The Atlantic has a an interesting article posted called How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America. Don Peck has taken an in depth look at the mental and cultural changes that are likely for those coming of age in this time or particularly hard hit areas. We all know that economic times leave their imprint on your personality – the depression era generation for example – but it is quite disturbing to see how harshly this recession will hit many men’s minds and stay with them for decades.

Korea and wedding photos

We had a more slow paced visit to Korea. The highlight was experiencing a Korean Wedding – congratulations to Kerey and Bora. Otherwise, lots of visiting, tea, and people watching.

The other new experience was trying out a common Korean pastime – spending half a day at Dragon Spa. It was a fun experience, once you got over the fact that you were the only forgiener in the place, and everyone was mildly staring. Staring is not an uncommon thing here, but a bit odd when you and everyone else are nude.

- They serve half decent tea through the flight

- The seatback entertainment systems are usually top of the line

- The food is much more interesting

- Warmed or cold towels/towelettes before/after meals.

- They give you slippers!

- Stray fluffy cats bounding through the snow in park surounding the Temple of Heaven

- A “Star-Rated Toilet”

- The giant bag of mandarin oranges I was given for my 10 yuan bill (about $1.40).

- Realizing that google maps business locations on maps are really more of a it-might-be-on-this-block suggestion. The actual location might be half a block down and on the opposite side of the street.

- Chinglish signs.

Weather, roads, and miscommunication seemed to conspire against us visiting any section of the great walls. The morning before our flight to Korea we finally managed to visit Juyong pass.

The wall at Juyong pass is impressive not for its size, but because of the very steep ground it covers. It is easy to see why the area was picked to fortify, it blocks the only route through the mountains. We climbed the steep side of the wall and were rewarded with great views of the surrounding mountains. The ice made the climb a bit sketchy on the way down, but overall it was fairly clear from the record snowfalls. Most of the hills kept their white blanket though, and it added to the view.

All the roads to different great walls were closed again today. It is clear they aren’t equipped to handle this level of snow and cold – every bit of snow we have seen removed has been completely by hand. I’m hoping they are finally open tomorrow – we can try for a quick visit before heading to the airport.

This morning we visited the Zhihua Temple (Zhihuasi) in the Lumicang hutong near our hotel. Several winding unmarked hutong streets deep, the temple was a bit tricky to find.

We arrived just in time to catch the end of the music performance by yellow costumed temple staff. 15 minute performances of Jingyue are given by a group of Buddhist musicians each day at 9, 10, 11 and 3. It has apparently been happening here for a while, they are the 28th generation of musicians to play on the grounds. The rest of the temple complex is not large, but has some very nice carvings and the main building has 9999 nooks and a small statue of Buddha in each.

Some of the buildings have been repainted, but in general the temple seems to have been left alone and minimally promoted for western tourists. Not a bad thing for us – we were the only ones there – but one wonders what the government plans for the site are.