A couple weekends ago, I took an unexpected trip to Jeju Island. It's an island off the southern coast of the country and if you ask any Korean about it, they'll likely tell you how it's the most beautiful part of the entire country. They describe it as a sort of tropical paradise, leading you to believe it's like the Hawaii of South Korea. In fact, it's a honeymoon hotspot for freshly-married Koreans. I even met a man here who is single and in his mid-40s that has never been to Jeju, because he refuses to go until his honeymoon. Suffice it to say, they leave you with pretty high expectations of this place. So, how did I get there unexpectedly? Well let me tell you.
A few weeks ago, my co-teacher approached me about going to Jeju with her, her son, her daughter, her friend and her friend's daughter. I politely declined, saying that I was saving money for the much anticipated arrivals of my family in a couple weeks, and Mariana in August. Now, I wasn't lying by telling her that, but I also wasn't revealing my real reason for not wanting to go. When you go on vacation with people, and I'm talking overnight stays here, typically you're at a pretty comfortable friendship level. Seriously, you're basically living with your fellow vacationers for a couple days, you know? I mean, when it comes time to drop the old deucer, you don't want to be sharing a room with a bunch of semi-strangers. You should be able to walk out of the bathroom and announce to your friends that they need to stay out of there for a few minutes. I'm sure/hope some of you know what I'm talking about here. It's just about being comfortable on vacation with people you enjoy spending time with, that's all. I didn't feel like I was at that level yet with my co-teacher or anyone else that was to be a part of that trip. Another thing I was worried about was what the accommodations would be like. If there's anything I've learned so far about Koreans, it's that they're pretty frugal. They never seem to do anything for convenience or comfort. They're just looking for the best deal. I envisioned myself sleeping on the floor of an empty condo again, like the teacher outing to Haeundae when I first got here. So, anyway as the date got closer, she continued to ask me if I wanted to go and every time I would decline. Well, two days before she's set to leave, she's sitting at the computer next to me in the English classroom and says that there's a ticket available on the plane they're all taking to Jeju. She then offers to pay for me, because she really wants me to go. I told her I didn't feel comfortable with that and that it was okay, and that maybe we could go another time, blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately, in her mind the only thing stopping me from going was the money factor, so she went ahead and bought the ticket, without me ever agreeing to go mind you, and I was locked in to a weekend in Jeju with my co-teacher and her friends and family.
In the day and half I had leading up to the trip, I tried to stay positive. I had met her son a couple times before and he was cool. I never met her daughter, but I knew she was my age, so there was at least a good chance we'd have something to talk about. So I packed my bags and headed off for a weekend in the tropical paradise of Korea.
The flight there was nice and quick. I think it took about 50 minutes total from Busan. We met up with my co-teacher's son at the airport, who flew in from Seoul, and went to pick up our rental car. On the way to the place we were staying, I was noticing that the environment didn't seem very tropical. It definitely was less busy and more open, but I would say it felt more like the country than it did tropical. There was also a sign I saw that said "Mysterious Road" and had an arrow pointing to it's location. I didn't ask at the time, but I was very curious as to what that was all about. Anyway, we arrived at the Il Sung Condos after about 30-45 minutes of driving. As we were checking in, my co-teacher turned to me and said, "We don't have beds in the room." Well well, what do you know. Two nights of sleeping on the floor, here I come! When we got up to the room, it was almost identical to the one that we stayed at in Haeundae. Three empty rooms with only a couch, coffee table and television to accompany the sink and refrigerator provided. I look back and wish I would have taken pictures this time to show you all. I want you to really understand how depressing places like this look.
That night we went to a supposedly famous beef restaurant, though I'm starting to think that Koreans don't truly understand the meaning of the word famous. I've been told many times now that certain things or places are famous, and it never seems to be the case when I get there or see it. Anyway, the food was good and we headed back to the condo for a night of card games and Korean soap operas, or dramas as they call them here. We had a good time playing cards, even though I taught them a dramatically altered version of Go Fish. I don't know what happened when I was explaining the rules, but it's like I completely forgot how that game is supposed to be played. As we were playing it, I knew it wasn't right, but whatever, they were having a good time, so I didn't bother trying to figure out what I was forgetting or doing wrong. I slept through the night pretty well, without too much discomfort. I think mentally preparing myself for sleeping on the floor helped a lot this time, though I would have of course much preferred a nice bed.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast in the condo. My co-teacher and her friend had prepared a breakfast that included rice, kimchi, beef, vegetables and other items that should only be reserved for lunch and/or dinner. I think I've mentioned this before, but in Korea, they don't really distinguish meals from one another. Any food can be eaten at any time of the day. I tried to explain how eating beef and rice at 8:30 a.m. was weird for me, but they didn't seem to get it. Whatever.
My co-teacher's daughter was flying in from Seoul that morning to join us, so we went to pick her up at the airport to start the day off. After picking her up we headed to an area of the island that had a rock formation in the shape of a dragon. After getting there and seeing it, I think it was kind of a stretch, but cool nonetheless. When we left this place, I saw the sign for the Mysterious Road once again, and this time had to ask. My co-teacher's son, Yeon Hee, said that it's this road that when you get on it and put your car in neutral, you begin to move forward even though you're on a slant that should send you rolling backwards. He actually had never been there and wanted to go, so that's where we headed next.
We arrived at the "Mysterious Road" to test out its mysteriousness, along with dozens of other tourists. There's actually a sign that tells you where to start putting your car in neutral, so we followed orders and ... nothing. We just sat there. The car didn't move forward and it didn't move backward. Disappointed that it wasn't working, we pulled over, as did many people, to try and put something round on the ground to see if it would work with something smaller. It didn't. What a letdown. You see signs for this "Mysterious Road" all over the place and it gets you really excited! Oh well. It's not like we had to pay money to try it out or anything.
Now, the amount of activities we packed into one day was pretty astonishing. We literally would go somewhere, be there for however long it took to experience it, and be out of there and on to the next place. I don't know that I've ever vacationed like this before. I mean, seriously we'd be at one place for maybe 15 minutes, then move on to the next. There was no rest and relaxation time whatsoever. Looking back, I think it was a good thing, because it allowed us to see so much, but it's definitely not a trend I want to start for my vacations. There's got to be a little rest here and there, otherwise it's not a vacation if you ask me. So with that said, I'm not going to go into every location we visited. It would just take too long, and since there was nothing that was especially amazing, I'll save your eyes from the computer screen for a little bit. I'll just try and sum it up quickly.
We saw a cool waterfall, some more unique rock formations, an interesting park with miniature landmarks from around the world, a beautiful beach, an amazing soccer stadium, a folk village and lots and lots of nature, and all in all we had a good time. I got along with Yeon Hee and his sister, Yeon Jung, very well and because we were so busy doing things, that didn't leave a lot of time for condo room awkwardness. Besides, even when we were in the condo, we'd be playing cards, so it wasn't bad at all. I even got to have a bagel for breakfast on the second morning. I found that Jeju isn't the amazing paradise that Koreans make it out to be, but it's what they have and they're proud of it, so I understand why they talk it up so much. I'll be there again in a couple weeks with my family and then again with Mariana in August, so maybe after those trips, I'll come to appreciate it's beauty more. I've got some pictures and video below from the trip.
Now, one trip that I was fully prepared and planning for was my second outing to Seoul. Brent and I had talked to our friend Ji Won about going to Seoul for some time and finally made it happen this passed weekend. We boarded the KTX (bullet train) at the ripe time of 6:43 a.m. on Saturday and cruised at speeds of up to 189 mph on our way to the Korean capital for the second time. Much like that last time we went with Soo, we didn't really know what the itinerary was for the trip. Ji Won had planned things out for us, because of her familiarity with Seoul and we were basically along for the ride. When we got there, a friend of hers met us in true style, wearing a full on suit and driving us around in his fancy BMW-esque car. Our first stop was the National Museum of Korea.
We spent about 30-45 minutes here, before realizing there weren't too many interesting things to see or do there, so we split to an art museum that was housing works by the famous painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. (Quick funny story here: In the week leading up to our trip, Ji Won began talking about an art exhibition of a famous painter's paintings, and asked us if we were interested in going. The problem was that we couldn't make out what the name of the painter was. She was literally saying, Lenuwaduh. Finally somehow I was able to figure it out and said, "Renoir?" Brent lost himself in laughter, because of how off the pronunciation of his name was, and how amazing it was that we actually figured out what she was saying. We had a similar incident occur one time when she was listing off drinks from a menu to us and said, "Tropical Washes." Any guesses on what "washes" turned out to be? Well, if you thought "oasis," then you figured it out much quicker than Brent and I did.) Anyway, we were set for the Renoir exhibit. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I'm just not into art. It really doesn't do it for me, but I was happy to attend this exhibit, knowing full well I've dragged friends to places they really had no interest in: See, "The Blue House" later in this blog. We walked around the exhibit and saw all it had to offer, before heading off to lunch at CPK. Finding out there was a CPK in Seoul was one of the more exciting revelations of the past few months. The food didn't disappoint either. It was just as good as home.
From here we headed for our pre-arranged tour of Chungwadae, the official workplace of the South Korean president. It's also known as the Blue House, because of the blue tiled roofs of the main buildings. This was something I had asked Ji Won to set up for us, because I thought it would be interesting. Brent really had no desire to visit, but was a trooper and had a good time anyway. We had a tour guide that took a big group of us around the grounds, speaking Korean of course, but luckily for us, or for me really since Brent didn't use his, we had pre-recorded English translations of what the tour guide was talking about as we walked around. It was a fun experience and I even got a free little mug out of it, which one of you reading this will probably receive as a gift. You can send your thanks to Lee Myung Bak, president, South Korea.
Later that night, we met up with a couple more of Ji Won's friends and had dinner, before settling in at a couple different Korean-style bars for the night. We tried some form of Korean wine that tasted okay, but I can't remember the name of it unfortunately. One of the friends there was named Ho, and this guy was a character. You could tell from the moment you met him. Well, of course, like any good Korean, he likes to drink. He actually made mention of how every time he drinks with foreigners, they are never able to keep up with him. Well, Brent and I made it clear from the beginning that we weren't going to try and be the first. After a few bottles of soju, beer and that Korean wine, I made the suggestion to take a walk to another bar, so we weren't just drinking and eating non-stop. When we got to the next place I knew it was time for me slow down, but of course Ho was ready to go all night. He was really the only one though. The rest of us were fine and what proceeded from there was actually quite entertaining. When we got there, we all ordered saki. Now, like I said, I knew it was time for me to slow down, so I was expecting just one shot of saki, then I'd call it a night. To my surprise, they bring out these big coffee mug-type glasses full of saki for each of us with some sort of shell or something floating in it. Gross. Anyway, I knew there was no way I was drinking that whole thing of saki. At this point, Ho was already drunk. Not belligerent drunk or anything, just having a good time drunk. Ji Won's cousin met up with us by this time, and Ho decided it was time to play matchmaker. Even though she said she had a boyfriend, Ho kept explaining to her why she needed to try dating the other guy there. Sorry, I can't remember his name. This went on forever! I was able to get some video of it, so you can see for yourself below. Now as I mentioned, there was no way I was going to drink all that saki, so I decided the best way to get rid of it was to give it Ho while he was busy talking about why those two should get together. Sitting across from me, little by little, I managed to pour not only all of my glass of saki into his, but most of Brent's also. He'd just take sip after sip and never realize that his saki wasn't diminishing. Now, please note, I would never have done this if I thought he would have gotten sick or something. This was a guy who could obviously handle his alcohol, so I wasn't worried about sending him to the hospital or anything. Anyway, we left the bar without him ever realizing how much saki he actually drank, and all the way to the subway he continued to plead with Ji Won's cousin to go out with the other friend there.
We stayed the night at the Lotte Hotel which is located kind of in the center of the city. The hotel itself was nice, but definitely not as nice as the one we stayed at on our first trip. I know I've talked about the Lotte brand before and how it practically runs this country. Well, knowing it to be a major Korean brand helped to explain why the bathroom, while it had a separate tub and curtain for a shower, still was set up awkwardly. It had glass on one side of the shower that allowed you to see into the room, and a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor, because a bunch of water still flooded out of the tub. Now, the glass that shown through to the room was sort of fogged to cover the body, but your head could easily look into the room as you were showering. Weird. They just can't seem to get this bathroom thing right, even in their nice hotels.
We visited another palace in Seoul on our second day and enjoyed some fine Mexican cuisine at Pancho's for lunch. Pancho's featured a "unique" way of naming various drinks on it's menu, which I took video of, because it was just too amazing to not be captured. The video is a little blurry, but I think you should be able to make out all the names of the different drinks. Note to my grandparents who are reading this, it's probably best if you don't watch that part of the video below. Some of the titles of the drinks are quite inappropriate. Beyond that, we really didn't do much that day. We didn't miss the train home this time and arrived in Busan roughly around 10 p.m. Two successful trips in two successive weekends for me.
Back in Busan, it's pouring rain for a few days now. It hasn't been so bad the last couple days, but it was pretty crazy a few days ago. We are officially in the rainy season here, which is strange for me, being this is typically a summer month. Don't let the rain fool you though, because it's still warm outside. Walking around in shorts with an umbrella is definitely new territory for me.
I have just about a week and half left of school before my summer vacation starts and I can't wait. It's amazing that I've already almost completed my first semester of teaching. It feels like just yesterday that I walked up on that stage in the gym and bowed to everyone. Like I've mentioned a couple times now, my dad and two of my sisters will be arriving on the 22nd for a go-round of Korea. We'll be making stops in Seoul, Jeju and Busan in the week-and-a-half they'll be here. It's funny, because come August after Mariana visits, I will have been to Seoul and Jeju each three times within a couple months. It will definitely be time to start exploring elsewhere!
Below are the photos and videos as promised!
Jeongbong Falls
The "Not-So-Mysterious" Road
The "Dragon" Rock
The Blue House (Chungwadae)
One of Lenuwaduh's most famous works.
