'Let's just stay up until the first bus back to Chuncheon"

After a night of bowling and bar-hopping (bar-stumbling), we were set off for Gwangju on Saturday morning. I actually ended up bowling pretty poorly. My skills could be placed somewhere between Donny from the Big Lebowski and Stephen Hawking.

We left at about 11:10 and arrived at Gwangju station at about 3pm. The seats were tiny on the bus and for some reason I was seated next to a fellow teacher who is about 6'6. So the two tallest people in Korea were seated next to each other on a tiny bus. It actually ended up not being too bad and I was able to sleep for a couple hours.

Once we arrived in Gwangju we took a cab to the mutual friends' apartment. There was a bald, Irish guy with a thick Irish accent and a Korean guy who seemed to be a lot younger than his actual age. I of course asked the Irish guy if he had heard of Monaghan County. He said he lived about 2 counties over from there. Said it was a beautiful place. Very green and very friendly. Kind of like the Monagan families' next home in America: Waterbury, CT, also known as Da Dirty Water.

Waterbury or Monaghan County?

Both guys very good hosts and seemed happy to have us for company. An example of their excitement could be seen as soon as we walked into the door. A poster read: Welcome you fucking Chuncheon guys!" Very nice. The only problem was that they taped the poster over the bathroom door, so when somebody opened the door to use the room, the poster ripped right through. Good idea. Bad execution.

After introductions and a short tour of the house, we realized that we would have trouble sleeping in this small apartment. So, we decided that we would take the first bus out of Gwangju the next morning. 8:10 am. We would stay up all night and all morning until that time. Once someone put this idea forward, there was no backing out. Nobody wanted to be that guy. It was stupid. It was bold. No, it was just stupid. But it was a challenge. It had to be met and realized.

First place we went to was a chicken restaurant on top of a high mountain. Once we arrived we looked down on the city of Gwangju and really enjoyed the nice view. Gwangju was a large city with many tall buildings and green mountains. About 2 million people. Really beautiful place, like everywhere I've been so far in Korea.

So, we asked for chicken. Minutes later, we see a man walking into the kitchen carrying 2 dead chickens. Fresher than Chinchilla at M&G. The actual meal was great. Really spicy chicken with a dark, flavorful sauce. But the appetizer was a little strange. They served us raw chicken in tiny slices. When they served it, we all looked at each other in disbelief. The Irish guy almost choked on his beer. But the Korean man simply picked up his chopsticks and began eating the chicken. The truth is, you can actually eat raw chicken as long as it is fresh. The packaging is what causes bacteria to get in and actually feed on the chicken. So, we all had a slice, but were really not into the idea at all. It's like walking across the street without looking both ways. Something we were always told not to do.

Raw Chicken in middle:

After dinner, we all headed to a Soju house in a university area of Gwangju. Lots of kids and lots of fun. We spent about 2 hours there, headed to Karaoke for about an hour and half and realized we still had another 8 hours before our bus departed for Chuncheon. It was only about 12:15. So we headed to a talking bar in downtown Gwangju. This is a place where lonely Korean men go to talk to Korean women, who get paid per conversation. Perfect place for 5 Americans and one Irishman. We ended up staying there for about 2 hours and talking to ourselves. I did speak to one Korean woman, but once I told her I went to school in NYC, all she wanted to talk about was Sex in the City. Not my favorite show. Kind of wish it had been.

After this experience we headed over to a nightclub in another university area in the city. Even during 4 years in New York, I had never been to a nightclub. I had a pretty good time. We all "danced" and got rejected by many Korean girls. They are very shy dancers. But I still enjoyed the scene and hearing some western music. Fat Man Scoop, some 'ye and Weezy baby y'all.

competent, important voices of my generation.

Fat Man Scoop:

When we walked out of the club, the sun was making its way up from the horizon. It was 6:30 am. We raced to a taxi, picked up our bags at the Irish-ish-Korean-like apartment and reached the bus station at 7 am. We were exhausted. But we had done it. We had accomplished what we had set out to do. Yes....we were morons, and felt like morons for most of Sunday. While we weren't sleeping of course. But it was worth it. We had done a lot, seen a lot of people and places and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I liked being out of Chuncheon for a day. The food was great, the city was endless with activities and people, and the company was awesome. Hope to make many future trips around Korea but also make an attempt to rest my head at least for a short while.