I'm finding that I really enjoy going places with little to know previous knowledge of the sights and sounds in store for me. I'm lucky that I'm usually with someone who was motivated enough to figure some things out ahead of time or a local who can get me to the path less traveled. It's sad to say, but I really like it when people tell me what to do (as long as I don't already have my own opinion.) =)
Jeju was lovely. By no means did we see all this small island has to offer in the less then 48 hours that we were there, but we fully embraced what we did manage to get to. A perfect balance of ambition and relaxation if you ask me. Friday evening we met up with Megan's local friend Matt, settled into a love motel in Jeju City, ate some Mexican food and found our way to the ocean/sea/straight...whatever you want to call it. Saturday took us to the east side of the island. Oddly enough, we seemed to have the same cloud from two weekends ago follow us to the island, but luckily there was no rain this time. We did a small hike up Songsan (Sunrise Peak), not at sunrise, but it was still an impressive sight to see. Our protective cloud was just rolling across the top of this green crater at the peak. It was incredibly windy up there and Maranda's skirt was falling all over the place. So much that she refused to walk around up there for awhile. Good times. Again, some might have been disappointed with the cloudy view, but we all found it beautiful. We then headed over to U-do, an even smaller island on the just across from Songsan where we were able to fulfill our goal of renting scooters and hanging out on a beach. We even got some swimming done in there. It was freezing and exhilarating at the same time. I had forgotten how intimidating it is to swim in a huge body of salt water. My heart was racing the whole time, in a good way.
List of firsts:
drive a scooter
walk on volcanic rock (it was everywhere)
stand on a white rocky beach with clear blue water
We did not even come close to conquering the island. We didn't even see Mt. Halla (the tallest mountain in Korea) the whole time we were there because of the clouds. We also missed out on all the sweet tourist traps such as Loveland, numerous waterfalls and lava tubes. (Lava tubes sound sweet, don't they!?! Turns out they are just caves...no one want to check them out but me...wah wah) Needless to say we are itching to go back. Talk of moving there to get a new teaching contract has even been mentioned by a few.
And now a brief history lesson: the Haenyo (sea women)
Haenyo are skilled divers who are known to be able to hold their breath for more than two minutes and dive to depths of 20 meters.
Until the 19th century, diving was mostly done by men. The job became unprofitable for men since they had to pay heavy taxes, unlike women who did not. Women took over the diving and, because of the great dependence on sea products in most places on Jeju, became the main breadwinners. Gender roles were entirely reversed. Often men would look after the children and go shopping while the women would bring in money for the family.
Starting from the late 1970s, exports of sea products to Japan such as abalone and conch have made the sea women richer than ever, allowing them to fix their houses, build new ones in Jeju City and send their daughters to college. However, there is a threat to the haenyo's continued success: with their daughters choosing to work in the island's tourism industry or in the big cities, the haenyo will most likely disappear. While in 1950 there were as many as 30,000 haenyo on the island, in 2003 there were only 5,650 sea women registered as divers, of whom 85% were over 50 years old. - Wikipedia
These women are incredible. The very definition of tough as nails. They are such an icon of the island, with statues and monuments all over the place, not to mention all the actual woman out in the water. It's hard to imagine that something so fundamental to this culture's history and still so prevalent today is estimated to die out completely in the next couple decades. The most interesting thing about it is that it's not dying out because technology is replacing the need for the position, it's just not appealing to this most recent generation of woman. They want something better for themselves now that they have an education. Fun how that works....
No comments:
Post a Comment