Cheongpyeong (정평)

Last weekend I stayed at a pension in Cheongpyeong.  It was a heavily wooded area, with rolling hills, with wonderfully refreshing resevoir and a lovely river running around town--and we got there by subway.  It continues to amaze me the vastness of the public transportation here. 

It might take a while, but it's less than three thousand won ($2.80-ish) so it's simply wonderful.  Most of the ride is above ground, so the view from the window passes the time as I continue to be blown away by life outside of Seoul, in the Korean countryside, just inherently more engulfed in nature than I ever saw back in the states.

The night before we had been "good", and we were on our way on the subway at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning.  Impressive.  Because of our early start, we were in Cheongpyeong by 11:30 a.m.  In a blur of Korean I didn't understand we found ourselves at a supermarket, stocking up for the night ahead at the pension where we would set up some BBQ. Remember when you were ten years old at the supermarket?  What would your cart look like if your mom didn't take everything out to put back on the shelf?  Now: imagine that, but with a bunch of 20-somethings.  We got some watermelon, peaches, meat for the BBQ, some mushrooms to grill, some Korean seasoning, marshmallow cookies, beer, more beer, soju, more soju, chocolate... 

We soon found ourselves at the pension, climbing out the van: five adults and their goods.  We walked into our home for the night--a large, empty room equipped with one bathroom and one kitchen.  Not wanting to sound as ignorant as I was, I didn't ask where we were going to sleep.  Into another van and we were headed to the dock.

"That was nice of the pension to drive us to the lake," I said.

"This is the water company," said Jamie.

"Then who drove us to the pension?"

"The supermarket."

"The supermarket drove us?"

"Yes, because we bought things there."

I just stopped asking questions, thankful for the free rides for seemingly no reason at all.  Could you imagine that in New York City?  "I really appreciate your business.  Let me get this cab for you."  Ha.

The dock could not have been more perfect.  We ordered some fried chicken, and enoyed the view until we were brave enough to try the "Fly Fish".  That might be, as far as feeling, be one of the highlights of my life so far.  Pulled by the boat, you end up in standing position, holding on for dear life, as you become airborne for 5-10 seconds, looking out over the wake, into the mountains, over the water as it rushes beneath you.  We went on three rides throughout the day, alternating between tanning, swimming, boating, sleeping, drinking, and in general having the time of our lives. 

Because we were meeting two more of our friends at the pension, we dragged ourselves away from the water and headed back to start preparing for our BBQ.  Someone put the meat we had just bought in the freezer, so Rachel and I were in charge of melting the block with a combination of knives and microwaves.  Poor Gretchen was a victim of not being in the city, and was last to shower and use up all the water, so she was busy bathing out of a pot of water.  Eric was doing crazy things with the grill, and Jamie--the resident Korean in the group--was making sure we were doing everything correctly.  Looking around, it was nice to have these people around, making Korea a make-shift home full of happiness and laughter.  Even though we all know eachother to different degrees, we can somehow just appreciate where we are, and the wonderful opportunity we have to enjoy the moment we're in.  We set the table with the grilled, defrosted meat, the vegetables, the soybean paste, the beer, the soju and cheered. We had a great night filled with the fresh air of the mountains on our own deck looking out over this small, quaint town.  Jamie taught me the Korean motto that you pour someone as much soju as the amount you love them.  So, so much love that night.  So much.

The next morning I saw a line-up of the offenders.

We spent the next hour getting up, moving to a bench to lay for a while, over to a deck chair for a while, and back in bed, trying to get our day started.  It wasn't until we dragged ourselves back to the lake and into the water that we woke up.  Something about dumping your entire body into cold water wipes any hangover away instantly.  One more round of the Fly Fish and tanning and we were ready to head back into the busy metropolitan of Seoul, another great weekend in Korea.