Cherry Blossom, Mr Pizza, Rice Cake and Rice Wine!

Me and Jenny at Bomun Lake, Gyeongju

In South Korea, they are crazy about cherry blossom trees and have a whole festival in the month April surrounding this. There are two main areas to go and see the cherry blossoms and one of these is the historic town of Gyeongju which is about 25 minutes drive from Pohang.

Gyeongju is very famous in South Korea as it has a number f UNESCO World Heritage sites and was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla which ruled most of the Korean peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries. Due to the vast number of archaeological sites Gyeongju is often referred to as “the museum without walls”.

My co-teacher, Jenny, is from Gyeongju and still lives there with her husband. She was very keen for us to visit Gyeongju during the cherry blossom festival and so invited us one Saturday afternoon. However, we had gone out for a “few drinks” the night before and as usual, Monica was suffering a tad. Anyway, we met her at school (in South Korea, even in elementary school, the kids attend school 2 Saturday mornings every month and as such, Korean teachers also need to work on some Saturdays – us lucky EPIK lot escape this tragedy) at 12.30pm and she drove us to Gyeongju.

We started off with a tasty hangover lunch in Mr Pizza, a Korean pizza chain which does REALLY good pizzas – although I am NOT a fan of the sweet potato mousse (yes, that’s right, sweet potato mousse) that they often feel the need to put on the pizza or fill the crust with. Why? So we munched until we were full and then headed off for the Bomun Lake area to see the cherry trees in full blossom.

Bomun Lake is a man made lake about 6 km outside Gyeongju but is very beautiful during the cherry blossom season as it has millions of cherry trees around its edges. I found this lovely quite on the Korean Tourist Info website and thought I would share it with you – “Viewing the beautiful scenery of this walk with pink petals dancing with the wind wind make you smile gently.” It did and we smiled a lot. We spent the afternoon walking around the lake and chatting.

The cutest thing I have yet to see in Korea. This was a remote controlled kids car, complete with K-Pop tunes blasting out of the little speakers and little girl with a head scarf that it is a must for any lady in a convertible.

Me and Garry blossoming it up!

Hiding in the blossom.

And a bit more blossom....

Trying to make the blossom photos a bit more original....

Jackie Chan style blossom.

Ah, two cute little bottle of beer enjoying the view.

No idea what we were looking at but it must have been interseting...

Mandatory "kimchi" sign to do in all Korean photos.

Tunnel of cherry blossom, it really was beautiful.

Happy days with the blossom.

Conquering the huge lake one step at a time...

Another little cutesome one, this time with angel wings on the back of his lickle rucker-sacker.

Beautiful blossom and blue skies.

And some more.........

And yet more........

Love these paving stones, they are from the Silla Dynasty apparently and all around Gyeongju (although I fear they may not be entirely original)

After our legs were worn out, we headed down to the university district in Gyeongju and had the most amazing fresh strawberry juice drink I have ever had. And only for a pound. The noises I made were not normal!

I have clearly stolen Garry's strawberry juice also....

On the same weekend there was also a Rice Cake and Rice Wine Festival being held in Gyeongju so we headed over there late in the afternoon. However, due to our late arrival, most of the festivities were ending. We sampled some ricke cake which Jenny insisted on buying for us – its not at all sweet and in Korean is called “dok”. Its made by pounding rice to within an inch of its life with a big hammer and then made into a ball shape of doughy, stodgy, tasteless stuff. Sometimes they put red bean paste in the centre which Koreans think is sweet – its not.

We sauntered over to the rice wine tasting section and sampled some Korean traditional rice wine. We have tried this before and are not really fans. Its kind of like a starchy, milky, grainy cream coloured liquid that tastes like alcohol. Not good. We bumped into a few friends who had clearly had an afternoon of sampling and one recommended a berry wine she had sampled so I bought a bottle and we headed off home.

For a hangover day it turned out pretty well and was really good to spend some time with Jenny outside school and get to know her a bit more.

Hammering away the rice to make delicious (??) rice cake.

Finally, some new Korean words for all you readers:

Makgeolli (pronounced 'mak elli') = Korean rice wine.
Dok (pronounced 'dok') = Korean rice cake

Dinner with Garry's PE Teacher in Gyeongju

After school today one of the PE teacher's in Garry's school offered to take me and Garry to Gyeongju to see the cherry blossom and have some dinner. Kim Yong Wan is from Gyeongju and he grew up o his familiy's farm just outside the town. Him and his wife now live in Pohang but he still calls Gyeongju home.

They picked us up at 5pm and we drove to Gyeongju which takes about 30 mins. Unfortunately, every other night this week had been beautiful sunshine but it started raining on the drive to Gyeongju, and got heavier. And heavier. So we decided to stop for some dinner first. They took us to this traditional Korean restaurant where, as usual, we sat on the floor. However, this was more unusual as there was no table it the room - but quickly some waiters carried in a table laiden with food. They explained it was easier to clear a whole table than lots of individual dishes - fair enough I say.

Garry, Kim Yong Wan and his wife in the restaurant

The table of many dishes!

Kim Yong Wan and his wife were very kind and chatted to us, in limited English, during the meal. Once again we were struck by the differences between Koreans and Scots. They were the same age as me and Garry but have never left Korea and have no particular desire to, instead choosing to holiday in Korea. They feel it is very expensive to go abroad and that there are plenty of places to visit in Korea. They are also very family oriented, much more so than us, and spend lots of time with family whereas we tend to spend more time with friends. Its admirable they level of respect they have for their elders and their responsibility to their families, a value we seem to have lost in Western societies. It was another example of the collectivist nature of Korean culture.

After dinner it was still raining so they drove us around for a while and then we headed to Bomun Lake, a large man made lake outside Gyeongju which is famous for the cherry blossom trees around the lake. By this time it was snowing, in April, in Korea. We walked for a short while and then they brought us back to Pohang.

The man and his wife walking in the sleet.

Kim Yong Wan with a cherry blossom flower behind his ear - apparently this is a sign that you are 'crazy' in Korea and that is not a good thing for them.

We were invited to their home for some drinks which we readily accepted. Koreans only seem to drink beer or soju and asked us what we liked to drink. We both said wine and they quickly brought out a wooden gift box with two bottles of wine, one white and one red, that they had been given at their wedding. We tried to tell them not to open a gist just for us but, like many Koreans, they do not really like wine and so were happy to get rid of it! Koreans also do not know how to drink wine so four glass tumbers were collected and the red was opened. Those who know me know that I don't like red wine but not to be rude, I drank my glass. They then opened the bottle of white wine , warm white wine, and poured it on top of the remained red. It was a real experience!

Something else we noticed was how red Kim Yong Wan went as soon as he touched alcohol. This is common in Korean males but I don't know why.

Garry and a rather red-faced Kim Yong Wan

Me and the wife

Just like friends back home, we played some Wii and chatted about family, travels and work. They were both pretty drunk when we left at midnight and reportedly had quite a hangover the next day.

The Joller’s Big Birthday Day Out!

So, as you may have noticed from earlier posts, we have become good friend with another couple of Brits (one Welsh, one Liverpudlian), two South Africans and an Amurican since moving to South Korea and this is the first birthday of our little crew (apart from Kate but that was way back on the first day of orientation….). After weeks of stressing over birthday plans, Corey decided she wanted to go to the historical town of Gyeongju to sample some cherry blossom and ride some rental bikes.

The day began with a great cooked breakfast courtesy of Mr Shelton including the newly bought bacon rashers from Costco which started the day off nicely. The four of us from Pohang hopped on a bus to Gyeongju to meet Adalet and Matt, from Gumi, in Gyeongju. Unfortunately Kate had a Korean wedding to attend that day but promised to meet us at night for the real celebrations. After a short journey we arrived and quickly rented bikes from a Korean lady at the bus terminal. Now, most people of a certain age are quite confident on a bicycle or at least don’t scream every time they move forwards. Not out Adalet. She lacks experience on said bicycle and we had a lot of fun watching her try to cycle around a very small, quiet car park. But soon we were off! In completely the wrong direction of course, but we were cycling.

The birthday girl with her birthday pressies from Matt and Adalet.

Me trying to figure out how to wear a large over-the-shoulder bag as a rucksack.

Adalet practising her moves (unfortunately from the photos you cannot hear her screams!)

Our first stop was at Cheomseongdae Observatory which is one of the oldest surviving astronomical observatories in East Asia (not the world as I first proffered). Set in a large flat area we cycled around for a while and partook in our favourite ice cream snacks in Korean – the squishy bag. A genius idea where a nice milky ice cream is in a foil carton and has a little screw lid so you squeeze out the ice cream and then can put the lid back on to prevent spillage.

Cheomseongdae Observatory

Another cutester Korean child with a little butterfly.

Garry and his lady friends.

Anyway, we cycled on up a hill and found a wooded area with lots and lots of cherry blossom trees (this being cherry blossom festival season it was quite busy). It was at this point, while cycling off alone, that my right bike pedal decided to break requiring me to push the bike back up a hill to meet the others. Garry was chivalrous as always and swapped bikes with me! We spent some time posing with the blossoms and then headed off to Anapji Pond.

Corey being happy slapped.

Broken pedal.

Old Korean couple enjoying a picnic and the blossom.

Blossom.

Paul rocking the gay blossom ad campaign.

Group blossom pic.

Loving the blossom.

One of my favourites.

Anapji Pond is an artificial pond which was part of the palace grounds of the Silla Dynasty and it was constructed by order of King Munmu in 674 CE. However, as with most things in Korea, it fell into rack and ruin and was left to rot until 1974 when it was dredged and rebuilt. Also, due to the Korean War and complete devastation of the country numerous times by wars with Japan, many Korean historic sites have been rebuilt so all tend to look a little bit similar. That being said, it was a very beautiful and peaceful place and one of my favourite in Korea so far.

Anapji Pond.

Anapji Pond.

A group of Korean girls who were taking a million timed pictures of themselves around the lake.

Anapji Pond foot photo with customary kimchi sign.

A bit of light exercise at the end of a tough day.

Matt loving the cartwheels but not quite the same style and finesse as the ladies.

We were all a bit hungry by this time to headed back towards the bus station and munched on some hot spicy chicken toasted sandwiches. And then it was back on the bus to Pohang for a short snooze.

Then came the night out. There are a squillion pictures on Facebook documenting our initial loveliness and then the slow but ……….. demise into drunkenness, debauchery and noraebong. Needless to say a good night was had by all and I have added a few pics for those of you who don’t have Facebook.

Happy Birthday Corey, it was a blast!

Corey with her golden pig (a present from us to remind her of the special time we had spent together at the bus depot in Pohang)

Birthday girl!

Birthday cake!

Eoghan and Dan, friends from Gumi-side

Drinking with Marilyn in Whistlers, a Western bar in Pohang.

Matt. Just Matt.

Paul and Matt have a close friendship.

Very close.

I am not sure if you are meant to put sparklers in a hookah but we did.

A typical noraebang room and Eoghan blasting out the hits.

Corey and Adalet are really enojying this one - maybe due to the bottle of soju on the table in front of them.

Garry and Matt, you can always rely on them to fall asleep in noraebang, no matter how loud people are singing!

Purple Rain, Purple Rain!