The Shamanist village on Inwang mountain

In Korea, in the city of 서울...

there is a mountain called 인왕산.

And on 인왕산, there is a most interesting village.

In this village, the streets are stairways...

and the homes are modest but intricately decorated.

From their homes, the residents of the village can see above them the summit of 인왕산...

and below them, the city of 서울.

Residents of this village are Shamanist Buddhists, practitioners of a form of Buddhism that includes some of the original spiritual practices of the residents of the Korean peninsula.

A number of spiritual sites of importance to Shamanist Buddhists are present in the village...

including a shrine called 국사당, secretly rebuilt on 인왕산 after the Japanese destroyed its original location on 남산.

There is also a sacred rock called 선바위.
In fact, all of 인왕산 is considered sacred by the inhabitants of the village.





The village seems to have been somewhat isolated from the greater population of 서울 for a long part of its history.
The village is located outside of the perimeter wall of 서울. 
And today, the presence of ruins...

probably the result of a recent fire...

suggests a continuing isolation of the village.




During 설날, the Korean new year festival, there was much activity in the village...

 

and there was evidence of the importance of this festival everywhere.

I felt at peace in the village...
I felt connected to a culture that has roots deep in the past...
A culture from a time when we had not yet corrupted our symbols with hatred...

Moscow Wants to Build a Subway Like Seoul's

It was reported in the news today that officials from the city of Moscow are in Seoul to study the Korean capital's subway system.

In the same article, it is reported that "over one-thousand foreign public officials and transportation experts from 30 countries have visited Seoul to survey its transportation system", according to representatives of the city of Seoul.

I believe it.

Seoul's subway system is one of the most beautiful examples of modern, efficient public transportation that I have ever seen.  In my opinion, it rivals the "métro de Paris".  It consists of an extensive network of underground and above-ground train routes servicing a large number of destinations both within the city of Seoul proper, and within the neighbouring city of Incheon and the surrounding province of Gyeonggi-Do (경기 도).

It therefore makes sense to me that officials from other cities would want to model their subway systems on Seoul's.

Korea gets an obscene amount of snow

I already mentioned, in a previous blog post, the unusual winter that Korea has experienced this year.

During the last few days, the unusual winter weather has continued, notably on the eastern coast of Korea, where a "snow bomb" occurred.

What's a "snow bomb"?
It's a winter storm that delivers, over the course of a few days, an obscene quantity of snow.

How much snow, exactly?
Well, some cities on the coast of the north-easternmost province of South Korea, called Gangwon-do (강원 도), received over a meter of snow.
Yup, more than 100 centimetres of snow!
Needless to say, that much snow can seriously disrupt human activity.

The snow started in 강원 도 on the week-end.  By Monday, it was snowing pretty much everywhere on the east side of the country, even in Busan.  According to my Korean friends, snow in Busan is a rare occurrence.  Though snow may fall a few times per winter, it apparently only covers the ground once every few years or so.  But yesterday, about 7 cm of snow fell on Busan, and it was light, and fluffy, and covered the ground, and caused some pretty intense traffic chaos.  So unusual was this occurrence that it made the national news.  The Korean Broadcast System published photos of Haeundae beach, a popular tourist destination in south-east Busan, on its English web-site.

The snow made my neighbourhood look like this:

Shortly after the snow begins to fall.

Shortly after the snow begins to fall.

Late afternoon, on the day of the storm.

Late afternoon, on the day of the storm.

In the evening, after the worst of it.

In the evening, after the worst of it.

In the evening, after the worst of it.

After the storm, on a quiet street.

Snow in the intersection.

Snowy rooftops.

In a children's playground.

Clearing the snow from the road.

Sunrise, on the morning after.

At sunrise, on the morning after.

Early morning, the day after the storm.

A car, stranded the night before.

Sunset, on the day after the storm.

Sunset, on the day after the storm.

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

Last week, Koreans celebrated Seolnal (설날), the Korean New Year holiday!

Yup, like the people of China and other countries, Koreans celebrate the lunar new year.  And 설날 is a very important holiday in Korea.  Only Chuseok (추석), Korean Thanksgiving, is as important a holiday.

As I had done last October, during the 추석 holiday, I took advantage of the 설날 holiday to travel to Seoul.  In doing so, I had a specific motive.  I wanted to see Seoul covered in snow! And so, I joined the 31 million other Koreans who were travelling during 설날.  That's right, almost as many Koreans as there are Canadians travel somewhere for 설날.

I thought there would be snow in Seoul because this year was one of the coldest years on record in Korea.  Record cold temperatures were seen throughout the country in January, colder than had been seen since 1973.  In Busan, on one January morning, a temperature lower than -14 degrees  Celcius was measured.  Such cold temperatures had not been seen in Busan since 1915!  The Korea Meteorological Administration attributed the country-wide cold snap to unusual air movements in the Arctic, resulting from warmer than usual air temperatures up there.

This January's unusual cold was also accompanied by large quantities of snow.  So, I headed to Seoul thinking that it should still look a little bit like this given that it had been hit by a major snowfall only a week and a half earlier.  (Eille petite soeur…  Tu peux voir ici un petit chien coréen qui s'appelle "Spudgy" jouer dans la neige pour la première fois.)  I also hoped to see scenery like this along the way.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much snow left in Seoul.  I only found some in a few parks, or hidden on the shady side of mountains, buildings and structures.  There was, however, an impressive sheet of ice on the Han-gang (한강).

Snow in downtown Seoul.  Not pretty.

Snow by Seoul's ancient city wall, on Inwang san.

Snow in a park, in Seoul.

Snow in a park, in Seoul.

Flowers in the snow, by the Han gang.

Flowers in the snow, by the Han gang.

Ice on the Han gang.

On the way to Seoul, most of the snow had also already melted.  There was only a little left in some fields, especially in the northernmost part of the country, near Seoul.  But once in a while, I could spot a few frozen ponds or lakes near the train tracks.  And shortly after my train pulled out of Busan, a few people were ice skating on one of these frozen ponds.

A snow-free landscape, in southern South Korea.

Huts on a frozen lake, in central South Korea.

Snow in a field, near a frozen pond.

Snowy fields.

More snowy fields.

In light of the realization that there was not much snow in Seoul, I decided instead to take in Seoul's night lights, as darkness falls fairly early in Seoul this time of year.  Seoul's night lights are beautiful!

Myeongdong.

Myeongdong.

Myeongdong.

Seoul tower.

Gwanghuimun.

Buildings near Dongdaemun.

Dongdaemun.

A shopping mall in Euljiro-ga.

Tall buildings in Euljiro-ga.

More buildings in Euljiro-ga.