Upcoming Royal Asiatic Society - Korea activities of interest to M-Holers:
Sat March 8th: Kiln Tour in Icheon City – One of our best “practical” tours! A trip to the kilns of the masters to watch them create masterpieces from clay to celadon and porcelain in the Icheon area. If time permits we will visit an onggi (kimchi jar) workshop on our way back.
Sun March 9th: Yeoju City Tour: Shilleuk-sa Temple, Buddhist Art Museum, and King Sejong’s Tomb – Today’s tour is of Yeoju, famous for its traditional-culture relics. First, we will visit Shilluk-sa, home of one of the few brick pagodas in Korea. Then we will go to the Mok-ah Buddhist Museum of master-woodcarver Park Chan-soo. Last, we will see the tomb of King Sejong, the greatest ruler of the Joseon Dynasty who sponsored the invention of Hangeul (Korean alphabet) and other cultural/scientific advancements.
Tuesday, March 11th: RAS-K Lecture-Meeting, featuring Dr. Moon J. Pak (Biologist and MD, Chairman of the US-DPRK Medical Science Exchange Committee and the Vice-president of the Korean-American National Coordinating Council) speaking on “North Korea Today.” He will focus on the realities of contemporary North Korean society as he has experienced them, while refuting several common myths or misperceptions about it. See the interesting description of this speech on our website for more. 7:30 pm in the 2nd-floor Resident’s Lounge of the Somerset Palace, Anguk-dong (just north of Jogye-sa), Seoul. Free for RAS Members, w5000 donation requested from others.
Sat-Sun March 15-16th: Inner Seorak-san Tour
A weekend spent enjoying the grand natural beauty of the less-visited western region of South Korea’s greatest national park, Seorak-san. On Saturday we’ll walk up a long beautiful Inner Seorak valley to the legendary Baekdam-sa (Hundred Pools Temple) and admire the scenic forests, steams and ridges. Then on Sunday, we’ll visit the beautiful South Seorak area and hike to its best-known waterfall (one of Korea’s highest) and see former President Rhee’s retreat-home.
Sun March 16th: KTX Bullet Train Tour to Busan
This one-day round-trip trip takes us to Yongdu-san Park, then the famously dynamic Jagalchi Fish market, Taejong-dae coastal-cliffs Park, the UN Memorial Cemetery, the Busan City Museum and the bay of Haeun-dae, one of the most famous beaches of Korea.
Sat March 22: Major Temples of western Sobaek-san Tour
Despite the dramatic mountain scenery and the distinctive natural features found here, there has been little ‘development’ in this national park, so it is still a relatively unspoiled retreat into nature. We’ll visit the charming Huibang-sa and the gigantic Guin-sa Temples, while enjoying the early-spring scenery.
Sun March 23rd: Juwang-san National Park and Jusan Reservoir Hike — A special treat for movie fans- the Jusan Reservoir is the scenic location for the movie “Spring, Summer Fall Winter and…Spring.” 30 willow trees more than a century old decorate this ancient reservoir, giving it a mysterious vibe. We’ll also tour other parts of this beautiful, fascinating and remote national park just east of Andong City.
Being a Member of the Royal Asiatic Society - Korea has many benefits, including free attendance of interesting lectures, receiving newsletters of activities, discounts on great tours of Korea’s most beautiful and fascinating places led by experts, discounts on books about all Korean subjects in English, and more. Everyone involved with Korean Studies who speaks English would do well to join this 108-year-old scholarly organization.
For more information, call 763-9483 in Seoul during business hours, write to raskb@kornet.net or visit our website http://www.raskb.com/
Related Posts
- RAS Lecture on North Korea’s Current Reality and Early-Spring Tours
- RAS Late-Winter Tours and Lecture on ROK Journalism
- RAS Lecture on the Reality of a Foreigner Practicing Korean Journalism and Early-Spring Tours
- RAS Fall Tours and Lecture on Korean Folk Music
- RAS Lecture on Korea’s Progress Towards Transparency, and some Mid-Winter Tours
3 Comments
Juwangsan is beautiful and the reservoir is picturesque, and it would be a worthwhile nature trip. Anyone who goes, however, should be aware that they will be disappointed if they’re hoping to see that fascinating floating temple from the movie, as it was dismantled after the film was shot.
Thanks for that info. I was there just last July, and indeed there was no floating temple…
Two weeks ago, James Turnbull asked me:
… and i’m sorry that it took me so long to put this question to my fellow RAS-K Council members and round up answers from them. But there is finally in answer i can give to James, and i’ll post it publicly here, in case others are interested or have something to say about it.
Our answer is: no, we have no plan to establish any ongoing activities in Busan, because we have enough going on in Seoul to keep us occupied at this time, and although we have some members down there, they are not yet enough to justify trying to stage an event.
We would welcome, however, increased involvement of the good residents of Busan in the activities we hold, attending lectures or going on tours (for tours in the southern part of the nation, people living down there could easily meet up with the tour bus at a convenient spot near the destination, with some simple advance arrangement). The KTX makes the distance between us much shorter…
We would welcome new tour-leaders from the Busan area to guide a tour or two for us of great places you know well. We would welcome qualified speakers from Busan or anywhere else in the nation to come to Seoul to give a lecture for us; and if there is any reason why the lecture should happen there in Busan (or, say, Gwangju) rather than Seoul, we’d be happy to set that up with assistance from James or anybody.
Are you already a member of the RAS - Korea? That would certainly be the first step towards establishing closer relations and scoping out further southern possibilities. Get your friends in, too — the more members we have down there, the more we’ll lean towards having activities there.
Of course, if you (James) or anyone else wishes to start holding lectures in or running tours from Busan (without using our name), you’re perfectly free to do so — you would just need to find a place, recruit speakers or tour leaders, obtain financing, follow the relevant Korean laws, etc. If it developed into something lasting and with good attendance, then there would probably be some way for us to link-up for mutual benefit…