June 2016 (by Pat)

We set out with another couple and their daughter on a 9 day trip driving south on the Baja peninsula.  Federal Highway 1 extends from Tijuana to Capo San Lucas, over 1000 miles.  We had some hopes, eventually abandoned, of reaching the end.  In any case, I had never been south of Ensenada  (60 mi. south of Tijuana) before and was looking forward to the adventure.

We got a somewhat later start than planned and had a late lunch, early dinner in Tijuana then continued on to Ensenada where we spent the night.  Above is the view from our Airbnb apartment near La Bufadora.

The next day we did little but drive down the west coast of Baja, 400 miles to the town of Guerro Negro.  The town is a hot spot for whale watching in the winter, but not much to see in the summer.

The next morning we turned east, across the central desert, approximately 150 miles to the mining town of Santa Rosalia on the Gulf of Cortez.  We stopped for lunch there.  As I got out of the air-conditioned car, I felt like I had stepped into a furnace.  It was brutally hot.

From Santa Rosalia we drove south about 125 miles to the town of Loreto where we spent two nights at a resort south of the city biking and kayaking and eating at a beachside shack (above) that served chocolate clams.  Chocolate refers to the color of the shells and the clams come from the local waters. The beach is covered with clam shells.

We were still over 300 miles from the tip of the peninsula and realized this was as far as we could go.  We headed north to an Airbnb on the water just south of Mulege.  The property was owned by a middle-aged American couple who had built two round buildings each of which was a two bedroom apartment.  They had also converted a lighthouse on the grounds into a two bedroom apartment.  The photo above was from the lighthouse.

We spent two nights there and the owner allowed us to take his speedboat out to a deserted beach on an island in the bay.  It was a lovely couple of days.

After this delightful and relaxing stay, we set out back through the desert, spending one night at a hotel in the middle of nowhere.  A few notes:

In both directions we were stopped several times at federal police checkpoints.  I was told that on the way south they are looking for weapons and on the way north they are looking for drugs.  I don’t know whether this is true or not, but, going south they just glanced in our car and sent us on.  On the way north they had us all get out of the car while they searched it.

This created a potential problem as our friend Yoon Hee is a tea master and travels with many interesting teas.  She was prepared however with photos of her work and cookies to give to the police.  We had no problem.

The only services that appear with some regularity on this stretch of road are tire stores.  At one point we had occasion to stop for a tire repair.  Inside the shop were three men smoking cigarettes and a young boy.  The work fell to the boy.  The cost – 50 pesos, about $3.  David gave him 80.

Among the services that do not appear are gas stations.  There are occasionally, however, roadside businesses with gas cans on tables (photo through the windshield.)  God knows what’s in the cans.

We spent the last night of the trip outside of Ensenada and the last day driving through the Ensenada wine country, with tastings and purchases.  We had dinner that day at a wonderful restaurant located in a vineyard.

There was one remaining problem.  David had lost his passport, now necessary for crossing between Mexico and the US.  We decided to cross in Tecate, less congested and, we hoped, more tolerant than Tijuana.  Still, it was an hour of inching forward before we got to the border guard’s booth.  David handed over 4 passports and a photocopy of his, explaining that he had lost his.  Other than me there were 2 Kims and 2 Chos in the car.  The guard looked at the documents and said:  “We do not have too much of a problem here with Koreans sneaking over the border.  I’m not sure about this Gallagher guy, though.”

Three more hours and we were home.

 

by Pat, the Irish American

Drinking Ritual 

Some years ago I wrote about the elaborate creation of boilermakers in Daegu, involving falling shot glasses and typhoons. Last week in Seoul I saw a combination and ritual I had not seen before.

We were having dinner with Han Angel at one of the sit on the floor restaurants in the alleys of Seoul. She had ordered soju and coke and made herself a Korean cocktail of the two. A number of young folks were at the table next to us, also with soju and coke, but they prepared it very differently.

First, a soju glass (think shot glass) was filled with soju and placed inside a small beer glass. Another soju glass was then filled with coke and placed inside the beer glass, inside the first soju glass. Lastly the beer glass was filled with beer and the whole combination chugged down. Koreans seem to be endlessly creative when it comes to drinking.

 

August 2009

Thursday was a rainy day. After a wonton breakfast, we took a cab ride to Moganshan, a large group of galleries similar to 798 in Beijing. There were so many galleries, that in two hours of viewing, we didn’t even get through two alleyways. It was great because these alleys were indoors, so we did not have to mess with umbrellas. The art ran from classic to contemporary. There was also a common theme. We were used to seeing Mao as a strong presence in the art, but we also saw many pieces where Marilyn Monroe and Barak Obama were represented. One of my favorite pieces was 20 foot silver ear of corn.

The rain stopped sometime while we were perusing the art, and for lunch, we all wanted a departure from Chinese food. YK found an Italian place with a great lunch deal. Both cab drivers had difficulties finding the location, so we walked a couple of blocks and found the restaurant. Actually, we found where the restaurant used to be. Evidently, the restaurant had moved “5 minutes away” and the sign promised a 20% discount if we made it to the other location.

Our “5 minute” walk was over 45 minutes of walking in the pouring rain. We even paused under an awning to wait for the rain to ease up. It didn’t. When we got to the new location, the building was dilapidated and clearly closed. Then someone noticed that there was another building with the same address that was the Italian restaurant.

Since it was about 2:30 PM at this point, we were the only ones in the restaurant. The special was a salad, choice of pasta, choice of sauce, and coffee or tea. The food was really good. Also, it was an excellent deal and the first salad I had had in three weeks. The deal was so good, Dad didn’t even ask for the 20% discount.

YK had another excellent idea after lunch. We took cabs to the Park Hyatt (the building right in front of the bottle cap building in the picture from a previous email), and we were going to go up to the 86^th floor for an expensive cocktail and a breathtaking view. The 86^th floor didn’t open until 5, which was an hour and half away. Instead, we enjoyed a free view from the 54^th floor.

Unfortunately, it was still grey and cloudy, but the view, as you can see, was spectacular. I don’t think I have ever been that high up in a building ever. I thought these buildings were huge, but from the 54^th floor we were towering over them.

As we left, we thought about going to the bottle opener building next door AKA the third highest building in the world. However, we realized that even if we went up in the building, the view would not have been that great because the top of the building was covered in clouds. This was the view of both buildings from the street:

As we drove off, I saw a sign on the bottle opener building that listed the prices (yes prices) of visiting the building. To go to the 100^th floor, it cost 150 Yuan, the 97^th floor cost 115 Yuan, and the 96^th floor was 100 Yuan (7 Yuan was about a dollar). It seemed like an awful lot to look at the inside of a cloud.

Since the cocktails didn’t work out, the six of us went back to Dragonfly to enjoy massages for our last night in China. We all left jellified, when we got in cabs and headed back to Nanjinglu, the shopping area we went to on Monday. There we were hoping to get dinner from a two-story mega foodery. It was like a swap meet for food. We got into this place and agreed to meet 15 minutes later with food to bring back to the hotel. However, we all were overwhelmed and after touring around the building, we realized that dinner was not there.

I don’t remember the name of the dinner restaurant, but it was beautiful. Though Euigyoo did a great job of ordering, there was some confusion. Euigyoo seemed to clarify everything. One of the things that he ordered was a duck. Soon, a man came that knew English, who was not a waiter or manager. We figured he was one of the restaurant big wigs or something. He explained that they were out of two dishes that we ordered and needed to order some replacements. We did so and thanked him for his help.

Dish after dish came to the table, and finally, the duck came. It was not like the duck that we had had before. Not only was the duck not as much food as we thought there would be, but the head of the animal (on the plate, of course) didn’t really look like a duck. When we were full, another dish came out. It was like the other dish that we thought was a duck, but it clearly was duck this time. The skin was dark like duck and the head of the animal (again on the plate) had a bill. So, we were wondering, what the hell was the other animal that we ate? At the end of the meal, our English speaking friend came over to us and asked how we liked the meal. We said it was great, but I asked, what was up with the animals? It turned out, that when Eigyoo ordered the duck, they only had half a duck left. In its place, he had ordered a goose. Animal #1 was the goose, and animal #2 was a duck. The duck was by far the better fowl.

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