GOLO or Gabby Adventure Time Now: 파로호전통찻집

IT'S TEA TIME!!

No no not that kind of tea...

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아니라고~

Yeah no.

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Getting warmer?

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There we go. Much better.

I'm finally getting around to writing this review for my friend's amazing tea house. I hope it entices thousands of customers for her. I plan to submit this to various other websites I'm familiar with to spread the word, but that also means I'm going to have to tone down my crazy and pretend to be professional... a least a little bit. ... Just sometimes.. I guess I can always edit out crazy bits.. Oh forget it! This is just a normal Gabby-style post.

Also, a note before we start, most of the below pictures I took over several different trips in different seasons (obviously)... the tea shop only just opened last fall (2015) so you can see a lovely variation of early autumn to winter.

Okay here we go!

So you've found yourself in Hwacheon, or hey, maybe you've just made it to this northeast province, Gangwon-do. There's mountains and rivers and it's all so beautiful~ wouldn't a nice cup of tea just hit the spot? (yes)

Paroho Tea House is the best place to maintain the atmosphere of natural Korea and traditional culture. It's not located in a city or even one of the many countryside towns, but actually right by a traditional Korean house pension. That's it. Seriously nothing else. There's the pension and Bukhan River and mountains on mountains. Pretty wonderful right?

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To get here you just head straight out from Hwacheon town. There's a street along the river AND a fenced off bike path that makes a great 25 minute walk or faster bike ride.
You can tell you're headed the right way because just after you leave town you'll see this epic fish and map of the bike trails around Paroho.

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Whether you're travelling by car, bike, or foot, you'll definitely see this gas station about half way there.

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Keep on going~ But be sure to take your time and enjoy the view ;)

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Finally you can kind of sort of see the tea house/pension in the distance~

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On the bike path there will be a wooden bridge... even though it looks pretty DON'T CROSS IT. THERE IS A TROLL!! cough.. I mean once you cross it it's a long while before you can go back up to the main road... so unless you want to super backtrack... turn here to the main road!

In case you forget about my advice, there's also several hand painted signs that advertise the tea house and the pension (if you read Korean... and if you don't, there's a cute little tea cup for the wonderful universal language of art~)

This is also your first hint of my friend, Darin's super talent~ ooooh foreshadowing~

After you've made it to the main road you'll see the below two signs (which also light up at night so you can't miss it)

Take your cue and turn towards them (to the left if you're following my trail and heading there from Hwacheon). After hiking up a hill you'll see these two buildings:

Paroho Hanok (traditional Korean house) pension

AND THE TEA HOUSE!!!

(with my ugly bike hanging out front as well..)

GO INSIDE (this is like a RPG game isn't it? Kinda?)

What do you see??

OMG this place is so cute and full of artwork!

Wait, who's this?

It's Darin of course! You may have seen her in some of my other posts, and I'm sure I've mentioned her before. She is my best friend in Hwacheon, and this whole tea house is her's! The three photos directly above this comment were all taken the day I got a message from her saying the tea house finally opened (hence the congratulatory bouquet and comparatively bare walls).

These days the whole place is covered (seriously like every other 10cm) in traditional art like calligraphy, hand-made paper lanterns, fans, painting, and miniature pottery like you see below. But I bet you didn't know that about 99% of all these are MADE BY DARIN HERSELF.

YES SHE IS SO SO SOOOO AMAZING!!!

The above flower is kept alive by a bit of water in the mini bowl. Both the flower and berries/dried flowers/branches (see below) that aesthetically weave through the tea shop are all locally obtained (grown on the trees surrounding the pensions or were flowers gifted to her (my flower gift made a brief appearance too!))

Even that green fan was colored and has intricate calligraphy Darin decorated herself. See, Darin went to a special college and got a degree in traditional Korean arts, specifically tea culture, but I think she also focused on traditional writing methods. Some of the wall decor is in traditional Chinese characters, but the majority is all beautiful Korean characters, hangul.

Darin has to stay in the store all day, every day, so when she doesn't have customers and has free time, she just makes more calligraphy. (Yeah she's that casually AMAZING)

(These three photos surrounding this comment are all from Darin's Instagram~ I didn't take them)

She also wears a casual-style hanbok every day! Hanbok is Korea's traditional dress/clothing and it really helps keep the atmosphere authentic right?

You can also see in the above photo (plus a few other random ones) two teal/green tables right? Those are actually doors from old hanok (remember? traditional Korean houses) that Darin painted and use as tables and dividers for her store. She actually spent months working with her family and preparing to open this tea house.

Don't believe me? See for yourself:

짜잔!

(above three photos also credit to Darin)

The thing I really wish I could explain to you all is how charming all the calligraphy is. Some have whimsical and philosophical phrases, and others are clever puns with the word tea.

Crappy Gabby translate time:

window shade: These days I wish (I) had nothing to do.

Framed piece: More than just "protecting" me I wish you'd watch over me, More than just "expecting" (things of) me I wish you'd wait for me.

UNGH translating is so hard. I can't convey how similar these comparing phrases sound in Korean which makes it so much more meaningful... JUST KNOW THAT IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND THAT DARIN IS AMAZING. Oh and have I mentioned that she is amazing?

Once you've finished goggling at the amazing interior you better do what you came to do and order that tea~ Let's take a look at the menu:

Okay, okay. For those of you who don't read Korean, relax. I honestly can't explain this whole menu to you because I'm a tea idiot. BUT basically everything is delicious and you can't go wrong. The majority of your options are tea that you can brew yourself and drink more and more of (you get a little kettle with additional hot water). There are a few though that Darin mixes herself into a stew like tea and it comes in a really big cup (and you don't get refills).

The below two (adorable) cups show the difference. Right is a giant cup of jujube stew tea. Left is an ity-bity cup of yum yum green tea. (You can tell I know a lot about this stuff with these very accurate names).

Unlike myself, Darin really does know her stuff. You can just ask her for something like if you're really cold, or tired, or you've got cramps, or want something light. She will know exactly what to give you. Each person has to order at least one tea (no ordering just one to share!) and it comes with all kinds of different mini tea snacks (that she also often MAKES HERSELF).

No matter what you order, it'll be fantastic, and only 6,000 won.

(cough my mini pumpkin pies appear again! cough)

(Oh isn't that paper lantern behind Monica really pretty? Guess what? YEAH DARIN PAINTED THAT TOO)

photo by Darin

Oh hey DARIN IS AMAZING.

I go to the tea house whenever I can, since it's now the only way I can see my friend. But also because I'm Darin's fan club president, I mean what? We are friends...

I had a really quiet birthday since no one in town really knew about it (I feel stupid telling people it's my birthday, like hey! Make me feel special. Right now.) But Darin's birthday is just two days after mine, so I went to surprise her and she actually insisted we celebrate together. Her whole family came out to eat cake and sang to both of us and GAH it made me so happy. They are the sweetest bestest people.