Chuseok Weekend

NOTE:

This is a somewhat risque post. Sorry if it offends anyone, but the tale of this past weekend cannot be told any other way!


I just fit a good 20% chunk of my overall most ridiculous and memorable lifetime experiences into one nonstop weekend that centered around a handful of other girls and I traversing Korea from the bottom up.

Let me begin:

Thursday, all the children in my class were dressed in their traditional Chuseok clothing called "hanbok." Hanbok are very colorful pants and dresses (bright pastels) made out of silk that only appear during the Chuseok (and sometimes New Year) holidays. "Chuseok" is Korean Thanksgiving. It's a large meal with family to celebrate the coming of the harvest season replete with all sorts of traditional food and after-dinner activities (think going for a hike instead of watching football on t.v.). Although SJ invited me to join her family for the holiday, I wanted to make the most out of the extended weekend and travel while Koreans were busy with their families.A little girl who wanted to take a picture with me while we were waiting for our bus. She is wearing a relatively plain hanbok to give you an idea of how ornate they can be.

After finishing my classes on Thursday, I jogged to the subway and hustled to my apartment to fix some dinner and stuff some last minute items into my 20-ton backpack for the road... or train rather. In Korea, if you are traveling to another city, the more refined mode of transportation is the train. The "KTX" is the railroad system in Korea, and they offer a range of ticket choices from straight up standing in the accordionish rubber area that connects train cars to first class, luxury leather seats that lay flat like beds. First class is upward of 100,000 won though, so we cheaped out and opted for the standing tickets. I had a wet butt for a solid hour because I was lucky to get a "seat" on top of the sink in between cars on one train ride. However, our first train ride was to Seoul and we thankfully purchased the tickets in advance and had a little section of 4 seats all to ourselves. Shaina, Eunice, Amanda (from Texas), Nicole (New Zealand) and myself were tuckered out when we arrived in Seoul (at 8:45pm), so a hotel was the biggest priority on our list. We hailed a cab, which took us to a hotel district close to downtown.
One of many train rides. Traveling like true hobos.

So this next sentence won't startle you, let me preface it by saying that Koreans live with their families until they are married. Also, since most Koreans live in apartments or very small, single-room houses, it makes privacy a scarce commodity. So: The gang and I stayed the night in a love hotel. They pepper the narrow streets, wedged in between apartments, behind the businesses that are crowded on the main roads. All of them offer hourly rates and advertise with Las Vegas style neon lights. There are themed love hotels (think jungle room with putt-putt golf course grass instead of carpet, medieval, ocean, dessert, etc.), automated love hotels (no embarrassment when the only witness to your rendezvous is an LCD touch screen), ritzy love hotels that offer expansive flats, Western beds and marble floors...the list goes on and on. We chose to stay at one of the first places we encountered: The Santafe hotel.
See-through window into the bathroom. As Shaina pointed out, there must have been a certain strategy in mind because the beds were always pushed up against the bathroom wall as opposed to the wall you share with your neighbor.
Condom baseball.
Getting cozy. There was a watermelon-sized bottle of lotion and a box of tissues on the bedside stand. When we flipped on the TV, we discovered why.

Too tired to rouse ourselves for clubbing, we had a fun night in laughing at our sleazy accommodations. On Friday morning, we struck out to find some coffee before heading for the subway. However, we soon realized that everything was closed for Chuseok save McDonalds and Burger King. So, we chose McDonalds because it was 5 feet closer, dropped our piles and piles of bags and ate granola bars and drank McCafe coffees.
My crew. From left to right: Shaina, Eunice, Nicole and Amanda.
A rice paddy! These are everywhere in Korea. Any other time you would see old people squatting down low amid the rice, weeding and tending. But because of Chuseok, the rice fields were empty.
No wonder I have an aching back!

Our first destination was a place Shaina found online called "River Land" in Cheongnyangni (very far north). The Web site pitched River Land as the ultimate water sports and thrill-seeking experience in Korea. One man with a red lawn chair perched on an inflatable boat does not a speedboat make, but I will come to that. As it turns out, River Land was situated on the outskirts of a very rural town that was all but abandoned for the holidays. Walking through the empty streets, I got a glimpse of true country bumpkin Korean life. Rice paddies, straw-roofed houses, foreign roots and mushrooms drying on sheets in the sun, laundry strung up between trees and mangy looking dogs tied to posts in the driveway standing on guard as we passed. 4 subway lines, 1 train ride a bus and a taxi later, we found ourselves on the bank of an enormous, pristine river that wound around the mountains like a watery snake and put me in mind of some of the boating I have done in Tennessee, only on a much grander scale. The hotel we stayed in (Hannam Hotel) was right on the water, and we haggled pretty ferociously with the owner to let all 5 of us board in one room. But what a view! Our room overlooked the water and even had a bathtub (quite the rarity in Korea).

Wandering through the deserted streets of a tiny town, searching for a bus stop. This was right about the moment when we realized "River Land" was probably not going to meet to our high theme park expectations. Luckily, it turned out to be even better :)

One of the main reasons we decided to venture all the way up to River Land is because of the bungee jumping that is offered on site. The bungee tower is some 100-feet above the water and juts out into the river, giving you a spectacular view of the mountains right before you take that petrifying leap. Anyone who knows me should know that I am no daredevil... but I am also not above peer pressure. Somehow my damnable crew managed to convince me that my trip to Korea would not be complete unless I experienced a jolt of adrenaline by leaping off a building, attached to said building by the ankles. Fast forward: there I am, shivering despite the radiating, setting sun, precariously close to the edge of a steep drop down to the frigid water below. My toes were curled around the metal platform like fingers, my brain screaming at me to "ABORT: CHOOSE LIFE" I was up there for a solid 10 minutes, crying, snotting and begging the bungee operator-man to let me back down. He continued to refuse (bungee jump operators are NOT nice people) until finally he relented when I had reached the point of wailing. He acted all pissy as he began to unhook the bungee cord, and I caught a few VERY impolite words in Korean. Indignant, I told him to put the cord back on immediately, gave him the most scathing look I could muster despite my teary eyes and jumped head first off the platform, screaming bloody murder. The thing about bungee cords: they are incredibly springy. A forceful leap means an even more abrupt snap back upwards, flinging your body like a ragdoll... All the muscles in my neck ache as I write this, and several blood spots have appeared under my eyes from the force of the cord whipping me around. It felt like I was dangling there like bait on a line for an eternity until a little old man on a red lawn chair in an inflatable boat rowed out and steadied me, laying me down on the floor of the boat and paddled me to shore.

Hannam Hotel in Cheongnyangni.


Our room
The view from our room's balcony.
The beastly bungee tower.
I was white as a sheet with a jackhammer pulse. There are two options when bungee jumping: jump with a harness around your hips or attached to your ankles. Jumping with only your ankles tied is more expensive because it's a greater risk. However, many bungee enthusiasts believe that jumping with a waist harness is like getting skin number for a tattoo: you are cheapening the experience. So, I decided to just suck it up and go opt for the ankles.
Supermaaaaan!
Seconds away from bouncing back up.

As you are lowered towards the water, you are in a constant spiral. I was about to throw up, so I kept shouting "faster, Boat Man, faster." It was rude, but a second more and a cyclone of puke would have been raining down upon him. The girls love to make fun of me by shouting "Faster, Boat Man" now whenever they see me.
After bungee jumping, the girls and I were invited to go on a sunset cruise on what can only be described as a yacht. It was glorious, dangerous and freezing cold. Worth every moment!

Look closely and you will see pinpricks of blood under and around my eyes. When the line went fully taught, I saw this explosion of white across my vision, which turned out to be several little blood vessels bursting. Apparently, it's a common occurrence after bungee jumping, and I just hope they fade away with time.


After the sunset cruise, the same group of men took us out to a Galbi restaurant, which is Korean for a "meat" restaurant. These are some of the most expensive places to eat since they serve thick slabs of raw pork and beef that you cook over a metal grill in the center of your table. Luckily, they had seafood bibimbap, so I didn't go hungry. The meal was probably around 200-300 dollars all told after multiple rounds of soju were added to the bill. Since it was only 8pm when we finished eating, we decided to head back to their hotel, which was conveniently next door to the Hannam Hotel. Now I am not in the habit of carousing with middle-aged men, strangers at that. But we outnumbered them 5 to 3, and I was keeping a sharp eye on all of them the whole evening, on the lookout for shady and expectant behavior. Thankfully, I can report that there are still respectable people in the world. We had a great night watching Korean comedy shows on TV, comparing accents, political views, drinking preferences, everything... We ended up leaving without any trouble at around 3 in the morning to walk back to our hotel, pack and get ready for bed. Or maybe I should say get ready for floor?

Asian people love to make strange faces whenever you take a picture. This guy's English nickname was "Leno". He spoke the best English out of the group because he is a Harley Davidson dealer and his primary clientele are American soldiers (go figure). There were two other men: a dentist and then the man who funded our whole evening. The wealthy guy happens to own a hotel on Jeju island, the tiny island off the southern coast of Korea famous for it's beautiful waterfalls and panoramic vistas of the ocean. All of them were relatively unattached with no family to spend time with for the Chuseok holiday, so I think we made it a memorable weekend for them.
Another Korean quirk: This is how they open a bag of chips.
Keep in mind this feast was after our humongous dinner. Whereas you may get a handful of stale peanuts or pretzels in the States, Koreans like to drink in style. This spread included fried chicken, corn salad, fruit, chips, steamed dumplings and to celebrate Chuseok: Pine needle rice cakes, which have been steamed over pine needles and taste like you are eating a forest. Beneath that stack of apples is a large gold-colored fruit. This is a Korean pear. They are just as crispy as an apple but with pear flavor, and they are the pride and joy of Koreans because you can only get them in Korea.
Back in the hotel, gossiping and laughing uncontrollably over the good fortune of our evening.

Saturday was actually Chuseok day, so everything was quiet. We got up early to catch a taxi ride into town to catch a train back to Seoul. Flipping through a guide book, I discovered a national park directly on the outskirts of Seoul called Bhukansan National Park. We were sore from bungee jumping, aching from sleeping on the floor and just damned tired from so little sleep, but the mantra for my stay in Korea is "You may only be here once", so we packed our bags and headed back toward Seoul to hike in the glorious weather.
Example of strange Konglish. Ever seen these options at your local Starbucks?
Shuffling from one mode of transportation to the next is immensely time consuming. One thing I am beginning to miss is the luxury of hopping into my car and taking a direct route to my destination. Subways, buses, taxis and walking are cheap and better for the environment, but it can take a whole day to travel 50 miles. Seoul is one of the most convoluted and imposing subway systems I have ever seen, so we did not reach the national park until around 4:30, meaning we had to book it or we'd be hiking in failing light.

Koreans will take a nap absolutely anywhere.

Being all Buddhist again ;)
Have I mentioned my aching back enough?

It was a beautiful ending to the day with the whole mountain side lit up the color of butter from the setting sun. The trail was also fairly empty because of the holiday, so we were yodeling and making fools of ourselves the entire time because no one was around to give us scolding stares.

Trudging back on to the bus, we headed to Itaewon, which is known as the foreigner's district in Seoul. Now, for over 2 months I have been completely immersed in Korean society. Every person I see in the street, the store, at school... they are all dark-haired, dark-eyed Koreans. So imagine my surprise when upon exiting the subway in Itaewon I was thrust into a crush of fair-haired foreigners, all chattering away in English, Spanish, Dutch, German, etc. I was dumbstruck. With the Chuseok holiday, most Koreans are out of town, add to this the fact that we were already in the foreigner's district and I felt like I was right back in America. Sweaty and exhausted, we made a beeline for the first motel we could find, "The Hilltop Hotel". It's aptly named because it was a steep climb to reach the place and we noticed a lot of...indecently dressed women on the trek upward. 50,000 won a night for a room the size of a broom closet with 1 twin bed (there were 3 of us). But we paid it, left all our bags in the room and headed out for dinner...which turned out to be Coldstone ice cream. Coldstone is the ice cream of the Gods and it rose up out of the street like a shining beacon of hope and comfort. Well, that's dramatic... but the ice cream was delicious, and it was such a treat to sit down and actually be able to eavesdrop on other people's conversations.

Stuffed full of a cup of the Gotta-Have-It sized Verry Berry, we lumbered back to our room to shower and get ready for bed. Shaina happened to flip open her travel guide, and we discovered with a thrill that we were staying on the notorious "Hooker Hill", which explained the nearly-naked women prowling the streets like jungle cats the whole walk up. It would also explain the ghastly red lighting in our room that reminded me of the red light district in Amsterdam.A lot of men hustling the Hell out of there early the next morning...
Two ladies of the night.

We spent Sunday wandering aimlessly around the streets of Itaweon, shopping for souvenirs and soaking up the English. I really enjoy haggling (true car dealer's daughter ;) ) and ended up saving a pile of money just from exasperating the salespeople. We tried on horrendous Korean clothing (Koreans love gaudy outfits with enough sequins and rhinestones to be costumes on a Broadway performance) and ate a delicious lunch of sashimi and greens where I was able to steal 4 sets of nice chopsticks without getting caught!

The trip was a wild one, and I am looking forward to next weekend because I will be traveling again. Look forward to more outrageous stories and photos, and just to end on a great note:
The Gator Nation exists even in South Korea.