Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Hike to Ulsanbawi (Ulsan Rock)

The next morning we purchased breakfast at a mom-and-pop convenience store. I found two healthy items, Dr. You's "Hi-Protein Bars" and Kellogg's whole grain crackers with sesame seeds. (I also drank a protein shake from home.)



The Nutrition Facts label included the calories for the crackers plus milk. I've only seen milk included on food labels for cereal in the United States.



The Dr. You brand seems to have cornered the market for healthy snacks. I wouldn't even call the snacks 'healthy.' Rather, like other so-called healthy snacks, they are an improvement over other processed, machine-made foods.



We started the morning with a tram ride to a mountain top (elevation no more than a few thousand feet). We were on the first tram to the top! No crowds for us. The lady at the snack shop was shaping hotteok dough. I would have bought one, but our return tram arrived.
Next we hiked to the top of Ulsanbawi, where we had a great view of the valleys, neighboring towns, and beaches. It was rainy so the trail was empty. We didn't pack snacks or drinks because we knew the trail was very developed.
In fact, the snack stand below resembled some restaurants in Seoul, plastic chairs and all:
A fresh stream of water kept these beverages cold (See the non-liquid snack item in the mix?):

I was surprised to see the eggshells and other trash next to the grill: Alcohol and ramen seem to be popular trail foods (above left in photo).
On the way back, ajummas beckoned us to buy chestnuts. We saved our appetites for snack bar foods at the tram's building. Eric played it safe with waffles, coffee, and a ham sandwich. I played it safe, too, with the bibimbap:

I scraped off the uncooked yolk and gim (seaweed), though. Raw egg consumption can lead to salmonella food poisoning, at least in the United States. Should Koreans be concerned, or are Americans too hygienic?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

It looks like it was a cool, damp day. Nice hiking area!

MandyKat said...

It was drizzling the whole time so we bought rain jackets! I'm glad it rained, though, because it culled out the crowds.
I'm sure it's nothing compared to the hiking where you live!

Unknown said...

i vote too hygienic. salmonellosis isn't very bad in most cases. some quick stats i just looked up-- in the US, 1.4 million estimated cases per year, only 40,000 confirmed so that means probably less than 1/10 sought medical care. therefore 9/10+ of cases were mild or subclinical. and how many raw eggs, cooked chicken, milk etc was consumed in the US? a lot more than 1.4 million in a year. most times there was no salmonella in the foods anyway. i say take a chance, eat raw egg if the food service looks clean. mashisoyo!

MandyKat said...

Jay - Thanks for looking up those statistics. Do you think the # of cases is low BECAUSE of the warnings against raw yolks? I guess we need to compare statistics before and after the government warnings against raw egg products. : )