Monday – This morning we started the day visiting the Bamboo Museum – and listened to an interesting talk about bamboo and the various uses for it. We were astonished to find out about how fast it grows – 2-3 feet per week. The museum was interesting and it was amazing to see all the practical uses of bamboo – from eating the shoots, bathing in bamboo liquid, and an assortment of tools, cups, woven baskets, all manner of things.
Next we took a walk down a famous road lined with the towering Meta Sequoia trees. Today was quite cool, so we needed our jackets on. Lunch was at a famous bamboo restaurant (rice with seeds and nuts cooked in a large bamboo tube), BBQ meat and all the usual side dishes.
Bill gets the award today for being most adventurous with food. The kids love calling Bill, “Big Bill” – and today we found out he is big in the adventure department. We all enjoyed watching him taste some fish that Mrs Lee ‘thoughtfully’ picked up in her chopsticks and said “here, Bill, try this” while putting it in his mouth. Those of us watching all thought, that was nice of her, knowing how Bill likes his fishing. Well, that was until we all waited to see what he thought of it, and he mentioned after some consideration that it actually tasted a little bit like rotten meat. Mrs Lee, wagged her finger with a funny look and said “Oh yes, it’s awful, I wouldn’t eat it” or something like that, and then explained that it was stingray that is left out in the sun for 10 days to rot. Apparently it’s a delicacy in these parts!!! We all fell about laughing at poor Bill, and he joked the rest of the day that he would find a way to get his revenge on her.
Next stop, the famous Damyang Bamboo Park forest. We spent a couple of hours walking around through the forest, stopping to let the kids have a play on one of the rare playgrounds we have seen. We pass quite a lot of women monks around this area, who all bow politely to us.
Off again to a quaint traditional Korean building in a small village to learn the art of Korean sweet treat making. We once again donned aprons for a cooking class. This time we mixed sweet rice syrup, soybean oil, sugar and a mix of puffed rice, seeds and nuts in a frypan. It was then colored either pink (ground dried cactus flowers), green (mulberry leaves) or yellow (gardenia seeds). It was mixed up, then pressed into a flat tray, rolled, and turned out and cut up. Yum! The kids loved it and we made plenty to take away with us. The kids are all becoming little master chefs having a great time.
Our last stop of the day was to the ‘slow village’ of Changpyeong Myeon. A small village with very old traditional houses and buildings that we strolled around. The best bit, was as we walked around taking photos, an old man came up and asked us what we were doing, and when we mentioned we were tourists having a look around, he immediately summoned us all into his back yard, to see his huge earthenware pots sitting outside. He uncovered one and proudly told us that the soy sauce inside was 120 years old (handed down from his great grandfather). He invited us all for a taste (which most of us did, and found it very fruity and delicious). He only takes out a small amount each year to add to the special New Year’s Day soup. He also showed us his red bean paste he was fermenting in another pot. He had a crazy collection of puppies, and a goat or two, so was a hit with the kids too. A great, unexpected moment in our day.
Something else made our day today. We were all excited when Brendan got a text message on his phone from Linda telling us that she had just received news to travel to pick up her little girl Eva. She will be here in Seoul on Sunday, so we can't wait to catch up with her and Stephen and Eliel. How special that it has happened while we are here!
Back to the hotel, and just time for another visit to the day spa. Most of the mums once again ventured into the huge spa area (segregated of course), and enjoyed the massaging waterfalls, several different hot pools, a cold larger pool, and outdoor pools. We all thought it was a lovely way to end the day, sitting together in the hot pools, chatting about all the fun and interesting things that had happened during the day. By now, we are old hands at it, and know the procedure of foot locker, clothes locker, clothes off, shower, spend an hour or so in all the lovely hot pools, back into the shower, dry, dress, into the pampering rooms equipped with hair dryers, lotions and potions, perfumes, etc before it was back to the real world, and off to dinner with the kids. Snitzel and side dishes tonight – a bit of a Japanese influence. Off to pack our bags as we move to a different location tomorrow for a couple of nights. Goodbye Damyang, we have really enjoyed our stay here...
No comments:
Post a Comment