Hello again blogging world! I have quite a few updates for you, so let's get to it. The weather is actually starting to feel like spring with sunny skies and highs in the mid-80s. It has been really delightful enjoying the warmer temperatures. And as such, I have started to be more active of the weekends, getting out and traveling. Though mid April was filled with leisurely weekends!
The weekend of April 27-28 I headed to Jindo with a travel group for the Sea Parting Festival. It is a natural phenomenon that happens for a few days in spring each year.
The legend of the sea parting is that the inhabitants of Jindo were being terrorized by a ferocious tiger, so everyone fled to the nearby (smaller) island Modo for safety. But in midst of the chaos, a grandmother was left behind. She pleaded with the gods to give her a way to make it to the other island, so they parted the sea for a short time, allowing her to walk to Modo. She made it all the way, but tragically died of exhaustion shortly after arriving. Not the happiest of legends, but definitely reasonable that she would have been so exhausted; it was quite a journey!
In reality, the tide gets so low, that a rocky/sandy bar opens up in the ocean between the island of Jindo and Modo. Thousands of people visit each year to walk along the sand bar. But as I experienced, in order to make it to Modo and back, you have to run bits of the way. The distance between the two islands was quite longer than I anticipated, and the sea only parts for about two hours. But happily my friend Tiffany and I powered through and were able to make it all the way! We were a bit nervous at points on our way back, but we did it.
The festival itself was pretty typical of most Korean festivals, but had one fabulous new addition that I was so excited about! It was a booth to make your "own" painting. I've been searching high and low for Korean paintings that I can take home as souvenirs, but have come up short of anything remotely traditional looking; until now that is! And the best part is I saw the man paint it right before my eyes, and I even helped a little. Ok, not really... I just held the brush with a limp hand that he moved around. But it was still great!
After the festival we headed to Mokpo for the night. Tiffany and I tried to find any sign of nightlife, but came up pretty short. It was a sleepy little town with only a few bars that had any activity. But we did get to drink at Moe's Bar (think the Simpsons), so that was kind of fun. We called it a night pretty early, since there wasn't too much to do.
The next day we headed to Boseong to see the Green Tea Fields. It was gorgeous! Rows and rows of tea plants curved along the hills like luscious green ribbons. It was nice to get out of the cities and have a short respite in nature. The surrounding area was a bit forest-like, and was also beautiful. We even found a little waterfall. And, after quite a hike, we got to the highest point of the tea fields and could sea the ocean stretching to the horizon in the distance. After all of our activity, we headed to the restaurant and cafe at the tea fields for some refreshments. I enjoyed some green tea bibimbap (basically the rice was mixed with green tea leaves) that was good, but didn't have much of a green tea flavor. But my excellent green tea ice latte and ice cream both had scrumptious amounts of green tea flavoring. I also bought some tasty green tea chocolates. It was a fun experience, and a really beautiful place. Plus green tea is probably my favorite tea (jasmine is quite close!), so it was a delight trying so many green tea-infused treats.
I had a delightful day off mid-week (Wednesday, May 1), which coincided with the start of the azalea festival at Biseulsan, a nearby mountain nature park. I woke up early and took the hour and a half trek to the nature park. Once inside I enjoyed the festivities and hiked about 2 km to the point overlooking the gorgeous azalea fields. It was a pretty good hike, and a nice way to get my energy flowing! I made it a pretty quick trip, but I did have time to try some azalea rice cake, which was all right, and get a quick print painting from a local artist. After returning home, I dropped off my things, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to a fairly close jimjilbang (a sauna/spa/public bath place). It was the perfect way to relax and unwind after the strenuous hike. It is the second time I have gone to a jimjilbang, and now I really want to go more often! It is just so relaxing and nice. And I got a scrub down by and adjuma (old/married Korean woman), which hurt so good. She rubbed off all the dead skin from my body with two abrasive gloves. It was like an icy fire sensation that I would liken to the feeling of Icy Hot cream. Only intensified. It was great, and I left feeling so refreshed.
The following weekend, I headed with Elizabeth and Lindsey, along with another tour group to go paragliding! We went to nearby Cheongdo to soar in the air. It was a pretty cool experience, though the sensation of being suspended in the air made me a little queasy. So paragliding is one of those things I am so happy I tried, but I am satisfied with only doing in once. The take off was definitely the most exhilarating part. After a crazy, windy drive up the mountain, we were suited up with our gear and then linked up with our instructor (it was a tandem jump). After we had our parachute attached, we sprinted off the side of the mountain and jumped off into the air, hoping the wind would catch us so we could fly. My first attempt at taking flight was thwarted, so we had to stop mid way and try again later. But it wasn't anything crazy like a crash landing, because we basically just stopped running a few feet before the end of the mountain.
After paragliding we headed to a nearby "castle" of which basically on part of the wall remained. But there was a pleasant little tea shop nearby, so I enjoyed some chrysanthemum tea and we played UNO. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon, and the weather was perfect! Then we capped off the night with a barbecue at our pensions in a mountain. It reminded me of the cabins (and surrounding areas) I used to stay at in Redwood Christian Park (although these living quarters were a bit classier). The barbecue had insane amounts of food and drinks, of which I thoroughly enjoyed partaking!
The next day, after a bumpy start (my cabin woke up and got ready to go at the originally planned time to leave [8a.m.], only to learn that it had been pushed back 2.5 hours thanks to a last minute decision by the coordinators) we set out for Gyeonju. I have visited the city before, but this time I was able to see parts of it I didn't get to visit last time I was there. Also, the weather was sunny and warm, unlike the arctic chill I experienced last time I visited! We went to the national museum, which was mildly interesting and also included an art exhibit. We also saw the royal tombs, which look like little hills plopped onto the earth. The higher your mound, the more important you were. My favorite part of this trip to Gyeonju was visiting the only tomb in the city that allows you to walk around inside. It was kind of surreal to be standing in a grave. Definitely an interesting experience.
After Gyeonju, we went to a nearby folk village to grab lunch. It was a traditional style village with hanok homes. It was a nice little place. Then we headed back to Daegu, stopping at Palgongsan to visit Donghwasa Temple. We didn't get much time at the temple, so I definitely want to visit it again. It is located in a very beautiful area, and there is an awesome, huge Buddha statue. Overall it turned out to be a nice weekend, and I was able to check paragliding off of my bucket list!
This weekend I plan to take it pretty easy. I went to Costco to restock on some things. Later I watched a compelling documentary about North Korea, and then hit up the nightlife in Daegu. It had been such a long time since I had been out in my city, so I was excited to get out again. It turned out to be a pretty good night. Sunday I just headed to church and soaked up the sun. It feels nice to have a relaxing weekend after being on the road so often recently.
The weekend of April 27-28 I headed to Jindo with a travel group for the Sea Parting Festival. It is a natural phenomenon that happens for a few days in spring each year.
The legend of the sea parting is that the inhabitants of Jindo were being terrorized by a ferocious tiger, so everyone fled to the nearby (smaller) island Modo for safety. But in midst of the chaos, a grandmother was left behind. She pleaded with the gods to give her a way to make it to the other island, so they parted the sea for a short time, allowing her to walk to Modo. She made it all the way, but tragically died of exhaustion shortly after arriving. Not the happiest of legends, but definitely reasonable that she would have been so exhausted; it was quite a journey!
In reality, the tide gets so low, that a rocky/sandy bar opens up in the ocean between the island of Jindo and Modo. Thousands of people visit each year to walk along the sand bar. But as I experienced, in order to make it to Modo and back, you have to run bits of the way. The distance between the two islands was quite longer than I anticipated, and the sea only parts for about two hours. But happily my friend Tiffany and I powered through and were able to make it all the way! We were a bit nervous at points on our way back, but we did it.
The festival itself was pretty typical of most Korean festivals, but had one fabulous new addition that I was so excited about! It was a booth to make your "own" painting. I've been searching high and low for Korean paintings that I can take home as souvenirs, but have come up short of anything remotely traditional looking; until now that is! And the best part is I saw the man paint it right before my eyes, and I even helped a little. Ok, not really... I just held the brush with a limp hand that he moved around. But it was still great!
After the festival we headed to Mokpo for the night. Tiffany and I tried to find any sign of nightlife, but came up pretty short. It was a sleepy little town with only a few bars that had any activity. But we did get to drink at Moe's Bar (think the Simpsons), so that was kind of fun. We called it a night pretty early, since there wasn't too much to do.
The next day we headed to Boseong to see the Green Tea Fields. It was gorgeous! Rows and rows of tea plants curved along the hills like luscious green ribbons. It was nice to get out of the cities and have a short respite in nature. The surrounding area was a bit forest-like, and was also beautiful. We even found a little waterfall. And, after quite a hike, we got to the highest point of the tea fields and could sea the ocean stretching to the horizon in the distance. After all of our activity, we headed to the restaurant and cafe at the tea fields for some refreshments. I enjoyed some green tea bibimbap (basically the rice was mixed with green tea leaves) that was good, but didn't have much of a green tea flavor. But my excellent green tea ice latte and ice cream both had scrumptious amounts of green tea flavoring. I also bought some tasty green tea chocolates. It was a fun experience, and a really beautiful place. Plus green tea is probably my favorite tea (jasmine is quite close!), so it was a delight trying so many green tea-infused treats.
I had a delightful day off mid-week (Wednesday, May 1), which coincided with the start of the azalea festival at Biseulsan, a nearby mountain nature park. I woke up early and took the hour and a half trek to the nature park. Once inside I enjoyed the festivities and hiked about 2 km to the point overlooking the gorgeous azalea fields. It was a pretty good hike, and a nice way to get my energy flowing! I made it a pretty quick trip, but I did have time to try some azalea rice cake, which was all right, and get a quick print painting from a local artist. After returning home, I dropped off my things, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to a fairly close jimjilbang (a sauna/spa/public bath place). It was the perfect way to relax and unwind after the strenuous hike. It is the second time I have gone to a jimjilbang, and now I really want to go more often! It is just so relaxing and nice. And I got a scrub down by and adjuma (old/married Korean woman), which hurt so good. She rubbed off all the dead skin from my body with two abrasive gloves. It was like an icy fire sensation that I would liken to the feeling of Icy Hot cream. Only intensified. It was great, and I left feeling so refreshed.
The following weekend, I headed with Elizabeth and Lindsey, along with another tour group to go paragliding! We went to nearby Cheongdo to soar in the air. It was a pretty cool experience, though the sensation of being suspended in the air made me a little queasy. So paragliding is one of those things I am so happy I tried, but I am satisfied with only doing in once. The take off was definitely the most exhilarating part. After a crazy, windy drive up the mountain, we were suited up with our gear and then linked up with our instructor (it was a tandem jump). After we had our parachute attached, we sprinted off the side of the mountain and jumped off into the air, hoping the wind would catch us so we could fly. My first attempt at taking flight was thwarted, so we had to stop mid way and try again later. But it wasn't anything crazy like a crash landing, because we basically just stopped running a few feet before the end of the mountain.
After paragliding we headed to a nearby "castle" of which basically on part of the wall remained. But there was a pleasant little tea shop nearby, so I enjoyed some chrysanthemum tea and we played UNO. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon, and the weather was perfect! Then we capped off the night with a barbecue at our pensions in a mountain. It reminded me of the cabins (and surrounding areas) I used to stay at in Redwood Christian Park (although these living quarters were a bit classier). The barbecue had insane amounts of food and drinks, of which I thoroughly enjoyed partaking!
This weekend I plan to take it pretty easy. I went to Costco to restock on some things. Later I watched a compelling documentary about North Korea, and then hit up the nightlife in Daegu. It had been such a long time since I had been out in my city, so I was excited to get out again. It turned out to be a pretty good night. Sunday I just headed to church and soaked up the sun. It feels nice to have a relaxing weekend after being on the road so often recently.
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