Sarangchae is the name of the room in a household where the head of the family received his guests. It is also the name of a guest house in Gyeongju. The guest house received rave reviews from travelers and is one of the few which have their websites in English. I was very disappointed that I could not get a room here, but we were determined to see it anyway. We were lucky, because YS who we met at Bulguksa, stayed here.
This place feels different from our clean and efficient guest house, even though both are built in the traditional hanok style. Housed in a 150 year old building, Sarangchae feels more like an old family home. As we come through the not so conspicuous entrance, a central courtyard, surrounded by hanok style rooms, is filled with random decorative things. On the right of the entrance is a cluster of buildings comprising the kitchen, a communal area (where activities are sometimes held) and a room with a well (how strange!) – still working it seems. Travelers have their meals, surf the internet, get travel pamphlets, read books or just admire the many replicas of Shilla artifacts placed all over. Looks messy and random, but everything in its place, just like how our homes are.
To appreciate YS for showing us this place, we bought snacks and Makgeolli (the milky Korean rice wine) and have a party in the communal area. The owner and a Japanese traveler (his name sounds like Osaka) joined us. Kim had a good chat with the owner, who showed us the latest edition of Lonely Planet, where his guest house is recommended. Osaka-san contributed much to the party mood. He is humorous and made an effort to speak slowly and clearly in English. He thinks he might be of Korean origin, and has visited Korea many times. I wondered if he is searching for the answer. As the night wore on, Mrs. Osaka appeared at our table and pointed to her watch. He understood her immediately and took his leave. “My amazing watch”, he calls her.
We found out that breakfast is provided at Sarangchae, but not at our guest house. I kept harping on it. By this time, it dawned on Kim that I am obsessed with food. I would not stop pestering her to try food that I have not sampled; I could not pull myself away from the basins of freshly made kimchi in the market; I would have the strangest suggestions for breakfast, not habitual for Koreans to eat this for breakfast, she would venture to educate me; I would harp about the breakfast we did not have..... Kim decided to give me a new name - food god. She thinks I will live to 200 years old, only then will I have time to sample all the food under the sky. O, if I can choose, I would like to pass on while sampling delicious food, it would be my happy end.
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