The worst thing I've ever eaten...

...is up for debate.

Do you remember the fantabulous duck boats and pedestrian bridge on the Geumho River? Well, that lovely little area of Daegu was the scene of much tomfoolery, intoxication and the forced consumption of some genuinely nasty shite. Rob and I decided to take one of the duck boats out for a spin, as seriously, how could anyone resist them? The duck boats were quite fun, although as aquatic vehicles go, remarkably inefficient. We were also rammed numerous times by duck-boats manned small children who then asked us repeatedly: How are you? How are you? How are you? Luckily, these things stood up to repeated impacts pretty well. Due to our embarrassingly shoddy Korean language skills, we weren't entirely certain how long we had out on the river in our crazy craft. After about an hour, we spotted the fellow we'd rented the bird from, speeding our way in a motorboat, pointing furiously at the shore. Whoops. At least we made it in under our own power; we saw several people being towed in. Possibly against their will.

Me in duck boat.


Rob in duck boat.










Why peddle?


Mother [duck] Ship!

Remember my camel? Well, we did try to mount it, but unfortunately it was both too tall and too flimsy. Turns out it's made of plastic! I could easily picture death coming in the form of a toppling giant plastic camel. Damn. After discovering that the camel could not be mounted, we decided to head over to the pedestrian bridge. On one end of the bridge are little tables, making a bridge-based bar. We decided to stop in for a beer... and stayed way too long.

The little tables are shaded by umbrellas.
As in the type you carry when it rains.

Bundaegi - silkworm larvae

The old ajumma staffing the restaurant brought us a free dish of bundaegi (silkworm larvae). We debated what we should do with them. I mean, it's rather rude not to eat something that's given to you for free, right? Well... after scrutinizing the bundaegi we decided that we'd just have to be rude. That was until several hours (and beers) later, when the ajumma literally forced one of these nasty little things into each of our mouths. I'm rather amazed that neither of us puked right then and there. Shortly thereafter, this group of drunken businessmen at a nearby table ordered a plate of something that, from a distance, looked yummy - and rather like something that would get the asstastic taste of bundaegi out of my mouth. I asked the ajumma what it was, and was told (in Korean) "pig meat" - well, I like Korean pork, so we decided to order some. Well, what the ajumma had neglected to mention was that by "pig meat" what she meant was "no meat whatsoever, and lots of lukewarm pig fat covered in hot red pepper paste." Foul. (I personally think that the bundaegi tasted worse, although Rob seems to think that the pig fat wins for nastiness.) We decided that we couldn't not eat the pig fat, since we'd ordered it... except that being unable to force ourselves to consume the stuff, we opted for chucking it off the bridge when no one was looking.

After finally leaving the bridge, we decided that we desperately needed palatable food. Unfortunately, the restaurants in the area were a bit pricey, and we were rather low on cash. We ended up splitting one undersized and over-priced portion of galbi (pig meat that is actual MEAT), which came with a dessert potato. Trust me, the real situation made as much sense as that sentence.

After dinner, I stumbled home - planning to fall promptly into bed - only to discover that Mr. Yu (my landlord) was having a small party on his front lawn. Somehow I got suckered into drinking rice wine with Mr. Yu and his middle aged Korean dude buddies. They also managed to convince me to eat something involving squid tentacles and something else that, best I could tell, was squid jerky. I met the dude who lives in the apartment next door to me, who wanted to know what it was inside my apartment that made the "Yeeow!" noise. (Hmmmm.... seems Mia's been making a racket when I'm not at home!) I also had a weird conversation with one of the fellows, who wanted to know why American women are always pretty before marriage, but then as soon as they get married, they get fat. Sigh. That was around the point when I took myself off to bed.