When I arrived I realized how close I was to Brock and Brittany. About a 2 hour drive, but a little more by bus. I was eager to get out of the countryside so I did as much research on the bus routes as I could. I also had Mr. Jung on the phone asking bus terminals how often the buses come etc... We figured it out and I was determined to go to the city for the weekend. I would have to take the local bus to Yeoju terminal ->Wonju terminal (closest big city) -> Chungju terminal. Seemed pretty simple so I decided to go.
A fair bit of teachers live in Wonju so I asked Eun Mee if I could hitch a ride with her to the city after work. She said yes, and Mr. J came too (I think he lives there). We got dropped off at the terminal and Mr. J came with me to make sure I got the right bus. I got him to write the Korean symbols for each city and my street name in a little notebook so that I could just show where I was going to each person. It was pretty sweet. I made Mr. Jung let me do it alone so I would have practice. We then went to the bus and he was so cute. He was like a worried parent! He like got on the bus and made sure I got a seat and said goodbye then he waited until the bus left. Ha, what a nice man...I was kinda like the embarrassed kid who is like "I'm fine, quit embarrassing me! It was funny.
The bus ride was a little scary. It was dark, and I mean DARK and we were whipping up and down mountains super quick. It made me kinda queasy all the curvy roads and ups and downs, but I was excited to be going to have some fun and to meet Jon's friends. :)
When I arrived (1h20mins later), I found Brock no problem, obviously. He told me that Mr. Jung had been calling him (I called them from his phone to say I was on my way so he had the number) and eventually called to make sure I got there safe...what a crazy pants! When I got there we hopped in a cab to their place, which was my first time in a Korean apt. building. Their view was awesome at night and even cooler during the day! So lucky to be in a city...even though country life has its perks. Brock and Brittany are both lovely and they were very accommodating. It was kinda backward that I was meeting them without Jon but it felt very natural.
sweet views from B&B's apt.
We then went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant. A couple of their friends came which was awesome. So many English speakers, I was so happy! Their co-worker Scott from England, friend Ronan from Ireland and Korean friend Hanna joined us. It was great! We had some beer and I ordered chili chicken which kinda reminded me of general tao (there was a pic). While we waited for dinner they served us deep fried, uncooked spaghetti. Apparently this is a common snack here! It was pretty good, different but good. The food was delicious but our dishes came out at different times which was kind of awkward. I don't like eating without everyone but they insisted that it would be ages before the next dishes arrived. I shared with everyone since it was late and I knew they were probably starving...and my dish looked pretty delish. :)
When we left there, we went back to B&B's to pre-drink and play some Jenga...the drinking version. It is pretty cool, you write rules and drinks etc...on each piece and as you take it out you have to do what it says. For example, "drink 4", "give out 6", "make a rule", and "soju" where you would have to take a shot of soju. FUN stuff. We eventually headed downtown to a bar called Dangerous. It was pretty empty which I was surprised about. Brock says that the bars are never packed and is unsure how they stay open which not much business. At the bar, there was a bunch of their friends. It was so awesome to be in a bar, with English speakers, having a good time! We played virtual darts, which was cool. It keeps score for you and everything, very handy when you are drunk and not good at darts at all. Brittany was a pro though, she killed Brock and I, it was sweet!
I am determined to be as good as Brittany!
After Dangerous we went to a bar called 2nd Floor. Also empty except 4 Korean girls out probably for a girl's night. Drinks in Korea are more expensive at bars than I anticipated. I thought that because cost of living was so low that drinks would be cheaper but they are the same as Canada. At this bar, even a Bud was $5. Beer and Soju are cheaper in the corner stores though. You can get a 2L (I think) for about $5.50 and Soju is dirt cheap at around $1.50 a bottle...AMAZEBALLS!
At 2nd Floor me and Brittany got super tired and I was ready to leave. This was my latest night up since my arrival as the latest I had ever gone to bed was 10pm and it was now about 3am. I was done. It was also weird being drunk in Korea for the first time as well. Being super tired and drunk was a bit overwhelming but the end of the night...lightweight! They had a spare bedroom for me which was awesome. They were such great hosts!
The next morning I woke up the latest I had ever woke up which was 11am. I am used to getting up at 6am so it was nice to just wake up naturally. Brock made me breakfast which I thought was hilarious...you take a piece of bread and take a hole out in the middle. You then add an egg to the middle in the frying pan so it is like a fried egg in the middle of a piece of toast...UNREAL! So good that I made one for myself here at home this morning!
After breaky we headed to UN park to hit up the Chungju Martial Arts Festival. It is one of the highlights of Chungju so it was a pretty big deal. It was a lot of fun. There were tents with food, tents with products from around the world, demonstrations and museum type tents. I was the happiest girl ever when I noticed Sharma at one of the international tents. WHOOT WHOOT! It was the most delicious thing I had had in a while and just the taste of garlic was amazing. So good (but obviously nothing compared to Ali Baba's back home)!
Food tents
crazy Transformer looking dude
LOVE that everything is surrounded by mountains
Sorry dude, trying to capture the Sharma!
Oh man!
Main stage
We then watched some of the events on the mainstage. There was "Russian Dance" which we anticipated being the dance where they have their arms crossed and kick their feet one at a time. Nope, it was kinda like a Vegas show girl performance and then a Jive type dance...so not Russian at all. Brittany told me that their are a lot of Russian prostitutes here, so maybe that is why they decided to dance with hardly any clothes on?
Russian Dancing?
sword cutting bundles of hay
Mongolian wrestling
Karate kids
stack of concrete planks
through bricks!
That night we went to the best restaurant I have been to since my arrival. It was called "Shabu" if I remember correctly and it was absolutely divine! You get raw beef and lettuce cups with rice in them. There is also a pot of soupy broth and veg boiling on the grill at the table. You have to drop the meat in the soup to cook then you dip it in a mustard sauce then put it in the rice cup in the lettuce and BOOM, delicious! Just as you think it couldn't get any better, they come with noodles and add them to the rest of the broth for a delightful noodle soup 2nd course. OH MAN, I cannot describe how yummy it was...and it was only $10 per person including beer and soju...holy friggin' molay!
new fave resto
YUM
After a stop at Baskin' Robbins and the convenience store for booze, we went to Ronan and their other Irish friend Mark's house to have some drinks. I taught them Ride the Bus and showed them the Bed Intruder videos...I was SHOCKED they had not seen them! It was good times all around. We then hit up Dangerous where I met some other friends of theirs and then home to bed at a reasonable hour. I am such an old lady, I get tired so easily.
Derby and Mark
Ronan, Scott, Brittany & Brock
The next day I left at about noon to start my journey home. I had only taken one bus there and had to take all 3 back. It took about 3 hours total, with some half hour waits in between buses. Oh, and when I was at Wonju terminal waiting for my bus to Yeoju, I went into Krispy Creme to get something to eat and randomly ran into Nurse and her kids having lunch! SO crazy to run into them. She tried to buy me something but I ended up not wanting anything from there. I sat with them to kill time until my bus and then she came to make sure I got on ok...these people are truly amazing, they have Canadians beat in kindness for sure!
I ended up catching the detour bus to my town which takes an extra 10 mins for a total of about 40. It was alright though, the drive was beautiful. It took the scenic route to all these little areas where people live, it was great. It was mostly older people and students going home. The bus would take these one lane, small streets to people's houses which was kinda scary...I felt like we were gonna fall into a stream for sure! But I made it home safe and sound which made me really happy and made me confident enough to take the buses and travel again. I was kinda happy to be home too...Although it is isolated and there isn't much English floating around, it is home and I was happy to lounge on a Sunday and get my chores like laundry done and cook my first dinner.
first home cooked meal: sweet potato and tofu with rice and curry sauce
All around awesome trip and I will defo be going there often. I met some really fun people and Brock and Brittany rock! Oh, and we are going to Seoul next weekend for the Fireworks Festival...I LOVE fireworks, can't wait!
Talk soon!
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