We arrived in Goheung County and were greeted by the Rotary Group members. The formalities were exchanged and we met our translators; sisters Seo and Jody, and Michelle. We were taken to the Folk Village. At the entrance of the village, our Korean Rotarians bought us all straw sunhats for protection from the sun. We took many pictures and proceeded inside the village. The Folk Village is a tourist attraction area where traditional Korean wedding ceremonies are shown. It is also a place where history of the Korean judicial system is displayed for viewing. We saw many traditional homes with straw rooftops. The homes are constructed with large bricks. Beautiful trees, said to be between 100 to 400 years old, surrounded the homes. The homes are called “Chokajib”. Chokajib is said to be a Korean traditional village home.
From there we visited a Vietnamese restaurant. The name of the restaurant is “Sydney”. Its name came from Sydney, Australia where the Korean family that owns the restaurant once lived. There we met Jimmy, a Korean young man who spoke very good English. His family owns the restaurant. We were served wrapped vegetable dish, with noodle soup and rice on the side. The food was excellent. After we ate, we were taken to our hotel, the Sky Motel. There we rested for a couple of hours and settled in.
We were picked up later on and taken to the Goheung Festival. We toured the fish market there (Goheung County is a fishing community) and later sat down to watch a few performances by the local Rotary Group. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant. So far my favorite Korean dish, grilled meat with lettuce leaf, garlic and green peppers, was the dinner for the night.
On Sunday, May 20 we took a tour on a private Island called; Sorok. This island is where Japanese colonists chose in 1916 as a place for quarantining people with Hansen's disease (Leprosy). During this period in Korea, infected people were rounded up and forced to live isolated from the world because of their disease. The disease was not well known and people were afraid that it may be contagious, so those with the disease were isolated from their families. During this time, patients were also forced to work and build the island by the Japanese.
We saw the stone where Poet, Han Ha Un who developed Leprosy and was forced to live on the Island, wrote a poem of his existence which is engraved on a stone on the Island. We visited the operating room where the Japanese doctors performed experimental autopsies. Vasectomies were forced on men patients with Leprosy to stop the growth of the population.
The Island now is run by the government and allows new patients with Leprosy to live on it. The patients are accepted on voluntary basis. Average age of patients living on the Island is said to be 75. There are homes on the island that are independent living for the patients. To insure that the privacy of the patients is respected, half of the island is off-limits to visitors.
We ended our evening by watching performances of Korean star singers. We were special guests of the mayor at the Festival. Again, we were treated like royalties and felt very welcomed and at home.
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