The thing about biking through the center of South Korea is we got off the beaten track and the need for food, water and a place to sleep pushed all of us out of comfort zone just a bit more.
At the start of this year, the girls did not love mushrooms, but by now they don’t hesitate to eat every one of them, as it is a food they can identify, which at times can be a rarity. This growth curve rapidly progressed in South Korea between the hunger produced by biking and the unique nature of much of the Korean food we encountered and our lack of Korean language skills and the limitations with translation.
Spicy long leg occupus soup, with the live octopus swimming nearby, “anchovy living in a leaf” dinner, small brown things that prompted a long discussion if the item was a fungus, a vegetable or an intestine of some type with no clear answer.
We got to the point at the end of the day, that if we could find a restaurant we would manage by asking for, “food for us” with google translate and see what happened, often times we were more successful with the universal body language coupled with large smiles and that got us further than attempts at actual words.
Usually what followed was bowl after bowl of goodness and an occasional ability to identify what we were eating. We got good at the massive scissors that accompany most meals to cut apart the protein, that everything is served bubbly hot and the tricks of cooking our own BBQ on the electric table, and balancing the bowl of garlic with the onions and meat.
Convenience stores also become a mainstay of many of our meals. After a bit of total indulgence in junk food, we slowly learned how to make a “meal” that was more sustaining for a long day in the heat with what we could find. Seaweed rice and tuna triangles were the best, cans of tuna in seaweed, frozen yogurt shakes and nuts became favorite finds. After eating instant ramen with “chopsticks” we made from torn cups we also learned that you must always have a pair of chopsticks in your bike bag!
But the thing I will remember most is the lovely women, who spoke no english but by part way through the meal would be sitting with us on the floor, laughing, showing us how to wrap the meat in lettuce and holding Lily’s braids or running back to bring the girls more seaweed, milk or some other food suddenly deemed critical for their survival and the generosity in which they shared their culture and the joy of sharing a meal. An experience that happened repeatedly on the road and as a moment of shared joy around a table of bubbling hot goodness.
Hot pot eggs and and long legged spicy octupus for dinner
more amazing Korean BBQ
Live octopus for dinner
Octopus head attached
another on the road picnic from connivence station food.