Thailand

Hello hello. It's been far too long since I've updated the blog but having some down time (due to a lovely case of food poisoning) has motivated me to get my act together. Unfortunately, the internet connection where we're staying isn't very fast so the pictures we upload will be just a brief glimpse of what we've been up to in the past few weeks.

We arrived in Thailand just about two weeks ago and left Bangkok soon thereafter to make our way southward.  We avoided some of the huge tourists draws like Phuket and Ko Phi Phi (the island in the movie The Beach) but ending up finding some great little towns, awesome food, and as close to a remote island you'll find in Thailand anymore.

Travelling by train is highly underrated.

Making our way up some steps to a temple, which come to find out was swarming with....

Monkeys. I'm very disappointed that I'm unable to upload the video of a crazy monkey lady we happened to be following, who was calling the monkeys and feeding them as they swarmed towards us.

View from the top of the temple.

A bit further south on the west coast of Thailand. Off to take a boat tour of a marine park.

Setting off on the tour which was gorgeous. Unfortunately the camera battery died  after a few of the following pictures.

The famed island from Man with a Golden Gun. We couldn't resist the anti-tourist impulses  on this one.

Scooting through the woods. 

View from Koh Mook, the island where we holed up for four days. Our bungalow was about $10 a night and dinner at this restaurant $2 per person.

Sun setting over the beach. Not half bad.

This is just a very very brief picture of what we did in Thailand but for now that's all. We are currently in Penang, Malaysia and will be heading down to Kuala Lumpur and then Singapore. Ironically, Pengang is known as the food capital of Malaysia but food poisoning from our last day in Thailand has hit us hard...

Mountains Upon Mountains

We took a trip to one of Korea's most popular places to go in the fall, Seorak Mountain. It's famous for being a great place to view the foliage in the fall, but of course we missed out on it because of strange weather lately. There was one leaf that was half orange/half rotten so I guess that counts!

Before hiking, we stopped off at a local fish market. The city is right on the coast so everything was incredibly fresh. Case in point...

The Great Escape.  Being sliced in half wasn't stopping him...

Steamed octopus, in all its purple and deflated glory.

Typical Korean fish market, where you can sit at a table and eat whatever you point at.

I pointed at this guy. He pointed back. Well played.

Dried fish and shrimp for soup stocks.

Off to the park.

Big Buddha.

Making our way up.

Typical Korea hikers. Koreans can't seem to do anything without being outfitted head to toe  with all of the proper (and expensive) gear. Hey as long as you look good right?

Some jerks blocking the nice view.

Beautiful rock faces.

Making the final ascent.  Quite Lion King-esque.

View from atop.

Below is my attempt at a panoramic...I hope it doesn't blow up the blog format!

Grilling Clams on the West Siiide

On our most recent, stomach-led adventure, we travelled to an island off of the west coast of Korea to eat at a grilled clam restaurant on the beach.  This is definitely something we should do more often back home...



These guys weren't so happy about what we're about to do them.  Along with the clams came a huge plate of raw fish.

Grilling the clams and an assortment of other shellfish. Some of the shells explode as they're grilling, so you have to be careful...

Grilling some shrimp on salt.

I honestly have no idea what this is. And didn't try to find out.

Side dish of rice wrapped in leaves. We were honestly so busy stuffing our faces with seafood that this plate was left completely untouched.

Big fire going.

These were so fresh they were still moving when we put them on the grill.

And of course, it's not a complete meal in Korea unless you gorge on some sort of rice or noodles.  This is kalguksu, which has a thick broth and hand-cut noodles.

Happy campers: Two white people, Boram, Kevin's mom, and Joon.

The lone survivor. 

Korean Thanksgiving - Part II

Although we were unbelievably excited to make the rice cake, seeing the ancestral rituals in person is not something that many foreigners get to experience.

The ritual table is set with various fruits, vegetables, rice cakes, and rice wine.

The door is left open to allow the spirits of ancestors into the house (kind of like Elijah at Passover)

The men do a number of different bows after pouring rice wine and lighting incense.

The kids usually have no interest, although they're forced to wear traditional Korean clothing.

He took most of his off as soon as he could. Little punk.

Women serving lunch while the men just sit and be bossy.  There are still some strong sexist elements in Korean society that make younger generations and foreigners uncomfortable.

After lunch, we went off to the family memorials to do another set of rituals for the deceased. This one was for Boram's grandparents.

We did the bowing as well as lighting the incense.

All in all, it was a very unique experience. It is really interesting (and will be interesting to continue watching) how old rituals and customs are still very much rooted in a society that's modernizing faster than most others in the world.

Korean Thanksgiving - Part I

We were fortunate enough to be invited to celebrate Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) with Boram's family.  Usually Koreans return to their hometowns for family meals and ancestral rituals.

One of the most popular presents around Thanksgiving (which harkens back to the older, poorer days of Korea). Boram got one as a gift from her office!

Thanksgiving feast! We still haven't mastered sitting on the floor yet and both get absurd leg cramps every time we try.

Korean fruit salad...with corn of course.

Learning Korean traditional games with Boram's dad.
 

Not the best poker face.

Korean breakfast, or more specifically a feast of leftovers. Usually, Koreans eat the same food for breakfast as they do at any other meal (kimchi, rice, vegetables, etc.)

Making traditional rice cake.  This is rice that has been ground into flakes and mixed with mugwort powder. We looked up what it was too...

Kneading it like dough.

Adding freshly squeezed grape juice to another batch.

Filling the dough balls with a brown sugar and sesame seed mixture....

and making little dumplings.

Finally, they go into a huge steamer and come out looking like this.  It's really hard to describe what they're like, since the rice becomes really chewy, but they taste great because the brown sugar and sesame seeds melt together on the inside.

In Part 2, we pay respects to Boram's elders, after a brief food coma...