From: Peter
Wynne-Willson <pwynne@knua.net
Date 15
December 1999 06:53
Subject:
Sokch'o strange time of year for a journey
Not long for
this. We have been away for two nights
on a holiday within a trip, to a fantastically positioned town called Sokch'o. We saw the sun rise over the Pacific, and
set over Soraksan, the highest peak in the East of Korea. We climbed up one mountain, with the help of
a cable car [well, Eddie and Ali climbed it - it was the best I could do to
stagger from the top of the cable car, and use Jim being asleep as an excuse to
stay there, trying not to look down, or even up, as they went on up a
ridiculously steep path with precipices on all sides. We visited a Buddhist temple on the coast, with a vast statue
overseeing the safety of the fishing boats, threw stones in the sea on an
astonishingly mild and sunny December morning, and we braved a meal in a Korean
fish restaurant, with unnamed creatures staring at us from a range of dishes.
Through all
this, Eddie and Jim have continued to be magnets for the most intense attention
imaginable. They have been grabbed,
scooped up, pinched, slapped, squeezed, applauded across the nation. With Jim on your shoulders it is hard to
make any forwards progress in most places. Surprising people like soldiers and
business men follow them around grinning maniacally. Women pull up socks, pull down jumpers, force on mittens,
whatever the reaction. If either of
them seems unhappy, the deluge of satsumas, chewing gum, sweets, yoghurt, and
persimmons simply grows. Jim for the
most part seems to like it, and he now waves almost all the time, like the
queen, keeping up a monologue either along the lines of 'hello, hello, hello',
or 'Yum, yum, yum' or 'wow wow wow' - more or less depending on if it is people
food or a view. Eddie finds the
attention more wearing.
On the beach
at a place called Naksan, a fisherwoman adjusted Jim's clothes for the wind,
and then hit Ali twice, rather hard, for her negligence. I told Yumi about this, and she says it will
not have been intended as criticism, and is an expression of her great
spontaneous love for Jim. At the time
of writing I have not put this theory to Ali, but I suspect she might be
sceptical!
Fisticuffs
notwithstanding, our trip to the East was genuinely fantastic. We went on a small plane, because the runway
at Sokch'o is notoriously short. Eddie
managed to stay awake for the take-off, and really loved the whole flight. He has watched a video of Free Willy an
estimated 27 times in the last week, and has convinced himself that we will
eventually meet Willy [a whale - in case you haven't seen it, or were
wondering] every time we see the sea.
He gazes out with heart-breaking longing from the plane window, and the
hotel.
The hotel was
a safe option, relatively expensive, with fantastic sea view. Slight drawbacks were karaoke above until
1AM and strong smell of drainage in room.
Incense and earplugs helped.
Mercifully none of the other sound-effects from my previous out of Seoul
experience.
About forty
minutes on a local bus up to Soraksan, which is a vast national park, usually
very crowded, but manageable on a December Monday. Gorgeous weather, and spectacularly beautiful scenery.
In the week
before the trip, the two courses came to a climax with performances in school
and at the University. All pretty
successful. Ali and Jim saw very little, partly because Jim was not in a good
frame of mind for the university performances, but also because the school cancelled
the one that Ali was coming to. We
arrived for a whole day, and it was revealed that all the students had to go to
a graduation ceremony in the afternoon.
Typical bloody school - some things are the same across the world,
evidently. It was a shame though,
because I really wanted to see what Ali thought.
Very
interesting performances and reactions, but no time to discuss them here, I'm
afraid.
Evaluation,
marking, planning for the future, and trying to make sure I get paid are the
agenda for this week, with last minute sight-seeing, shopping and packing
filling up the domestic side. I'm down
to my last million, obviously due largely to Mrs Professor's notorious
profligacy. I will try to sneak in
another message before we come back.
Love to all
Pete