Daejon - March 22-23

For the last weekend in March, Aaron and I went down to Daejon to hang out with his friends Dan and Gliah. We took the train, which was only about an hour. After we met up at the train station, we all went to a market nearby and did some kimchi shopping.

There was much kimchi to choose from, cabbage, cucumber, radish... and actually I still have some in my fridge even now. Some really nice, spicy, old, stinky stuff. Hmmmmm....

I enjoyed walking around the market. I found some cute things, like some socks and some nail polish. I don't really go around to markets in Seoul like this. A lot of them are really out of the way and I get lazy and just stay to central Seoul because it's easier to get to. I'm interested in checking out the fish markets in Korea. There is always much more than just fish being sold.

We had an awesome dinner of spicy chicken dishes. I was able to find an awesome example of Konglish in the bathroom there:

O_O I just don't know how to react to some of this stuff. Perhaps it says, "Warning! If you sit here, your ass will be eaten by the ferocious toilet monster!" This is a pretty detailed picture, someone put quite a lot of effort into this obscurity...

We went to an awesome jimjilbang there. The Korean jimjilbang or "boiling water room" is truly something to behold. You pay about $6-10 depending on the place, and the baths are separated by sex. There are at least three types of pools, including a hot and cold pool, but also clay pools or seaweed pools, or green tea pools. Then there are the saunas, and usually the roof is covered in some sort of semi-precious stone. Amethyst is very abundant here, so there are amethyst rooms, or quartz rooms, even an onyx room. AND THEN, there is the areas where both sexes can be. You're given little outfits to wear when the sexes are together. These common areas have places to sleep and eat, and often warm rooms, cold rooms, oxygen rooms... Really the entire idea of a jimjilbang is baffling.

The one we went to in Daejon was jinormous, and had a pool of feet-cleaning fish! They are adorable and extremely ticklish. These little fish nibble on your dead skin off your feet and it softens them a lot. I feel asleep in the oxygen room with a red ginseng mask on. This place was far superior to any spa I've ever heard of, and the entry fee was $7!

The next day we headed out to Donghaksa. It was pretty rainy, so the lighting wasn't very good, but there were indeed some lovely things to see...
...especially in the gift shops! Oh my! There is a different relationship with the penis here than in the west. They are often related to the traditional fertility and virility deal with men, but they also can be a good luck charm for fishermen? I don't know how much I believe that, but hey, it makes for great pictures. :D
Daejon was too short a visit, and it was too wet and cold to get a good feel for the place. They have an amazing giant Buddha statue that I would like to see. So much to do, so little free time!