Vegan's Chronicles

City Escape or Countryside Escapades

Spent another wonderful Saturday in Cheonan this weekend. Warning: it's gonna be a long photo blog!

First things first, my Breakfast of Champions: fresh fruit!

In the morning, my mum and I went hiking in one of the mountains by our area. We were hoping to pick wild raspberries, but found out that they're not yet ripe. We probably have to wait another month or so. The mountain has a ton of berry bushes all over the place, so once they are red and ready, we will go berry-picking-crazy! Just u wait!

So instead of berry-picking, I just observed a bunch of bugs instead:

Gotta love the second bee coming in to join his friend. Check out his legs doing the splits. Wheee!

This guy was hilariously trying to push his head further into the flower. Greedy little bugger.

Can you see the stick bug?

After our hike, my parents and I went to this one restaurant/cafe that is hidden among mountains and close to a lake, about a 30-minute drive outside of Cheonan. Its name, translated in English, is basically 'Said the Fox,' which is inspired from the story 'Le Petit Prince.' My parents know the owners of this restaurant and have been going here for many years now. I don't think many people know about this place because it is pretty hidden... you would only know about it from word of mouth.

The owners are an older couple who basically just live this simple life in the mountains, running this small restaurant all on their own. The wife is actually an art school graduate and she has some of her paintings displayed around the cottage-style restaurant, including the 'Le Petit Prince' imagery. The atmosphere here is really quiet and relaxing and the couple are lovely folk. Every time I go there, I think to myself, 'This is how I want to live when I am older.'

Their menu is pretty small, but what you get is yummy. My family always orders the same thing: the Sanchae Bibimbab. Everything feels so natural and homey, and you can literally feel the love and care that went into the food. It makes you appreciate the experience that much more.

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Here's what the area looks like. I think the urban areas here are pretty ugly, but I love Korea's mountains. I think I absolutely have to live somewhere with hills. And once the weather gets really hot, I am SOOO swimming in this lake!

We also stopped by a flower shop/greenhouse to pick up some new plants and some soil.

While my mum was busy picking out some new plants and chatting up the owner lady, I was enamored by her two kitties and a puppy. They were adorable, but also looked really poorly... . dirty and scrawny. Especially the kittens who were kept in a kind of cage trap. :( I just wanted to lift the cage top up so that they could escape, or at least reach their food bowl.

Anyhooo. I'm so thankful that my parents live in Cheonan because they are the perfect excuse to escape Seoul. The more I get out of the city, the more I realize just how beautiful Korea is. Can't wait to explore this country more~

The End

Ps. Has the sheep eaten the flower?