Wandering Fel

Hmm, okay, without the sign board, I would really have no idea that there is something special (or mysterious, hmm, maybe I should use this word instead since that's what the road is name as) about this road. In a glance, it really looks like a normal road out there in any city in any country. 

This is where the tour guide's responsibility of showing off the mystery of his/her own country is tested. Jenny gathered us shorly after all of us have alighted from the bus and she showed us certain experiment which require a bottle of water. She poured some water on the road and asked us to see if the water will flow to certain direction. By right, the water should flow downhill because I think that's how gravity works (I nearly failed my physics final exam back in high school though). The water did flow to a certain direction but it flows toward...uphill?

Unconvinced, we asked Jenny to do more experiment and she gladly obliged (or more like no choice). She rolled the water bottle on the road and the water bottle also rolled uphill. Huh? Turns out there is an optical illusion rendered by seemingly high surroundings on this particularly road. The road earned its name (Mysterious Road/ Dokkaebi Road in Korean) because objects and liquid appears to roll and flow up the hill instead of down. Ah "gravity defiance" arraseooo. 

Once we have understood the mystery behind the not-so-mysterious road, we were lured by even deeper mystery. What are these food sold by the street food vendor right beside the road? Hahaha after all, the greatest mystery on earth can't be solved on empty stomach, no? I did not buy any snack because we were having lunch soon but fellow tour members did say that the rice cakes were good. So if you are visiting this road, don't forget to also indulge in the mystery of the street food right beside the Mysterious Road, okay? 

5 minutes later, the bus driver has dropped us at our lunch venue for Day 2 on Jeju Island, Samgyetang Restaurant. 

Before the main item, Samgyetang, appeared, we were served side dishes which seems to be all vegetables and white noodle. Hmm I wonder if Golden Rama is trying to make us healthy or turn us into vegetarian. Oh well, eat kimchi everyday while you are staying in Korea, I suppose? After all kimchi is supposedly good for health. Maybe that's how the Korean get their perfect complexion.

Here comes the Samgyetang. Oh gosh, Samgyetang turns out to be a hot pot of steamed chicken filled with white rice and served in boiling chicken ginseng broth. Okay to make it shorter, Samgyetang is ginseng chicken soup. The size of one serving of Samgyetang is huge because it is practically one whole chicken (albeit smaller size) stuffed with garlic, rice, jujube and ginger. I was kinda questioning the selection of the menu because this does not seem like what people supposed to eat on a hot summer day since the weather outside practically can fry raw egg on the road. However, Jenny explained to us that Koreans traditionally eat this dish during the hottest day of summer as a way to keep up their energy and balance their body heat with the heat outside. Fight fire with fire they say. Ahh okay. Although I think I would not mind a glass of iced water right now. 

The restaurant seems to have a huge collection of ginseng on a display. At this point in time, Jenny has continued explaining about the good quality of ginseng in South Korea and there are many other countries (China, ahem) who try to produce lower quality ginseng and claim that their ginseng is as good South Korean's. Hmm I don't think I am willing to afford so much for ginseng in a bottle no matter how many years the ginseng has been preserved but other people may really believe in the awesome benefit of this ginseng. We'll see how many people will buy ginseng when we visit the official ginseng store in Seoul.