After lunch with the Kims, Doug and I boarded an express bus along with three CNU students, traveled up and down the mountains, switched busses, and finally landed at an enormous ski resort northeast of Daejeon near the town of Hongcheongun.(I'm going on record here to say that someone in SKorea has lots of money!) Beautiful facility. While there, Doug presented a paper and was one of the key note speakers for their National Soil Science Conference. I was a "good Korean wife", listened to Doug and then, togehter we listened to Korean speakers for the rest of the morning. (The words I so often spoke to my students when I suspected an upcoming presentation may be boring came back to haunt me..."If you get bored, daydream!") After lunch, we walked around the facility and then rode a gondola to the top of the mountain where we could survey the complex. A number of huge high-rises to accomodate skiers, hikers or golfers - 3 golf courses all built along the side of a mountain (see if you can figure out how that works) - an enormous waterpark, stores, restaurants, playgrounds, coffee shops, etc. dotted the landscape. We spent our time enjoying the scenery and watching native craftsmen ply their trade. Thursday night's banquet was, as all Korean meals served for guests, over the top with an endless variety of dishes and good food. For those who aren't crazy about kimchi, there were lots of other choices! Friday noon we jumped on a bus heading back to Daejeon - relaxed and refreshed. We've said this before, but being here is an amazing adventure.You're never quite prepared for what you encounter.
And so, for those of you still in the throws of winter, I leave you with this thought; the sun is out, everything is greening, and the temperature here has hovered between 75 and 80.
The lobby. Note - NOT ONE CHAIR!
The complex....but wait, there's more! More buildings were being built.
Handmade crafsmen were at work in one of the buildings on top of the mountain. This man made bamboo screens. The picture doesn't convey the beauty of these screens, but we thought about buying one - price - $1000.00!!!!! On second thought....
As far as we could tell, you golfed your way down the mountain. At this point, (early May) it was dry (as you can see), but I'm guessing things have greened up now that we've had a fair amount of rain. In fact, now that I look at the picture, it looks like a desert, but really, it was just dry grass.
OOPS! Here comes your cart. It travels up the mountain and waits for you at each hole!!
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