Quick re-write of the write up:
Day 1: Our hosts treated us to a nice dinner of shabu shabu which is a Korean/Japanese mix dinner of vegetables and thinly sliced beef. Being that it was late we didn't do much else but check into the hotel for the evening. The USTC along with the Korean Ministry of Culture as put us up at the Imperial Palace which is a great hotel.
Day 2: The 2nd day over we visited the Imperial Palace in Seoul City which was the palace where the last decendants of the royal family stayed. After the assisination of the Queen by the Japanese no other royal family occupied the palace. The layout is huge and very intricate. Being a Korean history geek I enjoyed the information that the guide gave us on how things were done back then. After we departed from there we headed to the Korean historical museum and went through different eras of Korean history. Due to the time constraints we were unable to see all of it, but the parts that we did see described very monumental parts of Korean history such has the invention of hangul the first printing press.
We were then treated to a wonderful lunch of chicken and ginseng dish, which for the life of me I can not remember the name of. Following lunch it was a free for all for some shopping and then dinner. Again another lovely evening. Right now I am off to a dinner with the Governor of Gyung-ju. I will hopefully have some time to chat about the Temple Stay and Kukkiwon.
Day 3-5: Well I did, unfortunately fall sick on the day that we were scheduled to go to Kukkiwon and was unable to attend the festivities. However, the group had two great demos performed for them by the KKW Demo team and a the Korean University team as well. They were then given the opportunity to meet with the acting president of the KKW and actually visit the President's office. All party members received a diploma commemorating their participation in this trip as well as a KKW watch. Afterward they were let loose to go shopping visit the museum and treated to a dinner hosted by the KKW.
The next day we were off to Sorak Mountain to visit the Buddhist temples and stay overnight at one of the temples. There probably isn't a more serene and beautiful setting that I have ever encountered than being in the temples in the mountains. We were treated to a traditional Buddhist dinner and slept in the temple rooms where we woke up to participate in morning prayer rituals at 3:00am. We then relaxed and watched the sunrise. It is amazing how much peace you can find in one setting. Well they are about to kick us out of this hotel so we can move on to the next venue of Muju. The next posting I will try to get into our events in Gyeong-ju.
Day 6-7: So let me quickly update you with what went on in Gyueong-ju. Since we arrived in Gyueong-ju a day early that scheduled, due to bad waters to reach the Tokdo islands, we were alloted some free time. Of course some of us being the serious TKD practitioners that we were we natually found a place that rented ATV's and spent our free time riding around the city in ATV's exploring. It was a great time.
Gyueong-ju is rich in Korean history as it is considered the birth place of the Shilla kingdom. After our ATV excursion we were back on the bus exploring some of its history by visiting the tombs of the kings as well as the carved buddha. After the trip we returned back to the hotel where we treated to a lovely dinner hosted by the Govnenor of Gyueong-ju, which was a great ending to a very wonderful day. Next posting Muju...stay tuned.
Day 8-10: So anyway our stay in Muju, though brief, was very productive in my opinoin. First and foremost we did a nice little lift ride followed by a nice hike up to the top of a nice mountain approximately 1614M. The breeze blowing a nice chill through us all we had a fun walk and pics. GM Vo schooled us young punks by doing perfect splits on the mountain. You can see it in the pictures that I took (
http://www.flickr.com/photos/korean-tkd/).
We made our way back down to the lift and waited for everyone to get back from the hike. While we waited we were treated to some great form exhibitions by several members of the group. President Lee also reminded us to keep our flexibility by getting in to some very impressive splits himself (I'll have that picture up in next day or so). After our mountain climb we were treated to a visit to a Confucias school where we educated in quick calligraphy course and a couple of the members were dressed up in traditional wedding clothing.
We couldn't stay that long as we had an appointment with the Mayor of Muju aka the Taekwondo Mayor. We were treated to an audience with him as he explained his plans on opening up the Taekwondo Park. He then escorted us to a speical demonstration by the middle school & high school demo team. This was one of the most impressive and fun TKD demos I have seen in a long time. They impressed us all with not only their TKD skills, but their choreography skills. President Lee addressed them after their demo asking them to continue their training to keep TKD alive and reminded them that they are the future of TKD.
Once the demo was done we were off to visit the location of the upcoming TKD Park. We were given the inside scoop on how this park was going to be put together and personally, though I believe their heart and concept was in the right place, I don't believe the execution of it will be the best. We can only hope that they look hard into their idea. The TKD Park can be a great way to help unite TKD all over the world.
During the evening we were honored by a lovely dinner with the Mayor and his cabinet at the resort which we stayed in. It was a nice way to end our time there. The next day we were off to Jeonju. This was especially special to me as this is where all my in-laws live. This was also where I ended my journey with the group. Thanks to President Lee I was able to spend my final time in Korea with my family there. So there you have it. Our trip in a nut shell. I working on the article for TKDTimes now. I hope you enjoyed the short version. Be sure to check out the pics when you get a chance.
