South Korea-Land of Morning Calm

Day 5-Yesan-Gun-Korea, 1 May 2009.

It’s time to say goodbye to my host family in Asan city as we moved on to the next county, Yesan-gun (예산).

Upon arriving in Yesan, we were warmly received by the mayor; Major General (Ret.) Choi Seung Woo who introduced Yesan County’s products such as Loess apples and rice.

Then, we visited Yesan elementary school where facilities such as computer room, music room, library and hall were explained by its school principal who gave us a touring around. We also visited Sudeok-sa temple, a Buddhist temple renowned for a large number of great Seon masters who lived and practised there. Sudeok-sa temple has also produced a number of prominent Dharma teachers throughout its long history which is located on the southern slopes of Deoksungsan in Deoksan-myeon. It's main hall is daeungjeon (大雄殿), Korea's oldest wooden building and it has been clasified as Korea National Treasure No. 49.

We were treated lunch by Major General (Ret.) Choi where we had Korean Pork BBQ known as Pork Galbi.

We visited the house of Kim Jeong-Hui, known as ‘Chusa old house’, where he was known as ‘master of writing’.

We visited an apple farm and ate big juicy apple provided by the owner, Yedang tourism sites and we had vegetarian dinner and experienced Korean traditional tea culture back at Sudeok-sa temple.


Reception by Yesan mayor


Visit to Yesan Elementary School


Sudeok-sa


Lunch with Yesan mayor


Lunch...


House of Kim Jeong-Hui


Visit to apple farm


Yedang tourism site


Experiencing Korean traditional tea culture @ Sudeok-sa

South Korea-Land of Morning Calm

Day 4-Asan Si-Korea, 30 April 2009.

We visited Korean traditional museum which exhibited different displays such as traditional Korean child play game, Korean wedding, different types of rice and Kimchi, farming tools, traditional music instruments and puppet show. I was surprised and astonished by the elementary school children who visited the museum as part of the school programme; to inculcate the values into the young generation to embed the cultural elements in them...

For lunch, it's Korean traditional food again... Luckily for me, it's my favourite food as I can taste different banchans (side dishes) and the different kind of pap (rice)... See it for yourself ^-^

After lunch, we visited Soon Chung Hyang University (SCH) as part of our vocational visit where we were greeted by its Director and explained to us the programmes and courses offered. One of the faculties offered in SCH – ‘Foreign Language Education Center, School of Global Education and Exchange’ has three Global Villages where it’s student - Chinese, Americans and other nationality students stays in the dormitory provided.

We visited Maeng Clan’s house in Asan where Maeng Sa-seong, a government officer famous for his integrity and uprightness, and his family lived.

At night, we attended a meeting organised by RC Onah where we presented a power point presentation about Malaysia in Hangul and clubs bannerette were exchanged. As for dinner, guess what I had... Right, Korean traditional food again, but no complains as the food is definately much delicious than what I used to eat here in Malaysia... I guess it's the ingredient used...

Korean Traditional Museum (",)


Lunch time ... ^*^


Vocational visit to SCH


Maeng Clan's house


RC Onah's Club Meeting


Dinner time ...

South Korea-Land of Morning Calm

Day 3-Asan Si-Korea, 29 April 2009.

In the morning, I had traditional Korean breakfast consist of pap (rice) with bulgogi, kim, kimchi, apple salad, English sausage and myulchi (anchovies) with my host family where I had scrumptious and hearty meal.

Then we visited Kook Min bank where we had our first vocational visit to learn and understood the operations of the bank - of its foreign exchange, its management of its resources and talent management.

Next, we visited Hyeongchungsa which is the home of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, a Joseon’s Admiral who devoted himself to saving the country from Japanese invasion where he used ‘Geobukseon’ to defeat 133 Japanese vessels with only 13 vessels on his own. Then we went to see Medieval show to see and experience different performance such as horse riding, sword demonstration and cultural performance like drums and musical instruments.

In the evening, we visited traditional si-jang market in Asan.


My breakfast ^-^


Vocational Visit to KB Bank


Hyeongchungsa


Potrait of Admiral Yi


Medieval show


Visit to traditional si-jang (market)

South Korea-Land of the Morning Calm

Day 2-Asan Si-Korea, 28 April 2009.

We were introduced to our first host family in Asan where the team had our first home stay with the respective host family for three-days. My host family was extremely warm in welcoming me to the family. My host parents, the Shim's family with their son, Dong Chan was extremely anxious when they met me as both of them could not converse in English and Dong Chan acted as my interpreter so we could understand and communicate with each other...

Next morning, we visited Asan Oeam Maeul, a traditional village house comprising of traditional noble house made of giwa (tiles) and straw houses. All houses in Oeam have stone walls and clean water from Seolhwasan flows through the town by artificial watercourse, which is used for gardening or living water. This watercourse is well harmonised with fruit trees, flowering trees and forests thus producing a beautiful scene. Oeam preserved its traditional life styles where I tried the Korean traditional mill which was used by farmers to mill grains and ko-chu-jang (Korean chilli pepper paste). Oeam also exhibits traditional Korean wedding ceremony which traditional Hanbok used for the ceremony. I noticed Korean uses kama, a small palanquin which is similar to ancient Chinese wedding. Oeam also displayed traditional Korean house where each room is displayed with the furniture and fittings. For lunch, we had traditional Korean food bap (rice) with kimchi, kong nam mul, bean paste and vegetables.

Then, we visited Shinjung Lake Park where the monument of Admiral Yi Sun-sin was located. Admiral Yi Sun-sin was known for his loyalty in protecting his country from the invasion of Japan and he was famous for the invention of Geobukseon (Turtle Ship) which is the first ship made of iron clad.

After that, we visited Hyundai Motor Company Plant which assembles and manufactures Sonata and Grandeur (Azera) model with the production capacity of 30,000 mid-to large-size passenger cars annually.

As for dinner, we had scrumptious Korean BBQ seafood. We visited the Admiral Yi Sun-sin festival with some Rotarians family which is celebrated every month of April to commemorate his birthday during the night where we met with the mayor.

Asan Oeam Maeul



Asan Oeam Maeul


Asan Oeam Maeul


Lunch


Monument of Admiral Yi Sun-sin


Hyundai Motor Company Plant


Dinner


Admiral Yi Sun-sin's Festival

South Korea-Land of the Morning Calm

Day 1-Arriving in Korea, 27 April 2009.

A team of five departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on 26 April 09 at 1 a.m. The journey took six and a half hour to reach Incheon Airport where we arrived at 7.40 a.m. as Korea was one-hour ahead from Malaysia. Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by Mr Chung Min-Ho; Group Study Exchange (GSE) Chairman of Korea with his wife a Korean Rotarian who came with a 12-seater van to load our luggage’s to drove us to Cheonan city.

We stopped over at R&R area to have coffee and I was amazed by the cleanliness and the ambiance of the toilets... green scenery with plants and animals like birds welcoming you... There is also a highway supermarket and food court for people to fill their stomach and quench their thirst.

We had welcomed by a lunch reception hosted by the District Secretariat where we had our first Korean meal-Korean 'bap' (rice)-Korean staple food with many banchans (side dishes) such as kong nam mul, jap chae, myul-chi and not forgetting kimchi, kimchi jjigae and many more.

We were dropped off at Western Hotel in the afternoon to unpack our luggage as to prepare ourselves for a Charter night of RC Woo Ri. In the afternoon, we walked around Cheonan city where we visited Moon’s Dental Hospital and were warmly received by District Governor Dr Moon Eun-Soo.

'Cheonan-Si' or Cheonan City is known for several agricultural products including grapes and ya pears. The tightly-packed city center is surrounded by small mountains. The main tourist attraction is the nearby "Independence Hall," a collection of patriotic museums, monuments and gardens, including "the museum of Japanese Aggression." The city is also known for a small walnut-flavored cake in the size and shape of a walnut.

We went to the nearby shopping complex 'Ya-Woori' to snoope around and experience for ourselves the Korean lifestyle and snaps many photos and came across a very cute shop name 'Buy the way', visiting Cheonan Bus Terminal and pose with a big pink teddy bear dog with the slogan "Cannot Live Without a Dream" which I strongly agree...

There was also this interesting architecture 'Millions of Miles (Distant Voyage)' which made of 999 axles from junk cars.

Till next time... cheers

South Korea-Land of the Morning Calm

Introduction...

South Korea, known as Daehanminguk to its people is one of the oldest continuing civilisation in the world. South Korea has another name Land of the Morning Calm and it is neighboured by China to the west, Japan to the east and borders North Korea to the north. South Korea’s capital and largest city is Seoul, the second largest metropolitan city on the world.

I was lucky to be selected as a GSE member representing D3300, Malaysia to D3620, South Korea to the province of Chungcheongnam-do - Cheonan, Asan, Seosan, Boryeong, Hongseong, Yesan, Taean and Dangjin. I was mesmerised by South Korea by its advancement of science and technology as it is a world leader in information technology such as electronics, semiconductors, LCD displays, computers and mobile phones, led by Samsung and LG.

South Korea is also the home of the world’s third largest steel producer, POSCO and it is the world’s largest ship builder, the world’s fourth largest oil refiner and one of the world’s top five automobile producers, headed by Hyundai and Kia. It is also a leading country in biotechnology, construction, engineering, machinery, petrochemicals, robotics, cosmetics and textiles.

Influence from South Korea of its pop culture in Asia countries has heat up the waves of Korean culture. Korean singers such as Rain is widely recognised and acknowledged in Asia, music bands such as Kara, Super Junior, Wonder Girls is getting the same recognition. Korean movies has also set a place in many Malaysians heart as Winter Sonata makes its debut appearance which introduces South Korea and Korean stars like Lee Young Ae, Kim Tae Hee has captured many hearts of Malaysians.

As there is a language barrier between the two countries, I was required to learn Hangul, as many Koreans do not understand or speak English compared to Malaysians. With TRF’s support, we engaged a Korean teacher living in Malaysia to teach us some basic conversations and enough for us to ‘survive’ as we only attended ten classes of two-hours every week to learn Hangul. I benefited from the class as I could understand and speak little Hangul, which I felt should be sufficient to communicate with them. My assumption however turned to be otherwise, as I could not make up any conversation even though I understand few words but after a week I could easily understand it although my ability to converse was still not good. It is as Korean uses variant of words that have the same meaning, which I am able to pick-up and learn from time to time.

I will share with you my enriching journey in South Korea, what I've experienced and hopefully you will be able to imagine and feel what I've went through in the land of the morning calm.



Photos taken around Incheon Airport...