Vacation

  

So, S. had his spring break this week and a friend of his and his girlfriend offered to take us on vacation.  We ended up going to Gyeongju and Andong.  I'm debating on whether or not to make this one long post or break it up - we had the digital camera along and took LOTS of photos.  O. even got into the action by taking some photos of his own of "this beautiful trip."

"A beautiful headrest" 

First up was Bulguksa Temple, an amazing lunch, then Seokguran Grotto.  Beautiful indeed.

Built in 751 by the Prime Minister Kim Dae-seong. 

Dabotap Pagoda - actually found on the back of the 10 won coin.  You can see one of the four original stone lions that adorned the pagoda - after the Japanese occupation, three went missing.  One evidently is in the London Museum.  Should something like that be returned?  

Seokgatap Pagoda right across from the other one.  

 

2007 was the year of the pig, considered to be especially lucky.  You can rub the bronze pig at the temple for good luck.  O. could have stayed here all day.  We got him a small one as a souvenir.  

"Let's just stay here a little longer."

Each stone represents a wish.  I wish you could have a sense of how many towers there were - the pictures just don't do it justice.  

  The view as we left the temple.

On the way to the temple from the parking lot, there are vendors selling souvenirs and snacks - including from right to left: roasted chestnuts, bundigie (silkworm larvae - cannot get past the smell to actually try them.  Our Korean friends said they were good, but we have yet to see them actually eat them.), and small snail-like shells.

Had to have the food picture!  For $27.50, we ordered spicy tofu soup, marinated beef that you cook table side, and bebimbap - mixed vegetables and egg over rice, and a platter of spicy panfried mountain roots similar to gingseng, but not as strong tasting.  As you see, they also threw in a large seafood/green onion pancake, acorn jelly salad, korean miso/tofu soup, and tons of extra vegetable side dishes.  Mmmmm.     

It's taking forever to get through all the photos - so I'll do a part two tomorrow!  See you then!        

Coming back from vacation

 

So, I used to think that sitting in the back seat of a car feeling nauseated was the worst feeling ever.  No, actually throwing up into a plastic bag in back seat of a car is worse.  Scratch that, throwing up twice into plastic bags is the worst.  No wait, throwing up on the sidewalk outside of a rest stop because you couldn't make it to the rest room, that's the worse.  Wrong again, doing all of that while your husband is doing the same thing and having a three year old climb on you to try to fall asleep, that's the worst.  

Actual information about the vacation shortly coming.  

Olympics, Day 1

We watched the opening ceremonies Saturday morning Korean time.  O. was mesmerized by the "movie," and kept asking us what was going to happen next.  I don't think he completely believed us when we told him that we had never seen this before either.  

He especially liked seeing all the different flags as each country's athletes came in.  We decided to make our own flags.  

 

 
 

Later that night, we were headed out to go to a friend's house for dinner.  O. wanted to bring along a flag, to "wave around outside."  Guess which one he chose.  

 

(If you are not aware of why a Japanese flag would not be a great one for him to wave around, just google Japanese occupation of Korea.  Things are much different now obviously, but it is still a senstive issue for many)  After some edited explanations of why he could not take this particular flag outside and wave it around, he decided to make a Korean flag.  Good.  Until he said, "Not South Korea.  The other one."

More edited explanations.  We finally decided on our Australian flag.  

 

Chinese food - Korean style

We had our first Chinese food here in Korea Friday night.  So good, so different from anything you would get in the states.  

First up, Tang su-yuk...deep fried pork in a slightly sweet sauce with a garnish of cucumber, carrot, lotus root and ginko nuts.  Dip in soy sauce spiked with red pepper flakes. 

 

Next up, Jaejang myeon...a black sauce (black bean maybe) with onions and small pieces of pork poured over homemade noodles, shredded cucumber, the ubiquitous sweet corn kernels, and a hardboiled egg.

 

Finally, Jampong...octopus, squid, mussels and scallops in the shell, head-on shrimp and a half a crab in a fiery red soup broth with more homemade noodles.  

 

Garnish with kimchi, pickled yellow radish (danmuji), raw onions to dip in sauce, sleeping three year old, and lovely Korean friend to help us figure out what to order. 

 

And scissors for cutting noodles.  Love this. Hard. 

 
 
All of this for 24,000 won = $20.80 USD.  We will never be able to eat out in the states again.    

 
 

Oeammaul traditional village

 We were lucky enough to have one of our Korean friends take us to Oeammaul traditional village last weekend.  You can wander around the traditional houses, have lunch at one of the many restaurants, and if you go on the right day, try one of the many Korean traditional activities.  We didnt' get to pound rice, or pretend to get married, but we did get to play in mud, swing standing up, and try delicious new foods.  

 

S. practicing for his second job as acrobat.  

 

Lucky this was the training high wire.  

Traditional clay jars for holding kimchi, gochujang (hot red pepper paste), and doengjang (like Japanese miso paste, but much more fermented...kind of the like the difference between the Japanese waiting in line for the subway and Koreans waiting in line for the subway).

 

And the houses where you can store some of your pots...I guess instead of burying them in the ground.  

 

Behind a traditional marriage table - lots of food decoratively stacked including oranges, pears, peeled chestnuts, traditional rice cakes, and jujubes (Korean dates).  All that's missing are the two chickens - honest. 

 

Beautiful mountains in the background and evidence of new construction...they are building more traditional style homes for people to actually live in.  There are actually a number of families that live within the village in homes just like the ones that are one display.  

  

 

S. continuing his training. 

No pictures of the food we ate - I ran out of photo space on my phone - so we have gratuitous pics of O. instead.  Enjoy...