Tea Time

Every so often, the lights of the big city get too bright, the cars too loud and the people too rude. Lucky for me, there are a few groups of people (meetup.com) who are always looking to get away.

Last weekend, about 35 foreigners and I took a 5-hour bus ride to Naejangsan--a mountain south of Seoul, known for its beautiful fall foliage. We spent most of Saturday hiking the mountain, then headed to Nagan Folk Village to spend the night in traditional Korean huts.The village was amazing, and so were the people. But sleeping on the floor, even after a year and some-odd months doing it, left something to be desired.

The next day, we visited a nearby green tea farm to pick flowers and drink tea. We also learned how to properly serve and drink the beverage, then took turns pressing and drying the leaves. As a reward, we got a box of loose leaf tea, a bag of green tea flowers and a big bowl of green tea bibimbap.Afterwards, we purchased green tea ice cream and an assortment of rice cakes and cookies for the ride home.

It was a good weekend.




Picking green tea flowers.

Some of my hard work.

The green tea leaves we pressed into shapes to dry.

Green tea bibimbap.