KOREA IN THE SPRING~
Our spring was jam packed full of festivals. Korea is the land of festivals and we had many to pick from -- somehow we limited it down to five. Maehwa Apricot Blossom Festival, Holi Festival, (I already wrote about) Cherry Blossom Festival, Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival (persimmon wine tasting and strawberry picking) and the Jindo Miracle Sea Parting Festival. You may be thinking, "Oh, that doesn't seem like that many..." But it was in a span of six weeks.We actually became kind of pros by the end because we had learned along the way from each one. Starting with:
1. Using public transit to get to these festival is a nightmare! Most festivals are rather set back from the main town/city and getting from the terminal to the festival can be a hassle all of its own! (Example will be given for the Maehwa Festival)
2. Consider the weather and if it is going to be worth your time/money/effort. (Example - Cherry Blossom Festival)
3. Look for affordable tour groups around the area. It's nice to have someone else do the planning every once in a while. (Example - Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival)
4. RENT A CAR IF POSSIBLE!! We got really lucky to have someone with an international drivers license and renting a car was a breeze. (Example - Parting of the Sea Festival)
Our first festival was....
Maehwa Apricot Blossom Festival - March 23rd, 2013
The group of friends that we had traveled to Tokyo with from Geoje became kind of our festival travel buddies. Jen, was the festival guru, she knew where she was going, how to get there and what to do. Right Oh!
Because we all work such weird hours, leaving on Friday really isn't a possibility.. So Saturday morning, bright and early we all set out to the Gohyeon Bus terminal and headed to Tongyeong (only a 30 minute bus ride north from us). From there, we caught another bus (after a 2 hour wait) to Gwangyang the "main" city of the festival. The bus ride was almost 6 hours from Tongyeong to Gwangyang so our butts were ready to get off that bus! From Gwangyang, we had been told that there would be a shuttle bus taking us to Maehwa/the festival. However, I think we arrived at the wrong terminal, but no worries, we found other foreigners who were from the area and they were going as well so we tagged along. The next bus we got on battled with traffic the entire way to the festival so what should have taken a max of 10 minutes took almost 45 minutes to an hour and we had actually jumped ship and decided to walk.
Walking to the festival was also rather confusing. We thought we were at the 'festival' because it was a large parking lot with a lot of the normal festivities - food, horrible singing, dancing, games, nic-naks.... But there were NO 'blossoms' to be seen.... We then found a festival map and it showed that we were on the way edge of the festival. It wasn't too far of a walk and it was pretty because we came across more and more apricot blossoms so our exciting was beginning to mount... (which everyone needed after all those bus rides). *** Note: I think we might have kicked ourselves by "jumping ship" more to come on that later***
The festival was beautiful, the apricot blossoms were in bloom and there was a 'hiking path' that we were able to go up and see more and more. We got some awesome pictures and had a great time just taking in all the experiences from our 'first' festival. But... then it started to get a little dark out and with that, it began to get a bit more chilly. So we mosied on back down and went to find our bus...
NO BUS...... there was a line of people that had done similar to us and had just banked on a bus to bring us back to the city, nope. The bus company had actually screwed up and didn't schedule as many return buses as they had going buses. Thus, a line of 200 people waited for buses that seemed weren't going to come. After an hour wait, a man came around with tickets and was going to sell us a bus ticket back but we had to wait another 2 hours for the bus. By now, it was dark and it was cold. Those 2 hours were going to be miserable. So Jen and another foreigner decided to go ask the police if there were any other options - they were then taken to the director of the festival (who spoke great English). He offered his personal car AND the car of another worker to take us back to the bus terminal in Gwangyang!! I'm sure my mother is face to palm right now thinking, "you got in the car with strangers in a strange land!?" and Yes, mom, I did.... And it worked out. I think the biggest thing I have learned coming to Korea is that things have a way of turning out. If we would have had to wait those 2 hours, so be it. But we got these rides and we were back in Gwangyang in less than an hour.
From the Gwangyang bus terminal we then took a bus to Yeosan -- An island to the west of Geoje that is the home to a hermitage called Hyangiram Hermitage. By this time it was late, so we spent the night in a 7dollar/night hostel and were up and out the door for the hermitage by 10am. Getting to the hermitage also meant taking another bus, this time a city bus. The wait for the bus was about an hour, by 11am we were on the bus.
***MOTION SICKNESS ALERT!!!*** If you are traveling in Korea, whether by bus, taxi, motorbike, ferry-- bring motion sickness meds... I have NEVER had motion sickness until coming to Korea and transportation makes me hate my life.
We then took the windy bus ride to the hermitage (about an hour long ride). When we got there, I was completely sick to my stomach. I was going to lose my cookies. And then, the hermitage has 290 stairs to climb to get to the top. Woof. So up we went. After the first 100 stairs (battling asthma, motion sickness and all around out-of-shape-ness) it started to level off and I was able to enjoy the hermitage. It was absolutely breath taking. One the way up, they began using the mountain structure to create the paths. So at one point we are walking under a fallen rock and then the path took us through a 'gorge' and then along the way the steps are carved just out of the mountain. One of the best places that I have seen in Korea. I'm really happy that I fought through all the above mentioned and did it. It was the prefect time of year to go, the leaves were just beginning to fully bloom, the flowers were in bloom, the weather was warm and just the perfect atmosphere. I am so glad that Jen and Cory found this hermitage and that I didn't let any of the obstacles stop me. It was top 5 moments for me in Korea.
Then back on the puke bus to reroute our steps and head home. Yeosan - Geoje ~ 6 hours on the bus with some heavy Sunday traffic.
Steps leading up to the Hermitage.
Using the natural structure to build the hiking path.
Ain't he cute!?
Holi Color Festival - March 31st, 2013
(Already wrote a post about this festival)
Cherry Blossom Festival - April 7th, 2013
When I had mentioned the Cherry Blossom Festival earlier, it was a side-bar to gauging the weather and if it is worth the trip. What had happened with this festival was:
1. Jen and Erin (from our group) had gone the weekend before because they heard that the following weekend (when we had all planned to go) was going to storm. We would have gone along with that, however, I was hosting Easter dinner at our place that night. Which meant, my OCD - aahhhmmmm.... That I get from my mother - kicked in HIGH gear and I was too involved in making sure Easter was perfect for everyone to even allow the foreshadowed rain to ruin my Easter.
2. I had been WAITING for this festival, since we really came to Korea. Cherry Blossoms are what Asia is known for and I wanted to be submerged in it!! Also, the winter was awful... Think constant dead dry winter -- NO SNOW..... It is horribly ugly and depressing. And I had put all my spring hopes into this festival.
3. The weather. Finally it came to the weekend we had planned on going, Easter was done I could relax... I was going to see my CHERRY BLOSSOMS... And it stormed, hard, Friday and Saturday.
So, we woke up Sunday morning. I was kind of in a gloom because I wasn't going to see my blossoms and Scott and I had so many back-and-fourths about, "Shall we go...?" "Will it be worth it?" "Will there be any blossoms left....?" Finally, Scott pulled the trigger and we headed for the bus station.
Luckily, Jinhae is only an hourish bus ride for us, we got the 2pm bus (which of course was an hour wait from us) and we were on our way. Also, we met up with another group from Geoje that was also going and it was nice because we were able to hanging out with some new faces for our second festival experience.
Arrived at Jinhae, and much like our first festival, the whole thing was spread out. We had to walk to the grounds from the bus and when we arrived it was the typical "food, horrible singing, dancing, games, nic-naks...." But NO cherry blossoms and nothing of what I had seen from looking up this festival! Finally, we found a map and we found out that the "Cherry Blossom Bridge" is another 5-10 blocks away from the main festival grounds. So we headed towards my dream cherry blossoms. When we get there - our guesses were true - most of the blossoms had been blown off the trees from the storm. : ( Heart breaking moment.
So, I could have pouted and been disappointed, but I was with a great group of friends. So what did we do? We grabbed a couple of beers, convinced the man operating the pirate ship ride to give us a ride (with said beers) and we had about 20 minutes of giggling/drinking/and pirate ship riding.
What I am getting at, is... I had built this festival up in my mind to be the epitome of my Korean experience. And looking back, the blossoms weren't even a major factor in my Korean experience. What was, and remains to be the epitome of my Korean experience, is the company I keep and the fun we are willing to have when life throws us some kimchi (worse than lemons.. Lemons I can make: lemonade, Lemon Drops, Run Strip and Go Naked's ..... Kimchi is kimchi. I can't make anything better from that!) What I am also getting at, is that if you are going to a festival... be aware of the weather and how that may influence your time at that festival.
This was about the best picture that I could get.
Usually, the blooms are bright and full and after the storm the blooms were anything but bright and full.
Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival - April 20th, 2013
Our third festival was the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival. This was the festival that we had signed up through a tour group. Over-all, a pretty good experience. Some people love tour groups because they don't have to plan or worry and some people hate it because some are unorganized and you don't have any freedom to do any additional things on "your list".... I am in the middle.
To catch the tour bus, we first had to get a bus to Busan. So again, we were up bright and early - caught the 7am bus - Busan by 8am - subway ride to the rendevous point by10am(?). This trip it was: Scott, me and Erin. Another Geoje'er and her Korean boyfriend had also signed up for the trip - so again, some old faces but some new - and that was the fun part of the trip.
Our first stop on the tour was the persimmon wine tunnel. BARF. Persimmon wine tastes like apple cider vinegar. Not appetizing. I think I have summed that stop up.
Second stop: Some "farmers market" -- nope it was an inside shopping area with cowhide vests and dried fruit for sale... but NOT a "farmers market" by my standard. Could have done without that stop.
Lunch: Madness. There was about 5 buses - 30 people/bus and only ~15 people manning the grills/food. They offered samgasal and hotdogs. Should have just made it simple and done hotdogs. We wasted a lot of time for lunch.
FINALLY our fourth stop was the Bullfighting Festival in Cheongdo. This is one of the only times that the Korean government allows the Korean people to gamble. *Gambling is completely legal for non-Korean residents. Scott and I could go to Busan or Seoul or any of the other casinos and gamble no problem. Koreans go and they get taken to jail* So...You can just about imagine how the Korean -men- were at this arena. Even I put up some cash on a bull - 10,000W. I then lost 10,000W. But it was awesome to see a bull fight! (meaning two bulls 'fighting' - Not the Spain type bullfighting)
As I had been leading up to, on the tour, we had spent a lot of time doing the other things that we had very limited time at the 'actual event' - We were only there long enough to see about 3 fights. So I would have foregone many of the things leading up to the event to stay longer and see more bullfights. (I got rather into it... but loosing one manwon (10,000) was enough for me!)
Last stop was strawberry picking. We were allowed into the green houses, given a container and told to go wild. Our task: Eat. Fill. And that we did!! I think for every one strawberry that went into my container, two went into my mouth - I thought that was a good ratio! The strawberries we picked were the best strawberries I have ever eaten. I don't know if it was because I had picked them or the fact that they were right-off-the-vine fresh, but YUM! I filled my container and my belly full of these strawberries!!
Then the bus took us back to Busan - back on the subway - back on the return bus to Geoje and home! Over-all, it was an okay experience with the tour group. They were willing to offer 'more' to see of the area than JUST the bullfight (which is what we would have done and gone home if we hadn't done the tour). The cost was well worth it ~40,000 (40USD) and we were able to sit back and relax and not have to find our own transportation and finding the festivals and so on.... **You also have to be very careful in picking a tour group in Korea. We have heard a lot of nightmare stories of tour groups who collect the money and when the time comes for the tour-- there is no bus! Be cautious*
Jindo Miracle Sea Festival April 27th, 2013
Back to the original group (plus some new comers) that had gone on the 6 hour transit bus ride to Maehwa Apricot Festival - We decided that for the Miracle Sea Festival (located about an hour past Gwangang) we were going to rent a car. We all decided that 7 hours in a bus was too much. Luckily, two of the people had been smart enough to get an international drivers license (they are both Canadian, it is much easier for them to do this than it is for us in the US, and to be honest we hadn't even thought about doing this in the rush of getting here) **If you are reading this and are new or just coming to Korea - look into getting your international drivers license, you won't regret it!** So, we had two drivers license and we needed two cars - perfect. I was, of course, stuck with the boys (Cory and Scott) and Jen, Danielle and Kevin rode in the other car.We were able to get the car Friday night and then leave straight away Saturday morning. Scott and I had made a mad dash to HomePlus Friday after work to pick up some car snackies, in prep for what we thought was a 6 hour drive. The drive to Jindo only took us, in the car, about 4 hours. Not even enough time to crack into the snackies!!
Once we arrived in Jindo, we found the festival grounds. We were still, REALLY, early (~11am) the festival didn't start rolling until after noon. But we took a little tour around before the rush of the crowd. And, most importantly, we bought our waders ~10,000w! :) **You'll understand why in a minute.**
After we got that important task out of the way and with much time to spare, we explored the island of Jindo. Let me tell you, there isn't much going on, but the fact that we HAD A CAR and were able to do what we want and go where we want, this boring island wasn't stopping us! We had snatched some maps at the festival and I had seen some landmarks that might look interesting so we headed in that direction.
We never found said landmarks, but we came across an "Exhibition for Jindo Dogs" -- the Jindo dogs are big in Korea (I had been calling them Jinju dogs my whole life, but I guess they are actually Jindo dogs... Named after the area of Korea where they came from). We drove up and it was no "exhibition" it was more like a ragged puppy mill. Very sad way to start off our trip, so we b-lined it out of there!
Cheers to this mountain statue with some kind of red nasty alcohol that is famous in Jindo.
We met up with the other group when we got back to the festival. We all sat around and had some drinks, Kevin and I did a quick interview for the local news... We were claiming to be government officials from Canada sent here to 'figure all this out' and to 'get one of these for Canada.' -- Poor news lady had no clue what we were talking about. Then it was time to make our way out. I tried for the first time - Beondegi (Korean steamed silkworm). I wanted to barf! O wait.... I pretty much did! Thank you soju for the courage that I had been trying to gather to try them, but that will be enough for me... for life.
Yummy!!
What the Miracle Sea Festival is:
Walking out, it was very rocky and there were many people!! But as we kept going, less and less people were around and we were able to enjoy it. When reading about this festival, I read that it is 'good luck' to find a starfish... So I was on a mission! I was asking old ladies (who were not interested in this 'festival' at all, more exciting about being able to find their supper more easily than normal), kids and my eyes were peeled. Then I saw this flash of orange and I ran and grabbed for it -- A STARFISH!! Mission complete! (oh yeah, Scott found one too, BUT we were the only ones in the group to find them!)
By that time, the water was getting really cold and was starting to come 'back in' so we headed up to land. Met up with everyone in Mokpo and enjoyed a night on the town -- in a different town! Next morning, we woke up and drove back to Geoje.
By far, this festival was one of my favorites. It was a lot of fun and a different 'festival' than just flower blossoms! Taking the car, really made a difference! We were able to explore a new part of Korea and have the freedom to come and go as we pleased. We were also able to check out the city of Mokpo and the other car got to see the Green Tea Hills so getting a car might sound stupid or expensive, but in reality all of those public transits add up and if we would have had a car full, it would have been more economical. But honestly can't put a price on the freedom that that car gave us and how it really made our trip.
And that is the end of our festival filled Korean spring!! We were busy little foreigners and yes, everything didn't always go according to plan, but that was half the fun. If everything went smoothly, I wouldn't have any stories to tell you or advice to share!
I'm really sorry for the LONG gap between posts, as you can see we got rather busy after Tokyo. A more recent update will come including: resigning our contract - summer holiday - scooters - 'good-byes' - and whatever else comes to mind at the time.
Love always,
-C
