My trip in brief ^-^:

25/11

We landed in Incheon early in the morning. It’s slightly chilly but not too cold. We were met by Uncle KF and Aunt J and her dad and uncle. Had to pick up Uncle KT and family and Aunt M and then it was off to Sangju, Aunt J’s hometown. The trip to Sangju took practically the whole day simply because the traffic around Seoul city was terrible that day. After having lunch we had a walk around the area. It was in the area where one of the old walls protecting Seoul in the old days was located. The first stall we came by on was a little stall with a little grandma and grandpa sitting selling… Silk worms! Braised in their own juice!! Aunt J’s dad bought a cup and asked us to try. He seemed to like it so it couldn’t be too bad I thought. Doubtless the silk worm looked ugly, but who knows, it might taste gold…. Not… it was a little crunchy like how prawn shells are, and the taste is hard to describe… it seemed like a cross between a not-extremely-fresh shrimp and a peanut. I can’t say I’m in a hurry to have another any time soon, though truth be told it’s not exactly very bad either… (no idea how to add captions to my photos, so I'll put explanations in brackets like this - photo of Aunt J's brother eating a silk worm larvae, too bad it didn't come out clearer :( )

We reached Sangju about 6.40pm? We checked in to the hotel we were booked in, the Sangju Tourist Hotel, and then it was out for dinner again. We weren’t hungry but Aunt J’s dad insisted. There wouldn’t have had been anything remarkable about dinner, except for the little platter of grasshoppers (I think) on the table. That one tasted much better than silk worms, in fact, it’s just like those sweet crispy ikan bilis we get back home. Just that they look slightly different. Aunt M agreed they tasted quite good as well. LOL!

26/11

It’s the day of the wedding ceremony. I got up about 8am. Breakfast Korean style at the hotel was rice (Korean rice is almost like glutinous rice and very fragrant I must add!), a bowl of stew, and loads of side dishes. There always seem to be two types of kimchi around, one made of cabbage, the other of radish.

Uncle KF and Aunt J managed to persuade grandma to go for a make-up session. The results?? Let’s just say we were all stunned. It’s kind of like total makeover and the make-up artist even gave her false eyelashes! Though it had to be taken off sometime afterwards because they were irritating grandma’s eyes. ^-^"'

The formal Western style ceremony came first. Aunt J looked really beautiful and Uncle KF dashing!! Loads different from the tired and weary couple I met at the airport yesterday! First, both mum’s from both sides of the family had to walk up the aisle together and each light three candles of happiness. And then in came the bride and her dad. The organiser played Miss Annoying though, she seems to be constantly bustling around and I rather my photos don’t include her! Then up the aisle came our man of the day, then there was bowing to parents from both sides of the family. Vows were later exchanged. I’ve no idea what the guy was saying of course, he was speaking all the while in Korean, but it was a really really (x100) long ‘lecture’! Then came the scary bit. I didn’t manage to get a photo of this part, but for the cake cutting ceremony or whatever people call it, the bridesmaids pulled out this ultra long knife which looked to me more of a samurai sword than the dainty knife one associates for cutting cake :S!

Even better was the Korean traditional wedding ceremony afterwards. Aunt J looked so cute with the two little bright red spots of paint on her cheeks! Uncle KF’s outfit was very interesting, with a big rectangular belt which I don’t think looks very comfy :P! There was a ceremony where wine was symbolically given to the parents to drink, and then the parents had to give some words of advice. And a little fruit tossing from grandma to them, which they had to catch with a piece of cloth. The fruit they caught were supposed to represent the number of kids they were supposed to have ^-^"'!

We got to meet Aunt J’s dad’s side of the family that evening when we dropped by their house for tea. The family seemed very close and were very friendly, it was nice getting to meet them. The house had lots of calligraphy and traditional paintings on the wall, and it turns out that they were all painted by Aunt J’s mum and grandma! *applause* There was even a portrait of Aunt J’s brother done by her mum!

It was dinner straight afterwards and it was then we were introduced to Aunt J’s mum’s side of the family, and also her cousin who would be acting as our translator during our tour. The most notable dish was a platter of raw beef that was… julienne-d? shredded? It was all red, but it was only after chewing into some that I realised what it was. It’s surprisingly yummy, but then again, something I could always do very well without :P! Only other wonderfully weird thing I ate today was a raw piece of squid which I had thought was cooked already... that… was worse than… rotten fish. But then don’t get the idea that everything served was like that though, there were lots of other lovely stuff like bulgogi and jap chae and so on. Just in case anyone else got that impression like Parrotsai… -_-"'