Performances of "Tradition" for Tourists : Jeongdong Theatre's "Youll"

For many years I've wanted to more deeply examine the performances that are marketed to tourists in Korea. A friend of mine, Choi Haeree, invited me to one of them and I decided that this would be the perfect time to write a paper on some of the issues with appropriation and commodification of tradition that I've seen in such shows. My chief issue with performances for tourists is how they adjust tradition to a point where what they are showing lacks many of the beautiful aspects of actual tradition, or worse, just uses a facade of tradition while offering nothing of substance.

Haeree and I watched a show at Haeundae Grand Hotel in Busan called "The Queen's Banquet." There were many issues, but... there were some good points to the show as well. The full price is 30,000 won, but it seems there are a lot of ways to get discounts, if you're in Busan anyway, you might like it. I wouldn't tell someone "never see that" as there are redeeming features (I particularly was happy that I could take photos during the show!). 

For the second show of three that I am watching specifically  for the purposes of writing this paper, I went to Jeongdong Theatre (formerly written Chungdong but I noticed they've changed the spelling to RR Romanization). Again, I was able to get a ticket for free. Thanks be! Because it was one of the worst performances I've ever seen. Seriously, it was horrible. If you said the show in Busan was like an enthusiastic student performance where they missed some of the subtle aesthetics and got too excited and jumped too much, well, this show in Seoul would be the show done by some pretentious art school students who understand nothing, think they understand everything, have no respect for anyone (including the audience) and are bored out of their minds, or fully know they're doing something stupid and their desire to be somewhere else shows. 

So, let me see if I can explain why this show (ticket prices of 30-60,000 won) was so bad. 

First: The show included all the cliches. If a woman is evil, she sexually tempts, exposes too much of her body (hello, in a "traditional" show you've got women with skirts slit straight to their crotch?), or she wears black lipstick. If a woman is good, she's bashful about physical contact, or she flits around on her toes with a white feather/wand. The story was stupid and cliche over all. It could be summarized as: evil kills good king, hero emerges through difficulty, hero and heroine prepare for battle with evil, they defeat evil, they get married. The entire play was mostly non-verbal, except for sung narration. The over-acting to make sure you'd understand the un-narrated bits was... extreme.

Second: There were essentially three traditional elements at play. A) pansori B) pungmul drumming C) hanbok costumes. But the pansori singers are either incompetent, or more likely, the director told them to make it less of a pansori type singing and more of an operatic type singing. The distinctive properties of pansori were almost absent. Songs were used as narration to move the story (in pansori, narration is narration-- it's spoken-- and songs are when the action slows down to real-time speed instead of compressed jumps), and at almost every instance the pansori was accompanied by a cacophony (yes, loud, loud, loud) of recorded music from offstage including synthesizers, and maybe some cymbal, high hat, a little drum, or whatever from the Western drumset drummer who was in the pit to the front and side of the stage. So the actual beauty of pansori (accompanied by a single drummer on a barrel drum, very subtle) was never on display.

The pungmul drummers had -at most- forty-five seconds of stage time without other off-stage or front stage Western drumset man music accompanying them. Even though the drummers were on stage about five times, you never really got a sense of Korean rhythms or the actual sound of just drumming (even though Korean traditional drumming tends to be what foreigners enjoy the most, show after show).  And finally the hanbok were all fancied up and made sexier, so the performers could look slim and beautiful-- not one traditional hanbok was ever on stage, except perhaps some of what the peasants were wearing, but even those were not white minbok, even if they were minbok-esque. 

I am not saying the show has to be traditional, or that it needs to be fully authentic, but if your marketing and promotional literature talks about how you showcase the heritage of pansori and talk up how it's also UNESCO listed, then at least you can actually have some real pansori on stage. There were a lot of foreigners in the audience, and they thought they were seeing tradition-- they wanted to see tradition, that's why they bought the ticket. To show that that horrible show at best leaves the beauty of Korean tradition tarnished in their eyes. They probably go home saying "that didn't seem very different than xxxx from my culture." There was no dance motion from tradition, and the martial arts scenes were at best an orientalist fantasy of all Asian martial arts rolled into one, nothing specific to Korea, in fact, since the hero and heroine use long staffs, which are not much used in Korean martial arts, but are used abundantly in Chinese arts, probably any Chinese viewer would have thought it was stage-Kung Fu, not anything Korean. 

Third: The entire show was a mish-mash of orientalism and self-exotification where the directors and producers were clearly aiming for a non-Korean (Western) eye, without caring one whit about accurate or otherwise presentations of Korean traditions or culture. The entire thing felt icky, like I needed a shower afterwards. And of course it also represented a giant missed opportunity. The show is twice a day, six days a week. It's widely promoted and backed by the government. All those people who could have learned something didn't. For example at the end the heroine is in a slim and body hugging white gown (with hanbok elements), and has a white veil-like hair piece. So you can understand they're getting married. Never mind that in Korea white is the color of death and funerals, and that traditional wedding robes are gorgeous, splendid things that don't use some lame filmy white lace, but rather an even more awesome hair piece like crown with a trailing embroidered silk strip down the back of the head. Of course a one word title on the side (they had English on one side, Japanese and Chinese on the other on screens) could have declared "wedding celebration" just to make it all clear for the audience, if they really thought people needed it.

They were very proud of their hyper-modern visual techniques-- and I admit a couple times they were cool-- but most of the time they were just distracting and more light on the stage and less eyestrain from trying to see through weird layers of projected moving images would have been nicer. 

I am appalled that this is what is being offered to tourists, that every travel agency is recommending this show (one reason is that most shows are one-off and agencies like long runs that are easy to predict), and that in fact Jeongdong Theatre has slipped so much (I enjoyed some of their cheesy tourist stuff in the past, admittedly when I knew less about traditional performance, but it was much more traditional than this). Tourists who come for a once in a lifetime visit to Korea should be shown the best of Korea, not some horrible mix of bad singing, ballet-esque motion, and historionics. 

I just hope that the final show of the three is less odious to sit through. 

Advice for a Trip to Korea (based on more than a dozen years of experience traveling in Korea)

Let's just say that this is your first trip to Korea, and you really really want to make the most of your time here. Knowing that I've spent many years here, you (or one of your friends) might ask me for my advice. So here it is, my grand advice for your trip in Korea.

Packing for Korea:
Plug converters (they are easy to find at the airport BUT the packaging often doesn't know what's the right size for Korea, so if you don't know yourself...). Electricity is 220 volt. It's two giant round prongs that are fairly fat but not as fat as some countries.

Here I've photographed my American plug next to the plug converter I use for my computer. 

Slip on/off shoes (and nice socks, since everyone will see them). If you have to unlace and retie your shoes each time you go to a restaurant or a hotel room... it's going to get old fast.
Tops that reveal no cleavage (and no shoulders unless you plan to layer). Koreans find upper body exposure very racy and yet wear shorts that end after the transition from leg to butt, and skirts that look like belts.
Feminine products unless you prefer pads (pads are available everywhere)




Getting Around in Korea:
One of the best things about Seoul, the entire greater metro area, and the whole country of Korea is AMAZING public transportation. You will experience this as soon as you arrive at the airport. You can take shuttle buses to many specific destinations (around the entire country) or you can take the subway into Seoul. Buy a transportation card immediately. I cannot emphasize that enough. If you buy single trip tickets you can only transfer to other subways, not the bus, and it's annoying to figure out how much money you need on the ticket (the computer system will lead you through, but you need to know the name of the stop, etc.), there is a deposit for single pass tickets, and you have to get it back at the other end, etc. The transportation cards are vended at some subway stations by machines (you can pick the ones that look like credit cards, or the fob style) and at most minimarts. The cards are called T-Money cards (even when it is not made by the T-Money company). They usually cost around 2 dollars (card) and 5 dollars (fob). Then you add money to the card at the machines that are at each subway station. These machines speak multiple languages. Add a good 20,000 Korean won to start with-- the transport is good, and fairly cheap, but when touring around it's not hard to use more than 10,000 in a day. Oh, these cards also work in Seoul taxis!!! and as money in some minimarts!!! Anyway, you buy and then load your card. You "beep" on the way in and out of all buses and subways and it will then give you 30 minutes to transfer (from bus to subway or subway to bus or bus to bus)(if you don't beep as you exit the bus, you'll be charged for going to the end of the line). It does not work if you take the same bus number twice in 30 minutes, but otherwise it is all golden. When you beep on the way off it calculates the length of your travel and deducts additional money beyond the base fare. When you beep on the way off take a look at your total remaining and refill anytime you need.
Green Buses: Only travel within the district of Seoul you are currently in.
Blue Buses: Only travel within Seoul.
Yellow Buses: Are rare and just for tourist things, like going up the mountain in the center of Seoul.
Red Buses: Go to satellite cities and bedroom communities. They cost more, so only use the red buses if you want to go all the way out of Seoul.
             Kids under 7 are free on public transit (but not trains and inter-city buses). Kids under 19 are discounted, and there is a way to get the card to know you're a kid (it announces to the driver that you're a kid so adults can't use a kid's card). If you buy the card at a minimart try to get them to help you get the card coded for the elem school/middle school/high school rate. I have no idea how to do it, I just know you CAN do it. Over 65 is free on public transit if you get a special card to show your age and use on the bus and subway-- I don't know if that is hard to get or not. It may be restricted to Koreans.
             Also entry to most tourist sites are reduced for elderly and children, so pay attention if you have those in your group.

Leaving Seoul: I understand that you probably like the train. Trains are nice, I like them, too. There are even some package deals and specials for foreign tourists in Korea. (Korea Rail) I have many friends who prefer the train, but in Korea I almost always take the intercity bus. This is partially because of where I tend to go (small towns with no trains), but it's also because you need reservations on trains at any popular time of the day/week (I really prefer to take the first bus after I got up, ate, and got to the bus station instead of stressing about a specific departure time), and the prices for the bullet trains (the only trains that beat the bus times) are higher than the buses (and for the bus I can almost always just show up at the terminal and catch the next bus that's leaving). Also most Korean buses are 2 seats on one side of the aisle and 1 on the other. Very big, very comfortable. Yes, you can't just walk down the aisle to the restroom, but they do stop at a rest stop halfway there.
               Seoul has three major bus terminals-- the terminal that's called the Express Bus Terminal/Central City (it's two different buildings, back to back), the south bus terminal (Nambu Terminal) and the East Seoul Terminal (Dong Seoul Terminal). Many destinations are served by more than one terminal, but there is usually one terminal that has more frequent departures. For example if I go to Andong the Dong Seoul Terminal will have buses every 15 minutes or so, but Central City has one an hour. (Express Bus Association info for all the Express buses from Dong Seoul, Express Terminal, and Central City)(Nambu Terminal info in Korean for Nambu Terminal departures).

Must See Locations:
Inside Seoul
Seoul Streets: You cannot come to Korea without wandering the streets in the center of old Seoul. You will find palaces, museums, and modern wonders (like Seoul City Hall). In addition to making an effort to visit specific sites in Seoul, I recommend wandering around. Sit in a coffee shop (everywhere) and watch people. Window shop. Eat street food. Find something that others didn't. Seoul is a very walking friendly city, and the entire old part of the city is pretty flat, too. Getting out of the subway system at a major stop like Jongno 3ga(종로3가) or Jonggak(종각) or City Hall (시청) would put you in the center of this area. There is a law that any large building must have public art, and some of it's really good. There is a "stream" (recirculated water except in the rainy season when it sometimes closes due to flooding) in the center of the city that is very pleasant to walk next to, it's called Cheonggyecheon (청계천). I really recommend a stroll after a meal along the stream. Very near the godawful expensive and ugly blue and red shell at one end of the stream is Kyobo Bookstore -- the best source for non-Korean books/guides/magazines in Seoul (they have another outlet in southern Seoul, but it's smaller). Publishing in Korea is cut-throat and therefore relatively cheap, you can buy coffee table books of Korean temple scenes or landscapes often for 30 USD, and domestically printed books on Korean history and culture may only set you back 20 for a hardcover (considering that Korea is in general not a cheap country, the price of books is pleasantly low).

People Watching  There is soooo much good people-watching in Korea.
             If you want to be shocked and outraged about plastic surgery, go to Apgujeong in the afternoon and sit in a cafe by the window and watch people with bandaged faces come out of clinics. Look at your barista and her supernaturally wide eyes. Look back at the bandaged faces.  Spend the rest of your vacation telling kids with thin eyes, round faces, and low nose bridges that you think they're so beautiful or so handsome in hopes that your words will offset what they learn every time they watch a TV drama or a music video or see any kind of advertisement. Try to get over the judgment, though. Korea is one of only two countries in the world where it's legal to require a photo with a job application.
             In general the old part of Seoul is all easily walkable. I know the temptation to go into the subway and then come out at the right stop is strong, but honestly you often spend more time walking down and finding the platform and riding the train and coming back up than you would have spent just walking from point A to point B in old Seoul (esp. if you need to transfer lines). If you have a smart phone use your map functions, if you're good with directions you don't even need that, most of the time. Just make a note of what MAJOR site is in the direction you're heading and the road signs above the street will tell you that Seoul Station or City Hall or Gwanghwamun is in this direction or in that. You'll discover stuff as you walk.

Palaces: There are several palaces. The one that is the most beautiful is Changdeok Palace. The "Secret Garden" tour is worth the additional entry fee, especially if you go at a nice time of day for photographs, however you must enter that part with a guide, you cannot go on your own schedule. The guides are mostly horrible, with memorized (but not understood) information of a very superficial nature. The reason I mention this is that I would urge you to go with any guide according to your own schedule, even if you can't understand the language they are speaking, because even if you can understand you're unlikely to learn much (or to "learn" the wrong thing). Gyeongbok Palace  is also very nice, although almost all the buildings are recent reconstructions (because the Japanese destroyed the palace to sit their colonial government right in the middle of it in symbolic subjection of the Koreans to Japanese authority). This palace has two advantages-- regular "changing of the guard ceremonies" to watch (I believe they are right on the hour), and inside the grounds is the peerless National Folk Museum of Korea. This museum is really well done, and definitely worth a trip. Go to the museum or palace right after your meal and plan on staying there until you get hungry again... the two should take at least 4 hours to be done properly, without rushing. If you're going to rush one of them, rush the palace. You could basically just walk through it, pausing for photos. The folk museum, on the other hand, is a leading part of the ICOM (International Committee on Museums) and reflects the latest understanding on display of culture/folklore. There are audio guides, docents, and even an acceptable amount of English signage. Deoksu Palace, closest to City Hall, is also very nice and also has changing of the guards, but it's much smaller.

Museums:  Speaking of museums (and I'm not the biggest museum person, although it might seem like it right now), the National Museum of Korea is excellent. It's worth a day, if you're a real museum-goer. And since it's free and a 5 minute direct walk from the subway stop, it's worth it for just a flying visit, too. There are multiple restaurants in it, multiple gift shops (with really excellent gifts, many of which are under 15 dollars, none of them are a rip-off. I'm talking about a place you can REALLY buy cultural gifts without getting ripped off). It's closed on Monday, but open late on Wednesday (go and look around, then have dinner, then look more!). There are lockers to store your stuff for free as you walk around. There are audio guides and docents and really acceptable English signage. I recommend the Buddhist sculpture and Buddhist painting sections-- this is jaw droppingly amazing art. Simply take a subway to Ichon(이촌) and follow the signs (I think it's exit 2). I recently visited the Museum of Contemporary Korean History (the Korean name is actually the Museum of History of the Republic of Korea (South Korea)). This museum doesn't have that much signage in any language, relying more on displays, but there is an acceptable amount of English (but not Japanese/Chinese or other languages of foreign visitors to Korea). It's free, and very close to Gwanghwamun Gate (the gate that takes you into Gyeongbok Palace). Since it's so centrally located, even if you only have an hour, why not? It's nicely temperature controlled, a great place to escape on a steaming/freezing day, and it's fun to see political posters from the 60s and the covers of old comic books, and what not. Also nearby (five minutes stroll eastward from the intersection closest to the famous statue of General Yi Sunshin standing grimly defending the nation) is the Seoul Museum of History. That museum has much less non-Korean signage, but it has some interesting displays, too. A lot of it is focused on Seoul, a city founded in the very end of the fourteenth century, there is a lot of history to display!

Honestly, Korea is very museum-crazy. There are tons (over a hundred museums exist just on university campuses, of the one's I've visited my favorite is the one at Ewha Womans University (not a typo)). There is a kimchi museum. A friend opened an amazing Museum of Shamanism, it's probably the third shamanic museum in Seoul. [See the end of this to find good directions to the museum] There are museums everywhere. Many are quite small. The War Memorial of Korea is pretty big and parts are well made, but fairly grim if you think war is evil. The best reason to go there is to see displays of the Korean War from a totally different perspective than the way it's remembered outside the Republic of Korea. It's a two minute walk from the Samgakji Subway Station (삼각지).

City Hall. Yes, go into City Hall. It's a crazy architectural achievement with a curved glass exterior and walls covered with plants and cool art, and it's open to the public. Since you'll be walking by, why not? Next to City Hall in the winter there is a skating rink that costs only 1,000 won and another 1,000 to rent a pair of (very bad) skates. The rest of the year that same area may have performances, political rallies, or other cool events.

If you're a night-life type of person, you could go to Gangnam (the part of the district of Gangnam near Gangnam Station), to Hongdae (take the subway to Hong-ik University and exit on the side nearest the university), or to Itaewon (the subway stop is called Itaewon). There is night life everywhere in Korea, though. These three districts would be either more "stereotype" of young Korea, more "alternative" young Korea, or more "international" Korea, in the same order as listed above. I don't give a rat's batookus about night life, though, so that's all I have to say on the subject. Live music, though, def. more likely to find small crowded venues with live music in Hongdae than the other two. It is possible you could find a place that doesn't welcome foreigners. Get over yourself and your outrage and go somewhere else. You don't want to support someone who doesn't want your money, anyway. This is not very common, so don't worry.

The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts/ The National Gugak Center: In southern Seoul you can find the Seoul Arts Center (nearest subway stop is the orange line Nambu Terminal Station). There are galleries and operas and various events... and on the same grounds is the National Gugak Center. This center for Korean traditional performance includes four venues, a museum dedicated to Korean music, and a gift shop with traditional music CDs. There are regular concerts that show large varieties of Korean traditional and neo-traditional music on Saturday afternoons that are sort of marketed for foreigners. They're good, unless you're me, in which case you may prefer a more focused program prepared for a Korean audience. They have an outdoor series (it pauses in the coldest and hottest months) that is particularly fun and good for kids (since it's usually exciting folk performances) that is even free. I wish I could link you to a reliable site that showed all the performances on the calendar, but even their Korean calendar is last minute and not always up to date-- the English language one is ... well, it sucks.

Jogyesa and Bongwonsa. These are two Buddhist temples in Seoul, and if you're not leaving Seoul, you should go. The best time to go is 4 a.m. when there won't be other tourists and there is a beautiful morning service. Try going right after you arrive when you have jetlag waking you up super early. Jogyesa is the namesake of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism (roughly 80% of the Buddhists in Korea-- and Buddhists are the majority of the religious population-- 47% of Koreans answered non-religious on the last census, though). Jogyesa is in the center of old Seoul. The buildings are quite old (if refurbished) and the (smaller) Buddha statue in the glass case inside is a marvelous example of Buddhist sculpture. Bongwonsa is much more beautiful, it's on a mountain above Yonsei University, and the head temple of the Taego Order (that's 10% of Buddhists and the only significant order in which monks can marry, although they seldom do). Walk around super slowly and look very carefully at all the old buildings-- some of the premier master painters of Buddhist temple art made/make Bongwonsa their home, it's exquisitely beautiful. Unlike Jogyesa, which I really only recommend at 4 a.m., Bongwonsa is beautiful all day. Remember if you go into any temple building you need socks (if you're wearing sandals, just bring socks in your bag like I do). It is completely acceptable to enter the buildings from side doors (never the central door which is reserved for monks). You are welcome to observe respectfully (no photography inside the building, but you can always take shots outside), or to follow along. Like most religions Buddhism is open to you learning more about their religion something that's much easier when you come in and get close to the action, so as long as you are respectful you'll be welcome.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza recently opened, and although I haven't gone yet, apparently it's worth the trip. The architecture is very innovative (like a space ship is the popular comparison), and inside there are exhibits and displays both free and ticketed (and they seem to change every month, which is nice).

Leeum Gallery is one that folks who like art galleries tend to enjoy. I've been there twice, once at the current location just last year. Honestly, I am the wrong audience. The lack of thorough historically situated information about historical pieces displayed as art removed from their history (except rough date details) just irritates me. The cherry-picking aspect of showing a little ceramic, a little metal, a little Buddhism, etc. may (to some people) seem like a well-curated and not overwhelming introduction to Korea's artistic greatness, but to me it just smacks of "I'm freaking rich and I bought all this stuff, so trust me, it's the best." The one part of this gallery that I enjoyed was the contemporary art exhibits-- and although I'm sure they often change, you might want to see them, too. It's a little hard to find by public transit, but you can do it. Leeum website.

Shopping
If you like traditional markets, the bustling Gwangjang Market at the Jongno5ga (종로5가) subway station is a great place to sit on a plastic stool, eat mungbean pancakes, drink while it's still daylight, and watch an older section of the population rush around doing their errands. It's also a good place to buy some random presents. Traditional markets are falling by the wayside in Korea, and they're harder to find and smaller in Seoul every time I turn around (they're doing okay in rural areas), but the bargains are really great. And doesn't it feel good to support some old grandmother instead of a corporate chain? This is where I go to buy off-the-shelf hanbok (한복) or Korean traditional clothing. Silk children's hanbok are about 80 USD for a girl and 50 USD for a boy at a reasonable degree of quality (lower quality ones are on sale at the airport for 140 for a girl's hanbok). Adults tend to buy tailored hanbok, and when I buy silk hanbok so do I, because I like to choose all my colors and styles, so I'm not sure how much they cost. The market is ALL CASH. Other things you can buy there-- almost everything, but what stands out to my mind as perhaps interesting to buy or look at... bamboo mats, blankets, fabric, and decorative dangles called norigae that traditionally hang off hanbok but can be a relatively low-priced unique gift for friends back home (hang it in a window? on an X-mas tree? wear it as a broach-like decoration on your clothing similar to how it's used with hanbok?).

Speaking of buying traditional things, I know you can find some nice presents in the "traditional shopping street" of Insadong (get off the subway at Anguk Station (안국) and go out exit 6), but those people are being pushed out by corporate interests and rising rents. So if you do go there and do some shopping could you do me a favor and NOT shop in any of the franchises on the street? I don't care if it's the tea-shop Sulloc, Crown Bakery, Starbucks, or one of the mini-marts, just please don't support them pushing out the mom and pop businesses. The new shiny three story shops-- those displaced funky galleries and antique sellers. Please support the people in the older rag-tag looking buildings with a sliver of display space. As I explain below it's really easy to buy Made in China here... if you want Korean made, culturally Korean gifts be ready to spend a little more and be vigilant. Insadong is blocked to vehicle traffic on the weekend, and it has a nice artsy vibe. But it's crawling with international tourists, too, and can start to feel like a real mob scene. Traditional tea shops, restaurants, really everything in this district costs more than elsewhere due to the rents. However it can be hard to know where to find the stuff outside Insadong's concentration.

If you were a Chinese tourist, you'd want to go to the trendy and fashionable shopping district of Myeongdong (명동)(that's the name of the subway stop, too). If you like fashion, clothing, and want to go to an area where young Koreans enjoy shopping, I recommend it. I go there and enjoy shopping at the largest UNIQLO in Korea, this is a Japanese fast-fashion brand, and if you are not fairly slim it's not for you, but... if you are, check it out. This district also is home to Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral and it's a pretty cool building/grounds, worth a visit if you're into seeing old architecture. There is an English service on Sunday (check with them to find out what time is the English one. Many churches have English service, including the Anglican Cathedral across the street from City Hall, next to Deoksu Palace, others have instantaneous translation through headsets, like the Yeouido Full Gospel Church, largest in the world). If you were a well-heeled person you'd go to Apgujeong (앞구정) to go shopping, where the super upscale stores like Chanel are located. Unless you're a sucker for brand names, I'd recommend just using that district for people watching.

Where to Stay?
Korea is getting into creating little guesthouses, airb&b is doing well, and there are big and little hotels. Outside Seoul it's not hard to find a place to stay that's 30,000 for the night (if you have more than two people in there they might start to ask for more money). Inside Seoul and the central areas of other large cities you're going to pay (a lot) more unless you search well (it's not that hard to find places in Seoul for 25,000 a night if you're not that picky, but you need to search and the easiest places to find with an English search may already be booked up... there are a lot of places that don't have good English websites, though). In the winter when it's best to sleep on the heated floors you might want to ask for an "ondol" (온돌) room instead of a room with a "chimdae" (침대) or Western style bed. The good thing about an ondol room (there are very nice floor mattresses to sleep on) is that you can fit a lot of people in one room. If you're traveling on a budget with friends, this is your best option.
Vocabulary:
Guesthouse is just ge-seu-teu-ha-u-seu (게스트 하우스) (that's guesthouse as well as you can write it within the rules of the Korean alphabet). This is what it's called when it's either made for a backpacker market, or several rooms in a house in a urban setting that are being rented out.
Yeo-gwan (여관) is technically a love hotel-- but the slight trashiness can be amusing. Like chairs made for acrobatic sexual positions with a graphic card explaining how to use the chair. Or mirrors on the ceiling.
Mo-tel (equal weight on both syllables, unlike in English)
Ho-tel (again equal weight). Hotels in Korea are not going to be cheap.
Minbak (민박) Minbak are old school guesthouses, Korean style. You mostly find them in the rural areas, where Koreans would want to escape the city and stay in someone's house or out building. I don't think I've ever seen a sign for a minbak in an urban area. They have blankets, and generally have a small kitchen and will loan you a few pans. Korean college students and 20s will go stay in a minbak and cook their own meals to facilitate a really cheap vacation. Back in the day they cost 5 or 10,000 per night. I'm sure they're probably fancier and more expensive these days.
Pen-shyeon (펜션) are pensions... whatever that means, I think it's what Europeans might call a little weekend rental cabin, because that's what they tend to be. Mostly they are entire buildings, often quite nice, with several bedrooms, and they can be the size for a family or the size for a university club or major to go party in (and of course they include cooking facilities so you can make your own food, too). If it's off season they are really cheap, and they're often located at really nice places. Primarily this word is used to describe places in small towns and in the countryside, not in the city.


Outside of Seoul:
The common places for tourists to visit if they leave Seoul are:
Suwon Fortress and Suwon Folk Village Folk Village Website
Jeonju (especially Jeonju's Hanok Village)
Start at this website for some info on touring Jeonju. I also really recommend staying in a hanok (traditional house) if available (reserve in advance).
Gyeongju (Silla Dynasty sites galore). Among the sites to see here there is the Gyeongju National Museum (great Buddhist art), Seokguram Grotto, Bulguksa Temple, and the tombs of the ancient kings of the Shilla and Unified Shilla Dynasties.
Busan (just because it's the second biggest city and has beaches)
Andong (Confucian culture)

I'm telling you the truth here-- most of these are common places to visit because the tourist guidebooks and the Korean guestimates about what foreigners want to see all push you towards these spots-- not because they are really the most amazing things you ever saw. I'm not saying these are places you shouldn't go-- they're all quite nice, and they are better equipped to handle non-Korean speaking tourists. HOWEVER, they are not my favorite places. The only one I would really say you should do, since you came all the way to Korea, is Gyeongju.
               Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla Dynasty, the first dynasty to unify Korea. The city is a virtual "museum without walls" -- this is further enforced by zoning and building regulations that impose things like "traditional" roofs over gas stations. In Gyeongju you can see the beautiful temple Bulguksa, the peerless Buddhist grotto of Seokguram, tombs of the royals, Buddhist statues carved into the rocks on Mt. Namsan (that pains me to write as san=mountain so I just said Mt. Nam Mountain), and various other sites (none as interesting as the ones I just mentioned). There are tourist info booths, public transit to the major sites, and abundant lodging and dining options.

I am going to come back and add details to this in the future, but here are some other places you could go that I personally want to visit again and again:
Tongyeong (south coast)
Yeosu (south coast)
Songgwangsa (temple of the sangha)
Tongdosa (temple of the buddha)
Haeinsa (temple of the dharma)
Jindo (island connected by a causeway on the southwest corner of Korea)
Ulleungdo (island accessible only by ferry that stops if the weather sucks)
Jirisan (mountain in the central south)
And do a Temple Stay! You get to stay in the temple, be part of activities (this is more planned out at some temples than others), eat the food the monks/nuns eat, and so on. You can only share a room with your same gender and you have to wake up early for morning prayers, but you can do it for one, two, or more nights and it's a great (if unusual) way to learn about a culture. The price can vary a lot depending on if they offer a lot of fancy activities (tea ceremonies, temple roof tile rubbing, etc.) or if it focuses more on things like meditation. This link will get you started.

Easy to Find in Korea:
Ibuprofen (pronounced EE-byu-pro-pen) and all kinds of over the counter drugs
New sandals/shoes for small feet (top size is about 8 for women, 10 for men)
Bags
Chintzy tourist gifts (be aware that you're often buying Made in China if the prices seem quite "good" and unless you can tell the difference, that chintzy thing might be culturally Chinese. The Koreans know the difference and sometimes like to buy "ethnic" gifts or artwork, just like you do. No one is trying to fool you into buying Chinese stuff, it's your responsibility to bring home a culturally Korean gift for a friend, if that's what you want).
Cheap places to stay. Of course the cheapest may rent the next room over by the hour, and there may be thin walls, and you may hear a lot of ahem, noise. Unless you are there are the same time as some local festival with a ton of people flowing into the area, it's not necessary to make reservations, unless you're picky. Only one time did K and I have to ask at about 5 places before we found an acceptably priced available room-- but we didn't start looking until after 10 pm and there was a HUGE multi-day festival... so that was really our fault.

Other Cool Things:
The Post Office. They have free internet connected computers, so if you're not using a smart phone and want to duck in and google some directions or something, go to the post office. Also it is cheap to send things home to your country (and there are strong boxes available for sale at the PO). Because the PO is also a bank and also a place to pay public utility bills, they are in every (even small) town. If you're looking for a longer session on the computer the Korean word for internet cafe is "PC-bang" (soft a in bang), look for the English "PC" on a business on the second floor of a building and that's it. They're also now mandatorily non-smoking (awesome).
No tipping (the cost is the cost for your taxi, haircut, dinner, etc.-- workers earn a living wage, too)
They only think their food is spicy, it's milder than Mexican, Thai, Indian spice
Food poisoning is very rare, the street food is particularly safe.


Timothy Holm made this literary travel guide to Korea-- if you're into literary history and Korean lit, this is the guide for you.

I promise I'll go back and add photos to this at some point.

Road Trip #2

I spent two nights in Portland so I would have a chance to really get to talk with Tacee, one of my oldest friends. Tacee and I lost touch with each other in the early 90s before I moved to Korea, and with the exception of our 20 year high school reunion (that was a trip), we hadn't seen each other since the early 90s. In my time in Portland I realized that the city is awesome, that Tacee lives next to one of the best restaurants I've ever been to (Persian food), and that Googlemaps cannot be relied on when it comes to pointing out where to ride your bike (that was a reminder, I really already knew that). I also realized that although our lives have gone in totally different directions, Tacee and I totally understand each other. Yay for renewing old friendships!

I left Tacee's at 6 a.m. which allowed me to make it to Kat, Jeff, Biko and Stokely's house before the boys had gone to bed. I took a bike ride one of my two days there, and Kat took me to the little one room schoolhouse to talk to the students on the other day. It was really good to hang out with that amazing family. I love those boys! By living on this remote ranch Kat and Jeff are really giving the boys the opportunity to explore nature and experience life as it was when I was growing up-- not the totally fast-paced, ultra-controlled, always-technological way that city kids are living these days.

I left the Shasta Mountain area at 3 a.m. and made it to L.A. and Jena's apartment by dinner time. I treated  myself to vegan ice-cream at Scoops Westside, but on my bike ride back to Jena's realized that I had no energy left in my body after the long drive. Jena and I hung out at my favorite cafe, Amandine, and I took a long bike ride down to see Lisa and Alex, reveling in the California sunshine along the water as I passed through Santa Monica, the marina, along Dockweiler and Manhattan Beach to where the Elghazi's live in Hermosa Beach.

Since Jena is dissertating and because she was leaving for the east coast, I stayed there two nights and then switched to Scott's house. Which was super awesome because Scott lives with Bonnie the Bunny (and Megan, but Megan is in China). We had some great talks and I shared my spinach with Bonnie who appreciated it more than friendly humans. After Scott's I headed to the AAS Conference, picking up Feriyal on the way.

Road Trip #1

I've been on a road trip. I decided (this might not be entirely logical) that driving to the Annual Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Conference made sense. Yes, this year AAS was on the West Coast, but in San Diego. San Diego is very far away from Lopez Island (located on the Canada-U.S. border). I left Lopez on the 11th, proceeding directly to Portland with a stop to take a bike ride in Woodland, Washington. Just by chance this bike ride took me to a gorgeous grist mill-- the oldest still operating grist mill in the Western U.S.

Book Recommendation- Scenic Spots by Pal Nyiri

Because I am applying for jobs in different (generally interdisciplinary) fields, I've had to prepare a lot of syllabi and course proposals (or versions of syllabi with somewhat different approaches) in the last few months. I highly recommend that you prepare a few syllabi before you ever enter the job market, because a good one takes quite a lot of time (I can bang out a course proposal pretty fast, but when it comes to planning each course meeting of a semester/quarter it takes days to plan a good class).

One recent syllabus was for the course "Cultural Tourism in East and Southeast Asia." As I prepared readings I discovered a review for a book that sounded so interesting I just had to use ILL (Inter-Library Loan) to get a closer look. Although I initially included it as an optional reading for the planned course, now that I've read it, if I have to submit that syllabus again I'll re-order my readings to make this one the first tourism ethnography the students will read. The book is by Pal Nyiri, and it's called Scenic Spots: Chinese Tourism, the State and Cultural Authority. It came out on the University of Washington Press in 2006.

To tell the truth I wasn't even planning to read it. I thought I'd skim the introduction, check out the quality of the writing, and get a feel for the level at which it was written (there is no point in assigning highly theoretical works to the average undergraduate, or at least not if you expect them to finish the reading and participate in a lively discussion). Instead I found it difficult to put down, high praise for an academic publication. Nyiri's writing is clear and precise, without meandering paragraph-long sentences. In addition he adds the occasional quip with just a hint of dry humor. One of the things I appreciated the most about his book, though, was the way that he provided an excellent demonstration of fieldwork technique. That's why I would assign it to undergraduates early in the term: a discussion of how Nyiri approaches and participates in tourism from multiple perspectives would make it clear to a student how they could visit a tourist site near their university and conduct their own field research project. Because I am interested in issues of performance and presentation of performances to tourist audiences, his observations on how performances were presented, what the narrative surrounding the performance was, and how other tourists engaged with the performances just makes the book that much more useful. And finally I loved it because it dealt with issues of ethnicity and Tibetans, including fieldwork in parts of the greater Tibetan ethnic area (not the TAR) that I have visited.

I leave you with a few passages from Nyiri to whet your appetite:

"Some examples drawn from promotional materials published by tourism authorities in 2002 and 2003 illustrate the features of the contemporary marketing of scenic spots. Promotional materials are structured in the gazetteer tradition of the pastiche, cataloging sites--from temples to theme parks-- with photos and brief texts without setting up a geographic or historical relationship between them. We learn, for instance, that a site lies "in the midst of high mountains" or "on crystal clear waters," but most of the time we do not get any of the tectonic details that we've come to expect from Western travel literature, such as the height, name, or geological origin of mountains, or the names of rivers or lakes.Following a tradition started by early twentieth-century guidebooks, or "local specialties" (tutechan) to taste and buy are included among the cameos." (p. 22) 

"As is customary in China, the show was led in dialogue by female and male hosts who presented the introduction and text between the performances. It covered the standard repertoire of an "ethnic culture" evening, providing a cultural master narrative of the place. This "culture," according to the narration at the show, consists of "solemn and mysterious religious rites, cheerful folk songs, and wild folk dancing," including alluded-to-mating or drinking rituals. Although some songs were in Chinese, each song and dance was identified as either Tibetan or Qiang. The representation confirmed Gladney's observation that while minority women in China are invariably presented as highly feminine and sexualized, "when minority men are portrayed... they are generally exoticized as strong and virile, practicing strange and humorous customs, or possessing extraordinary physical abilities in sport, work, or the capacity to consume large amounts of alcohol" (Gladney 2002). To complete the picture, the Qiang and Tibetans were established as patriotic Chinese citizens through the song "China, I love you" performed by a Tibetan singer." (p. 39) 

"As with its policy reversal on domestic tourism, China changed from a state that prevented foreign travel to one that encouraged it but attempted to control its meaning. The public discourse in 1990s China, from academia to the media, equated travel abroad with migration in pursuit of individual "development" (fazhan) through education or work and, ultimately and optimally, entrepreneurship." (p.99)

Tourist Cards

Two women had a gallery on Lopez so they could sell the things they made, and since their shop wasn't full with only their stuff they also had other local artists selling for a monthly fee (including my mom). Then one of them decided to pull out and move to Norcal. The remaining woman transitioned her gallery into a cooperative gallery, and asked me to supply tourist images of Lopez (the lady who left was a "photographer"). I'm not a landscape photographer or very interested in tourist images, and I didn't have a ton of images to choose from since I haven't been here that much in recent years. But I did print a bunch up, mostly batches of 100. Then two months later she decided to close down. Now I have a bunch of cards and postcards lying around. Fortunately Ron at Paper, Scissors on the Rock bought 12 each of about 3/4s of my images. If he sells them well, maybe I can get him to buy the remaining 50+ of each image. In the meantime if I send you a card and it looks like one of these below, don't be surprised.

Mother and Daughter Time

One of the most precious things about spending all this time at home is getting to reconnect with my family. Actually my mom and I have been pretty close for a darn long time-- she always makes such an effort, including visiting Korea (twice), visiting L.A. and meeting my friends there, even helping grammar proof my dissertation.

Today she had to go to the cemetery to take a photo for some genealogy buffs (my mom is one of those, too) who wanted to see the gravestone of their ancestors on Lopez. She asked if I'd like to go and then go hiking at Shark Reef.

If you come to visit Lopez Island here are your beautiful must-see places:

-. Iceberg Point
-. Watmough Bay, the marsh and next door Merk's Mountain (sometimes called Chadwick Hill)
-. Point Colville
-. Shark Reef

There are lots of other beautiful places, but none that are as magical and beautiful as these four. Fortunately for you, all are public lands that you're welcome to visit (as long as you're respectful of the plants, the mosses and lichens, the wildlife, the trees, etc. and take all your trash away with you). Sharf Reef is the most northerly, but it's still on the south end of the island, as are the other three. Really the southend is the best. Even people who live on the northend can only say things like "at least the village is close" or "I don't have to drive as far to the ferry" but they can't actually say they live on the best part of the island. It's just a fact.

There is even an outhouse, a parking lot, and a bike rack at Shark Reef.

This is the headstone of "Uncle" Phil, who was my next door neighbor  from when I was born until his death in 2007. The pipe is so that we can go talk to him and tell him all the gossip. I told him about gay marriage passing, and about some marriages and births and what not. I always talk to him when I go to the cemetery. 

I know, we're super cute, right?!!

Shark Reef~~

Lots of awesome lichen on the trees

Walking at Shark Reef

Being Tourists in Seattle

The weather was nice-ish with clear air the first day when we went to the library, with the sun playing peek-a-boo with the clouds. The next day, Saturday, the weather was dripping wet all day. We ended up deciding to stay home (except I ran off to pick up groceries in the late afternoon). Our big activity for the day was taking a long soak in the hot tub. It was really sweet~~ dark and raining on us, but we were warm and happy in the water.

Bandit

Cleo

Today, however, as I was enjoying my morning coffee and working on job applications but before we'd had breakfast, the sun came out again. We drove over to Volunteer Park, and the visibility was not that great, but the sun was mostly out. We walked around the park, went up the water tower and strolled through the conservatory (100 year anniversary this year!). Afterwards we went to the nearby cemetery. Karjam had us stop the truck several times so he could take video from a good vantage point as we returned home. Hungry for lunch we almost went to a restaurant, but ended up just buying a couple random things in a Vietnamese grocery and returning home.

Karjam looking at old Seattle houses

In the evening we went to the Compline chanting at Saint Mark's Cathedral. I took these snapshots after most people had left. After Compline there was an organist. Karjam was very impressed at the quality of the music, the difficulty of the singing. I was impressed at how many people, esp. how many young people were there.