The Weekend and Blog Updates

On Friday, we went out for samgyeupsal (a kind of Korean pork barbecue thing) and drinks, followed by a few hours of noraebanging (Korean karaoke). As everyone knows, a night in a noraebang means the next day is generally a wash, so Saturday became a relaxing day of wandering around Old Mokpo and showing Madeleine the sights of Hadang.

We're singing the Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK (and it shows)

With a green tea latte at the Happiness House

Unfortunately, we ended up missing out on Mokpo's first Open Mic Night - the trade-off being that we were in much better shape on Sunday to visit Daewonsa.

I'd tried (unsuccessfully) to book us all for a temple stay there. Instead, we had to make do with a day trip.

We arrived in Boseong with over an hour to spare before the 11:45 bus to Daewonsa. Following Madeleine, who had been there a few days earlier, we went to see a tea plantation.

Awwww....

How is it that I've spent so much time here and never made it to the green tea fields?

"surfing" on the bus to Daewonsa

From there, we went to Daewonsa (my 5th visit there in 2 years... but a first for Ty and Madeleine) and poked around the Tibetan museum and the temple.

Posing with His Holiness...

Madeleine at Daewonsa

Lunch was bibimbap made with edible flowers (yay!).


Now, Madeleine is spending a few days on the island of Jeju... and we're stuck in school.

This weekend, we'll hit up Gwangju and the famous Boryeong Mud Festival (we're hoping for a much less Spring Breaky/Full Moon/drunken frat boy/mud wrestling experience than what is shown on the site, with plans to check out the beach more than the random idiots - yeah, don't expect me to be crowdsurfing in my bikini anytime soon).... then Madeleine only has a few more days here before she heads back to Quebec via Tokyo.

I've updated my blog links a bit.... A few links that have been added have more information than the personal blogs. Personal blogs are great (naturally, having maintained this one for 2 and a half years, I'm a bit biased), but if you want more information on things in the Korean news, or a meatier commentary on such things as gender issues in Korea, you should check here and here. For people who want to find out more about Mokpo, look here before you send me an e-mail saying, "Can you tell me about Korea". Not that I mind getting random e-mails, in fact I think it's great, but I don't have all the answers....