to andong.. 5:30 awake, 6:40 train, to village, lunch, dongdongju, andong soju, wish tree, dinner, walkaround, train home, 9:30pm

My weekend was ridiculous and hysterical from start to finish. Adventure Korea advertised an Ice Fishing Competition weekend, and Caring and I jumped on the chance to do something atypical. Caring is from Canada and has actually been ice fishing many many times before, but all I can imagine is the cartoon version. At 8am Saturday morning we met up with a big group of English speaking ex-pats and headed to the Hwacheon Ice Fishing Festival. We were promised ice fishing, ice skating, sledding, ice sculptures, and even a bare hands fishing contest that required us to be the coldest a human can possibly be before succumbing to the great beyond.

After a two hour bus ride we arrived in a tiny town, about 30 minutes south of the North Korean border. It was absolutely magnificent -- we were at the base of gorgeous snow covered mountains and lot of evergreen trees. When we arrived at the ice fishing camp we were greeted by thousands of Koreans who had already set up their stations on the frozen river. Each was sitting by a small hole in the ice, and was holding what appear to be a fly swatter with fishing line attached. We were given our poles (fly swatters?) and ice picks and told to have at it -- no lesson or advice. I chipped away at the ice for a while, and made absolutely zero progress. Then Caring started and after like 2 chips had managed to make a nice big hole -- perfect for catching the biggest fish of the competition. A girl from New Zealand, Olivia, (who was dressed as my twin!) and a guy from England, Adam, made their hole next to us, and we fished and chatted away. We waited. Nothing. We waited more. No fish. We decided to bate the line with pickled radishes. Nope, they still didn't like that. We watched people all around us catching fish. We fished for what was surely hours, and then decided the fish didn't life us and went ice skating. On the way to the ice skating area we explored the ice castles and ice sculptures, slipping and sliding our way through the Winter Wonderland.

Olivia had never been ice skating before, but she picked it up like a pro. Adam wasn't quite as lucky -- even though he had been a few times before. He was a very graceful faller, I must say! It's been a few years since I've ice skated (probably class T at Rosey?) but it was fun to try it again. We skated around the frozen river for a while, and made general fools of ourselves. I made some really cute new friends, too. They were 8 years old and interestingly named Sarah as well. ^.^ They were really excited about me, and their mom fed them the few lines she knew to ask me. They asked me what my name was. I said, "My name is Sarah. What is your name?" The first one smiled and said, "My name is Sarah." then the next one smiled and said, "My name is Sarah." ... such cuties!! I don't think they had any idea what they were saying. I posed for a few pictures with them, and then we went merrily on our way.

Bare-hands ice fishing. It's the worst idea in the WORLD, but absolutely unforgettable. There was a small ice pit filled with water and fish, and when we arrived there were about 20 Korean men wading around trying to catch the fish with their bare hands. Once they caught a fish they would stuff it down their shirt and continue searching. These guys were complete nimrods. (Which I have recently learnt means 'expert hunter' not an idiot ...) They caught around two to three fish a piece. They made it look like a walk in the park. After they were finished we changed into the provided navy blue shorts and orange tshirts in the dressing rooms. Caring, Olivia and I wandered back outside and were surprised to find we were actually not that cold. It was not windy, and beside the many feet of snow and sub zero temperatures, the sun kept us warm. We figured jumping in the water would be a similar cake walk.

The group of foreigners circled the ice pit pond, and the foreigners not participating and the Koreans crowded around to watch the circus show. The announcer said we had to catch at least three fish before we were allowed out of the water before the requisite 10 minutes. I figured I would catch at LEAST three fish! Hah.

The whistle sounded. We all jumped into the water -- a thousand burning saws ripped through my skin. Screams pierced the air. Instant blinding pain across my entire body. It was terribly, intensely cold. It was painfully, bitterly, traumatically cold. Fellow bare handed fishers had tears streaming down their faces as their waded through the water. Some desperately clawed their way out of the ice pond. I was determined to make it for the full ten minutes. After I'd made it about 1 minute, I joined the league of people sitting around the edges, trying in vain to move my appendages. Caring was a pro, and stuck it out about 5 minutes. Olivia and I sat on the edges, cheering her on through our frostbite. No one was catching fish. I tried four different times to get back in the water and to attempt to catch a fish, but I think even if I could have gotten used to the incredible pain, my reflexes were so sluggish, I couldn't have caught a fish if he'd been floating by dead. Two foreigners caught fish -- and Adam was among them. He let me hold it and pose for pictures. ^.^

The announcer was so disappointed with our efforts at catching fish that she said if we weren't in the water actively trying to catch fish we had to either stand up and dance around the edges or take our shirts off. I took my shirt off because I didn't want to risk standing on the icy ridge, slipping and falling in. Then I realized she had no authority over me and put my clothes back on. (I had a little tank on underneath the orange shirt...) After the most excruciatingly painful 10 minutes of my life they let us leave the ice pit pond. I couldn't walk. I think the blood in my legs was frozen solid. I couldn't move my toes or feet, and it took everything in me to shuffle my legs towards the dressing room. I was terrified someone was going to step on my foot, and my toes would just break off.

Once inside the dressing room, we all immediately took off the wet clothes and stood around, some in tears, absolutely dazed from the cold. We finally got dressed, and went in search of booze and warm food. (It took nearly 30 minutes to get dressed because our limbs were not able to move. ) We stopped to watch some old ageumas dance for free soju, and then headed to the food area. We met more foreigners, shell shocked from the bare hands competition, and our group of four expanded to 12. I got some warm Korean pastries, and had a beer with the rest of our newly acquired gang. An old Korean man with a mullet offered me some fried pig. I accepted. (It was terrible.) There were twelve of us from various countries -- America (3 people from Austin, Texas!), Canada, New Zealand, and England. Olivia kept repeating, "Guys, that was just so fecking weird." ... My sentiments exactly. We headed back to the bus, and then had an hour bus ride to our campsite for the night.

We stopped in a small town to stock up on soju, beer and snacks, and then embarked on the 15 minute snowy uphill hike to our campsite -- gorgeous, but difficult carrying all our belongings in the dark. Our new group of twelve set up camp in cabin 7. We spread out blankets and pillows, got out the cards and immediately settled down to play the international drinking game -- Circle of Death. We all had different rules, but compromised and ended up with a hilarious list of ways to intoxicate yourself and make new fabulous friends. After one great game, we headed down to the base camp, ate the Korean barbecue dinner and then went back for one more (equally hilarious and endearing) round of Circle of Death before going to the bonfire. At the bonfire we all stood around just completely in awe of the nature surrounding us. Seoul is a huge, modern, industrial city and being in the country was such a gift. Trees and mountains covered in pure clean snow ... and like a gift from the heavens, gorgeous bright stars. I never really noticed not being able to see the stars in town, but they were just gorgeous twinkling down on us I couldn't help notice them. Some people laid down in the snow and just stared up at the sky.

We mingled and mixed for a few hours, and met all sorts of different people. Americans, South Africans, Canadians, Irish people, British people, Kwis, Australians, Scots ... it was like an English speaking country conference. People set up a snow soccer game, and the Kiwis quickly stripped down to perform some aboriginal soccer dance thing. This gave way to snow wrestling. In the words of Olivia, "This is just so fecking weird." ... what a ridiculously fun weekend!

After the fire died out around midnight we all headed back to our cabin to play more Circle of Death. After the game was finished, we all settled down to sleep. Well, tried to settle down. I made the mistake of requesting a bedtime story, which resulted in all the boys trying to tell a story. We laughed ourselves to sleep, listening to the tales of Fweddy the Worm and Charlie, the man made of bubble gum. I fell asleep feeling so blessed to have stumbled across these hilarious and friendly people.

The next day everyone woke up incredibly early and went down to base camp for breakfast before embarking on a hike through the snowy woods and hills. I wasn't going to go, but Alex came back and said they had peanut butter and jelly. I was in heaven. HEAVEN, I tell you. Olivia, Ali, Caring and I decided to skip the hike after breakfast because there were warnings of getting wet. No thanks. Instead we sat around chatting in our cabin. It felt like we'd known each other for years. We made plans to start a book exchange, have multiple parties and homemade international cuisine dinners. The boys came back, and we were vindicated in our decision not to partake in the hike. They were wet, and several (not in our group) were injured after being snagged in some barbed wire left over from a Korean army training site. (They are okay now.) We boarded the bus, and then arrived in a small town to have lunch. We wandered for ages, and were turned away by several small restaurants that did not want to serve foreigners. I can't really blame them, a huge group of Western people who do not speak Korean is slightly intimidating. We finally found a spaghetti restaurant and settled in for lunch. I was ridiculously tired and ended up falling asleep at the table, along with Mike, a guy from Texas. There is photographic evidence, too.

We all slept soundly on the bus home, and before we knew it, it was 4pm and we were back in Seoul. Caring and I said goodbye to our new friends, and headed home for a well deserved rest. As I lay in my bed I can't help but smile.

Traveling back to Korea was another chance to get some more Korean BBQ I was never so happy to enter the place again.  Even though I knew I was only going to be in Chinae for two days I was going to make the best of it.   We had to stay out in town at the Hole in one hotel our guide told us it was the best hotel in Chinae.  I believe that hotel was a love hotel if you know what I mean.  My co-worker had a coin operated round bed lol.  Mine was just a regular coin operated bed lol.

Wow going to Chinae for the first time was an experience. I couldn't believe all the boot leg shops that were around.  Anything you wanted from jersey's to dvd movies that weren't out of regular dvd you can get at Chinae.   I really love the Korean BBQ I must of ate at the shop everyday I was there.  Ooh and the Issace shop are the best ever.