Dear Friends and Family,

So, as previously mentioned, the year’s first sunrise over Busan was magnificent. And the final sun set of 2007 was equally as magnificent just as friends and I were in the midst of repeating my New Year’s celebrations of 2007: a trip to the sea at Busan, an exquisitely fresh fish dinner at the market, the same Buddhist bell reverberating our cores at midnight, and marking a new day with the first sunrise of the New Year. But my friends and I improved upon last year first by venturing upon a ferry to ride alarming white waves along the coast and later by taking our post-sun rise Starbucks on the road southwest to explore some ostensibly beautiful islands. Our coffee was long gone by the time we crossed the bridge to one Geoje Do (pronounced Koh jay + “Do” means island in Korean) and sped through the curves of the coast, at every turn glimpsing the turquoise sea bracketed by hewn cliffs, racing to catch yet another ferry.

We became all smiles of relief as we stepped aboard a rocking passenger ferry. We peered through spotted windows and did our best to shut out the jabbering Korean tour guide over the very loud loudspeakers as the ferry launched itself towards distant outcrops flinging salty spray every which way. An escape from the loudspeakers came when passengers were invited to the deck of the ferry for an unhindered view of the jagged, towering edges of a rock island – for me, reminiscent though as not as exquisite, as any San Juan Island. We admired and snapped pictures as our ferry circled the island before returning to the cabin so that the ferry could pick up speed to an actual destination, a tiny island called Oe, a reputed paradise. I use the word reputed because tourist information in Korea is rife with hyperbole. In fact, typical of the species is an excerpt from the brochure that says,

Oedo Paradise Island, which has been cultivated for almost 30 years since 1963 by couple Lee Changho and Choi Hosook, is the first island ever to be owned and developed by an individual. It has cultural spaces and continues its transformation for the further development of the island culture in the 21^st century. At the Oedo, you can feel the lifelong romantic sentiment of a husband and wife and you will also be amazed to see the island which has turned into an earthly paradise covered with more than thousand of subtropical plants from once an ordinary rocky island.

I was not amazed. The sculptures are obvious imitations and there are likely more species at my admittedly unusual plant nursery in the States. That said, the island was well-planned and well-cultivated and there is a definite attractiveness to it. As we walked along a path framed by sculptured hedges, my Korean friend confided that, “In Korea, we do not have very many good tourist destinations. But this place is beautiful. It makes me proud to be Korean.” Raising my eyes past the nodding flowers and palm trees to the distant glare of a spangled sea, I murmured my assent. It was indeed beautiful.

After the ferry had returned us to the shore of Geoje Do, we forwent viewing additional scenic beauty in order to establish a better understanding of history at the “Historic Park of Geoje POW Camp.” Apparently back in the Korean War days, Geoje Do had a magic combination of remoteness plus good drinking water so the United Nations set-up a gigantic prison camp amongst its hills in 1951. The camp eventually harbored some 150,000 North Korean soldiers, some 20,000 Chinese soldiers, and about 300 North Korean women that together composed a total population near 173,000 prisoners of war. Stories from that P.O.W. camp must be fascinating.

From what we read, the camp was established and run on then-new-fangled 1949 Geneva Convention standards that mandated training prisoners in vocations and insisted upon quality prisoner diets (better quality than Republic of Korea soldiers, as was emphasized by the museum ad nauseam). But shutting hundreds of thousands of soldiers with opposing ideological view points, little hope, and little to occupy themselves into a tight space in less than ideal conditions can only come out badly and the camp was soon the scene of many bloody, often fatal, confrontations between Pro-Communist and Anti-Communist soldier factions within the camp. One modern account that I found of the camp said that “[t]he gang-like atmosphere in the prison bore a striking similarity to America’s prisons today in how prisoners segregate themselves into gangs based on ethnicity.” Uhh. Not good. And things went from really not good to beyond worse in May of 1952 when one North Korean faction managed to kidnap American Army Camp Commander Francis Dodd and held him hostage for three days while screaming to the world media that the Americans were torturing them although most accounts say that overcrowding and riots were the worst problems of the camp. The incident ruined Dodd’s reputation and career, although he was lucky to escape with his life. The camp was closed after the 1953 and let to ruin. Only in the last few years did the Koreans designate the camp remains a cultural asset, collect together artifacts and assemble an open air museum to teach the history of the camp and the war.

Obviously, the museum did its job on me. While walking about and taking in the displays, I could’ve been repelled by the kitschy dummy re-enactments and frankly, I was repelled by the museum’s apparent fascination with graphic displays about how prisoners did not have toilets available (need I say more?). However, between crinkles at yet another P.O.W. squatting over a bucket, I became fascinated with what I could glean of the history of the camp. Although likely related to my recent first read of Lord of the Flies, I began to imagine that the history of the camp would make an excellent backdrop for a historical novel and come to find out, a Chinese-American author that I can recommend by the name of Ha Jin has written a novel titled War Trash which wades into the midst of the camp’s history. You can bet that’ll be on my Amazon list!

Anyway, as the sun began to set, albeit less spectrally than the day before, we departed from the museum. We left the beautiful islands behind and set course for a nearby city bus terminal, where my friends would leave me and my backpack to explore while they drove home to necessary jobs and comfortable beds.

I caught a bus to the city of Jinju. I easily located a motel for the night. I awoke alongside a serene river, lightly swathed in mist. It is a truly delightful feeling to wake a bit after sunrise, in a brand new place, in a brand new year, with so many sights in my future.

새해 복 많이 받으세요- Happy New Year!

Laura