A Date with Destiny

The Damyang Bamboo Forest

Written and photographed by Fatemeh Khalili.

When I look at the pictures I’ve taken in Korea, I find that instead of keeping and recording these precious moments in my diary, I’ve just kept them as photographs. I know it’s a pity not being able to write down my memories, but I’ll now be able to tell my adventurous stories in Korea. I have been dreaming about studying in Korea since 2008.

I’m so fond of the world’s traditional cultures, so I fell for Korea’s traditional “pansori” music. I taught English from morning till night while studying Korean to save up money to travel to Korea. Finally, this dream came true in the summer of 2017. Back then, I thought I should see Korea with my own eyes to see if it matched up with what I knew and heard about it. As expected, Korea never disappointed me and made my dream even bigger than before.

With much regret, I couldn’t visit Gwangju in 2017. Therefore, you can’t believe how happy I was when I found out that as a GKS student, I was supposed to do my Korean study program in Gwangju. At that moment I thought it was nothing but destiny.

Brought to Gwangju by destiny, I decided to visit the beautiful bamboo forest of Damyang, also known as Juknokwon (죽녹원), which is a panda’s favorite playground on a sunny day. I had heard a lot about it. It takes approximately one hour to Damyang (담양) from Gwangju by bus. But the scenery around us was so fascinating that we didn’t realize how fast the time passed. Seeing Bonghwangru pavilion (봉황루) surrounded by bamboo trees was a sign that we had reached our destination. As we entered the bamboo forest, the bamboo trees rising up to the sky caught our eye. As soon as you enter the forest, depending who you are with and what mood you are in, you can select which path to take. There are eight courses to choose from in the bamboo forest: Good Luck Road (운수대통길), Meditation Road, Lovers’ Lane, Old Friends’ Trail, Old Memories Byway Seonginsan Trail (성인산 오름길), Philosopher’s Road, and Scholar’s Road. Any one trail can lead to other trails.

As I went there with my four great friends, we started with Old Friends’ Trail. Getting closer to the hanok (한옥) resting area, the traditional Korean houses in the forest made us feel like characters in a historical drama. We really wanted to stay at the traditional hanok houses in the forest for the night, and when I asked if that was possible, they told us it served as a guest house and that one needed to make a reservation in advance. So, if you decide to visit the Damyang Bamboo Forest one day, keep this in mind!

I heard in Joseon Dynasty times, the king used to send people into exile to Damyang or other places in Jeollanam-do for punishment. It is so beautiful here that I wish I could be sent into exile as well. (Just kidding!)

The most interesting hanok that caught my attention in the middle of the forest was the one with a traditional Korean fireplace (agungi, 아궁이) and jangdokdae (장독대), which is a place for storing the earthenware crocks and jars of sauces and kimchis in the yard. Seeing the person living peacefully in that house made me envy him.

This forest was so vast – full of uphills and downhills that make you so thirsty after all the walking. Then at that thirsty moment, a beautiful lady came out of the teahouse next to the pond and offered us bamboo tea for free. Viewing the enchanting scenery while drinking tea made us feel so peaceful.

I had another wish of mine come true when I found that there is a room in the forest where you can play the gayageum (가야금) as a cultural experience.

They filmed the popular TV show “Two Days, One Night” here starring Lee Seung Gi some years ago. Therefore, I recommend that you watch Episode 78 of the first season on YouTube to see how beautiful this place is.

We walked from morning until well into the afternoon. We felt exhausted, so we had some cool and sweet bamboo ice-cream that made us feel refreshed. Before going back to campus, we enjoyed our ice-creams and admired the Damyang houses, bringing an end to this fun day!

THE AUTHOR

Fatemeh Khalili is an Iranian GKS student studying Korean in Chonnam University. She will start her master’s program in Korean literature in Seoul in autumn 2020. She loves literature because she believes each country’s emotion and culture is included in its literature. Therefore, she wants to act as a bridge between Korea and Iran by translating each country’s literary works. Instagram: @koreanicles