These last two weeks were a lot of fun! Bryon came to visit us! We spent a lot of time in Seoul traveling as well as Gongju and some other surrounding cities. But the highlight was the ice fishing festival! There is an organization we like called Adventure Korea. They set up weekend trips for foreigners to various places around Korea. They take care of everything (transportation, food, lodging, activities, etc…). So, the weekend started out with a bus ride to the festival in a northern province (about 30-40mins away from North Korea). There were hundreds of people there. We started off the adventure appropriately with some ice-fishing. Within 10mins Bryon caught one! We put it in our plastic bag to eat later that night. We continued fishing and Michelle was using multiple strategies. If I can recall, loosely and with my own interpretation ;) she was wiggling her fishing line and pole to the “dance”, the “bob”, the “sway”, and some rapid fire jiggling. Unfortunately, her moves just weren’t interesting the fish. But that’s ok because soon our Adventure Korea guides (along with the paparazzi) came over to string our lines and hooks with some already caught fish for some picture and marketing purposes. My roommate, April, was the main event of the photo shoot topping it off with a kiss for the fish.
After that, we enjoyed various things around the festival such as fried/grilled foods, warming our frostbitten toes in the tents, looking at snow sculptures, and sledding on the ice with wooden boxes. There were also 4-wheeler rides on ice, ice skating, and tubing.
But among all these exciting festivities, none could compare to the bare hands fishing. Imagine, 2-4degree Celsius water outside in one of the most northern parts of Korea in a little pond filled with fish. We were instructed to strip down and put on a bright orange t-shirt and shorts. Then, we huddled together outside in the cold before lining up on the edge of this man-made pond. Once on the ledge, our feet were stinging from the snow and ice under us. There were news cameras and a band of Koreans circled around us shouting and cheering for all the shivering foreigners. Finally, they instructed and cheered one of us to dive in the start the event. The goal was to catch as many fish as you can with your hands.
I should preface this: A group of Koreans went before us to do this, they were shoving them down their t-shirts, putting them in their mouths, and catching them one after another. So many people from our group were determined to catch 3 or 4.
Ok, back to the big dive in. Some brave soul from our group went for it, dove head-first right into this arctic water! We were then all instructed to get in. Michelle and I were quite slow to get in. In fact, I am pretty sure I was the last to get in. Once I was in, my legs and feet were numb with pain. My feet and legs went rigid and it hurt! My brain was saying to me “this is not right, this is not right, you’re going to get frostbite and never be able to use your toes or legs again!” There were people taking pictures and video recording us, but there was no posed smile on our faces. I just screamed frantically into the news camera. Michelle, our friend Stephanie, and I were the first ones out. I would definitely say within 30 seconds of being in the water we headed out. We waddled, feet numb, over to the tent with a large wooden foot spa where we carefully put our feet in. At first you could only let the steam hit is because the warm feel of the water hurt your numb feet so badly, it took me about 5 minutes before I was ready to fully submerge my feet and calves.
So, you might ask, did anyone catch some fish with their bare hands!?!? The answer is no. Why? Remember the group of Koreans that went before us? Well, they caught most of the fish. There were like 5 fish left for the foreigners. We were all just splashing around, going completely numb looking for these dang fish when all along there was nothing there! To say the least, I think we got played. But on a brighter note, Bryon and the excellent fisherman he is, caught a fish with his bare hands! However, as soon as he held it up in the air to show, it slipped out of his hands back in the water never to be seen again.
It was a fun adventure! Enjoy the pics!
Love, Kayleigh
After that, we enjoyed various things around the festival such as fried/grilled foods, warming our frostbitten toes in the tents, looking at snow sculptures, and sledding on the ice with wooden boxes. There were also 4-wheeler rides on ice, ice skating, and tubing.
But among all these exciting festivities, none could compare to the bare hands fishing. Imagine, 2-4degree Celsius water outside in one of the most northern parts of Korea in a little pond filled with fish. We were instructed to strip down and put on a bright orange t-shirt and shorts. Then, we huddled together outside in the cold before lining up on the edge of this man-made pond. Once on the ledge, our feet were stinging from the snow and ice under us. There were news cameras and a band of Koreans circled around us shouting and cheering for all the shivering foreigners. Finally, they instructed and cheered one of us to dive in the start the event. The goal was to catch as many fish as you can with your hands.
I should preface this: A group of Koreans went before us to do this, they were shoving them down their t-shirts, putting them in their mouths, and catching them one after another. So many people from our group were determined to catch 3 or 4.
Ok, back to the big dive in. Some brave soul from our group went for it, dove head-first right into this arctic water! We were then all instructed to get in. Michelle and I were quite slow to get in. In fact, I am pretty sure I was the last to get in. Once I was in, my legs and feet were numb with pain. My feet and legs went rigid and it hurt! My brain was saying to me “this is not right, this is not right, you’re going to get frostbite and never be able to use your toes or legs again!” There were people taking pictures and video recording us, but there was no posed smile on our faces. I just screamed frantically into the news camera. Michelle, our friend Stephanie, and I were the first ones out. I would definitely say within 30 seconds of being in the water we headed out. We waddled, feet numb, over to the tent with a large wooden foot spa where we carefully put our feet in. At first you could only let the steam hit is because the warm feel of the water hurt your numb feet so badly, it took me about 5 minutes before I was ready to fully submerge my feet and calves.
So, you might ask, did anyone catch some fish with their bare hands!?!? The answer is no. Why? Remember the group of Koreans that went before us? Well, they caught most of the fish. There were like 5 fish left for the foreigners. We were all just splashing around, going completely numb looking for these dang fish when all along there was nothing there! To say the least, I think we got played. But on a brighter note, Bryon and the excellent fisherman he is, caught a fish with his bare hands! However, as soon as he held it up in the air to show, it slipped out of his hands back in the water never to be seen again.
It was a fun adventure! Enjoy the pics!
Love, Kayleigh
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