New Years Day, or, the day I got farted on...

Happy (lunar) new year!  Goodbye to the year of the Pig and hello to the year of the Rat!  It is new years day (Seol/Seollal) here in Korea and we have a 5 day weekend to celebrate (yah, 2 whole weeks after I started working... it's a tough life here I tells ya)!  It's totally different to new years in the western world - probably more like Christmas day as far as celebrations go (although they do celebrate Dec 31st / Jan 1st here as well) .  In Korea, the lunar new year holiday is a time to visit family and pay respect to bygone ancestors.  There is a mass exodus from Seoul as people travel across the country to return to their home towns - traffic is horrendous - apparently it is not uncommon for what would normally be a 5-6 hour drive from Seoul to Busan to take up to 24 hours during the new year break! 

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Some Koreans choose to break from tradition during this time and use the 5 day break to travel abroad  - so much so that flights and ferry trips into and out of of Korea are ridiculously expensive and booked up months in advance... needless to say, I missed the boat, so to speak, and have been spending the last few days wandering around in what feels like a deserted country.

So many little kids dressed up in their traditional Hanbok today - soooo cute!

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Last night Ellen and I decided we should hit the town to ring in the new year... but Yongtong had morphed into somewhat of a ghost town. Hardly anything was open and some of the neon signs had even been turned off (which is a seriously scary thing to see when you're in a country where even toilets have neon signs).  With no street parties or fireworks, we decided to head to the ever faithful Now Bar... surely the other foreigners in town (who would throw a party for a bowel movement) would be celebrating the occasion. Nope, not so much.  Maybe everyone had braved the traffic and headed out of town too?  So Ellen and I made our own little toast to the new year and headed home to read up on possible new years day activities.  We decided on Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul.

Front gateway of Changdeokgung Palace, which wasn't too busy considering it was one of few things open on New Years Day.

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After a massive trek to get to the palace (apparently when Seoul is deserted the roads are still packed and the bus lanes are open to private cars... and Ellen and I forget to check we are actually on the right subway train), we were happy to find that a lot of Koreans dress in Hanbok and visit traditional places such as the palace!

These two lovely ladies were kind enough to pose for us in their beautiful Hanbok. 

Gamsa-hamnida!

How cute is this kid!?!?! (Thank goodness for the dress... I would've sworn it was a boy otherwise!)

This is the artwork on the ceiling of the building in the above picture.  The picture doesn't really do justice to the amazing detail and vibrant colours (yes, I am an art critic in my spare time these days too... very talented girl I am).

It was such a beautiful sunny day... but don't let that fool you!  I have NEVER been so cold in my life... guess that's what you get for walking around for 6 hours in sub-zero temperatures.

And look!  There's still some snow on the ground 2 weeks after it last snowed!!

Yes that is a pond, and yes it's frozen solid (save a few spots where there was evidence of duck footprints and melted duck-belly shaped sections!)

Another frozen pond (it's such a novelty!) Kids were throwing chunks of ice and rock at it to try and break the surface (so glad they did... I wanted to but didn't want to get into trouble)... not even a crack was made though.

I want to squeeze this one and take it home!

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After hours of wandering around in the freezing cold (we actually bought a can of hot chocolate - they heat it up for you - in an attempt to thaw our freezing hands!), we headed toward nearby Insadong to find a place to eat and de-frost.  Being a tourist-y area a few places were open - but not many!  

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So anyway, we were innocently waiting for the little green man to allow us to cross the street but instead of getting a signal to go, a little Korean man standing in front of us wished us a happy new year in what I hope is not the traditional Korean new year greeting... He farted on us. Yes, he farted.  On us. Farted. So loudly, so unashamedly, he just let it rip and didn't even flinch... and nor did his friend (which makes the whole thing even scarier). A man - not a child, not a boyfriend, not a best friend, not a pensioner, but a total stranger in his mid-20s farted on us. He never bothered to check before or after the excretion - which is lucky for us as we were nearly on the ground in fits of laughter unable to believe that we just got farted on like it was the most normal thing in the world.  Welcome to the year of the Rat (maybe that should be the Dirty Rat).

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After our shock and laughter had subsided enough for us to walk again (I can't believe a dude farted on us), we managed to find a cosy pub / tea house and warmed ourselves with delicious home made teas and Bibimbap (rice mixed with vegetables and egg - very tasty).  As with every Korean meal, an interesting array of complimentary side dishes arrived... 

Top Left: "some sort of a stick off a tree" (courtesy of Ellens articulate nature) with oily prawns.  Top Right: Not entirely sure... looks like drain-hair, smells like drain-hair probably tasted like drain hair (the smell alone was enough to make me gag).  Bottom Left: Little dried fish... like whole fish... with little bones and little eyeballs... and a big, nasty taste. Bottom Right: The Korean staple dish, Kim-chi (cabbage, left to ferment in a spicy sauce in pots in the sun - smells like feet).

Me, bracing myself for the little fish... they vomit me but I tried them (please take note of that DAD)... and yes, I am aware that I look like Theodore from the chipmunks... with dentures.

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I can't believe we got farted on....