A Blossom-tastic day

Spring has sprung! And last weekend all over Korea, 1000s flocked to numerous locations across the country to see the infamous Cherry Blossoms. For me and five friends, that meant getting up at the ungodly hour of 5:00am to catch the earliest bus out of Suncheon, and drive 2 hours to Gurye, a 5 km strip along quaint little river lined with cherry blossoms.

I got off to a bit of a rough start. For some reason I woke up around 2:00am- stumbling around my apartment in a stupor thinking it was 5:00. After getting dressed, I wander back into my living room and stand there staring at my clock- gaaaa, it's 2:00am! Don't ask how it happened- I have no idea... So back to bed I go. Can you guess what I forgot to do? Yes- of course reset my alarm.... Result? I didn't wake up until 5:50- 20 minutes AFTER I was supposed to meet everyone downstairs. Panic time! I run to my phone and see that my friend is also late, and currently putting on her jacket. Good thing I was already dressed, because all I had time to do was brush my teeth, throw some cereal in a ziplock bag, and run out the door. Sheesh!

Thanks to our excellent Korean skills, we were at least able tell the cabbie "bali bali"- which means faster faster! He happily obliged, and drove about 90km an hour through town, getting us to the station in record breaking time- and we made the 6:10 bus. yay!

The blossoms, naturally, were stunning. Walking down a winding road along a shallow rocky river- there was nothing but a canopy of pale pink flowers overhead, with petals falling like snow with every gust of wind. Japan definately made a good choice for their national flower!

As the hours wore on the weather got warmer, and the street became more and more crowded. There were people everywhere! It soon became cumbersome to navigate our way around the cars parked on the sidewalk, baby strollers, and couples posing infront of tripods. And boy, when Koreans take pictures they do it right. When we walked down to the river, I saw at least 6 Koreans on one small rock, all pointing their cameras on tripods at the tiny waterfall. I don't know if they're all professionals or just wannabes- but I either way I was more than a little jealous.

There were plenty of food vendors set up along the street too- selling overpriced drinks and Korean snacks- pressed fish on a stick, pogos, bitter yellow tree nuts (not good), red bean cakes, and my personal favourite you can small a mile away-- silk worms! I think they're in the pupae stage, boiled in a hot oil- and do they ever stink. I don't know how anyone could eat anything that smells that bad!

The highlight of the afternoon came with our climb up to a lookout pavillion. Looking out over the winding flower street and tea fields growing on the steppes of the hillsides, we sat down at one of two small tables for some Korean tea. Being the ignorant waygooks we are, we didn't know what do to- but a man who spoke some English was kind enough to sit down with us and help us out. No tea bags here: this was real Korean tea ceremony, involving pouring boiling water into a bowl- into the tea pot with the tea leaves- through a wooden strainer into another bowl- then into our cups. Thank goodness for him, we would have had no idea! The man was there with his brother- one is a master in tae-kwon-do, and the other a hapkido master in Busan. It was really great to be able to chat with them though, and was one of those random moments that make you feel lucky to be having such great experiences in Korea. :)

After they left we were sitting there for a while, and had another visitor- 4 year old Yu-Gi :) I think she's my new favourite person- this little kid was adorrrable. Usually, if kids here aren't aftraid of foreigners, they usually keep their distance and point and yell "waygook" (foreigner) or "meegook" (American). But little Yu-Gi just marched right up and started playing with my hair! It was the cutest thing ever. She was there with her mom, just babbling away- and kept coming back over to me to play with my hair or put a towel on my head. She followed us back down the long flights of stairs too- taking with her Stephen's long bamboo hiking pole and almost wacking Jennifer in the face with in a few times! So her and I held it together, little Yu-Gi counting or making little grunting noises with each step. What a doll, ohh she was too cute. She didn't want to leave when we got to the bottom either, she just kept holding my hand and wouldn't let go as her mom led her away. Aww!

In all, the flowers were beautiful, the tea was yummy, but for me Yu-Gi definately stole the show :)