March 3, 2026 — The Day I Set Out on My Odyssey
The Storyteller’s Journey : The journey begins with a single road.
There comes a time when a journey is no longer about reaching somewhere new.
It becomes a way of looking back at where we have been — and of discovering what may still lie ahead.
On March 3, 2026, I began a blog.
At first, it was a small beginning. I wanted to write about Seoul, the city I knew, and to share its streets, palaces, history, culture, and everyday life with people beyond Korea.
But as I walked, photographed, listened, and wrote, something began to change.
One place led to another.
A palace opened a door to a forgotten story.
An old object awakened a childhood memory.
A road disappearing beyond the mountains made me wonder what might be waiting on the other side.
Before long, I realized that I was no longer simply writing a blog.
I was beginning an odyssey.
The Road After Retirement
Retirement is often described as the end of a working life.
I have come to see it differently.
For me, it has become an opportunity to begin another journey.
There are still roads in Korea I have never walked.
Villages whose stories I have never heard.
Mountains I have never climbed.
Islands I have never reached.
People I have not yet met.
So I decided to go.
From Seoul to the mountains of Gangwon.
From the old kingdoms of Chungcheong and Jeolla to the historic cities of Gyeongsang.
From the southern islands to Jeju.
From ancient fortresses and royal palaces to markets, fishing villages, temples, fields, and ordinary streets.
I want to travel through Korea’s eight provinces — 팔도강산 — with my own feet.
Not merely to collect destinations.
But to see what remains.
To listen.
To remember.
And to write.
Korea, Seen Along the Way
There are already countless guides to Korea.
They can tell us where to go, what to eat, which train to take, and what time a palace opens.
Those things matter.
But I want to search for something else as well.
What does Korea feel like when you actually walk through it?
Sometimes the answer may be found in a royal palace.
Sometimes in a bowl of food at an old market.
Sometimes in the hands of a craftsman who has spent a lifetime making the same tool.
And sometimes it may be hidden beneath an ordinary patch of grass where an ancient kingdom once stood.
I want to find those stories.
Some will belong to history.
Some will belong to the people I meet.
And some will unexpectedly lead back to my own memories.
For Those Who Wish to Meet Korea
I am Korean.
But I am also still discovering Korea.
That may be one of the reasons I began this journey.
I want to share what I find with people around the world who are curious about this country — those who love Korea from afar, those preparing for their first visit, and those who have already been here but want to understand it more deeply.
I hope these journeys can become more than recommendations on a map.
Perhaps a photograph will make someone want to walk a road they had never heard of.
Perhaps an old Korean story will make a palace look different.
Perhaps a small encounter in a village will reveal something about Korea that no guidebook could explain.
And perhaps, someday, someone will come to Korea carrying one of these stories with them.
If that happens, this journey will have traveled farther than I ever could alone.
And Sometimes, the Road Leads Inward
But there is another reason for this Odyssey.
The longer I travel, the more I realize that journeys do not only take us forward.
Sometimes they take us backward.
An old farming tool may suddenly bring back my mother working beneath the summer sun.
A landscape may awaken a memory I thought I had forgotten.
A road may remind me of another road walked decades ago.
Those moments belong here too.
Because a journey through Korea can also become a journey through memory — and through one’s own life.
That is why this space is called Gupiter’s Odyssey.
It is not simply a record of where I go.
It is a record of what I discover along the way — in Korea, in others, and sometimes in myself.
The Journey Begins
I do not know how many roads I will walk.
I do not know how many stories I will find.
And I do not know where this Odyssey will eventually lead.
Perhaps that is exactly why I want to begin.
On March 3, 2026, I opened a small window and began writing about Korea.
Now I want to open the door.
And walk.
Across Korea.
Through memory.
Into stories still waiting to be found.
This is my journey.
The Odyssey begins here.
Gupiter Lee
A Storyteller of Seoul, Koreaᴳ
Every journey leaves something behind.
…
But the journey sometimes leads inward.
