Onto the conclusion of the Naju tour!
As I mentioned before, the last song we were priveliged to hear in the tea room was of the musician playing the drums while a girl from our tour sang a part of an ancient folksong, which was most likely planned. Watch this short video and let me know what you think.
I thought it was amazing. The folksong is kind of similar to The Oddessy in length, and it is a love story. A boy falls in love with a girl and they enjoy their teenage years together until he must go off to and serve the required two years in the military. They vow their love to each other before he leaves, and promise to marry when he returns. While away, a prince meets the girl and falls in love with her and wants to marry her. She doesn't want to marry him, because she is waiting for her true love to return, so the prince banishes her to jail. Meanwhile, the boy in the military is rising in power and he eventually becomes a prince. He returns to the village disguised as a regular man just in time to see the wedding ceremony start between his love and the prince (whom everyone hates). Just in time, he reveals himself as the prince that he has become, takes his love away from the marriage to the hateful man, and they become the new royal king and queen. Something like that.
I also learned that the musician is a man of intellectual knowledge, and that is his trade. He does not make anything, he does not work anywhere. His 'work' is the intellectual property of all the ancient types of music that he knows. And that's what he does. It is very similar to the intellectual property that the USA has protected under copyright. Only that is his 'job.' Very interesting.
Upon leaving the tea room, we boarded the bus and headed over to the spot where an ancient king met his wife. He was thirsty, so he went to a well to get some water. When he arrived at the well, a woman put three leaves in the cup of water so he wouldn't drink it too fast and get a headache. He admired her intellect in this so much that he fell deeply in love with her and made her his queen.
This is the spot where they met:
At the same location, we also saw an excavated portion of the ancient street. Upon construction of the current road, the construction workers came across the ancient street below where they were working, and saved a part of it so future generations could see it. You can see the ridges left in the road from the ancient carriage traffic. It's really quite interesting that it has been preserved so well for such a long time, out in the open.
After spending some time in that park, we boarded the bus again and drove over to see some ancient burial tombs. These tombs are domed mounds and hold either one person or entire families. The way you can tell how many people were buried there is by the shape. One single dome, not matter how large, was the resting place for only one person. However, the larger flat 'domes' held multiple people. Each tomb started out with just one person in it, but as the family plot grew, more domed tombs were placed beside the family member, creating long, flat burial tombs.
Viewing the ancient burial tombs took us half way to the soybean farm that was our last stop of the day. It was interesting, but after having walked about 6 miles, and then needing to walk another mile or so uphill in 30 mph wind, I had about had it.
The soybean farm had the clay pots we had seen at almost every other location, except the clay pots there actually had food in them. The farm made almost every product known to man using soybeans, and it was reminiscent of the shrimp scene in Forest Gump. Soybean paste, soybean candies (like at the tea room), soybean salt, soybean stuff that was orange, soybean stuff that was brown, and of course, soy sauce, which is a byproduct of making anything from soybeans. Soy sauce is basically the juice that drips out of the bottom of the clay pot when making a soy bean product.
Which is why I was a little surprised that when we were invited into the clay dome house they had on the farm, we were offered fermented orange juice instead of a soybean product. It was, however, very delicious and very fresh, with just a hint of alcohol. (This leads me to believe they squeezed some fresh oranges and added some soju. But still, it was tasty.)
After we left the soybean farm and walked another mile down to the bus, we rode back to Gwangju and the GIC. Brandi, Yong Suk and I walked downtown and had dinner at The Lemon Table, which is a Korean 'foreigner' restaurant. We had very delicious, juicy hamburgers, fries with ketchup, and hot tea. It was great. And then, right as we were leaving, it started to rain. Somehow, the forecasted rain avoided us on the tour all day. I think that was awesome.
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