Photoblog 11: Dong-bu Festival Series

I absolutely a wonderful time yesterday at the festival. My hubby invited me to come over at the event while he and his colleague did some school work. The little shutter bug in me came out from the sack and voila.. I've tons of photos waiting to be posted. So I'll start with the preparation then later brag some of the freebies I got from the shops. :P

 View from the top. Tents being set up for the event.

 They did all of this, including the gravel, for a very short time. Why can't we do that in the Philippines?

 View from the other side of the river. Colorful tents set up with a streamer up in the air.

 Strong wind and rain which was to come couldn't dampen everyone's festive mood

While everyone was busy setting up their stalls and products, 

flowers were blooming on the other side of the river.

Mirror image of the tents plus falls.

A stranger waits for Dong-bu Festival to begin. 

 The huge beach balls beckons everyone to enjoy the event while it lasts.

More pictures to come soon.

Photo Blog 10: Beauty in Randomness

Happy Birthday Omma. 

The stillness of day..
with random cold chills in sight..
harks the question
could this still be one of the delights.

Random little things..
no meanings..just things..
Bashed.. threw.. just little things.. petty things.. 
especially in this stillness of day..

Yet.. what goes yonder..
is simple beauty 
in all of all its magnanimity..
These little things..these little things 

Hardened and toughened 
molded and crafted 
with random cold chills 
 replied to that query 
 at one sight. 
  

Who said the world upside down is bad?

Weeping building.

She stands out.

Beauty in Revery

Beauty in stillness

Agochim... Not for the weak hearts

 Saturday is like a date day for us with our friends - Sunny and David. We would tarry along with them to practically anywhere, do some sightseeing. They would also introduce us to really great Korean (and most of the time) very spicy Korean dishes like 2 Saturdays ago.

아구찜. Agujjim was the name of the dish  we had from this restaurant. It capitalized on the monk fish's meat with little bit of crunchy shells (yes.. because you could eat the soft cartilage like shells with some kind of meat in it and more). Even though the fish (based from Sunny's description) wasn't really that great looking.... and looked somewhat like a piranha, it still tasted absolutely great.

... there's no turning back.. lol.
The monkfish for 아구찜/ Agujjim is displayed on
the right side of the glass pane. Pretty isn't it?

    As always, we were served up with an array of side dishes. A bowl of cold kimchi soup, cucumbers with chives, a dipping sauce with wasabi (which you could mix in or not), a small plate of pickled anchovy, anchovy sauce (binagoong isda) and more.

The anchovy sauce (and I guess it's the same with other restaurants is true) was very salty. A small bite of it would make you go bleck and drink lots of water.

Few minutes later, the good ol' waitress brought the main dish to our table. A sweltering, bright hot red dish on a huge platter with some basil of some sort to amp up the spiciness.... *drum roll please*.... The Agachim.

Yes, it's called Agachim. Believe it or not, from a not-so-good-looking kind of fish (monk fish) to mouth watering, blazing hot food for good friends to partake. It's so good that David couldn't seem to take his eyes off from the plate (lol).

My husband didn't need any further encouragement from everyone. He helped himself, just like everybody else in the following photos.

The dish was absolutely hot, it made everybody's noses runny. The weather btw was a little bit chilly and we could sort of feel it in the restaurant. But a mouthful of this dish, I swear, felt like we were back in Summer.

It didn't take long to empty out the platter. By the time were done, we had also finished several box full of table napkins and pitchers of water. lol.

We were later served with chilled rice washed water with bit of sugar (we call this 'am' in Philippines) and rested for a few.

Here's how my plates and bowls looked like plus rolls of tissues on the side lol.

Would I come back again to this restaurant for another round of Agochim? Maybe. We'll play it by ear.

PhotoBlog #9: Post Birthday Celebration snap shots

It's been awhile since I last wrote something on my page. Apart from house chores, I've been fairly busy going out with some of the new friends I've made here in Korea.

Without batting an eyelash, two of my very close Korean friends (Sunny and David) treated me out to a wonderful birthday bash together with my hubby. They had absolutely taken the time to be with me a week after my special day. They brought took us to one of the most beautiful and serene (and by far the biggest) Buddhist temple in Daegu- Dongghwasa.

Donghasa (no idea though what it means) is a temple complex spanning from one mountain to a couple more. You'll have to excuse me for lack of a better word to describe the complexity of the area.

Sunny took us first to some of the smaller temples in Donghwasa. These are located at the food of the mountains. The entrance way (picture on the left) leads to the smaller temples within the vicinity. The monks live in these areas and are pretty much in charge of maintaining everything. All temples within the vicinity can be checked out by tourists except for some temples where they are used as study classroom by the monks.

 

 It was midday when we got and most monks where inside the study temples. There was hardly a sound heard except from shoes rubbing against the pavement. There were a number of birds that chirped but their chatters was mostly concealed behind the spawning trees and bushes. In front of the temple entrance way was a gazebo of some sort of lanterns. Devotees and tourists can hang a prayer can write their prayers and hang it on the lantern. I don't know though how much you're suppose to pay but I think it's not that expensive

Lanterns full of prayers.

One of the temples housed a traditional Korean stove. I say, it was not different from ours way back then.

One of the smaller temples within the Donghwasa (I don't know the name.. ugh, sorry) 

A colorful tree waiting for autumn. The sweltering heat has kissed Korea for the last time and now.. everyone awaits for the cool blast of autumn..and dread the winter.

 
The temples are self sufficient. They grow most of their foods, including chilli! They also have ponds full of fish.. but they're not meant for eating.

Before we took off for another set of temples in Donghwasa, we pat the blessed Buddha's belly good bye. 

more to come... 

PhotoBlog #8: To Powhang See with love

A good friend of mine invited me over to join the Presbyterian Church Community's outing to Powhang See last week (August 15) during the SK's Independence Day. Liezel initially said it was just an outing by the river and the name was a mystery to both her and me. I accepted the invitation not only because it was a way of escaping the heat. But more than that, I took it as a sign of meeting new Filipinos.. or friends and expand my experience here the country.

I packed my bags a night before but still felt like to doing the last minute recheck of my stuff the next day (which is what I have exactly done). I left for the Yeongyongsil Bus Stop at 7:30 in the morning and got at the meeting place (Filipino Community Catholic Center) on time. Liezel picked me up from the center and ushered me to a small street where the Presbyterian Church was located. There I met a number of Filipinas together with their children, some Koreans and the pastor himself.

There was a special for our trip and the lead pastor made sure we were comfortable and provided us both food for the stomach and soul. Our bus rolled at 9am, the sun already beating hard. If anything, it only made us even more eager to be in the water and have the time of our lives.

 

I with the fellow attendees

Taking picture is a fad here.

one of the Presbyterian Churches in
Daegu

Would this be the continuation of the river at the area where we live?

Our bus stop is an mecca for expensive stuff lol.

My friend Liezel and her son, Soohyun in stripped shrit.

Present!

the good ol' pastor of the community

 The morning snack (left  provided by the church) and egg that Liezel bought from the bus stop. 

This is what I like.. sight seeing.

This is what you call color coordination.  We got off the bus after an hours drive to have lunch at the canteen near the factory. The food was plenty and absolutely delicious.

lunch served. I took a handful of every food they served, including kimchi. We boarded back to our bus after our lunch. Pohwang Beach here we go

The Powhang See Beach. Crowded and people just enjoying the water.

and what a better way to curve the heat is the lovely and succulent watermelon

Good ol' pastor rendering us a song

Powhang See to remember

 It was pretty hot when we got to the beach. We settled in one of the cottages and waited until the sun was a little bit more friendly. Most opted to let their children have fun. Liezel and I on the other hand though enjoyed ourselves in the water. The Powhang See faces towards the Pacific, the water was about the color of sand. There are a number of things you can do especially if you are a big money spender. You can either ride a banana boat, ski or flying fish. As for Liezel and me, we simply enjoyed what Mother Sea had to offer and that was soaking ourselves in a very cool and refreshing water.