#Paju

[nokikissa]

Oh wow it's so warm and sunny today

[atlasandacamera]

Paju, South Korea

[filmap]

아가씨 / The Handmaiden Park Chan-wook. 2016

Garden Byukchoji Gardens, 242 Buheung-ro, Gwangtan-myeon, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea See in map

See in imdb

[artharakka]

2, 4, 7 & 37 for the OC Questions!

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

sigh... it seems like these two are answer to every second question but... Paju (Willow) and Rhiam....... I just love them so much. They are very personal to me and I feel like there is most "me" poured into them.

4. A character you rarely talk about?

Idk if I talk a lot about any of my characters besides I guess Rhiam lately? But here's a character I've drawn and thought a lot but shared almost none as she is a character to a graphic novel me, @artist-rat & @iijadraws were working on (still on indefinite pause & not posted anywhere). We all designed one protagonist for the story and my contribution is Kasimira or Kaipo for short. She is a princess to an empire who ends up far away from home during a traditional competition between emperors/empress' children to determine the next heir to the throne. She'd rather stay home and continue her relatively comortable life, but she doesn't trust that her power hungry older stepbrother would let her keep that if she lost.

7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories?

I think... all of them have some kind of story? For most of them I have some sort of book or comic projects planned (whether I actually make those isn't that important but I like to dream ✨). Some are "just" game charactes I've created but even then they do have a story. And I might have plans to snatch them for other projects as well.

37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human

Marras is a god of shipwrecks and keeper of sunken treasures and souls lost at sea in my and Rat's anotherrr comic draft world. They (he?) are a minor and not-really-worshipped deity, he (they?) works under a more prominent sea god Salvia. He has many forms including a gigantic deep sea beast, shoal of fish, a cat with too many legs and his version of a human. Though his idea of how humans look is based on corpses rotting in water and sunken ship's figureheads so it is a bit... off. And why a cat amongst other things? Well in his past life he was indeed a ship's cat. The vessel he was on sunk and the crew left the poor cat behind and Salvia took pity in it and made it a god. As you do.

He could have a more morbid look on life, but he's in fact quite cheerful. You might be even able to struck a deal with him if you are lucky enough, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. For he usually only shows up to sink your ship if you have stolen something from him.

[kuoringankalmo]

Paju!🌿

My lil dryad oc! She's silver willow dryad, has been alive for quite a while and resides in the surrounding forest of my imaginery village Karevaara. He likes humans enough to play with them, usually with men. Her bestie is a demon and her current fave plaything is this centaur dude.

She likes ponds but dislikes the water nymphs.

[goawaywithjae]

A HUGE thanks to Sebastian Roché for taking time from filming to talk to me abutt his work on the hit KDrama QUEEN OF TEARS opposite Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won. As far as I know, QoT is the 1st time a K-Drama hired an established western actor. The multi-lingual Roché spoke about what it's like working on a K-drama, learning Hangul & how his wife Alicia Hannah-Kim (of COBRA KAI) was key in making this happen. And, not for nothing, but this is the first interview I've done specifically for my Substack newsletter. I hope you enjoy it!

[threesamurder]

Views From My Grandmother’s Balcony

[nhdiary]

[ounystudio]

[gnometrotting]

Visiting the DMZ on a day trip from Seoul

If you want to learn more about the conflict between North and South Korea and get as close to the border as you can, you can take a tour of the DMZ, the demilitarized border between the two nations.

One of the most contentious geographical relationships in the world is that between North and South Korea. If you want to learn more about the conflict and get as close to the border as you can, you can take a tour of the DMZ, the demilitarized border between the two nations. What is the DMZ? The DMZ is short for demilitarized zone, a 4-kilometer-wide area that runs along the entire border…

[usamierina]

Trip to Korea, September 2024 - Day 2: DMZ tour - The 3rd Tunnel and Tongilchon

DMZ tour after Imjingak Peace Park and Dora Observatory.

DMZツアーの続き。

🚌11:45 再びバスに乗って、次は第3トンネルへ。

◾️第3トンネル

北朝鮮から韓国に掘られていた、「南侵トンネル」と言われる地下トンネルの一つ。今見つかっているのは4つですが、実は20以上はあるだろうと言われているそうです。今の時代は、コソコソトンネルを掘って突撃しなくても、ボタン一発ミサイルドンで侵略できるから、韓国側もトンネル探しをしなくなったそうです。

��見されたのは1978年。ものすごく最近。 ソウルまで約52kmのところまで掘られており、総延長1.6km、幅2mの大きなトンネル。一時間に3万人の兵士を送り込めるレベルの大型トンネルです。

私、ちょうど半年くらい前に読んでいた「加治隆介の議」でこの南侵トンネルの話を読んだところだったので、連載が開始されていたころは、まさにこれがリアルタイムだったんだろうな。

こちらが入口。

入口にあるロッカーに、全ての荷物（かばんもスマホも飲み物も、全部）を入れ、ヘルメットをかぶって中に入ります。なので完全に撮影は禁止。

北朝鮮側が掘ったトンネルは、地下73メートルのところにあり、そのトンネルに向かって、別に韓国側で横穴を掘った坂を下って入ります。2002年の日韓ワールドカップのタイミングで見学できるように作られたとのこと。

▲入口が一番右側の建物。

ここから、約360m降りてたどり着いたところが、北朝鮮が南に向けて掘ってたどり着いた一番端っこの位置。すでに国境から435m超えたところまで来ています。

▲資料館にあった、北朝鮮のトンネルの掘り方。ダイナマイトの刺さっている向きが全てソウル向きだったこともあり、完全に「南侵」を目的に掘っていたトンネルだったと断定されたとのこと。 （さきっぽの岩土を外に運び出すのに、北側に何kmも運んでいたとするとほんとそりゃ逃げたくもなるわ...という重労働。）

今は、完全に国境位置でコンクリで封鎖されていて、その前にも2枚くらいの壁が設置されています。とはいえ国境まで170mのところまで行けるトンネルです。

ちなみに、下り360mも坂が結構湿っていて転びそうでこわかったのですが、下るということは戻ってくるのに上らないと行けない、ということで...

マジでキツい。 途中で諦めそうになるくらいキツい。

（いや、諦めることなんて不可能なのですが...）

「運動が苦手な方や、閉所恐怖症の人は行かない方がいいですよ」とガイドさんは言っていたが、ちょっとこの360mの坂を舐めていたわ...（というか単純に自分の体力が本当に落ちているのを実感）

坂の途中に設置された椅子のありがたみが半端なかったっす...

▲韓国の兵士の方のヘルメットをつけて撮ったものの、これをかぶって毎日緊張しながら兵役にあたっていると思うと、大変だなあと。

でも、こうやって観光地化することで、外貨も入るし、いろんなことが伝えられるというのもまた政策なのかもしれないね。

いちおう、モニュメント的なところで記念写真。

写真の右奥に見えるのが、第3トンネルの横穴に向かって降りていくモノレール（というか、ジェットコースター的な形の乗り物）の乗り場。過去はこのモノレールを使って降りていけるツアーもあったようなのですが、なぜか「ずっと点検休止中」とのこと。なんか事情があるのかな。（あったら絶対そっち乗る、ってくらい、本当に上りがしんどかった...）

🚌13:00 再びバスに乗って、最後の目的地「統一村」へ。

◾️統一村

��間人制限区域に設けられた村、それが統一村。 1973年ごろに開発のため��居住世帯を募集し、その後も入るにはいろいろな制限がある村です。基本的には農業（お米、豆など。このエリアの名産品の豆があるらしい）に従事しており、400人ほどお住まいとのこと。

ガイドさんおすすめの「大豆きなこソフトクリーム」をいただきます。4000ウォン（=440円）なり。

売店では他にも大豆ラテも売っていた。人気らしい。

▼大豆きなこソフト

これ、めちゃくちゃうまい！ﾃｰﾚｯﾃﾚｰ!!

きなこの甘みがしっかりしてて、ほんと美味しいきなこソフト。ガイドさんおすすめなのもうなずける。

お土産ショップでは、DMZ米とかDMZ豆とか、このエリアの特産品が販売されていました。特にDMZ米は美味しいと人気とのこと。（流石に買わなかったけど。）

以上で、DMZツアーは終了。バスに乗ってソウルに戻ります。 帰りのバスはいろいろなものを見た疲れもあり、かなりぐっすりでした...

🚌15:00 ソウル支��駅到着

日本語ガイドさんの団体ツアーで予約したけど、行ってよかったなと思いました。ガイドさんも丁寧でちゃんと説明も理解できたし、変なお土産屋さんに連れて行ったりせず、きちんとしたツアーだったのでとてもよかった。

ソウルに戻ってきてからもちょっと気持ちがふわふわしてて、「ああ、そうか、まだ戦争は近いところにあるんだな」と実感しました。こうやってのほほんと旅行にこれている自分は幸せなんだなあ。

▼（追記1）「加治隆介の儀」

改めて「加治隆介の儀」（儀その117〜123あたり）を読み返すと、かなりリアルかつリアルタイムだった実感...

【2024年9月 ソウルの旅】 ・Day 1 └ サムボプデチゲ └ 60年伝統新村黄牛ホルモンカンナム駅直営店 └ アートモンスターカンナム店 ・Day 2 └ DMZツアー 　└ 臨津閣平和ヌリ公園・都羅展望台 　└ 第３トンネル・統一村 👈THIS └ Seoul Gypsy └ プチョンユッケ ・Day 3 └ 神仙ソルロンタン └ Seoul Brewery └ タルメクスーパー └ Chillhops Itaewon Project └ トヤジンガ └ Craftbros Taproom └ オダリチプカンジャンケジャン

+α 韓国旅行で便利なアプリ

[nokikissa]

Heard noises behind me and was greeted with this when I turned around

[atlasandacamera]

DMZ, South Korea

[artharakka]

33, 40, 45 for the oc ask meme?

Woah I finally have a proper day off without having anything scheduled! So some more oc ask doodles it is because I still have a bunch of these in my askbox ✨🧡

33. Your shyest OC?

Rhiam. Though often during any kind of intense moments like in fights Rhiam gets into some kind of flow state where they just act on intuition (because they don't have time to overthink).

45. A character you no longer use?

Oh so many! But at the same time I don't know? Because I tend to have some active stories and characters I rotate in my mind and some stories are kind of abandoned (for now), but time to time I pick some old characters from them and reuse them in some new setting. Here's one that I haven't been tempted to recycle though:

I don't even remember did I name her anything besides Queen. She was a cold monarch in the first version of my oldest proper story and one of the story's main antagonists. She was replaced with other kind of antagonists over time as the story developed. She wasn't very deeply developed since I was like... 14? when I made the story. She was obsessed with keeping the power in her hands which drove her to severe paranoia that made her blame the story's protagonist's love interest of stealing the magical crown jewel and the protagonist was to find the real culprit. Her son Lumi, on the other hand, who was just a side character in the original story, became a more important character in the later versions of the story. He was also forgotten for a time but lately I resurrected a version of him to my space ttrpg that I've sometimes posted on my Patreon. So, some version of this queen also still lives as Lumi's mother.

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters?

So many to so many! Majority of my ocs I've created or introduced to shared projects of me, @iijadraws & @artist-rat so creating ocs and stories is mostly a communal activity with friends for me 🧡 There are the protagonists of our graphic novel (currently on back burner), Kasimira, Sonja, and Idla, that are very dear as we started the project in 2016 when we were getting to know each other. Currently I'm cherishing Rhiam's ttrpg campaign Heartland which artist-rat is DMing as during it we have been getting back to hanging out just the three of us after life got in the way (there were happy things as well, but time consuming). But there are two characters that came to mind first when thinking about fond memories:

Pujo ("Mugwort") and Paju ("Willow") are twin characters of me and @artist-rat (Paju is mine, Pujo Rat's). We created them when we weren't in that good place (at least I was in the pits of depression and burnout). And also after we hadn't seen each other in half a year after I was studying in Canada. They are not us, but there's also something that makes them the most "us" characters we have. They have had rough times and a bit broken family, but they are always there for each other. I projected my depression heavily on Paju, and kind of started to resent them because I started to resent myself. But my friends loved Paju (and me) despite their flaws and depression and so I also started to gain my own self esteem ❤. For us they embody the kind of comfort there is in a not-that-grand commuter town apartment that has been made in to a home despite the bland facade. Or going to get takeout late in the evening, but it's still warm and light because of the northern summer's barely setting sun. They started as Skyrim characters, but have since been adapted to many settings. A couple of years ago I started to draw small slice of life comics about them, but I got busy with graduating etc. I've been thinging of starting that kind of a project about them again though.

[k-star-holic]

Jin-kyeong Hong, how much money do you have..."Buy two white horses, your daughter Sean Gelael gets on" Rumor Disclosure ('hong kim-dongjeon')

[designmiss]

Heyri Art Valley in Corea del Sud https://www.design-miss.com/heyri-art-valley-in-corea-del-sud/ Circa quattrocento artisti coreani di diverse discipline vivono vicino Paju, in Corea del Sud, nella Heyri Art Valley, una città culturale creata ad hoc nella quale si trovano laboratori, gallerie d’arte e […]