Brown Town

This isn't completely intentional, but today this blog is taking a turn for the brown. It happened, though, so I have to write about it.

Last saturday I was out around town trying to explore more of Seosan. I walked toward this large green hill which borders one side of the city (actually called a mountain here). This was extremely scenic, the hillside is lush with green trees and plant life. As soon as I was a good portion of the way up the hill, I felt this rumble in my stomach. I think we all know this rumble, the one where you know your bowels are a ticking time bomb of disaster, and I knew I had about 7 minutes. Luckily, I was near the town hall and cultural center, and I knew of at least one public toilet around.I didn't have to walk far to find this little oasis, a lifesaver. I was really about to try to find a secluded area on the hillside to do the deed and wipe up with money from my pocket.

Once inside, it wasn't all good news. I encountered this little porcelain hole in the ground, lovingly called a "squatter" by some fellow foreigners. Well, long story short, I managed to get it done and come out of this situation clean.

Now, I was free to explore this hillside complete with cultural center and park. This statue is an entrance leading up to a shrine.

This shrine is for the founder of Korea. I managed to scare the crap out of some guy who was peacefully walking around this courtyard when he came around a corner and saw me.

This is a sign outside of that shrine telling about the (real?) history of the Korean nation. It's a little hard to make out on this website picture, but it says:

"Enshrined in this shrine at the foot of Puch'un-san Mountain are the portrait and memorial tablet of Tangun, the founder of the Korean nation.

According to Samguk Yusa (The Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) by Buddhist Monk Iryon, Tangum was born of Hwanung, the son of Hwanin, the heavenly god, and a woman transformed from bear in 2333 B.C. Tangun founded Tangun Choson and ruled it for two millennia. Asadal (now Pyongyang) was the capital of the first Korean nation."

The park also had this nice pathway which led to a rock rotunda where it looked like a water fountain show happens along with a nice workout park.

This area also provides a nice view of the city from above. It's really great to live in a part of Korea where its not just mile after mile of city streets (Seoul) and I can get a little bit of nature. The beaches are also pretty close so I'm going to check them out soon.