Night time Lifestyles in Bonghwa

Despite a few setbacks, Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day. We did go to the mountain. After driving up a long, narrow, windy road, we had a bit of a picnic (white bread and cherry tomatoes) and gathered everyone to take pictures. We were in the middle of a cloud, so couldn't see much of a view, but it felt so good to know we were just going to be able to wander freely and turn down the stimulation for a day.

Janis, Mina and I started to walk down one of the paths. We knew we couldn't just take off, so Mina went back to find Brett and let them know where we were going. From what we could hear, it seemed that they wanted to LEAVE! Kudos for Mina, she had a bit of a fit and bought us 20 minutes (with two Korean escorts). It wasn't much, but we were happy. We were on a narrow, winding path with bare azalea bushes on either side. Tangled, bare sticks as far as the eye could see. Spring hadn't found it's way to the mountain yet. I can only imagine how amazing this trail will be in another month when the flowers bloom! Even without the life, it had a beauty all it's own.

About 3 1/2 minutes into our 20 minute walk, we were called to come back. I almost cried (actually I swore for the first time since I have been in Korea). I felt like I had been robbed. Mumbling under our breath, looking glum, we headed back. Mr. Kang who had accompanied us, took my hand. "Mina," I called, "I'm not mad anymore." We did manage to sneak an extra 15 minutes by heading down the mountain road ahead of the car and they picked us up on their way down. It was something anyway. I don't want to sound at all ungrateful. Rotary has been amazing to us and we would be lost without them, but we haven't made a decision for ourselves since we got here. Being sheparded around, even by the most well meaning hosts, has caused us to become a little edgey. We explained to our hosts that we are just a little travel weary.

Next we visited a primary school at which one of the Rotarians is principal. This small school will close next year as there are only 14 students grades K-5. We were able to spend about a half an hour with the kids, who were very shy at first, but greeted us with smiles as soon as we pulled out our little gifts of pencils, balls and stickers.

Off to the Ginseng plant. To protect the purity of the ginseng, we had to walk through a body cleaning chamber individually where we put our hands in holes in the wall to activate the body spray (I don't want to know what it was) before we could enter. We saw: natural ginseng root, red ginseng, ginseng tea, ginseng candy, pickled ginseng, ginseng extract, and dried ginseng (for 100,000 won a box). We are about ginsenged out. It is not at all delicious, very bitter, but apparently very good for you.

I asked Mr. Yu to explain what's so great about ginseng. I have come to expect the Traditional Korean answer; makes you younger and cleans your blood. Mr. Yu explained that ginseng is not a medicine, but is regulated by the FDA. "It is a supporting food that does many good things. "It is very good for the lifestyles nighttime." "Nighttime lifestyles?" I questioned. "Yes, the night time lifestyles. Would you explain to her?" "You mean, sex?" our faithful one, Brett answered. We are getting a lot of mileage out of the night time lifestyles.

Our hotel, which we are affectionately calling the Castle of Love... perfect for night time lifestyles, is a far cry from the Rich Hotel we enjoyed the previous night. In the entrance we were greeted by two statues, nudes of a male and female. The statue of the man seemed a little too happy to see us, if you know what I mean... eww. I did take a photo, but I will spare you all from posting it here! The hotel itself was shaped like a castle and over each bed was a red light (?). My bathtub wanted to be jade, but was only a soft green plastic, huge corner tub with jets -- the love tub. I passed. It was just a little too creepy.

Speaking of jade, Shane's host from Yeoungju slept on a jade bed. I am not joking. It was a queen size, single sheet of jade about 3/4 of an inch think. Amazing.

Another highlight of the day for me was our visit to Sosu Seowon (Traditional Confucian Academy). Beautiful (I really need to find some new adjectives), snowing blossoms, tweeting birds, babbling brooks, stone bridges... perfect. Brett's spidey senses were on and he suggested to Shane that Mina and I needed some time (we still hadn't quite recovered from being ripped away from the mountain and looked a little grumpy). So we were excused from the group tour and actually wandered around, ALONE for an hour. My wandering only lasted for 20 minutes or so and I was able to spend the better part of an hour sitting under a tree at the edge of a pond dotted with cherry blossoms, just being. It was heaven.

We ended our evening, very tired, with a beautiful meal at ... Mr. Kim's house? I am sorry to say that I just can't keep the names straight. It seems like everyone is named Mr. Kim here. This was the most beautiful meal we have enjoyed so far. You could taste the love in every dish. Many types of organic greens were served which was a real treat for me. Each dish was garnished with cherry blossoms and pine. So beautiful and delicate.