Redeeming Moments

Recently Alex and I took a mini vacation outside of Seoul.  For various reasons we chose to visit Gangwha Island, a little island off the coast of South Korea that is somewhat famous but not terribly full of tourists.  We usually like those kinds of places.

Unfortunately, we didn't.  After taking the subway, a bus, a taxi, a ferry, and another bus, we were abruptly dropped off in front of a pension in the middle of farm land far from anything and everything.  We laughed, but we were far from happy.

After deciding to cancel our overnight reservation with a woman who did not speak a word of English, we put our backpacks back on and stood in the middle of a restaurant/lobby where we attempted to communicate our need to leave.  Thankfully, as if heaven-sent, a man heard our feeble attempts at communication and grabbed his daughter to translate for us.  His daughter, Lina, is just a bit older than us and was able to get us out of our night stay in the middle of nowhere.

But then we were in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to walk and not a taxi or bus in sight.

Lina then insisted that she and her parents would take us to the temple on the island, the primary attraction we had planned on visiting.  We gratefully accepted and climbed into their van as her mom took the back.  Koreans really are a hospitable people.

Upon arriving in the tiny village-like area at the base of a huge hill, upon which the temple stood, we climbed out of the car and began our wandering.  Lina and her family decided it was time for lunch and ushered us into a little restaurant for bibimbap.  Our conversations were limited, but thanks to Lina we were able to avoid silence and laugh at our differences.  Her mom was even impressed with my chopstick skills!

Then we toured the temple.  Pictures communicate better than my words.

  By far, the temple and the wonderful Korean family were the highlights of our trip.  It would be all too easy for me to rant about the depressing moments that occurred after this sunny afternoon, so I will stop myself now.  All I can say is that sometimes traveling is wonderfully awful and awfully wonderful simultaneously.