Teachers Day

Teachers Day is on May 15th, this year it fell on a Tuesday. I taught my regular classes and was surprised when my co-teacher told me I could go home early!!!  I was ecstatic, it was only 12:30 . I usually don' t have the opportunity to enjoy the day, and the weather has been lovely lately.
Not knowing what to do, I hopped on my bike and travelled to one of my favorite spots in Seoul, Hongdae. It took me about 2 hours to get there , and after exploring all the ally's and visiting some thrift stores, I found an underground store ( literally) that makes hand made leather items. The store had all kinds of nick nacks  for sale, and a pair of sandals caught my attention. The attendant said that all of their leather is only treated with vegetable oil, and organic dyes. It felt like such a treat to find a shop with so much character and actual hand made shoes!

Now, for the best part! I came accros a door that looked like just a piece of wood, no windows or hand hold. So I pushed the door in and was surprised to find a bar/cafe/ restaraunt. The restaraunt hand makes almost everything, from beer, ginger ale, bread and soup. This is the first place I have been too like this and can not wait to go back. I decided on a fresh cows milk yogurt with rasberries and omija. Omija is an infusion made from Korean berries, it tasted like a fermented berry drink. It was delicious! I felt so lucky to have found such a place, and can not wait to go back!

The delicious cow milk yogurt 

Entrance

A few of my gifts .This one is supposed to look like medicine, the medicine here comes individually wrapped. 

My new bag and book mark!

Mihwangsa Temple Stay

I wanted to take some time away from the usual grey life I am used to in Seoul. After looking in to my options I decided  visiting Mihwangsa Temple would be the best choice. It is close to the southern most tip of Korea.
After a 5.5 hour bus ride, we were picked up at the bus station and taken to the temple.
The temple was gorgeous, and we were lucky enough to come on a clear warm day .

After settling it, Jaja Haeng, the temple stay coordinator showed us to the nearest trail that lead to the highest peak. On our walk there she stopped and showed us the temples mushroom " garden" and she picked a few off and let us try them.They were sweet and chewy, although we did have mushroom breath for the rest of the day. 

We hiked up for about 40 minutes and were treated to a beautiful view. I don't remember the name of the Islands that we saw or the name of the ocean, but it was beautiful. We hurried down, to get our proper orientation about the program. 

After dinner and tea time, we went to bed and got ready for our 4 am wake up call. In the morning we chanted and then mediated. I found meditation a little hard that early in the morning, and kept resisting the urge to sleep. Breakfast was at 6:30 AM followed by volunteer work. We helped put together envelopes for the upcoming Buddha day.
We were given some snacks from Jaja Haeng and then we got a ride with one of the monks to the closest bus stop.
Although our trip was short, it was well worth the long trip. The people were all very kind to us and the scenery was beyond my expectations.

Bali

I was able to get a week or so off for spring break, and Bali seemed like the most practical destination for us. I would spend the first few days alone and then I would be joined by my sister. We decided to stay in Ubud for a few days, a small artistic town and then head to the Gilli Islands in Lombok. Our vacation was short, but we were sure to make the most of it.

I arrived in Bali and had a driver waiting for me, Mr. Snook. He was thrilled to meet me, and I felt like I might be able to trust him. I asked if he would be able to take me around the following day and he agreed.


Our first stop was at an agricultural farm, you can see cacao tree, coffee trees and many more. We were able to sit down while enjoying a beautiful view of rice terraces and I was given a variety of hot drinks to try and fresh tabacco to smoke.

Arabic,ginger coffee, lemon grass coffee, fresh cacao, lemon grass, and ginger

Tabacco samples

This man was roasting Luwak coffee

The view from the farm.

My company

After I was finished relaxing we headed to the volcano I  have been wanting to see, about a 2 hour drive from Ubud. Once we got to the view point I got off and was bombarded by street venders. I  was disapointed with the view and Mr. Zippo said we could drive to the base of the volcano to look at the volcanic tuff, we drove for about 30 minutes. It was awesome being able to see all of the remains from the last explosion , a little more than a decade ago.

The base of the Batur volcano, you can see the crater created from the previous eruptions.


After some debating, I decided to sign up for a morning hike to the top of the volcano. I went back to Ubud to grab my stuff and headed back to spend the night at the base of the volcano. We were to meet at 3:45 AM to start our hike. The stars that night were beautiful and something I have not seen in a very long time. Stars are very hard to see where I live in Korea.

Around 4:00 AM I met a Canadian couple who would be hiking to the top with me. We were lead by 3 local tour guides. We reached the top of the volcano just in time to see the sunrise. This was probably the most enjoyable part of my trip. The view was breathtakingly beautiful and being able to sit and enjoy the calm was a perfect way to start the day. We cooked our breakfast with the steam from the vents, our breakfast was eggs, bananas and bread.

The vent we cooked our food in

Then we came across these little guys!

We finished the hike around 9:30 AM and I indulged in a massage by a local then headed back to Ubud to go exploring.  I found Ibo Oka, a famous baba guling ( suckling pig ) restaurant that was visited by Anthony Bourdain. It was amazing, I was expecting some version of lechon, but it was nothing like it. It exploded with flavor and was perfectly tender.

Some of the local fruits that I could not get enough off

After eating lunch I went on a walk, hoping to run in to the rice fields. I was tired from my morning hike so I was just taking my time and stopping in shops. Everyone was super friendly and I stayed and chat for about 20 minutes each time. I met some sisters who run a haberdashery shop and I found out that one of the sisters really likes to watch Mexican telenovelas, she was excited to meet a mexican and started listing all of the mexican names she knew. They were both so charming  and we sat and laughed for a while. I promised them that I would come back if I ever get the opportunity. After that , I stumbled upon a massage shop, it was one of the best I have had in a while, one hour for about 6 USD!! The owner was very kind, and made me a ginger and honey tea to help with my cough.

Latter that night my driver came to pick me up, and we headed to the airport to get my sister. When she came we went to a few night markets and had some more suckling pig, this one was not as memorable as the one I had for lunch.

Rosana only had one day to spend in Ubud, and we were determined to make the best of it. We went to some of the most famous ones near Tegallang Village. The view was not great when we got there, there was a storm coming our way . We waited out the storm at a restaurant then walked around the rice fields after the storm had passed. One of my favorite smells in the world , is the smell of earth after it rains, so I was happy.

Durian

On our way back to Ubud, we stopped and tried fresh durian for the first time. I had expected the smell to be more repulsive, but I did not mind it. It was like a sweet onion. The taste was the same, but the texture was great, as creamy as a flan or mousse. I was only able to handle 2 segments of fruit, but I really did enjoy it, and would have it again.

Our driver offered to take us to his local temple. He explained that every village has a temple that they attend and a community center, where people come together to prepare for festivals , funerals etc. He  also said that if someone is having a hard time, they can stay at this place and the rest of the community helps them out. 

We were really close to his home, so he offered to show us a true Balinese home, we shyly accepted. Mr. Zippo's home was really lovely, and it also had a huge temple.

The temple at Mr. Zippo's home

Mr. Zipppo's " back yard"

Mr. Zippos home, made up of small homes wehre the rest of his family lives.