The first time I visited Changdeok-gung, the tour guide mentioned that Korean palaces are built in harmony with the natural environment. I remembered the first time I saw a tree in the middle of the road in Korea. It was on Road 47 (a local highway) in Ildong, Gyeonggi-do.
Two weeks ago, we went on another trip to Buyeo (Chungcheongnam-do) and proceeded to Daecheon the following day. Along the local highway to Boryeong, I saw another tree:
This reminded me of another tree, not on a road, but on a sidewalk just a few hundred meters from where we live in Seoul:
I know that you can also find trees in the middle of the road in other countries. I just don’t remember seeing one in my home country. I’m just amused to see them here.
The fist 2 trees in your picture seem that they are the natural monuments with certain historic stories.
Your tour guide correctly mentioned that Korean palaces were built in harmony with the natural environment. You can see the typical example in Kyungbok palace which you must have visited.
http://blog.naver.com/imck81/80141398707
As I mentioned before, Koreans planted more than 10 billion trees under Park Chung Hee’s strong leadership for reforest movement.
Recently I read an interesting article written by a US scholar saying the Philippines government tries to learn the Korean experience of reforest and tree planting as forest areas in the Philippines are disappearing rapidly and the mountain ranges are running out of trees. Forest cover area in the Philippines is barely 20% of nation, whereas Korea has 64%.
In my hometown, Baguio, there used to be a huge pine tree in the middle of Loakan road. It was no ordinary tree because it was haunted. A white lady lived there. Stories say a nurse had been raped, hung and left on that tree to die some decades ago. After that, her spirit is sometimes seen wandering somewhere around that tree. She would usually hitch a ride in the backseat and then vanish before you reach the town. That’s why cab drivers avoid this road after dark. Along with the ghost story, the tree was also a hazard to vehicles at night and whenever it’s foggy and dark because there are no street lights along that curvy road. Several accidents were reported and this made DPWH decide to to cut that tree but all attempts failed because those workers who dared to died or got seriously ill. No one then ever bothered to cut it. After a while the huge tree eventually died and DPWH again decided to cut it, this time workers had to do some rituals or whatever before taking the tree down. And now, you wouldn’t see the tree any more. I tried looking up to what happened to the man who was brave enough to cut the tree, and I’ve found out that he died three months after cutting that tree. The reason for his death? A tree fell off on him.
I know it’s not yet holloween, I just thought of sharing. 🙂
Hi Lois! Thanks for sharing. There are lots of horror stories in Baguio. I have never experienced anything creepy there though, and I’m glad about that.
Ms. Betchay, sa Ortigas meron 😛