crafts – lezhok

The second day in Korea (year 2019)

My friend is so lazy because he likes to go to work every day, so, I had to spend that day alone, find an activity.

Museum!

Which one?

Seems I have seen so many of them. Maybe there’re some other great museums left?

It is so good that I have made a screenshot, so now I know the name of the museum – National Folk Museum of Korea.

I wasn’t sure, is it my first time to be there until I entered.

I felt excited this moment, being in Korea again, such a special and exotic place to me.

Even many people told me, that July is the worst time to come here due to the hot and humid weather, I want to be there now, because I am freezing here, in my cold room, and cold outside, only vodka can warm me up.

I always imagine Korea hot, because I have been only during summer, however, winter is cold there too.

Glassy futuristic skyscraper and roads full of colourful sings, contrasting relatively small, wooden-stone ancient buildings along with the buoyant green make up the face of Seoul.

On the way to the museum! I bet it is as hot there as at the hell, I have forgotten that feeling, but I see people on the photo are trying to walk in the shadow; it makes me smile now.

Then, I have entered.

Science: medicine, astronomy, geography, magic and so on.

About agriculture

The first character looks uncertain for me because I didn’t find the exact one or any variety of 農, but I think that means something like: agriculture is the base of the world. It is such a close to the Ukrainian culture phrase. About 70% of the Ukrainian land (603 000 sq km) is the agricultural land (420 000 sq km), which is 4 times more than the whole area of South Korea and even twice more than the whole area of North and South Korea together. Seems unbelievable? However, after visiting Korea I can confidently state that Ukrainians do not really understand the meaning of the phrase above. The huge land is used almost for nothing, not effectively, when you compare to the Korean one. A rain – the crops are destroyed, high temperature – crops are destroyed, wind – crops are destroyed. What I saw in Korea, that each piece of the land is used wisely, even the land seemed to be fruitless along the road is a good place to grow onion, if you know how to do it. Weather is even crazier than in Ukraine: extremely high temperatures, strong wind – nothing can harm, because the crops are protected from the sun and the ground is covered to decrease the evaporation; trees are supported to stand the strong wind. What is a naughty bird wants to eat your fruit? It is a difficult task for the bird – each fruit is covered to be protected. Moreover, a funny thing is that there’s no planning: one year plant too many onions (very cheap), next year nobody plants it (crazily expensive, import).

A cute house for chicks.

There’s a similar tool used in Ukraine to tamp ground, is it used in the same way in Korea? Fishing. A very funny tool, who do you catch with it? Medicine grinder.

My favourite place – I can sleep here. And a nice pillow, what I have seen before in other cultures, it was something solid to support the head, but this one looks pretty comfortable.

Paintings. Feel the culture.

It would be much better if I carefully read the descriptions beneath the items, but I don’t know the special words, so I just enjoyed the appearance and turn on my imagination to guess the story behind each item.

This part of the exhibition made me very upset because I was so hungry at that time, so hungry…

I need more and more foooooooood.

Later in the evening.

Hahahahah.

After the dinner, to keep me fit I participated in Dongducheon sports competition! But still, I don’t know who won…

My last trip around South Korea in 2019 starts with Hwacheon country.

Hwacheon is not a big country with a population of about 25,000 people.

During Goguryeo, this area was called Saengcheon-gun 牲川郡 or Yasimae 也尸買. As I found out before, Goguryeo used to give quite negative names to the areas under their rule to show dominance. Saengcheon and Yasimae, as for me, are not exceptions too, because saeng 牲 means a sacrificial animal and si 尸 means a corpse. In 685, during Silla, the region was renamed to more neutral or even positive – Nangcheon 狼川 – Wolf River. Later it was renamed a few times and only in 1869, the area got its present name, Hwacheon 華川 – Flowery River.

The first stop in Hwacheon country is Sanae-myeon where Tomato Festival is held! Would you expect to see there just a fair where plenty of tomato species or tomato products are shown? Then your imagination is the same as weak as mine.

What are they doing? Do they cook ketchup in this way? No, that is how they are looking for a golden ring hidden in one of the tomatoes. I would join them if I have another complect of clothes, but the only thing I could do is just to film and feel envy.

By the way, I tasted some tomatoes there too.

The next destination is Hwacheon Museum. Craft tools, pottery and other items related to Hwacheon history are presented here.

Tiger and magpies is a prominent motif in the minhwa folk art of the Joseon period. The paintings are a satire of the hierarchical structure of Joseon feudal society. The tiger, which is intentionally given a ridiculous and stupid appearance represents authority, while the magpie represents the common man. The painting is known to keep away evil influence.

Seunggyeongdo 陞卿圖 game board. A similar Chinese game takes its origin during Tang dynasty, the earliest historical record dates back to 836. The origin of the Korean game is not known, however, there is a record saying Ha Ryun (1377-1416) made and spread the game. The objective of the game is to attain the highest possible bureaucratic position. Probably the game was used with an educational purpose for candidates on a government post.

Outside the museum there are some items visitors can try, like a basket or traditional games.

The next destination is Oeum-ri, Vietnam Memorial Hall.

During the Vietnam war (1955-1975), from 1964 to March 1973, South Korea sent more than 300,000 troops to South Vietnam, 5099 Koreans were killed. A controversial consequence on the participation in the war is a boost in the South Korean economy due to payments of the US, which are estimated to account for 4% of GDP in 1967.

There are Vietnamese houses of the territory of the memorial.

And small hiding frogs avoiding the sun on an underground stair.

That is all about Hwacheon country, it is time to move on!

Ungjin-ri, somewhere on a bank of Soyangho Lake, the largest man-made lake in South Korea. Soyang Dam is Asia’s largest and the world’s fourth-largest rock-fill dam.

By the way, the name of the village reminds me of Gongju, the city of a legend about a man and a bear. Originally Gongju was called Ungjin 熊津 too, however, I do not know the meaning of the village’s name. It could be the same, Ford of Bear.