Another beautiful tea plantation and accompanying annual festival, this time with my Korean language class and new friends. After leaving Naganupsong, we headed to what is now my second green tea plantation, this one in Boseong, in Chollannamdo Province.
A short hike takes one through a bamboo forest and then up to a steeply terraced hillside growing endless meandering rows of green tea. Fantastic.
Later that day our crew stopped by a tea house for the delicious beverage, where I had one of the most delicious, yet subtle teas I've ever had the pleasure of drinking. I'm not exaggerating either! This stuff is good if you've got the patience for its weak aromas. We posed outside the tea house, where we could get a view of the ocean and a tiny inlet.
Roger caught this other picture of me talking to this old man. I guess a gaggle of 20 foreigners is still a bit of a novelty in the Korean countryside, as this wide eyed old man came up to introduce himself to us. He tried to speak a few words in English, and some Japanese before trying to correct himself. The look on his face when I responded in Japanese and started asking him questions was priceless. Of course, he promptly peppered me with all sorts of questions.
As Japan invaded and occupied the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century up until just before their surrender in World War 2, most Korean folks of my grandfather's generation still speak Japanese, as the Korean language was banned by the Japanese colonial government at the time. This man undoubtedly grew up in that period.
1 comment:
>>most Korean folks of my grandfather's generation still speak Japanese, as the Korean language was banned by the Japanese colonial government at the time.
are you brainwashed?
Japan banned korean? what a lie..
Japanese taught even hangul in school.
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