Into the misty mountains we go!

This morning, we started out by figuring out (sort of) the Seoul bus system. Unfortunately, none of the drivers speak English, which was sort of a problem. We solved said problem by asking the front desk man at our guest house to write a sign that said "Please tell us when you get to 63Building. Thank you."


The bus driver kind of looked at me like I was a pathetic, three-legged puppy when I held up the sign, but he did get us where we needed to go!

The plan was to meet Mrs. Yoo, who the aunt of Monica, a friend of my family's. Mrs. Yoo was waiting, as planned, at the bus stop and immediately whisked us up to her cozy apartment overlooking the business/administrative district of Seoul.

Mrs. Yoo speaks very broken English, but fortunately, her other niece "Jay Jay," was visiting from Australia and acted as a translator.

We were served sweet potatoes, glutinous rice with chestnuts and dried fruit, very expensive tea (with health benefits?), and strange digestive biscuits.


And apple and Korean melon:


Group photo!


Mrs. Yoo, her niece, and her daughter all kept remarking that I look much younger than 24. I think we all look much younger than our actual ages.

Jay-Jay and Mrs. Yoo's daughter went off to an appointment, so Mrs. Yoo's friend came over to translate in somewhat less proficient English. Upon hearing that we had no schedule for the afternoon, they packed us into Mrs. Yoo's Honda Accord and off we went.

...Seoul driving is nuts. It appears that stopping is optional at red lights, and it is acceptable to make a U-turn in the middle of a crowded street. Mrs. Yoo also drives as if she were a race car driver in a former life.

The drive took about an hour, and I can honestly say that I have no idea where we went. After getting out of the stop-and-go Seoul traffic, we began passing bizarre high rise apartment buildings nestled in the foothills outside of the city.


By the time we entered a mountain pass, I was pretty sure that I was having some kind of bizarre, surreal dream. I was beginning to get dizzy from hunger and nauseous from Mrs. Yoo's constant braking. Additionally, we began passing what looked like some kind of bizarre tourist towns with gigantic "hotels" and "motels" ("motel"=place for rent-by-the-hour sex rooms in Korea) made to look like alpine lodges and medieval castles. There were signs for restaurants such as "No Name Cafe" and "IL cafe" and several brightly colored statues and figurines on the side of the road.

Eventually, Mrs. Yoo pulled into a roadside restaurant serving Chinese-Korean food and handmade noodles. I was served a gigantic bowl of jjampong (seafood and noodle soup) with whole squids, mushrooms, shrimp, and homemade noodles:


The poor boyfriend wins the "good sport" award for the day. He was extremely car sick from the hilly mountain roads, and his nausea was compounded by an empty stomach. Nevertheless, he ate his noodles and kept it all down with a gracious smile on his face.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Yoo and her friend were extremely motherly and kept asking if we had eaten enough and if we enjoyed the food. They also kept pressing us to eat more fried pork strips:


Filled with homemade noodles, we got back in the car and drove up the switchback mountain roads towards a Buddhist temple that Mrs. Yoo wanted to show us. At this point, the area no longer looked like a developed, Westernized nation. There were pots and big gardens, cows in pens, and lush trees dripping with rain water.


...Just when I thought the road couldn't get more village-y, Mrs. Yoo turned onto a dirt (actually, mud) road and revved her car to tackle a huge hill. I was sure that we were going to have to dig her car out of the mud in the afternoon rain, but she, like many Korean women, goes after what she wants. And what she wanted was to show us that temple.

All of a sudden, we arrived in front of this:


Yup. A giant temple guarded by stone dogs. In the middle of some misty, rainy Korean mountains. Completely deserted. You cannot make this stuff up.


Mrs. Yoo is apparently quite a devout Buddhist and often does overnight temple stays here (hence why she could find it...even when the GPS had no idea where we were). She was eager to show us around.

(Mrs. Yoo and her friend shared an umbrella. Adorable!)

I had a hard time understanding what this statue was for, but it is surrounded by bells. In good weather, the monks ring them so that the prayers reverberate all through the mountains.

Some people have their own personal Budda statuettes that line the walls of the temple:


When we asked how old this temple was, we were told "11 years." I guess it's relatively new, but it could have fooled me!


Inside the temple, Mrs. Yoo instructed us on lighting incense and praying for various things (longevity, happiness, wellness, etc.) Then her friend told us in somewhat broken English about how bowing 108 times daily is good for dieting. (This made no sense to me, so maybe the meaning was lost in translation. It seems that praying to Budda for dieting success is the ultimate manifestation of earthly bondage. And from what I learned in 9th grade World Cultures, Buddhism tries to transcend such things...)


Mrs. Yoo had brought several empty plastic bottles with her. At this point, I could have believed that the Buddist temple also doubled as a recycling center. However, it turns out that the mountain streams yield extremely clear water, so she refills with each visit. She and her friend are both quite petite ladies, but they hauled those full bottles back to the car and wouldn't let me or the boyfriend help.


The scenery was so classic and stereotypically Korean. It really did live up to the country name "The land of morning calm." Except that it was 2:30pm and raining like mad.


After another jerky, hour-long ride, we arrived back in Seoul. It is really hard to believe that we had just been in the mountains at a temple that I couldn't find ever again.

All in all, it was a very strange and memorable day. I definitely saw things that most tourists don't see--the inside of a Seoullite's apartment, a temple, and a side-of-the-road diner. Despite feeling like I was going to puke all over the nice leather seats of Mrs. Yoo's car, I had a lovely, unexpected time. Mrs. Yoo and her family and friend were warm and welcoming to me and the boyfriend, who were basically complete strangers. And if I learned anything today, it is that Korean women are blessed with supernatural fiestiness, friendliness, and determination. No wonder they are always walking all over Namsan!

To mull over the day, the boyfriend and I ventured out again in the rain (Yes, it is still raining.) for dinner and fermented rice wine, which looked deceptively like milk.


And tasty corn-shaped pastries filled with cream. Delicious!



Now, time for bed. I'm hoping to get several hours of sleep. It is still rainy and wet here, and the boyfriend is starting to feel sick. Awesome.