Kimchi, Street Food, and Naked Koreans
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2008
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3
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Trip End
Nov 30, 2008
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
After we toured the temple, we ran across a wonderful event. The members of the temple were making a mass supply of kimchi for the poor people in Seoul. Kimchi is a very traditional Korean food that every family has at almost every meal. It is basically pickled vegetables, but the most traditional kind is made from cabbage, shrimp, red pepper sauce, leeks, and maybe a few other things. They used to make it in early winter, and it is a fermented food so this would last them all winter when there were no vegetables growing to eat fresh. So they mix all this stuff up and put it in basically rubbermaid containers and let it ferment away. People have a special kimchi refrigerator in their house (it's not cold...). So it's a big deal here. It is spicy and pretty tastey once you are used to it. While its not my favorite, I have enjoyed it. So the making of kimchi for the poor was a huge occasion. There was probably 200 people at least helping to make it. They had gigantic tables full of cabbage and the red pepper mixture that they were rubbing on the cabbage. They were all wearing rubber aprons and gloves. It was quite a display. Misoo said she has never actually seen this being done, so it is a real treat. Then...when we were leaving the temple this man invited us to try the kimchi that they were all making. So he led us over to the 'making' area, and some women hand-fed Kimchi into our mouth. I guess the red pepper sauce stains your hands or something, so we couldn't touch it. It was fun!
Then we drank from the mountain water at the temple. It was kind of gross because everyone (yes EVERYONE) drinks from the same plastic cup. I almost had to refuse to drink from it, but I went for it. I'm not a germaphobe, but it kind of freaked me out in a big way. Oh well, I am still kicking and feeling well, so I must not have any extreme viruses or anything.
After the temple we went to this gigantic underground shopping mall. It was a very tiring experience. And it really was very similar to American shopping malls. We ate lunch at Kraze Burger which is a Korean Burger chain. No msg, no preservatives, no microwaves, just good solid beef :-) It was very yummy. Then we shopped and visited a Korean department store, that out of 10 floors had only 1 for men, and 1 with clothes that were within the realm of affordability. After that we went to a street in Seoul where everyone goes to buy furniture. Trent wanted to see the furniture. We ran into a very famous Korean fashion designer while we were there. He wore all white and had his face painted white. He looked like Dracula, seriously. Kind of scary, Misoo said this is not a traditional way to look in Korea.
Then we met Jong in fron tof his apartment for dinner. We ate Korean street food. I pictured this to be like eating a hot dog on the street in Chicago or NYC, but not so. These appeared to be family run, mom and pop joints. They have a whole little kitchen going on. It is on the street, and very small booths that are protected from the cold by tarps. There are a few little tables for people to sit at. So we ate street food for dinner. We had more rice cakes, little fried yummy things that I have no clue what they were, and eel which was not gross, but was so tough I only had one piece. It took forever to chew. WE also had soup with fish cakes (which also aren't gross even though they sound gross). We shared everything. Meaning..we all eat off the same plates that are in the middle of the table. Koreans love to share food. There were 3 older Korean mean at the table next to us who talked with us a lot. They were in the Korean Basketball league. One was the vice president, one a director, and one an international referree. The one in particular was very talkative (and maybe very drunk as well). He talked with us for a long time, and he also bought are whole meal. The whole meal was only like $15 which is really quite amazing. We did not have drinks with this meal which was odd.
After dinner we went to the Korean bathhouse. Not what I expected at all. I thought it would be like the turkish baths minus the turkish women in their black lace underwear bathing you. But it is really a place men and women go to socialize naked (I'm kind of just kidding...). In the women's area, it was all women in their underwear or naked watching TV, bathing, going to the sauna, talking, eating, etc. Then there is a mixed sex area. When you go to this area they give you a uniform to wear. Men's is blue shorts and a grey/blue t-shirt, and women's is the same except pink. There you can go to different saunas (salt, charcoal, oxygen) and also a refrigerator room. It is also quite interesting.
After that is was 9 o'clock, and we all went home and went to bed! I was so tired.
Comments
My of my!
Oh the things my little girl has seen and done and eaten! Kimchi, not me, my friend, not me.
Sounds like a wonderful day you have had. We, too, had a beautiful day--sunny drive through southern Alambama and Georgia, cotton fields and finally a beautiful view of the Atlantic ocean--topped off with an evening of playing cards with Tricia and Trent. Love, Mom