Barbecues and tombs

John, Will, and I have roof access in our apartment, so naturally we decided to have a barbecue up there. We got a nice little charcoal grill and were all set for a big party, but it rained. The three of us grilled some steaks, sausages, and corn on the cob the next weekend. That Sunday I went out exploring a town near Daejeon. Before leaving I thought I'd document one of the numerous little farms in our upscale neighborhood on my path to work:
I took a quick bus ride out to Gong-ju, a very small city most notable for having briefly been the capitol of Baekje, one of the small empires that existed before the unification of Korea. The old walled portion of the city is still largely in place, though like everything here it has been destroyed and reconstructed dozens of times. I enjoyed the flower adorned bridge between the bus station and the fortress. These little purple flowers (which I could probably identify if I bothered to search my memory or the internet) are actually hung up for decoration all over the place in Daejeon too.
The other notable part of Gongju is that it is the local of the only Korean tomb whose corpses have been identified. King Muryeong ruled from 501 until his death in 523. He and his wife (who died a few years later) were entombed in patterned brick, which was actually considered higher class than the usual stone mausoleums (which strikes me as totally backwards, but to each their own. In this case, it was fashionable to imitate the Chinese, who didn't have the wealth of stone that Koreans did). The tomb was found intact, a sentence that has the unfortunate effect of making me compare it with the tombs of Tutankhamen and Agamemnon (which is by far the most impressive tomb that I have seen in person so far, though it probably actually predates that famous general of the Trojan war). Even though poor King Muryeong couldn't possibly meet my high expectations of intact tombs, there were some cool things in the museum built to show the artifacts. My favorite was a pair of gold diadems, which look way better in their current display than they would in their proper place rising from the temples of a ruler's head like a crown (they look rather silly on the statues that have recently been made of the king):
The tomb itself is of course closed to the public, though a life sized replica gives a good feel for the small tomb. The outside of the tomb is accessible, and it looks pretty much like a larger version of the burial mounds that litter the mountains all over Korea, even on the hills in cities.
After seeing the museums I walked back to the fortress and walked around the perimeter walls.
The walls had flags with interesting mythical creatures depicted upon them.
This minimalist helicopter did a flyby of the temple while I was on the walls.In case I needed further reminders of Mycenae, the fortress also had a step cistern, though one of very different construction than the Greek city of Perseus, Agamemnon, and Orestes. I assume that if the well were in constant use it would not have so much growing on its surface:
There were a few cool reconstructed building:
There was also a great view of Gongju, which looks the same as every other Korean city that isn't Seoul:
By the river I had earlier noticed a small dirt track and was puzzled by it since I was sure I would barely be able to make its tight curves on a bike. The mystery was solved on my way back to the train station when I witnessed its proper use:


John, Will, and I rescheduled our barbecue for this last Saturday, which was conveniently the fourth of July. We had twenty people over, including several Koreans and many Canadians, for a good old American feast that inspired some attendants to say that Will and I would be good husbands since we could make good pasta, potato, and cucumber salads, not to mention the deviled eggs (sometimes I wonder if the relationships I've been in lasted longer than they would have otherwise due to the fact that I like to cook and give massages):

(my apartment is so clean!)

An enormous amount of food was consumed, and I still have a few sausages and about a pound of steak left in my fridge. I enjoyed seeing our usual crowd, as well as a few fellow Portlanders from way across town who I was glad to get to know better.
Later we set off a few low key fireworks, which royally pissed off our neighbor on the fourth floor (one floor above Will and me and directly under the roof) even though it was before 10pm. Some folks also set fire to some things on the roof, which probably won't make us many friends in the building either. My reaction was to play "The roof is on fire." We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn. Burn, motherfucker, burn:
At about 1am a few people left and fell down drunk in front of a police car near our house, and the officers asked if they were coming from a party on the third floor of an apartment building (we had moved to Will's room once the mosquitoes got intolerable), and they were kind enough to call us and give enough warning that we were all gone by the time any cops showed up. Some of us went to a Noraebong (karaoke room), and though it was a very small group singing, it was definitely the most fun I've had at one.

I think I celebrated the Fourth more as an expat than I did last year....