In Korea, November is a rather uninteresting month. Like Chicago, the weather starts to become
colder and the days shorter. Unlike back
home, however, there are no holidays to look forward to here. Every year, I would look forward to
Thanksgiving because of the long weekend, extra football, and most importantly,
Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma’s house.
As I would not be partaking in the turkey consumption this year, nor
enjoying Grandma’s extraordinarily scrumptious homemade mashed potatoes
(seriously, those potatoes deserve many more adjectives!), I had no choice but
to look for alternatives. Fortunately,
with the help of some friends, I was able to make a memorable Thanksgiving
weekend!
For some time now, a small group of us try to go hiking at
least a couple days a week. Usually,
these hikes occur in the early morning during the week as a means for some
fresh air and to escape the urban scenery we are subjected to on a daily basis
for a couple hours. From time to time,
we would toss around the idea of doing longer hikes on the weekends and in
different locations as well. One friend,
let’s call him Johann, kept telling us about an island just off the southern
coast of Korea with some great hiking that his director showed him once. We decided to celebrate Thanksgiving by
finally visiting this island.
After spending much of Friday night prepping for our trip, Ricky,
Lisa, Johann, and myself leave Saturday morning to head towards Johann’s
school. There we meet his director, Dan,
and some of his friends who are going to drive us out to the island and be our
“guides.” A little over an hour later,
we arrive at our pension where we were going to stay for the night. A pension is a Korean style “motel” usually
located in a scenic place. Our pension
was beautiful, located on the slope overlooking the water. It would be selfish of me to forget to
mention that Johann’s director paid for the pension and his generosity during
the weekend would not end there.
Our Pension
Sunset From Our Window
Don't Ask...
From the pension, we drove to our starting point for our
hike. It was a steep hike, but not that
difficult. As we ascended up the
mountains, we were treated to stunning views of the island, the ocean, and the
Korean coastline. Near the top of the
mountain, we found a picnic table and set up our Thanksgiving “feast.”
At The Beginning
First Incline
Early View
Call Me Caboose!
Say Kimchi!
Our Fearless Leaders
The menu consisted of turkey sandwiches
(which would have been better if Lisa didn’t forget the lettuce!), boiled
russet and sweet potatoes, fruit salad, and beer, along with the 라면(ramyeon), 김밥(gimbab), and coffee
provided by our Korean hosts. Like I
said, they were very generous to us white people, not unlike the Native
Americans hundreds of years prior. Only,
this time around, we won’t show our appreciation by taking their lands (HA
HA)!!!
Cooking the Ramyeon
Delicious Fruit Salad
Time to Eat
What's with the diagonal pictures, Lisa?
TURKEY!!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving (Korean-American Style)
After our lunch, we hike the remaining 80 meters or so to
the peak of the mountain. The
surrounding views were amazing! It
didn’t hurt that it was a nice cool day without a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, at this point, Dan had to
leave us temporarily, but his friend, Joe, was with us for the remainder of the
hike. We stayed at the peak for a while
taking pictures, relaxing, and enjoying the scenery before heading down the
other side of the mountain and back to the pension.
At the Peak
At the Peak
At the Peak
At the Peak
At the Peak
At the Peak
See Dangerous Ledge? Must Explore!
I like the coloration of this picture.
This one too!
Relaxing at the Peak
Joe is one funny guy!
When we got back to the pension, we went up to our room to
relax a bit. We weren’t even back for
twenty minutes when the wife of the couple who owned the pension brought some 파전 (pajeon) up to us.
파전 is a “pancake” made of
eggs, flour, green onions, and other ingredients depending on the type. After eating, we went for a walk along the
pier and through the village to pass time until dinner.
Ricky Loves 파전
Lisa too!
Me Three!!!
Pier in the Village
Pier in the Village
You know a door is small if Johann can't fit through it!
Village Near Our Pension
On the Pier
Dan returned later that evening. The generosity of our guides continued as we
were treated to 삼겹살 (samgyeopsal) for
dinner. 삼겹살
is a popular dish in Korea of pork which resembles bacon. Obviously we couldn’t leave out the 김치 (kimchi)!!!
Mixing the 삼겹살 with the kimchi and other
sides, such as hot peppers, garlic, and some dipping sauces, was very
delicious.
Joe is an expert at cooking 삼겹살.
Me, not so much!
KIMCHI!!!!!!!
Too Much Food!!!
After dinner, the 6 of us piled into the car (sucks to be
Lisa, Johann, Ricky, and Dan squeezed into the back seat!), and went to a 노래방 (noraebang). A 노래방, which is a popular form of entertainment here, is a
Korean style karaoke room. We made fools
of ourselves (except for Joe who had a great singing voice) for a couple
hours. Again, our Korean hosts refused
to let us contribute to the cost.
We Cool!
I was rockin!
Joe had a great singing voice.
Beer in one hand, mic in the other. The proper way
to 노래방!!!
DVDs of the performance are available for $19.95 + S/H.
Back at the pension, after a long day, we went to
sleep. Breakfast consisted of leftover
turkey sandwiches, fruit salad, 김밥, 삼겹살, and potatoes.
After checking out of the pension, we spent most of Sunday visiting a
couple temples in Busan.
Beer in Bed.....Korean Style!
Chef Johann
Breakfast
옥불사
옥불사
옥불사
버머사
Rebuilding after a fire.
버머사
It was an exhausting, but fun weekend. We got home around 6:00 in the evening on
Sunday and I was in asleep by 8. Again,
much appreciation goes out to Dan and Joe for showing us a great time.
Dan and Joe
