Jeju Island is the largest volcanic rock in the waters south of the Korean peninsula, but it does not stand alone. Surrounding Jeju are many smaller, some inhabited, some not, islands that can be reached by a short ferry ride from Jeju's coast. To the East of Jeju's shoreline sits Udo, or Cow Island in Korean. Locals insist the island, when viewed from Jeju's shores appears like a cow swimming toward Jeju. In my many trips to and from Udo, I've not yet seen the similarity between it and a cow, but I don't eat as much kimchi as the locals, so possibly I lack serious perspective!
Udo is a small, flat island with one giant hill on the eastern side of the island. Under this rocky hill lies a large cave, named Dongan Gyeong-gul charmingly dubbed, ‘whale nostril cave’ because of its large nostril-like shape, accessible only during low tide. After trekking across a black sandy beach, entering one small cave and exiting through a tiny gap at the cave's rear, one must climb over slippery boulders where ocean waters splash below to reach the entrance of Dongan Gyeong-gul.
The trip is well rewarded any day, as the cave is quite interesting to investigate, for any of those naturally inquisitive explorer-types. But once a year, the reward is even more special, as the Jeju Symphony Orchestra performs inside this unique venue. Now, Udo's Whale Nostril Cave is no Red Rocks or Carnegie Hall, but it does have a special small feeling about it. The cave's wide nostril exposes open sea waters to one side and hides bats and other cave dwellers to the other deep, darkened side. Though the symphony included a mere 7 members accompanied by a 10 member choir, the sounds deep within the cave echoed beautifully.
However, as is the culture here in Korea, even events as naturally appealing as a small symphony orchestra playing inside a cave within a cave, the event lacked that certain all-natural intimate feeling. For every symphony member, there were at least 2 camera men. They stood in front of the crowd members, moved throughout performances, set up tripods on top of people's feet, shown great big bright lights into the audiences eyes, and all so each of Jeju's 4 TV stations could cover the story, from every possible angle with their own footage! At one point, I couldn't see even one member of the choir as they were completely surrounded by cameramen!
During the hour long performance, I certainly didn't help to ease the atmosphere's congested, busy, loud, completely anti-symphony ambiance, as I yelled to rude cameramen that I couldn't see when they stood in front of me, I persuaded another foreigner to stand her ground as a cameraman placed his tripod on top of her leg, and I chatted for the entire hour to my good friend sitting next to me about the ridiculousness of creating something as beautiful as a concert in a cave and then ruining it with these lights and cameramen (and chatty, loud audience members)! I'm sure if I would have just shut my mouth and then my eyes the event would certainly have been more pleasurable! Possibly, I've been in Korea too long!
In fact, I noticed on the ferry ride home that the island sorta did look like a cow swimming toward me!
Mike Laidman's photos
