So we have been here for over 3 weeks and have yet to leave Jinju. Finally we decided to get out of Dodge and we did. We were going to go into the national park nearby but when we woke up Saturday it was raining. Let's go to the coast. It is only about 30 miles away, so we picked a town called Namhae which is on an island, Namhae Island. It is the third largest island in Korea but it has a bridge connecting it to the main land. We packed a few things and went to the bus station and soon we were zooming south. We go to Namhae town and walked around for a while. It is quite small and surrounded by huge mountains. Foreigners are rare here and lots of school children looked at us and laughed like maniacs. "Hello!" One lady outside the bus station was laughing crazily too and we weren't sure if she was laughing at us but she was by herself just standing there laughing. We were going to stay in the town but it wasn't right on the ocean so we decided to take a bus to some smaller villages along the coast. First we went to Mijo which is at the end of the road. We got there at about 4pm and walked around and were going to check into a motel but there was no nice beach in town. It was a fishing community and we saw lots of boats and two harbors.
The town is kind of on an isthmus and has the ocean on two sides. So then we decided to leave. We got on another bus and headed back up the road to Songjeong beach, which was quite nice and completely deserted.
There were some motels here but pretty much nothing else, no bars or restaurants. I wanted to go to the next town Sangju which was bigger and had a nice beach but it was already dark and we didn't know if there would be any more buses. So we walked the 4 km to Sangju in the dark along the winding highway and I was terrified of the Korean drivers, but we had Kevin's headlamp which we set to flashing and we made it to Sangju. Sangju is a little resort town with an awesome beach facing a u-shaped cove. We wandered for a bit then figured out we weren't looking for the word motel because people stay in minbaks instead. We saw the word minbak in several places and we eventually walked into this little courtyard and a woman came out immediately. We tried using my phrasebook and point at how much for a room, etc, but she just showed us the room and put three fingers in the air. 30,000 won, pretty typical. A minbak is like a motel except there are no beds; you sleep on padded quilts on the ondol, the heated floor, traditional Korean style. Success! We were starving and went to the restaurant nearby. This was a traditional place as well, take of your shoes, sit on the floor, barbeque your food on the table.
We ordered galbi (beef ribs) Success! We ordered maekchu (beer) Success! We were feeling pretty good about ourselves and getting buy with or books and wit. Dinner was awesome, we had all sorts of little side dishes, salad, kimchi, we grilled some onions and garlic, and we ate almost everything. My chopsticking is still week but I hope it is getting better. So now we wanted to party. The town was pretty quiet and we walked around without seeing anything open. Finally Kevin spotted some lights down an otherwise dark and quiet street. It was a hof, like a local bar which gives you food while you drink. We went inside. There were four people sitting at one table and no one else. They were already into many bottles of soju and were quite boisterous when we came in. "Soju?" the man asked. "No, maekchu." The owner woman was pretty drunk and she brought us 2 beers and then a ton of food which I didn't eat. She just kept coming over and speaking in Korean and bringing more food.
Then her friend would come over and speak more loud Korean and we would shrug our shoulders and say "No Korean." Then we said cheers in Korean (Konbae!) and everyone drank. Soon enough the two women were sitting at our table and we were trying to communicate through our dictionaries. The other couple joined us for a spell too adding to all the confusion. Then one woman got on her phone and I knew she was calling someone to come down. Soon enough, her daughter Ara came in to translate. Ara is from Sangju but goes to university in a big city and she was home for break. She obviously gets really bored in her quiet fishing town. When her mom called her, she said she had been watching tv and raced down to the bar to practice her English, which was quite good though she was shy. She told us we were the first foreigners to ever have been in this bar. More beers and soju. Ara's mom is a haenyo, one of Korea's traditional women divers. She dives to gather shellfish (I assume) for a living and this way of life is slowing ending as young girls have no intention to keep up the traditionl.
The women mix the soju with their beer, which was pretty bizarre like mixing vodka with beer. I knew a headache was in store for me the next day (it was.) We drank so much and they kept bringing more. Our tab was 30,000, pretty expensive but I think they charged us for everything, including what they drank. But they were nice. They kept telling us we had to come back. They asked if we could stay one more day. Kevin then busted out his one American dollar bill and gave it to the owner lady, who was wasted but loooooved her gift. She kept shoving it into her bra and then pulling it out to look at it again. I think she tried to tape it to the bar to show all her friends.
The ladies of Sangju.
We finally knew we had to leave so out we went, the three women in the doorway waving. It was still early and we were having quite a good time so when we passed the noraebang we knew we had to do it. Noraebong is a karaoke bar, but you get your own little room with two microphones, tambourines, couches, and a huge book of songs, some in English. So here Kevin and I am, drinking more beer and singing karaoke to ourselves. And Kevin usually doesn't like to sing. Eventually our time was up and we were back on the streets and hungry again. We went into this market that had other drunk people in it and we got sausages and chips. Our minbak had a gas stove in it, so Kevin went and cut a branch of a tree in the yard, carved a stick, and cooked all the sausages over the gas flame
Sometimes Kevin is quite resourceful
Drunken fest. Pass out time.
The next morning my head was pounding. We wanted to go to this Buddhist temple high on a mountain above Sangju. It's called Boriam. We strolled down the beach for a while and saw tons of tiny shells.
Then we went to the bus stop and were stared at by an old lady, and we told her we were going to Boriam and pointed. She nodded. We got on the first bus who dropped us off at the intersection to the temple. It was drizzling and pretty cold so we decided to try and hitch. The first car pulled over. It was a couple with a young daughter. The mom sat with the girl on her lap up front and they drove us to the temple. There was a huge parking lot at the base and you can either drive or walk 4 km up the steep road. We wanted to ride with the people but we had to wait almost an hour. The man bought a bunch of food and they gave us a bottle of water and some crackers. In the meantime we watched tv (yes) on their gps screen. The car was pretty plush and the people were so kind. Eventually we got to drive up the mountain and park. We thanked the people and paid 2000 won to enter the temple, then we had to walk 1 km up more before we got it. Boriam is almost 1000 years old and is literally on a cliff at the top of Geumsman mountain, 2000 feet above the sea. It was very foggy so the view was diminished but we could see Sangju and the ocean below us. The temples were scattered about and first we went to the very top of the mountain and saw the view from an ancient lookout post. Next we checked out the temples. People were praying to Buddha statues and it was quite refreshing to know the Christians haven't gotten to everyone in Korea.
We were up there about an hour then we bought some incense and took a shuttle back down to the first parking lot. We didn't know how we were going to get to Namhae bus station so we started walking and trying to wave down cars. A few went by then one stopped with a couple and their 2 children. We had some difficulties explaining, and they said they were going to Jinju so we got in. The man spoke pretty good English but I was tired and shy so I let Kevin do the talking. They drove us back over a different bridge and dropped us off in Sacheon at the bus station. They went out of their way to find the place and got lost in the meantime. They were from Ulsan on the eastern coast and had been touring around that part of Korea for a little vacation. They were so considerate and kind, it was very pleasing to meet such nice people. So we took a bus back to Jinju and home, exhausted and we couldn't believe all these things happened to us in about 28 hours.
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