Food and Golf in Geomdan

all in

It's a little surprising that Shabu Shabu is popular in Korea. Japanese food has always had a somewhat tenuous attraction for Koreans - Japan is somewhat distasteful to older Koreans due to the history of conflict I mentioned in a previous post. But still, Japanese food is popular, especially among younger Koreans. Despite the longstanding strain of relations, the two nations share remarkably similar cultures and languages. This of course extends to food as well, so it's hard to appreciate one and not the other.

pretty flower cake - great fish taste!

Japanese cuisine (and traditional culture in general, I suppose) tends toward more ornamental presentations, while Koreans prefer a more rustic feel. I'll go out on a limb and call this a difference in the way the two cultures handle authority: Koreans appreciate a practical DIY approach, while Japanese are more at ease with a heirarchical order of aesthetics. Still, Koreans were ruled by Kings with a well ritualized court culture for millennia. I can't say that Koreans don't appreciate the ornamental in small doses.

roll your own

This place is a very popular chain - I forgot the name of it. You get a table full of different vegetables and sauces, then you put them all together in a rice paper roll (think spring rolls). This is kind of like a Vietnamese barbecue I had once, but I don't know if it's typical of any particular cuisine. It's definitely a fusion concept in Korea.

no need for silent vowels when you're in the 'zon
Golfzon is a screen golf system developed in Korea that's like a mix between a driving range and a video game. I've talked about the concept previously. Golfzon is the same setup, but it's supposedly much better at tracking the ball and being realistic and stuff like that. Personally, I found the realism and tracking to be about the same as when I played a few years ago with bro. He's gotten better of course, so it was a route once again. I somehow improved my game with absolutely no practice since the last time (maybe the computer was being nicer to me). This prompted bro to comment that I have golf potential. Well I'll keep whacking away with Wii Golf and let you know when I'm ready to hit the links, bro.

how's my swing?
The system was nice for practice because you can watch your crappy form in action after you've sliced one into the woods. It's good to know that I tend to slouch and look generally frumpy when I'm swinging a golf club - nice! This whole experience has thoroughly discouraged me from setting foot on a real golf course again.

golf n fish n guns

I've never attended a trade show on video game technology or anything like that, but I thought of myself as somewhat aware of the state of the art. That is, until I met the Korean screen golf system. This is the super elite spy training simulator of golf.

bro rules at this

Here's the breakdown. You rent the clubs and a glove, then go into a bahng (room) that has three walls that are screens. There are three projectors that give you some degree of surround experience, kinda like the CAVE but not 3D. I thought we were going to be laser golfing at first, but lo and behold, a rubber tee pops up loaded with a ball. So wait, I'm supposed to whack the ball at the screen? Yeah, just hit it as hard as you can. You just have to hope it doesn't bounce back at your face I guess. Maybe this doesn't exist in the US because of the lawsuit potential – I could be wrong here.

The platform that you stand on actually adjusts to the terrain of the course. So when you hit the ball out of a bunker, the platform makes a steep hill facing whichever way the bunker lays. Putting was the hardest part, because judging the strength of your putt based on a distance number (in meters of course) is pretty tough. I don't even know how accurate this contraption is – there is a sensor that seems to check the speed and direction of your ball's trajectory. I managed to chip in one shot for a birdie. The computer must have felt bad for me.

I made it through 18 holes of fake golf without getting hit in the face or any other disaster. My game was terrible, much to the chagrin of my brother-in-law. I explained that the last time I swung a golf club was when he visited the states back in 2007, but he thought I sucked anyway.

Anyone want to go in on a screen golf room with me?


Here's a food shot of the hwe we ate in Incheon.

Hwe is the Korean version of sushi, which is more like sashimi – just plain raw fish without the rice. Korean hwe is different because they use only white fish like flounder and mackerel (no tuna or salmon traditionally). You dip pieces of fish in a spicy cocktail sauce, but most places will give you soy sauce and wasabi if you like.

I have to say that the place we went to really laid it out. We had probably 20 different banchan (side dishes). Some of them were way over the top: fake sushi, creamed corn, mini fake sweet potatoes made of potato and bean powder, raw scallops, mayonnaise soaked prawns, and even a big bowl of silkworms (nobody liked that). I guess I'd give them points for trying, but all that in one meal was a little gross.

I didn't take a picture of the first course: freshly cut up octopus with the legs still moving. It's a little creepy to eat because the suckers latch on to your teeth. But it's well worth it for the boost in stamina you get, supposedly. We all had fun trying to pick up the pieces of leg that wouldn't let go of the plate. I think there's another cultural metaphor here about eating difficult food or going on the ultimate quest for stamina boosting food/medicine - I'm not going to muse about that now.

a stuffed animal firing squad

I think Koreans have a secret obsession with guns. There's a little airsoft shooting gallery that we popped in after dinner. My aim was dead on after the Soju. What struck me was the realism of the airsoft guns. They're supposed to look and behave like real guns, which are illegal for any non-military use in Korea. That said, there are pairs of soldiers that prowl the airport with M-16s. I'm pretty sure their clips are empty, but that's still quite a show of force for a country where the crime rate is the same as the Hamptons. I made that up but it's really low. Anyway, this isn't a cohesive meme yet, but it's still worth a mention and a photo.

Next post: this time I promise it's Buseok. We got delayed a day in Incheon, and I've got lots of rad stuff to talk about. The fam's been keeping us busy.