So I promised to blog about the Korean weddings we went to and our last Adventure Korea trip, and here it is (although a bit late)! Two weeks ago we went to my Korean coworker Jeff's wedding in Seoul. I was surprised how modern the weddings are. Weddings here are usually held in a big hall that is specifically designed for weddings only. The wedding ceremony and banquet are held in the same building, and the entire event only lasts about 2-3 hours in total. Much shorter than the all-day events in America right? Jeff's wedding hall was decorated with flashing lights and huge projector screens next to the ceremony platform. I almost felt like I was in Vegas. The brides dress in glittery white flowing gowns with princess crowns on their heads. The slideshow on the projector screen was really nice...it flashed professional wedding photos of the bride and groom that made them look like models in fashion magazines. They also played a video slideshow about how the bride and groom met...Jeff and his wife met in elementary school and dated for 10 years! So overall, there was no bridesmaids, no groomsmen, no flower girl or ring bearer. That cut out a lot of time! Also, the women who usually catches the bouquet in America is pre-selected and she only catches the bouquet so the photographers can get a good photo. After the ceremony, the few hundred people at the wedding rush into the banquet hall for a buffet dinner. The buffet was really fresh and delicious, but they only give you about enough time to eat two platefuls before they usher you out to get ready for the next wedding. Most guests leave after that, but we stayed for a few minutes to see "pebek," which a traditional ceremony in which the bride and groom don traditional hanbok and bow to their parents. The following weekend we went to Danny's Korean coworker Michelle's wedding. It was virtually the same, except that her ceremony hall was a little classier. Oh and I failed to mention the gift-giving process! In Korea it seems only acceptable to give straight up cash as a gift. Yup - that means no gift registry at Bloomingdales or Bed Bath & Beyond! At the first wedding, Danny and I placed our gift in a card with pretty pink envelope. Before you even enter the wedding, you must hand your gift to a table of men that collect and record the amount of gifts, and then give you meal tickets. We handed the pink envelope to them and they looked a bit confused, since most people were handing in cash with no cards!
The day after our first wedding we went on an Adventure Korea "caving & ferry-riding" trip. It was just a day trip to the largest and cleanest man-made lake about 2 hours south of Seoul. I didn't realize until after we got home that night that the lake was man-made. It looked so natural, and the water color was the turquoise blue-green of the Mediterranean! We rode 2 ferries around the huge lake and saw some beautiful hills around a valley and land formations. We went inside a large limestone cave, and then took the bus to another location which featured two famous natural rock formations. One was three peaks in the middle of the lake where it was believed nobles used to spend time and another was a "gate" or hollowed out piece of rock that gave a beautiful view of the lake. When we returned to Seoul we hit up the great vegan buffet restaurant in Gangnam again.
Last weekend we celebrated "white day" (second Valentine's Day in Korea) by going to our favorite middle eastern restaurant called Petra in Itaewon. Everything there is so fresh and tasty! We had hummus, baba ganouj, yogurt dip, roasted eggplant dip, pita bread, felafel, and roasted chicken with cous cous. The falafel is by far the best I've ever had. We also saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D last weekend. I knew I would like it because it's a Tim Burton film, and it was good. But the original Disney version is still my favorite.
This past Saturday it rained, so we just spent the day studying Italian and watching an entire season of Californication. Saturday night we had dinner at the Korean vegetarian restaurant Sosim in Insadong. Good thing we rested up Saturday because on Sunday we had quite the adventure. It was a beautiful sunny day and close to 50 degrees, so we decided to invite Danny's college friend Cormick to hike Mt. Bukhan with us. Bukhansan is a range of large mountains bordering the north of Seoul city. Hiking is the most popular sport here, and you can see tons of middle-aged and older Koreans riding the subway in hiking gear everyday. We started at Gupabal station in the northwest of Seoul near us, and took a short bus ride to one of the most popular entrances to the mountain. Along the base of the mountain, there are tons of casual restaurants serving hot Korean food, snacks, and alcohol. We bypassed those and headed up the mountain in our running sneakers. The "trails" aren't really marked at all and you can barely call huge piles of rocks a "trail," so we just followed our instincts up the mountain. We saw some temples and a fortress wall on our way up. It was really fun and we got really warm when we started. As soon as we neared the top, it naturally got colder. We thought we reached the highest peak when we witnessed an incredible view. But sure enough on our way "down," we reached 2 or 3 more peaks. Each one felt higher than the one before! I have to admit it felt quite dangerous at some times, and we slipped and turned ankles a few times. This middle-aged Korean guy made fun of us for hiking in sneakers, but we beat him up a big rock using a rope to climb up. He stopped criticizing us after that and even took my picture at the top. We finally found a steep and rocky way down and made it to the base. Unfortunately the base was on the outskirt of the city along a highway. Luckily there was a city bus stop on the highway and it turns out we ended just north of the school I work at. The hike took a total of over 4 hours and we know the trail down was about 5 kilometers. So I'm guessing we hiked over 10km total to a peak of 800m! Danny and I were starving after because we only brought 1 granola bar each for the trek. We headed to Insadong for dinner at Oh Sae Gye Hyang, another Korean vegan restaurant. This restaurant features mostly mock-meats in their dishes. Danny had vegan "tang-su-yuk," which is fried Chinese sweet and sour pork with fruit, vegetables, and cashews. Obviously his dish wasn't made with pork, but rather with soy protein and mushrooms. I had spicy chili mushroom rolls served over perilla leaves (sesame seed leaves). When I say mushrooms I'm sure you are thinking of the tasteless button mushrooms we have in America. Korean mushrooms are so flavorful and chewy. They could easily pass as meat, which is why vegan restaurants often use them. My dish could have passed for tender spicy chili chicken wings. I can't wait to go back to that restaurant...if only it was closer and open later!
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