Although it wasn’t the beginning to my summer holiday, it was the last day of the semester for my students. Thus, I felt some liberation and decided to make the most of my evening.
On my way home I decided to swing by a hillside neighborhood called “Angel Alley” it is characteristic of old Korean style homes built into a steep hill and interconnected with complicated narrow little streets. Well, steep walking paths really. The old walls of the houses are now spattered with an array of intriguing murals. Anyway, I had never been to the top, so set that as a goal. After checking out a modern little cafe, I headed up and was surprised to find a neat old air-raid siren-tower. After snapping some photos, I was approached by a middle aged Korean man who had been getting his exercise on. He told me his older brother is living in Kansas (my mums old stomping grounds) and was insistent on taking photos of me using my phone. I was happy enough to oblige. At one point we climbed atop a lookout point, where he gave me his binoculars and happily snapped away as I looked out over the bay.
After parting ways and more scoot’n through uncharted waters, I found myself at an empty high-school complex. At one point I peered over a low wall down onto a grassy mound surrounded half by concrete and half by overgrown gardens – all surrounded by this wall. Vowing to look into it later, I scooted on until I got as deep into the school as I could on two wheels.
After parking, I pressed on. Seeing an odd monument buried in the wooded growth of the hillside just behind the school, I headed that way. Leading off behind the mystery monument was a trail going back through an old barber-wire fence with concrete pilings (very similar to the once I had seen at concentration camps in Poland). Despite the humidity, I followed the trail up and up eventually coming to a straight-away that opened to the summit. There on a large man-made terraced table of earth and stone was a small sleeping deer. Kicking myself for not bringing my camera, and unable to snap a photo on my phone as the deer ran off, I moved into the clearing. I had been at this spot a few times in the past year (its the nearest attainable hike to both my schools) and didn’t stick around long before blazing down a new trail to me. This hike is one of my favorite in Yeosu. It is small, terribly achievable and despite being right smack dab in the middle of civilization, it feels quite remote. The best part though is the vegetation. Maybe due to its immediate proximity to the sea – there is great diversity of lush exotic vegetation. It feels almost prehistoric with multitudes of intriguing ferns and vine-cloaked trees… With little trouble, I navigated back around to the monument at the backside of the school.
I drove back out the way that I had came (the only way to go via scooter honestly) eventually parking in-front of a gate to what looked like a private residence. Peering in, I could see that the mystery gardens that I had spotted earlier were indeed housed within the property. On my way to the staircase leading up, an old weathered Korean man approached me. Obviously the owner of this property, I asked if I could check out the grassy mound (using the little Korean I know). He was quite genial and waved me on. The mound looked just like any traditional burial site except that it was about 6x the size. The knoll was probably able to accommodate 3 VW Beetles parked on-top of it. The south side of the mound (facing toward the house and gate) had a stone arched door-frame with old Chinese characters etched over the head. The doors were made of steel with a locked sliding bolt keeping them shut. Just to the right was a large tree growing out of the periphery of the dune. Everything that wasn’t grassy mound or tree was concrete. Walking around the side, I found a set of overgrown steps leading up onto the mound. I clambered right up on and over to the other-side. From here the concrete circumference broke way to a small geometric French-style garden. After a brief walk-though, I figured I was just about finished there when the old man came up the steps to join me.
From what I could understand the mound houses a water cistern and was built by the Japanese at some point within the last century presumably. I did not ask about the gardens, but did inquire about the iconic KBS (Korean Broadcasting Service) building visible on the next hillside over. I had noticed earlier in the evening that it was in the midst of being gutted. The old man said that the station had been moved to Suncheon (the next city to the north) and that the site was slatted to become apartments. Not much surprise there. I thanked the man as he walked me to the gate. By now the sun was getting low in the sky, so I decided it was about time I head for home.
I am down to just 3 months left in Korea. There are a multitude of hillsides and cryptic garden compounds to be discovered in this world, but I will greatly miss discovering them here in Korea. Both because of the freedom that I have (mostly in terms of transportation) and the kind forgiving nature of Korean people. I am naturally quite curious, and honestly cannot think of a single time that that curiosity has gotten me into trouble here in Korea. To the next adventure…
Thoughts From Afar 