Day 5

Today we woke up and again, ate a wonderful free breakfast! That seriously saves me for the rest of the day. We got ready, and went to see some old Buddhist temples and statues that were so hidden, the Japanese couldn't destroy them. We rode a bus to the main temple, where monks were worshipping in front of us. We were asked not to take photos of it, so we didn't, but it was crazy! The monks would kneel, then stand, then kneel, then stand. Probably about 10 times in 1 minute. This place was FILLED with kids. That normally, wouldn't be a problem, but we seriously are celebrities here. They swarm us, and holler, "What is your name?" "Nice to meet you" David conversed with some of them, and they were shocked he could speak some Korean. I have it on video, but youtube is being wierd, so I'll try to add it in the morning. It's almost 11pm here. The kids were literally swarming ALL of us. One group of kids started talking to me, asking if I liked apples(yes), and kimchee(NO). Then they asked if I had a boyfriend. I pointed to Troy. (Now, one of the tallest people in this country) and they all shrieked "OOOOOHHHHHH!" It was hilarious! Then, they asked for my autograph. Wierd, but I did it, just cause it made them so happy. I was literally, being swallowed up, and looked to my family to help me. I would have been there all day, if I had to sign everyone's, so they helped me, and then we decided to be on our way. On our way out, we saw a lone white man (also tall - go figure) and as we passed, Maria said, "Good Luck". Then, we headed up to a hike to a hidden Buddha Grotto.

This hike was STRAIGHT UP! It was 3.2 kilometers one way. It took us about an hour to hike it. I'm proud to say I wasn't the last one up. I still don't love hiking, but we did it. We saw this hidden Buddha made out of stone, that had been there since 751. CRAZY! I'm pretty sure that's the oldest thing I've ever seen. We then hiked the 3.2 kilometers down. We were all pretty beat, stinky, and tired by the time we reached the bottom, but we took a bus into downtown for some grub. At this point in time, I just pray for white rice.

David took us to a place, and ordered for us. I just had some of Troy's. I'm past the point of ordering something for myself, cause I know I won't like it. Well, it happened to be good. It was this beef soup, with onions. I took the beef and onions out, and put it on my rice, and ate it. YUM! That's my request for lunch tomorrow. Oh, in restaraunts here, you are to get your own water. They have water coolers. Well, we had just hiked, and I was thirsty, so I went and filled up my water bottle from the cooler. A little old lady was sitting by it eating her lunch. She had a bowl of white rice. I filled up my water bottle, and headed back to my table. She grabbed my arm, and motioned for me to pour water from my water bottle into her bowl of rice. So, I poured a little in, thinking, who wants cold water in their rice? I didn't know how much she wanted. So, she didn't think that was enough, and grabbed my water bottle, and filled her bowl. Whatever makes her happy. It's just crazy that she's not worried about germs from my old water bottle. She did it again to my brother too.

After lunch, we walked down some streets, and me, my dad, and Jason, decided we would head back to the hotel. We were so stinky from the hike. Everyone else decided to go to a DVD room, and watch a Korean movie with English subtitles. So, the 3 of us, got on the bus that was only supposed to go one way, and ended up stranded at the bus station. So, we got a taxi, and came back to the hotel, showered, and waited for everyone else to come back.

We are all still trying to beat jet lag, and couldn't go to bed at 8:30, so decided to try the nightlife, and go to a Karoake bar. Troy has been dreading this since we mentioned a Karoake bar when we got here. I shouldn't say bar, because that isn't how they work here. It's a Karoake room. You rent the room for 1 hour (2000w or $20 an hour). There is actually no beverages allowed, especially alcoholic. There are lists of music, and even a few tamborine's and a disco ball to set the mood. Growing up, David and I have always listened to the same type of music. He listened to what music I did, because I was the oldest, and made him, but he loves it as much as me. I love all music of all era's and genre's. People ask David to this day, how he happens to know one song or another, and he credits me...sniff sniff...:) So, Karoake was seriously the funnest thing ever. We laughed hysterically. Sang our butts off! We even found a spanish song for Maria. Well, everyone sang but Troy. I told David, before I leave, we're going back! I seriously always made fun of people who Karaoke, and thought that for sure, you had to be drunk to do it. I don't know that there are too many people I could Karaoke with, but it was awesome! Anyways, after our hour was up, we are now back at the hotel. Troy is fast asleep. I thought I'd update the blog early, so in the morning, we can get on with our day. No more hikes for tomorrow. Don't know what we'll do yet, but we're having a great time.

Here's the video of David. He's asking the kids if they are Japanese, or Chinese, and they keep hollering, NO, KOREAN! I think towards the end, one little kids call him stupid in Korean, and David, says, I know what you're saying, I'm not stupid, you are (all in Korean) and the little kids friends start beating him up for being disrespectful. David tells them to stop and that it's okay. I think this video is awesome, cause you can hear him speaking Korean, and you can see how the kids here just think we're FABULOUS! Isn't David cute? The only Korean I've gotten down is thank you: KOMESAMNEEDAH (phonetically spelled). My mom tries her hardest, but when she says it, people laugh. You kind of have to say it fast and slurred.

These were only a FEW kids. Seriously, there were probably only 3 adults to every 25 kids there, and we were the only other adults there. There were over 30 buses filled with kids.I found another video I took of just a sampling of all the kids. This is just in one little courtyard. Wall to wall kids. We liked talking to them at first, but it got to the point where if we saw tour buses, we had second thoughts about stopping.

Korea really isn't a tourist destination. We were telling David, that there is no way we could have traveled here without him. We asked how other tourists do it? He tells us there really aren't many tourists. There are business men, but they stick with business. So, signing out, from one of the few tourists in South Korea.