Ruminations in Korea

In the interest of fairness and equal opportunity, I feel compelled to share something.

I have been writing about the Dokdo Riders and their all-expenses-paid vacation quest to ride their motorcycles around the world to take a year off school and have fun educate Koreans non-koreans everywhere of the fact that the Dokdo Islands belong to Korea and that Korea must protect her islands to prevent an invasion by the Japanese.

I have been hard on the Dokdo Riders for masking a vacation in the guise of an actual crusade to protect Koreas borderds from the hordes of Japanese invaders.  I have, however, been sympathetic and supportive of their ride in that it has been and will continue to be a trip of personal discovery for the Dokdo Riders and will broaden their horizions and understanding of what Americans and other non-Koreans are really like.

I would feel hypocritcal if I didn’t mention something about the Paul Revere Riders. The Paul Revere Riders are American Dokdo Riders.   They are riding around the country to sound the alarm and raise the cry that the USA must protect her boarders to prevent an invasion from the hordes of foreign invaders!

The hyperbolic mission of the Paul Revere Riders is explaned thusly:

Paul Revere warned his fellow patriots. He and his fellow militia succeeded. They carried out their duty to God and their country—in their time.

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Like those who served to bring this nation into being, today’s patriots must ride to warn the nation in the early years of the 21st century. In the summer of 2006, please welcome brave men and women on modern day iron steeds that ride through hamlets, towns, cities and states to warn citizens of the ongoing invasion of illegal aliens across America’s borders.

These modern-day Paul Reveres carry instructions on “How to Stop the Illegal Alien Invasion” and will visit all 48 states and capitols on their way to Washington, DC. They ride to warn you and your loved ones. Yes, they ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles instead of horses—but their message echoes Revere’s ride.

…The Paul Revere Riders stand as sentinels, as patriots, as mothers and fathers that stand for their families, their country and God. When they pass by your town, give them a cheer. They carry the hopes and dreams of all Americans who love life, liberty and the American Dream.

“We will ride, as our forefathers before us, to warn Americans in 2006 of this destructive invasion of lawless foreigners that commandeers our American Republic.”-Frosty Wooldridge to Patriots to Preserve the American Republic.

As with the Dokdo Riders, I am sympathic and supportive of the Paul Revere Riders basic premise that the US borders are too open and that illegal immigration should be stopped, I would be much less critical if the ride was prevented for what it is…a publicity stunt designed to get funding for a cross country vacation while handing out overblown and over-wrought leaflets to people that already have an opinion.  I would have much more respect for someone who said, “Dude, i love to ride.  I’m going to take some time off and ride around the country.  While I am enjoying myself, I will hand out some leaflets about a pet project I have.”

Regardless of how silly I find the “Paul Revere Riders” concept, I wish them a safe and happy trip….and more media attention than the Dokdo Riders seem to be getting.

Ladies and Gentlemen!  Boys and Girls!  Children of all ages!  Welcome!  Welcome to the strangest show on Earth!

On Sunday, I took a  150 kilometer (round trip) motorcycle ride to the weirdest place in Korea, the Jasujeong Amethyst Cave near Ulsan, Korea.  It is quite possible that this is the strangest place on Earth.  I have been many places around the world, but so far, I think this amethyst cave is the oddest place I have ever visited.

I left home early Sunday afternoon and headed North out of Pusan.  I sped along highway 35 North through Yangsan and eased off the throttle after escaping the clutches of Pusan and the surrounding area.

Highway 35 continued to run North wedged between the No 1 Expressway to the East and a river to the west.

I turned West at the small village of Samnam and rode past rice paddies

and on toward the mountains.

A few kilometers into the mountains I passed a pond that reminded me a lot of a pond that I used to swim in when I was a kid growing up in Utah.

Another minute or two down the road, I arrived at the weirdest place in Korea, the Jasujeong Amethyst Cave.

Jodi at Asia Pages has written about this cave before, but reading about the cave and actually seeing inside are different animals.  I thought I would take some pictures so that others could see what is inside the cave. (Read on …)

Indictments have finally come down from the prosecutors office.  Hwang Woo-Suk is now officially in criminal trouble.  However, the faithful will not be deterred.

From the Chosun Ilbo: Hearing of the scientist’s indictment on the radio or via their cell phone, many supporters burst into tears and threw down the pickets they were carrying. They attempted to block prosecutors’ cars and shouted abuse at prosecutors entering the gate with calls of “Traitor” and “You don’t deserve to eat.”

From the AP:  SEOUL — South Korean prosecutors indicted disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk Friday on charges of fraud, embezzlement and bioethics violations linked to faked stem cell research.

From the Washington Post: Prosecutors have said the misuse of state funds carries a jail term of up to 10 years while a violation of the bioethics law can mean up to three years behind bars.

From Bloomberg: Five others will also be indicted, Lee, a prosecutor at the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office, said at the agency’s headquarters in southern Seoul.

From ABC news: Hwang will not immediately be arrested, prosecution official Lee In-kyu said in a nationally televised news conference.

From Life News: Devoted followers of disgraced embryonic stem cell research scientist Hwang Woo-suk are engaging in an intimidation campaign across the Asian nation and rallying together to support political candidates in the wake of the international scandal. Their actions have even the South Korean media perplexed.

From BBC: Friday’s announcement marks a new low in the career of the once-famed South Korean scientific superstar, who was feted by the nation for his claimed breakthroughs in a promising new medical field.

I have two personal traditions.  One tradition is that I stay home on Children’s Day and avoid going anywhere on the crowded roads because nothing is more frustrating than sitting in gridlocked traffic watching carload after carload of parents frustrated at the gridlock and screaming at the gaggle of children in the backseat who are crying and bored of being trapped in a car for hours going somewhere their parents think they want to go.  The other tradition is that on Buddha’s Birthday, I go somewhere that I find interesting.

Last Friday, those traditions came into direct conflict.  Due to a lunar/solar calendar collision, yesterday was both Children’s Day and Buddha’s Birthday.  I was torn between two traditions.  After much pondering, I decided that the best way to deal with the conflict was to go somewhere far out into the countryside away from the nightmare traffic in the cities and expressways and to get far away from the places where families congregate with their children.

Early Friday morning, I got up, threw on my jeans, leather, gloves, and helmet.  I grabbed my brother, threw him on the back of my bike and fired up the big V-twin engine and roared off under greying skies into the Korean hinterland.

The road led through Gupo in the northwestern part of Busan and on to Hopo on the very outskirts of the city.

One left turn and two minutes later, the noisy, crowded, polluted, stinking city gave way to quietude.  Highrise apartments became greenhouses. telephone poles become trees.  The noise of cars became the chirping of birds and the hum of insects. 

The restrained growl of the 1,500cc engine cutting a line through the scenery was the only unnatural sound to be heard. Yet the rhythmic thrumming of the bike’s power plant was, in some arcane way, in harmony with Natures’ symphony. (Read on …)

The story of the bee guy’s defense of Dokdo has been discussed on a large number of people in the Korea blogosphere.  Many of the bloggers and commentors wondered whether people knew how silly it looked to outsiders.  My other people wondered what the rest of the world would say.  

The story of the bee guy’s defense of Dokdo has been discussed on a large number of people in the Korea blogosphere.  Many of the bloggers and commentors wondered whether people knew how silly it looked to outsiders.  My other people wondered what the rest of the world would say.  I was going to remain silent on this topic because I have discussed the bee guy and his negative effects on foreigner’s images previously in an audioblog.  However, I see that the BBC picked up the bee guy’s story. 

The story of the bee guy’s defense of Dokdo has been discussed on a large number of people in the Korea blogosphere.  Many of the bloggers and commentors wondered whether people knew how silly it looked to outsiders.  My other people wondered what the rest of the world would say.  I was going to remain silent on this topic because   However, I see that the . The BBC reports that the bee guy called upon the bees to protect Dokdo even at the cost of their own lives.  Bee guy said:

“The honeybee dares to abandon its life when enemies are attempting to attack, to protect its own home. From now on, I hope these bees will contribute to protect our Dokdo”

I understand that this sounds very patriotic to many Koreans and stirs something deep within their souls, but from a westerner’s point of view, reading the quote on BBC, it sounds beyond ridiculous.  Once again, just like knife in the stomach guy, the people that are concerned about Korea’s image are the very people that make Korea look and sound foolish to the rest of the world.  On a positive sad note, he didn’t get out of it unscathed.

Ahn Sang-gyu, known for his bee performances, had tears running down his face as he was stung 200 times.

Lest you think he is totally out of his mind, I should point out that there is a method to his madness. Dokdo is 187,000 square meters, so it only makes sense that he used 187,000 bees.

Visit the bee guy’s homepage by clicking here.

About a month ago, Jodi over at Asia Pages blogged about the “good old days” of Korea and how society has changed dramatically over the past 20 years.  Many commentors, myself included, waxed nostalgic about some of the things we missed from the days gone by.

I am a country boy.  I grew up in Nibley, a town of around 1,000 people on the outskirts of Logan, Utah.  There were probably more cows than people there.  I grew up in the heart of the Rockie Mountains.  However, I have become somewhat resigned to the fact that I will be living here in Pusan, a city of about 5,000,000 people, for the forseeable future.  I spend the vast majority of my time in big cities here in Korea. Seoul, Daegu, and Pusan.

Living and working in the city, taking the express way to other big cities, barreling down the KTX bullet train tracks from city to city, I forget what is outside of the cities.  I just assume that it is the same everywhere as it is in the big cities.

This past weekend, I went for a long, relaxing motorcycle ride deep into the Korean countryside.  My ride took me up the coast from Pusan, past the nuclear power plant, and west from there into the country.

As the highways gave way to smaller roads, and the smaller roads gave way to country lanes, the stress, smell, highrise canyons, complexity and oppressiveness of the city fell further and further behind.  I slipped into the rolling meditation that is unique to motorcyclists slowly winding their way way through country roads.

My soul delighted in the smells of the onion fields and manure, seeing the turquoise and white of the ocean waves crashing against the rocky shore, the sight of farmers working in their fields, and the flocks of birds that scattered as the massive Harley engine cut through the afternoon stillness. 

It was somehow reassuring to ride through small village after small village where no buildings are higher than one story and where there is only one short street of necessary businesses…no starbucks, no McDonalds, no department stores, no big grocery stores.  It was as if I rode out of the present and 20 or 30 years into the past. Back to the Korea that others and I remember.

I regret that I was not able to take pictures of the sights and scenes.  However, I was riding with another biker and could not ask him to stop every few minutes.

Somewhere near the halfway point of my ride, I stopped and took a picture of my new Harley-Davidson 2006 Streetbob. There are a few customizations left to be done.  I will take more detailed pictures after the customization is completed in a month or so.

You know it’s going to be an interesting week, or an interesting day at the very least, when your you have this conversation with a friend before 10:30am:

Me: Happy Monday to you J!
J: rabbits!!
J: do u say that on the first day of the month?
J: or do u think i’m weird
J: for saying ‘rabbits’
Me: ..rabbits?
J: yeah
J: u say ‘rabbits’
J: on the first day of the month
Me: and why do you say that?
J: F*** knows
J: maybe it’s just my mum who was weird
Me: ok.. well then rabbits to you too!
J: no
J: u just say ‘rabbits’
J: let’s try again
J: rabbits!!
Me: Rabbits!
J: woooooo!