It’s really tricky to buy shoes in Korea since my feet are so big. However, while I was walking around a shopping district (명동) with the girly today, I found a pair of Adidas Superstar II Bling. The bling means the stripes are a tad shiny. Anyway I was happy to buy them because I think they’ll last a bit longer than my Converse and I have a choice of two pairs of shoes to wear now.

After shopping the two of us headed to Homestead - a coffee shop. The girly heard the coffee there was quite good but it ended up being disappointingly average. The decor was nice though. They had large wooden tables, brown soft seats and cushions added a strong lick of colour to the white backdrop. We chatted away and took way two many photographs before the shop closed up.

Saturday was quite an adventure. We set off early in the morning to our first destination - a fortress (광성보). It was built to defend against the Japanese invasions long ago. Inside was kinda like a park with the remains of the fortress here and there. It was nice to see some cannons too. There was a seafront wall too so we spent some time sitting there watching the gloomy clouds clear and the blue sky starting to poke through.

Secondly we headed to a raw fish restaurant called Chang-song (창성). We ordered the set menu which consisted of so many dishes. There were various clams, octopus, fried fish, vegetable dishes, a main of raw fish and a large spicy soup to finish. We certainly fueled up!

In the same area we took a ferry to an island (석모도). The girly’s father brought along some crisps (새우깡) to feed to the seagulls. The seagulls swooped down and took the snacks right out of our hands. There were seagulls following the other ferries back and forth too. On the island we took a bus up to a mountain. The walk up the mountain was steep, especially on a hot day, but we made it up until the temples (보문사라는 절). The girly and her mother rested while me and her father tackled the 418 steps up to a buddha engraved into the face of the mountain. It was well worth the climb to see the beautiful view.

Our third destination was a mud flat (동막해수욕장). I had never been in the mud before and was looking forward to it. It was a lot of fun letting my feet and ankles sink into the mud. It was a tad slippery and almost slimy at times but I had a child like enthusiasm as I prodded forward. The sun was setting as we walked back to solid ground. It was beautiful.

I had a great day visiting some places in Korea I hadn’t been to before and have to make a habit of going more often on my weekends off. Photos on flickr.

The weekend was relaxing for the most part. I went over to the girly’s place on Saturday. After a bit to eat we went out to meet Chung-hyoung (정현). He used to work with my girlfriend and is a nice guy so we meet up with him sometimes. Anyway after helping him pick out some stationary for his brother we went for a coffee and chatted away for a couple of hours.

At dinner time we met up with the girly’s parents and went to a restaurant. It was one of those big places where you sit on the floor and order whatever they specialise in. This place specialised in tofu dishes. We had tofu and fish in a spicy soup (두부동태전골). I’ve got used to sitting on the floor. I can sit cross-legged for the duration of the meal without any significant pain now. Also I sit up straight a lot more now too. Her mum always tells me to straighten out my back and in the gym I do back exercises.

In the evening we checked out a saxophone concert in a park (율동공원). The quality was really bad actually. The songs they played sounded too textbook - lacking imagination. Precision too, was a problem. We left as soon as a couple of drops rain fell around us. On the plus side, the park had some huge cat fishes…

On Sunday we checked out the new Batman film. It was actually really good if a little long. The Joker was really well acted and the story was well written and realised. Being so long I expected it to drag on a lot but it was entertaining enough to keep my attention all the way through.

In the evening we took a walk beside a small river (탄천). We dipped our feet in a small paddling pool but to our surprise the water soon drained away. I guess in the evening they drain it for safety reasons. So we got up and headed to central park (중앙공원) to take some photos of colourful lights reflecting on the water. However, the lights were off. I guess Sunday is a quiet day after all.

Oh we also picked up our latest batch of Fisheye photos. I uploaded them to Flickr here.

Last week I had 4 working days off. The first day of I finally got another chance to go one of Korea’s beaches. I hadn’t been to the beach for about a year and a half so it was quite exciting when I arrived there and ran down to the sand. I went with the girly which made it all that much more fun. We spent most of the afternoon in the water - splashing each other and riding small waves on a tube. The water was a tad dirty but it didn’t bother us too much.

In the evening we cooked up some clams. Actually a large variety of clams that I don’t know the names of. That was pretty interesting. They tasted really good too. I hadn’t really ate big ones before but I’d totally be down for it again. After dinner we took a nice long walk on the beach before hitting the sack.

Our next stop was Chung-ju (충주) - a developing town. Apparently it’s starting to get a lot bigger and more modern from what it used to be. We spent two nights at the girly’s grandmother’s house. There really wasn’t much to do in the daytime but in the evenings we were joined by her cousins for food.

The first night we went for raw fish. We were served the special course which included all sorts of dishes - raw salmon salad, king prawns, soups, deep fried stuff, cooked fish and so much more. After we ate the main course of raw tuna, the chef came into our room and cut up a tuna head for us. It was my first time to eat the head. It tastes a lot different from the body but was quite nice. We also did a shot of soju with him. The shot included a dash of gold leaf and same raw fish eye. Disappointingly it tasted just like soju. After eating we went to a bar for european beer. After all the soju I drank in the restaurant I was hesitant to mix it with strong beer but it flowed down the hatch. I got a tad tipsy but that just added to the good atmosphere.

The second day after watching a movie in Techno Town Cinema (gotta love that name) and having a quick chat with one of the girly’s mum’s school friends we headed to her cousin’s house for a BBQ. Since we did it outside it was kinda interesting to see the overwhelming number of bugs the Korean countryside hosts. I saw weird things I’d never seen before; a cicada knocking itself out after a bad take off; and more interesting a form of a cicada before it gets it wings and starts it’s singing. Since I can’t really eat meat (can’t seem to digest meat correctly) I ate a lot of roasted kimchi and other veggies. For dessert we eat watermelon and green apples.

Oh I forgot to mention that for lunch we went for snail soup (올뱅이해장국). The snails were tiny and blue. They were cooked in a soup with some sort of edible plant. The soup was nice but had a bitter aftertaste. That’s the second kind of snail cuisine I’ve tried. Interestingly while eating the girly’s grandmother ordered a bottle of soju. I really wasn’t in the mood for drinking after the night before but I couldn’t turn it down. She said it was to help me feel better but I didn’t have much of a hangover in the first place. Drinking to ease the hangover - 해장술.

The next day we headed to Bundang and rested up until Sunday. On Sunday we headed into the mountains near Bundang with the girly’s folks and stopped by an open-air restaurant. The restaurant was located right next to a river which was shallow enough to paddle in. After eating Korean pizza (해물파전) and some kind of duck cuisine we took our socks off, rolled our trousers up and jumped into the river. It was so cool that it took the edge off the afternoon sun. The restaurant even provided chairs to use in the river. We sat there merrily chatting away and relaxing until we saw some leeches in the water. We stayed in a little longer before heading out and back home.

I had a good few days off and felt relaxed, if a little tired, by the end of it. Ah, no more holidays until Christmas.