June 2008 The Shoreline Page 9
Plans for our trip to China and Korea
began last year when our goddaughter
Emily Durham received a Fulbright
scholarship to teach English for a year in
South Korea. Some of
you may remember
Emily who lived with
us in the summer
of 2006 working
as an intern at the
aquarium. We signed
up for an Elderhostel
study program that
took us to China for
27 days followed by
our own 10-day trip
to South Korea.
China is home to
1.35 billion people
who are warm and
friendly and very
proud of their ancient
history and current
progress. It has been
said that China is like
a sleeping dragon;
awaken it at your peril.
Believe us, China is awake! Growth is
out of control and this was most evident
in our first stop, Beijing, where they are
frantically preparing for the Olympics.
When asked our impression of Beijing,
we both said "demolition, construction,
and air pollution." We happened to
arrive during the three day holiday of
Grave Sweeping where the graves of
ancestors are cleaned and gaily decorated.
Therefore, we were accompanied at the
Forbidden City, Tiennamen Square, and
most especially the Great Wall by hoards
of vacationing Chinese. Total culture
immersion!
A six hour train ride took us to Luoyang
where a visit to Longman Grottoes with
its 110,000 Buddhas carved into the
limestone caves and cliffs was a highlight.
Of course our visit to Xi'an included a tour
of the Terra Cotta Warriors which were
awesome. A three-day river journey on
the Yangtze through the Three Gorges,
the Lesser Gorges and the Mini Gorges
was misty, cold and beautiful. We visited
the birthplace of Chairman Mao and
We spent four days in the mountains
learning about the minority tribe, the
PKS Couple Find China Booming
By Linda Seale
Miao. We stayed in ten different cities
and really had a chance to see much of the
country. Since this was a study trip we
enjoyed lectures on Chinese Culture and
crazy in anticipation of the arrival of the
Olympic Torch. Busloads of Chinese
students filled the streets waving flags and
banners while waiting all day for the torch
which finally passed
us at 7 p.m. We
also took a day trip
north to the DMZ.
This tour is run by
the USO and took
us to Check Point
Charlie, the
MAC building.
Checkpoint 3,
the Bridge of No
Return and the
Third Tunnel. It
was a sobering
experience.
W e s p en t a
marvelous evening
with Patrick Gahan,
his wife Charmaine
and their daughter
h istory, its land and peoples, its
language and calligraphy, and
rice, tea and silk cultivation. We
visited museums to see treasures
and relics and paintings, we
attended performances of native
music and dance, earth opera
and acrobatics, visited primary
schools and universities,
practiced Tai ji, and picked
tea and had a tea ceremony.
We rode in rickshaw and bus,
boats and sampans and subway
and trains. In Shanghai we
experienced the ultimate train
ride when we took the Maglev
or Magnetic Levitation train
reaching a speed of 431 Km/hr!
This train "runs without wheels and flies
without wings." And, of course, we ate
fabulous food. Despite warnings to the
contrary, we still like Chinese food!
Our Korean adventure began in Seoul
where we met Emily and spent the
weekend exploring the city, attending a
Buddhist Temple program, and enjoying
a performance of Korean Traditional Song
and Dance. On Sunday the city went
Natalie at their home in Seoul. Patrick
is Arlene Terrell's son and Natalie is, of
course, her granddaughter. -
We then traveled by trajn to the city of
Hongseong where Emily is living and
teaching English to fifth and sixth grade
students. We spent one morning atschool
"teaching" with Emily, which was great
fun. Even more special was the chance
to meet the family that has hosted Emily
in their home this year - the parents and
their three host sisters who are pen-pals
with our granddaughters. The funniest
experience we had on the trip was at the
hotel in Hongseong. As we prepared for
bed the first evening we realized there
were no sheets on the bed. Assuming the
room had not been made up properly, we
went down to ask for sheets. The fellow
followed us up to our room since we had
a major communication problem. By sign
language and body language we came to
understand that one sleeps on the mattress
pad! We should have had a video of this
conversation! Another day, the high
speed KTX train whisked us to Busan,
a huge port city at the southern end of
South Korea, to see the ocean and visit a
cliffside temple. Thus, in a few short days
we covered the length of South Korea
from the DMZ to the Sea of Japan. Our
final day back in Seoul was the eve of the
ten-day celebration of Buddha's birthday
so the city was festive with gaily colored
lanterns, musical
performances,
parades, food vend ors
and shoulder-to-
shoulder people in
for the holiday. We
said a sad goodbye
to Emily on Sunday
but look forward to
her return to North
Carolina in July.
One reason to
travel is to experience
the land, people,
language, food and
customs of another
country. We were
mostfortunatetohave
so many marvelous
opportunities in both
countries. It is truly a
"Wonderful World." It is also awesome to
realize we can travel so far in a relatively
short time. Incredible as it seems, on
Thursday, May 1, we dipped our toes in
the Sea of Japan in Pusan. On Sunday,
May 4, we dipped our toes into the Pacific
during our layover in Los Angeles. And
on Tuesday, May 6, we dipped our toes
into the Atlantic, safely and happily back
home in Pine Knoll Shores.