Well, the weather was not so bad today if you could avoid the direct heat of the sun, and a busload of folks did so in exceptionally pleasant fashion on the Royal Asiatic Society Korea’s tour tour of the remote and famously-scenic alpine Danyang area, including a taste of the Worak-san National Park, Gosu Cave and a boat-cruise on the stunning Chungju Lake. Ya missed it! But with just a tad of advance-planning and at quite resonable cost, you (and your family?) could be part of these interesting near future RAS events:
Sat Aug 25th: SUDEOK-SA and the SEOSAN BUDDHA-TRIAD Tour – the perfect chance to leave the city and enjoy the countryside to enjoy the rural scenery. This tour will combine sites of historical interest with a drive through the photogenic countryside of South Chungcheong Province. We will begin with a stop at Sudeok-sa, one of Korea’s most important Buddhist monasteries, located in the lovely Deok-san (Tôksan) Provincial Park. Then we will head even further west to Seosan County where we will have the opportunity to see the famous Seosan Buddha-Triad rock-sculpture. These almost-childlike Buddhas are famous for their unique smiles and considered by art-experts as the finest extant Baekje-Kingdom-era carvings.
Sun Aug 26th: SOGNI-SAN NATIONAL PARK and BEOBJU-SA Tour — we will visit Beobju-sa, one of Korea’s largest and most-scenic Buddhist temples, site of the only surviving five-story wooden pagoda and also Korea’s largest bronze Buddha, set against the stunning natural beauty of Mt. Songni.
Tuesday August 28th, 7:30 pm: public LECTURE Meeting by Dr. Yang Sung-chul (distinguished prof at Korea University & etc, ROK’s Ambassador to the United States 2000~2003, Member of the National Assembly 1996~2000 and the author of several noted books on N-S Korean political systems & relations. His topic: “The Future of Korea and U.S. Relations and East Asia” — gee, have we ever discussed that on this blog?
Sat Sept 1st: Icheon City CERAMIC KILN Tour — one of our best “visual art” tours! A trip to the kilns of the masters to watch them create masterpieces from clay to celadon and porcelain in Icheon area. We’ll also visit an onggi (kimchi jar) workshop on our way back.
Sun Sept 2nd: CHEONGPYEONG LAKE CRUISE-TOUR – a pleasant and relaxing boat-cruise around Gyeonggi Province’s Lake Cheongpyeong (less than an hour from Seoul), followed by a BBQ lunch (included in the cost) with plenty of time for some swimming and hiking around the forested shores.
Sat~Tues Sept 22~26: CHUSEOK HOLIDAY Tour to BEIJING, XIAN and SHANGHAI — plan ahead to make good use of your holidays in this excellent way! – Our itinerary takes us to Beijing and northern environs, including the Great Wall, and fly to Xian, home of the 7000 life-sized terracotta soldiers and the dominant heart of Chinese civilization until the North China Plain was lost in the Song Dynasty, and to Shanghai, the city which was once called the “Paris of the East”. This is a time of ideal weather to visit northern China, a great opportunity.
Contact Info: http://www.raskb.com/ 763-9483 (office), or raskb@kornet.net
and yet MORE early-September activities are listed in comment #2…
6 Comments
This post is so lame!
Just kidding. Thank you, actually, for the useful info and the link. The tours look quite interesting.
More!
Sat Sept 8th: NAEJANG-SAN and NAEJANG-SA TEMPLE TOUR — We have this opportunity to visit the beautiful Naejang-san National Park. Within this park, we will see the famous and ancient Naejang-sa Buddhist Temple, and have some time to walk around enjoying the superb scenery.
Sun Sept 9th: DONG-GANG RIVER RAFTING TOUR — an exciting 13 km white water rafting trip to the Dong-gang (a remote upper section of the South Han River) in a remote area of Gangwon province. Guided by conservationists, this tour is an extraordinary treat for both nature-lovers and adventurers.
Tuesday September 11th, 7:30 pm: Lecture Meeting with our own Dr. Andrei Lankov, on “North Koreans in the Borderland: Chinese North East and North Korea, from the 1980s to the Present”. Residents Lounge of the Somerset Palace, downtown Seoul.
Sat-Sun Sept 15-16th: WANDO and JINDO ISLANDS TOUR — a great weekend spent in the unspoiled and rural extreme southern tip of the Korean peninsula, visiting the scenic islands of Wan-do, Bogil-do and Jin-do. On the return trip, we will visit the venerable Daeheung-sa Temple.
Sat Sept 15th: 1-day TOUR TO BUSAN CITY by KTX train — this trip takes us to Yongdu-san Park which offers great views, then the famously dynamic Jagalchi Fish market, the Taejongdae Cliffs Park, the UN Memorial Cemetery, the City Museum and Haeundae (the most famous beach in Korea) with a visit to the APEC Conference Hall located on a very scenic peninsula near the beach.
Sun Sept 16th: Walking-Tour of DOSEON-SA TEMPLE in BUKHAN-SAN NATIONAL PARK — guided by my own bad self — this is scheduled, but unfortunately the date may have to be postponed, as something urgent just came up — i’ll announce later.
This is off topic, but worthy of a little box-post thingy marmot!!!!
A bunch of people from down here in Cholla are climbing 5 mountains in 5 days to raise money for a local orphanage - all and any plugs for these guys would be helpful! If you’ve ever wanted to put a little money into a good cause, here it is. Most characties siphon 40% for administration - all this money goes straight to the kids. Here’s the link:
http://www.5in5korea.org/index.htm
Cool cause, good method — i’ll sign up. But you really should reform your opening text like this:
> in five day:
in five days:
> Hala is the extinct on Jeju (1,950m)
Halla-san is the extinct volcano on Jeju Island (1,950m), the highest peak in the ROK;
> Jirisan (1,915 meters) high mountain, in
> Jeolla-do which is the second highest,
Cheonhwang-bong of Jiri-san in South Gyeongsang Province (1,915 meters) is the second highest summit in the ROK,
> Deogyu (1,614 meters), Seorak (1,708) tucked way
> up in the North East corner in Gangwon-do,
Hyangjeok-bong of Deogyu-san in North Jeolla Province (1,614 meters) is the fourth highest summit in the ROK;
Daecheong-bong of Seorak-san (1,708), tucked way up in the northeast corner of Gangwon Province is the third highest summit in the ROK;
> and Gyebang the lowest peak (1,577 meters) but by no means easy.
and Gyebang-san just west of Odae-san National Park of Gangwon Province (1,577 meters) is the fifth highest summit in the ROK, the lowest peak our clibers will attempt but by no means easy.
(actually, if you start from the 1100 m pass on National Highway 31, it IS relatively easy ;-))
> All peaks must be climbed within five
> days for the challenge to be successful.
All five of these peaks must be climbed within five consecutive days for the challenge to be successful.
I’m thrilled to see such an extensive posting of RAS activities on this blog. Robert Koehler has in many ways set a great example by his photographs and commentaries of places outside of Seoul.
Seoul is so large that it is too easy for many folks to forget there is so much incredibly more to Korea than Seoul — and the RAS makes exploring this fascinating country easy and worthwhile with its expert and near-expert volunteer guides.
Anyway, kudos to David (aka Sanshinseon) for posting these notices since he knows the hinterland as well as most people.
While RAS notices may seem to be a bit off from the central theme of Marmot’s Hole, since 1900, the RAS has been providing the context knowledge for both foreigners and Koreans to more intelligently form their opinions and views about Korea.
Sanshin, thanks! obviously there are a ton of mistakes, but these guys are friends of mine, whom I’ve sponsored along with other people, so I don’t have direct access to the website myself. As of right now I think they have something in the order of 5 million +