Exploring in Korea

My sister, artist Megan Jones , ( www.meganjones.com.au) recently took some of her paintings to the Korean International Art Fair, and after it was finished spent a couple of weeks exploring Korea. Here’s a selection from her account

“I went to the demilitarized zone, controlled by UN, South and North Korean forces, and US forces. It shows that the two Koreas have never signed a peace treaty, and are still prepared for war. To visit the Joint Security Area you have to be in a military bus, with U.N. soldier escort, and with military jeep preceding. North and South Korean soldiers face each other across the border, and photography is strictly controlled.

Following this I went down south to Jeju island, which is a self governing autonomous province off the south coast. It is a volcanic island, dominated by Mt Halla ( an extinct volcano) in the centre. Mt Halla is the highest mountain in South Korea, at 1950 metres above sea level. I climbed it- a 10 kilometre walk steadily upwards from where I got off the bus- and then down again ( a rise of about 1400 metres). It was extremely pleasant making my way upwards through forest in the mist, and then arriving near the top and finding that the mist cleared so that you could look out across to the sea.
From Jeju island I flew to Busan, and then caught a bus to Gyeongju, the previous capital of the unified Silla kindom, and home to many beautiful artefacts and mementos of the kingdom which held sway there for several hundred years. At Hae In Sa temple I saw the Tripitaka Koreana, the most complete set of Bhuddist scriptures printed in the ancient Asian world, and still preserved perfectly in a huge library of carved wooden blocks after almost 1,000 years.

After Gyongju I went to the Andong/Ha Hoe village mask festival ... Then I stayed in Jirye Artists Colony, sleeping in 300 year old traditional Confucian house in a small compound up in the forested hills beside a lake. It was so beautifully quiet and peaceful that I lay in bed on my futon on a heated floor and listened to the sound of individual raindrops falling. I came back to Andong with a Thai film crew.”

Photo shows mist on way up to Mt Halla. (When I work out how, I'll add a slide show of Megan's photos!)