Spring has sprung.

It's finally springtime after a dull, but reasonably mild winter. Talk of the spring in these parts is always followed by talk about the cherry blossoms. "Oh, you have to see the cherry blossoms". "Spring is so great because the cherry blossoms are in bloom." "Cherry blossom blah, blah, blah". Forgive my synicism, but I don't see what the big deal is. They're white and pink flowers on trees. That being said, I did go to a cherry blossom festival in Yeoido. Yeoido is an island in Seoul on the Han River. The 63 building (the tallest building in Korea) is located on this island. I made the trip with my friends Caine, Gina, Barb, Marie, and Shannon. On a quick side note, I had attended a professional baseball game with this group the previous evening and caught my first ever fly ball. Truthfully, I didn't catch it. I bobbled it, batted it, and dove over three rows before I snatched it from a Korean. I then stood up and showed the ball to the crowd, who cheered my feat. This was easily the coolest thing that happened this particular weekend.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera at the game... but I did take a picture of this obnoxiously crowded subway station at Yeoido. At this point it dawned on me that the idea of seeing cherry blossoms on this island was a popular one. It was stiflingly packed with people, even by Korean standards.
Here is a picture of the crew after exiting the station. We were ready for a day of adventure looking at overrated flowers in an incredibly crowded forum. Just my type of thing.


Next we get to the meat of this entry. By meat, I mean foul-smelling boiled silk-worm larvae which is called bondaegee. This stuff was everywhere on this day, and the air reeked of it. This might be the strangest food in Korea, and that's really saying something. Kids eat this stuff out of ice cream cones and love it. I tried it one time (a person will eat anything after a couple of bottles of soju) and it actually tasted grosser than it smelled. Throw in the crunchy bug texture and you've got a truly revolting snack. The Koreans love this stuff though. Go figure.


Finally, I've included a shot of the rows of magnificent, majestic, and overwhelmingly beautiful rows of cherry blossoms. (note: sarcasm) So now I figure my six readers are thinking: "This is the best he's got after taking a month off". Not to worry, spring is here and activities abound. As many of you know, I'm taking a trip to Cambodia in a couple of weeks, so I should have plenty to talk about. The next installment, however, will be a feel good local piece involving a bottle of water. Stay tuned, and enjoy the springtime!