Naval Surgeon In Yi Korea: The Journal Of George W. Woods by Fred C. BohmMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love these types of books, and for his time Woods seems to be pretty reliable and kept a very detailed journal. He seems to be quite enthralled with Korea and its people (again, given the times).
Some of my highlights:
"I have never been so surprised at any sight as I was at the beauty, symmetry, and one might say grandeur, of this gateway, as well as with the artistic construction of both gateway and wall" (p.36, in reference to Namdaemun (South gate)?
"She (Mrs. Foote) and Mrs. Mohlendorff are the only European ladies who have ever been in Seoul, and yet they have never met" (p. 43. Apparently there was some feud between their husbands?)
"After curfew, no man must go into the street, but women are allowed to wander until 1 a.m." (p. 52)
"The Colonel informed me - a Corean compliment - that I looked much older than 46" (P. 58)
"tea houses do not exist, because the people do not drink tea, as a rule" (p. 67)
"This is the sort of pageantry I like to see, something that in a few years will belong to the past, when the King will move like other civilised potentates and perhaps forget his ancestors, as our sceptical sovereigns have forgotten their religious duties" (p. 97, regarding a royal procession)
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