Gosung, Korea (March 2022)

After I spent a joyful time with my sisters and my mom in Sokcho, I spent a week at Kristin's friend's home in Gosung, about an hour drive from Sokcho. 

I walked on a bridge that crosses over a lake in Sokcho, called Young Rang Lake.

We visited an active folk village where Korean traditional houses are preserved and people are actually living in them.

We stopped over at a cafe right next to a beach and the owner seems to be quite strict about people staying there for too long. Guests were not allowed to use a laptop computer at the cafe. Yikes! But the owner complained about some people who come at 8am and stay there for 12 hours. Yikes!

They showed me around several places and overall Korea has so many cute and beautiful places. 

Also, I walked around several places myself to explore and enjoy the town of Gosung that is split between the north and the south.

I saw several signs of the coming spring season. This tree is 800 years old but still showed the signs of life in the new season coming.

We visited a Unification Observation Tower in Gosung where you can see North Korea. Literally. It is far further north of the 38 degrees in latitude which is often referred to as the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone between two countries.

The beaches and lands in the background of the following photo are North Korea.

Both South Koreans and North Koreans use the same language, called Hangul, but their expressions and usages are quite different. Here are some examples.

Around the Observation Tower was a museum that exhibited stuffs related to the Korean War. The war broke out on June 25 of 1950 so commonly calling it 6.25 in Korea.

One of the interesting places was O-Juk-Heon, meaning a place of black bamboos.

First, the name of the place originated from the fact that it has a lot of black bamboos like these.

But, it is famous because of one mother, Shin-Saimdang, and her son, Yul-Gok Lee. The mother is known for her disciplined education of her son and her son's excellent scholarship in Korea's Confucianism. 

For a private residence, it was a huge complex, but it has been well preserved and kept clean.

 My week-long stay at their home was pleasant. - Jeffrey