Camp in the Korean mountains this summer

Hwayang Valley, Songnisan Mountain (Image: Korea Tourism Organization)

If you’re tired of the same old beaches and sand this summer, how about a camping up a mountain? Korea, 70 percent of whose land is covered with mountains, is certainly an ideal place to camp and hike. With clean air, fresh water and camping facilities conveniently maintained by the Korea National Park Service (KNPS) that is eager to bring in more visitors, what more can you ask for, for you and your family? Here are a few scenic places recommended by the national park service this summer.

Sogeumgang Valley in Odaesan Mountain, Gangwon-do (Gangwon Province), is often referred to as a miniature Geumgangsan Mountain (its name actually means that), one of the most scenic mountains in the country. Boasting its own grace, it was designated as scenic spot no. 1 in Korea in 1970.

Sogeumgang, Odaesan Mountain (Photo: Yonhap News)

The Gucheondong Valley (30 kilometers long) in Deogyusan Mountain is famous for its clear, fresh water surrounded by numerous rocky cliffs. Once there were 14 Buddhist temples gathered there, lived in by nearly 9,000 monks in total. Whenever it was meal time, the stream in the area turned white from all the rice rinsed in the water. That was how the border for Gucheondong Valley was set – according to the flow of the rice-rinsed water. Recently the national park set up an exploration route “the Old Road of Gucheondong” (5.9 kilometers) which is excellent for eco-tourism.

The entire length of Baemsagol Valley (9 kilometers) of Jirisan Mountain is formed of fantastically shaped cliffs. At the center sit many large flat rocks known as Neoreok-bawi that can hold over 100 people and 100 or more big and small waterfalls. Thanks to the gentle slopes that make it easy to hike around, the valley has long been one of the most popular mountaineering spots in Korea.

Of the many valleys in Chiaksan Mountain, Guryeong Valley (7 kilometers) is considered the people’s favorite, due to its long, smooth path lined with lush woods that give cool shade during summer. The clean water that flows from the mountainside (1,200 meters above sea-level) forms big and small waterfalls.

Gucheondong Valley, Deogyusan Mountain (Photo: Yonhap News)

The Hwayang Valley at Songnisan Mountain is especially rich in cool clean, water and is a perfect place to splash around for fun. Surrounded by rich forests filled with interesting bugs to watch and large, flat rocks to sit on, this is the place to go with kids.

For those living in Korea, try out the official website of the Korea National Park Service (http://english.knps.or.kr/), where you can make online reservations. To make a reservation, first click on the white ECO TOUR button on the top of the page. Then click on “National Park Reservation” where you’ll see icons linked to the available mountains in the area. Click on the “Facility Reservation” button at the top right of the icons page, and then “Shelter.” Shelter will present you with camp sites for the three mountains Seoraksan, Deogyusan and Jirisan.

Baemsagol Valley, Jirisan Mountain

If you’ve made up your mind about the mountains click “Reservation” and a window will pop up asking you to fill in your name and e-mail address. When that is completed, another page will come up with four menus – Notice, Reserving, My Reservations & Reserve Others. The Notice will provide a basic guide to reservations, Reserving will show you the vacancy status of camp sites. Since it is already the middle of the summer vacation, many of the rooms are likely to be filled up. Reserving Others is the menu that shows available spots in other mountains.

The final part of the reservation process will require you to write down your name, phone, cell phone, e-mail and the number of people, plus their ages and genders. You’re done after you complete the form and click on the “apply” button. Then confirm your status through the My Reservations Page.

Auto Camping Site

On the day, just show up with your ID card on the spot and you and your group will be admitted to the reserved camp site. To cancel your choice, return to My Reservation and simply click the cancel button. There may be few glitches to online reservations, so for further inquiries, refer to the e-mail address and phone number shown on the website. This online reservation service is currently provided only in Korean and English.

Meanwhile, the KNPS also rents tents. The price is 5,000–8,000 won per night, depending on the size of the tent. Auto-camping (car camping) is also available in 15 places, including Naewonsa Buddhist Temple on Jirisan Mountain.

Korean restaurants around the globe

Hansik, the Korean word for Korean cuisine, is tantalizing global taste buds. Here we'd like to introduce some famous Korean restaurants around the world.

-Hong Kong

Hanareum located in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, prepares traditional and yet modern Korean dishes. As most restaurants in Hong Kong have menus with hundreds of choices, Hanareum offers about one hundred Korean dishes including Korean hot pot (jeongol), other kinds of soups and traditional tea. Haemul topokki, stir-fried rice cakes with seafood and haemul jeongol, seafood hot pot, are the top sellers.
Hanareum 852-2877-7797

-Japan

Soseonjae in Tokyo, Japan. This is a franchise outlet of the original Soseonjae in Samcheong-dong in Seoul. They use ten-year-old fermented soy bean paste and other home-made soy sauce. In 2008, it was nominated as one of the hottest restaurants in Tokyo by a famous Japanese restaurant guide book.
Soseonjae 03-5545-6691 sosonjae.jp

-France

Woojeong in Paris. Here you can try Korean cuisine with a French touch. Customized for French people, Woojeong offers dishes that don’t necessarily require chopsticks - for example gujeolpan, a platter of nine delicacies that don’t need to be wrapped. Once every two months, it holds a class on matching wine with Korean food.
Woojeong 01-45-20-72-82

-England

Myungga in London. To satisfy Londoners’ picky taste buds, Myungga offers a very detailed menu with many different kinds of kimchi and vegetable side dishes. The restaurant makes its own red hot pepper powder and uses fresh organic vegetables brought from Germany. Pork bulgogi, napa wraps with pork (bossam) are its bestsellers.
Myungga 44-020-7734-8220 myungga.co.uk

-U.S.

Located in Midtown, New York, Bann provides traditional Korean food prepared by an American chef. Compared to the restaurants in Korea, Bann uses different amounts of soy sauce, salt and other seasonings, but sundubu-jjigae, spicy soft tofu stew, and yukgaejang, spicy beef soup, are popular like in Korea. On the wall, it displays chopsticks used by famous customers who have visited the restaurant.
Baan 212-582-4446 bannrestaurant.com

source: Korea.net

First English Baekdu Daegan guidebook published

Seoul Selection, a publisher specializing in English-language books about Korea, has this month released a comprehensive guidebook to hiking along the Baekdu Daegan ridge that stretches roughly north-south along the Korean peninsula.

New Zealanders Roger Shepherd and Andrew Douch, fully in the thrall of the Baekdu Daegan range, completed a 70-day hike along this mountainous backbone of Korea and spent the next two years writing the manuscript. A further year of editing resulted in this guidebook, which includes not only the information necessary for the journey itself, but also explains the importance and the unparalleled characteristics of this mountain chain as a hiking course.

The authors believe that the Baekdu Daegan has the same potential to develop into a popular mountain-climbing destination for international tourists like the American Appalachian mountain range.

As well as explaining its historical, cultural and ecological importance, the 452-page “Baekdu Daegan Trail: Hiking Korea’s Mountain Spine” will arouse the interest of non-Korean readers with its more than 200 photos of fascinating religious site scattered here and there along the trail and lookouts boasting stunning views.

Meticulous research for a trouble-free hike

This book divides the 735km-long stretch of mountain range from Mount Jirisan’s Cheonwangbong Peak to Hyangnobong Peak in Gangwon-do (Gangwon Province) into 17 sections, and then subdivides these up into one-day treks, making it possible for hikers to approach the enormous undertaking little by little.

Furthermore, the specific routes of each course and their main points along the way are clearly illustrated using diagrams and maps throughout the book, so that even non-mountaineers can hike the distances without trouble.

What’s more, there are GPS co-ordinates for sources of drinking water – one of the most important things when hiking a mountain – and details of camping sites or overnight accommodation. For hikers who want to leave the path to visit a nearby village or city before resuming the walk later, the guidebook gives transport information, too.

Kiwi who fell in love with the Baekdu Daegan

“You could go anywhere in the world and you still wouldn’t find a beautiful mountain and awesome cultural space that compares with the Baekdu Daegan. I really hope that people from around the world hear about it and come here to see it.”

These are the words of the book’s co-author Roger Shepherd. Until last year he was in charge of the New Zealand police force’s elite diplomatic escort unit, before resigning early this year and relocating to Korea.

After hiking the entire length of the Baekdu Daegan in 2007, he fell completely in love with it. “The Baekdu Daegan is not only beautiful, but it is also a place rich in cultural and historical significance,” he explained. “I wanted to become the first westerner to make the Baekdu Daegan known to the world, like those who first made the Himalayas globally famous,” he said, showing his high hopes for this book.

source:Korea.net

About the authors:
Roger Shepherd
Born in New Zealand’s Porirua, when Roger was still young he took off on a trip to Africa. For nine years he traveled through South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and so on, working as a national park ranger and safari guide. In 1998 he left Africa and in 2000 he visited Korea for the first time.

Returning to New Zealand in 2001, Roger began a career in service for his country as a policeman. In 2006 he took six months leave and visited Korea, where he heard about the Baekdu Daegan from his friend Andrew Douch and first attempted to hike its length. It was then that he realized the need for an English language guidebook.

After resolving to put together such a guide, he asked Andrew Douch for his help, and while they were researching the book they met an expert on Korean mountain spirit culture -- David Mason, a professor at Kyung Hee University. Prof. Mason supported them in their expedition to the Baekdu Daegan, and made his own research materials available to them. In September 2007 Roger and Andrew completed the 735km trek after 70 days. Roger delivered a presentation to the Royal Asiatic Society in Seoul at the end of that month to tell the story of the hike and show some of the many photos taken along the way.

For the next two years, the duo threw themselves into the writing, and David Mason went over their manuscript and offered suggestions. At the beginning of this year, Roger resigned from the diplomatic escort unit of the New Zealand police, came to Korea and took up a role as the honorary ambassador for the Korea Tourism Organization. He is now preparing to promote Korean mountain culture and tourism abroad.

Andrew Douch
Andrew grew up in a town near a mountain on the North Island of New Zealand. In 1998 he graduated from the University of Waikato with a degree in social science and came to Korea to teach English, living in various cities of Gyeongsang-do (Gyeongsang Province) including Daegu, Andong, Pohang and Yangsan. During his more than ten years in Korea, Andrew has spent much time trekking the mountains and is quite a recognizable figure to the residents of mountain villages.

Currently he is living in the city of Yangsan near Tongdosa Temple. Each weekend he travels to a different mountain and he is putting together a new guidebook on mountaineering in Korea.

David Mason
David Mason, Professor of Tourism at Kyung Hee University, is widely known as an expert in the culture of Korean mountain spirits. Born in the American state of Michigan, he first came to Korea in the early 1980s and achieved a Master’s Degree at Yonsei University, specializing in Korean religious history. He has since written six books on Korean culture and tourism. He maintains a well-visited website in English on Korean mountains, Buddhism, folk culture and mountain spirits.

There is now an English language website on the Baekdu Daegan itself, with basic information and links to other relevant site, while you can see more information about the book and sample pages here.

Korean alphabet authorized by Indonesian gov't for Cia-Cia tribe

The Indonesian government has recognized the Korean alphabet as the official writing system of an illiterate Indonesian tribe, a Korean language research institute said Monday.

This is the first case of hangeul becoming an officially acknowledged tool for communications outside Korean territory.

The acknowledgement came nearly one year after the Hunminjeongeum Research Institute began promoting the alphabet or hangeul in Korean to the people, called “Cia-Cia” in August last year under the support of the city of Bau-Bau in Sulawesi, a major island of the Asian country.

Back then, the Cia-Cia tribe was at risk of losing its language as there were no tools available to hand it down to its descendants, researchers said.

Amirul Tamim, Bau-Bau mayor, said in a recent interview with Yonhap News that the central government has approved the use of Hangeul as the tribe’s official alphabet. The central government is mapping out plans to support its use, the mayor added.

The Indonesian government has been reluctant to accept it though reasons for the hesitation are unknown.

Many Korean experts say this approval will give an impetus in promoting the Korean alphabet to other small tribes there grappling with a lack of linguistic tools to hand down their legacies to younger generations.

But some critics are negative about the export of the Korean alphabet, arguing the affected people will see itself further isolated in language and culture from the rest of the country.

According to the institute, since July last year, dozens of children in the tribe have learned how to write, read, and pronounce the Korean alphabet based on a textbook provided by the institute.

Last December, some Cia-Cia children and the Bau-Bau mayor visited Seoul at the invitation of the Korean government.

source:Korea times

The Korean Wave in Japan: Lines Blur Between J-Pop, K-Pop

The lines between J-Pop and K-Pop are increasingly being blurred. It’s no coincidence that the Tune in Tokyo sound is an amalgamation of Gobal Pop with an Asian flavor–we love to spin whatever is catchy and progressive, and any of our attendees will know that we love dance music from both Japan and Korea.

Tune in Tokyo was founded as a J-Pop and J-Rock club event, and since our beginnings in earnest, our sound has expanded to reflect the widening and more integrated Asian pop market. A big part of this change has been influenced by what many are calling the “Korean Wave”, or Hallyu, marking the greater export and influence of South Korean dramas and music in the last decade.

We are particulary interested in the synergy between Japan and Korea in modern music culture. K-Pop has certainly exerted an influence in the Japanese market in recent years, with the staggering popularity of Tohoshinki (a.k.a. TVXQ! or Tong Vfang Xien Qi). The Grace (a.k.a. Tenjōchiki or CSJH) was an early entrant as part of the Korean Wave in Japan back in 2006. BoA is, of course, the best known Korean artist in Japan in the last decade, having produced a huge catalogue of Japanese material. In fact, BoA is probably better known internationally for her theme song “Every Heart” for the anime “Inu Yasha”, recorded in Japanese, than her Korean language releases. More major Korean artists have been making their debut in Japan, with Big Bang and Kara being notable examples. Girls Generation will soon make their Japanese debut.

The greater presence of K-Pop not only makes for an interesting injection of a fresh sound into the Japanese market, but it also represents some significant shifts in cultural attitudes, and the direction in which music pop culture moves through Asia and the world at large. At Tune in Tokyo, we’ve always appreciated the way music moves from one culture to another, and is re-interpreted, localized, and then produces all kinds of interesting new sounds. This flow of pop music culture doesn’t move in one direction. You see J-Pop influenced Korean Pop like Orange Caramel (the new sub-unit of After School), J-Pop and K-Pop influenced Thai pop like Seven Day and Neko Jump, collaborations–like Aoyama Thelma and TaeYang’s “Fall in Love”, Green Day inspired Pop-Punk acts in Japan, the Wonder Girls launching an ambitious plan to release new music in Korean, English, and Chinese, plenty of Lady Gaga creeping into South Korea by way of both her music and fashion, and Korean groups like f(x) and Miss A featuring members from China.

We happen to love this synergy, because when different music cultures come together, it also brings together different people. It’s a great way to make friends, exchange ideas, and increase intercultural communication. As DJ Del has often observed, music is a universal language.

Our foray into K-Pop began with Tune in Tokyo’s DJ Tora dropping the Wonder Girls’ “So Hot” and other tracks in Indie Clubs around LA at the International Pop Conspiracy parties in ’97 – ’98. It’s fascinating to see the way the Korean Wave has effected Global Pop, and J-Pop in particular, since then. Were always looking for fresh new sounds from across the world, and will continue to deliver it to you on our dance floor! If you hear of any new and exciting trends in global pop, let us know!

Join us for our first-ever K-Pop Meet-Up at I Love Boba on Friday September 3rd! We’re throwing an unofficial pre-party for the SM Town concert at Staples Center, which will be held on September 4th, featuring SM artists such as BoA, Girls Generation, Super Junior, f(x), SHINee, and more! Come party with us the night before at Koreatown’s best boba cafe, located at 534 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90020. No cover, and all ages!

source:Greg Hignight

DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo

S. Korea to train Myanmar engineers in CNG-car installation

YANGON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea will train Myanmar young engineers in installation of Korea-made CNG (compressed natural gas)-run vehicles with Korean expertise, engineering circle said on Sunday.

It was disclosed following a recent workshop held in Yangon and attended by members of the Myanmar Engineers Association, experts from local companies and South Korean companies such as Hyundai, KANGV (Korea Association For Gas Vehicles) and Kwangshin Machine Industry Co, Ltd.

Most of petrol- or diesel-run vehicles operating in Yangon city have been converted into CNG-run as part of the country's efforts to save fuel and reduce import of crude oil.

To facilitate the conversion, Myanmar allowed over a dozen private industries to carry out the undertakings on buses, trucks, taxis and saloons in addition to the Ministry of Energy.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is encouraging import of CNG-run cars rather than petrol's or diesel's cars.

Source: Xinhua News

Two Korean villages named as UNESCO's World Heritage sites

Andong City's Hahoe Village and Gyeongju City's Yangdong village, which are the two most representative historic clan villages in Korea, were registered on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list on Saturday. The listing of Hahoe and Yangdong is the 10th for Korea on the UNESCO list.

The World Heritage Committee (WHC) met in Brasilia, Brazil to review candidates for inclusion on its World Heritage List and announced that those two villages were to be added, praising them as places that provide both physical and spiritual nourishment.

(photo: Yonhap News)

The architecture of Chunghyodang house, Hahoe Village, Andong City.

(photo: Yonhap News)

The WHC visited Yangdong Folk Village in October 2009.

source:Korea.net