Month: November 2021

He never give up

by Foong Pek Yee
13 Dec, 2021
HIS garden is a sight to behold.
It is a symbol of love and hope.
At 82, Phang See Kong has been planting perilla plants at the backyard of Gopeng Museum since a few months ago.
“Are they (leaves) pretty?  They come in 10 different colours and shades,” says Phang who tends  to his plants daily.
He has a few hundred pots of the plants,  and he hopes to sell them to raise funds to maintain the  museum.
Labour of love:  The Perilla Garden  at the backyard of Gopeng Museum
The museum which offers free admission  has been shut down due to the pandemic.
It is set to re-open in January 2022
Phang who is the museum’s curator  has been at wits end to raise funds to maintain the museum he co-founded in 2009 with three others  –  Bernard Yaw, Wong Kuan Cheong and Tan Yoke Chun.
Wong had passed away while Yaw has migrated a few years ago.
Only Tan and Phang continue to stay in Gopeng, about 18km from Ipoh city centre.
Phang was a teacher and headmaster in Gopeng where he spent his entire working life.
He went on to serve in Gopeng as special assistant to then Gopeng Member of Parliament and Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh between 1991 and 2008.
Phang is also a writer.
 His book   ” A Meander down Memory Lane (1850-2000) ”  documenting Chinese pioneers in Gopeng – a famous tin mining area until the collapse of the world tin market in the 1980s- was published in 2016.
A pot of the perilla plant is priced between RM18 and RM12.
Phang can be contacted at 016-5421287.

Of war and love

By Foong Pek Yee
13 Dec, 2021
LOVE  brought them together,  war tore them apart.
A beautiful love story  cut short by the Korean War.
Lee Jung-Seop, born to a wealthy family in North Korea, and Yamamoto Masako met and fell in love when they were studying art in Tokyo in 1939.
They got married in 1945, the year World War II ended, and she took up the Korean name  Lee Nam-Deok.
The couple were blessed with two sons when the Korean War (1950-53) erupted.
Together with  their sons Tae-Hyun and Tae-Seung who were four and two respectively, they survived the 1951 mass exodus from North Korea to  South Korea where they stayed in Busan and Jeju for a year.
In a bid to save their children from hardship in a war torn country, Nam-Deok and her sons boarded a Tokyo-bound repatriation ship in 1952.
The separation was meant to be a temporary one.
The following year, Jung -Seop managed to make it to Tokyo for a weeklong reunion with his wife and sons.
Upon his return to South Korea, Jung -Seop who struggled to make money to bring his family home succumbed to hardship and poor health.
He died alone in a hospital in Seoul in 1956 at the age of 40.
Fast track to 2002, the South Korean government set up the Lee Jung-Seop Art Gallery in Seogwipo in Jeju and the road leading to the museum is named after the renowned artist.
 Legacy: Visitors learned about Lee Jung -Seop  as they stroll along the street named after him.
Jung-Seop’s life and times, written in English,  is displayed prominently at the gallery
I wished I had read about the Lee family before I visited the museum in the Summer of 2018 to better appreciate his art work which says a lot about love for his family and life in a turbulent era.
Happier times:  The two paintings by Lee Jung -Seop.
Next to the gallery is a small house where the Lee family stayed in a rented room measuring 1.5m by 2.4m for about a year in 1951.
Evolving times: The Lee family stayed briefly  in this house about 70 years ago.
According to The Korean Herald in a report on Jun 6, 2016 – It was in Seogwipo  that Jung -Seop created paintings that portrayed children playing with crabs and fish, in cheerful colours, and that his wife later recalled that it was the happiest time for the family.

A cafe for the kids

By Foong Pek Yee
13 Dec, 2021
THE  kids were visibly excited as they made their way to the bookshelves one  Autumn afternoon.
Todak Cafe – a book cafe- in Namwon, a small town in Jirisan,  is no ordinary cafe.
The brainchild of a few people who fell in love with Jirisan, it is a favourite haunt for people of all age groups in the otherwise quiet small town.
The young love  to read their favourite books and enjoy the food there.
It is also a waiting place for their parents to fetch them.
The cafe is also a  venue for meetings, activities and, a collection and drop off point for courier services.
The founders including Kim Hyun-Suk are from Seoul but have lived in Namwon for some time.
And they brought along ideas to help the people evolve  with changing times.
Visionary: Hyun – Suk  on her plans for Namwon
 Hyun-Suk says Jirisan, with the most beautiful mountains in South Korea,  is the perfect place to be with nature
“San means mountains in Korean,” says Hyun-Suk when we met at the cafe in the Autumn of 2018.
Calming : Jirisan offers a slow-paced lifestyle amidst nature.
Fluent in English, she and her two kids  left Seoul for the countryside many years ago.
She and her husband Cho Yang- Ho had wanted them to grow up among nature and have social contact with the community daily – something that can be rare in big cities.
 Hyun-Suk and their children stay in Namwon while Yang-Ho who stays put  in Seoul visits them on weekends.
Fast track to 2018, their  20-year -old-daughter and 17-year-old son were already in college and high school in Seoul.
But Hyun-Suk continues to stay in Namwon and run the cafe while Yang-Ho travels to be with her for the weekends.
Farming remains the major economic activity in Jirisan though businesses like   homestay and tourism are  thriving -thanks to the social media.
 Fresh produce: Harvest time in Autumn.
Hyun-Suk says many city folk who relocated to Jirisan soon found out that not everyone is cut out for agriculture work.
After giving farming a try, they ventured into other jobs.
Meanwhile many youngsters  from the countryside still flock to  Seoul for its  business and job opportunities.
Ha Jin- Yong who has been tasked by a non governmental organisation (NGO) to research on life among the younger generation in rural areas says the young still want to go to Seoul.
Serene: Mountains, stream and greenery a trademark of Jirisan.
At 25 (in 2018), Jin Yong who hails from Seoul says he fell in love with the rustic lifestyle after staying and working in Namwon for four years.
“City living can be lonely beneath all the hustle and bustle,” says Jin Yong

A street dedicated to coffee lovers

By Foong Pek Yee
13 Dec, 2021
Jeonpo Cafe Street in Busan, South Korea has 40 cafes and still counting.
It is the place for coffee lovers; from good coffee, ambience and  service to an interesting history behind it.
Stumbled upon the place during my trip to Busan in the Summer of 2019,  I went there a few days  to try out the cafes and has plans to go there again.
After all, my favourite pastime is sitting at a cafe reading or watching the world go by.
I learned  that South Koreans are particular over the  ambience of a cafe, and this is not without reason.
To begin with, coffee was the drink for only the royalty until 1930.
In 1896, Korea’s King Kojong was introduced to coffee in Russia  where he took refuge from invading Japanese.
He fell in love with hot coffee with sugar and brought home his favourite beverage.
From then until 1930,  sipping hot coffee, eating sweet snacks and listening to classical music was only for the royalty.
Coffee beans were available in the market from 1930 but only the rich had access to it.
By 1950, coffeeshops or  Da-Bang started to crop up in town areas.
In 1970, a  company, Dong – Suh, started manufacturing powdered coffee in South Korea, making coffee easily available to the people .
The history of coffee in Korea is proudly displayed at the entrance to Busan Coffee Museum (BCM)  in Jeonpo Cafe Street.
Kim Dong-Kyu – the founder and owner of BCM- has an extraordinary love for anything coffee.
Focus: Dong-Kyu aims to make Busan Coffee Museum the largest of its kind in the world.
Allergic to coffee beans and never tasted coffee before, Dong-Kyu went on to marry Woo Hee Nae, a licenced master Barista.
BCM was set up in 2018 and Dong-Kyu in his early 30s, says he has researched on coffee for a decade by then.
His collection of some 450 exhibits;  from roasters, grinders, coffee makers, coffee beans and literature from all over the world, some dated back a few centuries, makes BCM a one-stop-centre for coffee lovers.
Fascinated : Visitors to Busan Coffee Museum.
Priced collection: An old fashioned coffee grinder.
Your favourite pick :  Coffee beans from around the world.
The Korean Economic Institute of America was reported saying some  two billions cups of coffee are consumed daily worldwide.
Koreans reportedly drink an average of 12.3 cups coffee a week in 2019.
Dong-Kyu –  a professionally trained curator  and landscape engineer-  has plans to turn BCM into the largest of its kind in the world.
He  has another coffee museum in his house in Yangsan, a 30-minute-drive from Jeonpo.
Attention : You can find anything coffee.
Jeonpo cafe Street is certainly an ideal location for BCM.
Jeonpo rose to be among the trendiest spots in Busan in just a decade, with some 40 cafes among its 170 outlets which are mostly eateries and accessory shops.
Prior to that, Jeonpo was like any backstreet with sunset businesses like hardware stores .
Young people moved in to transform the area – renovated the empty stores into chic cafes and eateries, and the rest is history.

Jeju: Bikers’ paradise

By Foong Pek Yee
14 Dec, 2021
The weather in Jeju in Summer can be hot but it is a good time for outdoor activities.
In Seogwipo, east of Jeju, a row of red bicycles outside a cafe caught my attention.
For 10,000 won (RM36), you can have a bicycle for the whole day to explore the area.
According to the bicycle shop owner Lim Sung- Hoo, local and foreign tourists usually rent the bicycle to cycle in Udo Island and the ferry terminal is nearby his shop.
He says it is a small island and it takes two hours to cycle round it.
It was evening and he advised us to return the next day, preferably in the  morning, if we want to visit  Udo Island.
Meanwhile, he recommended that we explore the nearby area as the sunset scenery is beautiful and not to be missed.
Picture perfect: sunset by a lake in Seogwipo.
At 51, Sung-Hoo, and his wife Jang Jung Hyun relocated from Seoul to Seogwipo about eight years ago.
They run a  cafe – Papaya Cafe – which is next to their bicycle shop.
Cosy : Jung Hyun gives a personal touch to their cafe.
The couple who love a  leisurely lifestyle certainly saw the business potential in Jeju.
Sung-Hoo says exploring Seogwipo on bike is increasingly popular among local and foreign tourists, citing rising health and environmental awareness as among the reasons.
Jeju is indeed place to relax and tune out.
Calming:  As the day fades into sunset in Seogwipo.
A Korean told me that we should make at least four trips to Jeju;   each trip to one part of the island  –  north, south, east and west- to take in the  beauty of each part.
Dubbed “Hawaii of South Korea”,  the beauty of  Jeju is also defined by the different seasons.
Seoul and Jeju are the top two destinations for  international tourists to South Korea.
Authentic taste: seafood is plenty in Jeju.
Business minded: A typical scene of a market in Jeju.
Reflection : Symbol of  Jeju women in the past.
Women in Jeju is seen to be an enterprising lot,  and they  appear to out number men as small traders in the market or  small eateries.
Some Koreans say that women in Jeju had somehow learned to be independent  in the olden days.
Many were widowed at a young age.
The men were mostly fishermen and many perished in the rough seas.
In the olden days,  women were seen waiting by the shore for their husband to return.
Fast track to modern days, statues of women of a bygone era is one of the tourist attraction in Jeju.
The present day women may no longer have to face the wrath of rough seas but they continued to be a  strong figure in the family and community.

From Seoul to Jirisan with love

By Foong Pek Yee

13 Dec, 2021

THE Kim family left Seoul for the mountains for good.

It is do- or- die for Kim Geong-Sik, 40, his wife Ryu Sun- Young, 36 and sons Kim Do-Yun and Kim Do- Yeon aged 11 and seven respectively.

“My husband  cannot  take the stress  in Seoul anymore ,” shares Sun-Young  of how stress- a silent killer- forces her family t0 leave the city for good.

They  escape from’ kwarosa’ which in Korean means  stress and death from overwork.

They left for Namwon in Jirisan – about four-hour-drive from Seoul. Jirisan means  Jiri Mountains (san is mountain in Korean) .

Upon arrival, they stay in Sil Sang Temple at the entrance to a farming village.

And that marks the beginning of their two months of orientation – to adapt to rural living and life as a farmer.

That was in 2006.

The Kim family is among thousands of South Koreans who left big cities like Seoul and Busan for the countryside since the late 1990s.

A non-governmental organisation (NGO) staff, Sin Bi, says the exodus started shortly after the 1997 Asian Financial crisis.

Many from the cities who lost their business or jobs in the crisis have left for  the countryside to start all over again.

The trend is called  “Return to the Farm”, says Sin Bi who is in Namwon to get an update on how people like Sun-Young are doing.

Sun-Young  (right) and Sin Bi peeling persimmons  at Snail Guesthouse.

But not all are cut out for farming though, says Sin Bi, adding that the government and relevant NGOs have programmes to help them settle down in the countryside.

It  was in Autumn 2018 when I met Sun-Young and Sin Bi.

Sun -Young and Geong-Sik  has ventured into homestay business in their ‘hanok” (traditional Korean house) in 2013 .

They built another adjacent’ hanok’  three years later (2016) as their business picks up.

Perched on a hillock, their ‘hanok’ named Snail Guesthouse, commands a panoramic view 0f the picturesque surroundings.

“We want our guests to experience the beauty of a slow-paced lifestyle.

“The snail moves slowly, making stops along the way,  but it never gives up,”  says Sun-Young.

The Kim family’s han0k-traditional Korean house.

Sun-Young says their guests are like a family to them.

At 52,  Geong-Sik is a  doting halabuji (grandfather) to their  young guests.

He mingles with their guests in the morning while Sun-Young is busy preparing breakfast.

Geong-Sik and a young guest took his dogs -Sundal (white) and Borum (black)- for morning walk.

The kitchen is a place for guests and Sun-Young to interact and share their culture.

A photo of the boys when they first arrived at the village in 2006 is displayed prominently  in her kitchen.

A good conversation starter, the photo speaks volumes of the family’s journey.

In 2018, Do -Yun, 23 and Do- Yeon, 19 were already in college and high school respectively .

Besides running the guesthouse, Geong – Sik  is also  a  carpenter and has a workshop in the village.

His  creations are made from the wood of apple trees.

“Our village is called Apple Village because it is famous for its apples,” says a beaming Sun-Young who is proud of her husband’s creations.

Sun -Young  is warm and cheerful.

A typical day for her is waking up at 5.0O am to prepare traditional Korean breakfast.

The breakfast comprises a main dish, several side dishes, soup, rice, fruits and snacks is ready by 7.00am.

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Sun-Young busy in her kitchen, and Korean traditional breakfast in Snail Guesthouse (top)

Much of her waking hours are spent in her kitchen where she cooks and interacts with her guests and friends at the same time.

The couple’s hard work, self discipline and perseverance has given their family a new lease on life.

“I cannot imagine if  my husband who cannot take the stress anymore continues to stay in Seoul,” recalls Sun-Young.

While there is rising awareness on the dangers of prolonged stress, many South Koreans have yet been able to overcome this silent killer.

The current Covid – 19 pandemic saw some 20 delivery men purportedly died from  “kwarosa” – stress and death from overwork.

tagwords:  Seoul, stress, Jirisan, hanok, guesthouse, lifestyle, homestay, kwarosa