Outside the City

This weekend Angie and I stayed in our respective cities and did our own thing. I made a trip to Costco (like BJ's or Sam's Club on steroids) on Saturday, but Sunday was the exciting part of my weekend. I went hiking at Mt. Palgongsan National Park with three of my coworkers, Hannah, Ted, and Hee Jeong. We were a little ways into our hike when we came across a Buddhist temple on the mountain. Someone we passed on the way up informed us that they were serving free lunch at the temple, so we stopped in for some traditional Korean fare. After a very tasty lunch we were instructed to head to the prayer room to pray three times to the Buddha inside of us. It was a little awkward at first because we weren't entirely sure how to proceed, but we figured it out, and I think our efforts were appreciated. We left the temple and proceeded up the mountain. It was a bit chilly, but the exertion was enough to keep us quite toasty. We stopped at the top of the ridge to have some hot tea and snacks, and then we went on our merry way.
Once we got to the bottom we were nowhere near a place to pick up the bus so we just had to start walking. We stuck out our thumbs hoping someone would give the four of us a lift to the bus stop, and fortunately a very kind man in a van gave us a lift to the bus stop. However, on the way down Hee Jeong spotted a traditional Korean tea shop and suggested we pop in before catching the bus back to the city. We were the only guests so we had the exclusive attention of the hostess, and she explained in detail about each of the teas we tried to Hee Jeong, who then translated for us. We tried three different types of green tea, all made with the very first leaves harvested that season. Those leaves are the smallest and have the softest taste. Apparently the temperature of the water is very important when brewing tea, especially green tea. The hotter the water, the more bitter the tea. We then tried a yummy Japanese green tea latte, made with green tea powder. It looks a little funky, but it had a very smooth, sweet taste. Next was a Chinese jasmine tea which was also quite good. The whole time we were drinking her tea the hostess was feeding us crackers and bagels with mulberry jam (excellent, by the way) and chocolate to bring out certain flavors in the tea. By the time we left I was warm, happy, and quite full. It was nice to spend some time outside of the city in the fresh, cold air, and I also got to see a bit of traditional Korean culture. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.