Okay, it's time for a boring and repetitive blog entry about the bonsai garden we visited on Jejudo. Because it was fun. If you ever go there, you should definitely check it out. It's a huge park-like open area which takes more than an hour to walk through. Guests follow the pathway all the way to the end; you can't really wander around.
At the start of the pathway, the owner and founder of the garden posted various tips about looking at bonsai (or bunjae, in Korean) trees. For example, you're supposed to look from the roots up (NOT from the top down), you're not supposed to make quick judgements, and you should basically refrain from saying anything because it'll probably be disrespectful and stupid. He didn't actually write that last part, but that's how I felt after reading his guidelines. So we entered the garden feeling like we were in a sacred library (which we were, in a way). We actually started kneeling under the trees so that we could see their roots, and speaking in hushed tones, though we couldn't keep that up for very long.
It's nice to travel at an age when you're no longer concerned about appearing cool or nonchalant about anything. Of the many ways in which we embarrassed ourselves during the Korea trip, tadpole watching is a very minor example, but I still thought it was sweet. Also, it's a real mystery: how did all these tadpoles end up in the holes in the rocks around the garden? The pools of water in these holes are VERY small. There are going to be a lot of frogs in the Bunjae Artpia before long. Here we are, watching the tadpoles with the utmost attention and curiosity.
All along the way, the owner had posted various nuggets of wisdom regarding the trees and life in general. Later, we also learned that the creation of the garden had been really difficult, probably in part because the trees are super expensive and hard to cultivate. The owner's wife even posted her own statement about her desperation to get away from the garden in its early days.
These difficulties were metaphorically explained through descriptions of the trees. Many of them have grown around various metal supports that have to be implanted so that they can grow properly.
Anyway, now the garden is a super fancy place where lots of international delegations hold their meetings. Someone had recommended the garden to Jean and me during mid-May, saying that it had been her favorite part of Jejudo, and it ended up being one of our highlights too. (For the girls, at least.)
We were very disturbed by the carp, though.
You could buy little feeding packets for them and once you started dropping the food into the water, they went absolutely crazy. Audibly crazy, which was scary. This closer-up photo is to show what their mouths looked like.
So, for good reason, we were scared to cross the footbridge at the end of the visit.
The next blog entry will have a different subject, I promise.
3 comments:
this is like when in karate kid 3 daniel-san opened a bonsai shop and then terry silver destroys all the bonsais but then theres one real one left but terry silver breaks that one too.
as for the carp, i have no comment. you gambled with your life (and your camera) when you crossed that bridge.
Loved these pictures! I remember that Talya's aunt gave her a teeny bonsai tree when she turned sixteen and told her it would last a very long time and grow very slowly. Am I imagining this? I thought your account of the visit read like another children's book, too. And the part about kneeling was really special.
"It's nice to travel at an age when you're no longer concerned about appearing cool or nonchalant about anything." -- What are you trying to say about our behavior?? Haha.
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