17th june, tuesday

we had visited a salt mine in the mountains the morning. n boy was it an interesting experience! the pple there mine their salt from the mountains, so their salt comes in a form not unlike sand and gravel, with dark bits that resemeble tiny stones. the finely ground salt reminds me greatly of sour plum powder that we eat with guava... anyway, we've all got to put on 'miners' clothes to enter the mine, and swoosh down long slides in the caves, which were all very fun. it's really a labyrinth in there! it was also very cool so see salt crystalizing spontaneously on random surfaces, like some of the beams, and cut rock surfaces. touring the salt mine was really very educational and fascinating :)

and since the weather was so fine, i had thought that i might just take a dip in the beautiful lake and swim among the swans and the ducks! when i asked some of the locals abt where the swimming area was, most of them thought i was crazy to want to swim now. apparently, the lake's still too cold, and pple just don't swim this time of the year. maybe a while later. like in august. but i just gave it a try anyway. n boy it was so cold i could barely last a minute in the water, and was struggling to scramble out. n i cut/ bruised my knee in the process of escaping the freezing waters. it was so cold, it felt as if i was being pricked by so many needles all over, and really felt very scary. o well.

dinner was wonderful grilled meats and fish at this restaurant with real ivies creeping in from the exteriors. the grilled stuff were really very very good.