4th of July Camping

It's funny that we referred to our Fourth of July weekend activity as "camping" because we stayed in the nice Korean countryside "pension" pictured above.

The pension sat on the bank of a reservoir created by a nearby dam, the water of which irrigates nearby rice paddies and corn fields. The water flow from the dam was shut off due to the threat of rain, which severely handicapped our fishing efforts (no excuses though right).

We never did use the pool, although I did bring my trunks.

I woke up earlier than everyone else on Sunday morning and took pictures of the mist that crept over the hillsides. They call Korea "the land of the morning calm" and I believe it. It is very uncommon to see any Koreans stirring about in the morning unless they have stayed up all night- notorious night owls .

 

Two of our crew- Allyson and Anne Marie attended an outdoor music festival at nearby Nami Island. Allyson's husband Jay drove them to the concert, and I tagged along to pick up groceries. There are few things more hectic than trying to shop quickly for a camping trip without a list. I ended up running back in a couple of times for small items. Of course, one thing we didn't forget was the alcohol. The six pack on the floor next to Tor is soju- the ubiquitous Korean spirit that tastes like a weak vodka and gives me a wicked hangover.

While Anne Marie and Alysson were at the concert, Sami and Becky lounged around while the men attempted to fish.

Actually, the first hour and a half Tor and I drank beer and watched as Jay assembled the fishing rods. He brought over $2,500 worth of fishing equipment in a leather bag big enough to carry a full set of golf clubs. In the picture above, I was proud of myself for finding Budweiser that was cheaper than Korean beer. Later I was told that Budweiser sold the licensing rights to OB, a Korean beer company. Makes sense. Still, the label is cool.

Here is the bag with all of his equipment.

A close-up shot of the "bobbers."

Each pole had to have been about 15 to 18 feet long. He sets up as many as 10 poles at varying depths to fish for carp(!). The poles do not have reels. You catch a fish by simply pulling up on the rod (that's what she said).

As you can see, Jay has a very nice set up with holders for multiple poles screwed into the dock. Here he is seen mixing up one kind of bait, which I believe is mainly grain and ground dehydrated shrimp. It smelled just like Grape Nuts cereal.

His second bait source, which he placed on the ends of alternating lines, was this potato starch.

He just added a little bit of water to the potato starch to make a thick paste.

And then placed it on the hook.

Same with the grape nuts.

No this is not more bait. This is the bigger of the two actual fish we caught. Could have been good bass bait. Actually, Jay said that these waters are stocked with large mouth bass, but they are non-native and therefore invasive.

When it got too dark, Jay snapped on these nice glow in the dark bobbers. Pretty cool looking, but it didn't improve our luck.

So we barbecued up some weiners and samgyupsal (unsalted pork belly) instead.

We also heated up this smoked duck, which is very popular in Korea. It is delicious and leaves your skin smelling like smoke and duck fat.

After snapping a few pics in the morning, the owner of the pension invited me in for coffee. Best I've had in Korea.

I was in charge of cooking up breakfast and I made bacon, omelets and French toast. I only had two small pans so it took forever to fry up all of the bacon. Luckily, Alison kept me hydrated with a steady flow of Kahlua and coffee and soju jello shots.

We kept the French toast warm in the rice cooker, which I thought was pretty brilliant. Yet another victory for a rice cooker. Now if only we would have had some fish to throw in there...