Haemi Fortress
We had to leave super early because of the travel time (needed to be at our pick-up point in Seoul by *shudders* 7:00AM) but we found the bus just fine and it was really nice because Adventure Korea has their own charter! Yey, no public bus!
The drive was nice but would of been even better if I'd thought to bring a pillow. Oh, well. You live and you learn. We got our first experience stopping at a Korean style rest-stop which is basically a small-scale mall (haha) with restrooms, shops and food...so that was a plus, I suppose.
Anyway, we arrived at the festival around 10:00AM and Adventure Korea had some things planned for us to do as a group: we walked around a bit on top of the wall, watched the opening cerimony, tried our hand at making some traditional-style fried rice pancake-things, watched some group members get "tortured" Joseon-style at the mock-prison set-up, and finally we viewed some archery.
After the group events we had free time and were able to walk around the festival, enjoying the historic sites of the Haemi Folk Village and the all the different events going on.
There really was some pretty scenery and as you can see the trees are beginning to turn color (finally) and it's starting to look like fall!
We had a really special time trying to order lunch from one of the booths and only managed to do so because a nice gentleman behind us understood what we were konglish-hand-motioning and explained it to the poor guy trying to take our order. Bless you, kind sir! It was an octopus pancake, apparently ..though we were unaware that the octopus was included until later when we discovered pieces of tentacles as we were eating. Luckily, they were small pieces and it was delicious none-the-less.
When we finished our lunch we still had some more time left so we choose to just relax and sit in the grass for awhile. From where I was siting I was able to see the huuuuuge kite that was flying in the sky (I presume in honor of the festival) and it was entertaining to do some people-watching.
1:30PM is when we all had to meet back up on the bus and once everyone was there we headed to our next stop: the apple orchard. Jenee and I totally took a nap on that bus ride, by the way. Pillow or no pillow. It happened.
At the apple orchard we had a small "tour" and were able to pick 3 (huge) apples each. Then we went inside for another tour--this time of the orchard's winery. It's a fairly new establishment so it was nice and seemed to produce some good wines (although I'm no expert).
Finally, we headed back upstairs and were able to make little mini apple pies. The ingredients had actually already all been prepared so we only put them together, but whatever. It was the best apple pie I've ever eaten!!
With our pies fresh out of the oven we headed back and didn't get home until almost 9:00PM.
It was a long day but a really great experience. We're planning on doing more trips with Adventure Korea in the future and think they are a great travel group to go around Korea with.
In more recent news, yesterday (Friday) after school Jenee and I went out to dinner and a movie with one of our co-teachers and her two children. Actually, this is the same co-teacher we go out with a lot and even go to the same church with her. She is so nice and a really good friend to us.
Since she knows that Jenee and I both like yukgaejang (a really spicy beef and vegetable soup) she found a restaurant near our apartment that has it and we went to eat there.
Ah, the spicy. It hurts so good.
It was delicious! Wow, it's been a while since I've eaten yukgaejang and actually this is our first time eating it in Korea so it was really great. I think this is going to be a winter favorite for us!
...right along with hoddeok, a popular street food here. It's made with batter (kind of like a pancake) and filled with this sweet awesomeness (I think brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, and peanuts)and then fried. Yum. There is a street vendor near our apartment complex which is conveniently along our path from work so I think we are going to end up stopping there often.
Anyway, after we ate dinner we went to go see a movie called Rollercoaster (Fasten Your Seatbelt) that just came out on Thursday. It has an actor in it who we really like and is a comedy about an airplane ride. Actually, it really was hilarious and even though there were bits we didn't understand Jenee and I were able to get the gist of it (plus our co-teacher explained what happened in the parts we were un-clear about too, which was nice).
Fasten Your Seatbelt staring Jung Kyong-Ho
It was a really fun evening and I am so glad it's finally the weekend!
2 comments:
Lovely fotos
Lovely fotos
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