"...West of the Moon, East of the Sun."

Skyline of Gangwan-do

It was just a few weeks after my excursion to Taiwan, but a welcome mini-vacation nonetheless.  Because of Lunar New Year, I had a long weekend (Sat-Tues) and I was going on a trip to the Gangwan-do Province for some skiing and winter festival fun.  

Lunar New Year is bigger than Western new year in this part of the world so many shops, and businesses would be shut down during this time.  This is one of the reasons I elected to go on this trip.  I met up once again with my friend, Dave, who some of my readers know as the one who almost died from not chewing his bulgogi enough.  Our bus was leaving from Seoul early on Saturday so we met up at Seoul Station and went to the hostel in Hong-dae to drop our bags off before having some dinner and meeting up with some friends for a drink.  I won a pink teddy bear in a street balloon game, Dave named him Trevor, Trev was a big hit with everyone.  I went everywhere with Trevor... until he got annoying and I left him on the side of a mountain.  

Early next morning we shuffled onto a bus and by noon we were skiing at Phoenix Park (A possible site for a skiing event for the 2018 olympics!).  Monica, Ashley, and Dave had never skied before so I helped/didn't help them for a while before I left and did some falling on my own.  

No landfills here, Trev. 

After two days of skiing we headed somewhere else to an ice fishing festival.  You are thinking, "Wow, sounds real exciting...", that's what I was thinking anyway.  How much fun can sitting around a hole in the ice for a whole day really be?

A: Extremely

We poked around a bit with some string and a stick but then it was TIME!

Dave getting his fish on. 

Time for what?

Bare Handed Ice Fishing!

I'll let the pictures explain first...

A bunch of Waygooks draw a decent crowd whenever Korea gets us to do something crazy.

A cold like this I have never felt before in my life.

Canadian Ian, this expression should tell you enough about the temperature of the water.

1st fish caught ever.  Who needs a pole?  Not this guy. 

Sweet sweet warmth of the Sauna. 

I don't think I need to explain too much more, except that I never signed a waiver of any kind, and something like this would legally not be possible in the US because of lawsuits.  I didn't get to keep the shirt, but I kept my fish!

OoO Fish

Noms

Other fun things at the festival were Ice soccer hockey, which is as dangerous and fun as it sounds.   Ice ATV-ing actually required me to sign a waiver I couldn't read so you know it was a blast.  Screaming around a frozen river with 20 other people with naught but bike helmets that were too small.  Moms all over the world just got goosebumps.  Personal Injury Lawyers all over the world just got blue balled because in Korea, if you get hurt doing something stupid it's your fault.  Duh. 

Dave, giving it the beans.

The last day of the trip was (supposed to be) pretty chill, just a hike and a smaller ice festival.  The hike proved to be quite strenuous.  It was a traditional hike in the sense that we just sort of went up a mountain, not a particular one, just one that was close to our accommodations.  It was steep on the way up, and steeper on the way down covered in leaves and frost.  It was fun!

Not really a "trail"

Dave & Monica sliding down the mountain. 

The trip was a blast, I'll definitely go on another with the same group.

This week, come Saturday will mark 6 months of me living in Korea.  What an amazing journey I have had so far!  As I am writing this, more scholars are flying here from around the world to meet in Jochiwan for TaLK's 8th Gen orientation.  I am excited for them because I know they will experience the same wonderful Culture that I have so far.  I made a collage of pictures from the last 6 months (I don't usually do this sort of thing but I did, so fight me), some of these people are still around in Korea, and some have left to go home or back to school.  Here is to the last 6 months and the next!