Random...teaser pic from Jeju (more of this later in the post):
Well, yesterday I went to Home Plus (kind of like a Korean Wal Mart) to look for a tent (found one....$20! It's supposed to be a kids' tent, but it's pretty damn big...I think it's nearly 7 feet long...definitely big enough for me). Anyway...while I was in the outdoor section, I started checking out the backpacks and, after nearly 2 hours of comparing every backpack they had, I decided to go for the best one they had because it had the nicest materials, tons of pockets/anchor points for stuff, and it just seems really well-made. They had a few backpacks that have this new system where the part of the backpack that's supposed to touch your back is actually arched, so it doesn't actually touch your back. Instead, there is a mesh that rests on your back. It feels surprisingly comfortable and natural! The downside is that you do lose a little bit of space in the backpack, but this one is a 30L pack, so it's not that big of a deal. The upside (and this is HUGE around here) is that this system allows airflow between your back and the backpack. When I went to Jeju, my biggest problem was that as soon as I put my backpack on, my back was soaking in sweat. It's hot and humid here, so if you're active you'll be sweating. Add a 25-30-pound (which is what my backpacks weigh usually) backpack on your back and things get ugly fast. I'm hoping this will help with that issue, it was a little embarrassing that I was constantly drenched in sweat in Jeju.
The backpack and tent:
And the airflow dealio:
I kind of splurged on the backpack, it was about $85, but considering how much I travel, I think it's money well spent. It would have been awesome to have in Jeju, it'll be great in Wando this weekend, then I'm going to Seoul for 3 days, probably Pohang for the weekend after, maybe Jindo for a weekend and possibly another Wando weekend after that...and that's just the 5 weekends coming up!
I live really cheaply, as my friends here will attest to it...if we go to restaurants, I usually don't eat anything (partially because everything has meat hidden in it, partially to save money), I'm really frugal with stuff at home (my last gas bill was $7 for a month, last electricity bill was $12 for a month, I don't have cable or internet), so I think I've earned this backpack! :D I'll let you guys know how it is when I'm back from Wando!
Okay...onto Jeju stuff.
After the waterfalls, I took a bus to Moseulpo. Finding the bus was not an easy task, as it turns out that the small town of Seogwipo (population of around 100-150k people) has THREE intercity bus terminals. This is pure insanity, but whatever. Two are right next to each other and they were telling me the other one is the one I needed or they told me the one I needed is way far away (and pointed to a place on the map that was nowhere near the actual location of the bus terminal). So, I started walking in the general direction and wanted to ask a woman having a cigarette outside where I was on the map. This led to my second racist encounter on Jeju Island. I walked up, map in hand and said "excuse me" very politely. She looked at me, screamed like I was raping her, threw her cigarette a good 10 feet and actually RAN away. In the middle of a crowded downtown street. Yeah, it was a little awkward. However, the situation quickly improved when a guy who saw all this happen came up to me and offered to help...he accompanied me to the nearby bus station and told me which bus to get on to get to the correct bus station. This is pretty indicative of my entire experience in Korea...I do encounter racism on a fairly regular basis, but for every bit of racism I experience, I have 50 positive experiences, many of them people going well out of their way to help me.
On the way to the bus station, I randomly ran into this...a stadium used during the 2002 FIFA Soccer World Cup:
My destination, Maseulpo, is a little fishing town on the west coast of the island, which was perfect, I've been looking to explore more of small town Korea. It's really funny, I wouldn't want to live in a small town (at least not one that's very close to a big city), but I loooove visiting them. I got there early in the evening and had a nice little picnic on the beach and just enjoyed sitting around. The plan was to hang around in Moseulpo on Friday then take the boat to Marado Island (the southernmost point of South Korea) on Saturday morning.
On the beach where I had my dinner:
Then I started walking around the town, both looking for a place to spend the night and to sightsee. The atmosphere was very small town-ish, which was nice after the hustle and bustle I generally experience in Korea.
While walking around, I usually "read" Korean signs, but 99.999% of the time I have no idea what they say. Well, this time I lucked out...on the side of an ordinary-looking building I read, in Korean "GESUTU HASU"...I was thinking "gesutu hasu...gesutu hasu..." they usually insert usless U's into English words, so drop a few and I realized that what I was looking at was a guest house, or hostel. I went in and inquired...10k won (or about $9) for the night...can't go wrong with that...the other two hotels in town were 30k and one of them only provided a very thin mattress on the floor, not even a bed! At the hostel, there were only 4 other people, so I got my own room...this is half the room (the other half is exactly the same):
Once night fell, I monkeyed around with a few long exposure shots of the harbour (including the teaser pic)...and...
and...a ship in dry dock:
Okay...this post has gone on for long enough...I have to go make a lesson plan or two...I'll do another installment of Jeju goodness tomorrow (should be the final one!).
Have a great night, everyone...
T
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