Merry Buddahmas!

Some Pretty Lanterns
I know, I know, I'm backlogged like you would NOT believe, but being a busy cripple sure will do that do ya. So there is heaps to write about, but for today you just get the SEoul Lotus festival and lantern parade. For better or worse, we missed the festival in order to scope out kickass seats for the parade. Thats not to say we didn't do anything, as we did enjoy making lotus lanterns, that were easy if not difficult with a splint on. Alas. We also got our picture taken in a Hambock (the Korean outfit which was NOT made to fit people with my shape) and walked through Insadong.
After enjoying a kabob and a smoothie, we realized that they were putting out chairs, and decided to stake out seats. We hung around for seemingly forever before the parade got to where WE were. The parade was spectacular, if not a little long, as it was float after float of lantern, or organizations holding lanterns. Think Macy's Thanksgiving parade, minus santa, and replace the balloons with big lit lantens and I think you have the idea. I love lanterns, but my favorite were the FIre BREATHING DRAGONS RAWR RAWR. They were cool. we enjoyed the parade, and the lanterns that Tina eventually got and called it a night. All in all, although touristy was worth the trek. I know, for such an event this is short, but what can you say about a parade?
And now for the part everybody skips too...Pictures!!
Many Many
See? IT BREATHES FIRE.

The queen of Asia

Pretty ladies dancing
On the next Edition:
Busan 2.0:The rain edition
Learning Korean


Until Next Time,
Patience and Faith with some Culture and Class,
ErinJ

Tina, Angela and I in Hambocks

And you see now, the korean in their natural environment.

So this weekend I went on a merry adventure down south to Jeollanam-do, a different province in Korea to get some adventure.
It started early, as it almost always does on Saturday, where we met up with the group (theres an excellent tour group that does trips through Korea) and started our 4 hour trek down south. Traveling so much has taught me that transportation is so much easier if you just sleep through it, so I did.
We got to Gangcheonsan (San means mountain) and started trekking. The first hour or so was really easy, just enjoying some nature, and a suspension bridge.
it was actually a little scary
we walked around, climbed some stairs to the top of a dam, enjoyed some views, and started the trek up. I guess the hike was only 40 minutes straight up (600 meters) but it felt like so much longer. I was, however, able to make it to the top with the first group, and without stopping which is a HUGE accomplishment for me.
The top was actually pretty cool. There was an old fortress wall that seemed to wrap around the top of the mountain, and you could follow from one side around.
See? wall. Neato.
So we did, and when we got to the end rested a little waiting for the rest of the group, and chatted with other hikers that beasted up the mountain, and took heaps of pictures before it was time to head down.

Lookie me!

view from mountain tops.
we took a seemingly endless path all the way down, but lead to some beautiful views, especially cherry blossom trees, and a fortress of sorts. I spent a long time trying to get pretty pictures but there was too many people, which was frusturating. But thats okay.



We finally got to the bottom, where some people went into the spa, but in korea, spa means (Sit naked at koreans staring at you) so I opted to reward myself with a beer instead. It worked out.
We went to a small town called Damyang to eat some galbi, which was different than what I've had here. I'm not sure if it was better, but it wasn't bad. We went back to our hotel (Hotel BOOM) where we were assigned roomates. We then just lurked this town (read:strip of 4 stores at the base of a mountain) where we hung out with some kickass people doing some light drinking before we called it an early night.

the next morning we got up, walked around a tad before getting on the bus to go to Hampyeong for the Butterfly festival. We got there and mad papparozzi followed the foreigners, which was weird. We went to a greenhouse to go look at butterflies, which was pretty. I really think Butterflies are neat.


We then made our way to a pen where we chased around chicken and rabbits trying to catch them. You know, EP from the BOZ had to give everybody (by everybody I mean immediate bystanders) chicken catching lessons since my technique is solid. It was so funny. I did get a bag of special rice for pouncing on foul and winning their game. So funny.
Chickenns
we then cruised around the park, had a KID PUT A MUDFISH IN MY FACE. A. MUDFISH. Cause he wanted to get a picture with spiderman. NASTY. got our face painted, hung out.
Lindsay would have kicked his ass
I was able to order lunch for 7 people in Korean and fight with somebody when they tried to overcharge us. I guess I never write about struggling with the language but its hard. Even being immersed in it, I just am not picking it up. So this was a huge victory on the EP front.

New Friends

We then got ice cream cones, boarded the bus, and drove back home where I chatted with my new friends and slept, and realized after a rough week, that Life really is beautiful, I am so fortunate to be able to live such an unorthodox life style,that I really do enjoy. So hopefully this is the return of the Erin you know and love :)
Patience and Faith,
erinj