Naesosa to Naganeupseong
We drove from Naesosa to the sea at Ducheong-ri where we had another great lunch which included cold noodles with a boiled egg and fermented soy bean soup, doenjang-jjigae. As with every meal there seemed to be an infinite variety of fermented, pickled and seasoned small side dishes (banchan) of, for example, greens, sprouts, mushrooms, radish, and cucumber. The ever present kimchi was but another variety. Rice was served and Eliot especially liked to eat this with sheets of seaweed, gim (not my favourite). I preferred jeon, pancakes made with potatoes or vegetables.
The beach nearby was not inviting so went to Gyeokpo and while Shiny and Eliot were in the water Chris, Alice and I walked along the rocky shore towards the Haesik Donggul Cave, only to be told that because of the encroaching tide it was closed for the day. We retreated to sit on the sand. Almost all of the bathers were wearing life jackets (available to borrow for free) , commonplace in Korea and enforced at popular locations.
We stopped by Mohang to climb a lookout to get a panoramic view of the bay and the salt pans nearby.
Journeying on we arrived later at the walled town of Naganeupseong.
Dinner was another feast, this time including grilled mackerel, one of my favourite fish.
We explored the village the following day, although I was up earlier and was lucky to see some lifers: an Asian Tit and a Daurian Redstart. There were also Hoopoe’s on the ground looking for insects, always good to see.
Naganeupseong is a village which was the administrative centre of the county during the Joseon Dynasty. It includes government buildings (and prison) and many hanok style houses with straw roofs, verandahs and courtyards, in one of which we stayed, the Five Beans Thatched Pension. There are many resident households who actively farm growing crops such as back sesame, soy beans and cotton. There is a water wheel powering a pounder, a static ox driven mill, and the local blacksmith showed us knives he had made. We walked along the wall in the rain and spied a pottery – large vessels for fermentation seem to be in every courtyard.
Near the entrance to the village there was a cluster of poles with spirit faces ( Jangseung ) which served as village guardians to frighten away demons, evil spirits and disease.
We all had a go on the giant swing on the playground!
While staying in the village we went to the Suncheon Bay National Garden which opened for a Garden Expo in 2013. The intent was to preserve the Bay and develop an ecological centre. The “Sky Tube” joining the Bay with wetlands was closed so we wandered through a small part of the expansive grounds ( lifers: swan goose, white wagtail and great egret) and got a sense of the breadth of the flora and the topography.
The Suncheonman Bay Wetland Preserve is a large expanse of reed beds bordering the river leading to the Bay. Although quiet bird-wise in summer it attracts many migrants later in the year including the rare Hooded Crane. But, today, I did see a “lifer” a Vinous-throated Parrotbill, when we climbed up to a ridge which afforded a fine view of the delta.
However there was abundant fauna to be seen amongst the reeds; Japanese Ghost Crabs, Sand Crabs, mudskippers and dragonflies.
After departing from Naganeupseong on the 16th we had delicious loach soup (Chueo-tang) for lunch. The fish are sourced during the harvesting of rice.
Just near the Village we learned about the life of Han Chang-ki in the Deep Rooted Tree Museum. He authored a Britannica of Korea and
“finally, after receiving approval from the head office, with the money raised through the Britannica, in March 1976, he started publishing Tree with Deep Roots, a monthly magazine dedicated to Hangeul and written horizontally. At one time, it boasted 65,000 regular subscribers, but in August 1980, it was closed by the Chun Doo-hwan regime for ‘creating class consciousness and social unrest’ . He did not give up and started publishing again in 1984. He redesigned the font and usage of Hangeul through magazines and books, and introduced the native culture of Korea to the public through projects such as pansori albums, seven-episode album production, and the publication of an autobiography of the people.” https://en.namu.wiki/w/%ED%95%9C%EC%B0%BD%EA%B8%B0
We wandered around a “Dolmen Park” on Chris’s list, where there are many Neolithic stone burial structures, some of which had been moved from the area nearby which was flooded after construction of a dam.
The Jirisan Museum of History was next. This was particularly informative as to the history of protest in Korea. During the late 19th century, Korean society faced various social problems such as inequality, corruption, and excessive taxation. These problems sparked a series of peasant-led rebellions based in the south of the peninsula. Later in the period of the “Korean War” leftist partisans and remnants of the Korean People’s Army used the peaks of Jirisan National Park as a natural fortress. Movements regarded as “communist” were brutally suppressed by the US, UN, and the Government of the ROK. The Jeju uprising is one chilling example.
Our next stay was in a recently built hanok, near Gurye, below Jiri-san the highest peak in mainland South Korea.