City of Gwangyang from my balcony - Korea

It’s been weird. It’s been great. It was quiet. It was nice. It was sometimes rather lonely. BUT it was quite okay … And now, within days, my last day of teaching is tomorrow, I hit the road proper again (first a 4-day stopover in Tokyo before hitting Central America, starting in Mexico City.)

My experience of Gwangyang was foremost as a teacher of English at two elementary schools – and one group of students and teachers I’ve already said, Good-bye. The final act is on Monday, at my main host school. The experience taught me, much.

How loving and wonderful, funny and crazy and cute, and a few times – quite-maddening,  children can be and as a single man, approaching 43, and with no family or partner or kids it was such a wonderful insight into parenthood and the simple beauty of life, growing, and existence.

Mostly, the children, age 9 – 12, were very into my classes and were always greeting me either in the school grounds or the streets. Calling out “Myyy Call”. I was popular. And it was good to teach the kids and have some fun as I had no other constant social contacts the entire year (small chats with  Korean teachers, shop assistants, massage women, and the odd stranger, aside).

It was a very quiet year. The year I proved to myself I could be a monk, a recluse, or a content loner.

But I did set out to follow …  this path.

I wanted to be mostly alone, to rest from the road and the world, to try and sort out my monster backlog of 20+ years of travel archive – stories, photos, videos, and art all digitally stored, but largely, this blog / website aside, I have failed. Simply, there is too much to do and one year on it part-time  was  insufficient (even if I was a mad, workaholic recluse) .

Essentially, I was in a bubble.

Few emails. No friends. No women – sex with massage women aside, not even any laughter or chat over most of the year. The entire winter months, furthered by the fact that I didn’t see, talk, or even leave the apartment for a crazy 2 weeks over the January school break. I was totally alone; and the few foreigners here I had no connection with. So I drank heavily, worked on my travel / art projects, and later traveled the winter insanity away.

It was a fine time starting in Fall last year when I met and kinda-fell-in-love, via my YouTube site, for she contacted me as a commenter, with a wonderful, intelligent, very beautiful – she sent me pics – and independent-thinking, young Yemeni cyber-woman: Maha, 23, working in Oman, university-educated in Jordan.

Over  the months we spent many hours cyber-chatting about, nearly everything. It was one of the highlights of my year (and we are still good friends). Another high was more great travels around Korea ( Andong, Heinsa, the East Coast – Sinnan, and then Tongyeong and hopping around the amazing southern islands of Yokjido, Yeonhwado, etc ). The other highlight was my happy, energetic students (who often lifted me from dark moods … my post here was amid such a patch … but since then, over 8 months ago, I’ve moved apartments and life has picked up as my sense of purpose and solitude became clear and accepted and it helped having a new apartment with such an awesome view – EG: this post’s city-bay vista photo, taken from my balcony).

Simply, the experience has been weird and wonderful … but not to be repeated too soon as I’m always looking for new experiences as a wanderer, a traveler, a free man, a recluse, sometimes a party animal; someone who’s always seeking the crazy freedoms of the endless road …

So to you, my sunny, tranquil Gwangyang, especially my happy students and nice Korean co-teachers and off course, the kind massage ladies, I say Gamsa Hamnida – Thank you & Good-bye – Annyeong-he kay-say-yo.

[ PS:  In a recent, regional school English-speaking contest of 48 participants, students from my schools were placed 1st & 4th. It was solely their talent, but a nice kick-back for me and the schools. ]

[ PPS: It's now Monday evening - 7:51pm, and I've said Good-bye to everyone at my other school ... I have Soju, in my hand, the view outside is darkening ... Good-bye - Gwangyang ! ]

On the ferry, on route from Busan I snapped a few shots as we approached Guhyun on Geoje Island, passing the Samsung Heavy Industries Ship Building Yards – and together with the Daewoo  shipyard – Geoje Island produces 30% of all the world’s container ships each year.

Later: I sat on rocks in a fenced off harbour break-water, looking out towards the silouettes of ships and cranes, drinking soju, as the sun slipped away …

Legend says a beautiful girl was taken out by boat to a distant rock by her husband-to-be to gather seaweed that day … but a severe storm later closed in making it impossible for the man to return and during the night the young woman was swept off the rock to her death by huge waves.

From that time the fishing catches turned bad for the village and rumor began that it was because of the dead woman’s bitter soul.  And so the villagers decided to carve wooden phallus to console the spirit of the unmarried girl.

Afterwards, good fishing catches returned for the village.

Today, the shrine of Haesindang still overlooks the ocean.

It is one of Asia’s biggest caves. The interior spans between 20-100 meters wide and 20-30 meters high and is 6.2 kilometers in length (but only 1.6 km is open to the public).

It is easily navigated via a series of decent walkways and bridges and surreal lights – giving a weird-Disney-glow to the cave. Amid the caverns are waterfalls and dozens of imaginatively-named formations: palace of dreams;  bat of a goblin; rice terraces; the promise of love; figure of a lady …

Travel Tips: Visit this cave during the week – not on public holidays or weekends –  unless you want an intense circus of domestic tourists. Get there before 3 pm, as the steep walk to the entrance will take at least 40 minutes (and you will also want to get there: before  last entry) and also have an hour inside to wander leisurely.  Take a jacket – it will be 10-14 celicius inside but humid. And lastly, recommended that you drink some Soju – discreetly – as you wander about enjoying  the surrealism.

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