Step by step covering Seoul (5)

Day 7: Kanghwa Island - Day out with Korean Dad

We had our breakfast at Paris Baguette, a bakery chain in Seoul, it was a typical American/Continental breakfast with sausage and pancakes and a cup of coffee.... not that great compared to the coffee we've had at Coffee Guru and also the instant ones we get at the hostel.

Then we walked along Cheonggyecheon stream, as it was a part of the Hi Seoul Festival (a week long of festivals and events throughout Seoul, usually art related), there were some artworks exhibited on either side of the stream. We decided to check it out as we were only meeting up with Eve's Korean dad around lunch time.

We saw some artwork from local artists and students, as well as by foreigners who are living in Seoul. There was even a traditionally dressed ahjussi (uncle) who was an ambassador for Hi Seoul Festival! He was so nice and smiley!

With time to kill, we popped into the Korea Tourism Organization to see if there were any clinics that we could try (I was hoping to try out the chiropractic one...), but it was about plastic surgery.... I got a consultation for doing a nose job... hehehe... and she said that they would take cartilage from my ear and make my nose higher. Having a flatter nose makes us look young but it's not as nice... and also my nose is uneven, one side is higher than the other...

Even as I was listening to the girl giving me the consultation, I was regretting my decision to sit down at their counter... but when we finished, we were given some nice Korean fans! hehehe...

And then we spotted a stress machine, it measures your how your body is due to stress and also your blood vessels.... we've seen the blood pressure machines before, but we were interested in this "new" thing! So we just had to sit there with a cap over our finger and it measures your stress level... here's mine.....

my blood vessels are younger than my actual age! hehe...

We also stopped by YP Books, a HUGE bookstore in Seoul, and I picked up a couple of wedding magazines and even a book on Korean wedding traditions in Korean! Now, I really have to learn Korean! :) - that's why Eve and I bought an exercise book to learn Korean!

We dropped off my heavy magazines back at the hostel and then made our way to Geomam station (pronounced "Gi-o-mam" - in Incheon, just outside of Seoul) to meet Jody (Eve's Korean dad). At the station we also met up with Anna and Tony, two other teachers who were also at the Summer English Program that Eve ran in 2008.

We then started to make our way to Kanghwa island. Jody recommended that place to go fishing, but we would have to get there before the tide came in! I thought the island would be just half an hour or an hour away, but actually we had to drive almost an hour to get to the pier where we changed to a ferry.

above: on the wall of a restaurant, a reminder that came at the perfect time.

Before we got to the ferry, our stomachs were grumbling from hunger, so Jody stopped by a traditional Korean restaurant where the building was built from yellow mud. We ordered seafood pancake and bbibimbap with red rice and barley rice.

The area was famous for barley rice and there were many fields around and all the farmers were busy picking sweet potatoes as they were ripe and in season. Jody even took us out to the restaurant owner's field and he let us try his sweet potatoes. Koreans just shave the skin off and eat it raw (they also eat it cooked), it was definitely a different taste.... but I prefer cooked soft ones.... :)

from left to right: Tony, Jody, Eve, Hera, Anna

When the food came, it was such a sight! The table was FULL of food along with all the banchans (side dishes), when Eve and I ate our meals in Seoul we were never given more than two or three banchans. Don't know if it's cuz they think we will waste it or that's how it is now, but I like it when there are LOADS of side dishes, cuz they all taste so good!

After our late lunch, it was already 3pm, so we quickly made our way to the pier and took the ferry (those that carry cars as well) to Kanghwa Island. On the way, sea gulls would fly around the ferry catching the shrimp chips that passengers threw for them. I've never been in this situation before, but I know that my cousin experienced something like this in Japan as well. We actually didn't get a HUGE swarm of sea gulls, but I was still just as scared of them accidentally releasing their droppings on me! hehe......

By the time we got to Kanghwa Island it was too late, the tide had started to come in, so instead we drove around the island, took some photos of the scenery and cosmos that were blooming everywhere and ended up at a temple.

below: a temple carved in the bedrock

We hiked up the mountain behind the temple to take in the sunset, we lost count of how many steps to go up.... it was just LONG!

left: tiles with writing - don't know if it's buddhist scriptures or if they are the names of people who "bought" tiles for the temple...
middle: the long climb
right: pine needles of tree along the way up

left: we were just in time to watch the sun set
middle: a funny sign...
right: Jody taking a photo of the sunset

Then we had to make the long trip down the mountain and back to Incheon to meet up with two more teachers from the Summer program. We had dinner at Outback Steakhouse that night.

Suyang, Eve and Anna

Then we made our way home to get some sleep before we meet up with Jody again the next day.

Total steps walked: 11,629 steps