Dream Journey for Peach Blossom, Part I

(written in April, 2010)

Charles Jeong is a most impressive character. In his late 40s, this Busan native can drink more and hike faster than anyone I've ever seen. He can even combine these two pastimes without the catastrophe that would surely befall me if I tried.

However, his own natural prowess causes him to, at times, forget that not everyone can do the things he can.

It was with this oversight that our first stop of the day was the Gyeong-ju Soju Festival. The clock had barely struck 10 a.m. and I hadn't eaten a thing that morning before we started pouring complimentary shots of Korea's finest home brews down out throats. (See the Booze Breakdown below for descriptions of popular Korean alcoholic beverages.)

About three shots into it, (that's right, it only took three shots) Pablo turned to me and giggled, "Heh, your face is getting red."

Great. It's just my luck that the Asian Curse would choose this bright, sunny Saturday to rear its ugly, red blotchiness. On went the sunglasses, and off I went to find some food to soak up the fermentation in my tummy.

Fortunately, the rice cake festival was being held in conjunction with the soju festival. So over to the rice cake tent I stumbled, purchasing some non-alcoholic rice water and black sesame-dusted glutinous rice cakes. Is there anything they do without rice here?

I perused the other food booths, letting the smell of spicy broth bring me back to my senses, and wearily eyed the whole roasted squab -- head and feet still attached. I wonder if they even removed the organs.

An hour later, the 20 of us piled back into our minibus. Sun and soju proving to be too much for us, we all promptly passed out.

Lovable Busan

So began the Lovable Busan "Dream Journey for Peach Blossom" trip. Charles, the founder of Lovable Busan, hosts trips and other outings just about every weekend to locations all over Korea. I'm not really sure what he does for a living or when he sees his family, because it seems like he and his sidekick, Samcheon (meaning "uncle" in Korean) are always hanging out with us foreigners.

This first weekend-long trip of the early spring promised the delight of blossoming peach trees. We didn't see a single peach tree, must less a peach blossom, during the two days, but it was a fabulous time nonetheless.

Crab attack

I awoke from my soju-induced slumber two hours later to find a massive, orange crab staring down at me. The thing was literally spanning four lanes of traffic and ready to eat the natives. Okay, that last bit was a lie. From its perch above the road, the big, plastic crab welcomed us to Yeongdeok, affectionately known to foreigners as Crab Vegas.

This little town picked a theme and ran with it. Every motel, restaurant, gas station and corner store boasted its own orange crustacean clinging to the side of the building or roosting on the roof. Even the local lighthouse couldn't escape the clutches of a crab claw and looked like something out of a B-list horror movie.

In the local wet market, Dominique, Lara, Ty and Brian forked over $10 each for four of the ugliest black fish I'd ever laid eyes on. A cry went up as the fish monger prepared to fillet them. "No, no, no, anio, anio, anio," the four protested. This was a mission of mercy. So the women put the fish in plastic bags and the four friends released the creatures back into the sea. I wonder if they made it.

Sadly, the plastic crabs were pretty much the highlight of Crab Vegas, so we bought our weight in crab for dinner later that night and headed off for our secluded cabin in the woods.


The Booze Breakdown:

Soju 소주: A distilled beverage traditionally made from rice, but today also made from potato, wheat, barley, sweet potato or tapioca. Twenty to 40 percent alcohol by volume, it tastes like a sweeter, milder cousin to vodka. Drink it straight or with a sweet mixer. It goes down easy, leads to blackouts after the first bottle and fights you the next morning.

Makgeolli/Makali/Makuly 막걸리: A subtly sweet, milky drink of fermented boiled rice and water, sometimes referred to as Korean rice wine. Between 6.5 and 7 percent alcohol by volume, the calorie-heavy bev started as a farmers drink -- something to keep 'em going through those long, sticky summer days. Guaranteed to help you put on those Korean kilos.

Dongdongju 동동주: (Yes, it's fun to say.) Similar to makali, it's one of the many variations of milky rice wine, also employing glutinous or non-glutinous rice, yeast or wheat flower in the fermentation process.

Beer 맥주: Cass, Hite and OB are the big, local brands and don't taste like much of anything. Most are made from rice, though Hite's Max Prime is made from malt barley.