Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon

Over 80,000 delicately carved woodblocks have been resting peacefully on the beautiful slopes of Gayasan for 750 years in buildings that let the air and the eyes of the visitor circulate freely.
Considered the Chinese buddhist canon, this Goryeo Tripitaka or Tripitaka Koreana) is actually a second edition : the original blocks (printing material carved 3.5 centuries before Gutenberg's Bible) were destroyed during a Mongol invasion in the early XIIIth century.
The contrast between the value of this treasure and the simplicity of its shell is striking but refreshing. The perfect reward after climbing a few steep flights of stairs under an unforgiving sun (I confess I used the bus shuttle to skip the hike from the parking lot).
Overlooking a sea of trees, the temple itself is quite welcoming and belongs to the Jogye order (HQs in Jogyesa - temple stay website : templestay.com).

Haein-sa and the Palman Daejanggyeong : haeinsa.or.kr , 80000.or.kr (check for the opening times : the Janggyeong Panjeon will be closed all year in 2010, a recess year)
10 Chiin-ri , Gaya-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do

Seoul Village 2008

ADDENDUM 20090924 :

Even from space the area looks gorgeous :


View Seoul Village in a larger map

Seoul Village goes Lively

Seoul Village opened a virtual spot on Lively (July 9th, 2008). Feel free to join this open space anytime.

Korea's 16 provinces and metro cities

South Korea has 9 provinces ("do") including the special self governing province ("teukbyeoljachi-do") of Jeju, and 7 metropolitan cities ("Gwangyeoksi") including the Capital, Seoul ("teukbyeolsi" or "Special city") - see map below :

. Busan-Gwangyeoksi : busan.kr

. Chungcheonbuk-do : cb21.net

. Chungcheonnam-do : chungnam.net

. Daegu-Gwangyeoksi : daegu.go.kr

. Daejeon-Gwangyeoksi : daejeon.kr

. Gangwon-do : gwd.go.kr

. Gwangju-Gwangyeoksi : gjcity.net

. Gyeonggi-do : gg.go.kr

. Gyeongsangbuk-do : gbtour.net

. Gyeongsangnam-do : gsnd.net

. Incheon-Gwangyeoksi : incheon.go.kr

. Jeju-do : jeju.go.kr

. Jeollabuk-do : jeonbuk.kr

. Jeollanam-do : jeonnam.go.kr

. Seoul Teukbyeolsi : seoul.go.kr

. Ulsan Gwangyeoksi : ulsan.go.kr


map : Creative Commons (Kahusi / ArnoldPlaton)

Seoul city advertising campaign

Thumbs up for the latest series of ads "Seoul, Soul of Asia" featuring 4 artists from key countries. A giant leap after Korea's tragical / comical spots with Park Tae-hwan.


Chen Kaige (China, Director)



Murakami Ryu (Japan, Writer)



Anucha Secharunputong (Thailand, Photographer)



George Winston (USA, Pianist)

New Towns and preservation

Seoul Mayor OH Se-hoon is not so popular with New Town developpers and fellow party members such as CHUNG Mong-joon. New projects got stalled for not being enough environmental friendly (OH is pushing for more preservation, especially for green spaces) or "middle class" oriented.

I wish the urban soul were more respected as well. This city definitely needs a better ventilation and more streets to be upgraded, but whole areas are dying from minor but tragic losses in diversity, or because a secondary alley was bulldozed, a key detail destroyed, a unique perspective ruined.

In general, there is no trace whatsoever of the village that existed before the New Town. Promoters don't want potential buyers to be reminded this brand new and well serviced appartment complex used to be a slum or a sewer treatment center, but a city without history nor memory doesn't have any future.

People don't care now but they will. Appartments used to be consumer goods purchased for the brand and the short to medium term added value... status items as superficial as a car when it comes to defining who you are and how you live.

"Well being" is becoming an issue, but then again, totally vain. A check list of functions similar to a luxury pack on your car. More about "sounding / looking well" than about "being / living a good and sound life".

Haka and axing in Gwanghwamun

45,000.
That's the number of policemen surrounding the neighborhood these days. Non stop.
The equivalent of a fully seated Parc des Princes stadium. Actually, most of the time they are seating on the very pavement, in perfect lines, waiting for the evening, when tens of thousands people rally to protest against LEE Myung-bak.
The President is not even half a mile away (in Cheong Wa Dae), the Government a few hundred yards and the police HQ just across the street.
Demonstrators pick new itinaries every night but the police, well informed, is there to block the passage. The other night people came chanting from Sajik Tunnel and were silenced by the impressive display of the riot squad : each time a new grape of uniforms joined their human wall, the mass would utter GI-style barks and bang its shields. The show is as impressive as a New Zealand haka before a rugby game and everybody has to listen in fear.
Hopefully, this is neither the 70s nor the 80s* and only a few dozen people got hurt in the last 72 hour stand. But if some people are now coming mostly to join the party, most are really angry and many are truly desperate. A man set himself in fire near City Hall.

If the Korean Government can't be blamed for the oil shock nor the dollar dive, the least one could say is that it is not delivering the reforms it announced, and it is not managing the situation in the best of ways.

Heads will necessarily fall. The President cannot afford losing more public support : his approval rates stand below 20. Even GW Bush is hovering far higher these days, and even Nicolas Sarkozy took more time to take such a dive.

A few scapegoats have already been spotted in Cheong Wa Dae. It won't solve anything in the short term but Korea needs everyone to feel concerned and focused. Together.

Let's face it, the near future looks grim, and it could even turn more catastrophic if the North decided to collapse in the months to come.

But unlike in 1998 this country is not in total denial.

* nor even the early 90s, when I caught a few tear gas fumes for being at the wrong place at the wrong moment.

Sinsikdang (Damyang)

Sinsikdang means "new restaurant". Yet, they're supposed to be cooking their mouthwatering ddeokgalbi (떡갈비) for three generations ; the kind that rocks your palate (the meat, not the gems on which they're presented).

Some pretend that the interior could be cosier. Or that the noodle soup tastes even better than the ddeokgalbi.

I don't care. I had both. Twice.

And the next day I swiched beef for pork across the street : yummy ribs / Galbi too, even more "no thrill" service... except for the yelling adjochi / psycho maitre d'.

And the next day it was time to expose my own ribs at the local spa.

Fat chance.

Sinsikdang / 신식당 (restaurant)
68 Damju-ri, Damyang-eup, Jeollanam-do, DAMYANG, ROK (Jeollanam-do)
Tel +82.61.382.9901

SM 2007

Their website : sinsikdang.co.kr.

see other restaurants in Seoul and Korea.