Need More Land? Chop Off a Mountain, Haul It To the Sea!

Sat. morning, May15, Dr. Jin Ho Lee, ( a formerKorean student Doug met and worked with years ago at SDSU) and his lovely wife, June, picked us up and whisked us off on yet another whirlwind adventure. This time to their home town of Jeonju and the surrounding area.Our itinerary:
1. The world's largest dike. ( Saemangum Dike -Recently completed and opened)
2. Lunch
3. Jeonju Folk Village (Hanok Village) and shopping
4. Tour of Chonbuk National University, Dr. Lee's labs and Office
5.  Maison Top Temple
6.  Dinner
7.  Home
It is almost impossible to describe how generous and hospitable these people are! The Lee's ( not related to the artist) spent almost 14 years in the United States and are both very adept in their use of the English language. As with Dr.Lee (artisit), it is so inertesting to travel with someone who can explain what we're seeing. Once again, we're going up, down, around and through tunnels throughout the day. Koreans need all the land they can get, so instead of going around a mountain - they just go through it! Miles and miles and miles of tunnels. In other words, if they need to get from one side of the mountain  to the other, blasting through seems to be the method of choice.
Number 1 on our agenda, Saemangum Dike, the largest dike in the world,  - amazing. Despite protests over ecological concerns, sides of mountains were literally cut away and the enormous project went forward. Not everyone here is pleased with their government's decision, but the end product is something to behold. The dike is 34+ km (24 miles) long and it reclaimed an area of 400 sq km (90,000 acres). The project was started in 1991 and completed in 2009.The average height of the dike from the sea floor to the top is 14 stories. The average width at the base is 1000 ft and reaches widths as large as 1800 ft wide. The top od the dyke is wide enough to hold a 4 our lane highway. There are 18 steel gates that allow water to exit in low tides. Each gate consists of 2 steel plates that are each 100 ft long and 50 ft tall. Each steel plate weighs 500 tons. This quite an engineering fete. The total cost of the project is $21 billion. By 2020 there will be resorts, a new harbor, and new farmland.

Satellite view of area in 1990

View in 2002, three years after starting the project.

Nearly done in 2008

Wall completed in 2010.

Water release gates. Both steel doors on each side of the highway are raised to release water to the sea. There are 10 sets of 2 doors in this spillway. Each of the 20 doors is 100 ft by 50 ft and weighs 500 tons.

Fishing nets

Fences, gates, benches, railings - here in Korea, a majority are made from steel.

Practical, durable, easy to take care of, this particular railing on the "dike highway " is one of my favorites. As you drive, the railing itself seems to be rolling like a huge wave. 

"Burlap" screens are placed over "reclaimed" land to prevent erosion and give grass time to grow.

The newly built dike has created a haven for fishing boats.

Hanok Folk Village - item #2. -  We plan to go back and see more if we get the chance. A settlement of traditional Korean buildings filled with traditional crafts, the village itself seemed to be quite large.  Handmade Korean paper crafts, lovely scarves, pottery, textiles - too many things to take in at one time. Jin-Ho and his wife selected various items, filled a shopping bag, and gave it to us as a gift. We protested, but to no avail! We'll never be able to repay them for the wonderful experience they've given us.

Oops! Watch you head! Koreans are considerably taller now than they used to be.

Beautiful chests, gilded, painted, and or inlaid with mother of pearl have been crafted here for centuries.

This is a gilded door that has been surrounded by mirrors creating an optical illusion.

Item # 4 - Chonbuk National University. After the folk village, we toured the university where Jin-Ho teaches  and does his research.. A beautiful campus (voted as one of the ten prettiest in Korea), it's a private university, started and supported by the Presbyterian church. One of the unique features of the campus is a small group of traditional Korean houses, built to help foreign students understand and appreciate Korean culture.

 The four of us in one of Dr. Lee's labs

Number 5 - Mai Tap-sa Temple  Up, down, around and through, we ended up at yet another Buddhist temple high in the mountains between two tall peaks. ( horse's ears they're called ) Built by one monk over a thirty year  period, its unique feature is that it's constructed primarily of rocks and stones. The fact that one man built it adds to its uniqueness. As with most temples built in the mountains of Korea, the setting was breathtaking.

The temple itself sits in between the two peaks (referred to as horses ears) you see in the background.

On the way

As you approach the temple, a gold Buddha sits on a ledge on the side of the mountain.

Note the satellite dish several meters away. (This looks small, but the Buddha was fairly large.) way down

There must have been hundreds of thousands of rocks (or more) that were moved by this one man to build the temple and surrounding prayer rock piles.

 

Look for the indentation top left hand side of this mountain. It's difficult in a photo to capture this, but the side of the wall was a sheer drop and so high it made us dizzy to look up. Check out the next picture. There were two of these "caves" on the side of the wall - each had four or more carved figures sitting in them. The figures themselves are larger than a person. The question - how in the world did he get up there????

These prayer piles were everywhere and seemed to be part of the planned design.

And here he is - he builder himself.

In Korea, you're either going up or down!

Number 6 - Dinner at a restaurant nestled in the mountains ended the day, I don't know how we ever got there, but when we did, dinner was waiting! The photos tell all, but I will mention this. Our rice was served inside chunks of bamboo! Look for it on the table. What a clever idea. (I took all four home)

Number 7 - Vowing never to eat again - home to bed - what a day!