Mansan Mansion, Chunyang.

Trees and leaves never fail to amaze me.

Fall, the season before Winter,

welcomes me gently into it's arms.

Love the smell of the leaves,

Love the colour of the leaves.

From green to yellow to red and brown,

The wheel turns.

A new shoot will poke its head out soon.

Awaiting

A brand new beginning,

The cycle continues.

Woods in Chunyang Village

Very happy to be in the woods!

The Temple in the village

On the way to the mountains

The stove that warmed the little hut which we stayed over.

Love the trees

Wonderful yellow flowers

The room which we stayed in. Warm blankets/beddings!

Mansan Mansion

My Fav shot - Tree /lamp/sky

Main house

Copy of the orginal signboard

The signboard

Note how Han characters dominated in the historical Korean aristocracy

The owner Mr Jiang and my lovely translator :)

Welcome to Chunyang, a village that's 3 hours plus away from Seoul. We woke up early and took a train to a bus terminal and took the outskirt bus. In this village, there's this traditional Korean mansion which you can stayover and experience the lifestyle for a day.

Met Mr Jiang (well I can read his family name in Chinese and not in the Korean way), he's the decendants of a noble family. Apparently his ancestors (great grandfather) was given the status of a noble and hence the decendants are now considered as part of this noble family. So what's the deal ? It is a very proud thing to be decendants of the noble family. Hence, the eldest son is expected to take over his father once the father is too old to run this household. Here, they hope to preserve and promote the culture of the traditional Korean household. When asked if he expect his son to take over , he dismissed the question readily as the answer is obvious. To him, the beauty of this village/household/culture/lifestyle supercedes a metropolitan lifestyle. Different views of life. I thought to myself, if I'm old and retired, it's pretty cool to lead such a lifestyle! You are surrounded by the beautiful woods and mountains! Of course I must bear in mind that being the 'daughter-in-law' would mean to resume a big responsibity of serving the household, especially with countless customary duties. Hence it is definitely a consideration before you say yes to the marriage. Urban city girls like us enjoy the fuss and style in a modern city! Neon lights and billboards will be forsaken if you choose to move to a village. Are you ready for it?

Korean culture has been facing the challenges of Westernisation and globalisation. In this homogenous society, the culture is one that has strong distinct features of Confusianism. Here are some points to note.
1) The culture that denotes deep respect for the elders - Not to be rude to elders, give way to the eldery and having special elderly compartment seats in the subway as a good e.g (Apparently if you are a fit young lad occupying the seat, you will be deemed as disrespectful for occupying that part of the cabin!)
2) Paternalistic society, strong emphasis in the role of man as the head of the family. The emphasis of the role of the eldest son as the new head of the family; the duties of husband and wife are spelt rather uniformly across the society. This is evident in many Asian society but in this day and age, this characteristic is still staying strong and evident!
3) Status and marriage, know your place, marry to the right ranks.

Above is based on my observations in the 2 trips I made to Korea in the past 3 years plus my informal QnA with my Korean friends overtime.

Feel free to disagree and correct my ignorance.

I love visiting villages. The lifestyle is simple and the nature that surrounds me cannot be described by using words.

Enjoyed my stay. :)