last weekend: another bus trip to the korean countryside. mindungsan in october. picture steep mountains covered w/ waves of dancing reeds, clouded in the morning fog. magical, mystical, and miserably cold. 
the other side of the mountain was shrouded in pines and colorful deciduous trees. oh so fresh & invigorating. i love the feeling of having moved through nature's calm for 6+ hours before lunchtime.
which reminds me ... lunchtime was, perhaps, the most satisfying bibimbap that i've ever had. oodles of bottomless side dishes, as usual, including fresh grilled tofu & veggies galore. it was here that the makgeoli (milky rice wine) started to flow & did not cease for the remainder of the trip.after lunch, we scattered out in the old town of jeongseon. i fell in love with this place, set in a peaceful valley, gorgeous mountains all around, shining in their gold coat of dried reeds. we spent hours wandering through the lively open-air market
& sharing food, drinks and dance moves with the locals in the market square. this town is known for
their performance of arirang, which is one of the most popular korean folk songs. we caught a performance just as we arrived, and it was nothing less than a celebration. 
i've never seen so many smile wrinkles & i probably developed some of my own just from the few hours i was there. 
we danced and danced, and we drew quite a crowd. people kept bringing us 
bottle after bottle of the local corn makgeoli and trays of food, which would have been just plain rude to refuse. so, we indulged the crowd as we indulged ourselves. what fun! ....and the bus eventually dragged us back to seoul.
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