Probably my last memo from Korea – how time has flown. My last lecture was today – exam is Thurs. – graduation and final dinner Fri. evening – and we leave for Japan on Sat.

We’ve made some wonderful friends, and it’s been fun getting to know the students and to learn a bit about Korean politics.

Many adventures to report.  July 21-23 we took the KTX bullet train to the Southern city of Geong Ju.  A nice mix of old and new – the train was super-fast, very slick and comfortable, and the express bus back to Seoul was also luxurious compared to anything in the US. Fine highways as well, and a spectacular rest stop in the central mountains.

The old city dates back to the 5-6^th century, the heyday of the old Silla kingdom and a UNESCO World Heritage site. They buried their royalty in tombs covered by huge mounds of dirt and rocks, and the few that have been excavated have yielded wonderful art and artifacts about how people lived. We also saw one of the restored palaces, surrounded by a picturesque pond, gardens, and lovely landscaping.  Then we drove to the shore by the Sea of Japan for lunch and a view of a floating tomb (an offshore island), pagodas, rice fields, and temples.  The fishing boats came right up to the beach to deliver the fish for our lunch of a wonderful fish soup, which we ate sitting on the floor at low tables under a tent.  Not comfortable for Westerners – my feet quickly go to sleep.

We also drove up a curving mountain road to see a famous grotto with a fine statue of Buddha.  The rule seems to be that Buddha statues belong up HIGH, so it was quite a walk and climb. We stopped at another even higher Buddha shrine later, and I let Fred do that climb alone.  I sat by the shady temple garden and listened to recordings of Buddhist chants – very peaceful afternoon.

We traveled with several other faculty, incl. a couple from Cornell with their daughters, age 8 and 14 (I hope to see them in Ithaca when I get up to Horseheads).  Our leader, an economics professor, spoke Korean and that helped out a lot.  He has a Korean wife he met here in the 1980s when he was a Mormon missionary. Many other tourists, mostly Korean – families, darling children, honeymooners.  We met an interesting guy from New Zealand, a retired sheep farmer taking four months to travel all over Asia. A great shopper – never missed a souvenir stand, but almost missed our bus once because he was still shopping.  By Sun. we’d all had enough Korean food, so we went to the fancy brunch at the Hilton resort on a nearby lake. Then we almost missed our bus back because the taxi driver took us to the wrong hotel, but made it with minutes to spare.

Last Wed. we went to the Korean Disneyland – Lotte World.  Mostly indoors, because it was raining as usual.  Fred and the students enjoyed the various rides – I enjoyed the shopping and the Korean Folk Museum, especially the wonderful exhibits of costumes in styles going back many centuries.  They also had scale models of palaces, villages, farming, markets, temples, etc. with little figures in costumes.  Since I had seen only empty palaces, it was fun to see how they might have looked during a royal procession.

Sat. we went to a show “Cookin’” – the actors played chefs trying to prepare a dinner, but getting distracted and doing fancy drumming with the knives and kitchen utensils, juggling, and just clowning around.  Very funny and no translations needed!

Sun. I went with a friend to a lecture and Zen meditation at a Buddhist temple in the city.  They had a whole program for Westerners, led by monks from – Italy and New York City, who somehow ended up in Korea.  Their answer to all the world’s problems seems to be – sit and meditate.  A strange religion that talks about “mind” rather than God, but very interesting to hear such a different perspective.

The monsoon seems to have ended – now sunny and HOT, but I just read it would be 101 in NY today – hope it cools off before we get home.  And we’d love to hear from you – hopefully before Friday since we won’t have the computer connection.