Wednesday was the IAAF (don't ask me what that stands for) Something Something Pre-Championship Something Meet Something Thing Fest at the local World Cup Stadium. What it was was an international (a clue into what the "I" stands for) track and field meet. There was running, hammer throwing, triple jumping, and pole vaulting. The best part? Usain Bolt.
Here he is winning at the 100 meter run. That guy is fast. He almost beat his record again. I think he was about .1 or .2 seconds behind his record. The thing I loved the most about this track and field meet was that every race or competition had at least two Koreans competing for good measure. If you look in the picture above, you can probably find out where the Koreans are. It was this way every race. It was a schadenfreude moment, I'd say. Anyway, enough about that pretentious Jamaican and his little fun time happy race. Let's talk about me.Thursday after work, (Friday was a national holiday: Buddha's birthday) 12 other dudes, one married woman, and I hit up the Seobu Bus Terminal and we headed on the first leg of our journey to Seonyudo Island. This was a 4 hour bus ride to Gunsan, a crappy little town with nothing but love motels and Chiness food (that's what the sign said. I'm assuming they meant Chinese, but you never know around here). We kicked it in front of the bus terminal for a while and had a good time until the wee hours of the morning. After crashing, we got up and took a ferry onto the island to officially begin "Sausagefest 2010."
Seonyudo is nothing short of beautiful. I'm not really sure how to tactfully do this, so I'm just going to post pictures intermittently so you can get an idea, as you read, of what Seonyudo looked like.
After checking in to our beach house room thing, the first order of business was to get 1) soju, and 2) bikes. This proved to be both a good and bad idea. The bikes were, of course, a good idea, but under the influence of alcohol, I made the worst decision of the trip. The beach is riddled with islands. Most importantly, this little bastard:
I thought it would be a good idea to swim over there with a couple of other guys and climb it. Of course, I'm barefoot. Well, by the time I get to the top, my feet are cut up and bleeding. Turns out the island is nothing but jagged, barnacled up oyster rocks that are razor sharp. Oh well, I think. I ended up having to cut a chunk of rock out of my feet. Really nasty stuff. I'm just hoping the cuts don't get infected. I'm cleaning them intermittently, but I'm afraid that because (let's be serious) I have to use my feet almost constantly, they won't have enough time to heal. I don't really want to be limping around Korea for the next six months or so. Anyway, I'll stop being a buzzkill and get to the really bizarre part.On the way back through the beach, we ran into other foreigners (naturally). As we were talking to them, a couple of others rolled up on bikes. I recognized one of them. Turns out, the guy went to my high school. One year behind me. We even hung out with some of the same crowd back then. How weird is it to run into someone from Winchester, Virginia on a secluded island half way across the world? It was really bizarre because I just happened to be wearing my high school gym shirt that day. Naturally, that called for a beach bonfire.
I love it when everything works out like that. A bunch of people coming together through the magical powers of liquid courage, making a fire, bringing guitars, and just talking and enjoying the beautiful night.It was good to get enjoyment out of the beautiful weather that day because for the rest of the trip it rained. Not just rained, but tornado warning, hurricane type of sideways windy rain. Nothing was saved. We ended up watching Zombieland in our hotel room and then braving the elements to go "downtown" (really, the only inhabited street on the island) to get food. Places like that have to capitalize, so the place we chose was both a fried chicken joint and a noraebang. I participated in the noraebang part and tore up some Bruce Springsteen, as I am wont to do. The best part about that place is the owner has his dog walking around. Ajumma (old woman). She's the cutest little spaniel, but she's got a rasta tail. It's dreadlocked and looks like she has two tails like a freakish dead fetus Siamese twin type of thing. What can you expect on an island in Korea, right?
We ended up talking to the owner of that place until about 3 in the morning. He goes by "MacGyver" because he's so handy. This guy lives the life. For the warmer six months of the year he lives on the island running his restaurant with his dog, fishing, and then for the other six months he lives in the mountains (still with his dog). The guy's got no problems.So, some highlights.
1) We met a disproportionate number of South Africans whom I got a kick out of when they spoke in Afrikaans. It sounds a little like English and German with some African flare thrown in. I even got video, but I'm not gonna show you.
2) One of our group had a little too much and crashed his bike. He looked so messed up for the rest of the weekend. Cuts all over his body. The only one who got it worse than me. But not the worst on the island. The night of the bonfire, someone crashed his motor scooter and ate some pavement really bad. He had to be shipped off the island to a hospital. Blood all over the place. All because some Korean lady came up while he was riding by and started hitting him for God knows what reason.
3) Several folks ate oysters right off the beach. I was told it was really salty. Weird. I'm not sure if that was a good plan or not.
4) I got burnt. Like real bad. 5) Some others in the group had to stop a man from beating his wife. Like real intense Cops type of stuff. He broke a bottle and was going after her with it. The bitch of it was that when the wagooken got involved, all the other standersby (who were doing nothing up to this point) started yelling at them. Sorry, we're just trying to stop a woman from getting stabbed with a hobo dagger.
6) Expect a video of me and about seven other dudes running into the ocean in our underwear to pop up on the innerwebs sometime soon. Not from me, but it'll probably be on Yahoo! News right next the inappropriate cute kitten videos. How is that newsworthy? Seriously, Yahoo! News, it's time to take yourself more seriously. 7) Sleeping on the floor for three days straight takes it out of ya. I'm glad to have a bed tonight.
Anyway, my body is kind of broken. Between living off of ramen and alcohol, sleeping on the floor, cutting the crap out of my feet, getting terribly sunburnt, and the lack of proper clean facilities and sleep have taken it's toll on me. I feel like this weekend took time off of my life. I need a rest, and school is going to come way too soon tomorrow. Still, I don't regret it. I had an amazing time on that island.
My analysis of Seonyudo: (first of all, sorry that I'm all over the place. I'm not a good writer and I don't plan things out before I start tippy typing) it's a beautiful island that I would love to come back to when it is consistently nice to hike and explore more. The people one meets there are awesome, intelligent people from all over the world (and even some from Winchester, VA). The food options are somewhat scarce. Like most islands, prices are driven up. However, this is made up for by the beach being great and scenic. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll make it back. It's a little far for a weekend trip and there are so many other places to check out before I leave this mystical land (that is, unless some visiting friends or family want to go check it out). So, we'll see what time and life brings. 
Did I see you type that you're not a good writer? *smack* Pssshhhhh.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, wow! What a beautiful island. You took some great pictures, buddy. I'm glad you had fun! Nothing worth doing will leave your body UNbroken afterwards, haha.