Five months in +

wow, the last post was way back in June.

The work schedule is really full now.  I do 12 hours a week at Dongguk University teaching IELTS exam prep for Speaking.  I have 60 students and they are all over the map for ability.  I enjoy this group, even if they can be difficult, because they are younger and easier to manipulate.  The rest of my week consists of 8 hours at Dongbu HighTek,  4 hours at KOSAD, 3 at Hyundai Oilbank and 2 with UTEC Korea.  29 hours doesn’t seem like it would be full time but with commute hours added in, I am out of the house about 12 hours a day.

Finally summer has packed it’s bags and moved on.  So much worse than a drunk roommate that wouldn’t help pay the bills.  I don’t miss the 90+% humidity in the least.  The mosquitoes are back with a vengeance though and I really appreciate the rechargeable mosquito tennis racket we purchased recently.

Free time has been reduced to watching movies and tv shows on the laptop.  I can’t download things fast enough.  My tastes are swinging wildly between French New Wave, early Seventies Cop flicks and starting at the very beginning of Red Dwarf.  I have tossed in some mid nineties Anime and some David Lynch films to keep the balance.  With up to 3 or so hours a day spent on the subway, I have plenty of viewing time.

We do get to go out on occasion and tonight was kind of special as we had not one but two celebrity sightings.  We had gone out to a 부대찌개  place that is fairly well known. (putaechigae or Soldiers stew, I note the nearness of the name to Puta nesca)  First we saw an actress, 한성주, and then we saw a pop singer, 빽가.  I am having this total dining with the rich and famous moment and the specialty of the house is basically kitchen sink stew.  For those not in the know 부대찌개 is one of those cargo cult type culinary delights consisting of lots of canned or manufactured meat products.  Spam, hot dogs and the like with some cabbage, other vegetables, a block of ramen noodles and some American cheez slices to top it off.  For some reason this place also sports a big basket of Louisiana hot sauce, but there are no bottles tableside.  Seon Hwa suggests that it is a key ingredient in the broth so that it doesn’t have that typical Korean pepper flavor.

What  else has happened recently?  Other than work, not a heck of a lot.  We did sneak off to Incheon for a weekend to gorge on bivalves and dip our feet in the ocean.  Details on that one are fuzzy due to a late night of GoStop and soju.  Still trying to get together a photo essay on the Grills of Korea.  I moved the photos from Flickr which instituted some change that would require me to pay money to show all my photos, thanks.  Now they reside at http://s888.photobucket.com/albums/ac88/geekboysk/  It’s a disorganized mess with no helpful captions and probably a few that need to be deleted or rotated.  I will get to that right away.

We are planning a trip to Daegu in mid September.  It’s Seon Hwa’s hometown and I am looking forward to checking it out.  Also looking forward to experiencing the KTX high speed train.  We are going then rather than during Chusoek, the Korean Thanksgiving, because travel will be a massive nightmare at that time.  I hope to do some more updating here but mostly it would just be subject to talking about big excitement like explaining the difference between Illustration, Demonstration and Explanation…. seems simple but it can be confusing.  Think -  visual, physical, and verbal.  I get some interesting questions almost every day about this weird ass language they call English.  It pays the bills.

부대찌개

 

A weekend business retreat and so much more.

Finally some things have happened that seem blog worthy.  We had visitors, Seon Hwa went to Thailand without me and I spent two days in the sticks at a business retreat for someone else’s business.

Let’s start with visitors.  A couple weeks ago I got the heads up from several friends that a couple of their friends, Roxane and Jacob, were going to be spending some time in Seoul.  They are on something of a year long tour that has taken them all around Asia and I believe will eventually lead them to Africa.

I was pretty excited about the prospects of showing new people some of the sites and flavors of Korea that I had been eagerly gathering up.  Turns out they are vegetarians, so dog and live octopus went right out the window.  Ok, Roxane will eat some fish so that made it a little easier.  When I mentioned the fact that they were vegetarians to my Korean friends and students, serious eye rolling took place.  Although there are lots of vegetables involved, most Korean food has some meat or fish in it.  The easiest workaround is foreign food and I was very pleased to take them to Beer friends for what I believe is the best pizza in town.

Besides dodging culinary land mines, we took them out for the jjimjilbang experience and spent a nice lazy day going from hot room to cold room or from hot pools to cold pools.  They taught me a new game called Tantrix which is fairly addictive and I got the chance to teach them how to play Go Stop.  If only they had stayed longer, we could have gotten to the gambling part of Go Stop.  They are now off in Japan and I hope they are having a blast.  We were very glad to have some visitors even if they were total strangers before we met.  Well that may not be entirely true.  There is some possiblity that Roxane and I have crossed paths.   We just couldn’t remember where.  Was it the Zone Labs connection?  Or is it Zone Alarm?  I am so out of touch with the tech past.

Left alone for 5 days to my own devices was a bit scary as Seon Hwa and her friend Jae Myung took a short holiday in Thailand.  She made sure I was well taken care of by purchasing a case of ramyun before she left.  At the very least, I wouldn’t starve.  Actually I can manage a quite a few restaurants and shopping is easy because I don’t really have to ask that many questions.  I am still a little jealous that she has already had a vacation and I am the one working.

It wasn’t all bad.  I had Roxane and Jacob to keep me company the first day she was gone and then her brother took me on a little trip out of town.  The odd part about this is that it was on retreat for his company.  I was way out of place but with skillful use of my liver and the fortune of a few attendees that spoke some English, I had a great time.

After we had arrived in Chungju (we were right about here) it was right off to lunch.  We went to a place that specialized in the local fish.  These were catfish and the salmon trout that I had before in Suanbo.  At first everyone was very quiet.  Like suprisingly quiet for Koreans.  After the beer and soju started flowing people moved from overly shy to very talkative and I felt the fear of being around so many unfamilar faces flow away.

After eating entirely too much food and many poktanju (beer and soju) we headed off to a local elementary school playground to engage in strenuous activity.  We played a series of matches of choku (foot ball but not the football you are thinking this is more like volleyball but not quite like sepak takraw).  You play with a soccer ball, a short net, and you feet and head.   This game is a lot of fun and I hope to encourage many of you to try it.  Just think volleyball with one bounce and one kick.  Ok, so it’s like tennis, volleyball and soccer combined.  After that I passed on the relay race, engaged in a game similar to HORSE, and then a miniturized game of soccer.

We headed back to the vacation house and people got busy prepping the next meal.  Actually there were some cold showers and naps first.  The group was split into two teams, A team and B team.  I was on B team but didn’t have to work in the cooking phase.  Once the vittles were on, we retired to the patio to engage in serious eating and even more serious drinking.  One of my new friends, we’ll call him Jeffrey because that is the name he gave me, decided that the challenge was on for Poktanju One Shot with me.  He had been presented earlier as the strongest drinker in the group and I guess it was up to me as the unchallenged member to see if I could withstand his ability.

The next morning, and I pretty sure this is how lore gets rolling, it was told to me that between us we had consumed roughly 100 poktanju.  At some point I recall Jeffrey conceding and there were a few rounds of Go Stop before I found myself peeling my eyelids off my eyeballs to the call of “time for breakfast”.   “Ow”, my liver complained.  We got to a breakfast place and I opted for some kalbi tang (pronounced tong and it’s soup for breakfast).  Holy shit it’s 9 am and they are ordering up the fixings for more poktanju.  Jeffrey and I grunted at each other as comrades and tried to wash the hangovers from our brain pans.  Oh I will sleep in the car on the way home.

Made it home with a liver that felt like it had been in a demolition derby but none too worse for the wear.  Only one more day for Seon Hwa to return.  I heat up some ramyun and rest my weary body.  I hate to think of how much more serious this would have been if the business retreat were for a company I actually worked for.

She’s back, we are both tired and there is a lovely batch of maggots in the garbage can.  Sweet.  I will get to them just as soon as I clear the room of mosquitos and down a couple sojus to gird my resolve.

 

If you subtract working, not much has happened in the last month.

I was actually a little surprised when I saw it has been over a month since anything happened here.  Things went from crazy amazing to pretty much regular normal life with speed.  Getting all the work really killed taking as much time to go around and see things.  But there have been two recent events that have been of some importance in the scheme of things.

First there was the  Hongeo (홍어) experience.  Hongeo is very difficult to pronounce and even harder to swallow.   And there is a reason for that.  The more I read about it the more I can’t believe I ate it.  Hongeo is fermented Skate.  Big deal right?  Just some strange looking sea  creature that has been stored in a basement somewhere that you decide to eat one day.  Beer is fermented and it is one of the most perfect things on earth.  Cheese, wine, kimchi.  All fermented, mostly all good.  But there is something to consider when you ferment certain sea critters.  I am going to quote someone else on this and hope their info is good.

“The thing is this. Skates are similar to sharks in that they don’t pee like other animals do. They don’t have kidneys and bladders and… well, they don’t really pee. Instead, the uric acid comes out through their skin. That’s why it’s not a good idea to keep shark meat for a long time in the fridge.

I mention the similarity between skates and sharks because Iceland has an infamous dish that has similar legendary puke-inducing properties, Hákarl. Anthony Bourdain has put it on the list of worst things he’s put in his mouth. Gordon Ramsay has puked it up on television.” (from http://www.zenkimchi.com/FoodJournal/?p=496)

Much like that Chinese whiskey I once tried that I could back away from the smell fast enough because it was stuck inside my mouth,  Hongeo was the taste that keeps on giving.  It sort of like having the vapors from an long unchanged cat litter box in your face.  I mean, at first it’s ok.  The texture is a little strange because it is slightly dried out and sort of rubbery.  It’s just that suddenly after chewing it for a few seconds an ammonia gas cloud emits from your mouth and your eyes start to burn.   Some people love it, not many.  I can’t say it moved dog off the top of my list of things I probably won’t try again.

There is better news.  Nothing makes me sick for home like the lack of the Mexican food.  I know that there are some places up the street in Itaewon.  I really don’t like going up there.  So I avoid it at all costs, even if it means no burritos.  The other day I was pleasantly surprised when I stopped into Tomatillo in the Jongro area of Seoul. (http://tomatillo.co.kr/main.html)

There were quite a few things about this place that were pleasing to me.  First they had burritos.  Pretty obvious I know, but it was solidly burrito-like and not just a slightly off mimic of a burrito.  Then there was the fact that they were making their own tortillas and chips right there were I could see them.  Then I notice a sign listing the real Mexican beer (although a little steep at ₩ 6000/$4.80) including Corona, Sol, Dos Equis, and……Negro Modelo.  I almost crapped myself.  The sad part was that I was in this place right before class time and couldn’t indulge.  I also notice that you can get Tequila shots (₩ 4000/$3.20) and Margaritas (₩ 5,500/$4.40)

So the burrito(₩ 6,800/$5.45)  is comprised of the following:  tortilla, meat, rice, beans, lettuce, cheese, onion, cilantro, sour cream, salsa.  They were a little heavy on the lettuce and light on the meat and beans for my tastes, but Korean portioning tends to be that way.  The salsa really was the best part of the whole deal.  I couldn’t place it as anything I immediately recognied, it had a nice smokey character and plenty of heat.  I got mine with carne asada (add ₩ 500/$0.40) and skipped getting chips and salsa on the side.  I know I am probably just spoiled by the Mission thinking that this item should be included for free.

I am going back today (6/11) to meet with a couple teachers from the program at SK Telecom.  Going to consider trying the Baja Fish, the Meat of the Week, or possibly the Tostada to see what having Feta cheese in Mexican food is all about.    I will also have to consider a breakfast stop to weigh the merits of the bacon cheese and potato breakfast burttito.

I am sure there is plenty more discovery on the Mexican food front out there.  Just for the fact that there are so many Koreans in Los Angeles, they have to be bringing back some of that knowledge.

Oh, one last thing about Tomatill….  sadly no Kimchi burrito.

 

Take me out to the old ballpark….

I know it has been a while since I posted anything.  I would hope that doesn’t lead people to believe that nothing is going on.  As I sit down to write this I think about all the ways I could go.  I could talk about going on a cultural tour for foreigners that featured a trip to a giant ass mall, checking out another giant Buddha and making a traditional Korean bamboo flute.  I could also go into the deep dark details of dog soup and how much drinking it took to get though it.  Then there is the ever increasing workload.  New tutoring jobs, getting paid just to speak English to people.  The custom tailored suits and shirts that really make me blend in with the Korean working men.  The ever expanding collection of sparkley ties.

But I say nuts to all that.  Today it was all about baseball.  I know I wasn’t much of a fan in the past.  A bunch of fat ass farm boys and imports from Spanish speaking countries standing around scratching themselves and spitting was never a big attraction.   A lot of people get into for the stats.  All the numbers crunching is a huge joy for nerds that like to sit at home and watch other man fondle the marble bag and swing a stick at a ball.  There were a lot of other factors that we will now break down so as to show why the Korean baseball experience is worth the time and effort.

First, Korean fans are insane.  American ballparks, from what I can gather are turning into giant amusement park/mall experiences where more that 50% of the attendees go to entertain their kids.  Another huge chunk of game goers are there to show how much expenable income they have available to light up and toss into the toilet.  Just the $9 beers are enough to make me want to stay away.  There are only a small percentage of dyed in the wool fans at a game.  You can tell them by the fact that they are in their seats with a score sheet and a radio listening to the game.  Every single fan in the park at a Korean game is watching the game and rooting for one side or the other with extreme intensity.

Being that there are only 8 teams in the  leauge, team allegiance is strong and each team’s fan base is large.  The stadium is basically divided in half for each team playing.  They sit on the side of their team’s dugout.  Each side has a cheerleading squad leading them through chanting and cheering throughout the game.  A few nice looking girls dance constantly.  A very energetic young man with a whistle and a microphone encourages the crowd.  Damn near everyone has a set of those inflatable clapper things.  They are loud.  They almost go from first pitch to final out with out stopping.  I think I may have picked the wrong day to not have drank an entire pot of coffee.

Today’s game happened to be on a national holiday known as Children’s Day.  Hard working Koreans everywhere take the day off to spend with the kids.  Most of them were in the ballpark today.  Now I know there are 10 million people living in Seoul and there is no way they were all in the park.  But there were surely 30 percent more bodies than available seats  in the place.  Seon Hwa and I sat in a stairway in left field, like a large number of other fans.  It was truly standing room only sold out.  I started getting panicky wondering how the hell I was going to climb over all these happy families to get to the beer booth.  I never saw a guy once coming around to sell stuff other than these big paper visors to keep the sun out of your face.  I sure hope this sunscreen holds up.

Vendors were plentiful around the stadium.  Two 16 oz. cans of Hite and a grilled something or other with tentacles was about$7.  Turns out you could go out of the stadium to the vendors there and get it cheaper.  So let’s think about this for a second.  You could go out and buy stuff and bring it back in?  Hell, you can bring whatever you want from home and save even more.  There is no strip search at the gate to make sure that Gatorade bottle you are carrying isn’t half full of vodka or explosives.    They don’t look the bags to make sure you aren’t smuggling in your own hot dogs and beer.  Shit, I never even saw anything that looked like security or an usher.  There just wasn’t room for them between all the chanting fans.  People literally set up picnics in the wider areas that are normally reserved for walking.   I was almost surprised to not see people crowd surfing to head for the restrooms.  I never did see a rest room.  I had my spot on the stairs and feared even getting up to stretch for the chance of losing it to a family of six and their picnic setup.

Although I saw some pretty traditional ballpark food, the majority of the stuff I saw was dried and came out of the ocean.  And the beer.  I saw guys walk passed me up and down those stairs carrying grocery bags of beers.  An older gent sitting half in my lap to the right was spiking his with a bottle of soju.  I was surprised that his wife was the one to fall asleep during the game since she wasn’t drinking alcohol.

By the way, the game was between the LG Twins and the Doosan Bears.  By the fact that we sat in the LG half of the outfield we became Twins fans.  If it seems strange that the stadium was divided into half for fans of each team, consider the fact that about 2/3rds of the tickets are general admission.  A lot less strain than reserved seats to get the right people on the right side.  At about $6 a pop, it is not so bad to end up sitting on cement stairs with people kicking you in the ass throughout the game. There really wasn’t that much room for anyone to walk anywhere.  I hear that reserved seats cost between $9-12 .  Next time I think we spend the extra coin and get some seats near the cheerleaders where the fans were really going at it.  A backpack full of suds and dried fish product and maybe a nice seat cushion.  Yeah, I think I can get into this.

The score?  Oh man, it was a blowout.   LG took it to Doosan hard winning 12-0.  They had 17 hits to Doosan’s 5.  For the true stat nerd, you can try combing through this for some joyhttp://www.koreabaseball.com/schedule/boxscore.asp?id=20090505LGOB0  Don’t ask me what means what because I don’t speak Korean either.  Which it is why it took me into the 7th inning to figure out that most of that chanting was just player names.

Seon Hwa is sitting next to me right now looking up future games.  I only have to buy 7 more hats and then it won’t matter which side of the stands I end up on.

Mr. Mysterioso taking it all in at the ballgame.

Certainly not octopus. I consider Korean ballpark snacks.

Sitting in the stairway for 9 whole innings was rough.

 

At this point, it’s just living.

First, I have to think that it is divine providence that the closest bar to my house is called Don Quixote.

I will be by there later to check it out, they were closed when I walked by.

Went to immigration today and submitted my paperwork.  In 10 days I will have my visa.  Once I have that in hand, I can stay here for 3 years before I have to renew.  All in the clear and working is legal.  Of course now I have to pay the killer 5% income tax.   I think that the IRS and FTB are going to try and screw me out of some money too.  Triple dipping?  I have also heard if I stay long enough I won’t have to pay US taxes.  I am leaning toward that light.

Going on a Korean Cultural tour this weekend that is sponsored by the Yeoksam Global Village.  I feel like every day is cultural education, so I wonder how much more I could possibly learn on a bus full of foreigners.  We’ll see.

Spent part of my afternoon walking around Itaewon.  It is walking distance from where I live.  I am still convinced I am not really going to spend much time there.  Unusual sights on the walk included; three transgender bars, a Jamaican hair stylist, a large selection of kebab joints and a lot of Italian restaurants.  The Italian thing starts to make sense when you compare the basics to Korean food.  Red sauces, garlic, noodles and seafood.  Of course the red sauces are tomato based and not chili based.  There were even a few Mexican joints and a Spanish place where I could get some empanadas.  Not really sure if I am ready for the Korean angle on burritos.  We ended up in a little Korean place that served maekoli in teapots, made an amazing soft tofu and seafood soup and was entirely wallpapered in movie and soju posters.  The perfect divey feel for a rainy day’s lazy pace.

We are fairly well settled into our new place.  If I thought it was small before, adding furniture has only doubled the claustrophobia.  When I walk outside the other houses are still so close I feel the need to bolt for the countryside and get some distance between me and the brickwork.  Still, it’s comfortable and quiet.  I am finally getting solid nights of sleep.  The onset of spring weather has brought on the bugs.  Great, mosquitoes and ants.  Time to get some repellent.

Still trying to figure out the IP TV.  The menus being in Korean is a challenge.  Everything on demand.  Tivo, pssh.  Where the hell is the baseball channel?  Also wondering about subtitles on all these movies they offer.  For now I will stick to what I can find online.  The first episode of the Wire has me hooked.  Only 5 seasons to go.

Time to wake Seon Hwa up from her nap and head back up to Don Quixote for a bev.  Maybe I will bring my copy up for some snaps with the employees.

 

One month later. New digs and screaming pipe.

I can’t believe that after only one month we have already moved.  We are now in a more permanent situation.  The last place was month to month.  This one is going to be year to year.  I had just barely scratched the surface of Yeoksam-dong and now I have to start all over in Hannam-dong.  We are in a much quieter neighborhood, but near good stuff.  At least now I don’t have to run the gauntlet of room salon girls on my way to the subway.

If you want to try out the mail system the new address is

The new address is Seoul Youngsan-gu Hannam-dong 729-10 Bonji 201 ho  But Seon Hwa thinks it has to be in Korean so print this out large and tape it to the package.  (I would put it on both ways to be sure).

서울시 용산구 한남동 729-10 번지 201 호

Of course it rained when we moved in.  I am told that Koreans consider this as good luck and that we will be wealthy in the future because of it.  I just figure my stuff is getting wet.  The day was pretty chaotic.  Delivery guys showing up every so often with new house gear.  The broadband installer from SK Telecom dropped in the smoking 100 Mbps line and the hookups for the IP TV and VOIP phone.  The gas range installer stops in and I decide it’s a good time not to have a cigarette.  The air con guys put in a unit that is sleek, stylish and blows air colder than the freezer can produce.  A bed gets delivered and I am pleased that I won’t have to sleep on the floor no matter how warm it may be.  After all the craziness dies down we hit a local restaurant for a little dukbaegi bulgogi (bulgogi soup in a stone pot) and grilled mackerel.  I prep for class and head out.  When I get home Seon Hwa has the place mostly organized.  We just need the guy that is supposed to deliver our blankets and pillows to show up.  And the closet.  This place isn’t the smallest apartment ever, but the lack of place to hang clothes means we are living out of suitcases again for at least a day or two.

 

I left my liver in Seoul, or how I learned to love the bomb.

The other night, let’s call it Saturday, I made a new friend.  We met up with Jae Myung and Yong Man (becoming an all too regular occurrence) to meet up with more friends.  Due to what happened later in the evening all I can remember what that his Ename (English name) was Daniel.  Even Seon Hwa can’t remember his wife’s name.  I really need to start carrying a notepad or voice recorder.  We hung out at Oh Su for a while and hand some snacks and beer.  We initially start out to hit a maekoli (spell check that later) place, but en route it is decided that it will be too busy.  We hit the batting cages to take some time to drum up other options.  I do horribly as the strike zone is set a little low for me.

We make our way back to Beer Friends.  I may have mentioned it before, but I will go over the particulars again to be sure.  Beer friends serves the best pizza I have had in Seoul.  It is run by Yong Man’s friend Joe.  Joe is 2 years younger than me but he seems like he is in his twenties.  Beer Friends is located in another crazy neighborhood which I think is in the Insa-dong area.  I still haven’t quite gotten a grip on where one area begins and the previous one ends.  The pizza makes me cry it is so good.   All my friends that love Arinelle’s would weep too.  This is some thin thin pizza.  Totally Italian style.  The crust is thin and crisp and tastes like it was transported from somewhere in Europe.  The cheese is really mozzarella.  My favorite is the shrimp and jalepeno.  Good lord it is good.  If only I can figure out how to get back there without a guide.  Really we need to go back to return a plate that he sent home with us that had a beautiful pizza on it.

While at Beer Friends, I discover that Daniel is the master of Poktanju (bomb alcohol).  He presents many variations.  We use Cass Fresh, which seems to be the popular beer right now, and Scotch Blue, the scotch of Korea.  I find Cass Fresh to be a little like Corona cut with Bud Light.  It will be kick ass in the summer, but for now I want something with body.  Some of the creations involve fire, multiple glasses, a sliced almond can and filtering the scotch through a napkin so that it floats on the top of the beer.  I am mighty surprised at how many I am offered and how quickly they go down.

Daniel is definitely a character I want to spend more time with.  My liver thinks otherwise.  Not only is he a master bomb shot maker, he also has his own cooking show and was once a singer in a Korean Metal band.  I hear that he is going to be featured on the Discovery Chanel, representing his bomb shot skills.  My liver will be watching an episode of CSI when this happens.

 

One night in Suanbo

The hotel we stay in in Suanbo has the look of once being a grand place to stay. We are here in the off season so I look around for Jack Nicholson type dragging an axe behind him. The video game room is off, the restaurant closed and the snack shop appears abandoned. It also seems that, other than the creepy kid with the wind-up airplane in the lobby, we are the only ones here. It is midday Saturday. Where are the tourists? We as about wireless so I can get the rig on the net. There is a computer in the lobby and I am told I can borrow the LAN cable. Not so high tech in the sticks.

We get up to the room. We are sharing with Seon Hwa’s friends but it seems to be a spacious enough place. That is mostly because, other than the table with the TV on it and a small table in the kitchen, there isn’t a stick of furniture in here. I look around. Where the hell are the beds? I open a closet and get my answer. A big stack of floor pads and blankets. My hips and back scream at me.

We head out to the Beopjusa temple to see some giant golden Buddhas. I put up some pics on the Flickr set, but there is something you should know. Inside of every building there (that we can go near) are more giant golden Buddhas. I would have taken pics but I didn’t want to disturb the faithful there praying to their idols. All I can says is that it was most beautiful and amazing. It took a little getting used to the quiet calm being broken by someone walking by chatting on their handphone. Peaceful chaos.   One the way out we stop by a very old tree. Over 600 years. And it has the title of Minister bestowed upon it because of an experience with a king. Here’s the story about that…

As we head back to Suanbo, we stop for a local specialty. I am still not 100% sure what kind of fish this was, but it seems like it is some kind of local salmon. The restaurant has what looks like a fish hatchery right in front and the place itself has something of a wacky-shack feel to it. When the platter of raw fish I arrives, I think of something I heard about eating raw salmon before. Read this if you want to know what could go wrong. Obviously this stuff hasn’t been frozen since they are pulling it from a pond just outside the seating area. And I though the appetizer of hard boiled quail eggs was weird. I rub my recently acquired good luck Buddha bracelet and dig in. It is very good and to say you can taste the freshness is an understatement. I am pleased to see the platter of the fried variety hit the table.

This being Korea, this wasn’t dinner. When we arrive back in Suanbo we hit a grocer for some veggies to go with the bag of amazing looking pork belly that I haven’t mentioned up until now. We bought it back in Seoul at a giant Lotte supermarket. Pork would be available where we are but not the top grade fancy supermarket kind of stuff. I hadn’t really been paying attention to what was in the trunk of the car, but the full kit of table top barbecue gear is on hand. I am already quite full from the mountain fish experience. The new slogan is “There’s always room for Samgyupsal”. Sorry Jello, no room for you.

Sunday morning we hit a local spa that is hooked up to one of the area hot springs. It is located next to another giant empty hotel. Turns out to not be coed. Great, a few hours hanging out naked with the Korean men again. By this point I am just kind of used to it. In five years of going to a certain desert festival, I was never once naked. Here it turns out to be a regular experience. I am hoping that no one gets any weird ideas about the tattoos. I am a little too white to be jopok.  It really isn’t all that bad.  A few hours of switching between the really cold tub (20 C) the warmer outside tub (38 C) and the really hot inside tub (41 C).  After I am fully pruned out, it’s time for a half hour long shower and back on the road.

After this pleasantly relaxing weekend, we head back to Seoul. I am already dreading the closeness of the large buildings. I get that feeling in my stomach like I do every time I have to leave the Hut, Shinola or anywhere else with wide spaces and lots of trees. Time to settle my mind on the upcoming work week and my midweek dinner date with some executive types. My liver gently weeps.

PS/  I swear next time you get to come along Señor Mysterioso….

 

A weekend out of town

Let the real relaxing begin. We are off for a little weekend excursion to a mountain village somewhere near the dead center middle of South Korea. Suanbo is just a resort town. There really isn’t anything there but hotels, restaurants, and a ski area. I hear it is known for the pheasant shabu shabu. I am sad to discover we won’t be having any. But before I get to far ahead let’s consider the ride.

Toll roads.

I am not sure I have ever seen anything like this before. The highways are super nice here and there is good reason. Most of the good stuff is toll road. I can only think of Mexico as having a nearly similar system. Not having actually done any of the driving in Mexico, I am not sure if this other part is the same. Here you enter a toll road though a gate where you grab a ticket. When you get off the toll road you pay at another booth and the fare is based on the distance you traveled. Combined, the four tolls we pay maybe added up to going across the Golden Gate Bridge once. It was three hours from Seoul to Suanbo.

GPS Nav

Sure Tom Tom is cute and they make funny commercials about it, but can it tell you were the speeding cameras are? The GPS Nav systems here are insane. They tell you what is available at the next exit (food, gas, lodging), they tell you are going over the speed limit and where the ticketing cameras are. When you pull into one of the mega rest areas they show you the layout, where the shops and restaurants are. It even let’s you know when you are going into a corner a little too hot and that you are in rock slide area or that this stretch of road is know for a lot of accidents. Oh yeah, and it tells you how to get there. Even better it tells you ahead of time which lane you should be in when you get to some weird spaghetti mess of a freeway interchange.

Mega Rest Areas

The rest area here isn’t simply a pisser and a place to walk the dog so it can take a much needed dump. There is just about everything you need at most. A full service service station, no need to get out and pump your on LPG. A food court that offers a wide range of option, at some places that even means “western fare”. A coffee shop, a convenience mart, a vendor selling everything from wacky ball caps to car parts and books on tape. At one I had the “hamburger steak”. When I see brown gravy, I expect a certain flavor. Not this time. Hints of pineapple are all I can come up with. I watch a woman at the next table cut her husbands food into bite size pieces, wait for him to finish and then eat her own meal that she has already given half of to him. Wowzers. I don’t even ask what this is all about. I focus on my meal and hope they have Mild Sevens at the Quickie Mart.

Road Sodas….

A luxury I never got to enjoy back in the States (legally) unless we were on a tour bus, passengers drinking in the car is ok in Korea. This makes the 3 hour drive just that much more pleasant. It’s kind of silly when you think about it. Why the rest of the car can’t be pissed to the gills with a sober driver is really just puzzling. So I sip my Hites and watch the rural country side roll by. Until I can qualify for a driver’s license I figure a lot of my rides should be like this. I wonder if I could have a beer while being on the back of a scooter in Seoul?

 

A couple of firsts in Seoul

After Yongsan, I finally have a cheeseburger.  Although Seon Hwa insists I try Burger King once to see how different it is, I resist.  We find a Kraze Burger.  It’s a Korean chain which keeps me keeping my promise to avoid the American mega-chains.  I also look forward to having a beer.  It is a mild bummer that the tap isn’t working and the bottle selection is Bud, Corona, Heineken, and Hoegaarden.  I like the Hoegaarden well enough, but I am not feeling it for a burger partner.  I opt for the Bud.  Interesting that it comes in bottles stamped with the OB logo.  Turns out the Bud isn’t imported, but brewed here.  Close enough.  I get the burger that looks like it has the most stuff on it.  It comes on a plate all tarted up like nouvelle cuisine.  It is very good. Of course it had bacon on it.  I think they might even deliver… but that wouldn’t be as fun.

My second first for the day is a short fear inducing scooter ride. We have met up with Jae Myung and Yong Man but it turns out we have to move over to his sister’s place again. It’s about 8:30pm now and I have been up since 5am. I am nearing exhaustion. No problem, he says, I will take you over on my scooter. Good grief Charlie Brown. It isn’t a long ride but it contains all the elements of scooter riding in Seoul. We spend some time on the sidewalk, we avoid red lights by using the crosswalk, we split lanes, we go hell of fast. You have to consider that it is Friday night and there are masses of people on the sidewalks and crosswalks. You also have to consider that I am a big guy, the scooter feels like it is going to pull a wheelie the whole way. I wear my sunglasses to hide the fear. I nearly tear a hole in the seat cover from clenching so hard. Making it through the last intersection clogged with traffic almost had me hopping off. “It’s cool, I’ll walk. I can see it from here.” I hang on and arrive safely. I look around for wood to knock on.