한우 산나물 축제 Mountain Vegetable and Hanoo Festival in Yongmun

On May 13th, we headed over to Yongmun, about an hour and a half east of Seoul to check out the Mountain Vegetable and Hanoo (Korean Beef) Festival. The festival grounds were split between the area near the subway station and Yongmunsa, a famous temple which I have also blogged about here and here. Buses were running every 10 minutes or so to accommodate all the heavy traffic up to the temple, but despite that, the buses were still packed.

Near the subway station there were lots of vegetables and food for sale. Above you can see a woman selling dodok, a kind of tasty root eaten in many ways from marinated and grilled to being used to make makkoli. Below, a woman is frying 은행, or ginko seeds. Everything looked so tasty, but we had just eaten lunch before arriving, so we moved on to the Yongmunsa temple area to continue exploring.

Up near Yongmunsa tents selling every green leafy thing imaginable, lined the street. We didn't really need to buy vegetables, so we continued on to find more exciting things.

One corner had a bunch of props used in historical dramas, like this drum above which they even let us hit, and these flags that apparently we weren't supposed to touch, even though there was no sign...

Further exploration of the festival grounds revealed more exciting things like a traditional tea ceremony, cows which may or may not some day make it to the barbeque (this is the a Hanoo festival after all), and more food tents featuring Hanoo galbi, Korean pancakes made with various mountain vegetables and an international food stand which we kept passing and drooling, but we kept reminding ourselves that this was a Korean mountain vegetable festival, not an international food festival....

But perhaps the most exciting part of the day was when they announced that there would be a Kung Fu demonstration on the stage. Some boys from a local Kung Fu school put on a pretty impressive show (considering they were middle and high school age boys).

And last but not least, I couldn't leave this cute donkey out of my blog post. Who can't resist a cute donkey??

Before leaving we finally settled on a plate of grilled dodok root and a pot of makkoli before making our way back home by bus and then subway. All in all it was a fun day and we had perfect weather. Be sure to make your way to Yongmun next year for this festival!

An invitation and some announcements

Invitation: 

Our Janggu class will be holding a final performance this Thursday. All are welcome.

 Our Janggu class beating the drums furiously

Performance: Our janggu class, Hanyang University's Saemulnori class, and a performance by professional performers
Place: National Folk Museum of Korea (Next to Gyeongbokgung palace). Go to the auditorium.
Date: May 17th
Time: 3-4pm
Price: Free, museum admission is also free

Announcements: 

Our new street... our house is the last one on the end of the alley

 

Lots of things going on lately. First, we're moving! Not far, but we've found a 3 bedroom hanok for 700,000 won a month and 20 million key money. We expected that it would be a pretty terrible place, judging by the low price, but after seeing it, we found it to be quite nice and much closer to the subway station than where we are now. We're moving early June. Photos to come after we're settled!

Second, I'll be spending the summer in America. I'm starting a graduate program at my alma mater to get my Master's in TESOL. Two summers on campus and 3 online classes and I should be the proud owner of a Master's degree by the end of next summer. Expect light posting from June-August.

 the concept of my table... but still a work in progress...

Perhaps from tomorrow, I'll be embarking on a little art project... (hopefully) transforming a seriously ugly table that we keep covered with a table cloth into a Korean collage. Here's a preview. Hoping to make a border around the edges with hanji. Either I will completely destroy this table with my poor art skills or I will make it usable again without a tablecloth... we'll see what happens in the end.... 

뜰안 Tea House in Jongno

As I wondered around the backstreets of Jongno this week I stumbled across this lovely tea shop mixed in with all the hanok homes behind Jongno-3-ga. My fascination with anything traditional in this country drew me in the door, and I'm quite happy we stopped by.

The ambiance was lovely with the wooden rafters exposed, floor seating and bojagi (traditional Korean quilt work) hanging in the window. It was hard to choose which tea to drink because there were so many, but finally I decided to get the maeshil tea (plum tea), which is served cold, and my boyfriend decided to get the traditional fermented tea.

Here is my plum tea. I really liked the cute star shaped ice floating on the top. It is very sweet and basically tastes like fruit. If you're not a fan of sweet teas it wouldn't be the right choice for you, but if you love fruity drinks, this is really cool and delicious.

The fermented tea was more interesting though, actually. We were given a pot of hot water, a small tea pot filled with fermented tea leaves, a small bowl to pour the steeped tea into and the waitress was kind enough to give us two cups so we could share the pot of tea.

Next time you find yourself in these backstreets of Jongno, be sure to stop by here for peaceful cup of tea in a traditional Korean ambiance.

For more information, please see their website (Korean only) http://www.cafeaeran.com.

서울특별시 Seoul

종로구 Jongno-gu

익성동 166-76 Ikseong-dong 166-76
Phone: 02-754-7420

View 뜰안 in a larger map

"Beer Mart" and a New Trend in Beer Drinking

Nowadays, self-service drinking establishments like this one called "Beer Mart" are becoming more and more common around Seoul. It seems to be a combination of the freedom of drinking outside of a convenience store with a climate controlled environment and a huge international beer selection (though still severely lacking in the American beer selection outside of Budweiser and Miller). Chips and popcorn are available for purchase in the store, or you can bring in whatever you like from the outside. They even provide menus from local delivery restaurants so you can call and order your own food.

Since there's not much waitstaff here since everything is self-serve, you just have to collect your bottles in a basket like this, plus keep the wrappers of any snacks you buy, and then when you have finished for the evening, you just bring your basket and snacks up to the front to pay.

While far from being a classy sort of establishment, it is certainly cheap as they can afford to charge low prices for their beers. No expectations to buy anju must also be a draw for people on a budget who want to drink good beer.

Keep your eyes out for one of these style bars in your neighborhood. You may find that this is the best place to drink since the invention of the Family Mart outdoor seating area.

Where's your favorite self-service bar?

맥주마트- Beer Mart
서울시 성북구 석관동 133-1 3층- Seoul Seongbukgu, Seokgwan-dong 133-1 3F
02-957-6225
www.selfbeer.co.kr (Korean Only)

Railroad Turned Bike Path

Me on my new "mini-sprinter"

You may not have noticed if you're not bicycler, but biking in Korea has improved dramatically in the last year or two. Bike paths are popping up around Seoul, and are now even connecting cities. Nowadays it's possible to ride from Seoul to Busan by bicycle and you would be able to stay on bike paths for about 80% of the ride. The majority of the new bike paths follow waterways, anything from small streams to Korea's 4 large rivers, which makes for some seriously peaceful and scenic bicycle riding.

Bridge connecting Namyangju and Yangsuri, crossing the North Han River

The path I've been riding lately is the one that starts in Seoul on the north side of the Han River and just keeps going. Last year, they took an old, unused train route and converted it into a bike path. It must have been really convenient, since there were already tunnels in place and it was already relatively flat.

Once railway tunnel, now a tunnel for cyclists

Inside the well-lit tunnel

Old train car under renovation

The path has been really nicely done, and they've left some reminders of the old railway that used to exist there. Above you can see an old railway car. It seems they are restoring it now, maybe later people will be able to go in and see inside as well. Below, you can see an old station that they have restored.

Old train station

Along the path as well, they have tried to leave some of the old tracks as a reminder as well.

Cafe on the tracks

Tracks along side the cycle path 

This new bicycle path (which also allows walkers as well, but no cars or motorbikes) is attracting huge crowds. Enough so to justify setting up restaurants along the bike path that cars just don't have access to. It's kind of amazing to think of a world revolving around bikes, not cars, but that's what it's like once you start riding on this path. Like existing in a car-less world. It's kind of amazing!

Restaurants for bikers and pedestrians

If you don't have your own bike, have no fear. There are many bike rental shops and there are even various locations where you can borrow a bike for free. One of those places is just outside Yangsu station on the Jungang line. The rental bikes look like quite nice mountain bikes, though I haven't tried them for myself since I have my own bike.

I hope I've inspired you to get out this spring and enjoy the weather by exploring Korea by bicycle. Bike paths now snake all around Korea. Just by getting on the north side of the Han river in Seoul, you can bike all the way to Chungju in North Chungcheon province without ever having to get off the path. Bike path maps are also conveniently posted along the path in various places, though often only in Korean. I've yet to see many foreigners along this path outside of Seoul, so we have to get the word out! Happy biking!

Janggu Class at the Seoul National Folk Museum

Impressive performance by professional janggu Players

I was fortunate enough last month to see an advertisement on worknplay.co.kr for a free, two month long Janggu lesson at the National Folk Museum in Seoul. I signed up immediately. When else could I get to take a two month long music lesson for free?

For our first lesson, we were introduced to the Janggu with a performance by four professional Janggu players, our two teachers and another two performers. The blonde hair you see on the right of the stage above is actually one of our teachers, she's a Polish woman who has graduated from Hanyang University in Seoul, with a master's in Janggu. Not only is she a fantastic Janggu player, but she's also our class translator for the students who can't understand Korean.

One of the janggu players

After watching the performance, we were all feeling a little intimidated... there was no way we'd ever be able to perform something like that... but we were informed that the particular piece they had performed for us was not anything close to what we'd ever be expected to play. Then we were all given our own janggu and we started to learn the basics.

Janggu 

I hope to make a more detailed post about the janggu later, but basically the janggu is a traditional Korean instrument that dates back to the Goryeo dynasty and earlier. There are two ends, each made with a different animal skin and each producing a different sound. The sounds can also be changed by sliding the leather adjustments on the sides as well. The "gongchae" is the stick held in the left hand. It has a wooden ball at the top to make the "gong" sound. The stick held in the right hand is called the "yeolchae", it is long and thin and makes a "dak" sound as it hits the right side of the drum.

(Left) "gongchae" and (right) "Yeolchae"

Our teacher teaching us janggu theory

The class is more than just hitting a drum. We're learning about different rhythms, fast, medium and slow. We're learning different combinations of hitting the drums to produce certain rhythms as well. To a class of rather musically inept people, it's quite entertaining to watch. But, our teacher tries hard to keep us on beat and hitting the right side of the drum with the right stick at the right time.

Our teacher, demonstrating for us

We've just completed two weeks of the class, we've still got another 6 weeks to go. I'm really excited for our final day when we have a performance with 3 other classes from the National Folk Museum. When the official times are released for that performance, I'll be sure to post them here. All will be welcome to see!

English Website of the National Folk Museum of Korea: http://www.nfm.go.kr:8080/english/main.jsp

The Cheonggyecheon Gets a Cleaning

Spring cleaning on the Cheonggyecheon. I snapped this photo one day last week. I never knew streams had to be swept!