Korea update

Everyone,

I am back in Seoul as of two days ago, and I intend to stick around into the New Year, except for maybe 3-4 nights in Hong Kong sometime in December.

I have just made reservations for my road trip. I will have a midsize car (I asked for a Hyundai Sonata) for eight days, starting three weeks from now; since Korean drivers are bullies and the size/price tag of your car means everything, I need to get a needlessly big car, just so that BMW drivers, SUV drivers, and truckers won't shove me over. Nevertheless, since I want to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and since I am making point-to-point journeys outside large cities, driving makes a lot of sense.

This will be my first drive on the Eurasian landmass, and I look forward to it.

I will report on lots of Korean art from my drive. The following are on my agenda, in the order that I will most likely visit them, where I'll be reporting on art:

• Hwajinpo, north of Sokcho, Gangwon Province. This is a lake next to the Sea of Japan, and is the northernmost beach resort in South Korea. It's so scenic that Kim Il-sung built a vacation home there when North Korea was founded; when South Korea captured the area during the war, President Syngman Rhee built another vacation home there. My father's family frequently vacationed here as well, because this was as close as they could get to their North Korean home (without actually entering North Korea, anyway).
  
• Naksansa, Yangyang, Gangwon Province. It's mostly destroyed and being rebuilt, but as a temple dedicated to our transgender matron saint Kwan Yin, with a stone statue of her overlooking the Sea of Japan, I must stop by.
• Ojukheon, Gangneung, Gangwon Province. It's the home of neo-Confucian philosopher Yi Yi and his mother Shin Saimdang. The two grace the 5,000-won and next year's 50,000-won banknotes respectively; Shin Saimdang is the first woman to grace a South Korean banknote. (Actually, there was a generic mother who was on a 1962 banknote, but that one only lasted 24 days!) I hate neo-Confucians, but I'll stop anyway and report.
• Hahoe Folk Village, Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. Nice old-fashioned traditional nobility village, best known for mask dances but offering lots more.
• Gyeongju, the ancient capital full of Buddhist relics. I will spend three nights there. Remember that delicate stone pagoda I shared when I initially announced my travel plans? It's right there.
• Haeinsa, Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province. Home of Tripitaka Koreana.
• Beopjusa, Mt. Songnisan, North Chungcheong Province. It's famous for a huge bronze Maitreya Buddha, and also known as a place where Bruce Lee shot a movie shortly before death.
• Ganghwa Island, City of Incheon. Lots of ancient dolmens there, as well as royal-era defensive structures used to defend isolationist Korea against French and American intruders in the 1860s.
• A DMZ observatory where I can look across a river into North Korea, just a mile away. It has some exhibits that allow me to experience the life of a modern-day North Korean.
• Independence Hall, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Mostly historical artifacts dealing with the Japanese colonial rule, though I might find some art to share here.
• Korean Folk Village, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. It's a living museum where I can experience all sorts of stuff and buy art and handicraft. My writing mentor Gayle Brandeis used the Folk Village as a key setting in her first novel, The Book of Dead Birds, so I will look for a few souvenirs to give to her.

South Korea may be compact, but my eight-day car rental may still not be enough. I may cut out a destination or two. I may also add some other destination in the unlikely case that I have leftover time.

Looking forward to giving you more great Korean art!