https://grrrltraveler.com A Female Solo Travel Blog | It's not a vacation until you survive it! Sun, 05 Jul 2020 00:07:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://grrrltraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/favicon.gif https://grrrltraveler.com 32 32 https://grrrltraveler.com/hwacheon-trout-fishing-festival-korea/ https://grrrltraveler.com/hwacheon-trout-fishing-festival-korea/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:41:50 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=16420 When Korea wants to throw a winter festival, it goes all out! Take the Hwacheon Winter Trout Festival in January. Initially, I thought the festival was purely about the spectacle of fishing for sancheoneo (or wild trout) through a hole in the ice or even fishing by hand: it was an event I'd only related with Eskimos and igloos. But when I got there, what I got was a surprising peek into how Koreans enjoy good old-fashioned winter fun.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/hwacheon-trout-fishing-festival-korea/feed/ 9 https://grrrltraveler.com/musangsa-templestay-daejeon-day-2/ https://grrrltraveler.com/musangsa-templestay-daejeon-day-2/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:43:06 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=7357 Musangsa Temple, Day #2, South Korea. It's 3:10A, the wooden moktak is struck and it's barely audible. Fortunately, someone had set their alarm. Monks must be light sleepers. We get dressed and go to the meditation room. My eyes emerge from their crusted vision and recognize the cushion situated a few centimeters before my feet. The room is toasty and tinged with a faint incense. A two foot tall golden Buddha sitting in lotus position in the center of the room, mediates the sexes- men on one side, women on the other. The monks file in. Our teacher, the foreboding but jolly Lithuanian stood across them, keeping a guiding eye on us. The wooden moktak is struck again. Some sticks are clacked and in unison, we begin. 108 prostrations in silence.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/musangsa-templestay-daejeon-day-2/feed/ 4 https://grrrltraveler.com/musangsa-temple-daejeon/ https://grrrltraveler.com/musangsa-temple-daejeon/#comments Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:20:09 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=7965 Day #1 at Templestay, Korea. The mind must be a clean slate, an empty cup. Blank mind, empty cup. Yes, I could feel it...the Zen was sinking into me. Listen to the sound of your breath. I could hear it alright- deep, tranquil, low... Lose attachment to all sound and body. Definitely losing it. Walls were losing focus, limbs had gone beyond numb. Outside, the birds, wind, trees, the sound of my neighbors' fidgeting,... it all passed through my ears, falling right through me.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/musangsa-temple-daejeon/feed/ 2 https://grrrltraveler.com/forest-walking-meditation-muju/ https://grrrltraveler.com/forest-walking-meditation-muju/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:16:12 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=7654 What do you experience when you walk through the woods and must rely on the person in front of you and the vision presented before you in a tiny mirror, pointed up to the sky? What happens when you close your eyes and allow yourself to be guided by nature's sounds? The program on the Ayuveda Yoga Camp menu said Forest Walking Meditation. A walk through some woods in Muju, while observing nature in silence is all I could think of....]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/forest-walking-meditation-muju/feed/ 10 https://grrrltraveler.com/ayurveda-yoga-camp-muju-guru-opening-minds/ https://grrrltraveler.com/ayurveda-yoga-camp-muju-guru-opening-minds/#comments Fri, 26 Nov 2010 22:25:05 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=7652 Sometimes, finding your guru can feel like a curse. Gurus are dangerous. The inevitable is bound to happen. The moment you develop a passionate preference for something-- a gym, a dance or step aerobics class, a psychologist, a personal trainer...-- it becomes a "guru", making it hard to find room in your heart to follow another... Ayurveda Yoga Camp in Muju.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/ayurveda-yoga-camp-muju-guru-opening-minds/feed/ 3 https://grrrltraveler.com/andong-maskdance-fest/ https://grrrltraveler.com/andong-maskdance-fest/#comments Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:19:13 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=7044 My October kicked off with the Annual Andong Maskdance Festival and friends, Gina & Joel of A Year in Daegu (you can read their review here). Now festivals in Korea can come in all shapes and sizes and yet, they can often get into the habit of feeling eerily the same. Inflated tents sell the standard Korean festival fare in foods and vendor knick-knacks; some are reserved for carnival games or an arts and crafts section for kids. This festival, being one of Korea's better-known festivals, launched our hopes higher.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/andong-maskdance-fest/feed/ 12 https://grrrltraveler.com/suncheon-bay/ https://grrrltraveler.com/suncheon-bay/#comments Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:33:38 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=5962 I saw a framed photo of Suncheon Bay while on my love motel tour and as far as I was concerned it was fascination at first sight! Visiting the bay the next day was my itinerary! Of course the following day, we spent half our time confused by bus routes and directions; hence ensuring it was the "only" thing on our itinerary.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/suncheon-bay/feed/ 4 https://grrrltraveler.com/pohang/ https://grrrltraveler.com/pohang/#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:12:44 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=5495 Being an expat in Korea, I experience many situations where important facts are inevitably, lost in translation. Whether it's a co-teacher not wanting to explain something thoroughly, decoding content labels on a bottle or trying to converse with other Koreans, the gap of misinterpretation can be well... wide.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/pohang/feed/ 2 https://grrrltraveler.com/cheongdo-bullfighting/ https://grrrltraveler.com/cheongdo-bullfighting/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:11:03 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=3890 This is a late post but here it goes... Every March, the small village of Cheongdo (30 min from Daegu) awakens to host the Annual Cheongdo Bull Fighting Festival. No, this is not like a Spanish bullfight with a matador and lots bloodsport. This is bull vs. bull (and seldom will one die in the ring).]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/cheongdo-bullfighting/feed/ 1 https://grrrltraveler.com/celebrate-buddhas-day-at-bongeunsa-temple-seoul/ https://grrrltraveler.com/celebrate-buddhas-day-at-bongeunsa-temple-seoul/#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 01:13:57 +0000 http://grrrltraveler.com/?p=3888 For the month of March, Buddha's Birthday was being celebrated all across Asia in countries such as Nepal, India, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, etc... For some countries this is a month long celebration; for others it's less. In Korea, the auspicious day landed on a Friday (May 27) which meant three-day weekend for most of us. Preparations at Buddhist temples usually begin anywhere from a week or few in advance with paper lantern decorations [More...] and displays. Making a pilgrimmage out to a Buddhist temple is where you want to be if you want to see colorfully lit lanterns and special events performances.]]> https://grrrltraveler.com/celebrate-buddhas-day-at-bongeunsa-temple-seoul/feed/ 3