Saturday Evening around Jongno

As I posted on Friday, this weekend was full of events going on in the Insadong/ Jongno/ Jogyesa area. Saturday night we ventured down at around 8 o'clock to see what we could see. There were a few events scattered around Insadong, but they were small and there were too many people, we couldn't see a thing. So, we made our way over to Jogyesa to see what we could see there. Frankly speaking, it looked more or less exactly like last year, except with more people because of all the events going on in the area. I took some photos there, but not too many because there wasn't much of a difference from the photos I took last year.



When we came out from the temple we realized there were more things going on down this street. There were some practices for the next evening's parade, so we got to see those as we walked down just in time to see them closing up the main performance stage we failed to find earlier.

We were just in time to snap some photos as the lanterns were rolled away.

Then we weren't sure what to do next. We wanted to go for a drink, but we didn't want to face the crowds around here, so we decided to walk a little way on the Cheonggyechong and find a Family Mart to grab a drink. We wound up spending more time than we expected along here grabbing photos and being indecisive about where to get out and find a mart.

Lanterns along the Cheonggyechong

Finally we walked all the way down to Euljiro 4 ga before we found a suitable place, but we enjoyed the rest of our evening drinking crappy Korean beer and eating snacks. All in all, a great evening.

This weekend's Buddha's Birthday activities

Buddha's birthday isn't until next week, but this weekend expect lots of things going on. This JoongAng Daily article more or less summarizes it quite well, but here is my own summary of the article if you're too lazy to click the button.

Bongeunsa- Lantern exhibition. Now- May 23rd
Insadong/ Jogyesa- Performances and parade Saturday May 15th 7-9pm
Jogyesa- Lantern making, temple food tasting, art exhibition and performers from around Asia. Sunday May 16th 12-7 pm
Jongno/ Jogyesa- (Highlight of the weekend) Lotus Lantern Parade starting from Dongguk Universtiy Stadium for a rally at 4:30, and ending at Jogyesa at 9:30 on Sunday May 16th.
Jogyesa- Dharma service 10 am May 21st (Buddha's Birthday)
Jogyesa- Lantern Lighting 7 pm May 21st

For directions and more details, check out the official website: www.llf.or.kr

I'm super excited about seeing some of the events this weekend. I missed it last year and I've heard it's really spectacular to see.

Fast food is too slow

My busy lifestyle doesn't afford me much time to get meals between Korean class and work. I often go to Paris Baguette and grab a mediocre sandwich there. At some point a few weeks ago I realized that they had raised the price of a sandwich from 4,000 won to 4,500 won. That seems pretty steep for a pre-made sandwich which has probably been sitting out on an unrefrigerated counter for several hours. So, after the price hike, I started looking for other places to get lunch. There's not many options for the 13 minutes or so I have between getting off the train and needing to sign into work. There is a Burger King and I think I've broken down and gone there two times since starting my job, but when I see 800 some-odd calories for one whopper jr. set written on the signboard, it makes me a little ill, so I generally look for other options.

I found Joe's Sandwich along the way to work and they make the best sandwiches I've had in Korea (and for 200 won less than Paris Baguette). Granted, they're still not amazing, but that's just what sandwiches are like in Korea. So, for the past few weeks, I've started hitting up them several times a week for my lunch. But, every time I go there, I realize they are the slowest people on the planet. How long can it take to make a sandwich? I try to think back to going to Subway or Quizno's at home... it's got to be less than 5 minutes... for an untoasted sandwich it's probably about a minute.

Here at Joe's, after taking your order they go behind what should be a clear plastic barrier to make the sandwich, much like at home. But, unlike at home, you can't see what they put into your sandwich because someone had the bright idea to cover the clear plastic with papers so you can't see what they're doing back there.

After I wait about 6 minutes or so (yes, I time it, mostly because by this point I'm getting dangerously close to being late for work), I start hearing them wrapping the sandwich. They wrap it one time, then cut it then wrap it again in a new wrapper for the most convienient eating experience. Then they stick a Joe's sticker on it and label the sandwich, because I might get it confuesed with the other twelve sandwiches I order for myself. Then (if I let them, but I try to catch them before they start) they very slowly take out a bag, slowly put a napkin in the bag with the sandwich, then slowly tape the bag shut, just in case I drop the bag and my well wrapped sandwich comes tumbling out onto the sidewalk. The whole wrapping process takes about 3 minutes from start to finish.

You know, I'm all for slowfood or whatever they call it nowadays, cooking the food properly and whatnot. But, this is a sandwich folks, and I'm late for work. No wonder the place is always empty. I don't want to think about what would happen if there were someone in line in front of me...

Today I went to Gimbap Sarang (just a typical Korean food joint) and said, screw it, I'm getting Korean food, and if I'm late for work, so be it. I ordered a kimchi jjigae to go for 3,500 won... and you know what? I was 3 minutes EARLY for work. Why does it take longer to make a sandwich than to make kimchi jjigae to go (I watched them cook it on the stove adding a few fresh vegetables to the pre-made kimchi base)? I don't understand! Anyway, from now on I think I'm sticking to Korean food. It tastes better and is evidently faster than a sandwich.

Hadong Green Tea Festival

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So how I wound up in a tiny little green tea farming town on my Children's Day last week is a very interesting story. Evidently, every year this little town, which happens to be the birthplace of Korean green tea, holds a green tea festival in the spring. This year they wanted to give a more international flair to the celebrations, so they decided to invite a bunch of foreigners down, free of charge, more or less to make the town look like a world renown place where not only Koreans visit, but foreigners flock to every year to celebrate the wonders of green tea. So, the boyfriend just happened to know someone who knew someone who was looking for a big bunch of foreigners to go down on this hosted trip. So we got our whole Saturday Korean class to go down and check out what was going on. Now, frankly speaking, driving 4.5 hours south and back in one day is not generally what I'd call a good time, no matter what was going on down there, but... when they offer free bus, guide and travel insurance for the day, it's hard to say no.

So, anyway, at 7 am we all met in Jamsil (which is not so close to my house by the way... on my day off...) and we boarded the bus south. We got there just in time for lunch. I think just about everyone ordered one of the area's specialties, 산재비빔밥 sanchebibimbap, or literally, mountain vegetable bibimbap. It was quite tasty, and a bit different from your average bibimbap in Seoul.

After lunch the first stop was a large, historic temple. From everything we could determine from the signage (which was actually well translated into English for once) it seems as if this temple never burned down... which tends to be the story behind every temple in Korea. Generally they've all been burned down at least once, usually by Japanese.







The temple was especially beautiful because of all the Buddha's Birthday decorations all over the place (note the lanterns hanging here)

Next we had a Green Tea picking experience. We were all allowed onto a hillside where green tea bushes grow somewhat wildly. They explained to us that if we pick the smallest leaves, those are the best tasting leaves and the highest quality leaves. So we all spent about 15 minutes roaming around and picking green tea leaves. We were able to take the leaves home with us to make our own tea from the leaves we picked ourselves.



Then we moved on to a green tea roasting experience. After tea leaves are picked, they are roasted by hand in big, round, 200˚C roasting pans for a few minutes, rubbed down on a mat, dried, then later again roasted, rubbed down and dried again for a total of 3 times before it is tea that they sell.

Before

Roasting

Rubbing

We did the process once, to get the idea, then we were given fully dried tea to take home with us. When you put the tea into the hot water, the tea leaves open up again and look like they were just picked.

After this, we were brought to a tea ceremony where we were taught the correct way to drink tea to enjoy the full flavor and meditate. If you're curious about how to do this, you must first grasp the cup correctly with two hands. First, hold it at your stomach while sitting up straight. Then bring it to your chest and enjoy the scent of the tea. Then take it to your mouth and drink 1/3 of the cup while enjoying and contemplating the taste of the tea. Then bring the cup back down. You can take 2 more sips in the same manner to finish your cup and fully enjoy the tea.


After this, we were allowed about an hour to roam around the festival and check out the various booths that were selling things (and giving out lots of free samples). We didn't buy anything except (randomly) some eggs from green tea fed chickens.... it was 3,000 won for 10 eggs (they don't sell in dozens here.... a dozen is kind of a random number if you think about it... in the metric system at least) which is what I usually pay for quite a few more eggs than that.... but maybe they're more healthy?

Creepy waddling bears pulling child filled carts

Anyone for green tea soju?

After wandering around for a while and having a dinner of green tea 전 (pancake) we rushed back to the bus to leave early, anticipating huge traffic jams from everyone returning to Seoul after a day outside the city. Fortunately, we sailed back to Seoul without a problem... I've never seen that happen before... but usually I'm coming in from the east, not the south... that must be the difference I guess.

If you want more information about the festival, you can check out the website here:
http://festival.hadong.go.kr/main/index.html
You can find some photos of us along with some information about Hadong and green tea.

Kokura and the end of my trip

After leaving Mojiko, we headed over to Kokura station to see Kokura Castle. Inside the castle was mostly a museum dedicated to the history of the castle, the Kokura area and Japanese history in general. There wasn't a lot of English around, but there was enough to see and do to keep interested. I feel this would have been more fun with kids because there were a lot of interactive activities and photo opportunities. We got there after 4:30 and they closed at 6:00 so we had just enough time to see the castle. There are also gardens here that you can view for an extra charge, but we didn't have time to see them.

Scale model of the castle and surrounding areas showing what the area might have looked like many years ago.


View from the top floor of the castle.


Outside the castle there is a small temple area where you can see some interesting sights too. After seeing the castle, we walked around the area. There was some shopping and market areas, but we were so exhausted by this point we didn't really have the strength to look around too much. Finally we found our bus at 10:30 back to the airport from Kokura station and got our plane home. All in all it was a pleasant trip and much better timing than Tokyo, which felt like a lot of rushing and waiting and constant battle to figure out how to take the subway. If you get the chance to take one of these weekend trips, the prices are not bad (for Japan) and it's especially nice if you don't need to work on Monday mornings.

Expect one more post about my culinary experience. I hope to have that up in the next day or two! That might be the longest post of all! I love Japanese food!

Kitakyushu: Mojiko

We departed from Beppu around noontime and headed back in the direction of Kitakyushu, where we flew into the morning before. Since our train pass was good for anywhere in the kitakyushu area, we went as far as we could go (as far as we were planning to go) to Mojiko, a newer tourist area/ old port area of the city. Here you can see many old buildings and check out some museums. We were starting to feel a bit poor by this point in the trip, so we opted not to actually pay admission to get into anywhere, but just check out what was free. We spend an hour or two wandering around here. It was good for photo taking and enjoying the weather.

Here's a steamship docked here...

Performing man with a monkey

Historic house where Einstien visited while in Japan. First floor is free to look around.
Bridge to mainland Japan. I didn't know how close it was!


Japanese Tall Ship docked in town for a few days. We watched them as they raised the sails.

Mojiko is a pretty touristy area, but it's nice for a few hours to walk around and see what's there. If you like shopping, there were lots of stalls outside selling things, but as I was not here for shopping it didn't really interest me. You can get here by train from Kokura station, it's only about 3 or 4 stops away, last station on the line.

Mount Takasaki: Too many monkeys

Takasakiyama or Mt. Takasaki is an area about a 10 minute bus ride from central Beppu where you can see "wild" monkeys. They didn't seem all that wild to me, the place wasn't exactly what I imagined. They keep the monkeys in one general area by feeding them. There is also someone constantly speaking into a megaphone in Japanese explaining about the monkeys, but we couldn't understand. If you speak Japanese, it might be more interesting because you would be able to understand the explainations about the various monkey tribes. The boyfriend knows enough Japanese to figure out that there are three tribes that live together there. We were able to see the number one monkey (the monkey king, as he liked to put it) from one of the tribes. Of course, he wasn't doing anything kingly, just sitting around grooming himself.


You get an idea for the immense amounts of monkeys here when it was feeding time. They threw some seeds on the ground and they all came running...

They were quite cute though. Before feeding time, it was grooming time, and they were all paired up picking bugs off each other...

These wild monkeys made their way out of the forest and on to the bridge for a photo opportunity.

There are two different buses that can take you to Takasakiyama from Beppu. Just ask at the Information center about which buses, and the time schedule. Buses seemed to come about twice an hour and because of the short distance, it was fairly cheap to get there. Once you're there, save yourself the 100 yen and walk up to the monkey area. It's only about a 5 minute walk, albeit up hill. We chose to get exercise rather than take the monkey monorail to the top. Also, ask at the information center about a coupon to get in, we got 20% off the entrance fee with that coupon.