Festive Cheer!

I've had the most haphazard christmas of my life. It totally worked out.

We headed back into Gangwha for Christmas Eve, in order to attend the Christmas party that the study room holds for the kids. These kids really do live in some terrible situations so I'm becoming increasingly touched at how much just buying them some truly awful chicken and pizza does for them. We played dumb games, like spinning 5 times, getting a lolly with our FACE and then eating an onion ring dangling from a string. The kids obviously love that shit. It was sad seeing them for the last time, but we have cards with their sentiments and a whole lot of memories I guess. One of the little girls (we took photos!) was so cute that I wanted to kill her, preserve her and stuff her so I could gaze up on her cute little visage ^__^

On arriving back to Seoul we went and had a banquet of delicious bulgogi proportions! We went to a nice restaurant called Gogung and indulged ourself in probably the best bulgogi I've ever had, awesome Bibimbap, and a bunch of other delicious side dishes! We were also served a traditional alcoholic drink called Moju which is made with Cinnamon. Totally delicious. The staff were all in traditional Hanbok and they gave us an awesome Maesil (asian plum! Thank you wiki!) tea to finish. I am so a fan of banquets.

After that, we took an overnight train to Gangwundo, the coldest part of Korea in order to do something a bit random for Christmas. The train was packed and uncomfortable, but it had a buzz to it that was welcome. I figured the lights in the carriage would be turned off to let people get some freakin sleep, but it never happened. I am not a fan of broken sleep.

I am a fan of beautiful sunrises. It's a nice way to celebrate anything really, you just stand and watch something beautiful just happen. There's something satisfying about it that I can't really quantify. You stand - Sun rises. It was cold as fuckery, and the waves were crashing close to us, but the beach just got prettier as it became light. People let off shitty fireworks and were generally happy. If you had told me that I'd be watching a sunrise on the eastside of Korea for christmas, I would have been very confused. I would probably have guessed I would have been playing PES on christmas day.

We went from there to a temple that sounded really awesome, but when we got there... wasn't. Maybe we've seen too many gorgeous temples, but this one wasn't as good as the rest of them. Modern buildings and weird banners are enough to give it a couple of black marks. It was special in that the temple let us in to the main prayer hall, something I normally have to view through a window. It's so striking being surrounded by candles infront of a huge golden buddha and other statues. The murals and paintings on the screens were gorgeous as well.

Temples are just rad.

The snow-park was random too. After being promised a bunch of different things to do, it only really had a slope that we could sled down. And sled we did! It was like

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

except colder. We lay in the snow at one point and had the most retarded snow fight in history. It was almost like we were both smacked in the face as children and it affected the development of our brains. Good way to spend christmas.

We got in Seoul too late to get back to where we were supposed to sleep, so we crashed at a 24 hour bathhouse. Although this may sound bad, it means I got to soak in a Tea bath and scrub myself uber clean, as well as watch Mia get bashed by a "masseuse". Seriously, dude was cracking her back and pulling at all her joints, making her hug herself and such. She assures me it felt good. I was not game to try getting beaten up. Maybe next time. They have sleeping facilities, but I had forgotten that DUDES SNORE. SHUT IT, OLD DUDE. I'M TRYING TO SLEEP, NOT IMAGINE WHAT FORESTS SOUND LIKE DURING LOGGING.

We woke up uber relaxed, and I ran on a treadmill for absolutely no reason. Then we made our way to Sanchon restaurant. I cannot describe how good this place was. We were served 20 different things. Each was special in its own right. They make authentic temple food. I believe them, because there was a monk eating behind us. I've had some of the things that I was served a million times, and this was like eating them for the first, awesomest time. Look at the photos of the delicious food. Rishi, Jared, Bob, this restaurant is entirely vegetarian. I would have loved to bring you here. I'm going to try and get rich so I can fly you all over.

Good times.

We're planning to see a shamanistic dance known as a "gut" (Pronounched Guhht) pretty much... right now. Anything can happen at these things, they're rare for even Koreans to be able to see and we're watching some of the best dancers. More when we get back. I'm personally hoping they get up on two parallel swords with bare feet and start dancing on them.