First Time Setting the Canon Loose

June 05, 2023

As promised I am back after a long day to finish my first full day in Korea.

After lunch, coffee and more coffee we headed out to the Heo Gyun Nanseolheon Memorial Park in the northeast part of town. Heo Nanseolheon was a painter and poet of note from the mid-Jeoson Dynasty (1500's AD). Unfortunately I didn't learn much about her during our visit, but thats mostly my fault. I was going nuts because this was the first time I was able to break out my SLR to photograph Korea. The park has a few Hanok-style buildings, one of which you can pay 2000 won to enter and have tea and rice cake in a traditional setting. Of course we had to partake.

Replica of a traditional Hanok-style house where we had tea

Settings for multiple tea parties

Rice Cake

Just to show it wasn't just a façade on the outside to make it look traditional

Lovely place settings

Next to the tea room there were additional traditional buildings that demonstrate key pieces of old-world Korean life. In-floor heating is common across Korea today, is connected to your water header (I think?), and controlled via thermostat. Traditional Korean homes used wood burning fire boxes below the house with channels that run under each of the rooms to provide heating. The output would then come out of one or more chimneys next to the house. Homes also contained a cellar underground for storing Onggi, or pots for fermenting kimchi in a cool dark place. Fruit trees, most commonly Persimmons and Plums, also grow throughout the city and this traditional village was no exception. Persimmons have significance to Korean culture (described here) as they are harvested in fall and represent transformation and growth as they go from green and sour to orange and sweet when ripe. They are not as easy to carve as pumpkins, but they do add lovely colors to autumn.

I love how the eaves overlap and cascade

Courtyards are common in Hanoks - I think to allow light and direct access to the outside.

Just a cool lock. I couldn't figure out how it works.

Baby Persimmon, or Kam.

Onggi for fermenting kimchi

Nicole posing for one of Kyoung's pictures

After tea we strolled through the adjacent park and took in the scenery. Gangneung is on the East coast of Korea and surrounded by gorgeous mountains. Gangneung is a manageably sized city, not a megalopolis but large enough to have nice parks, services and restaurants. This particular park has walking trails next to a lake, a lotus pad pond, and several art installations. Of these art installations, my favorite by far was the large concrete, geographically correct moon. At night the moon is illuminated, providing a surreal backdrop for couple's selfies. On reflection based on what I've seen so far, selfies are a somewhat competitive sport. During the golden light hours there will be couples lined up with cameras, phones and gopro's vying for the best instagram post. Nicole and Kyoung took in the beautiful weather while I snapped away with the camera.

The moon rises as you cross the bridge

It is an accurate replication of the moon

Very detailed

Pond with dense lotus plant growth and a picture frame for selfies.

Lovely horizon

Lovely walking paths

We ended the trip to the park with a short portrait shoot with Nicole and Kyoung in front of a rose before going out for Soondu ice cream. After a quick dinner of pork katsu, Nicole and I walked around Gangneung at night and took in some street life. Unfortunately it was a very quiet night.