ATV, Rafting, Pension in Daejon

The first weekend of October, Beth was awesome enough to organize a trip for 12 of us to go to a pension outside of Daejon. A handful of her coworkers from last year are just about wrapping up their contracts and heading out of Korea, and this would be a nice last hoorah for all of them.

We took a Moon Kkang school bus - nothing like a public school bus at home... it's decorated with the finest fabrics (see photo) and fully equipped with reclining seats, cup holders and of course, karaoke. And our good pal, Andrew, was ready to get Saturday started with none over than his version of "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!" by the Bay City Rollers. It was classic.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by some interesting insects. Another black and yellow spider on a massive web instantly caught our eyes, only this time, the spider was enjoying its prey - a dragonfly that had been captured in the web. Shortly after, an injured praying mantis was crawling about. Also, The mosquitoes at this place really feasted on me and the rest of us throughout the weekend.

The first day, we went out on a bunch of ATVs and drove about the terrain for a bit. After, we soaked up some sun while enjoying the endless draft beer that was included with the place. For dinner, they made us beef curry with various Korean side dishes as well as a mass amount of pork, which is not part of my diet. After some time digesting, the drinks continued flowing and the karaoke machine was brought out. The pension owners set up a huge projector screen outside with surround sound and hooked up the karaoke to it. It was a fun but steady night until the Korean group showed up. They inquired about the karaoke and asked to join, which obviously excited us. They really showed us how to "noraebang" it up with dance moves and the whole nine. It turned into somewhat of a dance-off. The night took off from there and the singing, dancing, drinking games and shots continued for hours.

The next morning we were broken for what we thought was rafting. During the drive, we realized that this rafting trip was not going to consist of any "white water." Fortunately, it turned out to be an insanely hilarious experience despite the lack of the slightest ripple in the water. Let's just say, everyone ended up fully clothed in the freezing water and partook in all orders made by the guides. I had some really hard laughs that definitely contributed to my ab workout.

ALSO - I've been trying my best to stay informed on the music scene while out in Korea, and I'm going to post videos of interest with my blog entries. Enjoy!

Morning Benders - "Promises"

First Bang at the Noraebang!

About the pics:

Rice wine with cider - you drink this from a bowl. I almost wanted to reach for a spoon thinking it was a cold soup. They usually use spoons for soup here.

Noraebang (karaoke room) fully equipped with disco ball and surround-sound along with a bar host right outside the door.

Our sad attempt at karaoke.

The worse you are, the better your score. We did, however, get a few scores in the 50s, so you can imagine how amazing those sounded.

Beth and Chase doing a duet perhaps.


Last night, Beth took me out with her friends from last year. We went to a restaurant in Wolbae (one subway stop over from SangIn, where I live) where the group of friends frequents - I would say they are definitely friends with the owner now. They continued serving us endless kettles of rice wine mixed with cider. It was a bit of a strange taste at first, but I fared alright. I'm not a big drinker as is so it was a bit more challenging with this beverage. We had a couple spicy dishes (of course): veggies with rice cakes that have a similar consistency to a penne noodle, but solid all the way through, and a soup with tofu, tuna and kimchi. I wasn't crazy about either, but it was alright. I'm still most fond of Korean BBQ of chicken (dak) or beef (sogogi) with veggies and rice.

After hours of socializing and having drinks at the restaurant, the group stumbled next door to a noraebang - private karaoke room. Korea is absolutely full of these places. I have no idea how much it costs, but it must have been very cheap. They also just add on more time to the machine timers when it runs out and apparently don't charge extra. There's a disco ball, big "u-shaped" seating, two microphones and surround sound, and you can get alcohol there as well. Some Korean guys that we met at the restaurant joined us for a few songs. We have similar places in the states, but this was a totally different level. It was definitely a fun and interesting night. We must have spent two hours there, and let me tell you - these places don't fill up until 3am or so. It's not exactly a place where you start your night... I'm sure I'll spend some future nights in one of these again.