We went on another guided tour in June, to the Boseong area. This is a famous part of Korea, and is home to the majority of the green tea fields in the country. We went with the Gwangju International Center, and learned a bit about the tea fields in the area. We stopped briefly at one of the small plantations to walk through the tea fields and then enjoyed a cup of tea.
Our next stop was at the home of a local potter. He was originally from Seoul, but moved to Boseong to learn pottery skills of the area. He gave us a tour of his studio, and then did a demonstration of how to make a tea set. We were then given a cup and taught how to glaze it, and were given them as souvenirs.
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| The pottery makers house and workplace |
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| Some of his tools |
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| A lovely piece of art hanging in the front door. |
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| Making of a tea pot. |
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| The lid of the tea pot |
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| The spout of the tea pot |
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| The kiln and two apprentices |
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| Our cups before glazing them |
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| Each one had its own design on the handle |
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| The master |
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| The master with Carrie |
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| Carrie is so focused |
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| The master and Bradley |
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| Now Bradley is focused |
Here is a video of the pottery maker making the teapot pictured above.
For lunch, we had green tea pork. This is a local favorite. The pigs are fed green tea leaves, and it their meat is therefore believed to be more healthy than your average pork. There was no real taste difference than regular pork. It was yummy :)
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| So yummy!! |
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| Even Bradley eats the delicious lettuce |
Lastly, we drove to the coast, and had a clamming experience. They had some as a side dish which I tried at the restaurant during lunch, and while I didn't love the taste, it was interesting learning how to get them. We basically went to a muddy beach, where we were given boots, a small basket, and a small shovel. We dug through the mud and were allowed to keep up to a kilo each of clams. We gave ours to one of our friends :).
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| Bradley working hard to find those clams |
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| Carrie got some rubber boots to wear because it was muddy |
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| No rubber boots for Bradley, none in his size, but he did make two new friends on the trip |
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| We miss the ocean. |
It was a nice, relaxing day in the countryside. We only have one more tour coming up with the GIC, and then we will be heading out on our trip to South East Asia before heading home. The time has gone so fast!
