My friends dad (I'll just refer to him as Appa[Dad in Korean] since
that's what I call him)had the day off from work today so we all went on a huge adventure! Firstly I'd like to point out that it's a Saturday and they thought it was great that he had the day off. Boo-urns! I often tell people who ask that I love being in Korea not as a Korean, I just can't cut the unpaid overtime and additional work days on top of everything else, so I am glad I'm just a traveler.
So! Today was huge. Like epic, huge, and all over this end of Korea itedelt like. We woke up at some horrible hour like 7am - I'm a natural night owl and so I just kind of stumbled out the door and then passed out in the car. My bad. I think we drove am hour or so, and then woke up to some HUGE grassy mounds. This alone was kind of rare, since space is such a commodity in this small and heavily populated country.
Turns out these big bad boys are their version of the Egyptian pyramids, just grassy and a lot smaller from what I hear of the pyramids. They buried their kings and queens inside, along with their servants who were bludgeoned to death to join their masters and serve them in the afterlife as well. All their gold ornaments, weapons, and other fun paraphernalia like horse riding gear, and wine cups in the shape of birds. It was cool! There was a tonne of foreigners on this patch, but I weirdly saw none after this.
Turns out these big bad boys are their version of the Egyptian pyramids, just grassy and a lot smaller from what I hear of the pyramids. They buried their kings and queens inside, along with their servants who were bludgeoned to death to join their masters and serve them in the afterlife as well. All their gold ornaments, weapons, and other fun paraphernalia like horse riding gear, and wine cups in the shape of birds. It was cool! There was a tonne of foreigners on this patch, but I weirdly saw none after this.
Next we went to what is apparently the most popular bhuddist temple in Korea - which I will refer to as 'Bukoki' until I get my facts straight with Appa. It was $4 to get in and everyone but me gawked at the expensive price to get in.
Next, we headed off to the Eastern shores to the beach at pohang, where a group of Korean guys called me the 'Princess of the Sea'. This proves two things; firstly that Koreans are ridiculously kind, and second that the one foriegner I'm any given area draws a lot of attention solely based on the fact they are not Korean.
I swam for ages in the sea, just reveling in being able to swim for the first time this year, but alas, the time soon came for the infamous Korean "Bali-Balli" (hurry hurry) and I was ushered out of the water and back into the car, for another destination of traditional fish markets (the hot topic of conversation was how nice my "perm" is (it's naturally curly, much to the disbelief of nearly every Korean". Then us and our fresh sashimi headed for the country, to my friends Grandmothers cottage by the lake where she has her own mini farm full of crops, cows, and stray cats. I loved it. It was a part of Korea that honestly may have never yet hosted a foreigner, as I was the first one the grandma and her friends had ever even seen.
you walk through this section before the Bhuddist temples, and there's these giant wooden warriors in there,
who's purpose is to keep the evil spirits from passing into the temple
Next, we headed off to the Eastern shores to the beach at pohang, where a group of Korean guys called me the 'Princess of the Sea'. This proves two things; firstly that Koreans are ridiculously kind, and second that the one foriegner I'm any given area draws a lot of attention solely based on the fact they are not Korean.
I swam for ages in the sea, just reveling in being able to swim for the first time this year, but alas, the time soon came for the infamous Korean "Bali-Balli" (hurry hurry) and I was ushered out of the water and back into the car, for another destination of traditional fish markets (the hot topic of conversation was how nice my "perm" is (it's naturally curly, much to the disbelief of nearly every Korean". Then us and our fresh sashimi headed for the country, to my friends Grandmothers cottage by the lake where she has her own mini farm full of crops, cows, and stray cats. I loved it. It was a part of Korea that honestly may have never yet hosted a foreigner, as I was the first one the grandma and her friends had ever even seen.
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