There were a few reasons why I made this trip to Korea.
Firstly, it was for my mum, as a remembrance trip for her. She had always wanted to visit Japan and Korea. My sis brought her to Japan a couple years back before Covid.
Then, there was another reason for me to visit Korea. My son has just finished his course in February and will be starting work in May.
Once work has started, there will be less opportunity to travel for long period, So, I thought since he is having a break at the moment, let's travel on a backpack.
And here we were.
On many mountain trails, there are temples one can visit in Korea. For many senior folks, they will hike to the temples to offer prayers, offerings etc. For tourists, we can offer donations about KRW10,000 and write on a clay plate some of the wishes we would like to convey to our love ones who had passed on.
I had the opportunity to do so at Seoraksan and also at Jeju. When I first wrote mine for my mum at Seoraksan, it was with the thought to let my mum know that we all missed her.
Missed her calling to me in the middle of my classes.
Missed her doing her exercises with her YouTube video.
Missed her sitting at her usual sofa using the phone and randomly calling people and sending weird messages.
Missed her walking to the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning to drink some beverages.
Missed the fact that she had been holding fort for many years keeping everyone together.
Ever since the day she passed away on 2/1/2022, I had never had a single dream about her. No messages, no conversations, no flashbacks. Nothing.
That night, after I had written my message on the clay plate at Seoraksan, I had a nice dream of seeing her sitting on her bed with her shorter than usual hair and smiling. I gave her a big tight hug. We didn't say anything to each other but it was enough to see her smiling at me.
When I was in Jeju, an opportunity came for me to write my second plate. This time, I thought it will be a nice closure as Jeju was the place she had wanted to visit. And so, I did.
It felt really good to be able to fulfill my late mum's wishes.
To be very honest, I would not have thought of Korea as a backpacking designation as I have closer affinity to Japan more than Korea. However, recent events, that seemed fated to happen, made me consider travelling to Korea.
In fact, during the planning of this trip, a surprise fan party for Park Eun Bin was announced which coincided with the travelling schedule of my trip and hence I was able to attend the fan party on Korea for the first time ever.
In all, it seemed that I had come a full circle from having fan activities with Park Eun Bin to Korea backpacking trip to remembrance trip to Jeju to sending a message to heaven and fulfilling my mum's wishes.
I am unsure what will come next but for sure, memories of my mum will forever live on in my heart.
Hope you are having a great time in heaven, Mummy. I will live my life to the fullest and be happy for the remaining journey of my life. See you in heaven in the future. Take good care of yourself and don't worry about us.
