Goodbye South Korea. Goodbye kimchi. Goodbye adjummas and adjoshis. Goodbye students and teachers. Goodbye serviceu. Goodbye couple clothing. Goodbye dogs in makeup. Goodbye perms and sequins. Goodbye Mokpo, Suncheon, Gwangju, Naju, and Seoul. Goodbye Konglish. Goodbye KPop. Goodbye trucks selling random things. Goodbye delicious Korean food. Goodbye to everyone I’ve met during my time in Korea. I’ll miss it all.
Category Archives: Korean Adventures
Want To Get Elected In South Korea?
All you need is a truck blaring loud dance music, people in neon colored jackets, peple dancing, people clapping, and people bowing.
Penis, Korean Taxis, and Possible Adjumma Porn
A rock that resembled a penis was what started the most amazing, most awkward, and most unusual taxi ride I have ever taken in South Korea. It all started when my friend Alex came to Suncheon for the day. We hopped a bus to go to Suncheon Bay and drove past a landscape/stone business that had a phallic looking rock which he commented about. We wandered around Suncheon and decided to take a taxi back to town to avoid having to sit in the frigid cold weather any longer. We hopped in the only taxi that was around and so began the adventure.
We got mints! Glorious tasting mints! Score! It was a great start to the cab ride. It was at this moment that Alex made a mention of penis rock as the taxi drove by it. Apparently the cabbie understood enough to know what we were talking about and chuckled.
It was at this point that he started talking about gochu (slang for penis in Korean) and about the size of Western and Korean men. This included about twenty gestures to get his point across. He then commented on the size of mine and Alex’s penis. He said Korean penises are spicy and that Western men have long ones because he’s seen them in movies. He then made twenty more gestures. He was driving the whole time, slowing down so he could make more penis gestures and so that he could look at us while gesturing. Alex was translating everything he said in Korean to me so I’d understand. He also mentioned that penises fit ALL INSIDE THE WOMAN! And made even more gestures to get his point across to us. Wow. Wow. Wow. What a ride thus far. But just you wait…..
When he mentioned that he saw large Western penises, he would always motion to the cd case in his car. I asked him in broken Korean if he had porn in the car. Which led to more gestures and him fiddling with the cd case, trying to open what looked like a secret compartment. He did have one!! He brought out two burnt porno dvds and showed us. He started waving it around the cab, to which Alex responded that he didn’t want to see it. If Alex hadn’t had said anything, we could have potentiality been watching adjumma porn. After this, the ride returned to a somewhat normal state. Both Alex and I were in a state of awe over the events that just happened in the last five minutes of the cab ride.
We reached Shinea and got out of the cab, still in a state of awe. Maybe me more so than Alex. I’ve never had a cab ride experience like that in my life ever. It was amazing, awkward, and funny all at once. I hope that some other foreigners get in his car and have a similar adventure. Crazy things like this made Korea not so boring.
2010 Jinju Namgang Festival (Jinju Lantern Festival)
I was able to go to the Jinju Lantern Festival with my friend Breagh this past weekend. The festival is held to remember a battle in the late 1500s where invading Japanese forces were defeated at Jinju. The Korean commander at Jinju would let loose lanterns at night to send signals to supporting forces in the area. The festival is held in the city of Jinju in South Gyeongsong Province.
I attended the festival with friends back in 2008 as well and had a great time. The festival was canceled last year due to concerns over H1N1 (swine flu).
We arrived early afternoon into Jinju, found a love motel to stay the night, then proceeded to the festival. The festival is quite large and there are lots of things to do and see. The first thing we decided on was food. We found the food stalls and ordered BBQ pork on a spit, Korean pizza (파전), and, beer. We filled up on food then walked around the festival. Much of the festival was the same as it was 2008 but in different locations. The lanterns are absolutely beautiful and range from cartoon characters to historical depictions of events in Korea to representing different countries. At night they light up and look stunning.
The weather started to get bad early evening. Like many of the Koreans, Breagh and I hid in a soju tent and enjoyed some soju and snacks while waiting for the rain to pass. It never did.
The rain kept on getting worse as the night wore on. Breagh and I braved it for as long as we could tolerate but eventually caved and went back to the motel to dry off and hope for a dryer and nicer Sunday.
A nice Sunday was awaiting us when we woke up. We went back to the food stalls and found some Turkish men who were selling (amazing) kebabs. We gorged on those then walked around the grounds more. Breagh tried on some Hanboks the night before during the rainstorm and we wanted to do that again during nicer weather. We paid the 3000W fee to try on the Hanboks and got to wander around the festival grounds for the next 5-10 minutes dressed up like Royal Koreans. It was fun. Hanboks are beautiful but they are heavy fabric and you will get very hot wearing them for a long period of time. We took off our royal robes and went looking for swan boats.
Swan boats were also spotted by Breagh on Saturday. Weather ruined our plans of doing that the day before. But not Sunday. We paid for our ticket and waited 45 minutes for a boat to come back so we could hop on. We then had 25 minutes to take our swan paddle boat around some of the nearby lanterns. After avoiding several near collisions with Koreans, our time with the boats were up. We turned back to shore, hopped off the boats, and made our way back to the Jinju bus terminal.
If you’ve never been to the festival before I suggest you go. The festival runs from October 1 to October 12.
The website for the festival is http://www.yudeung.com/ .
붕어빵 (Bungeoppang)
Red Bean Filled Fish
On the bus back from Jinju to Suncheon, Breagh bought us some snacks to eat. The snacks included a bag of these fish pastries. The Korean name for these snacks is 붕어빵 (Bungeoppang). These are traditionally filled with red bean filling but can also be filled with custard or ice cream. These are sold most commonly during the colder seasons in Korea. A 천원 (1000 Won) will buy you a bag of four or five of these lovely snacks. These can be found all across the country at most open air vendors. If you never tried them, you should.
Suncheon Bay
I went to Suncheon Bay yesterday with my friend Breagh. It was my secod time going there and her first. Suncheon Bay is a wetland that is a habitat for migratory birds and many other species. It’s also a well known wetland within Korea and around the world. More info can be found here and here. The wetland are located outside of Suncheon city. We took the Suncheon City bus #67 to get to the Bay. The bus stops in front of the bus terminal and costs 1000W each way.
The area is absolutely beautiful with reed marshes galore and many types of birds and wildlife abound. Crabs are also very plentiful. The reed marsh boardwalk leads to the Yongsan Observatory on top of the mountain which is ideal for taking pictures. We never made it that far due to the weather looking like it was going to rain at any moment. We spent several hours wandering the marshes and taking pictures. Pictures are below or can be seen on my Flickr Site.
2010 Gangjin Celadon Festival
I went with my friend Alex to the Gangjin Celadon Festival yesterday (August 14, 2010). I’ve been meaning to go to the festival ever since 2008 and this could very well be my last opportunity to (assuming I leave Korea next June) so I was going to go rain or shine. The weather has been wet and shitty but yesterday was not too bad. Overcast and humid. Gangjin is located within Jeolla province and is famous for celadon (ceramics) and holds a yearly festival to celebrate celadon. The festival does not take place within the town/city of Gangjin but rather a 30 minute shuttle bus drive out to the Gangjin celadon kilns. The bus dropped us off at the festival gates where we were greeted by a beautiful garden and wooden statues.
There were many different activities you could partake in. The first thing Alex and I decided to do was etching a ceramic vase. For Man Won (10,000 W), you could get a vase that could etch your own design in (or use an example sheet to recreate famous Korean celadon etchings) then the people would glaze your vase and mail it to you. Alex and I did this (the only foreigners at the time doing it) and garnered quite a bit of attention from Koreans with cameras and eventually a tv crew. Alex was interviewed for a newcast and we were recorded for the show. Fun! We finished our etchings and moved on to get some food and some beer.
We refreshed with food and drink and kept on walking about. There was a booth where you could make mosaics of celadon using broken celadon pieces. Hammers were provided. Seeing tiny kids smash ceramics with hammers was quite the sight. There was also a booth where you could take clay and fashion your own clay vessels using clumps of clay. Lots of kids were taking part in this activity in particular.
We then tried to make our own cups and cowls on a pottery spinning. It looks easy when you watch someone do it but doing it yourself is quite another story. Move too fast or too slow when shaping can ruin the attempt. Luckily there were Koreans who were training/majoring in pottery who were helping. My bowl didn’t turn out too horrible thanks to the kind woman who helped me on the wheel.
Alex and I walked around more of the festival grounds, looking at shop stalls, mockups, and sculptures. We walked around within the museum and culture centers then decided to call it a day once that was done. I’m glad I finally made it to the festival. I had a great time and would recommend checking this festival out if you have a chance to next year. I’m counting down the days till the Jinju Lantern Festival.
You can see more pictures of the festival on my Flickr Site by clicking on the Gangjin Celadon Festival Link.
Gangjin Celadon Festival
Gangjin is a city in Jeollanamdo and was/is known for its celadon/pottery past and present. There is a yearly festival held in the region to celebrate the Celadon. I have not made it in previous years but will be going there this weekend.
The website can be seen here http://eng.gangjinfes.or.kr/ and the festival runs up until this coming Sunday (August 15).
Haenam
I went to Haenam this past weekend to see my friend Breagh. Haenam is in Jeolla province and has a population of roughly 87,000. It’s a small pretty town. On Saturday, Breagh and I went exploring at a local farmers market. We wandered into several chicken butcher shops and saw a chicken go from living to very dead and plucked within a few minutes. Wow. I was VERY happy to have brought my camera with me to the market. I got some real great pictures which are posted below.
It was a really amazing time there. We then explored a school Breagh sometimes works at and played on the statues for a bit. We then wandered around town some more then decided it was time to hide from the extremely humid weather. Saturday night was spent hiking and going up to a pagoda to relax. Sunday was spent forty minutes away at Song Ho Ri beach. It was a great spot. Swimming, food, and beer. It was perfect. I came back to Suncheon late Sunday and enjoyed my time in Haenam. There are some things I never did get to see and I do look forward to heading back sometime soon to explore some more. All in all, Haenam is a nice sleepy little place.
