Day 2: (25/04/11) Part 2
Mom and Dad were likely ready to meet the day at 4AM, since that would be noon their time but I needed a few fitful hours more of sleep and woke up around 7AM or so. I opt to ease my Dad into Korean cuisine by offering him up a treat for breakfast. We hop in a cab to Bosan, which is the Special Tourism Zone for Foreigners. Which is a big fancy way of saying it’s a place set up for the American Army Base (Camp Casey), the main gates of which open onto the far end of Bosan. In addition to juicy girl bars, tattoo parlours, hip hop blinged out clothing stores and what I’ll politely call… whoredrobe stores there is the legendary Chongs.
All day, western style breakfast in Bosan, Korea.
Mr. Chong owns the restaurant and he spent nearly two decades in North America working at IHOPs and Dennys and when he returned to South Korea he opened a business he knew well. All day western breakfasts. On the weekends, soldiers will line up after trekking for 90 minutes to enjoy these well cooked, massive portions. I opt for a breakfast burrito that I can barely finish while Mom and Dad both selected omelettes with bonus waffle that are so oversized Mom nearly gives up before she begins. Dad relishes the ‘normal’ food as one of his biggest concerns in agreeing to visit me in Korea is the ‘crazy Korean food.’ This was my kind welcome to the country. Another quirk about Chongs is that, he makes every meal… one at a time. He seems to have only one pan and one pot and makes each dish in order. It can make for long waits, but the dining is pure, delicious comfort food.
Then it is time for the bus ride out to Oyu Middle School. I sit beside Dad and point out the various military installations and pill boxes and the tank wall. We debark at the second stop so my parents can walk along the winding street through the various fields, pointing out the decaying buildings that just scream rural poverty.
Then we make make it to school and Mom and Dad meet the students.
I thought we would have lunch in the cafeteria with the student body but Mr. Hong (the principal) had a different idea. I left some goodies for the teachers; smoked salmon, maple syrup and maple cream cookies. (Koreans *LOVE* to snack, I have no idea how they remain so tiny.) Mr. Hong informed me that he was taking us out for lunch, a lovely gesture, although I suspect Mom would have rather spent the time being around the students and watching their interactions and reactions to her.
We promptly get lost, at least according to the GPS, which I swear at one point said (in Korean) ‘Well then find it your damn self.’ Mr. Hong drove and Mr. Kim followed, and I saw another part of northern South Korea that I never have seen before and never would have found without being escorted by my principal.
We arrive at a rather boxy, bland looking building which turned out to be a restaurant, art gallery, historic site and traditional medicine museum. And those are just the ones I was able to figure out. Beside the main building are a collection of traditional houses.
Fine dining in any language.
We sit down to lunch and it is honestly one of the most impressive meals I’ve had in all my time in South Korea. Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, with a fig, a chestnut and various other nuts and grains. And that was just the opening course. Mom and Dad are amazed by the ‘banchan‘ – which are complimentary Korean side dishes.
Delicious lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice.
The second course is another delicacy, bellflower root and bracken fern. Not one I’d anticipated but that’s never stopped me before. It didn’t this time either. And it was surprisingly savoury. Don’t forget that there were heaps of banchan, not typical cheap yellow radish and cabbage kimchi banchan but proper salads and complex dishes. Easily one of the most luxurious and elaborate meals I enjoyed in my 2 years in Korea. It’s almost a shame it happened on day two for Mom and Dad since they didn’t really have any context for just how good and rare a meal it was. Even Mr. Kim commented it was the first time he’d experienced lotus leaf wrapped rice.
bracken fern and bellflower root.
Lunch concluded with some sickly sweet blueberry tea, don’t get me wrong, it was fitting and enjoyable but it was a touch too sweet for my palate. After lunch we viewed the art gallery with a floral theme and then briefly looked at the historical traditional medicine, from roots and flowers and minerals to odder cures like lizards and scorpions and bees. I didn’t understand much of it, but it was a curious display.
On the balcony with my parents at lunch.
We headed back to Oyu to pick up some things and so I could take some pictures with my students before heading back to Dongducheon. I planned to take the bus, as that’s the only option really, but Mr. Hong seemed smitten with Mom and he’s a wily old fox, he insisted on driving us back to my apartment. Essentially he’s the boss and he’s giving himself the afternoon off. He’s done the proper, respectful host duties and taken us to lunch and now he’s going home. Mr. Jo – the head teacher – was not impressed. The look on his face was dumbfounded incomprehension at Mr. Hong’s decision. I nearly laughed.
Mr. Hong dutifully dropped us off in Dongducheon, I let my father take the front seat so he could better appreciate the military accoutrements adorning the drive. Then Mr. Hong went home, the last person I saw from Oyu.
Now, that’s a full day, but we didn’t stop there, as due to fortuitous timing, another fun oddity just happened to be unfolding a few blocks from my apartment. I gave Mom and Dad a few minutes to collect their thoughts before I led them back out again to the street market. This is much like the market I showed them last night, only its temporary, on a side street, and returns every five days. The goods are similar to most Korean traditional markets but there is something slightly surreal about seeing stall after stall of unrefrigerated seafood; squid, fish, clams, crabs, all sorts of things.
Far more entertaining were the people, lots of people milling about, buying goods, socializing, haggling over prices. That was the biggest difference between the two markets, it was a pleasant evening so lots of people were out and about enjoying the arrival of Spring and catching up with familiar faces that they might not have seen during the long, bitterly cold winter. For Mom and Dad is was the being ‘the other’ as it was clear they weren’t from around these parts and it was the first time they’ve truly felt like the minority. It’s something I’ve grown accustomed to and in fact even enjoy. As they looked at the stretch of goods for sale; meat, vegetables, fruit, seafood, clothing, kitchen items and street restaurants they became aware of just how different Korea is from Canada.
I don't know what this clown is selling, nor to I care, I just love this street market.
The highlight was watching the ‘poppers’ popping their various types of kernels. We must have watched for 15 minutes as the filled their black pressure cookers with seed and spun them until releasing the pressure in a cloud of steam and a mighty bang. The two guys popping the food were real characters, bantering back and forth and good naturedly teasing one another, even though the words were foreign to my parents’ ears they appreciated the show.
Mom even received a gift of some popped, puffed rice from a drunken local who fell in love with her through his soju vision.
Popcorn's ready!
We didn’t buy anything as we were all still stuffed from two major meals, instead later that evening I introduced them to another quirk of Korean culture. A hof (or bar) but in many bars it is impossible to simply buy a beer or two but instead anju (or bar snacks) must be purchased in addition to the drinks. It can be a bit of a shock at first but again, my parents opted to go roll with it and in addition to our pitcher of Hite beer, we enjoyed some French Fries and deep fried cheese sticks.
Mom and Dad got a kick out the ‘table bell’ that is used to call over a server, found the fact people can still smoke in bars off-putting. None of my family smoke and in BC now it’s illegal to smoke indoors in retail places (restaurants, shops, bars.)
It was another relatively early night as Mom and Dad continued to battle their jet lab, but we packed a lot of experiences into one day and my parents proved themselves to be up to challenge of their Korean adventure.
Byron and his backpacks 
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