The Wonderful World of Fish

On Sunday, Matt, Sun, Julie, Young Suk and myself headed out West to 서래포구 (Soraepogu), a small fishing town about an hour outside of Seoul. It was a wild place, smelly, loud, and packed with people; overwhelming to the senses, but in a fantastic way. Stall after stall selling the most diverse array of seafood I have ever seen. Fresh, dried, pickled, sliced, salted, preserved, grilled, boiled, and of course ALIVE....you could get your fish any way you wanted it here.

I have always thought the ocean to be a mind boggling and bizarre place. Everytime I go to an aquarium I wonder at the oddity of the creatures that come from the sea.....I mean, have you ever really LOOKED at fish? They are strange! And there are so many different types, all of them equally weird and wonderful. Being at the fish market was a real reminder of this fact, but it also make me marvel at a few other things.

First of all, I was struck by the sheer quantity of food produced by the sea. The amount of fish available in this ONE market on ONE day was just incredible. I know the ocean is a huge place, but this was a real reminder of exactly how huge it is.

The other thing that stuck me was how yummy everything from the sea is.....

Here is just a sampling of the delectable treats available at Soraepogu! I've included lots of upclose photos of the wide array of weird things, to either fascinate or gross you out :-)

Inside these shells is a tasty little creature to suck out.

Raw crabs preserved in soy sauce, peppers and garlic.

A steamed bread stall created a very mystical feel in this part of the market.

A woman strings together baby octopuses. (Or would that be octopi?)

I think these are manta ray (which I have tasted before and do NOT recommend - tastes like carpet, at least the way they prepare it in Mexico.)

And the award for most revolting sea creature goes to.....

Flounders with both eyes on the same side lay slowly dying on the rack.

Fresh sashimi anyone?

My personal favorite of the sea treats.

A women expertly hacks apart a fish to make sashimi

"And if you buy some fish, I'll throw in this octopus for free!"

Escaped fish from a tipped bucket make a desperate, futile attempt to flop to freedom.

A fishermen spends the afternoon mending his nets.

Piles of salted shrimps, a key ingredient in making kimchi.

A beautiful array of shellfish

Shrimps drying in the sun outside the market.

A women wrangles with angry octopuses. Every few seconds, one would squirt a blob of ink into the air, which is also why the water in the tub is black. A few seconds after I took this photo, Matt's pants got hit by one with an amazingly far shot.

Shellfish on display outside a restaurant.

The best part is always the food....after working up our appetites wandering through the market, we settled down for a fishy feast. Sun ordered a giant tub filled with shellfish of every shape and size, which we barbequed right there at our table. Oh, and of course they were all still alive. It was a little unnerving to watch the poor creatures squirm as the heat slowly took its toll, but dang did they taste good....

Julie, Sun, Young Suk, Nicole, Matt
(The white gloves we are wearing are for holding the hot shells as you pry them open)

Dr. Young Suk, expert shell cracker

Our grill at a later phase in the meal.

Hello Mountains, I'm Back!

The view of Seoul from the peak of Mt. Gwanaksan. Matt took this shot with his snazzy camera.

The spring thaw has begun here in Korea, and with it, my return to nature. On Sunday, Matt, Sun and I climbed 관악산 (Gwanaksan), a mountain just South of Seoul. The skies were a vibrant blue, the air was clear, and it was warm enough to only wear one layer. We hiked for about 7 hours, climbing all the way to the top but taking our damn sweet time in doing it. And, it felt GREAT. I knew I missed being out there, but I didn't realize how much until Sunday.

My hiking buddies, Matt and Sun

This sign shows the wildlife of the area. Notice the picture on the far right -- tigers lived here at one point, but have since disappeared.

Stacks of rocks populate the mountain as well. If you can add a rock without knocking over the stack, it's good luck. If you knock it over, it's bad luck.

The sounds of nature were punctuated by the sounds of baseball - Korea was playing Japan in the World Baseball Classic playoffs, so many people brought along their radios to listen as they hiked. We even saw some carrying small boom boxes! This woman was a bit more practical. Korea lost the game, unfortunately.

A man plays an ocarina to entertain hikers.

Recharging our solar powered batteries.

We spent some time sitting inside one of several temples at the peak. As I watched a woman praying, I thought about how Buddhism in Korea can be a very active religion -- not only are many of the temples located at the tops of mountains, but the prayer practice involves performing full forehead-to-the-ground bows, then coming to a full stand, over and over again. This woman was bowing the entire 15 minutes we were in the temple.

(The photos from inside the temple were taken by Matt. Mine came out blurry because I didn't want to use flash.)

Lanterns lined the ceiling of the temple. Each one is purchased, and a wish or prayer is attached. The lantern, and the prayer, remains up for one year.

Golden Buddhas lined up in perfect rows. Like the lanterns, each one is purchased, a prayer is attached, and it remains for one year.

Dozens of figurines lined up around outside the temple.

The most famous part of Gwanaksan, Yeonjuam Temple, which has perched on this ledge since the mid-600's

Shoes lined up outside the temple.

At the top of Gwanaksan, tired but happy.

After coming down the mountain, I had a serious hankering for Kamja Tang, a super spicy stew full of meat, potatoes and other wonderfulness. Totally hits the spot after 7 hours on the mountain! Luckily, we found a place serving it, and it was so lovely that I just had to take a photo.

Ah, it was a great hike. It was quite a shock to my poor legs, which have been in winter mode for so long now and didn't appreciate being forced to drag me up to the top. My calves still hurt 4 days later, but my soul felt like it had come back to life. Such is the beauty of Spring.