South Korea: Sheep Farm

According to the itinerary, our last destination of the second day in South Korea was supposed to be the Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm.

But instead of visiting 200 sheep raised there, we were amazed at seeing herds of visitors who heavily outnumbered the animals.

Since the previous day, we had been encountering traffic jams on the road and long queues at tourist spots. Our bus driver noticed that the routes were even much more congested than during New Year and Christmas. Jeson who had been working as a tour guide for six years told us that it was the worst situation he had ever experienced. He teased that it was as if we had won the lottery. Addy who had led three tours to South Korea in the past also commented that he had never seen this kind of huge crowds everywhere.

After discussion with Jeson, Addy showed us pictures of sheep taken in the farm with his hand phone during his previous trip and asked our approval to shift to another nearby sheep farm. It would cost higher entrance fee but the local travel agency was willing to bear the difference.

Thank God all of us agreed to change to this less famous yet interesting Parame Mae Sheep Farm, for our access to everything was going to be easy without we having to squeeze ourselves among the multitude of human beings.

The first animal we came across was this big furry dog which liked to move in all the directions while our group members were posing next to it for photographs.

So I decided to intrude the kennel since its host was away. The dog immediately rushed home to welcome me with a kiss, probably mistaking me for its piggy friend as shown in the picture above the little wooden house.

We were given cereal-like dried food and fresh grass in a ladle to feed the sheep in their pens.

I began to be fond of sheep after studying about New Zealand in geography in Form two. Though I no longer dream of marrying a sheep breeder of the Canterbury Plain, tame and adorable sheep remain my favorite animals besides cats.

I thought of Jesus who is "the gate for the sheep", "that whoever enters through Him will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." (John 10:7-10)

How wonderful it is to have the Lord as my shepherd (Psalm 23:1) who calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (John 10:3).

A path was leading uphill which provided a wider view of the surrounding area. As we paced, we had to be careful to avoid sheep's waste. Despite all the attention I paid, I stepped on a wet lump of excretion.

Animals assembled by sticks of wood which were watching the spacious and peaceful environment did not laugh at me. They must be used to the scene.

After the visit, we joined an indoor activity--making cheese with cow milk. We were divided into small groups seated at different tables. Our teacher explained the procedure in Korean while our tour guide Jeson translated into Mandarin for us.

Ingredients and utensils were laying on the table.

All we needed to do was to follow the instructions. We could participate in each step either individually

or together to boil the milk, stir it, add flavour and vinegar, arrange flowers, pour the mixture, sprinkle sunflower seeds, drain the whey and pressed the curds.

Without surprise, our table presented the finest result among all the groups based on the "judges"' comments. I said to my elder group members, "Since we all are handsome men and pretty women, of course we produce beautiful cheese!" They all laughed.

We savoured our own product cut into small cubes accompanied by chips, strawberry jam and homemade red wine.

It was the visit I had enjoyed most during this trip in South Korea, thanks to the sheep and the cheese, and maybe the sea of people in the first farm which had put us off.