet monkey one night. They were starving and cut off, and even 50 years later he was still screaming he would shoot them for it.
I remember wondering how many screams can a single person hold in their memory before it drives them insane.
He was a very brave man.
Your mother too, must have been very brave to get out, and to go back.
As I read your words I tried to imagine what it was like for her, for all of you. Having to leave your homeland, your people.
What a horrible place the world can be.
Amphib even.
About 4 years after my grandpa died, I was watching TV with my mother, we were watching a PBS special about Korea.
As we watch they start showing this home movie made by someone on an amphib during downtime. There was this pilot bent over tinkering with something, talking to a man that was leaned up against the rail laughing and smiling for the camera. No sound, just the image.
My mom looks at it and says some name, and says 'That was my daddys best friend in Korea!'
And then the pilot stood up and looked into the camera smiling, and there he was. It literally took our breath away to watch him turn and smile at us, through the mist of so many years. My mother had not even been born yet when that footage was taken.
My mother burst into tears. I just looked at him thinking 'OMG! He still had HAIR!'.
He looked so young and so beautiful.
Now, every time I see a young soldier from any era, I see that image of my grandpa. They all look so young and unharmed and so perfect in their uniforms.
Oh, great story, Christy.
Christy
Thanks for the story... War always is full of stories, very heart-wrenching in all of them.
I can only imagine what it must've felt like to see your grandpa in that PBS program.
And it looks like your father was fighting at Chosin Reservoir in the remote mountains of North Korea. The UN/South Korean alliance drove very far north, onto the Chinese border, and the Chinese joined the war with their sheer manpower. Lots of Americans and Brits got trapped at Chosin Reservoir, and many starved to death before getting out.
A massive operation at the port of Hungnam, due south of the reservoir, got the Americans and the Brits out safely. My mother and her family also left Hungnam - her birthplace - in that operation. That's how she got to Busan - at age 2. Of course, neither she nor anyone else in her family ever returned to North Korea afterwards, until 2004, when I visited the DMZ and walked a few steps into North Korean territory.
Again, thanks for sharing your grandpa's story.
Ally McRepuke
Er, I meant your *grandpa* fighting at Chosin, not your father...
By the way, the real name of Chosin is Changjin. Chosin is the Japanese pronunciation, which stuck because most of the maps of Korea as used by the UN command were Japanese made.
Ally McRepuke
And thank you for sharing hers.
Also ty for clarifying how he got out. Yes, the starvation was... it really is quite unthinkable the things that happen in war.
If I am not mistaken, i could be, but I am thinking my grandfather may actually have been at Busan as well.
I know I have heard that name many times, related to my grandfather, but I never had context for it.
Can you tell us the story of how your mom got out? Where did they go from there?
Your father is Chinese, isn't he?
This was Kim Jong Ills father that we were all fighting...?
What an odd world we live in. Sometimes it just seems so small.
Christy
No, it's my mother who has Chinese ancestry. And I don't have much to say, as my mother was only two at the time she got out. What I do know: her mother wanted to stay in North Korea, as she believed that the Communists would be beaten very soon, but my uncles talked her into joining the exodus south.
My father is also from North Korea - he got out before the war, because his family had some property and the Communists tried a few times to kill the entire family. He hailed somewhere northeast of Hungnam, just south of the present-day city of Kimchaek (known as Songjin back then, and still officially known as Songjin by the South Korean government).
And yes, Kim Il-sung, the father of Kim Jong-il and the founder of North Korea, started the war. Even though he died in 1994, he remains the Eternal President. For starting the war, and for killing many "pro-South, pro-US collaborators," Kim will forever be remembered as a savage war criminal. But honestly, my opinions of his South Korean counterpart, Korean-American Syngman Rhee, isn't much better either, as he is just as guilty of labeling illiterate peasants as "pro-Communist" and murdering them in cold blood.
Ally McRepuke
Christy
More on my mother since arriving in Busan:
My mother had two brothers and three sisters, but two of the sisters died in infancy. My guess is that one died back in North Korea, and the other died in Busan, but I may be wrong.
Most of the family, my mother included, moved to Seoul in the late 1950s, and never looked back to Busan. However, my mother's oldest brother was already married at that point, and he was continuing to maintain his presence in Busan for business.
The family started scattering in the 1970s, when my mother's last remaining sister left for New York. My mother moved with me to Los Angeles in the 1980s; at the same time, one of her brothers moved to Sydney, Australia. That leaves only one brother - the very one who married early and remained in Busan - who now splits his time between Seoul and a suburb of Busan.
Meanwhile, my grandparents passed away in the suburbs of Seoul a few years ago, and were cremated and buried 60 miles south of Seoul, their dreams of returning north forever unfulfilled.
Ally McRepuke
Thank you Ally.
An amazing story, amazing family!
I hope one day... Unity will be possible.
And I hope Dear leader roasts in hell with his father.
Christy
Wait a minute - Kim Jong-il isn't merely just a "Dear Leader." These days, the correct North Korean terminology is "General Kim Jong-il."
Never mind that he has as much military experience as our own Dear Leader W - NONE.
I will tell you this. I will be very honored to take my grandparents' urns out of their graves, and take them back north, where they truly belong. Unfortunately, that won't happen until (1) Kim Jong-il is rotting in hell, as you wish, and (2) South Korea also wakes up and elects a better leader than the current W puppet.
Ally McRepuke
One more thing re: South Korea's current President:
He is as dumb as his master W. So much so, that people refer to him as "2MB" - since his brain power adds up to only two megabytes. Spray-painted graffiti saying "2MB OUT" are quite common.
Actually, the real story is that the number 2 is pronounced "yi," which is also the proper South Korean pronunciation for the President's family name, Lee. And his given name, Myung-bak, is abbreviated to MB. Add them together - 2MB.
Ally McRepuke
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