its always strange to come back to a place where one has lived and had intense experiences, after a long absence. walking around yeonggwang (which translates to “glory”, among other meanings), where each street in this small, workaday city is still familiar, where most of the stores are unchanged, feels heavy with a kind of ambivalent nostalgia.
i had been a little worried about finding a decent place to stay – i always lived here, before – meaning i had an apartment – and never have returned as a tourist until now. but just a few blocks east of the bus station we found a more or less quaint motel called 귀빈장모텔 (gwibinjang motel = roughly “honored guest place motel” or maybe more loosely “VIP motel”) for 30000원 per room per night (25 bucks), which is entirely reasonable for korea.
the tile work in my oddly shaped bathroom looks brand new, and had this kitchy but appealing artwork embedded (below).
actually, the town feels marginally more prosperous than it did in 2010 when i lived here – there are fewer abandoned storefronts, and more cafes – always an indicator of gentrification in korea. but the town is utterly dead on a saturday night, just as i remember. i think everyone goes to gwangju to have fun.
tomorrow i will show andrew and hollye hongnong and my favorite walks there – hopefully over the mountain to the beach and around to the waterfall south of town, then the odd “buddhist theme park” (my own made up designation for it) in beopseong.
