Photo by Diane Choo

Our last days in Jeollado were quiet.  From our serene patjuk in the mountains, we drove to Gwangyang where we had the city’s namesake “Gwangyang bulgogi” at 시내식당, Shinae Shikdang, which translates as “City Restaurant.”  The next morning, Randall, Carolyn and I wandered the alleys around the hotel and ended up eating pork bone soup for breakfast.  By lunchtime, we were in Namwon, where we had bulgogi jeongol, a big hotpot of vegetables and thinly sliced sirloin.  We made a quick stop in Sunchang, home of the best gochujang or red chile paste in Korea, where I bought a few things to hide in my suitcase going back to NY.

Everything was good and fresh, but nothing was thrilling.  I was honestly disappointed.  I had come to Jeollado expecting something new.

Korea, or more accurately South Korea, has been made small by modernization. The different regions to which I’ve traveled this year — Jeolla-do, Gyeongsan-do, Gangwon-do — have had official boundaries since 1413.  Without modern transportation and telecommunications, the varying terrain and ensuing climate differences meant people in Jeolla-do ate distinctly different food from people in Gangwon-do.  Rice for people in Jeolla-do, potatoes for people in Gangwon-do.  But now, the predominance of something like soybean sprouts in Jeonju cooking is just lore, it’s not something that’s understood in the gut.  I’d heard southerners eat food, and especially kimchi, that’s spicier, saltier and fishier than people in Seoul, but I can’t say I noticed a really obvious difference.

Looking back months later, though, what we ate in Jeolla-do did have something in common.  If not flavor or technique or ingredient, there was certainly care in everything we ate.  Not just the gorgeous care that went into the Jeonju bibimbap, nor anything akin to the quiet, studied attention to aesthetic you find in Japan in even the lowliest ramen shop.  It was something coarser but still wholehearted, an offhand assumption that good food takes work and an equally offhand willingness to do the work.  The octopus you have to kill to eat, the pine nuts you have to extract from pinecones, the pine mushrooms you need to hunt in the wild, because you can never, ever cultivate these.

So, if I review those last things we ate in Jeolla-do, there was the “Gwangyang bulgogi,” where lean, tender meat is lightly seasoned before grilling, and highly prized because, as my mother told me, Gwangyang was famous for taking good care of its cows.

Photo by Diane Choo

Our daeji-gukbap or pork soup at a hole-in-the-wall had the unmistakable flavor of MSG (which was sort of soothing that fall morning) but also 4 kinds of kimchi.

In Namwon, at a restaurant we randomly picked in the rain, we found galchi-gui or hairtail fish fried perfectly and greaselessly.  (If you’ve never tried this, it tastes like salted gold, and a little precious, too, since there’s not much meat on the bones).

Also, a very plentiful bulgogi hotpot:

None of this food would look unfamiliar to someone who’s never left Seoul, and the skeptic in me scoffs at the romantic in me that wants Jeolla-do food to be obviously different.  But even if it is not, if Koreans all over the country and the world work for their food, that’s not such a bad finding either.  I’m grateful to Jeolla-do for making it more obvious to me.

시내식당, Shinae Shikdang, Jeonnam Gwangyang, 061-763-0360

미마루, Mi Maru, Jeonbok Namwon, 063-635-1559

So first off I’d like to say that I’m sorry for the profanity that’s embedded itself into my blog. My mom pointed out that a lot of people read my blog and that I should go back and edit it.

My own qualms about editing my old blog posts are preventing me from doing this. Instead, I’m apologizing and promising to avoid it in future blog posts. Sorry, this blog is literally a mental release of all my thoughts, I never meant to offend.

Anyway, I meant to update that post last night but I ended up falling asleep. So it’s going to stay how it is. xD

Lisa at her computer.

We woke up this morning and chilled in Lisa’s room for a while. I got to sleep in (YAY!) and then webchatted with Mitsuo. (Mitsuo is this pretty cool dude from Ivy’s college that I’ve been talking to online lately.)

At 11AM we went down the stables and I got to ride a horse on an English saddle! It was a semi-terrifying experience because THERE IS NO POMMEL. Plus, it just requires so much more concentration to do. Posting (while not as difficult as I thought it would be) was scary when I was doing it with no hands because the stirrups on English saddles are different. My feet kept slipping through. (I think the teacher had them adjusted too low for me…) All the cool pictures are on Laura’s camera, so I’ll update this post later with pictures.

After this we just chilled out until 4PM, and I did more webchatting with Mitsuo and with ASHLEY TRAN! (<– I miss you girlie!) I fell asleep in the library while IMing people, so I moved up to Lisa’s room again. Man, we were getting some Oregon weather here. Phew. (Grey, rain, clouds, wind… yep, it felt like home. My friend Laura from Florida was dying though, haha.)

Lisa and her horseback riding teacher in the library. Haha, what a goober.

This is Lisa (on webchat with someone) and her teacher in the library. He’s listening to her iPod (he’s 22 and definitely acts it).

This is me in Lisa's room. As you can see, she cleans daily.

Lisa snapped this picture of me. I’m a little scared of what her dorm room is going to look like in college…

Anyway, I got back to Iksan after a… 2 hour bus ride not that long ago. I had an (unpleasant) surprise upon return — my host mom moved all my things around again. ::Sigh:: Ahh, the joys of Korea.
(At least she didn’t scream at me or anything tonight. Yet.)

8:02PM:
Right now I’m in Lisa’s dorm in Namwon~!
Listening to: Girls on the Dance Floor by Far East Movement (Hip-Hop)

Honestly, I’m pretty bored sitting here doing nothing, but it’s better than being at home and getting yelled at. =]
Also, I’m super excited that tomorrow I’m going to get to ride horses!
(On an English saddle, no less.)

I’ll be updating this blog throughout the night. =]

So after we had a look around the Hanok Village and had dinner, J decided he wanted to take me to Namwon (which was about 1 hour away) to show me this theme park they had there.  At first I balked at the idea of driving one hour away, especially since it was already 8 at night and it would be near midnight when we returned. Still, J told me that he was okay with driving me that far and he really wanted to take me there, so I said yes, and off we were…

the bridge entrance made to look like part of a heart...

Every night they play a symphony at the park and the water fountains dance along to the music

so many people came to watch and it was a great atmosphere to have on such a warm night

Then we headed up to the theme Park for couples...it's based on a love story between this Korean man and woman and the whole park is dedicated to them

the view up top of the park of the city

This was a special machine thing they had that sang a love song to couples who touched it

love hearts lit up

couples had to put their hands inside for the music to start

We tried our hand at these traditional Korean swings...

You have to stand on the swings and push with your whole body

J had a better handle at it than I did (must be a Korean thing?)

I kept slipping and couldn't manage to make it move very far

So. A lot has gone on lately!

Last Friday, JETI (both us teachers and our trainees) went on a field trip to Namwon (to see something involving the Korean folktale Chunhyangga) and then to Wolchulsan. The first leg of the trip was entertaining, mainly because they insisted in dressing up us silly foreigners in traditional Korean clothing, dressed as the characters from the story. Here’s me as the love interest:

Me as Chunhyang

Believe me, those clothes are fucking hot to be in in this weather.

It was neat, and there was a very detailed temple (the shots in the two posts before this one are from there), though the lunch we had was so spicy that about half the foreigners started to feel ill, myself included. For the second half of the day, we went to Wolchulsan, which took almost two hours to drive to. Wolchulsan is Korea’s smallest national park, but it’s quite beautiful. If you can make it up the mountain (mountains in Korea are phenomenally steep – often almost straight up), there’s a very wobbly “cloud bridge” that spans two minor peaks. Sadly, we were running out of time, so I didn’t get too many shots. Here’s one of me on the bridge (it’s a long way down from there, believe me):

Me on the Wolchulsan Cloud Bridge

My friend Colin thinks that should be captioned “sweaty on a bridge”. I kind of agree.

After Wolchulsan, we headed back to JETI, and me and the two teachers from Wando (Melisa and Dan) went into town and caught a bus to Wando. Unfortunately, there were no seats left, so Dan and I had to spend almost three hours sitting on the floor of the bus, in the aisle, but it wasn’t the end of the world. The ride down was quite pretty. When we got in, they ran into some other Wando friends (Wando is about twice the population of Jindo, and half the size) right off the bat, and they offered to put me up on their couch. I said I was fine with staying in one of the cheap motels nearby, but they said that there was some sort of beach day tomorrow that all the foreigners in the area were going to go to, so it would be easier to just stay with them so we could all go together.

Okay, that’s it for now, as I need to sleep. Tomorrow I will talk about: Wando (and Myeongsashimni Beach), Gwangju, Korean Fashion, finally having an “aw, I like Korea…” moment, and yesterday evening’s Three Stooges inspired antics.

got back from a trip to Jeju-do the other day and will post photos of my visit shortly. In the meantime, I thought I’d show some photos of a trip I made to Namwon, Jeollabuk-do with my girlfriend and her Mum a couple of months back for the Chunhyang Love festival. It’s a pleasant spot, especially inside Gwanghallu Garden, and worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.

Chunhyang banner

Flutist dressed in traditional Yangban clothing

Inside Gwanghallu Garden - a beautiful spot and well worth a visit

More photos from my trip to Namwon are located here.

Il était une fois une jeune fille, Chunhyang, dont le fils du Gouverneur de Namwon, Lee Mongryong, tomba éperdument amoureux. La belle courtisane qui n’était pas insensible aux charmes du jeune homme accepta ses avances à condition d’être son épouse légitime. N’étant cependant pas de la même classe, les amants se marièrent mais dans le secret le plus absolu. 

Peu de temps après, le gouverneur fut nommé ministre à Séoul et Lee Mongryong dut suivre son père afin d’y étudier et devenir haut fonctionnaire. Au moment de la séparation, la poignante Chunhyang obtient de son époux la promesse de son retour.

S’intalla alors un nouveau gouverneur impitoyable à Namwon. Ayant eu vent de la beauté de Chunhyang, il tenta de la mettre à son service mais celle-ci résista au nom de la fidélité, fut rouée de coups et emprisonnée.

Plusieurs années s’écoulèrent, Lee Mongryong réussit brillamment ses études et se vit alors confier une mission secrète par le roi: contrôler les provinces. Il en profita pour revenir à Namwon, déguisé en mendiant, et sauva sa fidèle épouse.

Aujourd’hui, cette magnifique légende dont nul ne peut en affirmer ou infirmer l’existence constitue l’un des plus grands événements culturels de Corée. Depuis 1931, le festival attire chaque année de nombreux visiteurs. Les différentes activités, qui sont organisées durant quatre jours, ont pour thème l’histoire d’amour de Chunhyang et Lee Mongryang, comme par exemple la fameuse course de relais de Bangja, la servante de Lee Mongryang qui passait secrètement les lettres d’amour entre les amants.

La cérémonie d’ouverture a eu lieu ce matin, suivie d’une parade de lanternes et d’un concours de musique classique coréenne pour les étudiants venus de tout le pays. Demain et les jours suivants offriront une multitude d’activités typiquement coréennes: concours de cuisine et de tir à l’arc, compétition de lutte coréenne, concert de musique classique, cérémonie de mariage traditionnelle, films romantiques, …

D’ailleurs, aussi célèbre que celle de Roméo & Juliette, l’histoire d’amour de Chunhyang et Lee Mongryang est à l’origine de moultes productions scéniques, opéras et films dont le Chant de la fidèle Chunhyang d’Im Kwon-Taek sorti fin 2000 et en compétition au Festival de Cannes cette année-là.

La légende ne dit pas s’ils furent heureux et eurent beaucoup d’enfants…