My friend Na Ho after winning 1st place in his division
This weekend I went to my first bodybuilding competition. Some friends from my gym were entering and I wanted to support them, while also realizing that the chance I’ll befriend bodybuilders again is about as likely as Bristol and Levi living happily ever after.
It was interesting. I saw more muscles, more black bikinis, and more bronzer than I have in my entire life.
I’m also pretty sure this was the first time in my life I’ve ever been in a situation that invited pure superficial physical judging. I’ve been to women’s’ beauty pageants, and while it is similar, they at least try to mask the superficiality of it all by throwing in talent and question sessions. Here, it’s all about the body (and the bronzer).
Like most people, I judge people physically all the time, but like most people, I rarely admit to it; and I felt rather guilty getting to throw away years of emotional growth.
But maybe I should move more in this direction. Most of my break-ups occur because I don’t feel an intellectual connection. A relationship based on the size of one’s quads seems much more simple… at least if there’s an argument, you can just get out the tape measure.
Donghwasa is probably my favorite temple in Korea. I love everything about it.
So for Buddha’s Birthday, I decided to make a last minute trip. It was very, very interesting, even if it wasn’t as awe-inspiring as the first time. They were doing construction on the enormous 33m Buddha, so that was a mess. And while I’m a lantern’s biggest fan, I don’t particularly care for walls of them that prevent me from seeing anything else.
In addition: I didn’t eat before I left. My legs were extremely tired. And, there were no seats on the one-hour bus ride home (not to mention that a group of really loud American college kids got on the bus right before me, making me a recipient of many angry stares as I was automatically lumped together with the other white people standing right beside me).
It did not help me achieve a state of nirvana.
But, I’m very glad I went. It was a special day in many ways.
After two long days in Seoul walking more than I have ever walked in my entire life, I pulled it together enough to wait it out for the Lotus Lantern Festival Parade. I’m glad I did, because I loved it.
In my former life working in politics, I attended many (MANY) parades. As a rule, I don’t like them… I’ve been scarred ever since I was forced to march for Joe Lieberman with two interns and a Joe-mobile in front of John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, and their enormous staff. (NB, this was BEFORE either Lieberman or Edwards took their respective nose-dives into meaninglessness… or, at least before Edwards’.)
Aside from the beautiful lanterns and beautiful hanbok — both of which make me incredibly happy — it was so nice to see so many smiles. I don’t typically get too many smiles from Koreans.
It’s not like Tennessee where you have to smile and say hello to everyone you see. And it’s not like Connecticut where you have to smile and say hello to everyone you see (who has the same skin color and socio-economic status)… I just don’t get too many hello’s in Korea. And I’m okay with that (really I am!), but it was nice to have an hour or so of endless waves.
I was also excited to try out my new Canon s90 camera, which I paid way too much money for at the Yongsan Electronics Market — learning the hard way that sometimes free trade agreements canbe quite wonderful.
I’ve always carried cheap point-and-shoots, so I was pretty pumped to finally upgrade to something with more flexibility without being enormous and forcing me to carry the badge of Fake Professional Photographer.
This weekend I spent some time in Seoul to check out the Lotus Lantern Festival. Buddha’s birthday is this month and there are a lot of things going on.
It was very interesting in comparison to American festivals… by that I mean it was A LOT less annoying. Of course, I can never figure out if I’m less annoyed because no one is talking to me or if it’s actually less annoying.
I will give Korea the benefit of the doubt on this one. It was a great festival with booths on lantern making, temple stays, books, etc. Plus, instead of serving fried Snickers bars, they had healthy temple food.
One of the best parts was getting to see a traditional tightrope-walking performance — called jultagi or 줄타기. I had seen this in movies, but never live… and to channel Annie Hall, it was pretty neat!
I am the annoying tourist who sacrifices enjoying the moment so that I catch it on film. My friends oftentimes hate me, and sometimes I do regret not fully taking in some wonderful moments in my effort to get a good photo or video.
Of course, now that I’m NOT on vacation, I am so happy that I was the annoying tourist toting a digital camera in one pocket and a camcorder in the other.
This video breaks every rule I believe in in terms of video production. It’s too long (10 minutes). It has too many still photographs. And there’s no story arc.
But, I like it.
My vacation to the Philippines was certainly a highlight of my 30 years, and this video is made to remember those few days.
After Siquijor, I took a brief trip over to Apo Island. That proved to be one disaster after another and I took the first boat back to Negros.
Once I was back on the island of Negros, I camped out in Dumaguete and was able to take a day trip to Casaroro Falls.
Like everything else in the Philippines, it was amazing. I took a jeepney to Valencia then hired a motorbike to take me to the falls. Once at the falls there’s a steep climb down 350+ steps, but even that was gorgeous.
When I had fully descended, there was a small river flowing. I followed that long enough to wonder if I had been duped… then I turned a corner and literally gasped.
In addition to the inherent beauty of the falls, I was alone. I was there surrounded by trees and water and nothing else. It was indescribable.
I know, I know. EVERYONE takes crappy sunset photos on vacation. It’s as if we’re unable to see sunsets in our hometowns and when thrust upon a new landscape, something as common as sleep becomes so incredibly fascinating.
I do try to see the natural beauty of the earth; however, I live in the Apartment Republic of Korea (check out the view from my window); therefore, I don’t get sunsets, stars, grass, etc… the only nature I see is my two-foot tall ficus that sits near the window. And if I want to go out in nature, I have to contend with hundreds of GORE-TEX laden power walkers. So while on vacation, I was quite excited to see sunsets, stars, water…
And for the record, I support Korea’s efficient system of apartment housing. It makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE than the American system of buying a house you can’t afford to go with the SUVs you can’t afford to go with the clothes you can’t afford to go with the kids you can’t afford.
One of the best parts of Siquijor was the butterfly sanctuary. I’d never been to anything like this, but I have to admit, being in a beautiful garden with butterflies flying all around is about as close to heaven as I’ve ever come… it was certainly much better than the “Heaven” room the Baptists would send me to with the fake stream flowing over a tarp and the fake Jesus giving me a hug in Teva sandals…
At any rate, the butterfly sanctuary is located near the highest peak on the island, so the bike ride up is amazing, and once you’re there you can see the entire island.
The Philippines have a reputation for taking Jesus seriously… and on Siquijor there was no shortage of Jesus paraphernalia.
Most of the things I saw were built in the 19th century when the Spanish had colonized the islands. I found them all to be very beautiful in their own way.
One thing I always find interesting is the way people choose to visually depict their gods. I’ve never been a visual person when it comes to religion. I’ve always felt that a human representation of God, Jesus, Buddha, whomever, was just so… demeaning. I mean, if I’m supposed to look for guidance in religion, humanizing it doesn’t really beef up the resume.
At any rate, I do love seeing how others depict their gods, Jesuses, etc. And in these churches there was no shortage of murals, statues, or sculptures. I loved it.
Probably the most interesting piece I saw was St. Rita of Cascia, also known as Black Magic Mary (Siquijor being the bewitched island). I had read about St. Rita before arriving and I really wanted to see it. I was surprised to find out that this statue of St. Rita was right behind the lectern at Our Lady of Divine Providence Church. I had thought it would be hidden, or in a museum somewhere.
The statue of St. Rita shows her holding a skull in one hand and an inverted cross in the other. But her face… her face is the spookiest part, and it really is downright scary to look at. The photos don’t do it justice.
But, this post isn’t all about St. Rita. Here’s some photos of all the main religious things I saw.
Cambugahay Falls was one of the favorite things on my trip. I had seen pictures before I arrived and I knew what to expect. However, like pretty much everything I saw in the Philippines, it exceeded every expectation.
Cambugahay was also one of the few places I went where there were other people around. Several families were having picnics and swimming, and it was quite nice. I had read about thieves who hide in the bushes waiting for you to abandon your things — I saw none of that (although someone at the resort had had a bad experience).
