A few months ago my friend David, who I have mentioned throughout this blog, succeeded in obtaining a Korean drivers license. To us foreign teachers this only meant one thing… KOREAN ROAD TRIP. Two weeks into my time in Korea this is exactly what we did. After school let out last Saturday evening five of us foreigners piled into what I would consider the bowling shoe of rental cars and headed south with the ultimate goal of reaching the southern coast of South Korea. While driving across the entire country would seem like quite an endeavor in the States, in South Korea, which may be comparable in size to Georgia, it is a rather minor feat. Nevertheless, it was a road trip and we were in a foreign country and that was exciting enough. We drove into the night, our car running on pure excitement and adrenaline (which may have been why we got such good gas mileage). We stopped at rest stop where we met a traveling Korean wind ensemble, who were very excited to meet some Westerners and take many photos. We dueled with our cameras in this manner for a few minutes before we headed off again on the road. They were particularly interested in the curly blond hair of my friend, Jacinta.
showing off our rental car
everyone wants a photo with Jacinta
Later that night we arrived at our final destination for the evening, the bustling university city of Janju (sp?). We parked our Korean compact car on a side street and set out on foot. The city on this Saturday night was buzzing with neon lights, people, and a range of noises and smells. After walking around for a bit we found a nice outdoor eatery where we decided to dine that evening. It was there that I tried octopus! The suction cups were more suctiony than anything I have ever seen. I hesitated a bit, but then went for it, drawing out a nice bit of Ursula with my chopsticks. The texture was rubbery as I expected, but the overall experience was not totally unpleasant, in fact it even bordered on enjoyable. The head on the other hand, which I tried later, is making me gag now as I write this. It was like the ripest, juiciest, punch-me-in-the-faciest grape I have ever had. The thing just exploded and oozed in my mouth and I swear as I chewed I heard little voices telling me to do horrible things. But all in all the meal wasn’t bad. The beer helped.
our little octopus garden
Invigorated by fresh tentacles and suction cups we headed out on the town. After walking around for a bit we managed to locate a happening club on one of the upper stories of one of the buildings. We walked in. The music was great and the place was packed, but no one was on the dance floor. The Korean youths all sat awkwardly at the surrounding tables. We wandered for a little while and ordered a few drinks at the bar. All of a sudden everyone at the tables, and I mean everyone, stood up all at once and went to the dance floor and started dancing. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I am used to people entering and exiting the dance floor in small numbers, but like clock-work the entire club moved from the tables to the dance floor. It was very bizarre. I tried to ask the Korean girls I was talking to what was going on, but with the loud music and the language barrier they did not understand what I was saying. About 15 minutes later the DJ said something and everyone went and sat down again. I was perplexed. Is it adult swim now? What is going on? We went to another club after where the same thing was happening. Everyone got up and sat down together. The music didn’t change. The DJ still played the same hot dance music while everyone was seated. At one point I and two other fellas were dancing on floor by ourselves during the rest period. Eventually everyone came up again. I like to think it was because of us, but it was probably time for everyone to start dancing again anyway.
“Man, I can’t wait till it’s dance time again...”
The peace sign seems to be the Korean default when you don’t know what to do with your hands in a photo.
Afterwards we headed back out to the street and stood around for a bit deciding what next. We figured the only reasonable thing to do at that point was to go to the nearest Jim-ja-bong, a common Korean sauna and hot-tub bathhouse. In the U.S. of course, it is not very common to end a night out at the clubs with your comrades by enjoying a sauna or hot-tub completely naked among a room full of like-gender strangers. But this is what we did. Going from extremely hot and steamy saunas and tubs to very cold pools was kind of like playing freeze tag with my heart. I don’t think my body new what was going on. The Koreans however believe this to be very healthy and cleansing. It may be. Afterwards David, Chris, and I donned the uniform T-shirts and shorts given to us at the door and went to meet up with the girls in the common hall. This large hall was a site indeed. The expansive wooden floor along with that of several accompanying rooms was almost completely covered with Koreans of all ages wearing the same rented shorts and shirts sleeping on thin mats and stiff log-shaped pillows. This is where we too would be retiring for the evening. As I walked around I felt like a farmer surveying my crop of people. They were very ripe. After we unintentionally woke up one of the workers to buy a few waters to replenish all the body fluid we left in the saunas I went back up to the bathroom and took out my contacts. When I came back down David and Chris were nowhere to be found. Although with my contacts out it is possible that they were 10 feet in front of me waving. In any case I found a free mat and pillow-log and found a free plot of floor between and old man and later a couple young lovers. It was not a very restful night to say the least. The lovers kept moving around and one of their mats kept pushing into mine. I wanted to tell the lovers to stop pushing the corner of their mat into my ear, but I didn’t know how to say, “excuse me, lovers, your mat is in my ear” in Korean yet. The old man on my other side was ok, but by morning his feet had ended up on my mat and a little foot-tangling did take place. I think he started it.
That morning (a few hours later) we left the Jim-ja-bong and got an authentic breakfast, the name of which slips my mind (something like beep-im-bob). This mixed rice dish is pretty famous in that area. It was good, but a little too vegetably for me. Afterwards we got back in the car and continued south. Eventually we arrived at our destination, a renown green tea plantation. Unfortunately it was closed. The sign out front probably indicated this, but “we are foreigners and don’t speak Korean,” so we ended up hopping the small gate and took a look around. It was very scenic and reminded I and Jacinta of an Italian hillscapes endemic of the Amalfi coast. See photos below.
"Who's hand is that?"
Afterwards we headed to another local Jim-ja-bong. (I know what you’re thinking… believe me we’re not “steam-freaks”.) This particular Jim-ja-bong was very nice. It was located right on the southern coast. From the hot-tubs we were able to look out the broad windows and watch the sun go down over the hills and inlet. The best part about this Jim-ja-bong, however, was that the main hot-tub was filled entirely with green tea. For real. It was really nice. We stayed there for a bit steeping in the green tea. I felt like a giant crumpet being dipped in a massive cup of tea. I enjoyed being a crumpet. While we bathed in a local beverage we started up a conversation with the only other non-Korean in the place. He was a Ph.D. student from France. His name was something like Godillon. I have always wondered who would be the first person I would ever meet entirely in the buff, I should have known it would be a French man named Godillon. Anyway, he spoke good English so we invited this solo travel to join us for dinner. We ate sam-gap-sal, which is a grilled pork dish. The only difference in this case was that the pigs from which the meat came were raised on green tea. We enjoyed our green tea pigs as we ate with green tea chopsticks, and green tea plates, as the green tea clouds softly drizzled green tea on the green tea rooftops. (The part about the pigs is true.)
I think the fella in the back is the French guy... though it is hard to tell with his cloths on.
After dinner we said goodbye to Godillon and we piled back into the car to begin the 5-hour trek back home. We did make one last stop before leaving at a roadside green tea and green tea paraphernalia shop. We bought some green tea and some tea candies to bring back to the other teachers at school so they would be jealous of our “tea-time”. The store was very nice and so was the woman who ran it. She served us some free green tea along with some green tea gummies. These may have been the first gummies I have ever eaten that were not shaped like a dinosaur or a Looney Tune. Some good conversation and a few driving games later, we made it back home to Bundang, where we nestled back in all snug in our beds as visions of grean tea leaves danced in our heads.
