This trip is 6 months old today! What an amazing time it has been, and what a deeply wonderful country we are in to celebrate. Mark - thanks again, if it wasn't for your advice we may never have come.
We arrived in Daegu on Friday night at about 11 p.m., met our host Matt (a really great guy, a Canadian teaching here for a while) and returned to his flat where Ellen chose sleep and Matt and I hit the town where we started with an ex-pat bar and I was just in time for the second half of the quiz. I was pretty useless but did get the token English question right (Westward Ho!), the one about Helena Bonham Carter and Fight Club which I was never in a million years going to fluff and almost got THX1138 except couldn't remember all the numbers. I met a few of Matt's fellow teachers, drank pitchers of presumably recycled beer and generally had fun until his wonderful girlfriend Heather turned up and it was time to move onto another bar. This place was run by a Canadian guy, was very cool and laid back, and will forever be etched in my memory for being the place where someone decided to make a martini based around Creme de Menthe (and not including any traditional martini items apart from the glass). A ridiculous idea that nonetheless worked against all odds. I saw it as my duty to find out how many were required to get absolutely slammied but had later moved on to the Long Island Iced Tea before memory loss kicked in. A most refreshing evening all in all and as a bonus I woke up in one piece in the right place.
A naturally quiet Saturday followed, and in the afternnon we went with Matt and Heather into Daegu centre to sample traditional tea at a Korean tea house. The place was beautiful and relaxing, and we sampled various teas - the most stunnig was the crysanthemum tea in a glass pot, where the adding of water really brought the yellow flowers alive. The whole experienceis less formal or ritualised than in Japan, the emphasis bieng on natural ingredients and a natural process, and the effect was wonderfully stimulating and relaxing at the same time. I really did feel filled with well-being just by being there (and actually was amazed that on stepping out of the shop I no longer needed my shades, until Heather pointed out that the sun had in fact set during the tea drinking). We finished the day with a resorative curry buffet and some sampling of the local drinks: the pretty odd and not entirely pleasant cloudy rice wine DongDongJu follwed by the significantly better Soju, which we had with fresh kiwi - a world class distilled drink that works from the feet up rather surruptitiously.
On Sunday Heather and Matt took us, along with some American friends, to Andong to experience the Maskdance festival, a really amazing day that was spent firstly in the nearby Hahoe folk village and latterly in the town itself. Wonderful to be at a festival again having missed the UK summer, and the whole mask thing was awesome; there are pictures in the gallery that explain it better than I can. Monday has been a catch-up day for us before we go to Jeju tomorrow, which has been wonderfully relaxing. Thanks again Matt for your kindness in giving us space to recharge, and for all the wonderful conversation. Our trip has been considerably enhanced because of you and Heather!