Mood: Gald I'm not on the road tomorrow!
Music: Sub Focus - Sub Focus
Well, here we are again. Firstly I'd like to apologise for not getting yesterday's Rolf photo up earlier. I was very tired and also didn't want to start unpacking all of my belongings all over the very small traditional guest room I as sleeping in. Needless to say, he is there now.
We set out after I had eaten a traditional breakfast consisting of rice, a bowl of soup and anumber of dishes of stuff that I couldn't really identify. There was definately some strips of egg and some kind of meat, a dish of small chunks and then some small pieces of honey fried nuts and seaweed. In this last dish there was also a chunk of chili in the same coating. I think this might have been a bit strong for breakfast when you weren't expecting it!
Our first stop of the day was a paper factory. Whereas I had been taught at schol how paper was made, this would be the first time I would see it done live by hand.
I'll run through the steps now for those who want to know... if not skip on a bit as this might be dull(er than my usual drivel ;))!
********* Begin Paper Making *********
The bark of the tree is stripped and dried and then boiled in a lage vat of water and left to soak. The boiling and soaking is repeated several times until all of the pigment is released from the bark and it becomes a set of fiberous strands. These are picked by hand for their consistancy and then passed on to the next process. Those not selected are boiled yet again until they are ready for pulping.
The pulping is done by a large machine that is like a bath tub with an oval in the middle. This is so that the thrashing pushes the water and pulp around the tank in a circle to allow a greater amount to be processed in a single batch. The thrasher breaks up the strips of fiberous material into very short strands.
These are then transferred into a fairly deep pool. Also added into this is a semi viscous binding agent made from the released substance from the root of a plant that I could not understand the name of. The roots were all in a bathtub of water which is changed periodically. Into the pool a hanging tray is dipped. On this tray is a wooden blind. The blind is shaken with a layer of the pulp and then taken out an layed over the top of the previous layer with a tiny thread along one edge to sperate the layers.
This pile is then pressed in a huge mechanical press and the resultant sheets seperated and pressed onto a large metal frame with very hot water inside. The sheets dry out in a few seconds and are piled up ready to be dispatched!
********* End paper making *********
At the end of the factory was a shop containing a number of things made from paper including some clothes!
We took an early lunch here so that we could visit a nearby beef restaurant owned by a number of local farmers. The food was cooked on a circular dish with a sauce in a lip around the edge, on a burner in the middle of the table. We sat on the floor and filled up on really rather nice beef and accompaniments.
The only other stop of the day was the traditional Andong Hahoe folk village. This is a collection of maintained and lived in buildings. The area has a small exhibition celebrating the fisit of Her Majesty the Queen several years ago.
The rest of the day was spent on the road driving south towards Gyeongju. The twist roads soon opened out onto large motorways but it still took several hours to cover the hundreds of kilometers we were from my hotel for the next couple of nights.
Right now I need to get some washing done before heading down to peek at the karaoke bar here...
PS. The karaoke bar was a booth thing for groups. Rolf is pictured in front of the people singing in the reception area this evening (during a break).
No comments:
Post a Comment