My Gomo-bu told me the one thing I had to eat when I got to Mokpo was sae-bal nakji. I believe that translates into like 3 legged squid. When I arrived in the train station, I went to the information/visitor’s booth, and asked the very nice woman about where to go to eat sae-bal nakji. She directed me towards this restaurant…
I am not 100% sure this was sae-bal nakji, but it was nakji (squid) and it really was the most damn fresh nakji I’ve probably ever eaten. It was tender, slightly sweet, but moist and juicy. It was sooo good.
Since I was there on my own, I seemed to have drawn attention from the rather obnoxious drunk men sitting to my right. They kind of were badgering me a bit, I am not entirely sure what they said, as their accents were so strong that I could barely make out it was Korean.
I decided I didn’t want to really stay much longer and asked for my leftover food to go (I was full anyways), the waiter guy gave me a cup of free “coffee” (Koreans seem to have an obsession with this instant packet of coffee that is pre-sweetened) that actually fit my mood for the moment. So, I sipped it as I headed towards Il-deung-bawi; basically a big rock (as opposed to mountain) that one can climb and overlook areas of Mokpo.
On my way up to what I thought was the peak, the signs were confusing, I met a group of ahjummas (motherly aged women/ladies) whom at first, I was like… oh dear lord…here they are….these insane ahjummas traveling in herds.
Well, they were all taking pictures at this pseudo-peak, and since I was there, I asked one of them to take a photo of me. One ahjumma was being really friendly to me, asking me these questions of where was I from, what was I doing, commenting on me being alone, etc. Since, by this point, I had spent enough time with her on this pseudo-peak, I decided she needed to be part of my photo montage and asked her to be in a photo with me. One of her friends graciously took the photo, commenting on how we looked like mother and daughter (I don’t see that, except if one thought about it ignorantly); then the ahjumma I was taking a photo with, feeling kindred with me, handed me a bag of cherry tomatoes and sweet crackers as a parting gift.
They went on their merry way and so did I towards the real peak of Il-deung-bawi. I ran into them again, as they also went towards the same peak (I did not know this, it seemed like they were done climbing based on my initial encounter with them, but apparently not; a testament to the will of ahjummas). I got to the top, top and as I descended slightly to the “base” area of the top, the same ahjumma I took a photo with was like, we must share some coffee together (now this would be coffee #2 for me on the same day and anyone who knows me, knows I don’t really drink coffee, I am a tea person – but I decided to be gracious to her offer anyways). She was stating how the coffee was so good, at least to her…etc. I accepted her cup, took a sip, smiled (all the while with my taste buds screaming in waaay over sweetened disgust and burnt coffee flavor), and said thank you. I took another sip for good measure, said I had to be on my way…walked down a bit, and chucked the coffee for the betterment of everyone. It wasn’t even remotely drinkable for me, and I am tolerant of many, many things, especially food (although is coffee food?), but, again if you know me, you know I hate waste of any kind.
Part of the reason I took my time going up and down Il-deung-bawi is because I was debating on which island/islet I wanted to go to. I had read somewhere that the best way to do it, was to just arrive in Mokpo, choose one and go.
I chose Jindo.
Why?
Because of Jindo-gaes of course. ☺ Jindo-gaes are dogs from Jindo. They are indigenous to the island and to Korea. They look a bit like fox-bears to me. I wanted to go to the island from whence they came, so onto a bus and like 3 hours later or something, I arrive in Jindo.
Mokpo from up high
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