Sunday, May 11, 2008
One of the beautiful houses at Ojukheon
Kyle and I at Ojukheon
This is the Sea of Japan/East Sea
We're back!!
So, we got in about an hour ago. The trip was good, but we have a couple of stories.
First, the bus ride in took FOREVER. There was an accident in the tunnel which also happened to be the longest tunnel I have ever been in. Then, the traffic was backed up as far as the eye could see. So, our bus driver took a short cut and got off the highway and took some back roads till he got past all of the traffic and then got back on the highway. It saved us probably over 2-4 hours of traffic congestion. The scenery on the ride from Wonju to Gangeung was gorgeous. The mountains that we live in are so lush with trees and it is a very relaxing ride. The roads are great as well.
We arrived into Gangeung about 40 minutes later than we were supposed to and made our way to the tourist information so they could help us find our hotel. We asked them, they snickered, and pointed across the street. Well, we thought that was the only reason they were snickering. The hotel looked fine, kind of weird, but we assumed it was just a Korean thing, and went to our rooms. Well, boy were we wrong. Now, we had someone at Kyle's work book the hotel for us. The office manager. She is kinda crazy, but this was really funny. We walked into our room to a photo stuck on our table of all sorts of sex positions and something called a "Love Foam". We then realized, that all the fluorescent lights were not "just something Korean" but we were staying in a Love Hotel. Ha ha ha ha. We laughed so hard about it. Anyways, we were so grossed out about everything that we just didn't want to touch anything at all. Zak was climbing all over the love foam that had stains on it. But the grossness did not stop there but I also will not get into it. So gross. Anyways, we slept there and then left in the morning.
So, we went out for lunch when we got there after walking around for an hour trying to find some place decent and we finally found a place for Galbi. We were so excited. The food was amazing. It was the best beef that I have had in a looooong time. Turned out, when we got the bill, it was the most expensive beef I have had in a long time. The bad thing about some restaurants here is that the prices are not listed anywhere and you just order and then pay. Normally, Galbi costs us $11 per person for A LOT of beef and side dishes. It's so good. We got our bill, it was 98,000 Won. Which is equal to $98 CDN. Holy Crap!! We paid it and left and we were bitter about it the whole trip.
We then headed back to the hotel and got our cameras and caught a cab to the beach. It was so cold down there, but it was beautiful. They drive the speed boats ride up on the beach there! It's crazy to watch. It was cold so we didn't stay there long. You can see pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114350&l=3031d&id=652110787 of the whole trip. We then went back to the tourist information place and asked where we could go for dinner that was not $98 and we ended up eating at Pizza Hut. It was great. Cheaper than home and it hit the spot. We would have had Galbi again had it not been so expensive.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hung out for a bit. Terri and I talked about being married and how nice it is to have another married couple around that's the same age and we talked about family and Zak. It was good. The guys ran to the store to get something to drink and then came back. After that we went to bed.
The next day, which is today, we went to Ojukheon, a memorial park. It was beautiful there. The architecture is phenomenal and the gardens are beautiful. We walked around in there for a while and looked at everything. So beautiful. Once again, you can see the pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114350&l=3031d&id=652110787. We laughed a lot at all the misspelled things in English and all the bad translations. The sign said "menorial" not "memorial". Another sign finished a sentence with saying "These were erected to honour the selfless acts that" and nothing after the word "that". It was funny. We think we should get paid by the government to go through their national parks and fix all these mistakes. We could make a fortune. We went for coffee and there was mistake there too, "calamel" instead of "caramel", "peprmint", instead of "peppermint", etc. It was great.
The bus ride home was much easier. We slept and there was no traffic. It took exactly 90 minutes to get home on the express bus. Looks like tonight we are having some other teachers over and going up on the roof of our building to have some drinks and enjoy the sun. It is at least 15 degrees hotter here than in Gangeung.
I know I missed a bunch of stories, but I am tired, I need a shower (since I refused to shower in the sketchy love hotel), and we are going out for cheap Galbi tonight since we do not have any groceries at the moment. It is cheaper to go out for food and bring home leftovers than it is to cook here. Still weird, I wish we knew that before we spent money on our groceries. Money is definitely tight this first month. We are hoping to make it through and still be able to pay our bills from home since we have to wait a whole month to get paid. The first month is so hard here.... so incredibly hard. In so many ways.
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