Needless to say, I had a headache when I woke up this morning. It didn't last long, but the buffet breakfast was incredibly unappealing to me! We had to load the buses to head into "town," but we didn't leave without taking pictures of the Kims: Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung. There was a gigantic painting depicting the father and son with oddly content smiles on their faces just outside of our hotel.
Today, we had to choose between two courses. One was hiking up a second mountain and the other was to view the ocean and lake. I chose the latter of the two; as much as I enjoy hiking, I wanted to see something other than the mountain course. Colleen also chose to go to the ocean and lake; Nika and Jen wanted to hike again.
There weren't a ton of people in our group which was kind of nice. We drove to the ocean, watching the odd landscape pass us by. A few schools were pointed out, but never were the soldiers standing cold and stiff pointed out. Hmm...I wonder why... There was a short walk downhill when we got there. The ocean was BEAUTIFUL! We went out on the sand and were left free to climb around on the rocks, which of course I did. Colleen and I took many pictures!
Absolutely beautiful!
Posing!
Of course I climbed on the rocks!! It remined me of being at the chalet we had at Lake Michigan for many summers!
Photo-op scenery!
We left there to drive to the lake. There was more of a walk at the lake which was nice. We walked painfully slow going up to the initial gift shop/waiting area, because we had to wait for another group to clear out. Colleen and I were getting anxious, because neither of us like walking that slow. At one point, we actually stopped moving. The group was getting cranky and asked the female tour guide to sing. Surprisingly, she complied; she sang to us!! The male tour guide was laughing the whole time. They were fairly young, maybe mid-20s. We walked around the lake and then climbed up a small mountain after the gift shop. On top of the mountain, we sat to listen to an explanation we couldn't understand.^^ The other female tour guide sang for us! She was really good!! The group was getting into it, too!
On our walk, we saw many stones with writing carved into them. I didn't know what they meant, but my host mom translated them when I got home from NoKo. Many of them were about praising communism and the Kims.
We reached a bridge. A big bridge! A wiggle bridge! Who remembers one of my slight fears?! Luckily I got over yesterday, because this bridge wasn't nearly as wiggly as some of the bridges we encountered on yesterday's hike. We decided to pose with the bridge; in doing so, we fell behind the group. We continued on, up some super Dr. Seuss-y stairs and caught up with them. We came down and headed back to the buses.
*Sidenote: When I came home, I definitely found out that one of those awesomely wiggly bridges broke, I think, the week before I went to NoKo and 5 people were seriously injured.*
We went back to the "village." I took a few pics that I wasn't supposed to on the way; we weren't supposed to take pics from the bus. We went to the gift shop one more time. I was hoping to find the girl that I talked to every time I went in there to say "goodbye" to her. It was the first time I couldn't find her in the 3 days we were there!ㅠㅠ Sadness!
We met the others and got on the bus to head home at 12:40PM. Of course, we took a pic with our tour guide first, because he was incredible! Nika and Jen were psyched that they got to climb a mountain with him today. They were at the front of the pack to catch up with him! LOL!
We went back through the same process we did going to NoKo, except in reverse. At the final checkpoint, we got our phones back and had to switch buses again. We stopped a total of two or three times. All day, I had a little bit of breakfast, a few crackers, and some potato wedges, because our whole schedule was so thrown off by traveling. We got stuck in some MAJOR traffic in Seoul and instead of arriving back in Seoul at the expected 7:30PM, we arrived at 10:00PM! Funny thing: Buses don't run to Wonju after 10:40PM. Nika, Colleen, and I hurried through the subway station, transferring lines, and we had to split ways at the Kangnam station. They had a separate exit than mine.
I had a difficult time finding my exit. The bus station is CRAZY, and if you've never navigated it or only have navigated it a few times, it is even worse. Some people tried to help when I would ask them. One guy turned away from me like he didn't know what I was saying; I WAS SPEAKING KOREAN! Anyway, I finally found my exit, and it was 10:42PM. My host mom had texted me to tell me that there was a 10:50PM bus also, so I asked about tickets. SOLD OUT! At this point I was not an incredibly happy individual. There was also some crazy taxi driver there asking if I wanted to take a taxi to Wonju; Wonju is an hour and a half away from Seoul when there ISN'T traffic! How many ways can you say "No way in hell" in Korean?
*Sidenote: My host mom told me the next day that when she checked online at 8:00PM, there were only 10 tickets left for the last bus to Wonju.*
Instead, I called my host mom and my co-teacher to let them know what the deal is. I then bought a ticket for the first bus out of Seoul going to Wonju! Oh, yes! 5:45AM! At this point I am super stoked about the current situation...
So there I was, in Seoul, by myself, at almost 11:00PM at night, with a bus to catch in less than seven hours, no place to stay, and I had to teach the next day. Luckily, that day, I had learned a Help number from the extendees on the trip. I called it and asked for a jimjilbang (spa) near Kangnam station. The woman was helpful and told me about one at Central City near exit 4. So, I went to exit 4. Central City was on the other side of the street from exit 4, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to get acrossed the street. There was not a single crosswalk! I stopped and asked a woman; she pointed me underground again and told me to come up a different way. Ok, so, I'm in Central City...hmm...it's a HUGE mall! So, I asked someone where the jimjilbang was. They pointed me to an elevator. So, I went to the elevator and asked someone else. Ah...the jimjilbang was not in fact in the basement as I had been told by the Help number lady, it was on the first floor. So, I go to the first floor and ask someone else. SCORE! A security guard walked me straight to the jimjilbang!! Ahh...success!
Now, I'm in the jimjilbang by 12:30AM, knowing that I now have about 5 hours before I have to catch a bus. I still wanted to enjoy the spa, so I stripped down, took a shower, and sat around in the baths for a while. I then proceded to the "sleeping room." It being 1:30AM, I set my alarm for 4:15AM, knowing that if I somehow manage to miss the first bus out I'm screwed, and attempted to sleep.
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