Oyster Village

SEOUL | DAY 02

-OYSTERS-

In the morning, Tae and I left Seoul for Songtan (송탄), a town in Pyeongtaek (평택) which is close to the US biggest overseas military base. It took about two hours to get their by bus. Songtan was a very quiet town, and the snow made it seem even quieter.

We walked through the cold to my friend’s grandma’s house. Tae, her cousin, and I took her grandma on a one-day trip to Cheon-buk Oyster Village (천북 굴단지). The view on the way to the Village was gorgeous. The trees and fields were all covered with snow. We have similar things in Virginia too — hills and trees — but it felt different for some reason.

Somehow, Korea always feels less foreign, even though I only stayed for less than two weeks every time I came to visit, whereas I’d been living in America for almost 8 years now. Maybe, it’s the food and the culture.

I’m more familiar with seniority and being treated with more respect by younger people. Even I’m in a majorly Korean-American community, it still doesn’t feel the same. I like how people are very friendly in America (or at least in Blacksburg, VA) and how I can easily hug a 70 years old lady at church and call her “my friend”. At the same time, it’s hard to respond to younger people when they speak up. It’s common for them to express their opinions with confidence which is something I really admire, but I can’t help but feel a little disrespected. It's like I'm in that weird gap between American and Asian culture.

We pulled over at a rest stop for some gas and snack. I heard so many great things about Korea’s rest stops, but I was pretty disappointed by the food there #haha

When the view of the ocean came into sight, both of the cousins started calling their grandma, "할머니! 할머니! 바다! 바다! (Grandma! Grandma! Ocean! Ocean!)" with a high pitched voice. It's pretty rejuvenating seeing two adult women being child-like in front of their grandmother. I couldn't help but laugh at them out loud. As I am writing this, my friend's sharp voice is still echoing in my ears.

After two hours of driving and getting lost, we finally arrived at the Oyster Village, and we were greeted with many Oyster stores. Again, they all looked the same.

Having done some research, Tae took us to a shop called “the House with a Good View (전망 좋은집)” which had been televised on MBC before. The place felt like a camping site rather than a restaurant. There was no heating system inside, but being close to the grill helped warm ourselves a bit.

They gave us some shellfish as an appetizer (for free? I didn't pay for this, so I had no idea).

This place is known for their Steamed Oysters (굴찜) which comes in a big bucket. The entire bucket of oysters cost us 30,000₩ or about 30 USD for a whole bucket of fresh oysters! That's a pretty good deal, right?

They gave us aprons, gloves, and knives to open the oysters. The ahjussi would come to help us sometimes because we were struggling so hard. The oysters were super fresh.

We also ordered the Oysters Rice (돌솥영양굴밥) which was served in stone pot. I'm not a fan of the dish, but my friend and her cousin seemed to like it.

Finishing everything felt like self-torturing, but we eventually did it.

We drove out to the seashore. We could have walked there, but it was so cold. We parked on the side and walked out to take some pictures.

Despite the cold, my friend's cousin took off the her coat for the sake of pretty pictures, and we all ran back to the car shivering afterward. From where we were at, we also could see wind turbines along the seashore. I love it!

Oyster Village (전망 좋은집)

Address: 충청남도 보령시 천북면 장은리 959-17 (Naver Map)

Korean Review Blog for the restaurant: Click

-SEOUL-

We came back to Songtan and took the train back to Seoul from Suwon the same evening. It was snowing a lot in Seoul too — perfect time to order Fried Chicken!

My friend's apartment is in an area filled with love motels. There were also small flyers for prostitution on the ground. Seoul is a place that I love being at, but at the same time, my heart breaks so much whenever I’m there.

People portray themselves as conservatives, but they often turn their face away from the issue of sex trafficking and prostitution, pretending that such a thing doesn't exist. People cope stress with alcohol and commercial sex. Treating business clients with some girls is common when it shouldn't. How can we turn a blind to this problem when orphans are lured into selling themselves on a daily basis like this?