Kyeunju had no shortage of sites to keep tourists occupied. The city and surrounding area are dotted with royal tombs...mainly big parks you pay to enter and you walk around large mounds in which kings and queens are buried. One had been escavated and you could see the inner workings of these things: a mix of wood structure, rock piles, earth, and precious belongings. I also saw an ancient astronomical observatory, a sacred pond, a few more temples, and an ancient traditional city that had been preserved. Tourists are able to walk around and experience what it was like hundreds of years go, but the town still has inhabitants. So you get tourists snooping around while these people are just going about they daily chores, tilling their small crops with their Toyota Corollas parked out front.
What definitely takes the cake for me in this city was an early morning hike I undertook on my last day there. It started snowing, which was an unexpected but welcome surprise. This hike took me to a scenic lookout wayyyy up in the mountains, but not before passing several Buddhist landmarks, including a giant Buddha carved into the rock face. The view from the top allowed me to witness the full scope of this thing in comparison to the people standing around it. It was pretty freakin big! Like 25-30 feet high.
Just beside my hostel, there was a Korean bathhouse. I was told to try this out. Basically, there were two big rooms, one for men, one for women, with many shower heads and stools with scrubbers beside them. In the center there was a big hot tub, in the corner a cold tub, and a dry and wet sauna. The idea is to lather, scrub, rinse, soak and repeat for as much time as you have to spare. I didn’t have much time, but I can see how you’d come out of there like jello. Also heard there are sometimes old men who’s job it is to scrub down your back for you. I didn’t encounter said old man for I was the only one there at the time, but I can envision the naked ackwardness.
I forgot to mention that on my second night at this hostel, upon walking into the common area, who do I come across? Bazu. Reunited at last. He and I, along with however else was game out of the hostellers, checked out a few really nice restaurants over those couple of days, one in particular with the cushiony floor sitting that I had grown to really enjoy. I also forgot to mention that Bazu was a drinker. Every night he would bust out the Japanese Sake he had brought from home, or the Sodju and Mackaulay (both very popular Korean boozes….booze….boozei??), and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. As you’d try to finish your 8th glass, he would tell you another of his countless travel stories accrued during his time on pretty much every continent. Quite the interesting character he turned out to be indeed. Sadly, when I left in the morning he was still in bed, so I left him a goodbye note with my email on it, but when I returned to pick up my bag and catch my bus, the note was still there, untouched, and he had checked out, so it would seem I just took off without saying a word. Hope he’s still doing ok.
Now I’m on the bus to Seoul. I have my 2nd couchsurfing stay lined up with Meg, an English teacher from Canada. Within 10 seconds of being on the bus, I met a guy from the states and we chatted the entire 4 hours there. Went by pretty quickly. Thanks to some directions from Meg, I made it to her place to find that she had a loft apartment, with the whole upstairs section just for me! Also, I got to be her first couchsurfer. Her friend had collected so many good stories from CS that she wanted to give it a try too. We got along spendidly. So much, in fact, that I extended my stay for an extra weekend. While in Seoul there was never a dull moment. Actually, minutes after meeting her at her apartment, she took me away to collect some more friends, and we all walked over to a party, where there were like 6 guitars laying around, with even more guitar players, and everybody was singing along to songs that I knew. A much missed slice of a home. I nearly shat myself. They even had the fabled acoustic basses that I had wanted to try for years. We rocked out until the wee hours and had a great time.
The next day, I picked myself up a subway pass, because traveling around Seoul requires a ton of commuting if you aren’t living right downtown. Seoul seemed like an old cartoon where the characters are running and the same background is passing by over and over, except this background was Starbucks, Holly Coffee and Pizza Hut. Don’t let me give you the wrong impression because there was a lot of local food too.
I managed to fit a lot into the 9 days I stayed with Meg. We all went snowboarding twice...yes, snowboarding...not many runs upon yet but one of the hills was nominated for the winter Olympics that hit Seoul in the 70s I believe, so the runs that were open were pretty long and pretty sick. We just rented the gear at the hill, and the people I went with were nice enough to hook me up with hats and gloves and everything else I couldn't rent.
I caught a Korean Basketball League game, in which each team has a height restrictions of 6 foot 5, and each team is allowed 2 foreign players. Coincidentally, each team had 2 6'5" guys from the states.
Also caught a b-boyz show…highly recommended if you’re ever in Seoul. It’s a breakdancing show at a small venue, but its mixed with several styles of dancing, like the ROBOT, lots and lots of the robot, and the whole thing follows a plot. Its very up close and personal and extremely entertaining.
I met up with the Russian girls from Busan again and Natalya showed me around Suwon, where they were just wrapping up their semester at uni. We walked along the fortress walls that surrounded the small city just outside of Seoul, and hung out at a little pub until my bus arrived. I rode the bus for an hour into town, and took a cab for nearly another hour from there to Meg's. Turns out, it was just a big triangle, and I could have caught a cab straight to Meg’s for half the cost and a quarter of the time.
More...
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Korea, Part 1
The high speed hydrofoil ferry to Busan, South Korea from Fukuoka, Japan takes less than 3 hours. With a 30 minute bob break halfway across the sea because something was stuck in the propeller and they announced they were letting it ‘work it’s way out’, we pulled in a bit late. As I was figuring out how to get to the hostel I had booked, an elderly japanese guy introduced himself as Bazzu and asked if he could tag along because he hadn’t booked anything. I said sure and we navigated the subway network together until we found the meeting point where June, the hostel owner, would come pick us up. After several failed attempts at calling him, we finally got through and he showed up shortly after. The hostel, Forjuneteller's Backpackers Inn, was full (only an 8 person place) but he let Bazzu stay on the couch for the 1 night. We passed by an eel restaurant, an all you can eat tuna place, a dog meet restaurant, and probably four 7/11s before we got to his backpackers. This turned out the be the nicest, most modern hostel I’ve ever stayed in. It was on the 21st floor of a highrise, and was totally brand spankin' new. Complete with a skype-ready computer, free breakfast, free laundry, a giant tv for chill-out time, and a cool roof you could sneak up to. All of the highrises in that area had helicopter landing pads on the roof, a great place for a quick beer and a fantastic view.
I spent the next day getting used to the idea that I was now in Korea. Went for a few shorts walks, checked out the cuisine, and got a feel for how the ordering of the food would go. Did lots of catching up on skype that first day too. One interesting thing I noticed was the dancing girls in front of certain stores with sales going on. One particular store had two girls dancing in sync, half naked but balancing it out with big warm fuzzy boots, because, after all, it was the dead of winter. They were also occasionally mentioning whatever they were selling into a PA.....I think it was shoes.
I spent about 4 days in Busan, the 2nd biggest city in South Korea, and saw many a cool thing, such as temples (including a cliff side temple, which is one of a kind or at the least very rare), a temple hike along a mini great wall of china studded with amazing glimpses of the city, the biggest indoor fish market in korea, some more hikes down sheer cliffsides, and several very different but very tasty dinners. At one point I tried a cup of juice from a roadside stand that was made from some sort of root. That one tasted like wood.
I got to meet several cool people during my stay here, including an American army couple now teaching high school math in Seoul, and 2 girls on a student exchange program from Russia. Downed quite a few beers with the former, which led to an intense game of flip cup with a gang of teachers, and a few tear jerking songs at the karaoke rooms, and spent a day wandering around with my new russian friend Natalya and her schoolmate. I also had my second couchsurfing.com experience here...not quite the same as I wasn’t staying with anyone this time, but rather just meeting up for a coffee. We ended up catching a movie afterwards too. Made for a great afternoon/evening of conversation. Met an Australian brother and sister duo as well that I hope to catch up with later on during this trip.
Bazzu was a reoccurring character throughout my time there as well, sometimes there, sometimes not. I was never sure when he’d pop up, but he was always up for whatever I was doing. This wasn’t always a good thing, because being 80 years old he was a bit of a slower walker than I was. Also, he met and surpassed his quota on saliva production, which almost made me vom a couple of times. But he always had an interesting story to tell.
From here it was an hour bus ride to Gyeongju, which is the cultural center of South Korea, much as Kyoto was the place to be for temples in Japan. I had been told of a famous hostel with a traditional korean atmosphere, so I followed through with this tip, and it turned out the be a great decision. My room was very simple, straight to the point, but very comfortable, and the hostel grounds were straight out of an asian movie. My sliding door was made of paper with a wood trim, and my mattress laid directly on the heated floor, with nothing more than an end table and a mirror in the room. The courtyard was enclosed by tropical looking trees, and korea bbqs were had most nights out on the picnic tables. The owners were, I’m sure, some of the nicest people on the planet. The husband demonstrated his musical stylings with a korean flute type instrument, and then showed me the hostel water well, which seemed to be his pride and joy because of how deep and clear it was (the green light he had installed added to the effect too), and his wife pretty much planned out my 3 days there for me.
I met 2 soldiers on break from their service (south korea has a mandatory 2 years military service), and they introduced me to the real Korean bbq experience. I had thought I knew all about it because I had tried it a few times in Canada, but this was totally different. Big slabs of ‘bacon’ (really just big slabs of pork) are cut up with scissors on the portable grill, mushrooms are grilled up, kimchi is served (spicy cabbage in sauce), and you eat this all wrapped in lettuce leaves or this very pungent herb leave, and dip the whole in a delicious sauce red sauce. This is all washed down with beer served glasses ('Cass' or 'Hite'). So good. Kimchi would become my obsession for the rest of my time in Korea. The guys spoke very little English, but managed to invite me over with a “Hello! You like food?”. With a little help from a translation website later on, one of them explained to me that he was training to be a paratrooper. He had completed 8 solo skydives so far, and he was only 18 years old.
Continued....
I spent the next day getting used to the idea that I was now in Korea. Went for a few shorts walks, checked out the cuisine, and got a feel for how the ordering of the food would go. Did lots of catching up on skype that first day too. One interesting thing I noticed was the dancing girls in front of certain stores with sales going on. One particular store had two girls dancing in sync, half naked but balancing it out with big warm fuzzy boots, because, after all, it was the dead of winter. They were also occasionally mentioning whatever they were selling into a PA.....I think it was shoes.
I spent about 4 days in Busan, the 2nd biggest city in South Korea, and saw many a cool thing, such as temples (including a cliff side temple, which is one of a kind or at the least very rare), a temple hike along a mini great wall of china studded with amazing glimpses of the city, the biggest indoor fish market in korea, some more hikes down sheer cliffsides, and several very different but very tasty dinners. At one point I tried a cup of juice from a roadside stand that was made from some sort of root. That one tasted like wood.
I got to meet several cool people during my stay here, including an American army couple now teaching high school math in Seoul, and 2 girls on a student exchange program from Russia. Downed quite a few beers with the former, which led to an intense game of flip cup with a gang of teachers, and a few tear jerking songs at the karaoke rooms, and spent a day wandering around with my new russian friend Natalya and her schoolmate. I also had my second couchsurfing.com experience here...not quite the same as I wasn’t staying with anyone this time, but rather just meeting up for a coffee. We ended up catching a movie afterwards too. Made for a great afternoon/evening of conversation. Met an Australian brother and sister duo as well that I hope to catch up with later on during this trip.
Bazzu was a reoccurring character throughout my time there as well, sometimes there, sometimes not. I was never sure when he’d pop up, but he was always up for whatever I was doing. This wasn’t always a good thing, because being 80 years old he was a bit of a slower walker than I was. Also, he met and surpassed his quota on saliva production, which almost made me vom a couple of times. But he always had an interesting story to tell.
From here it was an hour bus ride to Gyeongju, which is the cultural center of South Korea, much as Kyoto was the place to be for temples in Japan. I had been told of a famous hostel with a traditional korean atmosphere, so I followed through with this tip, and it turned out the be a great decision. My room was very simple, straight to the point, but very comfortable, and the hostel grounds were straight out of an asian movie. My sliding door was made of paper with a wood trim, and my mattress laid directly on the heated floor, with nothing more than an end table and a mirror in the room. The courtyard was enclosed by tropical looking trees, and korea bbqs were had most nights out on the picnic tables. The owners were, I’m sure, some of the nicest people on the planet. The husband demonstrated his musical stylings with a korean flute type instrument, and then showed me the hostel water well, which seemed to be his pride and joy because of how deep and clear it was (the green light he had installed added to the effect too), and his wife pretty much planned out my 3 days there for me.
I met 2 soldiers on break from their service (south korea has a mandatory 2 years military service), and they introduced me to the real Korean bbq experience. I had thought I knew all about it because I had tried it a few times in Canada, but this was totally different. Big slabs of ‘bacon’ (really just big slabs of pork) are cut up with scissors on the portable grill, mushrooms are grilled up, kimchi is served (spicy cabbage in sauce), and you eat this all wrapped in lettuce leaves or this very pungent herb leave, and dip the whole in a delicious sauce red sauce. This is all washed down with beer served glasses ('Cass' or 'Hite'). So good. Kimchi would become my obsession for the rest of my time in Korea. The guys spoke very little English, but managed to invite me over with a “Hello! You like food?”. With a little help from a translation website later on, one of them explained to me that he was training to be a paratrooper. He had completed 8 solo skydives so far, and he was only 18 years old.
Continued....
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