South Korean Journey: 2013

On the weekend of July 6th & 7th (I can't remember which day exactly) we went to a local National Park. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, we were kicked off of the bus in the middle of nowhere because some of us were talking too loudly. In Korea, they don't really like loud conversation. Unfortunately for us, the bus driver didn't even bother to give us a warning, he just kicked us off and we were left stranded. We found a nice Korean lady with some English who tried to help us find our way, and we eventually found some taxis who took us right to the park. We then proceeded to walk to some Buddhist temples and then continued on for another 2 hours, uphill, on a steep rock path to the base of a waterfall. And by base of a waterfall, I mean a small pool like area that had come down the mountain and where you couldn't actually see the waterfall. This was the end of the road for me. Hiking is not really my thing on any given day, and the trail to the waterfall got even steeper. The rest continued on their way, but I sat next to the pool and enjoyed the quietness and watching the Koreans eating their picnics. I'm not sure why these pictures have turned out so large.

We went to Mud Festival this weekend. Definitely a one time thing. It was a lot of fun, we covered ourselves in the free mud (you had to pay to go into the part with the slides to slide into mud, a mud prison, etc. 6000 W), and then washed it off in the Yellow Sea. It was my first time ever swimming in a sea and it was quite the experience. The waves were fairly rough, and the bigger ones could knock you over. At one point I got a charlie horse in my left calf and I got a bit panicky because I was by myself and could barely stand up and was getting knocked about by the waves. I didn't go to far out in general, and at that point, was fairly close to the shore, but when you've got waves knocking your feet out from under you it's a little freaky. The water was also a lot salty-er than what I was expecting. I'm not really sure what I was expecting but it wasn't that. There were TONS of people there, Koreans and foreigners alike, and some even brought their small children with them. They had a super cool air show (which was also a first for me to see) and a really good fireworks display. I didn't get many pictures because I didn't want to get my phone or camera destroyed by mud, but I did get some after the mud part around the time of the fireworks.

We got our transportation, travel insurance and pension (kind of like a hostel) through a local nightclub called Yellow Taxi for 75,000 W. The transportation was a charter bus to and from the event. I'm not sure what the travel insurance covered. The pension was a total letdown. Granted the 8 of us were able to stay in one room together, but there were no beds (apparently this is not common for pensions I asked a Korean co-teacher today), and we barely had enough blankets and pillows. There were like 30 of us all together in the one area which had 3 "bedrooms" and a large living area. There was 1 bathroom and 1 en suite bathroom, and they were super gross. Some of the other people staying there didn't even have blankets. There were no restaurants in the area to eat at, just a lot of chicken on a stick street food stalls, which weren't too bad. We ended up having dinner in Lotteria (a really bad spin off of McDonalds) and we were all starving when we got back. There was also a stage set up on the beach were there was live music, and a limbo competition, then there was a dj dance party and that's about it. It was a lot of fun, but a long weekend.

Here are some pictures:

Random house with cool lights

Russell playing a carnival game of "throw the ball". He won Tina a heart furry pillow thing that said love.

Erin being chatted up by an older Korean gentleman.

Another older Korean gentleman attracted to Erin. This second one gave each of us girls a can of unopened beer (yay us!!).

Fireworks show

Erin and Paul attempting to get onto the stage with the rest of the crowd, as everyone was desperate to party after the fireworks show. They were all later kicked off by security.