HANgiNg wiTH thE oLd FoLks...

Day 3 (Monday)- Mr Park and his wife came and picked us up at the Astoria and we headed off on this 3 hour roadtrip to this place east of Seoul called Gangneung... along the coastal area... had our first restbreak and we had our toiletbreak at this rest stop, which is quite 'happening' as compared to the rest stops here... there are shops selling mainly food and the petrol station which is called 'oilbank' there, realised alot of street food over in Korea are deepfried which begs the question, how come the females are so slim???!!! maybe they eat alot of kimchi???!!!  the air in the outskirts are very fresh, probably becos we are surrounded by mountains and away from the pollution in the city, although we can never escape from cigarette smoke...

after the rest break, we are back on the road, first stop was a place called Ojukheon and Munseongsa shrine... first look at traditional houses called hanoks and ondols, which means underfloor heating, there are holes created at the side of the hanoks where people burn firewood to heat the floors, and the chimneys are actually created outside the houses, rather than in the houses itself, which is pretty clever... second stop was this beach, nothing very exciting... 3rd stop... was this wet fish market, where people sell fresh seafood and you can pretty much choose the one you like and they will cook it on the spot for you... gross... there was also this 2 people who were killing an eel, and curiosity got the better of me, so I stayed and watch a little, they first slice the eel into 2 from the top, and the eel is still moving despite being sliced... it was pretty disgusting... is this going to put me off eating unagi??? dunno yet, have yet to eat any unagi for a while now...

lunchtime, Mr Park brought us to this little family owned restaurant and of course, it was seafood again... seated on the floor, whereas the place we went for lunch on the first day, we were seated also on the floor, but our legs are actually dangling, sashimi, and other seafood, rice and soup, kimchi hotpot, so I pretty much ate rice, fish cooked in the soup, kimchi soup... apparently you can keep refilling your side dishes at no extra charge, which is pretty good for people who like eating the side dishes... after lunch, it was this temple where there is this huge Guanyin statue which apparently is specifically to bless people to do well in exams and we were told that parents often come here to pray for their children especially during exams, there was also this lying Buddha on the water, but you need a little imagination to see the lying Buddha... after that, it was the long drive back to  Seoul, where we also had dinner together... another Korean restaurant which specialises in 'samgyetang' (ginseng chicken), also seated on the floor... alot of side dishes, it was actually a whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice in the ginseng soup each... nutritious and I know it is usually mentioned in tv about how good and nice it was, but I did not really like it, not something I would eat more than once...