Another English teacher that I know frequently invites me to hang out on weekends and join him and his friends in whatever they have planned. However, with the worst luck ever, I was always either injured, incredibly sick, or already busy whenever he extended those invitations.
For the first time, after months of invites, there was finally one I could accept! I had heard that they'd be renting a car and going to Namhae, where they had reserved a pension on the beach. I thought to myself, 'Car? Beach? Pension? Why not?!'
Things are never as they seem.
- Invited too many people = Too many for a car.
- Had to take the bus = Surprise! There isn't a direct bus.
Three hours, 4 stops, and two buses later... we arrived at the Namhae bus terminal. In literal nowhere. We had to taxi to our pension, only to find it's on practically the opposite side of Namhae, a good 30 minute drive away ... and an expensive one. Upon arriving the first thing we all noticed is that there were zero beaches anywhere near our pension. Our pension was along the water, but it was just an inlet river with some fishing boats tied up here and there. A far cry from a beach. Far cry from everything for that matter. There was barely anything around at all aside from the boats, a few stray cats, and a small mart.
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| View from the balcony |
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| Stacks of bedding |
The pension itself was nice, and it was the first time I had stayed in one. So that was at least exciting. We set up some sleeping mats and all enjoyed the nice view from our balcony, which was directly above the river. We pulled out the food that had been brought, and also the alcohol. Now I am not a big drinker, and I wasn't feeling up to it that night. Not when I knew my company enjoyed the past time much more than I did, and not when I didn't know anyone that well. So I played games with them, but I stuck to Coca-Cola with my one friend who also didn't drink instead.
We tried to order pizza, having the one person who spoke Korean call in for delivery. However, we were so far out that they wouldn't deliver. He protested on the phone, saying "But...but I am hungry..." (In Korean of course). The person at the other end of the line didn't even know what to say, and we were all laughing so hard that he had to hang up the phone. Its the closest to a prank call I'll probably ever experience in Korea. It was funny. Calling in to order chicken wasn't much easier, but we managed it.
We tried to find a place to go sing karaoke as well, but the map only showed one place. We walked there, and it was dark and empty and closed. The others were discussing calling a cab to take us somewhere to sing, but that sounded excessive to me. We found a local and asked about it, turns out there was one place in the entire area, and they directed us to it. Far down a dark alleyway, somewhere we never would've found on our own, was this old, Mexican style building norebang. After wandering around looking for over an hour, we had found it ... but I was ready for bed. I knew if I stayed we'd end up being there for hours, so my one friend and I opted to go back and sleep instead.
We walked back to the pension, pondering why and how a bunch of little starfish ended up dried up on the sidewalk of the bridge far above the river. Once back at the pension we relaxed, finished off the chicken, and crashed on our mats. My sleep was short lived though. I got maybe...5 hours tops.
The following morning, after oversleeping through checkout and being politely asked to leave by the manager, we took a 35 minute taxi to the beach. There were pensions there as well...why, WHY didn't we stay there...!?! This is a prime example of why last minute planning isn't always the best way to go. I enjoyed the beach and got to play around taking some nice photos. Then it was another close to 6 hours of travel before I managed to get home. Which was exhausting... I prefer places with direct buses. Taxi → Namhae Terminal → Jinju → Gwanyang → Gwangju → Walk to the bus stop → Bus to Naju. We left at around 2pm and I didn't get home until maybe about 8 thanks to all the buses and wait times and us taking unnecessary buses to attempt (and fail) to save time.
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| These guys are always scuttling about on the rocks at the beaches. Actually they are a bit disgusting and unsettling to see, since there are usually hundreds of them.... but this one managed to stay still, and was also a bit prettier than the rest. |
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| Close up of the rocks |
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| I saw someone had written this on the beach, so I translated it. It translates to "Crab Tomb" which I thought was funny and cute. Some kids must've covered up the crabs exit hole. |
Overall I got to experience a new place and make memories, so despite wasting lots of my time and energy, I don't regret my decision to go. I got to mark another place on my map of Korea and that in itself made the trip worthwhile.
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