Day 14

I've been a busy bee this weekend!  I hit Costco--yes, again--on Saturday morning and bought the rest of my necessities--yes, whipped cream is a necessity--but unfortunately I had to teach a Spanish class--yes, on Saturday--at 2pm so I had to leave pretty early.  I left for the bus station at 6:30 and got back to Namchuncheonyeok (that's South Chuncheon Station) at 11:15.  Taking a cab back with all my goodies proved unbelievably difficult.

Here is a map of where I live (the top-left square) and where the station is (bottom-left square).

The distance between these two places is roughly 1500 feet.  I showed the taxi driver a map on my phone, with a pin in the spot I wanted to go, and drew a line with my finger from the station to the pin.  He didn't understand, and enlisted the help of several strangers, one of whom took my phone and left.  Fortunately he went to ask someone else for directions, so I got my phone back and after about 20 minutes I finally made it home.  What an ordeal!

If you're wondering why I didn't just walk, then you have never seen me shopping at Costco.  I buy a lot.

That's a suitcase.  It ain't small, and it's packed full.
The bag is full of cold goods, also full.  I buy a lot.

After Spanish class I went on a trip with a few of the other teachers to the Soyang Dam.  The dam is about 5 miles away, and there's a city bus that goes there, but fortunately one of the teachers is Korean and has a car.  (And can drive in Korea without killing anyone, that's important too.  Drivers are insane here.)

The dam was beautiful!  Unfortunately, it was raining and I didn't get any good pictures of it.  We're planning on returning in the fall, since it's supposed to be very beautiful what with the changing leaves and all.

Taken from the ferry.

Erik, Dean, and I on the ferry.

Swapped out Dean for the real asian, Juan.

We took a ferry across the lake and took a nice little walk to a temple.

There's a legend in Chuncheon that a man fell in love with a princess.  He turned into a snake and wouldn't leave her alone.
Finally he let her leave one day to get rice, and when she got back he was dead.  I have no idea if this statue is related.

People pile stones and make wishes.

Lovely nature walk!

Once we reached the temple, there was water!  It's fresh mountain water, perfectly safe to drink and very delicious.

Dean scooping water.

Yum yum.

Finally, the temple!

Pretty and popular!

The temple was beautiful.  It contained several buildings, each ornately and colorfully painted.

Can you imagine how long it took to do this?  Very intricate.

The lanterns have wishes hanging from them.  You can pay to write a wish and have it hung in the temple.

Check out the Asian Photographer pose on the left.

Dean, the only Korean among us, lead us into the main building of the temple and showed us how to do the traditional ritual of bowing three times and making a wish.  Very calming!

A temple of peace and tranquility!

Close-up of the Buddha statues and the painting behind it.  Apparently photos are okay inside the temple!

 Another smaller building was hiding behind the main one.

Dean, you're facing the wrong way.

Another had a beautiful tiger painting with golden eyes!

Tigers once lived in Korea, but like much of their ancient wildlife, are no longer found here.

The eyes actually reflect light.

Frontal view of the same building.

Another painting beneath intricate decoration.

More paintings from inside the temple buildings.

Closer view of the same paintings.

I forget the Korean name for this, but apparently they hang one on the edges of the temple roof
and when the wind blows it, it's time to harvest rice.

This one has an enormous bell!  You can't read the sign in front, but it says "Do not ring the bell" in Korean.

 After the temple, it was time to head back to civilization for dinner.

But first, a sip of makkoli, an alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.  

At some point I will make an entire blog post about traditional Korean alcohol.

Waiting for the ferry.

Cute Korean family.

Being matchy-matchy is big in Korea.  Couples often wear matching clothes too.

Once safely back to the city, we went for Korean barbecue for dinner.  There are Korean barbecue restaurants in the USA, but I've never been to one.  Apparently they don't have nearly as good a selection of side dishes.

So many side dishes!  And there's more on the other side of the table!

Every meal in Korea comes with at least 10 side dishes.  Most are delicious and almost all are spicy.

Onions and cucumbers in a vinegar sauce.

Kimchi, the flavor of which is starting to grow on me.

Rubbery noodles with an assortment of veggies.  Not very spicy!

The meat comes raw, and they put charcoal into a grill right on your table.  A movable vent sucks up the fumes.

The lighting was a bit weird, which is why the embers are purple.

They give you scissors to cut it up yourself.  This is fairly common in Korean restaurants.

 And once the meat is gone, they bring out a boiling-hot soup and rice.  I have never left a Korean restaurant hungry, and I haven't paid more than 14,000 won (about $12) for a meal yet.  There's also no tipping in Korea, so eating out is very inexpensive here!

This was a crab-and-veggie soup.  The crab bits are just for flavor and not edible, unfortunately.

After dinner we walked home along the river and hung around a convenience store, eating ice cream (me) and drinking beer (the boys).  We were eventually forced to leave because the smell of roasted silkworm larvae was making me nauseous, and because we were exhausted.  But on the way home, we spotted this gorgeous and enormous specimen:

No post on this blog is complete without a spider photo.  Biggest one I've seen yet, might go catch it one of these days!

This was yesterday's 'hike,' so expect some photos from today's real hike, Gugok Falls, and the Korean spa experience later this week!  An entire post dedicated to Korean Costco is in the works as well, because every red-blooded American loves Costco and should know more about their international options.  Costco aside, I'm very lucky to be working with fellow hikers who will put up with my stubby legs, old-lady knees, and spider photography opportunities.  Hopefully this is just the first of many hikes in Korea!

Cheers,
Ashton