Jebudo

We went to Jebu Island this past weekend to dig for clams and shrimp. Jebu is an island that is connected by a causeway that submerges with the tide, so you are at the mercy of the Moon which as it turned out was full.

It is a small island, we spent Saturday before and after lunch circumnavigating before checking into our hotel. Even though it is late in the season, all the hotels were full. The island is very popular with a couple of the big universities and younger families. There are no gas stations, one pharmacy,very few cars and plenty of fireworks! Shooting off fireworks is, aside from digging for clams and shrimp, the biggest distraction.

 One thing I was struck by was the lack of any urban planning. Most of the buildings on the island are hideous; what little space there is to develop (the  local government has made the two "mountains" on the island unavailable) is poorly used.

Altogether we had a very pleasant time even though overcast was about as sunny as it got that weekend. Still, the air was warmer and cleaner than Seoul and it was nice to cross a street without having to look for cars.

Suwon People's Festival

Went to Suwon  over the Columbus Day holiday on a beautiful Saturday in October and trooped around the old palace grounds that is the scene of a famous "peoples festival."

Suwon is about 60 kilometers south of Seoul and a good part of the city is still inside the old walls. The festival is held every year, and features martial arts from the Lee period, as well as local delicacies of which Kalbi is perhaps the most famous.  Naturally we picked the last day of the festival to attend, and it was packed! The festival, aside from martial arts and local foods, also features a re-inactment of an imperial procession. There are Also period costumes you can don and after some amount of cajoling we managed to get Winter to dress up as a palace guard and have his picture taken. 

Although the region is supposed to be well know for Kalbi [better known to most of us as Korean Bar-B-Qu] we found the food was only fair to middling and expensive. The Local beef is twice the amount of American beef and only eaten half the time, or that was our observation. American beef was bigger and, ok, ok, maybe I am prejudiced, taster.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was the Korean Archery. Winter and I both tried our hand at shooting ten arrows each: we both only hit the target once! The bows don't require a lot of strength in terms of the draw, but they "pull" to the left and it wasn't until the last few shots that we both "adjusted fire." 

If you happen to be in South Korea in early October and

want to experience something "local" in flavor, I can heartily recommend the Suwon People's Festival held annually in mid-October. To get there, the easiest thing to do is take the  train from Yongsan station: express trains leave on the hour, the journey time is approximately 40 minutes. Once in Suwon, intrepid types can walk the 2 kilometers to the old castle gounds, or you can hop a local bus (always an adventure in itself). Sun block and water are two good things to carry along, and perhaps a camp stool: event seating is under capactiy.