Friday, June 15, 2007

Crabmommy in Korea


Mommyknows, you win the cougar cap, you lucky, lucky lady. Indeed, while my trip may have sounded very South Carolinian (!?) to some, Korea was the destination. South. Not North. because in the North, the dictator is not so swell. He has a bouffant hairstyle and drinks a lot of French brandy, so I learned when visiting the border. And he kidnaps people he finds useful or fascinating, which must surely mean the likes of the Crabmommy.

For those many readers puzzled by the Korean sojourn, Crabgrandfather had a business visit there and offered to take me along for the ride. As always, I am generous with my company, so I obliged and thus spent a magnificent 6 days making the Crabpresence known in Asia.

Highlights:

--a piece of charcoal in a basket in my plush hotel room with the mysterious words "Charcoal is good for the environment" beside it.
--food. And more food. Abalone bibimbab. Bulgogi. The Koreans do not mess around when it comes to side dishes.
--watching locals eat on the beachfront at Jeju island. Each table has an aquarium next to it, containing all manner of intense marine life, and a personalized per-table individual granny attendant who whips out desired fish or urchin at appropriate moment and then chops or scoops it onto platter. Presto! Sushi.
--Korean steam rooms where mommies, grandmommies and tots scrape themselves with brushes and scratchy cloths, in every nook and cranny, all totally naked and not remotely shy. I went along with it. Just like boarding school, only with fancier baths and beauty products.
--Korean version of Carpenters' songs playing on hotel speakers everywhere I went. And classical music piped from fake stones hidden beneath topiarized bushes on tropical isle. You are walking to the beach and hear violins shooting out suddenly from within the heart of a strange shrub.
--honeymooning Korean couples dressed in matching clothes visiting the Teddy Bear Museum on Jeju island. I wanted to photograph them, but how do you do so politely?
--Koreans call Bush "Bushy." I don't know if it is meant to be pejorative or is just a linguistic tweak, but I like it. Bushy. Bushy!

My jetlag is really kicking in now, so you will have to forgive the Crabmommy for bloated prose. As a result of being far from my blogstation, I had a real vaycay and missed my tot horribly, who was looked after back home by Dad and Grandma. Nothing like a break from Crabtot to take the Crab out of the Mommy and make me absurdly thrilled to see that tiny face again.

And so off to spend some time with C-tot. Back to blog form and regular posting next week. Please do stop by my bloglet if you are panting for more in the interim.

6 comments:

info@thebabymarketplace.com said...

Yippee :)

Glad Kim Jong-il didn't find you particularly interesting (not like me)!

Did you go to boarding school? Me too! We have many things in common :)

Anonymous said...

My friend just returned from Korea, she loved the food too, but came home with a parasite.

May I add my own section to your site? (Thanks)

Ask Crabmommy (new section)-
years ago my husband commuted back and forth from South Africa. He loved the guava juice there (talks about it all the time) I have tried purchasing many different kinds of guava juice here in the states. Since you are from South Africa I thought you may have some guava juice suggestions.

Welcome back.

Unknown said...

More pix! where is the bath house pic or the charcoal?

Crabmommy said...

I know, I've been a bit crabassed about photos. I tried to snap the charcoal log but ran out of battery. My dad got a shot so I await the digital file. And the bath house...none too easy to get a cam aimed at some nudies in there. I think also Crabhubby would have been a tad cross if I had brought his cam into the steaminess.
Stephanie: guava juice is indeed divine. You might try the brand Ceres, which specialty stores carry. And also online stores specializing in South African goods, to be found in abundance b/c of all the homseick SA'ns in the US and Canada. BiltongUSA is one such. Some of them carry Ceres, I'm sure.

Anonymous said...

I missed the translation on the opening photo of this one! Double Virility Recovery Tea!! I can't believe you took a pass on providing more backstory on that one.

Anonymous said...

Double Virili-tea...a missed opportunitea indeed, A&A. Oh God, there she goes, punning at 10am. Bodes poorly for the day ahead.

So this was at a Reconstructed Korean Folk Village, where Koreans and the odd westerner come to regard the 18th century ways of Korea past. Korea is so mod, all been rebuilt in 40 years and all the odd stuff is mostly gone. So they come in droves to check out ye olde Koreane waye of Life (yes I realize I am seriously screwing up this linguistic thing, but I don't know how to render the point in olde Koreane).

Anyhoo, I loved the juxtaposition of the virility tea with the balding man within it. I myself did not taste the tea but of course I should have brought some back for Crabmommy monthly giveaway. Arggh. What an idiot! Not thinking. Too much luxury global travel and I forget the little people.

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