Chicken Feet – A Tasty Little Mouthful

We were on the hunt again for the most shocking and disgusting item we could find for our dinner, we settled on chicken feet. Some of us had tried this before in China or in UK Chinese restaurants, others hadn’t. After 30 minutes popping in and out of every samgyeopsal restaurant in Chonnam National University Backgate asking for ‘Dakbal‘, chicken feet or when all hope was lost, miming feet with my hands, we found somewhere that said ‘neh’.

We went in and cosied up around a small bbq grill table and took in the new paint scent of this recently opened restaurant. It was underneath my favourite Thai restaurant; ‘Thaiholic’ and I’d never noticed this place until now vis-a-vis it must have been new. Shops and restaurants come and go so quickly in Korea, a place can be there one day and literally be gone the next so you’re never totally sure what’s on your own doorstep.

We ordered a mixed platter which included pork cuts, chicken feet and then, well, God only knows. We stocked up on beer and soju for it was Friday and we got cracking, shots all round! We needed soju to mentally and physically prepare ourselves.

The chicken feet and pork came on the grill ready to be plonked straight over the hot stones. A kidney dish of something that looked like kidney or liver was placed down on the table with the direction that we were only to cook it once we’d eaten all that was on the grill currently. So be it. We got grilling.

The sides were uninspiring. The usual, kimchi, beansprouts, soups and silk worms. Perhaps that’s why I drunk more soju than usual! The pork and the chicken took a little longer than we were used to and when the very attentive waiter finally said it was ready, we dug in.

Cameras were at the ready to catch the first moment it hit our tongues, we bit in. I think we were all surprised by how tasty it was! The bones had been removed, unlike the ones I’d had before where you had to suck the skin off the bones, this one you just popped straight into your mouth and chewed. The marinade reminded me of a spicy barbecue sauce and was right up my alley, until my body caught up and realised just how spicy it was. The hiccups started as is the case when I eat anything particularly spicy and I had to pause and spend the next 20 minutes downing water (and soju – best cure!) The others agreed it was very spicy but carried on nonetheless. The pork was a normal samgyeopsal cut and was tasty so after the hiccups subsided I went for more of that and then reverted back to the feet, but more carefully this time!

After we’d abolished the pork and feet, we turned to the kidney dish. We plonked the contents on and google translated the item on the menu. It was rectum. Of course, it was. We cooked this for a VERY long time. Then chop sticks came up, rectum was skewed between them and mouths opened, eyes closed with a grimace of grim expectations. The groans erupted and for the first time ever amongst my friends in this group, it was quickly spat back into the kidney dish. It was just foul. It actually tasted like what I imagine bottom tastes like. I don’t think one of us managed to chew the whole thing down, the taste grew as you chewed and conjured up all sorts of disgusting images of what you were eating. After much soju to wash away the taste, we stumbled out into the fresh air, rating chicken feet high and the rectum pretty dam low! Who’d have thought!?

A Novice’s Tale – Damyang and Back Again

After borrowing some rather basic bikes from a friend, we left a night out early (pre-12pm) with the plan to spend Sunday cycling to Damyang (home of the bamboo forest). We’d heard that all you needed to do was to get to the river that runs through Gwangju and choose your direction either heading towards Mokpo or Damyang. We chose Damyang, Mokpo apparently took 9 hours – er, tempting? No. What we didn’t realise though was just how difficult it was to get to the river! As novice cyclers and, as usual for us, being totally unprepared (basic bikes, no snacks and no real idea where we were going once our GPS locator started playing up on our phone), it took us a full hour to get to the river. This was because we were navigating our way through the bumpy backstreets of Gwangju and trying to avoid vehicles parked over pavements, grumpy ajummas (older women) yelling at us and the potential of ending up on the motorway (highway).

Finally, we hit the river; we had quite seriously nearly given up so this was a huge achievement. We were glad to finally start, what we believed to be, the actual cycle ride. It was a hot day but we were lucky as it was slightly overcast which gave us some cover as much of the trail had zero shade. We cycled along the river over a variation of terrains, some bits were bumpy and some bits were purpose-built red cycle trails, all with blue markers along it telling us how far we had left to Damyang. At points it was confusing working out where the trail went as it crossed over the river and then went back in the direction we’d just come from. This was very odd but after clocking that we must be following a forking river, we relaxed, happily saw another marker and continued.

The route went past marshlands, wide parts of river, farms (with actual cows – rare in Korea) and at one point, apricot trees. I picked two very small apricots, minding the huge spiders sat in their sprawling webs, and we had a small bite. Sadly, the apricots weren’t ready and were way too sour. As the route continued we noticed that according to our phone GPS, we were nearly there. Yet the markets still said we had another 10k. Odd but we plodded on. After about 3 hours of cycling we were starting to lag now.

Suddenly we started to see more people, the river continued next to us but we noticed more shops lining it and restaurants with people sitting outside. I commented, wondering what village outside of Damyang this was, turned out, it was Damyang! We were there. Or at least, we were at what we understood Damyang to be i.e. where the bamboo forest. Not concerning ourselves with where the path ended, we were happy to end the cycle ride and grab some well-earned food. If I did this again, I would take some snacks!!
We briefly looked at the restaurants and what they were offering and quickly, plonked ourselves down at a random one lining the river as we realised they were all selling pretty much the same three things. Red noodles, anchovy noodle soup and boiled eggs. We decided that would do – we were starving. We found a restaurant that didn’t have floor-seating (not sure our stiff limbs could take that) and we sat down outside looking over the river. The restaurant was manically busy but after a while we got our seriously needed Heit beers. Then followed our boiled eggs with salt (so good), red noodles and anchovy noodle soup which though sounds horrendous actually doesn’t taste of anchovy and so for me, it’s good.


After lunch, we wanted to head to the Damyang Fortress that was apparently a 30-40 minute hike up a hill and thankfully had a jimjilbang (onsen/spa) at the bottom. We cycled our bikes to the bus terminal, hooked them up and then tried to find a bus to the Fortress. As per usual our Google map was telling us one thing and the lack of bus told us another. We eventually got a taxi. For 10.000 won, it was worth it to get to the Fortress. The hike wasn’t too tough, it had steep bits where you scampered up rocks and it had steep paths, but after Wolchusan last week, it was nothing in comparison. Having said that after a 4 hour cycle ride it was definitely harder than I expected. There was a little café near the top of the hike and the cool mini can of coke I purchased was absolute bliss and I think got me to the top!


As we approached the top we were welcomed with two temples that were effectively ornate gate huts with pebbled paths leading through them. It was impressive to see some real history where you could imagine horses scaling up these old paths many years ago. The temples themselves were standard Korean temples, streaked with bright red, blue and green colours. In each temple, a group of older hikers were taking a break in the shade admiring the view. It was truly a magnificent view. In one direction, there were rolling, towering mountains and in the other farmlands stretching out as far as the eye could see. As we reached the higher temple, we looked down to the other one which appeared to be stretching out on a path and peak of its own. It was stunning.

After resting for a while and checking out the general surroundings, we headed down. We were in serious need of that rumoured jimjilbang. The trek was much easier on the way down and as we got to the bottom, we heard an amazing sound, people and splashing! We walked onto the main round and found the entrance to the resort where the sound was coming from, Damyang Spa. Looking incredibly disheveled and stinking to high hell, I doubted we’d be allowed in to this luxurious-looking establishment. Luckily for us, they weren’t that judgmental, in hindsight, they’re probably used to sweaty hikers wandering in. As we entered we were welcomed with a beautiful few of an incredible outdoor pool, something we don’t see a lot of in Gwangju. The sight itself tempted us to splash out and pay extra to jump in it. We paid 15,000 won each for access to the jimjilbang and the outside pool. We showered in our gender specific areas and then met outside in our swimwear. Jumping into that pool was just incredible after all the hardship from the day, it was just glorious. Our aching bones couldn’t take us far up the pool though and we soon opted for the very small ‘rapids’ and then the natural hot spring tub.

After soaking and one more dip in the pool, we headed to our separate jimjilbangs again. For me, the nakedness was almost normal by now, this was Tom’s first time though! This spa had similar pools to the one I go to in Gwangju, it just had a bigger outdoor pool and loungers. The saunas were scented and housed women who were genuinely meditating or stretching (avert eyes). I also really enjoyed the scalding hot bamboo-scented pool after all, when in Damyang everything must be bamboo themed! I also got involved in the hard streams of water coming from the ceiling that you position yourself under so that it massages your back, just what I needed!
Being aware that we needed to get back to Gwangju, we limited our time in the saunas to half an hour. After a shower and being pointed at by an aghast young girl, I changed and headed out to meet Tom who was having a beer on the veranda by the pool – one can only take a certain amount of naked guy time I guess. We chilled a little longer and then luckily grabbed a bus back to the bus terminal. We picked up our bikes and tried to get a bus back to Gwangju only to find that the ticket booth had shut and the taking of bikes was at the bus drivers discretion (despite the research we’d done earlier about this).

Finally, one of the drivers was in a good mood, grinned and let us plonk them underneath. Knackered and relieved, we flopped into our seats on the bus bound for Gwangju. Pushing the realisation that we still had to cycle home from U Square Bus Terminal from our minds, we settled down and relished the memories of our amazing day!

Penis Worm aka 개불 (Gaebul)

Ever since I saw these fish in a bowl on our first holiday in Korea when we went to seaside town of Yeosu, I knew I had to try them. After some obsessive googling, I’d found out what they were called, how they were generally eaten and the general price. They were called Gaebul (penis worm to me). In other countries, their name can span from Urechis unicinctus to ‘dog penis’ to ‘the fat innkeeper worm’. I’m really not sure which name sounds more appetising. They’re generally eaten raw or grilled with sesame oil. They’re pretty expensive but I thought it was definitely worth a try.

One night I was walking through our local area of Chonnam University Backgate and I saw a gaggle of penis worms in a tank next to a restaurant. They had not been there the whole year, I would have noticed, they literally had just appeared overnight. I was thrilled, odd I know. I rushed in and stared at the Korean menu trying to find the 4 characters that spelt out gaebul but I was too slow, the restaurant owner was already upon me. I asked for gaebul and though he looked surprised, he pointed to it on the menu directly. It would cost 30,000 won but I already knew I had a group of friends who wanted to try this with me so between 6 of us, it wouldn’t be too bad.

A few nights later, we returned to the restaurant mentally prepared, or so we thought, to try the penis. We ordered 1 portion between 6 and it was more than enough (though we went to get some more food afterwards from somewhere that served western food as a treat to fully sate ourselves). The sides came out first and in true Korean fashion were a surprise; you never know what you’ll get! We were given a small stove and a shop-bought packet of ramyeon, a bony but tasty grilled fish, a seafood jeon (pancake) and some tempura battered squid. These sides made up for the expensive price of the Gaebul so we were happy, if not anxious regarding the main.

Finally, it arrived, a plate with cut up pink, rubbery tubes on it. They were served on a bed of plastic glass noodles; my colleagues had warned me of this when I’d tried to eat the decoration at a work dinner previously. The fat penis shaped things we’d seen outside we guessed had been gutted so that they were hollow and then chopped diagonally to make a kind of fishy ring/tube shape. I know this isn’t the most attractive description but I can tell you it wasn’t the most attractive dish, no matter how they attempted to jazz up the plate. Cameras came out and we raised our chopsticks ready. Then we saw the movement. The chopsticks came down abruptly. The slimy, pink mess of cut up penis lay there writhing on the bed of glass noodles before our eyes.

‘They’re still moving’ one of my friends gasped. How this was even possible after being gutted and chopped up, I don’t know but there was no mistaking it, the chopped up bits of the fish were still wriggling. If you put your chopstick near a bit, it would latch onto it. The live octopus eaten in Korea also moves like this but even more I’ve heard. We continued to try to loop the fish through our chopstick and pause ready for the group tasting. 3, 2, 1…we ate it.

A lot of chewing commenced, many groans escaped and I believe all of our eyes closed in a grimace at times to process what we’d just put into our mouths. I believe the photos speak for themselves to be honest. It tasted like a rubbery blob of sea, there was little taste other than slime and sea. Thank goodness for the soy sauce and wasabi that had appeared with the sides. We were dipping the fish in any sauce we could find, wrapping it in seaweed, piling it onto rice…nothing could remove the chewy slime that moved down our throats as we tried piece after piece hoping it would improve. It didn’t. We got about three thirds through the portion given to us before we all admitted defeat. It was time to go to the burger restaurant next door.

This dish, although different and a fun experience, scored the lowest among my group of friends out of all the Korean dishes we’d tried so far. A lot of fun and definitely worth trying but I’d recommend planning another meal straight afterwards where you can actually eat something tasty, cheap and filling.

Gopchang (곱창) It’s Intestine Time!

As part of our newly founded ‘Korean Food Club’ (KFC) for short, we decided it was time to try Gopchang aka intestines. Offal isn’t something that I am a huge fan of but for some reason the attraction of trying something weird and new, overshadowed my certainty that I probably wouldn’t like it.

 
We found a kooky little restaurant down a back alley in  distant part of Gwangju, I say distant, it was probably Sangmu but distant for us based in Chonnam University Backgate. We walked into the restaurant and sat down. Expecting grills to cook our intestines on, we hurriedly asked the waiter before all the sides came, if this was the correct place. He gestured to a connecting door between the two buildings and ushered us into the next restaurant. Weird, I know, but this isn’t the first time in Korea that we’ve sat down in one restaurant thinking it was another.

 
We sat down and ordered the first thing on the menu; I left this to our friends who spoke more Korean than I did. We ordered a mix of meats including the intestines, for 4 people. There were 6 of us and we agreed we’d order more if we loved it. I am so glad we only got 4 portions!

 
It came and looked really quite appetizing. It was essentially a steaming hot plate of different bits of meat with veg surrounded by bread that I guessed would soak up the meat fats whilst it cooked. We waited for the meat to cook and our, very friendly, waiter kept checking on us and eventually told us we were good to go, get stuck in! We were armed with A LOT of soju and beer to get us through this meal and boy, did we need it.

 
There were 4 different bits. The first was a small cylinder, it was literally a tube. This, I guessed, was the intestine. This was ok when it was hot, chewy and had a tang to it. I guess how you would imagine eating a tube of skin would be. Then there was a fatter, shorter tube that had fat all the way through the middle so you couldn’t see through it. This one had the fatty surprise that burst into your mouth as you bit into it. Again, not too bad really when hot, tasted a little like a fatty bit of crackling or something. The burst of fat into my mouth was a little too much for me and I declined more of these bits going forward. Then, there was the only bit that looked like a slice of meat, and this wasn’t bad at all, it tasted strong, perhaps a little like liver – which at this point, we assumed it was! Finally, there was the square thin bit of skin; this I assumed would be like crackling. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This was the toughest thing I’ve ever eaten (different to the hard texture of Hongeo, fermented stingray) and whilst chewing on it I realised it would never end. I hate to say it but I spat it out. I chewed this tasteless, fatty bit of skin for nearly 5 full minutes and when I spat it out, I could see I hadn’t even made a dent.

 
As we ploughed our way through this extravaganza including of course, the usual array of sides, we noticed that it started to go cold and congeal. This is when the reality set in and we realised just what we were eating and started to question why. The fatty parcels didn’t taste as bearable, the skin started to stick to the pan and the tubes start to wither. The meal had come to an end.
It was only the next day when our friend looked up the meal again to check what we’d had that we found out the truth. I was of course, delighted to hear that the only bit of it I’d actually liked was heart, not liver. Joy of joys!

 
An awesome meal experience though, it was so much fun and didn’t taste too bad at the start. So I would say give it a go, have a try but eat quickly!

Skiing Take Two – Muju

I was ready to take to the slopes again. Last time I only skied for half the time, this time I was ready to do it properly. I would even take on an intermediate slope, possibly, potentially, actually maybe not. Either way I really wanted to try skiing one more time.

I did loads of research which meant trawling through Korean and some English websites – mainly blogs, trying to piece together the cryptic guidance on how one gets  to Muju to ski. Muju was supposedly relatively close to Gwangju and therefore, simple to get to. It was also doable without a tour through Enjoy Korea or Adventure Korea; and we could potentially do a day trip. This seemed pretty impossible as I started looking at the guidance online. Time and time again blogs suggested getting a Korean friend to book it for you. Although I did know Korean people and I knew my co teacher would help me, I didn’t want to have to ask and give them even more to do. I wanted to find a way to do this myself. So, as I was having a crazy time trying to get real information, I called them. God forbid.

This was a highly embarrassing phone call. Of course, they answered in Korean. Then came the moment they realised I was English. The silence on the other side showed their joy at this news.  Cue being passed from person to person for half an hour until someone, probably the youngest person in the office, got lumbered speaking to me.  After a very stilted but incredibly useful conversation, I hung up feeling ever so pleased with myself. I had, pretty much, got all the information I needed. I discovered that you could do a trip to Muju yourself and it wasn’t too expensive.

All in all, it would cost us about 110,000 won each. This included ski rental, clothing rental, buses to and from Gwangju and one lift pass. This also included a discount as we had a Nonghyup bankcard – you got about a 20% discount! This was great news to me and I only stumbled across this because the woman asked if I had a KB bankcard as they offer discount too. There were three lift slots, 8.30am, 12.30pm and 18.30. We opted for the 12.30pm as we were coming so far. The woman, who’s English and confidence seemed to improve throughout the call along with my ability to communicate clearly, also confirmed that we didn’t need to book in advance, we could just turn up. This all sounded brilliant so I quickly wrote a message with this info, before I forgot it all, to my friends who were interested.

We had to be quick about going though as the end of the season was sharply approaching and we had vacations coming up where a lot of us would be visiting other countries in Asia. We agreed on the first weekend in March which would be basically the last weekend of the season. We were cutting it fine but at least we were giving it one last shot.

In the run up to the weekend I tried to decipher the bus websites to book the bus from Gwangju. No such luck, the website informed me that it could only be booked on the day at the terminal. Bad news. I didn’t want us to all turn up super early to get a bus that was already full. One of my friends went to the bus terminal to check this was the case and reported back that it was. Some things in Korea feel so weird, like this. Why can’t I book a bus ticket on this specific bus before the day but for basically all other buses I can? Weird.We would have to risk it.

The day came and we rocked up to U Square Bus Terminal at 6.15am on Saturday the 4th March 2017 to get the 7.10am bus. We were not disappointed; there were loads of seats available to book. Would this be the case peak season though? I’m really not sure. After a lovely albeit warm 3 and a half hour sleep, we arrived at Muju Bus Terminal. The websites had clearly said that there was a free shuttle bus between Muju and Deogyusan Ski Resort (무주덕유산리조트스키장). There was but it was not a regular bus. The next bus was in 4 hours. This didn’t work if we want to be there for our planned 12.30pm ski. We were guided to the taxi rank and had no choice but to pay the 25,000 won taxi cost for the 40 minute trip. Luckily, there were a few of us which cut this cost. We had another couple join us from Daejon and it was a much shorter trip for them. Before leaving the terminal we checked the last bus back to Gwangju– 5.40pm. Brilliant, again, why? Why such an early last bus home? Good job we didn’t want to do the evening ski as we’d be staying the night.

Finally, we arrived at Muju and were taken to the only part of the resort that was closed by the taxi driver. Thank you very much. In all fairness, I think I did ask for this part of the resort as it was where the beginner slopes started from but he could have somehow let us know that it was closed and dropped us at the entrance that was actually open. Maybe I’m expecting too much though! After a 10 minute walk we got back to the open entrance and started to work out where to go next. It was all so simple! I couldn’t believe it.

First we got our tickets from staff that spoke pretty good English. My boyfriend and I paid together and in total we paid 87,000 won for two lift passes and ski rental for two. Not too bad I thought. We then went into the nearest building and there was a ski rental desk with no queue and a man who spoke very good English. He took my boyfriend’s ARC card as deposit for the skis and boots and ushered us to collect them. We then looked around for clothing rental and found a separate shop still within the same building. We had to pay extra for this but it wasn’t much, 10,000 won for the clothes and 3,000 won for the helmet. It’s all worth it to be kitted up properly.

We got ready, put our stuff in lockers (which if closed take your money so you have to be careful to only close it when you’re ready) and headed outside. It was 11.30am and we had an hour to kill before our lift time. I was so relieved. My biggest fear was it not working out or us being late for the lift slot and not having a decent amount of time for skiing. We had eight people in our trip all in all and I couldn’t believe that I’d actually managed to arrange a ski trip in Korea for us all and it work out. I was still holding my breath though until we got up there to the top and started skiing.

There were a few fast food outlets open and we got some much needed food before our lift time. The slopes towered up above us as we sat on the flat eating and watching the skiers and snowboarders slip delicately down the mountain. It was so quiet and whilst there were still quite a lot of people, it was nothing in comparison to how it had been at the beginning of the season at High One. There was also a lot less foreigners;I think I only saw one the whole time.

It was time. We headed to the bunny slope to remind ourselves how to ski! We also had a novice skier with us so we wanted to all start together. We got the super slow escalator up the hill to the top of the bunny slope and started our way down. There was hesitation from everyone to begin. I think it was that feeling of not knowing how to do it again. The fear of falling over had returned.  Nonetheless, we headed off and I managed to get down without falling. Our first mission was complete. For the beginner in our group it wasn’t as fast a session and as we moved onto the next slope, we knew she would be practising on that slope for a while; after all, we’d spent most of the time on the bunny slope when we first started! Her boyfriend stayed with her and taught her so we felt it was ok for us to move on. Cue, my first time on a ski lift! After spending most of my time on the Gondola last time, I was happy to avoid it this time. I wanted to try the open air ski lift/chair lift. We queued and scanned our ski pass against the machine; it can read it through your clothes in your pocket so you don’t have to get it out every time.

We lined up in front of the chair which came in behind us and lifted us up into the air, ski’s still attached. The bar came down for us to hold onto and rest out skis on. As we moved slowly up the mountain, over the trees and the snow rocks that surrounded a trickling stream, I felt a mixture of happiness, relief and nerves. It had worked. I had managed to get us all out here skiing. Now though, I had to ski! When we reached the top, we all abruptly fell to the ground. You were supposed to ski straight off the ski lift. Well, we couldn’t do that it turned out. One of my friends got her ski pole caught in the bar as it came up to release us and it consequentially snapped in half and she fell. My other friend skied forward too fast and fell. I skied left to avoid her and I fell. Only my boyfriend didn’t fall and he looked back to a heap of legs, skis and sticks flailing about in the air, closely followed by another chair full of skiers ready to get off. Out of nowhere, a man lifted me up into skiing position and off I went. I looked back to see a little hut that had a member of staff in it and it was his job to pick up beginner skiers like us from the ground quickly so that it didn’t cause a pile up as the next lift came in. My boyfriend was laughing a lot as we managed to make our way over to him. Now though my friend who’d broken her pole had to get down the mountain with only one and a half poles!

We began though and managed to get the slope without terrible incident. I did at least. My friend got knocked over by a snowboarder right at the bottom. He had made it down the whole slope and then stopped at the bottom and a snowboarder careered into him, wiping him out. I had a fall or two and found the slope pretty difficult. It seemed more difficult than last time somehow, there were certainly steeper bits and there were more snowboarders than I remembered. Nonetheless, I did it and felt good at the end. We headed back up, this time to the top of the mountain.  Apparently, Muju is famous for having the longest beginner’s slope in Korea and it winds around the mountain. This sounded ok to me as we headed to the top. I was surprised when we got the top to see just how steep some of the other slopes were. There were literally sheer drops off the side which were apparently slopes, expert certainly, but they were slopes nonetheless (see picture above – behind him is a slope!) Not for me. It was all I could do to ski along to the beginners slope without falling off down one of these expert slopes! Need I say that we all fell off the ski left again? There was a short length of ski lift that joined the middle slope to the top and we actually managed to do that final one! I was thrilled that I avoided making a fool of myself yet again.

We began the ‘beginners’ slope and straight away I started questioning the truth in that. It twisted and turned down the mountain with sharp, steep corners and highly skilled skiers and snowboarders zipping past us. After about 10 minutes on this slope and I started to swear. I crashed into the side of the mountain as if trying to go up it, if that’s even possible. I fell on pretty much every turn and I screamed every time someone else went by me. I began to seriously doubt this was a beginner slope as well as cursing myself for organising this trip. One of my friends and I had a similar pace on this slope and we found that stopping at each corner to regain composure worked well. It went on, twisting and turning but there became a rhythm to it that I could recognise and so I started to get a pattern to my skiing hence falling less. Suddenly, a snowboarder came out of nowhere and crashed into me, I may have been crashing anyway to be honest, but his board in the back of my knees made sure of it. I tumbled down the mountain, skis going left and right and poles shooting off. I sat up as I finally came to a stop and looked around me. My poles were in reach and I felt fine. I was shaken, but fine. I looked back to the snowboarder; he gave me the okay sign despite his goggles being half way up the mountain and his hat being half way down it. His friend collected his stuff and passed it to him and after another check that he was ok;I got up and carried on. My friend asked me if I was ok but I couldn’t answer him for fear of crying, I had been so shocked by the crash, I just had to ski off and recover. Finally, I found a little bank of flat where another one of my friends was and I slowed up to await the others. He’d actually taken a picture of me in action whilst I was making it to the bank to recover, my only skiing picture and I’m trying not to cry in it (pic below)!

Finally, I made it to the middle of the mountain where my boyfriend and friends had arrived first. They were all sat in the snow by the barrier. I skied skillfully into view and then tried to stop. After a spectacular crash landing, I got up. ‘That’s not a beginner’s slope!’I yelled across to them, I couldn’t physically get there. My boyfriend looked at the others guiltily and then back to me. ‘That’s because it’s not Em. It’s intermediate!’ he said. What?! I was not impressed. ‘Of course, it fucking is!’I yelled, quickly apologising to the Koreans around me. I was so surprised and kind of proud. I’d done an intermediate slope without even knowing it, and probably best I hadn’t known because I doubt I would have done it. My boyfriend explained to me that they hadn’t known until they were on the way up there and one of them had noticed on the leaflet that this whole mountain was intermediate. The only beginner bit was the part that we’d gone to earlier that was closed. Apart from the very short bunny run we’d done at the beginning, the rest was intermediate. Well, no wonder I was struggling!

We headed down the rest of the slope, the bit that we’d already done once before and it was still hard for me. The minute the bunny run was in sight, I sidled over to that for the last few metres. By the time we got to the bottom I was exhausted, my boots felt too tight and I was ready for that last bus home! Everyone agreed and as we had time, we sat in the sun with a celebratory beer. The weather was so good, it was 6 degrees so all our layers weren’t needed. I love winter in Korea, it’s sunny every day and this day was no different. It felt today like spring was coming even though we were surrounded by snow.

It felt so good to take the boots off which turned out had been too tight as they’d make blisters on my legs where my leggings had bunched up. Our friend who was a beginner had had a really good go and I hoped she might try again in the future. We got ourselves back to Muju Bus Terminal via taxi and collapsed on the last bus back to Gwangju. An amazing day out that we organised ourselves. My friends thanked me loads for all the organisation which I really appreciated as it’s not easy when you don’t speak Korean. I am just so happy it worked out and that I could try skiing one more time in Korea.

Bus Journey Puking

It was finally time to pick up my Alien Registration Card that would allow me to travel outside of Korea, use the hospitals in Korea and get a bank card. This was a big day. I had planned the route and was pretty sure I knew the buses I needed to get to the Immigration Office. My co-teacher didn’t offer to help me so I planned to go it alone. Remembering a fellow EPIK teacher in the area, I messaged her and we arranged to go together after school.

After a stressful afternoon at school, I left the school ready to meet the other native teacher. I was feeling horrible; I brought some doughnuts to cheer myself up also hoping a doughnut would settle my stomach which felt a bit strange. Doughnuts settle stomachs right?

Once on the bus, I chatted to my companion, heard about her experiences in her schools and how she was managing with her move to Korea. She was in Korea on her own so I was happy to be able to offer to go together. As the bus rumbled on, we were thrown about around corners and heated up to within an each of our lives when we sat for hours at traffic lights. Not surprisingly, I started to feel worse and worse. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was sick over everyone in the rammed, sweaty tin-can bus. She noticed I’d gone a bit quiet and asked me if I was ok. I couldn’t really answer but I think my pale, sweaty face said it all. Eventually, the bus lurched forward again and it was too much. I murmured that I needed to get off at the next stop and as it pulled up; I pushed my way through the bodies and jumped off the bus. I threw the doughnuts out of the bakery bag and puked into it. It was not gentle. My friend, I think she became a friend right then, anyone you puke in front of has to I think, rushed off to the shop. I was thankful for the space. I puked some more and wiped my wet face that was dripping with sweat.

A Korean man walked by and asked me where I was from. Perfect timing. I half-smiled and looked back down to the floor. Not the time to engage me in conversation I’m afraid! He kept looking back as he walked away and I think he was worried about me and wanted to see I was ok. Korean’s really are so caring. As my friend returned, I was trying to hide my puke bag in the bush next to me. There are no public bins in Korea so getting rid of a crisp packet is difficult, let alone a bag of sick. My friend handed me a bottle of water and some gum which I was so grateful for.

I don’t know how but we managed to continue our journey and make it to the Immigration office with 2 minutes to spare before they closed. This involved a last minute sprint which, needless to say, I could have done without. Picking up the card was so easy, it took 2 minutes each and we both felt great that we’d collected them and made it there ourselves especially in the circumstances. On the way out, I had another session in the toilet and I wondered just how I would make it home. Amazingly, I managed somehow.

On return to my house, my boyfriend was waiting for me. After a long hug and another small sick moment, we decided the wisest thing to do would be to settle down in bed and order pizza. I, in no way fancied pizza, but I can never turndown bad food especially if I’ve lost half my lunch under an hour ago. Getting me into bed and cosy, my boyfriend then popped out to the pizza place just down the road. This place boasted that it only used ‘real imsil cheese’. Sounds great! Whatever that is!?

When the pizza came it smelt amazing and I automatically felt 1000 times better. Whatever imsil cheese is, I love it! I wolfed my way through the juicy Hawaiian pizza and sluiced down a lot of coke, the best thing for an upset stomach Mum always said. I’m not sure what it was at lunch that made me so ill but I know that if in doubt, eat pizza, drink coke and get the hell to bed!

Jjimjilbang – Let’s Get Naked!

The Jjimjilbang was a culture shock through and through, and I loved every moment! Upon entering this large office-block type building, we were greeted by a receptionist who took our 8,000 won, handed us three tiny towels and some mustard yellow baggy shorts and oversized t-shirt. This could only be a good sign…right? After engaging in a brief Korean conversation and leaving none the wiser, we headed in the direction the reception pointed. We worked out that the number on our receipt was our locker number and we put our shoes in the first set of lockers we came across. These were tiny and obviously for shoes. One hurdle down.

Moving on, we got our first eyeful of nudity. Walking into the dressing rooms, women were going about their business in the nude. Drying their hair, bent over, putting lotion on their bodies, bent over, brushing their hair, bent over, who’d have thought there were so many reasons to bend down? There was even a TV so if you got bored of getting dressed, you could just flop down and catch up with the latest news in the buff. Standard. I was feeling ready to get stuck in myself.

We headed to some bigger lockers where my friend explained that she thought this was where we changed into the mustard shorts and t-shirt, which after putting on we both agreed were unnecessarily reminiscent of prison clothes. This, I thought, is how it would feel to be incarcerated. It was a purely female environment, everyone just hanging about and all wearing the same horrendous uniform. Why these clothes were necessary I couldn’t fathom? All I knew was that I felt particularly uncomfortable wearing these clothes, especially without a bra or knickers. To add insult to injury as we walked up stairs, it became a unisex area. Surprise! As some young guys walked by and stared at my friend and I (foreigners in the Jjimjilbang), I realised how terrible these clothes were and how naked I felt despite them.

I was somewhat distracted though the ‘sleeping pods’ my friend pointed out to me. Essentially these were small tunnels or alcoves cut into the walls and tiled. How anyone could sleep on the hard tiles was beyond me and why would you want to? I could only hope they provided a mat. We continued to walk into a large open space with a slightly risen stage on one side, a line of broken massage chairs on the other side and a huge expanse of empty space in the middle. On the stage, a girl was curled up on the hard floor with just a little padded pillow under her head. Mats weren’t in fact provided for sleeping then! I believe the whole hall was for sleeping but oddly sleeping on the floor here didn’t quite make it onto my Korean ‘to do’ list!

We sauntered over to the small café and ordered ramen and a tea – which of course turned out to be something totally different – an ice-cold type of blackcurrant squash drink which was actually really nice. We sat on the floor by the tables and ate our large, hot bowl of perfect ramen, not too spicy and for 3,000 won, I was very happy.

We then moved onto the spas. I assumed this was where the nakedness began but it turned out I was preempting that. We had to do the saunas in the unisex section first. So wearing our prison outfits we entered a room with hot pink crystals on the floor and a towering ceiling that seemed to move to a point as if it were a chimney. We sat down on the burning crystals and tried to relax. Relax in our prison clothes. After a while, we began to overheat so we left and headed for the next room. This room had crystals in the walls and huge chunks of purple amethyst glinting out of the ceiling. The floor was tiled and warm and we had a little pad to put our head on. We lay down and enjoyed the surroundings. A couple of girls were playing music on their phone…this didn’t help my relaxation but luckily I was too on edge about the upcoming nakedness to really care. Having said that as we left the sauna to go down to the spas, I did feel at ease and happy so perhaps the saunas worked better than I thought!

The moment arrived. We took off our prison clothes and exposed our bodies. We headed, naked, to the spa room and entered. A few pairs of eyes darted in our direction as they realized we weren’t Korean. Waygook’s in the Jjimjilbang! We had a quick shower and jumped in the first pool we saw to cover the nakedness. This one was a green-tea-infused pool which I found out by surprise when the large sack of green tea which popped up between my legs as I sat down. ‘What’s that?’, I yelped as I felt and saw this dark, heavy item bouncing between my thighs. Giggling, my friend explained about the infusion. The water was a dark green colour and smelt like the drink. It was like a hot bath and having only had a shower available since arriving in Korea, it felt amazing.

The woman sat next to me hastily left, I’m sure it was because she was too hot and not because of me! The pools were situated in a circle and there were walls between them to sit on. Women were dotted around the pools in a haphazard way that I liked. It looked kind of arty. In the corner of the room there were a few lines of mirrors with chairs and large buckets along them. Women sat here and rubbed each other with mits to exfoliate and carefully wash each other.  It looked like a dressing room after a strip show but somehow more glamorous. Behind that was another area with beds, I didn’t even question this at this point!

We moved on and my friend showed me the way to the outside pools. It was very cold outside so we practically ran into the hot tub! We jumped straight in and again, it felt incredible. I loved having the steam rising from the water into the cold night and just sitting their chatting and relaxing. I got up at one point to get my drink, you can carry the flask around with you, and my friend said the steam was pouring off my boiling body into the cold air. The only thing to do was to grab the bowl from the side and pour freezing cold water over ourselves. We only did this once!

We then moved indoors and tried out some of the other pools. One had jet streams that were so strong it felt like it tore half the skin from my back off. The jets were also at questionable heights and so they came into unwanted contact with some more sensitive body parts!

We then decided to check out the bed area. Body rubs and massages! We opted for a full body rub for 20,000 won. We weren’t sure who we asked for these until we saw a small glass room towards the back of the bed area full of naked ladies. Could they be the masseuses? They clocked us looking their way, grinned and came out, totally naked. We paid and they ushered us to a table, far away from each other but close enough that we could still make faces of shock, pain and disbelief! I saw my friend’s masseuse start to put on some flimsy lingerie, her age was perhaps edging 65 and I’m not sure the lingerie was going to be all that supportive. As she started to lean over my friend and rub her body hard, I mentally wished my friend luck! I looked at my masseuse from my vulnerable position on the bed and noted that she was also putting lingerie on her bottom half…not so much with the top half for mine though. I got the breast experience!

To begin, she poured a bowl of hot water all over my body without warning. It was just the right temperature and I was surprised to hear myself groan a little bit. Cringe. Then the mitt came out and she began to rub my body, hard, fast and without mercy. I noted all the grey balls of my skin that flicked off to lay on the floor and bed around me. This has got to be doing wonders I thought, gritting my teeth through the discomfort. It didn’t so much hurt as felt extremely weird and uncomfortable. That’s even without thinking about the fact that I had my leg up in the air and a topless Korean lady was rubbing rather personal areas with a rough mitt. After being tossed around from side to back, to side, to front, my masseuse began to say something to me. I looked up. Wrong thing to do. I was confronted with lingerie and had to move my nose quickly so that it didn’t come directly into contact with her. She moved on and I was pleased I had a little more personal space again. It ended with another douse of perfect hot water and a very quick massage which was appreciated despite the slight pain inflicted.

She indicated that the activity was over. I was very grateful as it had been quite the experience and I hopped off the bed – only just avoiding slipping straight off onto the floor – and over to my friend. Our looks of bewilderment were probably pretty obvious and we ran off to the showers comparing experiences. At one point, my friend had looked so shocked, I had found it very hard not to laugh on the table so I wanted to hear all about her full body rub too!

After a quick shower and drying ourselves off under a red lamp like turkeys, we decided to wrap up this Jjimjilbang experience. I think I would go back and now I feel so much more prepared. What I loved about it was the lack of judgement and the normality of the nakedness. We’re all women, we all have bodies and it’s about time, we embraced this openness in the UK. It was so refreshing to feel comfortable in my own skin among women in a spa. I think I felt more comfortable being naked there than I do sometimes on a beach in a bikini – of course, this could also have something to do with the lack of men! All in all, a successful Wednesday night activity. Let’s get naked!

All Night Long – New Year’s Eve

Time in Korea seemed to speed by and before we knew it, New Year was approaching. In England this would be planned months before. Overpriced tickets to a pub or bar would have been purchased and much perusing ASOS or H&M would have happened to ensure I had the correct outfit to bring in 2017. As it was, settling into life in South Korea took up all our attention and we forgot to arrange anything until a week or so before.

A couple we met at orientation who were based in Daejeon were up for doing something together for the occasion and we floated the idea of a weekend in Busan, back to where orientation was and where it had all begun. We’d found online that they had a Sunrise festival on the famous Haeundae beach as well as midnight fireworks in town. Perfect! The boys being boys felt that it would be a total waste of money to book accommodation for the night as we’d have to be up early for sunrise and stay out late for the fireworks and clubbing. Therefore, it would be more sensible to stay out all night with no sleep. Oh would it now?

Objections aside it made sense on some level and I braced myself for a long night of revelling until sunrise. Telling myself I wasn’t dead yet and that 29 year olds don’t need that much sleep anyway, we refused to book accommodation. This came as a surprise to some of my other friends who helped me come up with a plan of attack to last the whole night without getting too drunk or falling asleep. 1 drink per hour and sleep on the bus there!

The day came but unfortunately as we waited for our bus to Busan, our friends cancelled due to illness. We knew others who were also heading to Busan for the same reason so we did not let this stop us and we messaged to meet up with them on arrival. I tried to sleep on the 3-4 hour bus ride to Busan planned, but sadly sleep wouldn’t appear.

 On arrival, we managed to sneak in a quick pre-drink and some shoddy bar chicken before we headed up the hill to where the fireworks were being held, Yongdusan Park. The top of the hill was suitably crowded with a well-behaved Korean audience (ignoring pushing, shoving and lack of respect for personal space). There was a temple structure at the top with a huge bell located in the middle that had large spotlights focused upon it. More lights swiveled around the edges of the temples, pointed out into the crowd and up into the sky. I expected more from them around 12 midnight.

There was a show that was an odd mixture of brass-band music, pop and ballads, some in English, some in Korean. I can’t quite decide how I felt about the pre-New Year entertainment but I don’t think it’s anything more than a vague bemusement.

Nonetheless, it served a purpose and led us up to midnight. The standard countdown was shown on a screen that I could just see if I strained my neck over the crowd. On the stroke of midnight though, things vastly improved. Confetti burst out of previously hidden places and twinkled and sparkled around us as the spotlights started their dance highlighting the audience and then the lighting up the stars in the sky. The music was on point and we even snuck a kiss at midnight, a little win as public shows of affection aren’t really approved of in Korea.

Once the exhilaration died down, we made our way towards the exit to walk down the hill. It was rammed and we found ourselves stuck behind a TV van because of the impatient crowd. This is when the fireworks started. I’d totally forgotten there was supposed to be any! We could see most of them from behind the TV van and they were a pretty sight that was appreciated. Having said that, they weren’t anything particularly special and we began the walk down.

We met our friends in a small craft beer bar and the frivolities started off slowly. As we tried to find the next drinking hole, we realised that the area that had been so busy was now deserted. This was no longer the part of Busan to try and pull an all-nighter in! We decided to head to the Haeundae area so we didn’t have to worry about getting there when we were well and truly on our merry road to drunkenness. Unlike London, Busan does not extend public transport running times on New Year’s Eve so we had to get a particularly long taxi ride across Busan to the beach. Some of our friends who had booked accommodation decided to call it a night at this point and we departed, some of them promising to meet us at the beach for sunrise. We then began our desperate hunt for a bar that was still open. Who would have thought that would be so difficult on New Year’s Eve!?

Finally, we found a foreigner bar called ‘Thursday Party’ that was alive and kicking. Once we realised they did Long Island’s for 5,000 won, we decided to place ourselves there for the foreseeable. The night involved a rather long game of Beerpong, which it seems I am terrible at, and random conversations with some rather forward Koreans as well as a Pilipino Airline Pilot. Sadly this bar did finally wrap up around 4 or 5am. We still had hours to kill before the sunrise at 7.26am. We wandered on, the hunt for a bar revived. We found what looked to be a club from the outside; we entered past the unoccupied ticket booth and pushed the plain black door to see what was behind. We found ourselves in the middle of what seemed to be a rather lavish private party. There were girls on tables, girls in corners with guys and a lot of champagne and full bottles of liquor being swigged from. We were welcomed in and offered sips from the bottles. As we danced unsure of what we’d walked into, an uneasy feeling found us. We decided to leave. We weren’t sure who the people were and why they were so rich but we sought solace in our faithful McDonalds.

 A few Egg McMuffins later, we headed to the beach for the finale. There was a stage and some music playing and we planted ourselves along the shoreline. Just a sprinkling of a crowd had started to gather. We stood and waited and as the sky began to lighten. The crowd around us started to grow. People were sending lanterns off into the air and had red balloons firmly in hand ready to release.

As the clock edged towards 7.26am, the sun began to rise and light up the sky and sea. Seagulls landed on the calm ocean and some swimmers braved the water for a closer look. Then the ships in the sea started to squirt huge beams of coloured water out into the sea and three helicopters from the military flew over with coloured smoke billowing from their tails. The birds squawked and erupted into the horizon, the balloons on the beach were let go and as they flew off into the ether. My group and I could only stand and stare open mouthed. Only in Korea could a natural beauty be so overshadowed by special effects and entertainment. Having said that, it really was a spectacle and as our tiredness began to creep up on us, I realised this was probably the most unique New Year I’d ever had.

We began to turn away from the sea to find a taxi. We were approached by a reporter for a major Korean news channel who wanted to interview us about our New Year’s Resolutions. In need of sleep yet still wanting to do it, I volunteered. Sadly my tired and alcohol-warmed brain wasn’t as quick as my enthusiasm and I came out with some rubbish about making the most of opportunities this year. My friend struggled similarly as she claimed this year she wanted to ‘focus more on what was going on’ – always a good one!

Heavy-eyed and ready to drop, we got a taxi to the bus stop and slept all the way back to Gwangju on the 9am bus. I’d done it, I’d pulled an all-nighter and I went home happy and thinking of only of sleep.

A Simple Eel Dinner

Our first Sunday night in Gwangju. We wanted dinner. We wanted something simple and cheap. Five minutes down the road, we spotted a Korean restaurant. We entered and were briskly welcomed by staff who automatically plonked down some water and a few sides of pickles. Looking at the menu on the wall, we realised we had no idea what to order. Luckily a drunk Korean guy stepped up to help us.

Introducing himself to us and asking lots of personal questions about us, he finally turned to food. What would we like? ‘God only knows’ we thought looking at the scribbly Korean characters on the wall. I slowly tried to read the first and shortest word on the menu. Wrong thing to do. He picked up on the word I was trying to read which was incidentally ‘Changa’ in romanized format. ‘Yes!’ he shouted excitedly, ‘yes, good choice!’ He went on to order us two of them, plus sides and finally two rice each.

Now we just had to wait. Sides just kept coming. More and more and more. Salads, pickles, fish cakes, cabbage, kimchi, weird balls of stuff…what was the actual main we thought?! Whilst waiting the waiter stalked our way with a colander of live fish flapping about under his hand. I froze thinking he was heading at me with them. Luckily, he shot past me to the table behind me who had a hot bbq grill ready and waiting. With aplomb he threw the live fish into the pan and the whole restaurant heard the sizzle! Again, we thought, ‘what is our main’?

Finally, it came out. Two long grey lengths of fish were laid down on the burning hot stone grill in front of us. The silver skin simmered as the long gutted fish lay there cooking. Eel. Who would have thought on entering that this would be our simple Sunday night meal? The eel was cooked and then chopped into manageable chunks and lettuce leaves were brought over. In typical Korean style, which we didn’t know too well at the time, we added the eel to a lettuce leaf we held in our hand, added pepper sauce and other sides and then ate it all in one. It was yummy. Not something I would have predicted. The drunk guy wouldn’t leave us alone once the Eel came. ‘How is it?’, ‘Mmm?’, ‘Give me your number’ – which my boyfriend did. He even drop called him to check it was the real number. Luckily, the English phone number didn’t work in Korea. Score!

We left the restaurant full and pretty surprised. We were 60 dollars worse off and wondering if we would have food poisoning on our first day of school. Even so, we were happily bemused, knowing we’d left with a story to tell. Until we saw the other Eel’s in the tank out the front. Long, black fish squirming about like blood-sucking leeches. My stomach turned slightly as we walked away praying for the day we had data and google translate on our phones.

Boseong Green Tea Fields

I had heard so much about these fields and really wanted to go. Other foreign teachers had been and returned with great pictures and remarks about the place but for a while we just hadn’t found time to go. Finally, this changed and we were headed to Boseong with a group of friends who also hadn’t yet got around to it.

The bus from U Square Bus Terminal took about an hour and a half. Most trips out of Gwangju seem to take a similar time which is odd. Once we arrived in Boseong we realised we didn’t know actually where the fields were. I’d kind of assumed it would be obvious on arrival. One of our friends said we needed to ask for Daehan Dawon when we got into the taxi. We split two taxis and on plonking ourselves in, realised the friend who knew where we were going was in the taxi in front and we couldn’t remember where we were supposed to ask for.

‘Follow the cab in front’, we directed with urgency! The taxi driver got it somehow, I think he understood a certain level of English and probably also knew that we’d want to head to the Tea Fields as I’m not really sure what else there is for tourists in Boseong!

 When we got there we bought entry to the fields for a minimal fee and wandered into the forested area. As we turned around the bend, the tea fields towered up above us in terraces on the side of a tall hill. They were magnificent. The greenery shone in the sun and the terraces layered up to an impressive height.

 We followed the path up and stopped at the various lookout points that allowed us to look over the fields. Although it was November it was still warm and in shorts, the hike up to the top was somewhat less painful than it could have been. Once at the top, the view was outstanding, not just down at the terraces but also the view for miles around.

As well as the fields, the park also includes a small bamboo forest and a Yew Tree forest as well as waterfall – which was pretty small but we went to see all of these anyway.

We’d heard a lot about the green tea icecream and tried it before lunch. This was really good, it was sweeter than I expected and tasted a little like pistachio icecream but you could definitely get that green tea taste. The restaurant on site was Korean in style and sold, you guessed it, green tea-infused food. Amongst our group we opted for, green tea bimimbap, green tea noodles and a hot and spicy soup (devoid of green tea – I think but who can be sure!) The hot and spicy soup totally blew my socks off, they did not lie. It was a nice day out in the sun to see a pretty impressive sight.


We went back again a few months later, but this time to see their Light Festival which was in the evening.

It was definitely busier this time and there were so many food stalls and pop-restaurants which made the food choice wider.

The light festival was really impressive and included a dragon’s head, a light tunnel, light hearts and so much more.


There don’t seem to be taxi ranks at Boseong Tea Fields so it’s important to get the number of the taxi that brings you there. Getting a taxi back from the light festival was difficult and we nearly missed the last bus back to Gwangju because we’d forgotten to do this.


As a day out or early evening entertainment for the Light Festival, Boseong was good fun and had impressive views. There isn’t a huge amount to do there but we were content on the way back both times we went. A little less content the first time when we went during the day as we were ‘lucky’ enough to have a Korean singer on our bus who screeched/sung loudly all the way home. Perfect!