I just wanted to say I am in Seoul at the moment, and I am really happy. I took the bus and subway alone for the first time, which was really overwhelming in a nice way. Also, I bought a plane ticket to Tokyo. I leave next friday for a week!
I have a bunch of pictures on my computer back in Kwangju and will probably post some when I get back on thursday or friday. More food and more mountains (I am wondering if that is maybe too boring?)!
I went to this restaurant with my aunt today, called “Daisy – fusion restaurant” or something. I’m not sure what the fusion was, but the food was really nice!
Well, maybe except for this bean soup.
There were these wrappings (and in the background you can see my aunt grinding sesame for the sauce)
And vegetables and fried pork.
And you put the pork in the wrapping with some sauce and vegetables and YUM!
Don’t forget the kimchi!
And some rice with fried seaweed and “caviar” (and miso soup on the side).
After that we went to the Kwangju Biennale ‘08. It was absolutely amazing! The photos do not do it justice at all. There were some really amazing video installations that I want to go back and watch all the way through, like this one (which I secretly filmed, shh!) by Isaac Julien. It reminded me a lot of Five Angels for the Millenium by Bill Viola, which is my absolute favourite installation ever.
It was a good day after all.
Rice and banchan (side dishes) every day for breakfast and lunch. Am I in heaven? I live right next to a mountain! It’s pretty close to heaven, if you ask me.
So. Crab. It kept staring at me. It was delicious, but in the end I lost my appetite, because the thought of touching it or it suddenly coming back to life made my stomach turn. I’m such a wuss.
And always some fruit. Love those pears. Crunchy and juicy. Yum.
So I went hiking on Mt Mudeung! It took seven hours from the apartment and back (it is a 5-10 minute walk to the mountain from here) and was amazing. It is very green and with spectacular views of the city and surrounding area. My uncle said that on clear days you can even see the ocean! Maybe he just meant some kind of lake… His English really is very poor. But he tries, and that is really nice.
At the foot there are loads of little shops and restaurants where you can stock up on food and drink for the hike.
I thought this one looked particularly cute.
Early on we caught some stairs. This was half.
Then the next half!
From then on it was just amazing (and hard! I haven’t been hiking in more than ten years, due to the fact that we have no mountains, or hills even, in Denmark. My uncle thought me a “very skilled climber!” though)
View of the city from about 600m up.
Our lunch, which was about 5 us dollars in all. Food in Denmark is extremely expensive, so I am in awe whenever I see the price on food here.
This is the absolute top (I think), but the trail up there was closed for the mountain to rest. I love that they do that.
As high as we got.
We went over there, too! I loved walking from top to top.
The trail used to be a military facility. My uncle helped tear it down! Ooh!
I took this, sitting on the top from the previous pictures. It was so quiet and serene there, I could have sat there for hours.
I am definitely going back! As soon as my legs stop aching… I have all the appropriate gear now, too (bought at Tesco Home Plus, haha), as I had borrowed my aunt’s shoes, which were a bit too big and wore black jeans (way too hot in this humid 30c heat).
I got some film and a new wallet (and some fake low top chucks) as well. And I am mobile!
My legs have arrived in Korea! And after more than 16 hours of sleep I am no longer jet-lagged, which is fantastic. I spent the first day in Seoul with my aunt, barely awake, and then took the KTX train with my uncle to Kwangju.
Today I had green tea at a very small place on the viewpoint over Kwangju City where I live with my other aunt, uncle and gran mother!
After I learned how to take the bus from the house to the bus terminal (where I can take the bus to Seoul) my uncle and I went to this shopping area to have dinner.
We went to this restaurant!
Main dish (some style of Samgyeopsal)
Sides
In the end they used the flavour and sauce from the meat for some rice and vegetables!
It was amazing!
Here I am wearing a lovely bib, smiling because I get to eat the best food every day! Also, my gran mothers Kimchi is AMAZING!
Tomorrow I am going to climb a mountain. Yay!
PS. Say hello to my new Olympus Stylus, which took all these photos! So much more convenient than my Canon…
My name is Young. I like to travel and eat food and look at things that are nice to look at. I prefer images over words. I am currently posting from Copenhagen, Denmark, where I work in a record store.
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All photos were photographed by me unless otherwise stated, so please be so kind and ask before using. Thank you for stopping by!
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