Gyeongju, Palgongsan, salsa

A little while ago, Kait and I went to a nearby town called Gyeongju, a little city on the eastern side of Korea - right in our neck of the woods. It only took us about an hour or so by bus. Although we didn't explore all of Gyeongju, it definitely left us with a great deal to come back to. We only made it a day trip, but while there, we saw some impressive burial mounds that belonged to ancient rulers who were essentially in power of Korea by unifying it a few centuries ago. The mounds were very large, perhaps 60 feet high sometimes, and we got to go inside of one that has been converted into a very small museum containing some ancient artifacts of the period. After we were through here, we stumbled upon what will in the spring be a vast lotus blossom field that abuts an old site where royalty used to entertain. (The lotus field was all brown and withering, but I think it will be really beautiful in the spring/summer.) The site regarding royal entertainment contained the remnants of a vast building that was next to a small, man-made lake.

Later, we went to the Korean National Museum to peruse among even more artifacts from different aspects of ancient culture. We found a giant bell that is supposedly one of the best built bells in Asia/the world because if you "ring" it, you can hear it for several kilometers. We did not stay here long, though, as I think we got a little "museumed out." But we did make our way to another ancient site, a small zen garden that contained a three-story building that was originally (they think) nine stories high. After we were through here, it was just about time to go, so we took off to return our rented bikes, and headed downtown to look for some food to eat. We found a place called, "Mr. Pizza," so we decided to check it out. (I think this was the first time we ventured to try pizza since we were in Thailand.) When we looked at the menu, we learned that the chain was especially marketed to women, as it said something to the effect of "Love for women. Mr. Pizza really knows how to please a woman." Then it went on to talk about how healthy the food was, and therefore, it was good for women. (But not men?) After Kaitlin - but not I - got all of her healthy nutrients from the pizza we ate, we headed back to the bus to go home.

Our next travel destination was even closer to home; we took a "quick bus" (a faster version of a city bus, one with less stops) to a nearby mountain called Palgongsan. We had been there once before, but we arrived too late in the day to make any real dent in exploring the mountain. This time we left Daegu much earlier, but there was a catch: some kind of festival was taking place, and there were a TON of people going to the mountain. Only one of us had a seat on the very crowded bus, so we took turns on who got to sit down. We did this because the bus ride was fairly miserable. I'm not sure if it is the way the braking/gas pedals on the buses here are designed or if it the way bus drivers drive, but every time the bus driver hit the gas or breaks, there was a jolting difference in speed. This combined with the massive traffic up to the mountain made the bus ride very stop-and-go. So you can imagine that we were very happy once we finally made it to the top, glad to be on solid ground and in a nice, cool breeze. After taking a brief repose, we went to the festival and ate a nice variety of food: schwarma (kebab), corn on the cob, big pot-stickers, and waffles smothered with some kind of sweet, sticky sauce; our bellies were very happy.

Once we were done with our dining experience, we ventured to find the cable car to the top of the mountain. (We definitely want to hike up it at some point, but we will wait until we have even more time, as it is a long hike.) Once we found it, we had to wait in line for a good 45-60 minutes before we could actually get on the cable car, but it was worth the wait once we got to the top. It was a beautiful view overlooking several small mountains ranges, and we could even see the standing Buddha's head peeking over one of the tree lines. However, once we decided to head back down the mountain, we once again had to wait in line for the cable car for about an hour.

Then, at the bottom, we had to wait in line again to get on the bus, and it was while waiting in line that we saw a peculiar site. There was a woman that I figured was kind of like a manager for the buses, and she directed the mass amounts of people onto the buses, organizing us into two lines: one for people who wanted to stand, the other for those who wanted to sit. Anyways, there was a man who apparently cut in line or something, and tried to get on the bus, and the woman started yelling and screaming, pushing him away from the bus, but the man kept persisting. After about a full minute, maybe two of this, the woman asked the bus driver to close the door so that she could push the man aside. Once this was done, we got onto the bus, and once the "standing" line started moving, I guess the guy tried to get on again, because we heard more of the same yelling and commotion. I figure that the woman finally relented because the man finally made it onto the bus. But it was really quite the spectacle.

Other than that, our salsa class has been going very well. We are learning the Cuban style - similar to a class that we took in Corvallis, so we came in with a good base understanding of a lot of the moves and rhythm. We enjoy the atmosphere there, and the pace of the class is moving along very well. Plus we get to hang out with a lot of our friends and some other cool people that we keep meeting as time goes by. Anyways, that's all for now, but we will keep posting as things keep happening.