Drabsko

Last weekend we found ourselves once more in Slovakia, this time in the village of Drabsko. We visited Honza, Zuzka, David, Marek and Akela, who were themselves vacationing there. Surrounded by rolling green hills, lush forests, gurgling streams, and farm animals everywhere, there was something for everyone.  

On the way to the hilltop cottage where we were staying.

As luck would have it, we arrived just in time for the big annual festival in the nearby village of Sihla. 

The main attraction was the ox races. All the oxherds showed up in their colorful traditional costumes, which are distinctive to this region of Slovakia.

Of course there were races even for the wee oxen. 

No village festival would be complete without a gypsy band - here accompanied by a very tipsy oxherd, his oxen, and a barking dog with a keen sense of rhythm (not shown)

Or without sweets to tempt the eye, palate and heart...

After escaping the ox races, the crowds, and the stands, we set off for a hike, passing along the way the quiet "outskirts" of the village....  

...somebody's dug-out wine-cellar (empty, sadly)...

...a herd of sleepy cows...

...and one quite wide-awake cow. 

Building our very own log cabin.

There were fortunately enough logs left over for sitting on...

...and for making our own glockenspiel, based on our own unique 10-note scale. 

Basti in the meantime was picking (and eating) blueberries and rolling in the mud
(or the other way around). 

David and Basti (this time joined by Ilo) resuming the well theme.*
* see the January 27, 2011 posting, "New Years' in Prague" 

I wonder what those boys are up to. David and Basti bonded in no time, and they communicated by way of a special language consisting of one-syllable grunts and hand signals. When asked why they didn't just use their respective languages, seeing as how they couldn't be any LESS expressive than their monosyllabic noises, they asked, what's the point, if the other couldn't understand? Ah, the setting in of reason....

The game:
Basti catches a grasshopper
The grasshopper is transferred into David's hands
David opens his hands
The grasshopper jumps out
Squeals and giggles all around

Ilo's grasshopper

Second day: train ride and visit to the Forest Museum, where we found some interesting specimens of nature imitating art, or vice-versa

Adrienn, always busy, at work on her own project.

 

An unusual choice of a bed...but then again Basti is good at sleeping anywhere other than his own bed....

Marek splashing in the creek

And back to the safety of Honza-papa

After all that play, we should do some work! 

Another old train part...too bad this one doesn't move!

But perhaps that's just as well.

My life as a bug (or: what I find in my camera after Adri has taken photos with it)

Horse-riding camp in Bakonybél

For some real Hungarian horse-riding experience, Adri-Ilo spent a week in an American-style ranch in the beautiful village of  Bakonybél a few hours west of Budapest. The Wikipedia article on Bakonybél mentions "an unusual attraction" which is a "19th century American ranch, not very far from the village, with horse-related activities." This was the place the girls stayed for a week, and it is a place of some renown, as the ranch was the center of an "Indian camp" organized by Hungarian folk legend Cseh Tamás (the Hungarian Bob Dylan, if you will) back in the 60's and 70's. None of this history was of particular interest to the girls, who were just there to ride and spend time with the horses.    

Ilona with a young mule. 

The competition on the last day: who can ride the fastest without trotting?

One never tires of looking at beauties such as these....

Contemplation

Amazing turn put Adri in the lead. Unfortunately the Adri-horse team started to gallop, perhaps celebrating their sudden lead, and disqualified themselves. 

Happy camper (well, perhaps next year!)

Adventures in Korea

After a two-year, um, sabbatical, we are back on our blog. I say "we" because hopefully this will be a more collective endeavor involving other members of our family, including the kids. As we have been on the move again, and have just left behind some dear friends, it seemed like a good time to revive the blog and keep connected. So...first stop: Korea!

The day after our arrival in Seoul, we took the TGV (called "KTX" in Korea) to Busan, where Mama (that's Curie) was born. We realized after we got here that we were in the beginning of the rainy season. It rained pretty much every day for over two weeks....and thenit stopped the day after Balint and the kids left.
Here we all are in Beomeosa (Nirvana Fish Temple), which is nestled in beautiful Mt. Geomjeong, the base of which we could reach by a local bus from our downtown hotel.

Walking up to the temple complex, we passed by a small bamboo grove, which impressed Adrienn so much that she was even willing to take a photo in front of it.

From the temple we had a beautiful hike to the peak of the mountain and saw some rebuilt segments of  Geumjeong Fortress. Unfortunately the whole mountain was mist-covered and we had to imagine the spectacular view of the city below...On the way down we cooled off and drank cool spring water from the "Heart CleansingWell"

Next to the big monument in honor of the fish - our neighborhood (Gwangali) being the sashimi capital of Korea.

Busan Aquarium

I recognized the first two... but what do we have here? 

After the aquarium we went to the neighborhood where Mama lived from age 0 to 6, looking for her old house. We saw some beautiful cats....

\

This one was transporting her kitten up the stairs.

The first of many adorable dogs we would befriend in Korea...

In the back alleys it was as though time stood still. Much remained the same as 35 years ago, just faded and crumbling.

The next day we visited the beautiful rocky coastline at Taejongdae. We happened to show up during the annual Hydrangea festival that took place every July at one of the temples.

At the water's edge were a bunch of shelters where one could feast on platters of raw octopus, eel, and a few other sea animals we didn't recognize. These "restaurants" were run by the ladies standing near the big brown tubs, which were full of fresh sea-creatures.

The non-vegetarians among us mustered up some courage and voted to order a platter. And this is what we got:

What really needs to be shown is a movie of this because the octopus parts were moving :-(. We weren't really expecting that...Mama started to lose her nerve but Ilona (our little finicky girl) just went for it. Couldn't believe our eyes...

After our little meal we climbed down the rocks to the beach. Of course everyone got soaked....but nobody cared.

Afterwards Basti got a haircut.

The hairdresser had several cute dogs, so the girls had no trouble occupying themselves while waiting for Basti's hair to be done.

We decided to drive back to Seoul, stopping at the Hahoe Folk Village along the way. There we had a calligraphy/painting done by their resident calligrapher.

Basti taking a rest in the coutyard of one of the houses.

A field of urns, ubiquitous in the countryside. These are used to store things like pepper paste, soy bean paste, kimchee.

Back in Seoul, we visited Changdeok Palace, which was conveniently right next to the house we were staying in. This is the royal library, located in the "Secret Garden" of the palace.

Adri, Basti and Papa checking out the sundial.

Basti and the non-Niagara Falls

Meet Kkomi, the dog of Halmuni's friend (more like an aunt to mama). The kids were

absolutely enamoured of her. We met her when we visited my aunt's family in Jechon, in the countryside.

Preparing the evening feast in Jechon.

On the last day that Balint and the kids were in Seoul, we finally had some time to walk around our own neighbourhood. Here we are in the hanok (traditional Korean house) that is now the Bukchon information centre, Bukchon being famous for its concentration of traditional houses.