Seolnal Vacation: Ice Fishing Festival 1/2

Date: 2/6/2011

On the 3rd day of our Seolnal Vacation, we went to a local Ice Fishing Festival.  I do not know the name of the festival, unfortunately, but it was only like 20 minutes away from Pyeongchang/Phoenix Park.

We had an easy morning, only having to be on the bus at 10 am.  Koreans don't really have "breakfast foods" so Sarah and I have been plundering the local FamilyMart for breakfast (Scott and Katrina brought oatmeal--smart suckers!).  Real quick I want to explain the comment about not having "breakfast foods."  Koreans eat rice and kimchi for every meal, three times a day.  Breakfast is a simpler meal of just rice and kimchi.  And while I am getting more and more familiar with the lovely gastronomical-purging powers of kimchi, it is not by any means a food I wake up and say, "Oh, I can't wait to eat kimchi!"  So, Sarah and I ended up getting waffles--a waffle folded in half with some whipped cream and honey.  It is good, but sweet.  It wasn't until after we ate that a couple came and sat down with us, eating a bagel from Dunkin Donuts.  (growl growl grumble grumble)

We head out to the festival and slowly make our way to the first activity: Ice Fishing.

There was fishing for the serious fishers.   Since this is something that goes on every year, there are people who ruitiney do this.  For Christmas, my familly goes to a play downtown (hopefully not the Nutcracker, but some holiday show).  For the Korean's winter tradition, some Koreans sit around a hole in the ice and try to catch trout.  To each his own, I guess.

Then there was the area for everyone else.

We are handed a pole--well, sort of a pole.  It was unlike any fishing pole I've seen, but usually you do not stand on the water in order to fish.

But...before you fish, you have to get a hole.  It is winter; it is cold.  If the hole is not in use, it freezes over.  So you have to take these big 'ole pick axes and slam them into the ice until (eventually) (3 feet down) you hit water.

Or, you can get in line for the Super Duper Ice Hole Making Machine--yes, that is its Korean name.  Sarah and I had been looking at the people laboring with the ice picks and immediantely got in line for them to dig us a hole.

So, finally, we have our hole and unravel our fishing line.  And wait.   I didn't know why I didn't think that this fishing would be any different than any other type of fishing.  You wait.  And wait.  AND WAIT!

Still proud of our hole

The newness has worn off...

In the waiting time frame, Sarah and I started to get goofy--which really isn't unusually for us.  We did the Stepford Wives Fishing.

Then took turns wondering around, taking photos of random things/people.

Are you in there???

Finally, the group next to us caught a fish--It CAN BE DONE!  The little girl was so cute because, okay, so they catch this fish. Pull it up on to the ice.  It is flapping around.  So the Dad finally takes one of the offered bags and manages to maneuver it into the bag.  Then the little girl comes over, now that the fish is safe and contained, and picks up the bag.  But said fish isn't happy just laying, looking up into the face of the person who is going to eat him.  So he starts flapping around.  Which causes the little girl to scream, drop the bag, and then giggle at it.  She picks the bag back up, and it happens all over again, although this time she doesn't drop the bag, just girly shrieks and giggles.  It was pretty funny to watch.

I started to have some problems here.  It could be hypothosized that I care more about animals than I do people sometimes, and to see that poor fish basically reverse-drowning to death was really hard.  I kept having to tell myself that the fish doesn't have the central nervous system that humans do, so it's pain tolerance is a little different, but seriously, it didn't matter.  It was disturbing.  I am one of those people who don't like to fish because I don't want to hurt the little guy with a hook in his mouth--let alone letting him die from suffication.  Yeah...had some issues.  But I have a really good tool of putting things out of my mind if I really don't want to think about them.

But, after an hour of fishing and starting to have some problems with the family next to me, Sarah and I start to pack it up.

This let us be free to wander around the area and take some more photos.  These are some of my favorite: us with the Korean Staff of Adventure Korea.  Sarah and I are pretty wierd in the fact that we don't like most foreigners, but in fact, get along better with the Koreans.  So, when we were told we would be bunking with the Koerans, it was a good thing.  And the night before, we had drinks with them--which was a blast. So, these are some great photos of us with the staff: Saekjin (owner of Adventure Korea), Kyung su, YeonJeong, and Byungmin (down in front).

WAIT!  One More!!

Sarah and I were starting to get hungry by this point, so we make our way back to main part of the festival.  We stop to get some food in what turned out to be the snack hut.  The Ddoppokki just wasn't cutting it--too spicey!  So when we enquire about having some of the trout that others have caught, the Korean staff people point us over to the building next to the place we were currently in.

So, Sarah and I determine we are going to have some trout.  Some freshly caught beauties.  The only problem--how to order said trout.  Because, when you first walk up to the order line, all you see is sashimi.  Sashimi, for anyone who doesn't know, is raw fish cut into very thin slices.  I'm sure some people are into it (in fact, it was being sold at alarming rates) but I'm going to pass on that one.  Instead, Sarah and I wanted the baked trout.  But, when we went up to the counter, I had a little bit of trouble ordering.  "Sashimi, annieyo.  Cooked?"  [raw fish, no.  cooked?]  She just looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language--oh wait!  I was!  Actually, I'm not sure if sashimi is a Korean word--I know if from Japanese.  So I could have been saying foreign languageS.  Not going to help.

Trout Sashimi

So I go accost some random Koreans who were eating the fish.  I go up, and politely say, "Anneihaseyo."  They look up and get this Deer-in-head-lights-oh-shit-the-waegook [foreigner]-is-speaking-to-us look.  I smile reassuringly and point to their fish.  "Name?  Irumi?"  Which I think is name, but now that i think about it, it could be how much, so that might explain why I was hitting a road block.  But I get an answer from one party, go back up to the lady in the line, and say, "Goon?"  She shakes her, not understanding.  I go back to another group of Koreans--young this time, and try again.  No luck.

At this point, Sarah and I were reaching the end of our rope.  But, dammit, I wanted that fish!  I love grilled fish--one of my favorite meals ever!  And I was at an Ice Fishing Festival, I wanted to eat the fish.  We literally watched people bring in their fish, had it cut up, and handed back over to them.  This is FRESH.  I wanted to eat it!  And so I thought, "if only I could show Ms Kim what the fish looks like, and she could write something down for me to show the line lady!"  And that made a light bulb go off.  Why do I need to show Ms Kim a picture?  I can show the line lady a picture!   So I walk over to another set of unsuspecting Koreans, pull out my camera, and quickly snap a photo.  (Play the Waegook Card--do random, strange things, and just smile, and they forgive/forget you!)

Proudly, I stroll back up to the line lady, who is starting to look at me with fear.  This is, what? the 4th time I've come up to her.  But, this time, I have my ace!  I zoom in on my camera, and point to the beautiful baked fish:

She gets this "AH!  I Understand!  This is what they were rambling about!"  It was a total "ASSA!" moment [Yes! with fist pump]!

Sarah and I proudly take our fish back to a table and sit down.  It is an Asian fish, so it still has all it's decorations--head and tail and fins.  And for two seconds we were worried that it would still have the guts, but then you peel the skin back and uncover this beautiful, red golden trout....In this instance, I am proud to be a cannibal (Yes, I eat flesh.).  We quickly Westernized our fish--putting the recite over the head:

And chow in.  And I do mean we dug in.  We finished one side of the fish--with chop sticks!--and quickly flip the fish over and devour the other half.  It probably is on my top ten foods I've ever eaten.  If not like top three.  I love fish--and this sucker was fresh, moist, yummy, succulent. and just all around delicious.  It hadn't been seasoned at all, just a little salt and pepper, so it was buttery, juicy, and just so good.  My mouth is actually watering describing this fish, that's how good it was.  And we didn't leave any behind:

all finish-ee!