Year 2012 Review Part 2

My husband and I really love traveling. We love discovering what else South Korea can offer to foreigners like us. We travel not only for leisure but also for educational purposes. Traveling allowed us to learn and understand more about this country's history and culture while enjoying its beauty.
My next trip was Dorisa Temple. Dorisa Temple is the oldest Buddhism temple of  the Silla Dynasty, which was built by the Monk Ado. Vince had to go to a tournament so he was not able to go with us.

The next trip we took with our Chinese Art and Calligraphy class was the Jeonju trip. Jeonju is famous for its Jeoju Bibimpap and other fermented food. The largest paper factory is located in Jeonju also. We were lucky because when we went, there were festivals going on. There, we tried Jeoju bibimpap.  To be specific, I tried the 육회비빔밥 ( raw beef marinated with pear juice ). First I was hesitant, but when I started eating it, I found out it was quite good. I liked it. After that, we went to Jeoju Hanok Village. There, we experienced making and drinking Makgeolli and Moju. Makgeolli is a kind of wine made from rice. Moju is more like rice juice because there's only 3% alcohol in it. On our 2nd Day in Andong, we visited the Hanji Museum at Hansol Paper Factory. There, we experienced making our own Hanji paper. On our way home, we made a stop in Jinan. On the way there, we passed 99 ridge mountain road. We saw the coloful Autumn tint. When we reached Ma-i-san, Horse's Ears Mountain, we hiked a little bit and there we saw the awesome temple. It was a very unique temple. A lot of totems surrounded the temple.

육회 비빔밥 (Cheonju Bibimpap)

Makgeolli

Hanji Museum

A lake on the way to the temple.

A Temple in Ma-i-san.

The next few weeks, we didn't travel so much. But we explored the city where we live. We hiked Cheonsaengsan, we visited the Gyeongbuk Environmental Research Center in Geumosan, and walked around Geumo lake. We just enjoyed the autumn tints of trees and some chrysanthemums displayed at the Cheonsaengsan Chrysanthemum Festival and at the entrance of Geumo lake.

Cheonsaengsan (천생산)

The summit of Cheonsaengsan. Geumosan is the mountain visible behind my left shoulder.

Then my husband organized a trip to Gyeongju's Golgulsa Temple because he wanted to try the Buddhist martial art called Seonmudo. So we went there with our friends. There, we saw some awesome autumn sights again. :) We also did some meditation and ate with monks.

Statues of traditional Seonmudo movements.

The place we visited the following week was Daegu Arboretum. We visited there because we heard they were having a Chrysanthemum Festival. We went there with our new friend Mira. There, we saw a lot of figures formed using chrysanthemums. They were really beautiful. I didn't want to leave the place. hehe..

There are still a lot of things that we did last year, but since this blog is getting too long, I can't put them all here.
I was so blessed to have experienced all of these things. I thank God for everything...:)

Year 2012 Review Part 1

Every time I go over my photo gallery, I can't help myself but be thankful to God. He made year 2012 a great year for me and my family. He showed me His awesome wonder by letting me find ways even when there seemed to be no way, by giving me strength when I felt like giving up, and showing me light when everything seemed to be so dark.
Last year, I met and made a lot of friends. Friends that came from different cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs. As my former student described them - international..hehe. I also did a lot of traveling with my lovey Hubby. We visited Jinhae in spring during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

We also visited Cheongdo during the Bull Fighting Festival with our Waegook Travel friends, where we watched Korean bull fighting.  Then we went to the Cheongdo Wine Tunnel where I tried persimmon wine for the first time.

We visited Haeinsa Temple also. We wanted to see the Tripitaka Koreana. We saw them but we weren't allowed to take photos of them..:(...But they put a photo zone outside where visitors can take photos of themselves with the huge background photo showing the Tripitaka Koreana. That's where this photo was taken.

The next place we visited was the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). It is on the border of South and North Korea. We went to the Freedom Bridge, where we saw the old locomotive covered with bullet wholes. We were also able to go inside the 2nd and 3rd tunnels. The 2nd tunnel is in Gyeonggido and the 3rd tunnel is in Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do. We also went to Dorasan Station, the Unification Observatory and the Peace Observatory. At the Peace observatory, we met a North Korean defector and our tour group had a question and answer with him.

 We also went to the Yeosu Expo and saw exhibits from around the world. We actually went there twice. First, we took a day trip with Daegu Travel Club. And the 2nd time, we went there with our church. The Expo was a bit overrated but still pretty good.

The colorful Big O Show

This was a silo that was turned into a huge harp.

The view of the Expo Site and Odong-do as seen from the coffee shop on top of  the hill.

The greatest trip we did was the Ulleungdo-Dokdo trip. Dokdo is a famous rocky island of South Korea.  South Korea and Japan both claim ownership of the island. South Korea named it Dokdo ( Solitary Island). And the two main islets as Dongdo ( Eastern Island) and Seodo (Western Island). On the other hand, Japan named it Takeshima (Bamboo Island). And named the two main islets as Otokojima (Male Island) and Onnajima (Female Island). There are 90 rocks and reefs, which are believed to be formed from volcanic rocks during the Cenozoic era, more specifically 4.6-2.0 millions years ago. 

Dokdo Island

Breaking dawn in Ulleungdo - Ready to go to Dokdo. 

 Our friend Tracy organized a trip to Andong during the Andong Mask Festival. We went there with some friends.Vince and I arrived there earlier than our friends and we decided to walk around our pension. The next day we went to Hahoe Village to see the traditional Mask Dance Performance and the hahoe Folk Village.

Mask Dancers performing on stage

Andong Folk Village

Since we did a lot of things last year, I decided to split my blog up into two parts....

Last Day of the Year 2012

I woke up early because we have a lunch meeting with our Korean Father. We went to our Father's atelier to get our pottery which we made a month ago. I was so excited to see my work. I took a picture of our pottery after I put them in a shelf. Here it is:

From the atelier, we went to a Korean Restaurant. There, we ordered 삼계탕 (samgyetang-a whole chicken stuffed with rice, ginseng roots, garlic, and some nuts). It came with chicken porridge, which I wasn't able to eat all because I was so stuffed--haha.

From there, we looked for a coffee shop. It was hard to find one in that part of the town, so we decided to go to Santa Fe Steak House. They served good coffee..:) hehe...

After having a cup of coffee, we went home. And I prepared some food for our New Year's Eve Party.....