Daebu Island

Tuesday we headed off for our adventure in the countryside with SC. Our plan was to go to Daebu Island, eat lunch, and drive around the country for awhile to see some farms and fishing places. Well, on leaving Seoul the traffic was bad, and it took longer to get there than we thought. We stopped briefly on the causeway to have a walk around, look at the fishing boats at low tide, and enjoy the fresh smells of the sea.

On the Road to Daebu-Do 

Looking for Speeders 

We arrived right at lunch time, and decided to eat first. Last time I went to Daebu Island, we ate shellfish. This time, since it was shrimp season, and the Stumbling Family likes shrimp better, we decided to have shrimp for lunch. Let me say this was the freshest shrimp meal that I and the Stumbling Family have ever eaten.

Fresh Shrimp for Lunch 

Roasted over Fire on a Bed of Salt 

YS#4 Enjoys her Seaweed Soup 

Side Dish of Kalguksu (Handmade Noodle Soup) 

Everyone, including the Stumbler who has seen almost all styles of Korean food, were a little surprised when the waiter brought a bucket of live shrimp to the table, fresh from the water. They were wiggling and jumping around - they did not want to be the lunch menu, I think. He threw them onto the pot, which was lined with a thick layer of salt, and they proceeded to roast. The live shrimp have a dark gray or green color, which quickly changes to the usual pink color when cooked. Although many Koreans eat them with the head and shells, we preferred to remove the head and peel them, western-style. But still, they were delicious. And as previously noted, VERY fresh.

Well, our plans for touring the Daebu Island country side were shot when we realized the time after we ate lunch - we had to arrive back in Seoul for a 4pm performance at the Chongdong Theatre. So, we drove back to Seoul, and arrived at the theatre in time to buy our tickets and have a cup of green tea before the show started. This is the second time I have seen the show, the first time was in 2002. I really love it, especially like the musical performances. I have been bothering my friend CH since 2002 to find me a CD or DVD of the show. I asked after the show, and they still don't have it available - maybe next year I was told. I guess I have been waiting since 2002, so what's another year. We weren't allowed to take photos in the theatre, so here's one I got from their website:

Chongdong Theatre - Fan Dance Photo from their Website 

We were going to meet CH for dinner after the show, but it was over a little earlier than we planned. So we went to a tea shop next door and ordered a variety of different Korean teas. My tea was called the "Five Tastes" tea - it reportedly was a blend of all five tastes - Sweet, Bitter, Sour, Salty and Pungent. Mrs. Stumbler pointed out that the tongue only has FOUR tastes, not five. I searched on the internet, and found this link - apparently there is some disagreement over this topic. In the west, we say there are 4 tastes, and in China they say there are 5. Anyway, the tea was delicious, but I couldn't count all 5 tastes. Mrs. Stumbler says that eating so much spicy food in Korea has killed all my taste buds!

Well, for dinner CH joined us at one of my favorite fusion restaurants - in Italian place near Seodaemun Station. YS#3 was especially happy at the dinner last night. They were playing western music, and she was able to order lasagna, one of her favorites. We had an excellent meal, and headed home on the train.

Last night we watched the final movie IN MY DVD BOX SET of the Pink Panther series, "The Trail of the Pink Panther". Initially, something seemed strange about this movie - some of the scenes were repeats from earlier films. The first 20 minutes of the film was exceptionally funny, however. I was laughing so hard my stomach and jaw hurt - I had to stop the movie to take a short break. But after that, the movie went downhill. Also, I have seen these movies all in the past, and something was bothering me. I know about some funny scenes from these movies that we did not see during the past two weeks. I got tired of the movie, and went searching on the internet. Turns out this movie we were watching was made AFTER Peter Sellers had died, and was just archive footage of him, either repeats of old scenes or scenes that had been cut from old movies. Furthermore, I learned that my Pink Panther DVD Box Set actually OMITS one of the movies, due to some movie studio licensing issue ("The Return of the Pink Panther").

Today is the last day of the Stumbling Family's visit. We will go shopping at Insadong for some items Mrs. Stumbler wants to buy, then in the afternoon they will complete their packing. I am thinking I will take them to eat something spicy and Korea tonight - we'll see....

Konglish Alert. First, let me report on Monday's Konglish Alert, which I forgot to include in Monday's post. At the grocery store, there was a checkout counter with the following label (sorry I didn't photograph it): "Special Counter for the Disabled and Pregnant Lady." Is pregnancy a disability? Or do you have to be both pregnant AND disabled to use this counter? Konglish alert from yesterday comes from the bathroom, as seen in the below photo.

Daily Konglish Alert