Luke Writes – Redux!

Weekend Visit to Nami Island (남이섬), Korea


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This weekend my work took an overnight trip to Nami Island (남이섬, or Nami-sum), an island in the Han River about 1.5 hours northeast of Seoul.

Nami Island is at point "G", Seoul is point "B", and god only knows what's at "B".
Nami Island is at point “G”, Seoul is point “B”, and “E” shows that I don’t use Google Maps with much facility.

The drive from Seoul to Nami-sum was beautful. Our van’s GPS took us on the scenic route (or: we got lost) though a bunch of small towns and villages. The country road mostly stuck to the banks of the Han River, so we had gorgeous views of the river to the south and forest every other direction. The fences alongside the highway were tastefully overgrown with flowering plants.

Most towns and villages had riverside parks and bike trails. A fair amount of land was dedicated to rice paddies that were protected by scarecrows.

These reminded me of "Howl's Flying Castle," and not just because I'm in Asia.
The scarecrows reminded me of “Howl’s Flying Castle.”

We stayed in a river house directly across from Nami-sum.

nami-island-river-house
The front porch of our rented house.

The house had a large living room/kitchen combo and three bedrooms. The bedrooms had no furniture; we slept on mats.

The view from the front porch.
The view from the front porch.

That night we had a big barbecue. All the photos I took are rather unbecoming, so while I won’t post them I will, for general edification, note that Korean rice wine (soju) is much nicer than Chinese baijo.

The next morning we got back in the van and made the drive to the Nami Island ferry.

Before going to the island we had lunch: Korean barbecue.

Grilling the chicken, garlic, and onions at our table.
Grilling the chicken, garlic, and onions at our table.

The ferry ride itself was little more than five minutes long.

All of the Nami Island staff wore cowboy hats and florid shirts.
All of the Nami Island staff wore cowboy hats and florid shirts.

Now, the schtick they lay on you at the gate is that Nami-sum declared itself independent from the Republic of Korea. So your day ticket is a Visa, a season pass is a Passport, and so on. There are Namimarian flags and UN flags everywhere. Yes, it’s kitschy, but I enjoyed it. Parts of the island were used for filming a Korea drama/soap called Winter Sonata. When Winter Sonata shoots it, the island looks like this:

winter-sonata

When I shot it, it looked like this:

Why I'm not a cinematographer.
Exhibit A: Why I’m not a cinematographer.

I’m generally not a fan of prepackaged “tourist experience!” type places, but absolutely loved Nami-sum. The island has a number of Korean cultural relics on display: traditional wooden houses, a pottery shop (with potter, pottering), a farm building, carved wooden totems to ward off evil spirits, old-style rice cookers, and so on.

Traditional rice cooker; unwilling human photo subjects for scale and as an attempt to follow "The Rule of Thirds."
Traditional rice cooker; unwilling human photo subjects added for scale and in an attempt to follow “The Rule of Thirds.”
Korean totem
Korean totem
Another Korean totem.
Another Korean totem.
The farm house. We had a start when we discovered two free range emus exploring the foyer.
The farm house. We had a start when we discovered two free range emus exploring the foyer.
Clay sculptures outside the farm house.
Clay sculptures outside the farm house.

Most impressive, I think, were the traditional dancers. In China, the majority of performers at heritage sites came across as surly farm kids begrudgingly going through the motions. Nami Island’s performers were a lively bunch of grandparents who were fun to watch. Some had brought along their grandkids and taught them the dances as the rest performed. The island was nice, the weather agreeable, the water clean & shiny, and I was sorry to leave.