4 Days in South Korea So Far

Well, it's taken a while to get to a computer. Actually, computer places are almost everywhere here with LOTS of stations in them, but I never seemed to be near one at the right time. I've been sluggish while adjusting to the time change, to the increased exercise, and to the decrease in food intake, so once I am in the hotel I have been using any excuse (mostly the occasional rain and drizzle) not to go back out. But today, I just ate my one meal at 4 p.m. (I had a snack at 11:00 during a bus stop) and saw a computer place right next to the restaurant. I knew I needed to start posting onto the blog. So hear's an update from the beginning:

Aug. 18-19, 2006, San Antonio to Gongji, South Korea

4:45--Out of bed in SA
5:30--Departure for airport (Not so big a problem with security; similar to normal)
8:00--Departure of flight for San Francisco
9:30 (Western Time = plus 2 hours)--Arrive in SF
13:30--Departure from SF
Crossed International Dateline making the date change from the 18th to the 19th
16:45 (Korean time = plus 6 more hours)--Arrived at Inchon Airport
18:00--Through customs and caught local bus to Inchon Bus Terminal
19:42--Arrived at bus stop near terminal after LOTS of slow traffic and many lights. Waited for long light to change and ran to the bus station
19:45--Lady for information booth rushes with me to ticket window and gets my ticket, then rushes to get me to the last bus of the night going to Gongji
19:50--Bus departs for Gongji
21:40--Arrive at bus terminal in Gongji and walk to town over long bridge crossing river
22:00--Check into OB Yeoguan (Local-style hotel named OB)
22:30--Got to sleep (28 3/4 hours after awakening in San Antonio!!!

I thought I had a federal marshall sitting across the aisle from me on the plane from SF to Inchon. He stopped a stewardness and showed her an ID and said, "I know things have been a little tense lately, so we have been asked to identify ourselves so you will know where we are." Then he proceeded to open an empty water bottle, pull a tube out of his bad, extract a strange looking slender device from the tube, screw the tube into the inside lid of the water bottle, and screw the top onto it. I was wondering if it was some kind of special weapon such as a tear gas sprayer disguised as a drinking glass. But as the flight progressed, he talked to the guy next to him about going onward to Busan, so I figure he was some type of military security man who happened to be on the flight.

Aug. 20, 2006, Gongju to Jeonju

I awoke at 6 a.m. I had nodded quite a bit on the plane and on the bus last night, so I seemed rested. I turned on BBC news and watched it and then got ready. I decided I would go ahead and leave Gongju today after seeing a couple of sites.

First stop, and the main one, was the National Museum. The reason most tourists stop in Gongju is because an intact tomb from about 1500 years ago was unearthed just 30 years ago. A museum houses a replica of the tomb and the items that were brought out of it. It's a wonderful museum, and it is interesting to see exactly what was put in the tomb without any robbers having been there first.

For lunch, I saw a steamed dumpling shop and stopped. There were several kinds, but the lady seemed to think I should eat the ones that were rounded like balls and about 1 1/2 inches (3 cm) in diameter. She brought me a plate with 10 of them!! And she showed me I should put some soy sauce into a separate dish and dip the dumplings in them. The innards consisted of lots of green onion and minced meat. They were delicious. It was a little bit too much, but I ate it all. I did make a mess by having one slip out of my chop sticks and fall into the soy sauce. I had droplets of soy sauce on both my shirt and my pants. Dirty clothes already on the first day of the trip!!

It became a bit awkward trying to get from Gongju to Jeonju today. The tourist office had a woman who spoke little English, and the person she called didn't speak much more. I understood, however, that I would take a local bus to somewhere and then take another local bus from there. Fortunately, the lady wrote in Korean where I should go on the first bus (although I never quite caught the pronunciation myself). There are at least 4 bus stations in Gongju, and people who read the Korean note kept pointing the way. One man finally followed me to make sure I found the right place. Eventually, while on the bus and watching the signs, I realized I was to get off at Yuesong Junction. And the stop there was obviously a bus station. I opened my guidebook where Jeonju was written in Korean and showed it to the ticket agent who sold me a ticket. Then I kept showing the ticket to every bus until the right one came along. Eventually, I did make it to Jeonju in the late afternoon.

My hotel room was quite fancy in Jenju. It had a water bed which was better than any I have ever used before--rather firm. It had a water cooler/heater in the room so I could have cold water to drink or hot water to make tea or coffee. It had a VCR, and there was a library of videotapes downstairs. (I watched Traffic in the evening.) It had a mini-fridge. But best of all, it had an electronic toilet seat--heated and with controls for various purposes (more later)!!

Before it got dark, I walked to a local park with a lake that had lots of lotus blossoms in bloom. Many people were walking around the lake taking photos. It being a popular neighborhood park, there were also people visiting and playing outdoor board and tossing games of the oriental kind. Nearby was the local university and lots of trendy shops and restaurants.

Aug. 21, 2006, Jeonju

I started the day on the toilet. Following the completion of my business, I let the electronic toilet seat give me a rinse and a blow dry. It was quite interesting and was very effective!!

Wow, it is hard to get money in Korea. I had about $100 worth of Korean currency left from last year. Since I was in a rush at the airport to get the bus, I skipped getting money thinking I would get it along the way. This is a city of 600,000 people, and the tourist office told me there is only one bank for using foreign credit cards for getting money. I walked to that bank only to find that the one machine they have connected to the international network was out of service. The people were nice, though. They worked on it and had it operating within about 10 minutes so I could get some money.

I'm finding more people who speak a little English here in southern South Korea than I did in Seoul. It's certainly nice to get help occasionally, especially since I am changing hotels and traveling a lot.

I found Jeongu a bit disappointing. There is an old village that is the main attraction. Well, it isn't as well preserved as the guidebook makes it out to be. Yes, there are many old buildings, but there are new, modern ones among them. And the Korean style of building puts houses behind walls so that all one can see from the streets is their roofs. I was disappointed. But I walked and saw what I could. I also saw two cathedrals, the old gate to the city, a market, etc.

I had a horrible lunch. I went into a place and just had what everyone else was having. It was a boiling bowl of soup with rice to add to it. What was so bad was the meat inside. I THINK it was beef, but parts looked like stomach. Even the part that looked like beef muscle was mostly very tough fat with a little bit of meat attached. One piece of meat was so tough and large that I would have choked on it if I had tried to swallow it; I just put it back in the bowl. I had to push most of the meat to the side and just eat the broth and the rice.

It rained in the afternoon, so I stayed inside the hotel room and planned my route for the next day, read TIME magazine, and watched films on TV.

Aug. 22, Jeongu to Busan (Pusan)

This brings us up to date. I am writing this on Aug. 22. I awoke at 8 a.m., got ready fast, and left Jeongu on the 9 a.m. bus. Across the aisle from me was a nice man named Ko who spoke good English (having spent 3 years in the UK). He is an agent selling time-share condos for the leisure market and works out of Busan half the month and out of Japan the other half. He had been to his hometown of Jeongu and was heading back to work. We visited for quite a while. And he bought us a potato snack (new potatoes deep fried and sprinkled with your choice of salt or sugar) when the bus made a stop. He then helped me get my subway ticket and get on the train. He got off 6 stops before me. I continued to my stop and found the hotel I had chosen from the guidebook. It's similar to where I have been staying, but I won't have a rinse and blow dry after using the toilet tomorrow; there is no electronic toilet seat!!

Signs here in Busan are often written in Russian. It's a port, so I guess Russian ships come here often. The city is hilly and has been called the Korean San Francisco. It's a HUGE city with many high rise apartment buildings. I haven't seen much of it. I walked to downtown and found a restaurant where I had a meal of fried rice with minced meat and chopped ham and topped with a fried egg. On the side was cole slaw and various pickled items. It was tasty!!