This weekend the Soeul Sisters organised a trip to Moonmak. Moonmak is about an hour and a half East of Central Seoul. It is an agricultural area which is packed with rice paddies. It is also a nice recreational area for hikers and horse enthusiasts.
The Sisters arranged for us to visit a ranch in Moonmak where we rode horses for a little while and we also frolicked a little in the Autumn leaves. The valley was wallpapered in yellow, red and brown. The rice paddies had been harvested and bales were ready to be collected and stacked up for the cold days ahead.
The horses were lovely. Our guide and ranch manager Anna had a good array of breeds. Palomino and Shetland were the only ones I can remember. Some of the horses she had bought over from America when she moved. Clare, Marie and I explored a bit as we were told that there were Moon Bears being farmed in the area. It is a bit of a sad story as the Bears are caged and milked for their bile which is used for traditional medicines. We were morbidly fascinated to see them. I have found that the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) has a spot about the bears mistreatment. We didn't manage to find the cages but perhaps it was a good thing as it might have been upsetting.
Although we didn't find the bears we did manage to find an artificial fishing hole surrounded with old car seats under canopies. The hole was packed with fish! I guess if you have a limited time this is an ideal place to go an make sure you will catch something.
After our session on the horses we ate a late lunch outside in a spot over looking the ranch and farm land. We were joined by a couple of giant wasps interested by our in red wine.
A little saddle sore, stuffed with pasta and tired from the fresh air we retired to our pensions. The Sisters rented out two brand new pensions (cabins) huddled on a crest overlooking the river.
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