It's almost spring again, and we set out on a weekend trip to see the cherry blossoms again (see last year's post).
We decided to make the trip a little differently than last year. No one had ever been to the East Sea (known to most of you by the fascist name 'Sea of Japan'), so we made out to the city of Gangneung.
Gangneung is well known for having the largest beach on the east coast of the peninsula, and the province that it's in is famous for various potato dishes that you can't find in Seoul. We hopped an early bus out of the city and struck out eastward.
The first stop was a farm for sheep raising. The weather hadn't let the grass come in fully yet (there was still snow and ice in some places! In April!!), but we had a fun time hiking around and feeding the stabled sheep.
I know I must have seen sheep up close at some point in my life, but I don't remember them being so shaggy. I'm not sure whether or not these were being fed, but they were quite ravenous. It was cool that the baskets of grass were free! That stuff would've cost three bucks a pop in the states, but Korea hasn't quite figured out that you can gouge tourists/theme-parkers/movie-goers at every turn and we'll still pay for it.
The next stop was lunch, which sadly did not include any of the unique potato dishes. Due to our proximity to the ocean, there were several great places for fish. In the end, we opted for the region's home-raised beef barbecue. Hanwoo is the name for beef that hasn't been imported, and they take a great deal of pride in their cows. This would have been really expensive in the city, but we got a great deal.
The main event turned out to be after lunch. The five of us rented a tandem bike for an hour and decided to take it around the lake. Actually, we decided to do a quarter of the lake and then turn around, but we made it all the way around in less than an hour!
The thing looks like a golf cart, and 4 people pedal at any given time. There are two steering wheels, but only one of them has any control thankfully. Around the back half of the lake is a series of statuettes that told a historical story, but we were going counter-clockwise around the lake, so the story would have been backwards (if we had known that it was a story at all). This was the whitest, most touristy moment I've had in Korea in a long time. We were a spectacle. All five of us had cameras out and were snapping pictures frantically. It was a Saturday afternoon and the lake path was filled with Korean families, couples, children, and other tour groups (the most notable of which were 30-odd college students all wearing the same white hoodie that said "LAKESIDE FLORIODAS" across the front).
To everyone whom we passed, we yelled "안녕하세요!" (Hello, how are you?) excitedly. I attempted to high five some of the other families on tandem bikes (as pictured below), with one success and one recoil. There was a girl who could not have been more than four years old who would have dropped her ice cream had she been holding one. She was terrified and slack jawed, and probably cried after we left without understanding why. Nonetheless, people who were older than her had said hello, so with her wide eyes and open mouth should reflex bowed like a good Korean child.
All in all, it was a total blast, even if we disturbed the peaceful lake-side walk of the locals. When it was over, we could barely walk. We had been pedaling so furiously since at what seemed to be halfway we came to the realization that we had to do the whole thing, but we had a bus to catch! We arrived in plenty of time though, and it was onward to our next destination.
Our last stop was a strawberry farm. We showed up and it all seemed really ghetto. There hadn't been much rain, the weather was cold, and the fields were not much to look at. However, after stepping inside the greenhouse structures we realized that it was a really nice operation. There was a short lecture (in Korean) about the strawberries, how they were grown, and the proper way to pick them.
We then got a chance to fill up a paper cup with fresh picked strawberries that also turned out to be organic. Without the chemical fertilizers or pesticides to worry about, we were allowed to eat them on the spot. The farm then gave us a packet of strawberries each to take home. Sunday morning: organic (practically) hand-picked, (practically) beach-side strawberries.
What was intended to be a trip to see the cherry blossoms on the beach turned out to be a trip to pick strawberries and feed sheep near a lake. but we had a great time anyways!
We decided to make the trip a little differently than last year. No one had ever been to the East Sea (known to most of you by the fascist name 'Sea of Japan'), so we made out to the city of Gangneung.
Gangneung is well known for having the largest beach on the east coast of the peninsula, and the province that it's in is famous for various potato dishes that you can't find in Seoul. We hopped an early bus out of the city and struck out eastward.
The first stop was a farm for sheep raising. The weather hadn't let the grass come in fully yet (there was still snow and ice in some places! In April!!), but we had a fun time hiking around and feeding the stabled sheep.
I know I must have seen sheep up close at some point in my life, but I don't remember them being so shaggy. I'm not sure whether or not these were being fed, but they were quite ravenous. It was cool that the baskets of grass were free! That stuff would've cost three bucks a pop in the states, but Korea hasn't quite figured out that you can gouge tourists/theme-parkers/movie-goers at every turn and we'll still pay for it.The next stop was lunch, which sadly did not include any of the unique potato dishes. Due to our proximity to the ocean, there were several great places for fish. In the end, we opted for the region's home-raised beef barbecue. Hanwoo is the name for beef that hasn't been imported, and they take a great deal of pride in their cows. This would have been really expensive in the city, but we got a great deal.
The main event turned out to be after lunch. The five of us rented a tandem bike for an hour and decided to take it around the lake. Actually, we decided to do a quarter of the lake and then turn around, but we made it all the way around in less than an hour!
The thing looks like a golf cart, and 4 people pedal at any given time. There are two steering wheels, but only one of them has any control thankfully. Around the back half of the lake is a series of statuettes that told a historical story, but we were going counter-clockwise around the lake, so the story would have been backwards (if we had known that it was a story at all). This was the whitest, most touristy moment I've had in Korea in a long time. We were a spectacle. All five of us had cameras out and were snapping pictures frantically. It was a Saturday afternoon and the lake path was filled with Korean families, couples, children, and other tour groups (the most notable of which were 30-odd college students all wearing the same white hoodie that said "LAKESIDE FLORIODAS" across the front).
To everyone whom we passed, we yelled "안녕하세요!" (Hello, how are you?) excitedly. I attempted to high five some of the other families on tandem bikes (as pictured below), with one success and one recoil. There was a girl who could not have been more than four years old who would have dropped her ice cream had she been holding one. She was terrified and slack jawed, and probably cried after we left without understanding why. Nonetheless, people who were older than her had said hello, so with her wide eyes and open mouth should reflex bowed like a good Korean child.
All in all, it was a total blast, even if we disturbed the peaceful lake-side walk of the locals. When it was over, we could barely walk. We had been pedaling so furiously since at what seemed to be halfway we came to the realization that we had to do the whole thing, but we had a bus to catch! We arrived in plenty of time though, and it was onward to our next destination.
"High five!"
Our last stop was a strawberry farm. We showed up and it all seemed really ghetto. There hadn't been much rain, the weather was cold, and the fields were not much to look at. However, after stepping inside the greenhouse structures we realized that it was a really nice operation. There was a short lecture (in Korean) about the strawberries, how they were grown, and the proper way to pick them.
We then got a chance to fill up a paper cup with fresh picked strawberries that also turned out to be organic. Without the chemical fertilizers or pesticides to worry about, we were allowed to eat them on the spot. The farm then gave us a packet of strawberries each to take home. Sunday morning: organic (practically) hand-picked, (practically) beach-side strawberries.
What was intended to be a trip to see the cherry blossoms on the beach turned out to be a trip to pick strawberries and feed sheep near a lake. but we had a great time anyways!
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