Weekend update Monday

Yet again, another amazing weekend! I did so much, I'll probably forget to write about a whole bunch of it!

Ok, Friday night:

Andy came and picked me up from home and we went and got some dinner. Ended up getting steak as a take-away and eating it in the park - best picnic food ever! And Andy is happy to eat his steak as rare as me, so it was delicious! Then, we drove for almost three hours to get to where we were staying on the East Coast. The hotel was right across the street from the beach - you could hear the waves all night.

Saturday:

Had a local speciality - some sort of mussel soup, and some seafood pancakes for breakfast. Korean food is amazing when you know what to order (well, when Andy knows what to order)! Then, Andy and I went and looked around some docks/ a fishing area, and then went to the beach. It was a bit overcast so the sea didn't look very inviting. I didn't go swimming, but I did fall asleep on the beach. Then it was lunch time - we went to a seafood restaurant where we had a bunch of raw local seafood. Some of it was nice, but some of it (like icy fish soup and raw octopus) was just 'ok'. Then, in the evening we went to a huge festival. It ran along both sides of a big river and there were tents and stalls and shows and displays of EVERYTHING! We walked around for a bit and then randomly saw a circus show. It was really good! I've seen quite a few circuses and stuff, so amateur stuff can be sadly unimpressive to me, but this circus was great! The 'special effects' and set and stuff were basic, but the performers were really talented, and did some things I've never seen. One guy juggled two balls with his mouth! And a guy balanced on a tightrope on a ladder! It really was a lot of fun.

Then, it was time for more food! There were lots of places cooking pigs on spits over hot coals, so I *had* to eat that! Apparently there was also whale meat - it just looked like pork belly to me - and I sort of wanted to try it, but then I wasn't sure I felt good about eating a whale. It might have been an endangered one or something. But, the pork was delicious! And now I've made myself hungry :) After eating, we walked some more, and ate some snacks and what not. A great day!

Sunday:

Andy and I went to the fish market in the morning and had a look at all the fish. Then, for breakfast we had two huge fresh crabs! Andy says they were local. They were alive in a tank, and the guy fished them out, killed them, and steamed them, and then we ate them. It was really delicious! And quite an experience. Then, we started the trip home. We decided that instead of taking the direct route home, which would take about 3 hours, we'd go the scenic route, which was about 5 hours. Well, it took us much longer than that! 

Andy drove along the water front whenever he could find roads that went along it. We stopped to watch some surfers at a beach and eat some pecan pie. Then, more driving and a stop at Naksansa - a Buddhist temple built on top of a hill/mountain overlooking the ocean. It was an amazing spot and we walked around there for a while, admiring the view and the buildings. Then, on the way down, they were serving noodles for lunch for free, so we got some. Pretty yummy, actually. We also drank from one of the random fountains all over the hill.

Then, more driving! And we went to Seoraksan National Park. By this point it was raining, but that didn't stop the adventure. We went on a cable car up one of the mountains and up into the clouds. We walked up a path to a big rocky outcrop overlooking a big drop off. Well, I assume it was a big drop, it was too foggy to see. Andy was very not keen on the height :) There were lots of squirrels and they were really unafraid of people, one came really close to my foot. After coming back down off the mountain, we looked at a map and decided spur of the moment to walk to a waterfall a couple of km away. The walk was really beautiful - through 'proper' forest and rivers and stuff. We walked and climbed, and got to the waterfall, which as it turns out was not that impressive. On the way back we saw some native fish, and a mountain frog, and more squirrels. It was great!

Then, more driving, plus a BIG stop at a rest area to try and wait out some of the awful traffic jam heading back to Seoul. That part was a bit crappy, but not too bad. I eventually got home at about 11pm, so got a good night's sleep and now I'm at crappy work!

Anyway, it was a fantastic weekend. Andy was amazingly good company, and great fun. I'm so glad we didn't just take the direct 3 hour dive back to Seoul! The 10 hour version was much better :D

Photos will be in the next post.