Gunsan Shi- Day 2

Hello..finally. I will have to write backwards about my trip but I will start with today. This will have to be brief b/c it's already 10pm and I have lots to do before I leave tomorrow.

It was a whirlwind the moment we woke to travel to Gunsan from Seoul. Erik and I took an early morning bus from Seoul that lasted about 2.5 hours but we stopped at a major bus rest spot despite the short distance. It was an opportunity to lose passengers in my mind. When we parked there were about 15 other buses and tons of other cars.

On my way to Gunsan via Bus

The place was packed and filled with vendors and eateries. We rushed ot the bathroom anyway to stretch out our legs, and for me to get of the air conditioning. Although it's hot and humid the bus felt like it was 30 degrees. I didn't even have a sweater with me (our bags were down below). When we arrived Gunsan we hopped into a cab and attempted in our broken korean to get to Alice Hotel, which as we learned shortly there after that it was about 20K won distance from the bus station. Taxis in Korea are VERY inexpensive compared to the US, so 20K is a ridiculous amount. We went on what felt like a mission on Amazing Race that lasted all day. We returned to the hotel soaking wet, cold, tired and starving. Erik was a trooper though, talking to natives and helping me out on my search.

With Mr. David Kim, Director of Il Magwon Orphanage

Today was exactly opposite in weather, hot and sunny but still extremely humid. We did more Amazing Race searching this morning, then our new taxi friend Mr. Kang (pronounced Kong) took us to Kingdom Foods, a restaurant out in the middle of rice fields. It was very good food and was fun to be with a native korean. After "runch" we walked around old town Gunsan and up to Mt. Wolmyeong, and later after a cold blended drink at BRobins, around Mije Reservoir. The reservoir was beautiful and much larger than we expected. I saw soccer volleyball for the first time and also old men working out on mechanical machines.

Erik with Mr. Kang our Taxi driver in Gunsan

We grabbed dinner at a family style restaurant before returning back to Oz for the night. This was where I saw my first traditional toilet, a porcelin oblong bowl in the ground. There was no seat. I had heard of this kind of toilet but had not seen one yet in Korea. Korea has become very westernized.

Tomorrow we're going to take another bus further south to Pusan, where I hope to relax and meet up with some conference friends.

Good night!