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July 13th, 2006
10:04 am - Burial Mounds
I'm not one for graveyard tourism except in Paris. But who wouldn't smoke dope on Morrison's grave or wear lipstick and leave your kiss on Wilde's? Oh yeah, there was also the visit to The National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, which left me wondering what might my fantasy coffin be? And I suppose I'd visit the pyramids if I were to go to Egypt though rumor has it Queen Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple is where it's at. Ok...so maybe I'm into graveyard tourism.
An ancient tradish of the ancient Silla dynasty of Korea is mounds. Come to find out that even today many people are buried under small mounds. Their individual mound is often clustered together with others on their family's very own burial mountain. That usually includes the family in the very extended sense of the word. Korea is 75% mountain so they have a lot to choose from.
However, the mounds I have a few images of are bigger than most because, you guessed it...they were royalty. These can be found downtown in the once capitol city of Gyeongju. This site is called Daereungwon Nodong and Noseo-dong Tumuli but it is unclear to me if they know exactly who is buried in what mound. The one excavated mound that you could enter called its resident The King of the Flying Horses because he had horses with wings engraved on his royal accessories. The mounds were well built layers of gravel, large stones that were all about the size of one's head, and soil and grass. As you can see, the meticulous pathways and gardening bring together the very best aesthetic elements of The Wizard of Oz and the Teletubbies.
( more mounds )
Current Music: Candyman, The Carrie Nations
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July 5th, 2006
03:58 pm - 7 hour wait for an hour flight
I'm writing this standing at a "Free Internet Zone" kiosk in an airport. It has no chair and was designed for really short people. In other words, my wrists hurt as I type.
I have arrived at the airport earlier than anyone in aviation history. Torsten's flight was in the morning and we had to leave his place together. Because I do not travel lightly, I had to come check in my luggage. The ticket people giggled over my arrival, 7 hours before boarding time. It's not even international. Tonight I'm just traveling from Pusan to Seoul.
OK, I could taxi it to Pusan's largest Buddhist temple but it's only 30 years old and I'm all templed and palaced out nearing the end of my journey. I know I haven't posted any pics of any yet, but I was going to do that retroactively upon my return. I know you're hungry for it.
I was actually going to do THIS post once I dolled it up with images but am so bored I decided to just describe some of the airport highlights. The real images aren't that dynamic so use your imaginations to complete the picture.
Things I did while waiting:
1. Got all chatted up by a rather friendly Korean guy whose English was Ok enough that we almost always understood each other. He gave me a scare when he tried to make me pronounce Jesus in Korean but got off that subject just before I was about to run away. He shared his cigarettes, bought me a coffee and a crazy sweet vitamin drink that has made it hard for me to sit still. Of course, all of this was unsolicited and I even tried to not except or buy him a round or what have you, but he was determined to be a good representative of his country. As he departed he gave me his last two cigs and a lighter. I still don't know how to say Jesus in Korean.
2. I had to try a Green Tea Bavarian Dunkin' Donut. It looks moldy but it is really quiet good. Every chain has to Koreanize a little something on the menu to survive. I had a Bulgogi Chicken Sandwich at KFC last week. I love fusion gourmet.
3. More food. I have found that I really enjoy Korean food. The spice agrees with me and I love pickled everything. However, my lunchtime bean curd soup had bits of mysterious creature in it that I assume was from the sea by the company it kept. It was hard and needed to be spat out at every encounter.
4. Big Bang...the video game. I found the airport's game room and played this airplane shoot-em up game. I hold today's second place title which isn't such an accomplishment considering that I was the only person in the place. Do all the games here come from 1989 or are they just built to look that way? This is not meant to be derogatory...just a question. When it comes to technology, most young Koreans own cell phones that make mine look like a smoke signal device.
5. No biggie, but the images that keep cycling on the news here are missiles being launched. Not that I know what a North Korean missile looks like, but they look very North Korean. There are some flat screen displays that let me channel surf but unfortunately, none of the stations are in English. Err....time to take a break and go to newyorktimes.com. Oh, I get it, while the footage is very archival the story is today. Whew???
6. Only an hour left, I can't believe it! Before I head through security I am considering tasting something from Sweet Buns. It feels like a deja vu? I feel like another LJer has beat me to the punch. Guess I'll skip it and look for the living squid.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/energetic.gif) hyper
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July 3rd, 2006
June 30th, 2006
03:04 pm - Seoul Brothers
Call me a perv but this was my first image of Seoul as my taxi drove past the War Memorial on the way to our hotel. I was like hell yeahhh!! We then drove past the American military bases …hmmm guarded mostly by Korean police rookies…double hmmmm. While camo seemed to be a popular style in Itaewon, the neighborhood where queers, hookers, ex-pats and regular folks intermingle with American military might, it wasn’t the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fantasy land I was hoping it would be.
My Saturday night in the gay ghetto (one tiny street of about 5 gay bars where everyone hangs out drinking on the street) was not as popular as I may have thought. However, tales of occasional GI’s making there way down to basement discos did surface. An occasional handful of full gear soldiers occasionally cut through the gay festivities in search of comrades marching to a different beat. Can you say witch hunt? Last year was the first since 2001 that more gay military personnel got discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” than the year before (700 something up from 600 something).
Other ways American tax dollars are put to use are paying the CPs (Curfew Police). Full gear military out and about making sure our boys are back before midnight else the threat that their carriages turn into pumpkins. They peek their heads into all the local bars checking off a roster that I'm sure they turn into Santa at the end of the year.
About the statue, it’s called The Statue of Brothers not the statue of lovers. It is one of many reasons to visit the expansive and very moving Seoul War Memorial that I’ll post some more pictures from later.
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June 22nd, 2006
June 5th, 2006
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bootstwaps's journal
