Wedding

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to a Korean wedding! Charis's supervisor was getting married and she told her to invite whoever she wanted, so she invited me and Ronald. It was so weird. We took the bus to Daejong and when we got there we went into the building and there was a huge crowd of people on every floor. The couple first sits in a room and you can come in and take pictures with them. 

Then you go into the ceremony hall. This is the crazy part. It's really informal in a way because it's almost like you're watching their dress rehearsal. We came in when the couple before was leaving...they book these halls for about 45 minute stretches and the next couple and guests are already coming in if you go over your time. It's like a weird sort of business. There were banquet tables set up with a flower decor in the middle and an unlit candle in the middle of that. There were eight glasses, two ciders (like sprite), and two pepsis waiting on the table. 

There was an announcer who announces the family and the bride and groom. The first to go were the mothers. They walked down the runway holding hands, bowed to each other when they got to the front (everyone clapped) and then went up the steps to light a candle on either side of the stage. The weird thing about this was that they were being led by these two women who worked at the hall -- basically, the mothers had no idea what they were going to do, so these women showed them right then and there -- that is what I mean by it seemed like a dress rehearsal. When the bride was up there, one of the girls was constantly rearranging her dress! She got in a ton of pictures because she was always there. There was also some other dude with a huge camera and enormous light on top. It was so bright we couldn't look at the stage when he had it turned on and was filming. People were not really paying attention most of the time and kind of chatting throughout the whole ceremony.

Then they had some weird Korean singer serenade them on stage and pretty much it was over -- it took like 40 minutes total and then we were herded to the buffet floor. Here we were with whoever went to the other weddings that day and we all sat down and got some plates of food, cheap beer, and soju. Then we left. We were there for two hours, the bus ride in total was 5.5 hours...crazy.

The National Cemetery

Yesterday, Sunday, Charis, Ronald, and I went to the National Cemetery. This was after I went to Insadong and bought mom 100 lanterns. I lugged them around for the rest of the day...anyways, the cemetery was nice. It would be a nice place to go hang out at or have a picnic. If I lived closer, I totally would go there. It has grass and it sorta just seems like a park. There are a ton of gravestones though, but they are separated in a different section. After the cemetery we went to Gangnam and at at Taco Rico, a really good Mexican restaurant. The chef is Mexican and doesn't speak Korean or too much English. It was so nice to have guacamole and corn tortillas...I got the flautas -- so yummy! It was pretty cheap too.

Did I ever mention that they have ashtrays in the bathroom stalls? I don't know if I did, but it's gross.

Vietnam visa

Went to the Vietnam Embassy yesterday to get our visas for our trip. So funny...it was like a tiny, pre-fab home with about a billion people waiting. We walked right in, filled out the forms, and Ronald is going to go pick them up tomorrow, with 84,000...each! I hope really he meant total, because that's expensive for a one month, one entry visa. Oh well, I guess we'll just see.

No students showed up today for my last class...had time to correct essays!

Jeju, day 6 (Monday)

On Monday at 7:18 we took a cab to the airport because bus 100 didn't go there. Bus 100 was the bus we took the first day from the airport to this stop, so we don't know why it doesn't go there. Bus 300 goes to the airport, but we didn't have time to wait for the next one, so we just hopped in a taxi.

We got there at 7:25, so we checked in and had until about 8:20 (our plane left at 8:40). We got breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts -- I got a bagel and Ronald got a donut and we both got some coffee. The whiskey in the duty free was too expensive so we got on the plane and arrived safely in Seoul at 9:45.

We raced to the metro, hopped on, waited till our stop, ran out, I took a speed shower and headed to work. Long day.

Jeju, day 5 (Sunday)

 On Sunday we got up, and at about 9:25 went to the GS to heat up pizza, buy some water, and get directions to Moseulpo port. We walked there pretty fast because we knew that the boat left at 10:00. We got there just before ten and were told the boat had already left. So we walked to where there was another boat and asked if it was going to Marado. It was, but we didn't have tickets. So we got in the police's car because they wanted to drive us to the ticket booth. It was 15,500 for the Marado Express ferry + park fee.

The ferry left at 10 and we got there 25 minutes later. We ended up renting a golf cart for 30,000, a total ripoff. We were looking for the "park", and the drivers didn't understand us. There was, however, one woman who communicated to us that it would be 30 to have our own until noon, so we decided to just do that.

The "park" turned out to be the entire island. We saw the lighthouse first with little lighthouse replicas from all over the world  in front of it. Then we saw the chocolate museum (the museum was closed, maybe because of the rain?) but left pretty quickly and found the snail building, got sort of lost between the locals' houses, found the road again, and found a buddhist temple. There was a monk in there leading prayer that could be heard on the street through the speakers. There were people praying inside and in the hut to the left there was a man doing I think calligraphy on some tiles. 

We ended up circling the island three times, not understanding we'd already made it the whole way. We passed the southernmost point two times before realizing what it was. We took pictures there and then caught an earlier ferry back to Jeju Island at 12:32, to be exact. We arrived at 13:00. 

10 minutes later, we caught a bus. At 14:15 we were in Jeju-si. We checked into the Olympia Hotel (we paid 20,000, the normal standard room rate, for a 30,000 special room -- no idea why we got that discount), right across from the bus terminal. We then decided to walk around a bit to try to find a place to eat, but we had no luck, so we hopped in a cab at 15:50 and got to Loveland at 16:11. We got sandwiches and coffee there and then paid our 7,700 to get into Loveland. 

When we got back to the hotel we decided to go out for some beer and dinner. We found the restaurant Cobaco. It was super yummy! I got sushi (a california roll) for 6,000 and Ronald got a curry dongass and noodles for 8,000. After we started looking for a bar but decided to just buy some beer and soju and go back to the room -- we had to get up early to go to the airport!

Jeju, day 4 (Saturday)

We woke up at 11 or 12 and had to pay an extra 10,000 for leaving after 12:00. Boo. We headed to the three famous waterfalls in Jeju (Jeongbang, Cheonjaeyeon, and Cheonjiyeon), one of which is the only waterfall to reach the sea. This turned out to be a strange marketing point as the three waterfalls were connected. We bought our tickets (2,000 I think). Before going in we asked the tourist information lady about the ferry to Marado Island as well as the yacht tour. Today was apparently too late to take the ferry (she told us too windy, but we found out later we were just too late), so we went in to see the falls (nothing too spectacular, though there were a TON of spiders hanging out in their webs that we took pictures of) and then went over the Seven Nymphs Bridge to the other side.

From there we walked down to Jungmun Marine Park to see about the yacht tours we could take. We could have either taken the SpeedJet (20,000 for 20 minutes) or the yacht tour (60,000 for an hour). We chose the yacht tour at sunset (this one left at 17:50, boarding 10 minutes before).

At this point we had some time to kill because we had called and found out there were no more ferries to Marado Island (the southernmost island in South Korea) and that we would have to wait until tomorrow. We ended up taking a taxi to a place to eat black pig samgyupsal. It was very expensive and a little different. I don't think I would eat that again. She wanted us to eat the black hairs that were still on it. Yuck.

After this we walked back towards the Marine park and picked up a couple of beers before taking a taxi all the way down. We took our yacht ride and it was really nice. They give you some food (which we missed) and there is soju and wine available inside, which is sort of stupid seeing as how everyone spends the whole ride outside.

At 19:20 we hopped on a bus to Moseulpo, the village where we would have to catch the ferry to Marado. This was some sort of adventure in itself. We had to ask about a billion bus drivers for the place we wanted to go. I caused quite a backup of 3 or 4 buses when I was asking one driver. He ended up saying no, but that the bus we needed was the one behind him. We got on that bus and then showed the driver that map and he gave a strange look and said no. Then he held down the horn to pass the bus in front of him through an intersection to let him know that we actually needed that bus! So he stopped and we got off, thanked him, and hopped on the other one. We got there at 19:48 to be exact, charged our phone, went to GS where one of the girls showed us to a nearby motel (30,000). We had a brief stay in the motel where we found some crazy animal shows -- one was a family that had two huge snakes (pythons maybe? boa constrictors?) which slithered all over the place; over their food, in their baby boy's bath water. So we dropped off our bags and headed out to grab some dinner. We charged our T-money (metro) cards at the ATM and then decided to search for pizza. We had both seen a pizza delivery place coming into Moseulpo, so we thought there might be hope. We were sent down one street and then back down another until we came upon a grocery store. Here some random guy overheard us asking the woman that worked there about pizza and pointed us in the direction we had come for "Chicago Pizza". We said thank you and started walking that way when he came up behind us in his car and offered us a ride. We hopped in the back and he and his friend in the front seat debated on where the pizza place was. They called to some girls on the street from the car and they pointed us east. They debated a bit more and then we found it! It was the same place we'd seen on the bus! We got out and the guy, an engineer he tells us, was going to wait for us to take us back, but we decided to eat there. We didn't finish it all, so we took some back with us to save for the morning.

Wake up call at 8:50. Ferry at 10:00.

Jeju, day 3 (Friday)

Friday was a day to hike Mt. Hallasan. Clair and Rob picked us up in Clair's car at the E-Mart that was connected to the World Cup Stadium where our jjimjilbang was. They had picked us up some kimbap too, thank goodness. We bought a sandwich and some water and hopped in the car to get on our way.

At 10:00 we started our hike with them as well as Faye and Seth, another couple we'd met in Jeju. We reached the "halfway" point (it was about 7 km up out of the whole 9 km) at five to 12 and took about 10 minutes to eat and rest a bit. You are not allowed to keep going up if you don't make it by 12:30) Ronald and I got to the top after the others at about 13:20, taking some good photos on our way up. We spent about 15 minutes up there, took some pictures, and headed back down. You have to leave the peak by 14:00, which I assume is so you aren't still walking down when the sun sets.

Ronald and I had not packed hiking shoes, so we were in pain! My knees were killing me on the way down and I got myself some nice looking blisters too. It was super rocky (volcanic rock which is black and sporous) so it was a difficult day. When we made it back down to the bottom we all celebrated with a nice cold Cass and hopped back in the car to go back to Jungmun Beach. Clair and Rob had been staying at a motel there for a few days so we wanted to try to book a room for the night.

When we got there they had one available, so we paid the 30,000, showered, and headed back out for dinner and drinks where we were joined by another couple, Grat and Leslie, that was staying in the same motel. I went straight to the pharmacy for some ibuprofen and bandaids. Then we went to a kimbap place and ate before looking for a place to hang out for the night. We found a hof (a bar where you have to order food), but somehow we didn't have to order anything which was wonderful because we were all stuffed. We got some Hallasan soju and some beer. This soju is much tastier than the regular soju. I wish they had it on the mainland, but oh well.

After the bar Clair and Rob went to bed and the four of us went to another bar. There we sat down and Ronald was slightly accosted by an older drunken woman who might or might not have worked at the bar. She apparently harassed the other guys the night before, so they were eager to leave. Leslie suggested Yahtzee in their room and I was pretty excited about that so we left immediately, bought some beer from the convenience store, and headed to their room to play. Me and Gret won! Yay! We all had a great time and I'm glad we got the chance to hang out with them.

That was pretty much it for day 3. Ronald headed to the PC bang and I headed to the room to be in a prone position (my poor body!) and passed out after a very exhausting day.

Jeju, day 2 (Thursday)

Something I didn't mention about Wednesday was our dinner. We were at the jjimjilbang, with limited to no Korean, and ended up ordering hard-boiled eggs and Ronald got some ramen noodles that ended up being kinda spicy. They give you the eggs on a plastic tray with sections, one of which has very potent salt. I mean, it is crazy salty.

Anyways, we left at 10:30 and started walking towards Sunrise Peak (Seongsan Ilchulbong), a large crater off the east coast. We bought some stuff at the bakery (weird, gooey bread that was hard on the outside, and sweet garlic bread -- they don't ever have it salty, sadly) and kept on our way, stopping to apply the needed sunscreen. We got a call from the policeman. He and I had an interesting conversation about my wallet. He said 12 o'clock, 10 o'clock, bus, police station Seongsan (the city where our jjimjilbang was close to). I was slightly confused and after a while ended up saying 2 pm, police station. We hung up and just to make sure, I sent him a text message saying, "2 pm Seongsan police station...thanks!" to which he responded, *^^*. I thought that was pretty hysterical and so very Korean.

We kept on walking and ended up at the police station around 11:40. I soon discovered my wallet was coming on the bus that arrived there at 12:10, so I needed to wait or come back. Ronald and I decided to go ahead and climb Sunrise Peak and then come back. We got back to the station at five till one and they had my wallet! Yay! I bought them little bottles of orange juice as a thank you and they gave me some fruit (two apples and two pear-like fruits that are rather large) and then asked us to pose with them for some photos. During the photo shoot, someone touched my butt a few times and Ronald says it wasn't him, so thank you, Jeju policeman, for that.

Then we took a bus to Manjanggal Lavatube (this took 30 minutes) that dropped us off on the side of the highway where the intersecting road began. We started walking up the road and after a while decided to hitchhike and the second car I tried pulled over and took us up there, so that was nice. I was hungry, so we stopped at the restaurant and got mandu (dumplings, 5,000), kimbap (sushi roll with no fish, 2,500), and a hot dog (1,500). A bit expensive, but that's how it is in touristy spots so oh well.

We bought our tickets for the lavatube (2,000 each) and I think it took about 45 minutes to walk it.No one checked our tickets before going in. It's pretty neat and you can see the world's largest lava column at the end of the tunnel.

We left (taking a taxi down the road) and hopped on the bus bound for Seogwipo (3,000) in the south. We got on the bus at 16:55 and got there at 18:42. From there we took a 15 minute bus ride to Poonglim where there was supposedly a jjimjilbang. It ended up being a resort with the cheapest room at 200,000 won. The guy at the front desk called us a cab that would take us to a real jjimjilbang in Waterworld at the World Cup Stadium.

It was a standard 7,000 to get in, but the PC bang (room with computers) was locked, so Ronald had to walk outside in his jjimjilbang uniform to work (he has to be connected to the internet every night until 2 am). These uniforms are like thick scrubs, but shorts, not pants.

That was the end of that -- ate a dongass and mandu there before finding a spot to pass out in.

Jeju Island for Chuseok

For those of you who don't know, this Tuesday through Thursday is Chuseok in Korea, their Thanksgiving basically. For this holiday I get Friday off at work, so Ronald and I decided to come down to Jeju Island, an island in the south of South Korea. Right now I'm writing from a jjimjilbang (씸실방) that we found.

To get to Jeju from Seoul, you take a plane from the domestic terminal of Gimpo airport. There we ate lunch at a place that had Korean fast food. We ordered a hamburger and a ddongass, the breaded pork cutlet dish they stole from the Japanese (dongatsu there). When the burger came, Ronald lifted the bun to check out the fixins and found there to be no meat...anyways, they were embarrassed and took the plate and added the hamburger to the hamburger.

Then we went through security where you are allowed to bring liquids...I had my nalgene full of water and they didn't even look twice at it. However, they did stop me and ask me if I had anything "spray". I couldn't think of anything so I said no and asked where in the backpack the "spray" was. I opened my backpack and pulled out a small bottle of perfume, "This?" I asked.
"No," she replied and proceeded to say "spray" and make strange gestures around her nose. I opened it a bit further and we found a tremendous bottle of bug spray that I had totally forgotten about! I'd left it in my backpack from the last time I'd used it and just didn't think about it. As it turns out, that bottle is also allowed...news to me. Why would they ask to see it if it doesn't matter?

To get to our flight (JejuAir which has a winking face as its logo) we had to take a shuttle bus, but the plane took off at about 16:30 and landed one hour later. We were nervous about the weather because in Seoul it had been raining a bit but when we landed in Jeju it was clear.

Our first stop was Tourist Information in the airport. We got a nice map that has a ton of stuff marked, and asked the women about some of the things I had already researched or gotten suggestions about. We've planned to stay around the island in a clockwise motion, ending with our last night (Sunday) back in Jeju-si (the northern city where the airport is located) because then we can see some of the things that are around that area and not have to travel far on Monday morning because our flight leaves early.

We took bus 100 to the Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal (the first stop the bus made, though the bus driver knew what we were asking when we said it in English) and then went up to the window and asked for a ticket to Seongsan, a city in the east. The woman gave us a ticket for 19:00 (cost: 3,000 so we had about 30 minutes to kill. I bought a popsicle and Ronald bought a drink and some crackers. Took a picture of the amazing bathroom sign (I'll upload this when I get back home) and then got on the bus at five to seven. The bus left about two minutes later -- they actually leave early here, not late!

We arrived in Seongsan (or nearby...) at 20:30 and asked the bus driver about a jjimjilbang in the area that the Tourist Information lady had given us. He knew about this one and the bus stop was not even a block away. We thanked him and headed up the small hill/driveway to Pilican 빌리켄 Jjimjilbang. Just before walking in I felt in my right pants pocket and noticed my wallet was no longer there. I knew it had fallen in the bus, but I searched through my purse anyways and didn't find anything.

We walked in the jjimjilbang, Ronald paid the 7,ooo per person, and I tried to call information in Jeju, and the woman told me I needed to call the Seogwipo bus station because that's where my bus would have been heading. I got disconnected and so tried to ask the woman at the jjimjilbong to use her phone to call the terminal. There was a man standing there too, so I managed to communicate to them (through pictures and gestures) that I had left my wallet on the bus and needed to call the terminal. The woman took my notebook with the number (which turned out to be a fax number, thanks information lady) and when she got off the phone she told us that the police were on their way.

So we put away our bags, changed into our uniforms, and by the time I came out, the police officer was there talking to Ronald about what happened. We gave him all the information we had to give and he told us that the bus companies were already closed for the day so he'd have to call tomorrow.

He called a couple hours later and told me they'd found my wallet! They have it at Seogwipo Bus Terminal and he wanted to give it to me at 6pm tomorrow. Since we are on vacation, we don't have much time to see everything, so he asked where we would be tomorrow. I told him and he said that maybe I could just go to the terminal myself and ask for the wallet. I'm not really sure what he decided, but I know he is going to call me tomorrow. Either way, my wallet seems to be safe and under supervision -- yay Korea! If this had happened in South America, I would have had to kiss all that goodbye. No way would that be returned to me.

So tomorrow we're going to see what things we can get to before the policeman calls. Will update later.

Chao!

DMZ

Today we went to the DMZ, JSA, 3rd tunnel, and a train station (I don't remember its name...). We went with USO (paid 79,000 won) and had to be at their office at 7:10 this morning. We were a bit late getting there, but there was no problem -- we just got on the bus and headed out. We were on bus A and bus B followed us there. I put pictures up on picasa, and I think those pretty much show what we did. Except for the tunnel where we had to take out everything and put it in lockers, wear hard hats, and climb up and down the tunnel. Basically, you couldn't get close to North Korea besides the conference rooms, and you couldn't really take pictures either. I pretty much just hope they reunite soon, though I can't imagine how hard that's gonna be on those poor North Koreans...

Here's a short video of part of the briefing we had. Or you can go here to see it a bit bigger if you're interested.