Friday, October 23, 2009

The Legend of Ulsanbawi

I went hiking with in Seoraksan National Park this week and I found this local legend associated with the rock formation below. I also found it cool. (Many thank to Chris and Charlotte for the picture and legend text, respectively.)



According to a local legend, "The Creator of all things called upon all the great mountains and rocks scattered around the country to create the world's most beautiful mountain, namely Geumgangsan Mountain. A rock representing Ulsan came a long way to answer this call, but its massive body worked against its progress and it arrived too late to be incoroporated into the great mountain. However, on its way home, the rock fell in love with the scenic beauty of Seoraksan, and decided to stay there. It has made its home there ever since, and is called Ulsan-bawi Rock.

The original Korean:

울산바위는 설악산국립공원 동북쪽에 동서로 걸쳐있는 수직 암릉으로서 설악의 풍경을 대표할 만한 경관으로 해발 873m 둘레는 약4km에 달한다. 전설에 의하면 “옛날 조물주가 아늘아래 가장 아름다운 산(금강산)을 만들기 위해 전국의 명산과 바위들을 모집할 때, 울산을 대표하는 바위가 이에 참가코자 먼 길을 떠나 왔으나 거대한 몸집으로 인해 그 시기를 놓쳐 고향으로 돌아가던 중 설악의 풍경에 반해 현재까지 이 자리에 놀러 앉아 있어 이 바위를 울산바위라 한다."

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fighting

I saw a 'fight' this evening. I write 'fight' because it was between two high school-aged Korean boys and, technically, it was pathetic. Or at least it seemed so from the viewpoint of someone who watches way too much professional fighting. That was my first thought. My second thought was that if I were to watch myself in a fight from a third-person point of view, I probably wouldn't look much better. Rudimentary striking skills aside, I would have to be so angry with someone to actually fight them on the street that it would be highly unlikely that I could use any of the aforementioned 'skills' to any good effect. I'd probably be flailing. This, in turn, lead me to my final thought: how could you ever fight someone effectively if you were truly in a rage? Perhaps some people can focus their destructive energies when in berzerker mode, but surely it is not I. More likely than being a conscious act, I suppose, is that some people's instincts are simply more effective at guiding their actions in a blood frenzy than others'.

Anyway, that's what I was thinking. And for reference, the fight I saw was waaaaay more pathetic than this one.