Korea Sparkling

[David Kilburn]

The "Korea Sparkling" web site from the Korea Tourism Organisation is
now promoting a growing list of "hanok stay" opportunities throughout
the country:

http://visitkorea.or.kr/enu/AC/AC_EN_4_5.jsp

at the moment, there are 13 such opportunities listed, only one of
which is in Seoul

They also promote "Temple Stay" opportunities. There are 12 of these -
it seemed to me that the imbalance in the numbers, though not
surprising, was very sad.

There is at least one additional hanokstay place in Bukchon which, for
some reason, is omitted from the visitkorea list:
http://www.teaguesthouse.com/english/index.php

[soljung]

Dear David,

I'm not very surprised that there are only one or two hanok stay
opportunities in Korea.
Seoul is obviously the main tourist spot for visitors who are
unfamiliar with Korea, and therefore it would be much more profitable
to turn Bukchon into a commerical area with a historic facade. In
order to attract tourists into the less known parts of the country,
temples and especially hanoks, are perfect cultural gimmicks. (You
could say that Korea is trying to create their version of Japan's
"Zen," although I'm sure that the exact terminology or "brand name" is
yet to be decided.)

However, it is interesting that the Tea House is not on the list but
it looks like a privately owned business. There is another "hanok"
style guest house in Gwanghwamun (about a 5 minute walk from
Gyeongbokgung), which is quite popular to Japanese tourists. However,
it does not tote itself as a historical or authentic hanok, and is
always busy because of its affordability and friendly staff. (It is
also quite clean, compared to most privately owned Korean hotels/
motels/inns.)

Pablo and I am interested in going to one of these hanok stays during
the Summer - it is also curious that they have one on Dokdo. I'm sure
that this has to do with trying to create a Korean population on the
island with permanent staff for the hanok. Knowing the fairly mediocre
standards of hospitality service in Korea, I am intrigued to find out
how these hanoks are being managed.

Nevertheless, Pablo and I feel that this is the perfect timing to
launch the residency in Kahoi-dong. If Korea Sparkling happens to be
doing the right PR moves, more tourists will find out about these
opportunities and start googling "hanok." The residency would be a
more favorable option for active tourists who are more motivated to
pursue their interests/goals in Korea.

Also, seeing how all the people at the Korean Cultural Center were
extremely excited about Dr. Baker was very telling. The organizers and
audience alike were more interested in his Harvard affiliation, rather
than his academic, professional and personal experiences in Korea.
This shows that with the right connections, it may be very difficult
for the residency to be obstructed.

Just on a trivial note - I find it interesting that Haeinsa Temple is
not on the list of temple stays. There is a link to an article about
the temple but it looks like there could have been some resistance on
part of the temple, considering the fact that it has temple stays for
adults, and adolescents, which I attended. (However, these stays are
nothing like what foreigner would expect.) It is probably one of the
most famous temples, since it boasts the Triptaka Koreana, which is
quite a phenomenal collection of woodcuts.

It will be interesting to see if the list of these hanok and temple
stays increase...


-Sol