Some of you know that the awesome weekend of festivals got off to a rocky start. It never occurred to me to reserve my bus ticket ahead of time. So when I arrived at the bus terminal at 5:55 AM and got my ticket to Cheongsong, I was surprised when my ticket said my departure time wasn't until 10:20. I asked the ticket lady and apparently all the busses for Andong and Cheongsong were sold out until then. Defeated, I went back home (and quite angry). This meant that I wouldn't get to Cheongsong until 14:40 compared to 10:50 as I had originally planned.
When I did arrive back at the bus terminal, the amount of people that is normally there was triple. It was insane! I pushed my way onto the bus platform and searched for my bus, as the busses were all out of order thanks to the Daegu and Andong festivals. A bus driver started shouting off destinations in rapid Korean and he didn't have a sign on his bus (I can at least read Andong and Cheongsong in Korean). I was about to approach him with my ticket (as every Korean mistakes my pronunciation of "Cheongsong" to be "Jeungsong," a very different city further south), when I noticed a group of white boys speaking with a Korean. So I did what I do best, I butted in. And as luck would have it, this Korean spoke both English and Korean! And he was roommates to these white guys, who were also going to Cheongsong. Small world!
We passed the time, chatting about why we were in Seoul. I assumed they were English teachers, I mean, why else would you come to Korea? Right? But they are on a six month study abroad program with their universities. Two guys are from Florida and the other one is from Sweden. So we were able to pass some time in the bus until all of us got fed up with the traffic jam, so we drifted to sleep. I of course, was up again in an hour and a half. Luckily I had a Stephanie Plum mystery to keep me going.
About 4 hours and 50 minutes total traveling time, we finally fell out of the bus at Cheongsong. M had given up on me and was not waiting at the bus stop. The guys wanted to get food. I pointed them in the direction of food and went to M's new apartment. The guys asked if they can tag a long for a bit. I agreed and we wandered towards M's. Imagine his surprise when he opens the door to see me and three other guys. But he was welcoming and inviting. We all went out to eat and enjoyed ourselves, especially after M realized that he didn't have to put up all these guys for a night. We then pointed the guys in the right direction of a taxi to find their hotel and M and I set up a game plan for the weekend.
We caught the Andong bus around 11, and an hour later we arrived in Andong. Only problem with Korea is that it boasts about having so many foreign tourists at various places, but Korea cannot be bothered to put out bilingual signs, maps, and information workers. We spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out when the bus left for the festival, which was going to be in an hour--hurry up and wait. But a Chinese couple approached us and asked if we'd share a taxi to the village! Sure! The taxi driver decided we didn't need to go to the village and took us to the other festival site, which was fine, as we wanted to be there for the dances. M and I poked around and ate American fair food: hamburger, soda, corndog, ice cream, and a donut that tasted just like those elephant ear fry bread!
The festival was full of people, at first it was fun, but after awhile and after no water I got pretty cranky. But there were masks everywhere (only kids were wearing them though), elaborate lanterns everywhere, sculptures, and craft booths for the kids where they could make soap, tye dye, masks, puzzle sculptures, etc--pretty cool deal if you are a kid! We waited in line forever to get in to see the Isreal, Nanta, Thailand, and India dances, but we didn't make it in time and they closed the sale of the tickets. We tried to sneak in, but dang that amphitheatre is fortified!
We perked up a bit after we stumbled onto some local pottery. M bought a mug and I bought a soap dish for $6 total-- and that is why I like Korea, pottery at these things is cheap. I saw lots of things to buy for people, but realized nothing would make it home safely. After we got tired of that festival site, we tried to get a bus to the other site... there was no bus to the other festival site. WTF? I think Andong needs to work on their tourism. A man who spoke some English guided us to the bus stop and on our way we discovered the games section of the festival. So of course we tried our hand (I got a consolation prize of some kind of back scratcher) and M got nothing. We stalked people and just could not figure out the scoring or prizing system. I guess it was whenever the game guy felt like giving you something.
The next day, we got up early and headed to Mt. Juwangsan park, about a twenty minute bus ride from Cheongsong. By the time we got up there and wound our way through the little row of shops and restaurants, we were starving. And we kept seeing these barrels of white liquid, apples, and dried fruit, women were out front of their restaurants cooking omeletes and making noodles. Well, of course we stopped to eat and get some of that mystery liquid... it was rice wine and it was strong. We left the restaurant quite giggly and wobbly.But it burned off as we started climbing towards the waterfalls, and it was gone by the time I reached my first bridge and looked down at the water way below--except for the wobbly part that is. It would be so bad, if the trails weren't so crowded, but I kept getting jostled so I could just see myself getting knocked over a bridge. Luckily it didn't happen and I held my ground.
We hiked to all three waterfalls, not so spectacular in the fall, but still pretty. The mountains were amazing! Up at the top, I looked at my watch and realized we had 45 minutes to get to the bus so I could catch my bus back to Seoul. We ran and sped walked down that mountain. Not so pleasant, let me tell you! But some how we made it, 3 something km down a steep mountain through old people and strollers and children and women in high heels, in 45 minutes, not too shabby. We made the bus. And have enough time back home to eat and award myself with an ice cream and a candy bar.
I arrived in Seoul at 22:15 and made it home at 23:00... long day. But well worth the trip!
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