Postcards from Daejeon: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snow Festival ~ Mount Taebaek

Dena

This girl is ready to climb a mountain.

Inside the cave

Taebaek Snowfest '10

Igloo Café

Temple and the Moon

At the base of Mt. Taebaek

Icy lashes

A very brave or mad soul set up camp atop the mountain.

Hielo/Nun/Ice-coated tree

Sweet victory: Michael and Dena teachers conquer Mt. Taebaek

Friday, January 22, 2010

A January Sunday in Busan

Feeding the seagulls

Busan

APEC building on the sea in Busan

Fishing on a Sunday afternoon

Won Dong

Overexposed fish

Sunday evening by the sea

Jagalchi Market- an endless sea of fresh fish

Octopi at Jagalchi Fish Market

Busan tower. We saw the top of the tower aglow and, with one hour left in the city, rushed to its base.

On the train ride back to Daejeon. Mmm, dried fish and beer. Thomas's idea of a snack.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Mount Gyeryong

At the base of Gyeryong Mountain

One of the two pagodas named for a monk and his sister who supposedly lived on this mountain centuries ago.

The second pagoda

At the beginning of the story the monk is living alone on the mountain. One day he finds a wounded tiger while he is out and decides to bring it home. He cares for the tiger until it is healthy and able to venture off on its own.

One day the tiger finds a sick girl on the mountainside and carries her to the monk, who nurses her back to health. When the girl has regained her strength she tells the monk that she'd like to stay with him on the mountain and be his wife, but having taken a vow of celibacy, the monk declines her offer. Instead, he invites the girl to stay with him as his sister. And so she does.

The two stone pagodas on this mountain were created in their memory.

Lunch on the mountain

We rested here and ate noodles, rice and seaweed for lunch. It was nice to have hot water to sip on. It's one thing I've adopted since arriving in Korea--drinking warm water in place of cold.