Where will my feet take me next?

Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Seoul Lantern Parade - May 2012

Lantern parade May 2012

Two weeks ago, Paul and I went to the lantern parade in Seoul. It wasn't actually as busy as I thought it was going to be. We got a spot standing behind some seats so we got a clear view. The best spot was at Jongak station as it was where the celebrations were taking place afterwards. We did not go to this as we got bored an hour or two into the parade because it was all very similar after a while. Plus some of the older generation kept pushing Paul further and further back. If they wanted a good seat they should of come earlier like everyone else. One tried to push me but I push right back! They are not cute old ladies here and I will tell you why in a later blog about my trip to Chuncheon. Actually, when we left I could see some people pushing for the space.

Lantern parade May 2012

Anyways, the parade itself is good but nothing great. They had some people in normal clothes which was pretty boring. My favorite bit was these children in tradtional clothes dancing. Soooo cute!!! I am glad I have managed to go once though during my time here. I missed it last year as I was at a temple stay.

Here are the pictures!! ^^

Lantern parade May 2012

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

WINK - Part 5 - Green tea making experience.

Bohyang Tea fields

After Boseong we boarded the bus. We drove about 15 minuted to a different green tea plantation. It wasn't as breath taking as Boseong but it was nice. This is where the most expensive green tea in the world is grown. They infuse gold into the leaves somehow. He did tell us, but I was too tired to listen.

We were greeted by the cutest dog ever! William told us the dog had been on TV with his owners a few times. The dog was also on the sign at the entrance!

We had to form teams of 5-6. I was a team leader mwhahahaha!! My Chinese zodiac sign is a tiger so I was living up to the name ;). We had to pick tea leaves first. They told us to pick the first three leaves only and the smaller the better. A lot of people got annoyed at the winners of this task had rubbish big leaves so it looked like they picked a lot haha. Yes, I am bitter about this but have you spent half a hour trying to find the tiniest leaves? You end up going cross eyed!! ><

Picking leaves!

After picking leaves we went to the tea house where we drank some other expensive tea. Not the gold stuff but some other expensive tea. We learnt how to drink it correctly. The teas were delicious ^^. I drank a few cups. I am British, so I do love my tea haha.

We then moved to the cooking room. We had to wear two sets of gloves as the cooker was over 200'c. The cooker was like a giant wok with no handle. It was so hot, two people could only turn the tea leaves for 2 minutes before changing. Our sweat was pouring. After a VERY VERY long time, we put the leaves on a mat to cool down. We then had to roll the juice out of them for 20minutes. By this point we were all hurting and sweating. It felt like hours. The woman told us she would normally cook then roll then cook, the same leaves around 4 -12 times depending on the weather and the leaves. That must take all day!! No wonder it is so expensive!! We all had a new appreciation for tea leaves after this.

Our leaves!

They then had to decided the main winners of the day. She smelt my teams leaves and another team....... She asked another man and he said the other leaves smelt burnt so we won!!! Yes!!!!! Winners :p We got some green team power as a prize, so I can make green tea rice at home haha :D

Green tea fields.

Expensive tea

How to drink tea

Cooker

Tea leaves before

Rolling

Winners!!! ^^

WINK - Part 4 - Boseong green tea fields.

Boseong green tea fields!

After Nagan, we drove to Boseong green tea fields. Again nothing was clearly explained by WINK. It turned out we only had one hour here to eat and visit the green tea fields. It was not nearly enough. You needed at least 3 hours here. We would of had an hour and a half, but we left Nagan late because of some lazy people.

The queue for the food area was busy so we did some shopping first. I spent a pretty penny on green tea products which included biscuits, chocolates, tea and lattes. I am drinking the tea now and it is delicious and not as bitter as normal green tea.

Yummy!

We then had lunch which took 20 mins to cook so we only had 15 minutes left after. The lunch was delicious. I had pork cutlet with green tea rice ^^. The food was much better than the food at the expo ><.

We then went to the fields where we only spent 5 minutes, as we had to go back to the bus, which was 5 minutes walk away. The green tea fields are so beautiful. I would of loved to have walked around for longer and just relaxed. It is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in Korea. I hope to go to the green tea fields in Jeju when I go in August. It was so relaxing even though there were so many people. The air felt so clean and fresh.

After taking some photos we grabbed some green tea ice cream, which is some of the nicest ice cream I have ever tasted! I heard it was a must have when coming here and I know why! Delicious!

Bamboo

We then walked back the long way as we wanted to see the bamboo. We were shattered going up the hill haha. The bamboo path was closed so we could only take pictures from outside the fence.

We then hopped on the bus to the green tea making experience.....

Boseong green tea fields

Bamboo

Green tea ice cream

WINK Trip- Part 3 - Overnight at Nagan folk village.

Nagan folk village

We left the expo at 10.30 and arrived at Nagan folk village after 11pm. By this point no-one was speaking, as we were all that tired from being awake for nearly 30+ hours. We followed William (WINK leader) to a street where some adjummas took up to different houses. We followed one adjummas to a tiny room where 4 of us were supposed to sleep! It was so small that we were all practically spooning. But the host turned the floor heating on so we all fell asleep straight away.....

4 of us slept here.

The next morning, I woke up early as some adjusshi at the temple next door were talking loudly. After showering and eating a muffin, I went to have a look around. Nagan is so beautiful. It really is a real traditional village and not a fake one like you always see in Korea. It was a beautiful day (maybe this was just because I had sleep that everything seemed perfect). I walked along the fortress that surrounded the village. It was a really beautiful walk. I am going to say beautiful a lot during this blog entry and my next entry haha. Everyone was calm and the air was fresh. On the other side of the wall were hugh mountains and green fields. I really love this area as it is stunning and everyone was so friendly. Plus it was early in the morning so it wasn't too busy.

Our homestay ^^

We left the area a bit later as some people were complaining they got up late and had not seen the area. We got on the bus at 10.45am and the annoying couple (the girl complained and made bitchy comments about everyone during the trip) stole our seats and threw away my water! There were no shops, so I was soooooooooooo pissed!

Anyways off to the last part of the trip ^^