Strolling through pages of Jeong-dongs memory lane
By Chung Ah-young
On a fine day, you can eat breakfast or sit down on a stone chair under an old pagoda tree and gather your thoughts in the Jeong-dong area — a main thoroughfare less than a kilometer in length spanning from the periphery of City Hall to Sinmun-ro.
You can hear tales ranging from a heartbroken ruler of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), earnest Christian missionaries from the West, Russian exiles escaping a revolution, and the fight for press freedom to a nation’s grief over the forlorn suicide of the former President Roh Moo-hyun. These can be heard only when you take time to slowly walk along the trail, says Michael Gibb, the author of “A Slow Walk Through Jeong-dong” (Hollym; 144 pp., 13,000 won).
From the British Embassy, Deoksu Palace, Chongdong Theater, First Methodist Church, Ewha Girls’ High School and the Canadian Embassy to the former Russian Legation, he combs the site closely and talks about its historical details.
“It’s an exceptional journey because even though its main thoroughfare is less than a kilometer in length, this one locale is living witness to many of the most vital events in the nation’s emergence into modern history,” the author said in an email interview with The Korea Times.
Gibb decided to write a book about the area in hopes that his daughter and constant companion Bori can one day tell her children and her grandchildren about where she grew up.
Jeong-dong is home to restaurants, cafes, art galleries and museums, and is also visually stunning in the spring and fall, prompting him to explore the history of the area.
His research transforms the book into a trove of historical anecdotes, which many Koreans don’t recognize while passing through the area. The book focuses on Western traces, especially from the very early expatriates, which remain in the area, as well as the author’s own personal hideaways.
Consisting of four parts — Dawn, Morning Stroll, Afternoon Delights and Nightfall — the book explores a royal palace, a modern Protestant church, old schools, trendy cafes, restaurants, exquisite masonry, a theater featuring Korean dance and a museum of contemporary arts.
The book is not necessarily intended to be a guidebook or a travelogue but rather, a reflection of possibilities and imaginations — to capture a mood, one that is not so fun and sunny but is at times dark and disturbing. “People think of Jeong-dong as an exotic and romantic hideaway but its history is very moving and at times quite bloody,” he said.
Although the area is associated with romantic destinations along the beautiful stone wall path of Deoksu Palace, Jeong-dong is involved with numerous historical incidents and early troubles at the dawn of modern Korea under strong foreign influences.
In the waning days of the Joseon Kingdom, the area was more salubrious than other neighborhoods as royal courtiers lived there for the most part and thus there were a large number of substantial “hanok” (traditional Korean house) that could be converted into embassy compounds later.
The palaces and government offices were also located nearby, which meant it was easier for everyone to get together and sign historical treaties and haggle over business deals. Missionaries settled there as they probably believed that the legations afforded security; also businesses catering to the early expats sprang up faster at that time.
He advocates a slow journey instead of the hectic schedule filled with frenetic touring to see as many places you can. “Sometimes, not always, a slow walk through a small neighborhood can cover great chunks of a city’s story; perhaps even uncover thick slices of a country’s history,” he says.
The usual travel books take on a huge enterprise, but his book aims for the idea of slow travel. “It is not so much the destination that is important but the journey itself, not the end product but the process that is illuminating, nourishing and vital,” he said.
The British-born author lived in Korea from 1992 to 1998 and then from 2007 until 2010. He lived in a tiny apartment located in Jeong-dong for a while. “Korea for me is a very personal nation. I have experienced great wonder and loss in Seoul. Many years ago I spent empty afternoons wondering around Jeong-dong, trying to get my life in order. Then years later I was living there with my wife and daughter. An incredible journey, one I could never have anticipated,” he said.
“I have rarely had an easy relationship with Korea. It is not, and certainly was not in 1992, an easy place to live for an expat but those challenges made the city and the country very appealing. This is where I married, where my daughter was born, where a friend died, where I discovered a love of travel and an urge to write. I have blown hot and cold in Korea, discovered incredible fulfillment but experienced great lows, too. But if I had stayed in the U.K. I might have become a lawyer and something even more tedious; then I would have been bored forever. I have a great fear of being bored, but you can never be bored in Korea. It is easily the most interesting place I have visited. And so Jeong-dong must rank, for me, as a favorite spot on the planet,” he said.
Also, unlike other travel books, this one is filled with illustrations by Jung Ah-young, instead of vivid photographs. “There are lots of photographers, lots of great photos of Jeong-dong. Anyone with an expensive camera, or even an inexpensive one, can capture Jeong-dong. But we wanted to do something different, add a new angle and perspective. We wanted to create an artistic impression of what we consider to be a highly visual and engaging landscape,” he said.