We've been here for five and a half weeks and still having an amazing time. There are so many things we want to do, there's never a dull moment. Sometimes it's a bit daunting trying to pick the way to spend a weekend, so we were pretty grateful last weekend when that decision was made for us. Mike and his wife Cecelia, had plans to go and join a group of friends on Namhae and invited us to come along. It meant getting up at six on Saturday morning but turned out to be well worth it.
The journey started pretty eventfully with an interesting taxi driver who spoke pretty great English. We were sharing a taxi with Sophie and Freya, so first of all the driver seemed pretty impressed that Alan had three women, he got more and more manic and excited throughout the jouney, also talking to us in arabic. Like all the other friendly people we seem to meet, he handed out chestnuts for us to eat on the journey.
We had to get two coaches to the island which is connected to the mainland by an amazing bridge (like a small replica of the Golden Gate bridge). When we got to Namhae we had to wait for some others to arrive so we could get taxis, which was fine as we sat in the blazing sun eating chestnuts given to us by a friendly old lady. We got in a taxi and drove away to the middle of nowhere along steep winding roads, past garlic world and other exciting places. Then we arrived at the German village where we were staying, yes that's right German village. Tucked away among the hills on this little island, with a view of the sea, is a German village, complete with terra-cotta roofs, wooden paneling and potted geraniums. It was all very surreal and we were staying in an amazing house right at the top of the hill. The place was made even more surreal when we knocked on a neighbour's door to buy Bratwurst and were greeted by an old german man and his German speaking, Korean wife. Apparently a lot of Korean women went to work as nurses in Germany and came back to Korea with their German husbands to form this village.
After a lot of introductions and a bit of lunch on our terrace, we headed down the hill to the sea for a dip (a walk that was much easier going, than coming back)We found a stony beach and probably to the shock of any Korean watching, went swimming in the middle of October. The water was actually quite warm and it was such a hot day that we dried out pretty quickly. Ha ha, swimming and sunbathing in October!
Back at the house, we were in time for the long anticipated bean bag tournament. This is a game that involves trying to throw bean bags onto a wooden platform, or ideally into the hole in the middle. Teams of two were picked at random, which was a good thing for us novices as we were paired off with some slightly more experienced team mates. Unfortunately, Alan was knocked out in the first round, but me and my partner (who probably had a bit more to do with it than me), made it to the finals, but unfortunately didn't get the 60,000 cash prize. The rest of the evening was spent eating, drinking and playing cards ... lovely.
As much as we would all have liked to stay, the next morning, it was back on the buses and home to Gwangju. We were back quite early, so wandered down to the Biennale park for the final day of the Kimchi festival. Really, quite a big festival all dedicated to the nation's biggest love. There was stand after stand of Kimchi sellers for tasting, but unfortunately our tastebuds haven't quite developed the ability to distinguish between the different tastes under the spice. We also got to see some traditional Korean drumming, and some dreadlocked Koreans playing instruments made from vegetables.
The reason I have had time to write this morning is that it's raining outside so we have decided to stay in. We might also do a bit of work on our Hangul (Korean) reading. I think this is worth mentioning, as we have seen so little rain since we've been here that it has come as a surprise. Maybe this is the end of the hot days, I hope not, but I suppose winter has to start sometime.
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