away from the city....

....and to the beautiful countryside we went! Chuncheon province, outside of the city, to be exact. It was a short, but super sweet trip. Just a few days, but the days felt long, and in such a good way, not like those days at work that feel long. Our traveling companions were Ryan and Ida, and we had a blast together.

Chuncheon is famous for being the home of dakgalbi, which just so happens to be my favorite Korean dish thus far. It's spicy chicken stir fried with loads of cabbage and bean sprouts and dukbokki. Delicious. When we are not traveling this often, our local dakgalbi spot is a weekly meeting spot for Nate and Irina and Josh and I. They had a street dedicated to the food! The whole street and all the side alleyways were lined with restaurants serving the exact same thing! So we picked one and chowed down....

However we were on a mission.... to get out of the city! And that we did, we found a cheap cozy little hotel on the bus route to the high mountain hydro electric dam, which was a jumping off point, by boat or by hiking, to some remote forest areas and lush mountain trails. We took a refreshingly cool boat ride, a treat from the hot hot heat of the day....

Once we got to our destination we moseyed around the shaded paths and passed interesting vendors and restaurants. One of them was this sidewalk stand, equipped with it's bright, carnival-esque umbrella, where a guy was selling this thick dark brown juice from some giant roots he had lying around next to his cart. We gave it a try, and it was well.... really earthy and dense and tasted like some serious rootness! Josh liked it, and ended up finishing up all of ours, we didn't  love it as much as he did. But that is just how it goes sometimes, you have to try that strange and exotic thing, especially when it is only available in one place, at that one time!

mmmmm.....

We hiked our way up and up and up and believe it or not we came upon a temple! It is strange that temples, whether in the city or on a hiking trail, are now just normal to see, and not very surprising or exotic seeming. This was a really special place, the buildings were terraced upon the mountainside, with small bells ringing from the nice breeze that had kicked up. The buildings were enormous, and colorful as usual, but my favorite was the fresh running stream that weaved through the mountainside, with perfect shallow rocky areas to hang out and cool off.

We chatted riverside for a while, allowing our appetite to build again, for our third batch of dakgalbi (it is so different each place!). We hiked back down and once to a lower elevation there was this killer restaurant that had the most amazing dinning room ever, the river! It literally had these wooden decks resting on the rocks and cliffs that surrounded the small river, so the water was running underneath us as we ate and drank this strange milky rice wine... makgoli. 

We had to leave on the last boat well before sunset so we had some time to bum around the small neighborhood near or hotel and hang out outside a mini mart playing cards and taking in the beautiful sunset. The evening ended with a nice walk across the big and fast flowing river to see some rural farms by night and a few strange statues along the way. 

What a success the trip was, and still it is always good to come home. We are in town for five days before heading off to the east coast this weekend to celebrate Nathan's 30th birthday.... beach house style!! So more to come soon!