Danyang Palgyeong.

Three weeks have passed since the election, and though the winners have long been proclaimed, I'm yet to write an entry about the side adventure I had back then. I thought it's worth sharing so here it is....

June 2, Election Day
Our plan was to go to the voting precinct early in the morning so we could have the rest of the afternoon to enjoy. The precinct is merely 5 minutes away by foot from where we live, but it took a lot longer to get there cause we couldn't find a place to park the car. When we finally did, Chris hurriedly entered the booths and registered. I, on the other hand, went to use the restroom and the next thing I knew he already voted! It was sooo fast, we were in and out of the place in 10 minutes!

After that quickie voting, we hit the road going to Danyang, North Chuncheong province. It's a place known for it's 8 scenic wonders, hence the name Danyang Palgyeong (단 양 팔 곙). We planned to visit all of it in one day, so we skipped lunch and went directly to Dodamsambong (도 담 삼 보) - the first the eight wonders. Multitude of tourists come here all year round to see the three gorgeous rock formations that grew in the middle of the river. It's beautiful but it's better to come here right before sunset when the sky turns golden as the rocks look even more stunning then.

And as weird as it may sound, there is a very intriguing story behind those three rocks. It goes something like this; rock no. 1 is the husband, rock no. 2 is the barren wife, and the last rock is the pregnant mistress and they're all part of this one giant love triangle.

Even without the scandalous rocks, the river is already worth the visit. It's beautiful on it's own
and the air is fresh and clean. We walked at the side of the river for some time till we saw a steep stairway that leads to Seokmun (석 문). It's one of Danyang's eight scenic wonders.



Seokmun is a giant rock that formed into a very interesting shape - an arch with trees and plants growing on it. Because of the shape, they called this place the "stone gate".



There is another scenic point far up the mountain, but it requires hiking for hours. Chris wasn't feeling it, so we left the place and went on with our quest to see more of Danyang. We drove till we reached Gosu Cave (고 수 통 굴). The cave was discovered in the 70's and during that period, they unearthed several equipments that dates back from the stone age.

After the cave, we drove towards the downtown area to find some food and saw this place by chance. I don't think it's included among the eight, but it's so beautiful it rightfully deserves a spot there.

We followed the road that leads to Namhan river, Chris said we're gonna go for a boat ride. The scenery along the river is breathtaking, and it pains me to see that the government is breaking it. Pres. Lee Myung Bak has plans of turning it into a canal where ships and boats can pass through. In some parts of the river, the construction has already began, and it turned the water

from green to muddy - not a pretty sight to look at. Thankfully, the construction hasn't started in the area where we took the boat. At least we got a chance to see it's natural beauty before they decide to break it.

So we took the boat for 10,000 won each, and we got the best seats in the house! It's right in front and the view was perfect there!

The captain served as the guide saying bits and pieces about the different mountains and rock formations that we passed by. Of course, Chris was there to translate so I kind of understood what the captain was saying. I understand that some of the eight sights are here, but I couldn't care less. They all look the same to me anyway - all beautiful and spectacular.

The boat ride lasted for an hour, and by the time it reached the dock, it was almost sunset. We thought we've seen enough of Danyang so we decided to go. It was a well-spent holiday, and right now, I'm hurting for another one..

Korean Food Project: O-jing-oh Bokkeum

While cleaning the fridge yesterday, I saw a couple of slightly-withered veggies hidden amongst pile of banchan. They all looked like they need to be cooked right away or they'll be good as trash in a few days. I tried to think what I could make of it but I didn't have any meat, so off I went to Homeplus. They were selling squid at a really cheap price so I bought 2 large ones for 3,000 won. The veggies at home are perfect with the squid to make O-jing-oh Bokkeum (stir-fried squid in uber spicy sauce). I've never tried making this dish before, so excuse me if my methods are kind of odd and my proportions are unheard of.

You'll need: A quarter of a cabbage, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, carrots , onion, garlic and a couple of spicy green peppers. You can slice it any way you want to.

And for the sauce: I used gochujang (red pepper paste), gochukaru (red pepper powder), soysauce and some honey. This recipe calls for sesame oil, but I don't really like the taste of that so instead, I used extra virgin olive oil and toasted sesame seeds for flavor. I'm not really sure of the proportion, but a tablespoon of each is a good bench mark. I didn't want it to be too spicy so I didn't put a lot, but you can add more according to your liking.

Mix it all together in a bowl till you come up with a paste like this.

The hardest part in making this dish is cleaning the squid cause it could get pretty nasty. You really have to wash it well to get rid of the smell. Then you have to remove the skin, the backbone, innards, and the creepy looking head (but save the tentacles!). When it's all clean, slice it into rings and stif-fry it in the pan.

When the squid is nearly cooked, add in the veggies and the sauce mixture. Stir continuously till all of the squid is covered in sauce. Don't overcook it or you'll end up with a tough squid.

Add a dash of toasted sesame seeds before serving.

I served this for dinner and Chris really loved it! It may not be as good as the ones they serve in restaurants (God knows how much MSG they use to make it really tasty), but it's a delicious, cheaper and healthier alternative for that. I ate only a small portion of this and Chris finished it all in one sitting. How's that for a compliment?!

A Skin Care Product Review Of Some Sort.

Two weeks have passed since summer came and I can't say I'm having the best days.. The weather's pretty crazy. Sometimes it gets really hot and humid, other days it'll rain the whole day. I like when it rains a little bit. It's hard to go out and all, but at least I could sleep soundly at night without air conditioner (which reminds me, I really have to cut back on using it ~ our electric bill had doubled already!). But we're still on the early part of summer, and pretty soon it's gonna get even hotter (and God forbid HUMID as HELL), and there'll be no more rain to relieve us from the heat.

I'm actually ok with the heat, but extreme humidity kills me. That's why I'm awfully choosy when it comes to skin products. I hate putting on layers of gunk that'll make me feel sticky all over. I have sensitive skin to begin with, and one bad product and my face will turn into a zit battleground. It's always a nightmare when I try to experiment with skin products, so as much as possible I only stick to two brands that work for me - Neutrogena and The Body Shop. I use Neutrogena's Skin Clearing Line for the cold months. And for warmer seasons, I use The Body Shop. If you're into all natural, organic, alcohol and oil free products for the face, you'll also dig their products. I'm so pleased with it, I thought I should make some sort of a product review here.

Clear skin starts with a clean face, and for that I use Neutrogena's Skin Clearing Foaming Wash. It's an oil-free wash for pimple-prone skin like mine. It has Salicylic Acid and Natural Plant extracts that help combat acne. *175 ml bottle - 12,000 won.

After that I use The Body Shop's Seaweed Clarifying Toner. This is probably the best toner I've ever used! It's alcohol-free, very gentle and leaves your skin tingling after. It's very refreshing especially on a hot summer day. *200 ml - 17,000 won.




For moisturizer, I use Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream, also from The Body Shop. It's an easily absorbed, non-clogging, oil-free, hydrating gel-like moisture cream for Combination/Oily skin. It uses oil balancing technology to control excess sebum and shine whilst delivering essential moisture. It leaves your skin feeling soft, supple and shine-free all day long! The label says it's day cream but I also use it at night and still get great results. *50 ml - 20,000 won.

And if my skin feels drier than usual (perhaps from using too much air conditioner), I skip the mattifying cream and use Aloe Soothing Day Cream instead. It's nice and soothing and gives your skin optimum hydration. But it kinda leaves your skin sticky after so I only use it when my skin is really, really dry.

And for my hands, elbows and knees, I use Moringa Body Butter. It's an intensive, super creamy all-over body moisturiser with a delicate floral fragrance. And surprisingly, it works quite well with insect bites and rashes. I'm very adventurous when it comes to food and sometimes I get an allergic reaction. This product helps relieve the itch. *50 ml - 22,000 won.

And after sweating it out in the gym, I veer away from creamy shower creams and use bath soaps instead. I love The Body Shop's bath soaps cause it's gentle on the skin and it's guaranteed to leave your skin smelling great! I use this whenever I shower in the gym, and I always hear people talking about how good it smells.

I admit I'm a little crazy over The Body Shop. It's also my brand of choice for make up. I absolutely love their All-in-one Face Base, Super Volume Mascara and Born Lippy Lip Balms. I don't have a complicated make-up routine, just these three and I'm good to go. It's better to buy these in the Philippines though. Not only is it cheaper there, but they usually put it on sale. Like the All-in-one face base for example, here it costs 27,000 won, but I got it on sale in Manila for 800 pesos only.



I hope you guys find this review helpful!

Rainy Kind Of Wonderful (part 2).

At the other side of Cheongsong, not far from the reservoir, we visited this place called Juwang-san National Park. Juwang Mountain is part of Taebaek Mountain Range. It's summit is only 721 meters high - the smallest among all national parks in the country. 'Small' as they say, but the way I see it, it's massive. It houses several valleys, waterfalls and caves. I bet it's going to take the whole day if you wanna explore all the good things this park is famous for.





Juwangsan is known for it's beauty, but more so it's also a subject of many tales and legends. Important people in history seek refuge here during the ancient times of war and struggle.

There are lots of interesting rock formations to see there, but I got to say this hand-shaped rock is the most remarkable of them all. Right beside it is a Buddhist temple. See those colorful lanterns on the trees? They hung it to commemorate Buddha's birthday.




It's not really steep so it's good for hiking and stuff. Too bad we came at a bad time. It was hard to climb with umbrella and all that mud sticking in your shoe, so we chose to spend the rest of the afternoon at some traditional restaurant at the foot of the mountain. It's where I tasted the most delicious Dongdongju (Korean rice liquor).




I never really understood why Koreans like to drink Dongdongju and eat Pajeon when it rains till that day. Dongdongju doesn't really make you drunk, but it makes your body nice and warm against the cold rain. And as for Pajeon, they say it's the perfect sidedish to go with Dongdongju, and I couldn't agree more!

Rainy Kind Of Wonderful

After Yeongdeok, Cheongsong was next to our agenda. It didn't take an hour to get there. With it's relatively short distance, you'd think the two places are similar, but it turned out to be entirely different with no semblance of similarity whatsoever. Only scanty minutes have passed and I could no longer see the jagged cliffs and taste that briny air in my mouth. Coastlines and rock formations were replaced by rolling hills and beautiful valleys.

The rain didn't wither and so is the fog, but all we need is a good and sturdy umbrella to jumpstart our rainy adventure. On our way to Cheongsong, we passed by Okgye Valley. The water was all muddy from the rain and the hills were partly obscured by fog.

I remember seeing this in the height of Summer when the sky was all clear. It was beautiful then.. and it still is beautiful even when it's rainy.

Cheongsong is known for it's delicious apples, and we passed by several apple farms on our way to Jusan Mountain. Rows and rows of apple trees, all stunted from the unusually cold Spring we had. I don't think the apples will be ready for harvest in fall and I feel bad for the farmers who planted those..

When we reached the foothills of Jusan Mountain, the rain barely halted. I hated the dampness all over, especially the pool of muddy rain water in the ground that seeped through my Chuck Taylor's. It made the 10-minute climb to the top feels like an hour.

There's a reservoir at the top and you could see ancient Willow trees growing in the water. These trees have been there for almost two centuries.

While exploring the area, I saw this plank of wood with braille written on it. So if there's such thing as that, does it mean visually impaired people come and visit this place too? ..

This beautiful lake surrounded by dense forest was created almost 200 years ago, and it has never been dried even in the longest droughts.

I've seen so many beautiful places in Korea, but there are only a few places I can call unforgettable - this place is one of them. It's so enchanting it makes you feel as if you're in a different world. Maybe someday, we can visit this place again. I'll probably bring a mat, some wine and a picnic basket then...

In A Blue Funk.

May had been a splendid month filled with kick ass adventures. And as much as I want to write about it, I couldn't. I'm feeling downright depressed lately, and words about merrymaking and blithesome adventures are just the most awkward things to say right now. But before you guys put me on your suicide watch list, let me say that the reason for all this drama is fairly simple (and manageable I suppose). I gained some effin weight, and contrary to what I thought before, it isn't just PMS. It's real poundage from lack of exercise, reckless eating and bad choices of food.

When I weighed myself last night, I almost died when it read 60 (point something) kilos. Ok, I'm not gonna say what the 'point something' is as I intend to keep my dignity intact. Before I came here (roughly about 2 months ago), I weighed 58 kgs. Still pretty heavy as it is, but do you guys know I was 70 kgs before I started working out like crazy? People at the gym back home called me their '3-month success story', but it isn't the case anymore is it? It took a lot of effort to lose that much weight, so there's no way in hell I'm gonna let myself go again... After all, something HUGE is going to happen next year, and I intend to be in tip top share before the time comes.

Today, I enrolled in a gym and I'm absolutely determined to put that 80,000 won fee to good use. The guy who manages the gym is a bit creepy. He's nice and all, but I can't get over the fact that he asked me where I'm going to take a shower thrice today. Thrice ladies and gentlemen, and it sure as hell warrants the word creepy. After 2 grueling hours of strenuous exercise, I understood why. People there don't shower after working out. I was the only one to hit the shower, and it was only then that Mr. Creepy turned the water heater on. I'm not going to discuss this further, so let's all file this under "Water Conservation To Help The Environment", shall we?

Anyway, I'm utterly disappointed with my performance today at the gym. It's as though my muscles turned impotent at the sight of their machines. They are not really intimidating (I've seen more wicked ones at Fitness First back home), but somehow, I can't do the things I normally did before. I can't run and lift weights like I used to. My stamina is pretty low, and on top of that, I heard some weird cracking noise on my joint today. I haven't even even reached 30 yet, and my joints are already failing me... But cracking joints or not, I'm gonna do my effin best to reach my ideal weight of 50 kgs flat ~ with no point whatsoever!

Sunday Rendezvous.

So this is about a gathering that happened yesterday...


***

WHAT: Potluck Party/Housewarming; lot's of food, laughter and a little bit of witchcraft ^^;
WHO: Me and my friends Jehan, Tessa and Anne. With the special participation of Gerald (Anne's better half) and Chris.
WHERE: Jehan's fabulous new home in Gimpo.
WHEN: Sunday, June 6th.


My friends and I had been planning to have a potluck party as early as April, but everyone seemed to be swamped with work, part-time jobs and family affairs that we couldn't squeeze a day out of our busy schedules to make it happen. The days and months kept counting, and the pressure from my impending departure got bigger and bigger, so I sent everyone an 'it's-now-or-never' text to meet on Saturday, June 5th. Eventually, it was moved to Sunday to give way to Jehan's pre-natal check-up. With Jehan's pregnancy and her new apartment, we even got bigger reasons to meet and celebrate!

So the Potluck Party/Housewarming was set, and everyone's expected to bring some food. Armed with a heavy paper bag reeking of pineapples and bell peppers from the Sweet and Sour Pork dish I made earlier, I rode the subway to meet Anne and Gerald. All three of us went to find Jehan's new house hidden amongst a sea of beautiful ricefields and farms. Their apartment complex is new so it was a little hard to find. Gerald, being the courteous man that he is, made a quick stop to buy a huge pack of toilet paper for Jehan (it's customary for Koreans to give toilet paper when they visit a house for the first time). Gerald went back home shortly after dropping us there..


Jehan lives in a beautiful place surrounded by ricefields. I can just imagine how beautiful it's gonna be in fall when the ricefields become golden in color.



As soon as we entered the new house, the party got rolling. Our conversation drifted from wallpapers, to curtains, to pregnancy, and to life in general. Coincidentally, it was Jehan's wedding anniversary that day so topics about significant others were also one of the things we talked about. Tessa had a prior engagement so she had go there all by herself. Jehan's house is a grueling 2 hour bus ride from Seoul to Gimpo, but Tessa beat the odds and showed up 2 hours later carrying a cake! Here's the food we had at the party...

My Sweet and Sour Pork with pineapples and slightly discolored bell peppers.




Anne's Galbi and Chapchae...

Tessa brought dessert, delicious White Mocha Cake..

So four hungry and overly energetic girls in a fabulous new house with endless things to talk and laugh about.. It was a riot from then on!







All's good till Chris called saying he's coming to pick me up at 8. It's so hard to leave when the party is as good as that. To make the most out of my one hour left, I decided to try a trick my mom taught me when I was a kid. Some may call it witchcraft, I call it an ingenious trick to know how many babies a woman will have and what genders their babies are going to be. My mom learned it from her Highschool Physics teacher, and from then on she has been performing this trick. She had done it to over a hundred people since she was young, and she never got it wrong. Jehan was the first to try of course. Since it's still early to check her baby's gender thru ultrasound, she has to wait 3 months to know I'm right (that is if the doctor will tell her the sex cause it's illegal to know the gender of the baby here while you're pregnant).

Chris came shortly after that. We convinced him to eat and chat a little before heading home. It was a long drive to Suwon and I was so tired when we came back home. But I couldn't stop smiling and thinking how fun that Sunday afternoon had been!

Our Foggy Day Adventure in Yeongdeok.

After our stint in Gyeongju, we drove to Yeongdeok next. Yeongdeok is a small, rural county lined with mountains and beautiful coastlines in the North Gyeongsang province. We've been here last summer, but only to eat their famous King Crab. This time around, we wanted to explore more and see the beautiful sights there.

Yeongdeok is about an hour and a half away from Gyeongju. We arrived around 9 pm and it was raining so went to the first inn we saw to rest. It's right in front of the coast, and it's also near this colorful bridge.



In the morning, the view from the floor-to-ceiling glass is spectacular. Outside, the view is even better. We only had to walk a few steps to reach the coast. It was a bit foggy and the sky was all dark and gray from the rain - not exactly the kind of weather you associate with beaches and stuff. But you know what? I did enjoy the weather. It's nice to see and experience it for a change.



Here's Chris enjoying the view.


We had an early lunch at a restaurant nearby. Or menu was crab soup and Mul-hui (mul = water, hui = sashimi).

After that we drove towards the mountain and the view got even better.

We arrived at the Sunrise Park (해맞이공원) around 12 noon. This tower is the first thing that caught my attention. We climbed towards the top, and boy... it was so cold and windy up there!

Below the tower, there's a stairway that'll bring you closer to the water.

It was hard to go down cause the way was muddy and slippery. I was scared to death I'm gonna trip and roll towards the icy waters... ^^;

This is where you should be when you want to have the best view of the sunrise.
Too bad we're too late for that. : (

The place is so beautiful there are endless opportunities to take pictures. Standing in the middle of wildflowers, with fog and the beautiful sea at the back, it felt like I was in the middle of a beautiful dream...

After a while, the rain grew stronger and fog became heavier so we decided to leave the Sunrise Park and go to our next destination. See how foggy it was? It was almost impossible to drive at that time.

We were supposed to see plenty of gigantic windmills (력발전단지) at our next destination, but unfortunately the fog was so thick we couldn't see any. I was disappointed cause I heard it's pretty cool.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving beside the coastline and watching the waves grow bigger and bigger. When we grew hungry, we went to the Crab market to eat. Our menu was steamed King Crabs just like what we had last year.

You can have the crabs anyway you want to, the staff there will cook it for you. But both us agree that steamed is the best way to enjoy the natural taste. It was soooo delicious! And the taste is forever seared in my memory. This picture looks a little nasty, but my mouth waters just by looking at it!

Chris paid 50,000 won for four crabs, and we got this shells for free! It's a little hard to eat this. You need to use a toothpick to get the meat out of the shell, then you dip it in gochujang and pop it in your mouth.

I'm sure you all agree that a delicious meal like that is the best way to cap off an amazing journey!