Thursday, August 20, 2015

Paragliding

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Options for paragliding near-ish Pyeontaek.
Happy flying

Option 1

Name: Eunho Kim
Phone: 010-9423-8674
Location: Contact pilot for details, this is based on wind wand weather.
Price: Tandem 100,000 won includes video and photos      
Link to Videos  

Option 2

Name: Sang-Ki Lee (local pilot)
Phone: 010-2488-4129
Location: Contact pilot for details, this is based on wind wand weather.
Price: Tandem 80,000 won includes video and photo
For Adventure
Location: Yeongwol, Gangwondo 
Price: 150,000 won
(flight is about 30 minutes long and you can go higher up.)

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Jjimjilbangs: Don't be scared

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Alright, to be clear, I'm a jimjillbong/public bath-addict.  Sometimes I wonder if I should just move into one and stop paying rent on my house.  It took me about nine months to get up the nerve to give one a try, and immediately felt like it was nine months of my life I had wasted. Maybe I'm weird, but I can't see why anyone would say no to a 9,000\ spa day. I encourage everyone to give it a try at least once. Of course, your are going to need to un-clench your buttocks in order to do so.  Here are the top reasons those with clenched buttocks won't enjoy the experience.

Nudity. Yes, you are going to need to strut around in your birthday suit.  You are going to sit, buck naked next to complete strangers.  Since this is a family affair, those strangers kids might climb up into your lap and then decided to use your naked body as a water slide for the next half hour.  However, this is a worst case scenario. This does not happen often, but it might so be kind and understanding if it does.

You are also going to see children scrubbing their elders backs and friends washing each others hair.  You are going to see all kinds of people being perfectly at ease with nudity. They might even look at you a bit because, quite frankly, you look different and it's no big deal.  So strike a pose and flash a smile.  Nobody cares. Being naked ain't no thing here.

Prison Uniform.  Ok not really a prison uniform - but kind of. In order to go into the shared section of the facilities you will need to wear the provided shorts and t-shirt, "Oh my gardddd. Not matching, unflattering clothes.  NOOOOOO. I can't possibly do that in front of strangers, we would never have to do that back home."  Tell that stupid voice to scram, un-clench those buttocks. You might just like it. These days I relish my prison uniform time.  It makes me feel quit sassy and carefree.

Floor Sleeping. That's right, if you really want to maximize the relaxation you are going to curl up on the floor, put your head on a block and take a nap between saunas.  It's going to be uncomfortable the first few times because thy buttocks have been clenched (literally, not joking here) tight for so long.  Your hips are actually entirely out of alignment and it makes floors uncomfortable.  It's not the floors fault, it's those clenched buttocks.  So work on relaxing, eventually it will feel delightful.

Sleeping Next to Strangers.  "Oh, that's just not safe" your stupid butt says.  Tell your butt to stop, relax, and let go of whatever has been wedged up there for so long.  Folks will be surprisingly uninterested in your sexy self in your prison uniform.  It seems they will be too busy talking to their friends, playing with their children, and taking naps.

Crawling into an Oven.  There might be saunas that are basically human size pizza ovens that require you get down and crawl through a small tunnel into a small cavernous space where you will once again, lay on the floor with strangers in blazing heat.  Your butt will scream from it's clenched lips, "No WAY IN HELL!"  Don't listen, get down, crawl into that oven and sweat out every last drop of stress.

Strangers Scrubbing Your Naked Body. Optional, Bonus Un-clench.  "Whaattt?" Ok, don't panic.  It's optional. Not everyone is ready for this on the first try, but if you level up to this you wont be sorry. After the ladies (for women) or men (for dudes) scrub you down you will have the skin of a new born baby.  You will also learn that you are a dirty disgusting person and feel great shame.  Still worth it.

So, do you have what it takes to un-clench those buttocks?  I know it's hard.  These are all things you have judged harshly for so long, but what if you could change how you saw the world in one afternoon while getting the kind of rest you have only dreamed about?  Wouldn't it be worth it?

These are two my friends and I enjoy.


Songtan:
Name:  그랜드사우나, 031-665-7227,
Address: 경기도 평택시 지산동 579 , 

Anjung-eup:
Name: 천둥산레저피아, 031-682-5394,
Address: 경기도 평택시 안중읍 현화리 831 붐붐프라자 3층, 
Naver Map: http://me2.do/x6OiIjE3

Other Jjimjilbang Articles:

What to expect

Grilled Duck

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Stupid grin, awesome food.
 
Pyeongtaek Restaurants
We love

Do you like duck? Do you love quirky traditional Korean foods with intense flavors?  Do you like to drink too much soju and eat until you are sick? Then the place is for you. As you might be able to tell, we are focused more on the duck and soju than taking pictures of the food.  I am now noticing this is often our habit when it's one of our super favorite places.
 
Now, this place is not for folks who aren't really sure about Korean food.  This restaurant is all in.  You will be eating lots of spicy foods as well as pig skin and jelly fish.  That said, all of the sides are excellent and we usually get refills on nearly everything.  I am a huge fan of their white kimchi and pickled items.  Also a fan of their pancake, fried squash, jelly fish.... ok fine, I'm a fan of everything except the salmon with a candied cherry and fake cheese on top. I have no idea what is happening there but I forgive them because the rest is excellent. 
Once again, this is a place where the food just keeps coming so be prepared to eat way more than you are comfortable with. Although they offer other things, we always order one of the duck sets where they bring you 4-5 courses of duck, each one different. I think we usually spend between $15-$20 per person depending on how many drinks we buy.
 
 This place does close pretty early, like 9:00 or 9:30 so arrive before 8 if you can. Oh, and it's located in the middle of an industrial area so it's a bit hard to find.  We usually stay for 2 hours at least. It's hard to move after eating that much food.
 
Address: It is near a Chinese restaurant 
and has one of those little traditional water wheels out front.

경기도 평택시 모곡동 (거리뷰)

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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Futball in Suwon

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While at work my friend messaged me to see if I wanted to watch a soccer game in Suwon. Since I've never had the privilege of watching a live soccer game in a stadium I was all for it.  After work I jumped on the subway from Songtan to Suwon.

Once in Suwon, since I hadn't had dinner, I thought it would be a good idea to swing by the food court and grab a few snacks.  Being the end of the day, I was delighted to find that the food had all been put on supper sale so I filled my large handbag with rice balls and three kinds of mandu.  After that I grabbed a taxi to the World Cup Stadium.  (About 9,000\ and 1hr 20min).  

I easily arrived by the 7:30pm start time and opened my handbag for a snack, at which point I realized that buying copious amounts of kimchi mandu and caviar filled rice balls might not have been the best idea.  I was nearly knocked off my feet by the intensity of the smell.  Now, I would have felt less foolish if this had been the first time I had made this mistake, but no, this is a lesson I refuse to learn.

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Once inside the stadium our tickets allowed us to basically sit where we wanted, a benefit of the VIP entrance am guessing, but I don't really know since I had never been before. The stadium doesn't have a roof, so when the weather became a bit drizzly we raced inside for the complimentary rain poncho which came in an attractive XXXXXL.

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As it turned out, despite the less than attractive smell that clawed it's way out of my handbag, I was supper happy I had purchased mandu in bulk since there weren't a lot of options for snacks at the stadium.  There was a small snack bar but the selection was minimal.  Thankfully they had drinks and chopsticks. The two things required to make my purse dumplings into something that seemed slightly less weird. 

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Generally I'm not a fan of the stadium experience, but I found soccer in Suwon quite relaxing and fun. The truly excited fans were on each end of the stadium so the noise was enjoyable and not over whelming.  A friend of mine who loves soccer said that seeing a game at this stadium is actually on his bucket list because the US Men's Team did something really amazing here. I know nothing of this, but maybe somebody reading this does and will find it interesting.

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