Boryeong Mud Festival (보령머드축제) Goes from July 14 to July 22 on Daecheon Beach. Mega mud tub, mud slide, mud soaps, etc. Supposed to be good for the skin (they sell mud cosmetics there too). Lonely Planet also says something about a "Mr Mud and Ms Mud" contest, haha.
3. A Korean West Coast Beach
Daecheon Beach Described in the Lonely Planet Korea as "the best beach on the west coast" and the "Las Vegas of Korea" Features a Mud House and tons of fresh seafood restaurants... a good place to try sannakji (산낙지), literally live octopus. Supposed to be so fresh that it moves around in your mouth while you chew!
4. A Rail Trip around South Korea
Korea Rail has a 3 day unlimited rail pass which I'm planning to get to see the West coast and central area of South Korea. Maybe I'll even get to stay in the 지방, or countryside
1. Mokyoktang Korean bath and sauna. Nothing makes you feel quite as clean as sweating like a pig for an hour and then plunging in cold water. Cool floors to take naps on and healthy refreshments like misugaru (a cold drink made from grain) and miyukgook (seaweed soup) make the experience even better.
2. Norehbang Korean karaoke. Ubiquitous: you can find a sign saying 노래방 every block in Sinchon.
3. Soju, barbecue, and Hongdae club night Rice liquor, roasted meat, and dancing to Korean hiphop... The three are inextricably linked.
4. Milky Road The best patbingsoo in Seoul
5. Class at Sogang ( nerd :) )
I miss vocab games and in-depth conversations about random topics in Korean!
Tourist Stuff
It's funny how much of the touristy attractions I didn't see last summer---
Gyeongbok palace/National folk museum
Namsan park/Seoul Tower
Chongdong Theatre
Hangang Park
Fortunately my friends will be visiting for one week in July, during my Korean language program's vacation. I'll be showing them around Seoul, and seeing some of the museums/palaces/traditional performances for the first time as well. Seoul in 1 week? It's gonna be intense.
the highlight of the trip was the day we spent at the most popular beach in Korea, Haeundae Beach.
Contrary to our expectations, the water was clear, shallow, and seemed clean enough. There were tons of kids and teens in the ocean hanging on to inner tubes riding the waves.
To get to Busan, which is on the southernmost tip of South Korea, we took the train from Seoul Station. The mugunghwa class train takes 5 hours from Seoul to Busan and costs $25. We managed to escape the rain clouds which poured down on Seoul during the three days that we were gone.
All we had to deal with was lots and lots of hot sun =) At Haeundae Beach, no one brings their own sun umbrella to the beach. They're all rented for 5,000 won, resulting in the sand being covered with identical red and white umbrellas advertising McDonalds and Lotteria.
We had to find someone with non-sandy hands to take a photo of us. When the picture was finally taken, we found out that you could barely see our faces because of the shadow. I adjusted the shadows and highlightings to fix the picture, and now we have some kind of weird halo around our figures, like we're angels O:-]
Around Haeundae Beach are lots of small restaurants and vendors. The stores have a somewhat limited selection of beach supplies though. Mark found himself buying a Disney Princesses towel =p
We met up with some native Busan-ers (?) for dinner. They took us to a place that serves a chicken dish which is a Busan specialty.
It was basically pieces of chicken and rice cake in a spicy sauce. The sauce was definitely the best part, I'd never tasted it before; a flavorful fusion that tasted like barbecue sauce and spicy Korean gochujang (red pepper paste). I'm not sure why there are corn kernels and pickles in it though.
After we ate, I had to visit the 붕어빵 (bungabbang~ bunga is the word for goldfish, bbang means bread) vendor down the street. hese little pastries are delicious!! Batter is poured into a fish shaped mold and baked with red bean in the middle. To clear up any misunderstanding, there are no fish products whatsover inside.
In the States, there is also an ice cream version of this made by Binggrae.
Oh and I can't forget the sesame ice cream.
AMAZING. Sold by Natuur as a "well-being" ice cream. It's my new favorite flavor.
Gorgeous sunset view.
The not so gorgeous yeogwan (cheap motel) that I stayed at. But for $20 a night and your own bathroom, it's a good deal. Still, I was afraid that something would crawl out of a crack in the wall and bite me while I was asleep.
We also went to Gwangalli Beach, famous for its nighttime view of the Gwangan bridge, the longest bridge in Korea.
Korean palm trees
Near the university district in Busan, we found "Foxy", which boasted both a bar and a dance *cave*.
At Foxy I witnessed multiple male couples grinding enthusiastically on each other. These guys were straight (many Koreans are still deeply suspicious of homosexuals). And there were no guys and girls dancing together ^^;;
Kaila and I went to the biggest bath house in Asia.... HUR SHIM CHANG MOGYOKTANG! (허심창)
With multiple floors, it is spa heaven. The first floor has a fountain, a beauty salon, small shops, and a yummy bakery =)
Here's a directory.
Sorry, no photos from inside the mogyoktang, I think I would have been kicked out if someone had seen me taking pictures of naked people =p
Basically, one floor has jjeemjjeelbangs, which are different saunas. They're big igloo shaped structures which you walk into and relax in--one is hot and made out of clay, another one is of intermediate temperature (it's called jewelry room and has pretty mosaics on the wall), and the last one is cold with snow and fake ice crystals lining the walls. This floor also has a lounge area where families sit together, relax, and talk; an ice cream and snack shop; a restaurant serving traditional Korean food; foot baths; an Oxygen room (which is supposed to stimulate growth hormones?); an aromatherapy room; and a DVD room. The jjeemjjelbang floor is coed--men and women are given gowns to wear while relaxing, sweating, and chilling.
On the other floor, however, you are completely and utterly NAKED. This floor has the "Grand Hot Springs", a huge atrium with different pools and waterfalls. Temperatures range from steaming hot to warm, cool, and ice cold. There are also "caverns" which run through rocky walls, streams of water coming from the ceilings to simulate waterfalls, and pools with colored water scented with strange herbs that are supposed to have health benefits.
Here are pictures from the Hur-Shim-Chang website:
Not to sound like a nudist advocate or anything, but being naked with 500 other Korean women is less awkward than I thought it would be. First of all, once you see hundreds of naked women, everyone starts to look similar. And secondly, the people at the hot springs range from infant age to old grandmothers. It was obvious that everyone had been coming to public baths for their whole lives and felt completely comfortable.
Once I came out of the sweating room, chilling room, hot baths, and cold baths (and enjoyed a bowl of Korean miyukguk, or seaweed soup along the way), I felt completely refreshed.
Hur-Shim-Chang was gorgeous and huge and you're free to stay as long as you want. If you tried to go to a similar spa in America, it would probably cost you around $100. Guess how much the bill came to here? . . . . . 7,500 won. That's $7.50 in the US.
Ahh, I'm so sad I don't live in Busan =(
More scenic views of Busan taken on the train ride back..
And random photos of the party that my Sogang teacher had at her house for our class a week ago:
It's Daun's birthday and she's making a wish...
I'm going for the cake. By the way, cakes in Korean bakeries are works of art! Not to mention that they taste heavenly.
Our teacher had samgaetang at her house for her, the traditional chicken soup dish which you're supposed to eat in the summer. It's hot, but somehow refreshing. A small chicken is stuffed with sweet rice, ginseng, dates, and chestnuts and then boiled until tender and juicy.
It was a feast:
Sunsengneem's kid is adorable =)
Last week we also met up with Professor Hwang, a professor at Yale/Yonsei for dinner.. and then went to Milky Road.
Milky Road deserves its own blog entry one day. But as you can see, all of our patbingsoo bowls are scraped clean. =P
Went to a pretty unusual bar last night, located in Sinchon. The theme of it is "under the ocean"! The name of it is... Fusion something bar (don't quite remember).. It's in the area of Sinchon on the way to Yonsei, on your left going from the Rotary.
The interior is all curved white forms, that I think are supposed to be coral, and you sit at a table with an island panorama under the table glass.
There's lots of fruit, sides like fried chicken, beers, and soju cocktails! I got peach last night; it's good!
^ The ceiling has panels with running water going through them.
There were lots of big drunk Korean groups.. with quite a few empty soju bottles on their tables ;)
This is.. ahh... interesting very purposeful use of color. ^_^;;
The beer pitcher that they brought us was hollowed out in the middle and had a base to make it look higher and bigger (a common practice in Korean bars). BUT, they had put dry ice in the middle, and the vapors came out of a pipe at the top of the pitcher.
We are confused, but happy.
There is a hiphop dance club located IN Sinchon, the area where we live! It's called Zen, and the cover charge is just 3,000 won ($3). It is practically right across the street from our living-tel. However, it doesn't get busy until around 12. We got there around 11:20 and were the first people on the dance floor. American trendsetters!
There were actually quite a few Americans at the club last night.. you could tell from (a) their whiteness/blackness (b) their loud, low-pitched voices, (c) their FREAK dancing! Haha, Koreans need to be very drunk to indulge in such non-conservative behavior...
We were proud to be Americans. 2 days till the 4th of July!
Ganjang = soy sauce , one of the most consumed products in Asia Gongjang = factory (dwenjang is soy bean paste)
Sempio is the top producer of soy sauce in Asia. Yesterday my class went to the Sempio factory, located in the countryside, to see how soy sauce is made!
The first thing we saw was boxes and boxes of Sempio soy sauce, being prepared for delivery to everywhere from Germany to Seoul.
When we walked into the conference building we got to try one of Sempio's new products, a cold drink made out of.... VINEGAR. Yes, vinegar. It also contains black honey. It's surprisingly really good-- sweet, sour, and cold. The rice vinegar drink is supposed to have lots of uses-- an everyday health drink, a mixer with soju, and a hangover remedy.
Can you tell which one is the real person...?
Haha, we all had to wear white hair nets and lab coats for the tour:
Looking up at the giant soybean silos.. they put the soybeans in here to ferment and grow bacteria! Then when the beans are all furry and white with live cultures, Sempio boils them for consumption. Hm... I never knew that I was eating live bacteria in my soy sauce and bean paste.
My 3 Sunsengneems (teachers). From right to left- writing teacher, reading teacher, and speaking teacher. Awww, so cute ^.^
The presentation that Sempio gave us at the beginning was somewhat boring... also I only understood about 60% of it. Here's part of it in video format below... turn up your volume and see if you can decipher what she's saying:
Then we watched a BIZARRE British animated movie about a woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to an infant which immediately dies. Here's a particularly shocking scene:
Yes, you are seeing multiple knives plunge into a baby! The woman's imagining things that could happen to her yet unborn child, such as electrocution, suffocation in a plastic bag, and death by being burned under a spilled pot of boiling oil on the stovetop. ^.^; This was part of a cultural film festival thing.
No photos were allowed inside of the actual factory... basically there were big vats of steaming, fermenting, or roasting soybeans. The smell was yummy!
And then it was time for lunch, which we ate in the Sempio cafeteria. THEIR FOOD IS AMAZING!
Jun is so happy he's dancing while deciding what to eat.
Ca-uri's quite pleased as well!
Okay, I admit that I was probably the happiest =p
Seriously, I have to get a job at Sempio just so I can eat in the employee cafeteria.. you get reallllyy good kimchi, just the way I like it: not too fermented or soggy, fresh tasting with lots of crunchy little baby pieces. You also get the "yulmoo kimchi", or summer kimchi, fried salted pieces of kelp, these little hush-puppy type things with ketchup, curry rice, and dwenjang chigae (stew) made from Sempio's best bean paste. Mmm..
Our class:
It's called the Angel Class because we're just that great O:-) ....actually it's because we meet in room 1004. The number 1004 is pronounced chun-sa (chun means 1000 and sa means 4). And chunsa means angel in Korean... haha.. because we're *soooo well-behaved* ^.^;;
When it was time to leave, we each got a present from Sempio:
Containers of soy sauce, bean paste, dipping paste, red pepper paste, and Solomon's seal tea! All of my favorite Korean foods.. I just have to go to Grand Mart and buy some cucumbers and red leaf lettuce to eat with them.
Food factories aren't generally on tourists' top attractions, but they can be a lot more interesting than museums or nature scenes! If you come to Korea, I definitely recommend going to one :) Plus you get free food..
I'll post about last night in a bit.. Koreans v. Swiss >.<
