John’s Diary – Pt 12 Ganghwa
Ganghwa
It was late in September and having been offered yet another break from school for a couple of days (after Chuseok which had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as public holidays then on Thursday the students had no classes and there was, apparently, not much point in Gail returning for Friday only so we were told that we might as well make it a full week off) we travelled by a very slow and indirect bus to Incheon and then on a very slow and indirect second bus to Ganghwa which is an island off the north-east of South Korea; hence it is located in the middle of the Korean peninsula (which, naturally, includes North Korea).The island is about the size of our own Bellarine peninsula. It had taken almost 5 hours in the buses to travel less than 100km as the crow would fly. Accommodation was inexpensive (~Aus$45 per night) but okay and after an extremely wet start (masses of rain) we had a delicious barbeque-style meal with, as usual, many little side dishes – even the Koreans don’t bother with them all, but they arrive as a part of your meal anyway.
We visited a natural history museum which was very well set out. Ganghwa had been the centre of government for ~50 years in the 16th century. (Korea has been invaded so many times that rulers had to have alternate “palaces” from which they could still rule.) Period costumes and the Bronze Bell were of interest and the museum showed how, starting around 700 years ago, Koreans constructed two types of walls completely surrounding this island (and other coastal regions as well) – one was intended to reclaim land from the sea for agriculture – and the other was the fortress style (Dondae) from which they could defend against invaders; the French are shown in this 19th century depiction and they were only one of three countries to invade the island in a nine year period from 1866 to 1875, the others were the Japanese (yet again) and the Americans.
Koreans were the first in the world (14th century) to produce a printing press although the method, using wood rather than metal, was somewhat limited. Other technologies were also used as they became available, mainly for protection, such as these cannons of varying levels of competence manufactured here in the 16th century.
But, to tourists, Ganghwa is most famous for its Dolmen, a world heritage site. Originally it was a burial place – and it is said to have an age similar to the famous Stonehenge in England. Of course hosts of students were brought here by buses to see this historical icon. (Sadly, the Koreans, in an attempt to make it a tourist attraction with more than one item, have made poor quality fakes of other stone structures from around the world.)
Gail liked this “keep off the grass sign” which that old man appears to be ignoring. And we were invited into an historic Anglican church – the area was meant to be closed for use by a film crew.
Red peppers can be purchased by the kilo or per (very large) bag. The Korean version of croquet is popular. Gail again found a personal favourite of hers – the island’s Tourist Information Centre.
Once again Gail took us on a bus that travelled around most of the island of Ganghwa. I say “once again” as it’s her favourite method of sightseeing – riding on a normal local bus costing about $1 each and it (almost) always returns to its starting point. We get to sit in comfort, see the sights and be cheapskates all at the same time. On this 2 hour ride we saw one nice beach and two sections of the retaining wall with land reclaimed from the sea used mainly for growing rice.
Going back home was quicker – we had learnt from our outbound journey to travel a different route. We departed the motel and then crossed the bridge back to the mainland, which, as you may see, isn’t far away at all.
