Cheongpung Land - TaLK

The trip where we get to miss a day of school, hang out with our friends all for free. Huzzah, yes please.

We boarded a boat and headed off. We were on the lake for about an hour, getting to our destination, so it must be a pretty big lake!

First stop was a historic village place. It was beautiful - filled with colored trees and colorful buildings.

There was a fountain on the lake. Across the way is where the bungee jumping took place!

This was a little illegal.. we weren't supposed to take the paddle out of the guys' hands, but we did anyway. Oops.

But at least we didn't break it. One of the other guys in our group broke it over someones butt. He was trying to pretend (super realistically that he was going to hit the guy hard). I guess his force and stopping action, snapped the stick and then landed on the guys butt with a WHACK. haha

First was a big lunch. I mean huge. It was amazing. Soup, meat, sides, apples soaked it awesome white sauce, mayonnaise type stuff that I ended up stealing from all the other tables who weren't eating it. Actually the kid sitting next to me took it upon himself to find ALL the apples and bring them my way. I think we might just be besties now.

So, we usually get an over night trip but this time it was just a day trip, lunch and bungee jumping. Which I guess it made sense on their part, don't book an overnight gig, because you might not have anyone left after they all jump off a ledge.

So, did I do it? Did I bungee jump? NO. I won't even keep that as a surprise. Me jumping - Nope. Not happening. I will jump off mountains, I will swim with sharks, I would sky dive (yeah, I think I do that), but there is something about jumping off of a platform or a bridge with some shackles on your ankles to keep you alive that doesn't appeal to me. My stomach seriously turns and jumps just me thinking about it and watching other people do it. However this one was much less scary than the one in Africa I went to (the highest commercial jump). I seriously thought, hmm this doesn't seem too high, maybe I could do it.

But I didn't. Nope. Instead I did 'the big swing'. It seemed funner, since I do love swinging. Also, I had done it and survived at the Royal Gorge with my siblings. So, I figured I could handle it!

This time I went with two of my friends, Peter and Nicole. We linked arms, laid down in the harness and they pulled us back (to almost as high as the bungee jump), blew a whistle, Peter said 'ready?' -- and the screaming started.

The cord was hard to pull, so it took him a couple of time, horrible I tell you. Horrible. I hated the extra suspense. I seriously screamed soooo loud. I was terrified. It was a straight drop for what seemed like ages (maybe a second) and then we swung way out, back and forth back and forth. At some point I somehow ended up much higher than the other two. Almost like I was standing up. So of course I did the titanic pose and had some fun looking down on my friends.

We watched some other bungee jump for a bit. They had people bungee over a man mad little thing of water. There was a man with a little blow up boat on the water, that they would lower the jumper in to when they were finished bouncing around. We watched people lose some things, that was kind of fun. Peter lost his wallet but luckily it floated and was retrieved by the man in the boat. Another guy lost his shoes. Yes, it was all guys who lost things, go figure!

When we got tired of watching people jump, we decided to do a photo shoot with the colored leaves. Fall is absolutely gorgeous in Korea, so many colors and the weather is quite wonderful.

We loaded back up, yes everyone survived and headed home. It was a quick trip and as I was sad to not get to hang out overnight with all my friends, it was kind of nice to not have to pack and get to sleep in my own bed :)

Busan Firework Festival

There is a firework festival in Busan (the 2nd largest city, on the south east coast of Korea) every year. I missed it last year, so decided this time around it was a must see!

Gwangandaegyo Bridge at night.

I got in Friday night and headed straight for the beach, where the fireworks would be held the next night. I wanted to see the Gwangandaegyo Bridge (부산 광안대교) or 'light up bridge'
without the crowds.

I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again, over and over and over again - I LOVE THE OCEAN.

Seriously, I could sit there for hours just listening and watching and smelling and seeing and wondering and thinking and loving and photographing. I just love everything about it. I think I'd make a dang good beach bum. Yup that's it, I want to be a beach bum when I grow up!

After photographing, I found a nice little walkway to sit on and enjoy the music (they were doing a run through for the firework show). A group of 5 Koreans came and had the same idea.  One man sat next to me and we attempted to have a Korean/English/Konglish conversation in between the spouts of blaring music! It didn't work to well, but we tried. I don't have a clue what we really talked about. I think it was mostly that I was American and a teacher and that I was bu-ti-pull.

Finally the the rest of the folks came back. They offered me a beer, which I nicely declined (beer KILLS my stomach). But then they gave me some nice almonds and a torn off piece of weird dried fish? - who knows what it was, it was dark out, but it tasted just like the ocean, so I knew it was fish or squid or octopus or some kind of sea creature. We took a few pictures together, which I tried to get out of, but they insisted I be a part of it. They will look back one day at that picture and say 'who is that?'. I got up after awhile, said good-bye to my new friends and headed to find the hostel.

Meeting the crew.

My cousin, Marie, and her crew of 12 met me at the hostel (Kyungsung Hostel, which was perfect for this large group. We had the whole dorm/room area to ourselves!) We got ready and headed out for a night on the town. 

I first and foremost had to get the CHEESE KIMCHI PANCAKE. (you know the one I had with my friends when my sister was with me in Busan). So, I took one other guy who wanted to try it (the rest of the group totally missed out!) I was impressed that I remembered right where it was. But something that delicious you just don't forget. The super nice owner man was a bit confused when all we wanted was the pancake and no alcohol. But he gave us what we wanted!

Then we partied it up in Busan until 4 AM... because that's what you do there. It's the latest I've stayed out in ages, but decided you know what, yolo. However the next day I was hurting because those crazies (the rest of the crew) were up at 9. So I maybe got 4 hours of sleep... maybe. That's a nap in my book, not a night's sleep.


Spa Land.

What do you do in Korea when you're too exhausted to do anything --- but know you should do something? You go get NAKED!! Yup, we went to a spa. I now love naked time and get excited for these things. Spa Land (general info) is one of the largest/nicest ones in Korea. It's located in Shinseage Department Store Centrum City. I've been to a spa (need I remind you about my birthday scrub down from an old lady?) in Cheongju, but Spa Land was different. It was beautiful, modern, huggeeee and open - just lovely. There were 5 of us girls who went. Let's just say we all became good friends after this... I mean when you see someone naked you kind of become besties.. instantly.

So first was the bath part (like always). We scrubbed ourselves (no old ladies doing it for me this time) and then jumped in some pools. There were many different pools of all temperatures. There was a nice outdoor part as well. So I got some rays while I bathed, it was perfect.


--- Photos of the Spa: from CNN - click for more pictures and information about Spa Land. 

We finally moved on from naked time (always sad to leave naked time) and put on our super sexy, jumpers to go to the saunas. Most jimjilbangs/spas have maybe 3 or 4 saunas of different temperatures... Spa Land has 13, yes THIRTEEN, each with a different theme and different health benefits. We tried out most of them at least for a few minutes. Some we stayed longer and almost fell asleep. There was a pyramid one, a bamboo one, a music room, with music playing - the floor kind of vibrated slightly with the beat and so many more.

Then we went upstairs and I got the BEST 2 dollar chair massage of my LIFE. Seriously this chair was intense and basically surrounded my entire body. It had places you stuck your arms in to, so it would massage it. It had leg holders with sides to massage your legs. I kind of felt like I was in a massage iron man suite, I got lost in it and loved every single minute of the 20 minute rub session. I wanted to do round two, but it was time to leave. There is a 4 hour time limit for being in the spa, because you know we'd all stay all day -getting our naked on and rubs, especially those darn Koreans (they live for these things).

Last but not least was a foot massage, or more a foot bath. It was outside and we just walked in a pool with stones on the bottom. It was a bit painful, but 'no pain, no gain' right? Plus, I think Koreans really love pain!? They hit each other, scrub their skin vigorously, get rough massages, they study ridiculous hours (that's pain in my eyes)! Conclusion: Koreans like and can handle pain. Americans are wimps, and just can't.

We headed out of the Spa and got some food, since we hadn't really eaten all day. We got spicy chicken and veggies, it has a specific name but I don't remember. Our pan was supposed to be 'non-spicy', yeah, well it was still spicy.

Then it was back to the hostel and then on to the fireworks. We knew the subway would be crazy, but we did it anyway. We found out what the police and retired military personal do in this country - crowd control for big events. They stood down in the subway with sticks and would push people on to the train or pull them back off. We finally made it on with a bit of shoving and made it to our stop.

Then we started walking and walking and walking. We did the buddy system. I was linked with the tallest guy in the group. We quickly became the leaders, probably a combo of our long legs and our weaving in and out skills. We were also the easiest things to pick out, so being the leader just made sense. We decided to head to the edge of the beach, where it looked like there were less people and a better view. We could have gotten there early afternoon and got a prime spot down on the beach, but we were enjoying naked time way too much for that!

The show started a few minutes after 9 and immediately a sea of cellphones dotted the sky.


The worst was when I saw people with their phones up recording and NOT EVEN WATCHING THE SHOW.... (like this man). Ug, what has the world come to? We don't even know how to enjoy things anymore without something to record/document it. Will they even ever watch these videos again in their life??

I guess I don't have much room to talk. I did have my camera and was taking pictures. However, I put it down and enjoyed as well.

I honestly go over this battle many many times. When is it appropriate to just leave your camera at home and enjoy. I am constantly in this debate with myself. (expect a blog post one day about this!!) 

The hour long firework show was impressive. It was set to music and was a whole video production, which we couldn't really see. But we could see the fireworks (for the most part).

About 15 minutes into the show, some people moved and we snuck closer to the edge/front. The Koreans weren't too happy (because we were stepping on their plastic mat) but they finally gave up and allowed us to hang out there. We became part of the family! 

By the end I was standing on a bench and had a pretty good view. I was able to get above all the Koreans and their cell phone lights.

That night, I got the cheese kimchi pancake again. Addicted? YES. This time with Sarah and her husband Kyle. Sarah is a photographer and they love eating and being healthy. Yeah, we got along great! We skipped out on the Halloween craziness with the rest of the group and went back to the hostel for some sleep -- another reason why we became instant friends! 

Sunday, I headed back to Cheongju. It's a 3.5 hour bus ride from terminal to terminal and took me about an hour on the subway to get to the bus terminal from the hostel in Busan. It's a long wayyyy (well for Korea) but it was all well worth it - met some awesome people from around the world, got to see some exploding lights and the ocean and got some good quality naked time in!

Jeongpyeong Ginseng Festival

Jeongpyeong is about 50 minutes from my house in Cheongju and 10 minutes from my school in Doan. I pass through it everyday, but rarely actually stop to explore it, or hang out there. This little shindig gave me a good excuse to see what this JP is all about! 

인삼 (Insam) Festival.

So this festival - Yes, it's all about ginseng. It's like our sweet corn or watermelon festivals back home. Wait, yes, it was almost exactly like those small town festivals we have in the states. A few little rides that look like they are going to fall apart, some games that are impossible to win, lots and lots and lots of fried food and of course booze. I guess humans everywhere have pretty similar ideas about what a festival entails.


So, what even is ginseng? (here's a link for that, or you can trust me)

Well.. it's a root. And it's medicinal. Or at least good for you. It's used for a lot of health things. It's fried/cooked and eaten whole, it's in some drinks, used to make tea, and in beauty products. Koreans just rave about it and apparently as quoted by my teachers at school it's 'Good for men in the night time'. Just fyi for all you men out there. Ok, enough of that - moving on...

Basically it's healthy and good for you and blah blah. Of course I had to try it. So, I tried it all battered up and deep fried, to make sure I wasn't getting toooo many health benefits from it.

Result: I loved it. Really.. it was so good. Kind of like a sweet potato with a bit of an added medicinal tangy, bitter taste. I had had ginseng once before - a ginseng drink at school that one of the teachers gave me - and that tasted like liquidy BBQ sauce/medicine. I didn't like it.

So I like the actual root, not the sugary drink. I wonder if I would like the tea? I'm not a huge tea fan of tea, but who knows. I feel like that would be the healthiest way to consume the ginseng, so that I could actually get the benefits of it.

I learned ginseng grows in the ground for several years (up to 6 years I guess). And the longer it grows the bigger it gets and the more expensive it gets. It's so interesting. It grows under these shaded canopy, cover things that I see dotting the country side.

So this festival was full of traditional activities. We watched some men with large hammers beat some ddok (rice cake) over and over until the adjumma (in the red) said to stop. 

Then she went over, bent down and picked up the massive slab of rice and threw it down on the table where they put a bunch of powdered substance on it. Then they cut it up into smaller pieces and sold it to the masses of Korea people waiting in line to buy it.

We walked around the booths, talked to a few different people selling their ginseng. We got to one station and one of the ladies knew quite a bit of English so we stopped and chatted for a while. 

As we talked, a man walked up with a bag. You just never know what to expect. Ever. That's what I've learned. It's an 'ok, get read for this.. they are going to want me to eat this and they won't leave me alone until I do, so I should just do itttttt'..... it was one of those moments. As I looked into the bag, I realized what it was.


Grasshoppers.

They were red, I guess from the spice (because everything has to have spice). I just looked at them and thought, there is no way. But of course, he insisted. And pressured. And grabbed one and placed it in my hand. There was no turning back now. It was in my hand. I had to. They promised they were delicious. Right. A bug, delicious? Come on Korea. I know all about your smelly bugs you try to sell me on the streets. I refuse to try those, they smell to horrible! 

I was not excited about eating a grasshopper, but of course I did........

Result: I actually liked it. It was dried, so it was crunchy and just tasted like the spice/flavoring they put on it. It was kind of like a chip with eyes. I even grabbed another, and this time no hesitation, plopped that sucker in my mouth. Ok, fine Korea - you win this round with force feeding me randomness that is actually quite good!

And then there was this.
Sometimes in Korea I find things like this and I just don't understand why and you know what it's things like this that I probably never will......

So I just accept it and appreciate it -- Psy doing Gangnam Style with the Madagascar crew (Marty, Melman, Alex and Gloria)!! Yeah, ok... that's actually pretty AWESOME!