New Blog

Hey everyone. If you know me, I love music. Well, I decided to finally dedicate an entire blog about my muscial inclinations. The premise is one week one album - meaning that I will post about one artist each week (4 posts per month). This way I can share with you all the fantastic music that is out there...and I figure one week is enough time to truly appreciate an album. So, please check it out. If you don't particularly like music - feel free to pass along the address to someone who does!

http://oneweekonealbum.blogspot.com/

Cheers,

-Paul

Sequoia Trees & Bamboo Forest

Hi! This week’s post is a definite continuation of last week. As I mentioned in great detail last time, myself, HJ and the Trinity crew took a long one day road trip to the south of Korea as part of a Korean tour. Last post was about the first and most significant stop of the trip – the green tea fields – but there were two other stops on this journey: a street lined with sequoia trees and a bamboo forest.

The sequoia lined street was beautiful to be sure. Yet, again, it was packed with other tourists so it spoiled a bit of the natural feel. According to HJ, this street was designated by the Korean government as the most beautiful street in all of Korea. Naturally then, people are going to flock to it. We didn’t have a whole lot of time there – around 30 minutes. However, it seemed to be ample as it was essentially what was advertised. It took awhile to get from the tea fields to the trees so I think we were all in somewhat of a daze after being on the bus anyway. I did a little research to find out about these special trees but all I could find was info on sequoias in California. Apparently, sequoias there are the biggest and oldest trees in the world – but that doesn’t seem to apply to Korea.

Following these trees, we voyaged to a nearby bamboo forest…which turned out to be a surprise hit. Considering that we were so close, it took forever before we got there. The driver got lost – and after several incredibly risky u-turns – we were able to roam around. My expectations of a bamboo forest weren’t high to be honest – but it was love at first sight…in a way. The best part was being able to wander freely through it all. To me, it all felt so incredibly Asian – as if from some kung-fu movie or something. I think it certainly inspired some kung-fu moments – especially from Nathan & Lydia & Co. Probably the highlight was both Lucas and Brandon climbing the bamboo. They scaled them like monkeys…it seemed far too easy. You’ll understand when you see the pictures.

I know it sounds silly and unrealistic but I’d love to have a mini-bamboo forest back home in Canada. I did a little research on bamboo too and found some incredible things. It seems that bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the entire world. In one day it can grow 3 – 4 feet. That’s about 1.5/2 inches an hour. Kind of mind boggling really. Now, I’m sure different strains do different things…but it’s still encouraging. At any rate, everyone had a good time – without doubt, there was a good vibe going around. After this, we boarded the bus for the final time for a short ride back to the KTX station. It was all downhill from there. I think everyone was pretty well exhausted. I didn’t get home to 12 – it was tiring but looking back now – it was worth it. Probably the greenest trip of my life.

I’ll be back soon with more pictures and updates. Hope you enjoyed learning about the trip.

Peace.

-Paul

Boseong Green Tea Fields

Hi! I’m back…faster than usual too! As I mentioned briefly last post, this past weekend was longer than most – three whole days of freedom. Actually, everyone got a day off because of Buddha’s Birthday. I’m not really sure what this means – and most of the Koreans I talked to don’t really know either. Regardless, Buddha turned one year older and we got to relax – so everyone wins.

This past Saturday my incredible girlfriend had planned a comprehensive trip for me and friends (Nathan and Lydia, Nathan’s two brothers: Lucas and Kenji, Katy, Kristin, Phil and Brandon) here in Korea. Truthfully, this excursion was her brainchild all along – and I just thankfully tagged along (friends included). She had wanted to visit the Boseong green tea fields in the south of Korea for a long time now…and we made it reality on Saturday. Fortunately, HJ didn’t have to coordinate everything. She booked us on a Korean tour. This would mean that all our transportation would be taken care of – as well as admission fees to the various places we would visit. So, certainly, that took must of the headache out of it – although Katy and Kristin nearly put us in a fix until they showed up two minutes before the train was supposed to leave. The only downside to an organized tour was the time limitations. I think in some instances we would have liked more time to explore.

A bit of geography then: Boseong is basically in the far south-west of Korea. It’s nestled right up to the ocean – which was fantastic. I missed seeing the big salty blueness – although we hardly had time to appreciate it due to scheduling of the trip. Anyway, it’s far too far from the metropolis of Seoul…which we found out soon enough. The journey began in Yongsan (Seoul) where we caught the KTX (which is Korea’s high speed train). It does speed along – close to 300 kph at some points. However, it still took two hours before we reached our destination, Jeongeup. We disembarked to board a waiting bus and begin the next stage. This bus rocketed around the winding roads through the mountains to dump us at the tea fields two hours later. So, in total, it took us probably close to four or four and half hours to get down there.

Looking back now, the travel time was probably the worst part of the trip. I didn’t anticipate how far away Boseong truly was. That said, the green tea fields were worth it. Quite spectacular really – as much refined greenery as the eye could see. Again, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I had seen a few shots on TV of green tea fields in India and such but I don’t think I had any idea of the scale of the whole operation. It’s a bit daunting to think of the work that goes into maintaining and harvesting virtually an entire mountainside. But it’s more than that as well – there really is a beauty in the symmetry of it all – and the glowing “greenness”.

Now, just like anything else in Korea, it was busy. There were Korean people there in small hordes – from small private trips or tours like ours. Thankfully, due to the large area – the masses of people didn’t take away too much from the experience. We had about an hour to take it all in – and I think that was about adequate. There’s not a whole lot to DO there anyway. You can only take so many pictures, right? I would have liked to learn more about the process of tea making but our tour guide was Korean and he didn’t seem to be explaining anything – in Korean or English. A bit disappointing, especially as I couldn’t find much info on wikipedia. We quickly grabbed some green tea ice cream before jumping on the bus for the next leg of the journey. However, our next two stops will have to wait until next post. There’s just too many photos…and too much to say. I hope I can fit all the pics from the green tea fields in this post!

Hope to be back soon!

-Paul