Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 10 - Snowboarding at Phoenix Park, Korea
My last day of adventures was exciting! We headed to Phoenix Park for snowboarding. The resort is about two hours east into the mountains so I got to see the countryside for the first time, very pretty.
Coming from Colorado you'd think that I was a Snowboard expert, but it's quite the opposite. I'd only been boarding one time before this, which was ten long years ago, and it wasn't pretty. Sang in however had never been, so we'd be learning together.
Luckily we got an instructor; I didn't want to go home with any broken bones. Jane spoke perfect English and patiently taught the two rookies how to carve, turn and fall...yes; there is a method to the falling. "Don't brace yourself with your wrists Ryan!"
After perfecting our skills on the bunny slopes with all the kiddies we headed up the hill. As I sat next to Sang in on the chairlift it looked like he has seen a ghost. I don't think he realized that the mountain was so steep. It was a big change from the friendly bunny slopes.
We actually made it down somewhat gracefully and Sang in was so excited that we went right back up. I never dreamed that I'd be snowboarding in Korea this January but it was so much fun. Maybe I'll have to skip Aspen and make this my new winter get away.
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 9 - Mexican Dinner at Kunggakongga Restaurant
Seoul is a big metropolitan city and you can get any kind of food from all over the world. Up until this point though, I had only tried Korean food and I was itching for something familiar. If there's one thing I like as much as bikes, it's beans!
Sang in made arrangements for us to eat at a Mexican restaurant and I was overjoyed. It actually turned out to be an African restaurant but they did have a list of Mexican dishes as well. Talk about fusion....or CONfusion.
I ordered Anchiladas, my favorite African/Mexican dish :) I live on Mexican food at home so this was a real treat for me. I've loved the Korean food I've been eating all week but its fun to mix it up.
They get an 'A' for effort on the Anchiladas but I think I'll stick with the Kimchee and Squid Pancakes from now on. It actually tasted ok, and I really liked the spot of macaroni on the side, I never knew macaroni was Mexican.
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 9 - Cycling at Jungnangcheon - Hangang Park - Seoul Forest
I've been looking forward to this day all week because today was BIKING day! If you know me well, then you know I love bikes!
We headed down to the Han River and rented a few bikes for a nice Saturday cruise along the water. Seoul takes pride in its bike program and offers up FREE bike rentals!
I chose a nice lime green cruiser to match my jacket. Sang in laughed at my choice, saying that it was a girl's bike. But after showing him how cool my bike was with its cushy seat and front basket, he decided to go with a bright pink cruiser.
Leaving our macho manhood behind, we set off on a little ride. Riding bikes brings back wonderful childhood memories and there's no better feeling. Ringing bells and feeling the wind in your face is just about the best thing in the world.
We pedaled along the river to the Seoul Forest, which didn't turn out to be very foresty. It's a big set of parks with different gardens, each specializing in different plants. I'm sure that it's spectacular in the summer but with all the snow cover it was all covered up. Guess I'll have to come back in June.
I could have ridden all day but unfortunately the bicycles were turning into icicles so we called it a day and headed out for lunch.
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 8 - Staying at Seoul Guest House
Right now I’m sitting in my cozy Korean guesthouse loving the simple life. I checked out of my modern, fancy hotel and traded it for something a little more relaxing.
There’s no furniture, no heat and no indoor bathroom but I’m a happy camper. It’s kind of like camping actually; I’ll be sleeping on the floor bundled up in a pile of blankets to stay warm. Good night!
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 8 - Tofu Soup & Outdoor Skating at Gwanghwamun Square
After a couple hours of slipping around the mountain it was time for lunch. Sang in brought me to a cozy little hole in the wall place deep in a busy alleyway. We sat traditional style on the floor and ordered spicy Tofu soup. This was the best tasting meal I’ve had so far in Korea! The pot came out sizzling like a plate of Fajitas and it went down like a bowl of ice cream, so smooth.
Today is January 15th but you’d think we were right in the middle of Christmas season. The decorations are still up everywhere! So in honor of it still being Christmas in Korea, we went ice-skating.
It was fun but very difficult to avoid running over little children. There were probably about 200 school kids swarming the ice. It was like rush hour traffic without any order to the chaos. We moved on quickly.
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 8 - Hiking at Bukaksan Mountain & Fortress Wall of Joseon Dynasty
A heat wave has hit Seoul; it’s a whopping 10 degrees warmer today than yesterday, bringing up the temperature to a comfortable 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
To celebrate this moment I headed outside for a little hiking at Buk Ak Mountain. My buddy James from Seoul City met me and we headed to a beautiful trail on the northern outskirts of town.
The trail follows the fortress walls constructed by the Joseon dynasty in the early 1700’s. They actually built four gates around the city to protect the king from invaders. It’s looks something like the Great Wall, but I don’t think you can see this wall from space :)
We wandered the trail until we came to a sign that broke my heart, ‘Closed.’ The main section was blocked off due to slippery conditions, bummer. We turned back and luckily found another inviting trail that led off into the woods.
We quickly learned why they closed the trail though. Our new path was as slippery as an ice skating rink. We gingerly made our way down, grasping desperately onto the side rail to stay on our feet. It didn’t help though; first James took a spill, quickly followed by Sang in. We must have looked like a crew of drunken monkeys clumsily bobbling down that hill.
Once we reached the bottom, we came upon a tall column of small pebbles stacked about 6 feet high. Sang in explained to me that people stack these stones while making a wish for each rock.
I like making wishes and eagerly uncovered a pile of snow to find a rock. Once I found my winner, I eagerly placed it on the pile. However, in the process of adding my stone, I accidently knocked off about five rocks in the process, oops, five wishes down the drain!
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 7 - More Traditional Martial Art (Taekgyen) Practice, Insadong - Part 2
After dinner it was time for more Taekgyen. This time I was invited into their warm practice facility. This was a good thing since I still couldn't feel my toes from the earlier session.
They suited me up in a traditional Hanbok and quickly began to kick my butt. It's almost impossible for me to be aggressive with a human so it was a little uncomfortable when it was time for sparing.
"Kick! Kick him hard!"
I resorted to my only weapon, humor, and instead decided to have a hug of war with my partner. He turned out to be a pretty good hugger, so we called it a draw.
Although I'm a lover not a fighter I really enjoyed learning Taekgyen. They may be complete ass kicking machines but were super gentle and sweet human beings when they weren't kicking me to the ground
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 7 - More Traditional Martial Art (Taekgyen) Practice, Insadong - Part 1
After dinner it was time for more Taekgyen. This time I was invited into their warm practice facility. This was a good thing since I still couldn't feel my toes from the earlier session.
They suited me up in a traditional Hanbok and quickly began to kick my butt. It's almost impossible for me to be aggressive with a human so it was a little uncomfortable when it was time for sparing.
"Kick! Kick him hard!"
I resorted to my only weapon, humor, and instead decided to have a hug of war with my partner. He turned out to be a pretty good hugger, so we called it a draw.
Although I'm a lover not a fighter I really enjoyed learning Taekgyen. They may be complete ass kicking machines but were super gentle and sweet human beings when they weren't kicking me to the ground
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 7 - Dinner @ Mingadaheon
After shivering up an appetite, I headed to the Insadong tourist area from a nice warm meal. The itinerary said I was to eat a Vegetarian meal which made me very happy. Last night's exotic seafood extravaganza just about did me in.
The restaurant was lovely traditional Korean house with rice paper walls that looked much like Mr Miagi's home from the Karate Kid movies.
It ended up being the much nicer meal that I had hoped for. Four courses of the most artistic vegetable plates came out one after another. They were almost too pretty to eat.
I'm not used to fine dining but it was fun to have a moment in the extravagant world….until I got the bill. Usually it's alcohol that puts a hurt on my wallet, but in this case it was those darn baby Asparagus!
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 7 - Learning Traditional Martial Art - Taekgyen, Mt. Inwang
I've never been a fighter but today's mission was to learn how to kick butt! Everybody has heard of Taekwondo, but there's another martial art from Korea that not many people have heard called Taekgyen.
I found myself on the side of a mountain once again, but this time not to meditate with monks. Maximilian Jang and his student Chad (from New Jersey but lives in Korea) met me for a quick lesson on a snowy hilltop.
Today was -17 Celsius and Seoul hasn't had temperatures this low in about 100 years, lucky me! It's the perfect temperature for getting tossed into the snow and feeling like your bones are gonna shatter.
Taekgyen is based on kicking; Jang explained to me that Koreans are the best kickers in the world because throughout time they have worn baggy clothing, which allows for a wide range of motion. Back in the day it was an entire country of people sporting MC Hammer pants!
My favorite part of the training was learning how to yell out TEK! and then exhaling…HAAA! Tek! Ha! Tek Ha! Tek Ha! I'm good at being loud, this could work for me.
The history of the art is fascinating; Taekgyen was an ancient form of fighting for hundreds of years until the Japanese invasion. They outlawed the practice and killed off most of the masters. The art was almost completely lost until one man found the sole living master and learned from him, at the age of 93. It's still miniscule in the world of martial arts but their hope is to slowly spread the sport.
Watch this amazing video to see the beauty of this martial art; it looks kinda like Crouching Tiger without the flying on rooftops.
http://www.tkbattle.com/bbs/zboard.php?id=specialclip&no=56
After a couple hours in the snow I was beginning to show mild signs of hypothermia so we decided to call it an afternoon.
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 6 - Hong Eoga Makgeolli Manaseltte (Sting Rays with Rice Wine)
This evening's dinner was, well, I have no polite way to say this so I'll just say it, disgusting! Sang in wanted me to try something crazy so he ordered up a platter of Sting Ray. The plate looked appetizing enough with pretty rows of small pink chunks lined up like sushi. The smell however was horrific! I gagged as I put the meat to my nose; it smelled of pure ammonia and reminded me of lawn fertilizer. After 1.7 seconds in my mouth I knew I was in trouble. The crunchy bones made me want to gag and the tough, gummy meat was almost impossible to force down.
It didn't help that Sang in and Lee were laughing their asses off while I squirmed around in my seat. I'm not a quitter though and finally swallowed it. I quickly washed it down with some Makgeoli (rice wine) and was once again a happy boy.
It brought great joy to my face when Sang in went through the same uncomfortable procedure when he put this wretched food into his mouth. HA HA!
Now it was onto something more civilized, a harmless pancake. Or at least I thought it was harmless until I found bits of Squid tentacle in my dough. It wasn't bad though, a thousand times more edible than Sting Ray.
On my way out the door the waiter chased me down with a spray bottle. It totally caught off guard but it turns out it was just Febreeze. He was just masking my fishy smell so I wouldn't pollute the clean air of Seoul. Maybe I should do this with all my clothes from now on...it would save a trip to the laundry mat
Sell Your Seoul Trip 3 - Day 6 - Makgeolli ("Rice Wine") Making
The museum also has a hands on learning center and I was put to work making rice wine. This all-natural alcohol is made from rice, water and yeast, simple! After mixing all the ingredients together for about 30 minutes I poured it into a jug and called it a day. Unfortunately, it takes a week to ferment so I couldn't try my tasty concoction. I also just heard that airlines have now banned rice wine jugs on all airplanes so I left it with Sang in. Next week he can get drunk and think of me.
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