 |
| south korea |
| chuncheon |
| I went to Chuncheon during the last weekend of August, 2004. Chuncheon is the capital city of Gangwon-do Province and is famous for makgugsu and the chicken stir-fry dish, dakgalbi. It's a fairly small city nestled in a very mountains region and surrounded by many lakes. There's also a US Army base here, Camp Page, probably because of Chuncheon's proximity to the DMZ and North Korea. |
 |
 |
| It was a 2 and a half hour bus ride from Gangneung. Christa, Soutthida and myself arrived early in the morning and spent some time looking for the Tourist Information Booth. It was located in this gigantic glass pyramid in a Sculpture Park. Inside the pyramid, we found a water clock that we later found out was on the Korean 10,000 won bill (above, lower left hand side.) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Jungdo Island |
 |
| We met up with Glyn and Raphaelle and made our way to the docks for a ferry to Jungdo Island. They call it a "recreational island" because you can bike, swim and run there. We rented bikes at a little stand and rode them most of the way around. I loved the little horns and bells we had, we were honking and ringing at everything we could see. |
| We found some bunnies in a cage and fed them some grass that was left in a pile just outside their cage. I found a gochu (pepper) and decided it would be a good idea to feed it to them too. These peppers can be pretty hot, but the bunnies loved it! The island is also famous because it was the location of a film shoot for some very popular Korean Soap Opera. The gift shop was filled with keychains, mugs, posters, calendars and handphone trinkets, etc. All of them featuring images fromt the show. Soutthida was a big fan and was very excited to purchase a small keychain featuring this Korean heart-throb. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Deungseonpokpo Waterfall |
| We took a very long cab ride through an area filled with university students to the start of the trail up to Deungseonpokpo. The man at the tour booth told us he doesn't like it there because "there are too many young people." After a short hike up through the mountains, and narrowingly avoiding a dog mauling we made it to the falls. There was a man there taking professional-type photos of people in wonderfully gay poses before the falling water. After getting some pointers we struck our own wonderfully gay poses for your enjoyment. |
| On the way up, we found a rock garden with hundreds upon hundreds of small rock towers. After wading through them, we placed our own rocks. If you make a wish while placing your rock, it will come true. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Chuncheon Dakgalbi Street |
| Dakgalbi is one of my favorite Korean dishes and because Chuncheon is famous for its dakgalbi, we had to try some. Dakgalbi is composed of chicken, ddeok (Korean rice cakes), cabbage, sesame leaves, sweet potato and a lot of gochujang (red pepper paste) all fried up on a big griddle at your table. It didn't taste much different from any other dakgalbi that I've had anywhere else in the country. There was a huge lineup for the restaurant and it was packed to the brim though, which it made it kind exciting. |
| The first thing "Nirvana" that I've ever seen in this country. Just off Dakgalbi Street, in the market area, was this huge window covering facing the street. I had to take a picture. It definitely stood out. Not like it was a window covering for a music store, they were selling towels or visored hats or something like that. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Later that night we decided to go to the area around the university for drinks. We stopped at a Buy The Way for some Soju and beers before heading to a bar. Suddenly, there was a big commotion and a bunch of younger Korean guys started stomping on one guy. He kept on trying to get away and they kept on attacking him. There were people throwing rotten eggs and shooting water guns. Someone unloaded a bag of flour on his head and threw bits of cake with him. It was quite a sight unfolding before us on the street. I should say this is typical birthday etiquette for Korean males. Though, I had never seen someone beat to this degree. While Christa and Soutthda were snapping photos, the guys started yelling at them. They came over to our table after and asked Soutthida not to post her photos on the internet because they would make Korea look bad and Japan look good. He was making thumbs up and down signals while saying this. He was really pushy, but she held her ground, we were all a bit disturbed by what we saw. In the end, Soutthida settled it by pinky swearing with them that she wouldn't post the pictures. That seemed to appease them...Here they are for your enjoyment: |
| Birthday beats to the extreme! |
| The guys who tried to convince us not to post the pictures, posing with a water gun. |
| The birthday boy in the middle, "I'm okay!" |
| The aftermath on the street outside Buy The Way (on the right). |
| A soldiers day off and a night on the town. It was funny to see them playing arcade games in their fatigues. We've decided that when you join the army here, they confiscate every piece of clothing you own, so you're forced to wear your uniform 24-7. The picture above is some guy who came and sat at our table, asked for Soju, polished off a few shots and then left. |
 |
| After Buy The Way, we headed to a couple other bars. At the last one we met these two guys from France who were travelling in Korea. We had met them earlier at the Tourist Information Booth. It was strange hearing French being spoken in Korea. With a few beers in me, I had no qualms about talking to them in French about anything I could think off. |