its been a while
good to return to the comfy realm of cyberworld
after an exciting few days in the damp wilds of chollado
have acquired a new addishun to me beleagured korean vocabulary
and what a beauty it is...
'changma'
the rather dull and insipid english translation is 'seasonal rain'
which really doesnt do justice to this lurvly word
seems like most of this summers changma has fallen on me since we last hooked up...
on our bus journey down to the south coast on wensday
i thought we might be needing a boat rather than wheels
on thursday the rain never stopped
thankfully we escaped with a mere sprinkling on friday
but the uninvited clouds burst again with a vengeance on saturday
back in seoul today the sun is out to spite us
still every cloud has a silver lining, if youll pardon the pun!...
back to soggy thursday
having given up on plan A (mountain hike in duryunsan)
and ruled out plan B (fun on the beach)
we come up with plan C - a bus ride through the downpour to 'ddanggut maul' (lands end)
more like the end of the world, friends
mist descending from the verdant hills
wrapping its chilly fingers around us
lands end
wanderin round lookin for somewhere to take shelter from the storm
and to fill our empty bellies
we stumble on a place by the name of 'cape national'
and duck inside
cape national
what a cool place!
an arty surfer-style cafe with a little stage and a piano
stone walls, wooden floor, bamboo ceiling
garish paintings covering the walls
like something out of new south wales rather than korea
the lovely owner, yeorin
smiling n kind
cooks us up some tasty food
graciously accommodates my weird vegan requests
shows us her great cd collection
(sometimes triumph comes out of adversity, friends!)
so here we are sitting there at the end of korea
in this mellow beach cafe
6000 miles from 'home'
munching our delicious fried rice and pasta and salad
cupping our hazelnut coffee
(usually i hate the stuff but it tastes great today!)
listening to king crimson, and belle & sebastian
boy with the arab strap
wow!
now heres a strange question for you:
how do you get from kim jong il to hannah elisabeth in 5 steps?
answer: kim jong il gives a cute little puppy to his pal kim dae jung
kim dj being an octogenarian ex-president of sk
he doesnt really want the hassle of looking after an untoilet-trained puppy
gives it to a friend of his
who is also a friend of yeorin
she takes the puppy down to her cafe at lands end
and introduces it to hannah
anyway, friends, if youre ever passing that way
be sure to check out the cape cafe
stop by for some food
enjoy the minbak with the sky blue walls and balcony looking out over the sea
and find out what great customer service is all about...
heres a few more pics before i sign off
daehungsa temple backdrop
(it stopped raining for a few hours
but not quite long enough for us to reach the summit!)
delicious 'bosot jongul' (tofu n mushroom soup)
a suitable reward for tired mountaineers
dandelion girl at the cape cafe
see ya friends!
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