Trip to Wando

In June, we took a trip to a beach on the island of Wando.  It was on the southern coast of Korea, and it was beautiful.  We went for the day with our friends Lizzy and Mitchell.  The sun was shining and the water was quite warm.  I have personally been loving the weather lately after the cold winter.  We spent the day laying in the sun and swimming.

Mr. Pizza had some love for Women!  Just an ad in the bus station . . .

It was really empty because it was a week before the "beach season" started.  Notice the man on the right almost fully covered from the sun.  They don't like tanning here.

Awesome views of islands in the distance

This little guy came and greeted us when we first arrived and hung out with us for pretty much the entire day.   We named him Larry.  He lived near the beach.

Larry 

More of the gorgeous views we had from the beach

The end of a relaxing day :)

GIC tour to Boseong

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.

The pottery makers house and workplace

Some of his tools

A lovely piece of art hanging in the front door.  

Making of a tea pot. 

The lid of the tea pot

The spout of the tea pot

The kiln and two apprentices 

Our cups before glazing them

Each one had its own design on the handle 

The master 

The master with Carrie

Carrie is so focused 

The master and Bradley 

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 :)

So yummy!!

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 :).

Bradley working hard to find those clams

Carrie got some rubber boots to wear because it was muddy 

No rubber boots for Bradley, none in his size, but he did make two new friends on the trip

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!

Jirisan National Park

Last weekend, we went on a tour with the Gwangju International Center (GIC).  They do one tour a month to various places in Korea, and we have gone with them several times.  This month, we went to Jirisan National Park, the first national park in Korea, home of the tallest mountain in Korea (excluding the one on Jeju Island).

Entry to the Rehabilitation Center

We were excited for this trip because we would be stopping at the Jirisan Moonbear Rehabilitation Center.  Moon Bears are native to South Korea, but due to some poaching practices had become almost extinct.  They are called Moon Bears because of the half-moon shape on their chest.  In the last 10 years, there has been a major effort to rehabilitate the species and Jirisan park was chosen as the place to revive the species.  When we arrived at the center, we were taken on a tour to see some of the bears that were currently living in enclosures.  One pair, a mother and daughter, had been brought from Russia to Korea.  The bears from Russia are genetically identical, and so are brought to help bring up the population in Korea.  They remain in large enclosures for 5 years so they can completely transition to Korea's weather and food before being let out into the wild.  It was nice to see them up close.

You can really see the moon shape here

Another enclosure held 2 other bears, but these would never be released into the wild.  They had been brought to the center as cubs.  One had been injured by poachers traps, and the other had been fed so much human food that half of it's teeth fell out, leaving it unable to successfully forage.

After seeing the bears, we watched a brief documentary about the process of bringing them from Russia to Korea.  In the 10 years since the program has been in effect, the bear population has risen by about 30 bears, so it has been a success.

After visiting the bears, we had a delicious lunch of dolsot bimbimbap (rice cooked in a hot stone with various beans) and shitake mushroom pancake (forget how to say it in Korean!)  It was a yummy meal.

On our way to lunch, we drove past a poppy field and stopped for pictures

And of course, it isn't a Korean meal without lots of various side dishes

The foothills of Jirisan are well known for the quality green tea produced in the area.  This area has some of the oldest cultivated green tea fields in Korea.  So, we got to learn how to pick green tea leaves, and then were brought to a community center where we were able to dry and prepare the green tea for drinking.  Afterwards, we tried the tea and got to take some home with us.  Refreshing!

The Tea Field

The woman who taught us how to pick the leaves and prepare them for drinking

Bradley, Boram, and Hyein

Our leaves picked and ready to be prepared

First, you put on gloves 

Then you put the leaves in hot cauldron and dry them, they make a cracking sound like rice krispies cereal and the leaves get sticky

Second step, dump the leaves out on a rough mat and grind them together to release all the good stuff from inside the leaves

Bradley's turn

After being rubbed, the leaves are left out to dry and then can be used in tea

Our last stop was to Ssanggye Temple at the foot of Jirisan.  This temple was beautiful, set among the trees near a creek.  It holds some of the oldest Buddhist wood-block carvings in Korea, used for hundreds of years to print Buddhist scriptures, as well as various paintings and religious items used in ceremonies.  It was a lovely, spiritual place.

Guardians to the temple

We had a great time on this tour and we are looking forward to the next.