Mark Henry can’t climb cages.

I actually shed a tear from eating a meal. It’s never happened before. I ate the spiciest meal I’ve ever had, EVER, this weekend just gone.

Friday night we got into 의정부시 (Uijeongbu) at the usual time of 10pm and did the usual of finding a meal. We found a little quiet restaurant with two nice older Korean women running it. We sat down and ordered one of the three items we knew and could translate – 육개 (Yukgaejang). It’s a spicy beef soup with mushrooms and a few noodles served with rice. It’s awesome, one of my favourites. I’ve had it many times before and I know it can be spicy but wow, was I in for something else. This thing ripped me a new one, literally. Halfway through eating I actually shed a tear from how spicy and hot it was. I choked down the entire thing and readied myself for the possible consequences.

Saturday started with lunch at an all you can eat sushi shop, it was awesome. If the previous meal hadn’t stripped my stomach lining I may have had more of a go of the Sushi train. It was very cool though, a huge conveyor belt of sushi that you can just pick off and eat plus every other side you could think of including canned peaches (why not?). Plus the music was top notch, pop to hardcore rap to rock all in Japanese.

Next up was something that appealed to the 12 year old Matty Cole which is still very much inside me. The four boys went to a gaming room (Hangul unknown). Yes a place where you can pay play computers or PS3’s on large TV’s. We choose a wrestling game (naturally) and sat down to 90 minutes of absolute guilty pleasure. That was awesome.

We journeyed to 이태원 (Itaewon ) a popular hangout for foreigners to an awesome bar called Southside. It had amazing bar food and a kickass atmosphere. There were multiple board games to play while drinking which I think is a great idea. It also had a street fighter arcade game.

Sunday involved a mission to Bukhansan National park in an attempt to summit Dobongsan (The second biggest peak). Quickly the train filled with middle aged to elderly Koreans wearing the uniform of the Korean hiker. Hiking pants, gloves, hiking longsleeve shirt, hiking boots and hats. Plus the addition of hiking bags and hiking poles. I initially brushed this off as a fashion trend and people vastly overestimating the hiking. But there was some method to their madness. The hiking turned out to be much harder than I suspected. I only made it roughly halfway up to Dobongsan before I had to turn around because of my time constraints. I will definitely try again it was really amazing up there. There are temples, streams, bridges and cellphone towers dotted within Bukhansan. I had a little rest at my furthest point which came to be a Buddhist temple. It was very therapeutic to sit there, admire the temple and just listen to the stream. I could have stayed for a long time, even shaved my head and don the cloth, but I was against the clock.

Interesting points about Korean hiking apart from the ‘uniform’ is that they drink a lot of alcohol while hiking. I saw several groups sitting and having a meal while downing some 막걸리 (makgeolli) a favorite among hikers. It’s like a beer made from rice. Really cheap and not too bad. It’s so prominent with Korean hiking culture that as well as all the makgeolli shops along the way up the mountain there’s one where the outside is entirely cover with empty bottles. There was also a bit of 소주 (soju) going around too – makgeolli’s stronger cousin.

I struggle to drink and hike let alone doing those tasks together.

New goal: dress entirely in Korean hiking gear (plus poles) and summit a mountain.

“Please Sir, may I have some more?”

Now that camp is finished I thought I’d share an average lunch from school.

On the top right you can see what is my favourite part of the lunch. It’s a spicy pork dish. I’m unsure of the name but it is amazing! The sauce is very moreish and I never leave any on my tray.

Middle right we have 멸치볶음 (Myulchi Bokum) which is stir fried tiny (but whole) anchovies. Very salty and very fishy. If you’re not a fan of fish this isn’t for you. I enjoy them and often eat them in between other things just to change the flavour up.

Middle left we have the famous Kimchi (김치). Love it or hate it it’s always going to be there. I have my phases sometimes I can get into it, sometimes I can’t. It depends on who makes it. Sometimes it’s awesome, sometimes it’s rubbish. I feel like I should do a whole article on kimchi so I will keep it brief for now.

The bean sprouts on the far right are called 콩나물 (Kongnamul). It’s simply cooked and seasoned bean sprouts. Not too bad.

Bottom left is of course rice (밥) which is served with pretty much every meal. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Bottom right is always a soup today it looks like a kimchi based soup. It’s as the name suggests and there isn’t much more to it.

More adventures things I’ve had at school lunches is; cross sections of whole cod (guts and all), fish eggs, quail eggs (lovely), octopus and squid.

Run DMZ

What an awesome experience this early on into my Korean adventure.

 

We took a bus to the DMZ. It took just over an hour from Seoul CBD. On the way our guide give gave us information on the DMZ and bits of Seoul. He discussed a lot the safety measures that South Korea have put into place should the North invade. Anti-tank defence, a dual layered fence, all the extra bridges on the Hangang river and so on. We were provided lunch close to the border, it was great (soup). Our next stop was an area dedicated to an area which is the last free place in South Korea you can go before the north. Lots of South Koreans come here and leave messages for their loved ones in the north. Oddly this place had a water park complete with fountains, paddle boats and waterslides. Why not? Then we began our journey towards the heart of the DMZ. We went through several checkpoints where we has to show our passports and they checked our clothing. I knew it started getting serious when we saw a helicopter fly overhead and four takeoff just at our checkpoint.

We passed two villages that are located in the DMZ they are part of North and South respectively but with slightly differing laws to the mainland, Daeseong-dong and Kijong-dong.

We finally reached the JSA (Joint Security Area) which is the very middle point of the DMZ. After a quick briefing on the history of the DMZ we were told not to point anywhere or do anything silly and sign a consent form to that fact.

I’ve heard all the strict guidelines and soldiers standing in fighting poses is a bit of a show to help the tourism side of the DMZ, to spice it up a bit so it’s more exciting. Some say it’s usually pretty quiet there and that when there are no tours the soldiers are much more relaxed. I would believe it. I mean there has been a lot of people killed and skirmishes there, but common… everyone loves pointing!

Our guide Handsome Kim also spouted out a whole lot of what sounded like South Korean propaganda and I took it all with a pinch of salt.

When we actually got to see North Korea and see the military demarcation line (MDL) thats when it got really interesting. They hurried us into one of the shared buildings and we were told we could take photos. After about 5-10 minutes we were let back out and took some photos from outside. Before you know it we were back on the bus making our way back to Seoul via the gift shop. I bought some North Korean brandy and money, why not?

Maybe it’s the danger, maybe it’s the history, maybe it’s the strangeness but I thoroughly enjoyed the DMZ visit and I think this has only fueled my want to visit North Korea properly on a guided multi-day tour. Watch this space!

 

Fun facts:

John Key has also visited the DMZ

The DMZ is home to the 2nd and 4th biggest flags/flagpoles in the world. North Korea have the larger one where the flag alone weighs 270kg and it’s 160m tall.

Some evidence of tigers has been found in the DMZ such as clawing of trees and dead livestock. No hard evidence of yet.

There is a marathon held annually in the DMZ.

 

Saturday concluded with dinner and the now usual hanging around Hongdae park followed by a Jimjilbang.

 

Sunday I decided to explore and what a fruitful day I had.

 

First I headed for Jogyesa (조계사) Buddhist temple hoping to see inside and take a few photos. Maybe see a monk or two. Instead I was met by a hive of activity. There must have been hundreds of people attending a Sunday service, cramming themselves into the temple and adjacent buildings. There were people outside kneeing in neat rows like the rice fields. Some were lighting candles and others lighting incense which every now and again caught my nose. The ramblings of a buddhist monk surrounding the grounds. It was really something special. I could have easily stayed a couple of hours, but I didn’t have that luxury.

 

Next I walked the narrow streets of Bukchon. Meant to be a cultural hotspot I found it a bit lackluster, The streets looked pretty cool and there were quite a few traditional arts and crafts to do but it didn’t grab me.

 

Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁), now this is what I’ve been looking for. Constructed in 1395 it served as the main palace for many kings. It has had a turbulent history, the palace has been burnt done several times and and one point lay in ruins for 300 years. So much history. Unfortunately I didn’t have a time for a proper guided tour, I basically ran through and took lots of photos. I will definitely have to do this one again. The shear history of this place is what got to me. In contrast New Zealand is only about 200 years old as a settled country yet here we have Gyeongbokgung that has 700 years of history.

I will keep this brief as I am so sure I will come back.

 

 

Q & A Sunday – Ryan Brewer Edition

Cheers Ryan for the questions. I feel like I should do the teacher thing and reward your hard work of reading my blog with your very own post as an answer, plus a few stickers for your star chart.

Others – keep the questions coming in. I would like to make this a regular thing.

 

I  want to hear the long story about missing then changing your bus

So basically I went to the bus station to buy my ticket with instructions from my Korean contact. I did exactly what he asked and managed to buy the right ticket. However when it came to boarding the bus when it arrived the driver started asking me lots of questions and pointing at my ticket. I had no idea what he was saying. Then he kept going back to the ticket lady, then they phoned my contact and in that time the bus I needed to take left. Straight afterwards they realized that I needed to be on the bus that just left so they changed my ticket, put me on a different bus and I was off. Long story short a bit of a miscommunication on the account of the language barrier.

 

Why did that dude have to pour your tea and you had to hold  your cup with two hands

Still not 100% on this. There is some cultural etiquette to dining to do with age, gender and level of friendship. Women always have to serve men. Younger men always serve older men (might be the other way round). And guests always serve hosts (again not sure). Nowadays it’s pretty casual and we don’t have to worry too much when dining, especially with friends. However there has been times where these things have happened especially the women serving the men first, it’s a little odd for me to be honest

The two handed things is interesting. Whenever you hand something to someone, money, EFTPOS card, books ANYTHING you have to hand it over with two hands. Or one hand out and the other grasping your forearm. Very common, shops especially. It’s pretty cool.

I could do a whole post about bowing alone, but I love bowing..

 

Blog titled when in rome. The photo. White guy, white t shirt, sunglasses. What size are his shoes?

14. Probably.

 

Duck pumpkin does sound nice

It tasted better.

 

Animal withdrawals… Do you miss your chinchilla?

Yes of course. He wouldn’t survive here though. Much too hot and much too hold.

But I just miss animals in general, I’ve hardly seen any pets. Maybe a handful of dogs, and a few cats. It’s not like NZ where everyone seems to have a pet or two. Plus the area I live in doesn’t have much livestock so very few cows, no sheep, no horses, no goats, no chickens etc.

 

“No sheep for the whicked”. Paragraph 5. Line 2. Buy*

Corrected, thanks.

 

The naked spa. Were you naked? Did you get any balls to the face?

I was stark naked as the day I was born. I was quite the experience. Coming from someone who changed behind a town at primary school when learning to swim in the school pool to just having to get completely naked in a room of strangers. But #YOLO right? No balls to the face but I did have to face some balls. They were everywhere.

 

Want me to post you over some tea or other treats?

I’ll be alright for now. I can get most things here through online shopping, plus it’s only been like 5 weeks. If it gets to a year and I still miss Marmite I know who to talk to! I heard about the 100s & 1000s Whittakers errrmerrgerd!

 

Is the girl red or brunette haired?

Which girl? Um both I think – depending on the lighting situation.

 

Did you use the bench press? Have you had any gains?

I didn’t use the bus stop bench press, maybe next time when I have time before my bus. Not sure about gains/losses. But I’ve  joined a Taekwondo club so hopefully that leads to some gains.

 

What is benchball?

It’s a game similar to dodgeball but you don’t hit others. You just throw the ball to your own team mate who stands at the opposite end. As a teacher it’s like the perfect game, fun, exciting and no one gets hit in the face and cries (like dodgeball). It’s fairly easy to teach too.

 

When you say “went to gangnam” is this a suburb?

Yeah so Gangnam is a suburb in Seoul. Gangnam style the song is about the suburb I believe. It’s where the super rich go. There’s all the big brands, fancy clothing, jewelry and nice cars. All the K-Pop (Korean Pop music) stars live/go there. A bit too fancy for my taste.

 

Lol @ “to scale drawing”

Agreed

 

Love the yolo photo

I thought of you bro.

 

Is Hamilton a suburb?

It was just a couple of buildings I walked past. Maybe the owner? Maybe just a name? But I had to take pictures of it.

 

La lakers black dude is my fave

Yea that guy was awesome. He sat there for at least an hour – at least that’s how long we were there. He knew what he was doing. ‘Merica!

 

Does everyone refer to you in your Korean name ?

I wish. I love telling the kids, they crack up because it’s a very unusual name. So 마석훈 Is my full name, 99% of Korean names have 3 syllables (Ma-Seok-Hun) and very rarely some have two. Unlike Western names my family/surname is in the first part of my name 마(Ma) so if you wanted to get my attention and say my first name you would say: 석훈 (Seok-Hun).  Next things is to get and keep the classic Korean haircut.

 

Sounds like you are having a ball bro. I want to visit next year. Do you know your holiday dates?

Yup I’m loving it. Yea fo sure come visit! Would love to have you over. I’m unsure of my exact holiday dates but I know I have a week in September, a week in March, maybe a week around Christmas/ Western New Years, and a week of my choice.

 

Holy crap. Where are you for new years, MC? (Steve)

No idea at this stage. Not even sure of my Holidays. Will probably head to Seoul or something and party on the streets. I really don’t know. Might do some research into places to be for New Years.

 

Thanks Ryan!

돼지갈비 Dwaeji Galbi (Pork Short Rib BBQ)

Ahhhhhhh so good. Probably the most meat I’ve had in a meal since arriving in Korean.

Marinated pork short rib cooked on your table. A real korean bbq.

Accompanied by lots of sides such as kimchi (of course) radish, sauces, marinated raw garlic (surprisingly good), seaweed and a few others. I discovered a new favourite side dish that deserves it’s own sentence, sweet pumpkin. A small slice of cooked pumpkin doused in a sweet syrup and left to combine. It’s amazing, not too sweet but with this amazingly soft texture. I ate two servings and didn’t even feel bad. Also the marinated raw garlic is 맛이 있어요 (delicious).

The idea is to take pieces of lettuce and build a little sandwich for yourself out of the meat, sauces and various sides. My favourite combination was lettuce, pork, a red bean sauce, a little rice plus spring onions and cabbage.

This may even by my favourite Korean meal. Big call I know.

10/10 – a real score for a really good meal.