On Thursday evening after my adventures in the city June Sig came down to my room and invited me to travel with his family to their hometown for the Chusok celebrations. Then a thought occured to me: Would I make it back in time for the BWL raid. Either way, I was assured we'd be home between 7pm and 10pm depending on traffic AND it was a great opportunity to immerse myself in the culture so I decided to go. A small problem was waking up at 4am to beat the traffic especially since I didn't get to bed until 1am (a nasty combination of mosquitos and excitement).

Either way, I managed to wake up on time and we set off with his parents. The city we went to is about an hour northwest of Pusan, Korea's biggest port. Possibly Changwon but I could be wrong. We reached June Sig's uncle's house at around 0930 after a short stop at a rest area. His two cousins were there already. It took them about two hours before they felt comfortable enough to come near us (and that was to poke at us). This is Ju Na, showing us the bug he just killed.



Anyway, we just watched as his parents and relatives made preparations for the ceremony. Food and drink (I was to find out that the drink offered was makoli, an alcohol made with rice and some other things) was offered to the deceased grandparents and the door was left slightly ajar for them to enter. There was also a small side table with some dishes on it in case his grandparents had brought some of their friends (if their own relatives had neglected to offer them food).



Hmmm, tea is good. Earthy flavor. Just having some now....

When the ceremony was complete we had brunch. It included fried fish, bibpimbap, sliced pork and of course kimchi. And plenty of makoli. I will never understand how Ju Na and his sister could drink it and actually looked forward to drinking it. I must say it's an acquired taste. Same goes with kimchi I guess. I know people back home that can't even handle slightly spicy food. Yet here young children eat chilli like it's candy.

After brunch we went to the family burial site. Unfortunately I can't remember which town it was except that it was between Changwon and Cheonan (It did start with a 'g' though). These are some shots I took from the car on the way to the village. Rice country methinks. Plenty of apples too (Bucolic scenes incoming!).





After a somewhat steep climb we made it to the burial site, with it's mounds of raised dirt. June Sig told me his parents had come here earlier in the month to clear the place up before Chusok. And just to be safe I asked permission before i took any photographs of religious/spiritual areas.



This is the view from the burial site. Their family plot occupies the highest place in that area for that clan. Apparently the other clan in the village has traditionally been wealthier though one could not detect that now. You can see apple trees lined with Juju trees and rice plantations on the left. Juju look very similar to olives (How I miss them! I must try and find some!!) with a similar shaped seed. The main difference is the flesh of the fruit. Quite sweet and firm. I also know why a good friend of mine would resent being called 'Juju' by her cousin :O



After our picnic lunch we visited a relative of June Sig's that lived nearby. I was introduced as a 'chingu' which means friend. When we arrived I think we interrupted their dinner preparations as they had just killed a chicken. In Korean this type of chicken is called 'ogulge' meaning black boned chicken, since the skin and the bones are black. Amazing how much sense the language makes. He told me that this aunty makes really good shike and man alive was he right!

It was about 3pm when we left that village and set off for Seoul again. We had a short stop outside the village to say our farewells and June Sig's aunty wished me the best for my time in Korea (in Korean). She then said to June Sig that she could have said farewell in English but chose Korean since I was in Korea. A none too subtle hint for me to learn the language.

Because of the massive volume of traffic heading to Seoul our estimated travel time was six hours for a trip that would normally take three. As time went on though, the traffic got much worse so we stopped at Ginsam World! This place is one of the rest areas on the major highway to Seoul. Because the area is known for it's ginsam there is a huge 'themepark' set up here.



From then on, the flow of traffic was painful. We reached Cheonan at 2300 I think. This place is a massive food centre which seems to be open 24 hours. Even for such a late hour there were huge crowds of people here and the food was better than I expected for a rest area at this time. One thing about this place that struck me was they played Boyz 2 Men songs in the Men's toilet. Rather fitting methinks.



Leaving Cheonan, traffic was still as bad as ever. At least we caught up on alot of sleep while in the car.

It wasn't until 0200 that we reached Nakseongdae in Seoul which means I spent 11 hours in a car for a trip that would normally take four. Still, the cultural experience I had was well worth it.