Well, another week has come to a close in South Korea. I can't believe I've been here only two weeks. I've seen a lot, thanks to Julie. Yesterday she, her friend Robin and Robin's friend Shoko (from Japan) and I all piled onto a subway train and headed out to the city of Geonju.

We boarded a bus at the central terminal north of the Pusan National University district. I didn't think to use the restroom before I got on the bus, as I expected it to be a short 45-minute drive. However, this is the weekend when Koreans celebrate the holiday of Chusok, roughly equivalent to Thanksgiving in the States. Koreans celebrate Chusok by visiting their elders and presenting them with gifts. Everywhere you went there were people with special Chusok boxes stuffed with soaps, candy and even Spam. Interstate 1 (there aren't a whole lot here) was clogged with people and the Pepsi I had downed earlier began to fill my bladder.

I tried to sleep through the growing pain in my lower abdomen while the bus inched along. Within an hour I was in some of the worst pain in my life, fighting hard not to piss myself right then and there. My friends were alarmed by my pain. I was sweating and my arms were bloated so bad that I had to take my watch off. I stumbled to the front of the bus and begged the driver in broken Korean to stop the bus. As luck would have it, he spoke perfect English and pulled the bus over. The crowded bus leaned against the window to watch this poor stupid American relieve himself along the side of the interstate.

My humiliation complete, the bus took us into Geonju. Geonju is one of the more ancient cities in South Korea. The whole of the city is like Rome, lined with ancient streets, houses and burial mounds from the 9th century. A number of bicycle rental companies have sprouted up to meet the demand for cheap, pleasant transportation through the narrow streets. To the north is a famous Buddhist temple called Bulgoksa (sp) and a number of mountains sporting ancient buddhist statuary.

We decided to catch a city bus out to Namsan Mountain and hike among the 9th-century Buddhist statues resting in the forrest. The bus let us out in a dusty, nearly-deserted parking lot adjacent to a small farming community. Fields of ripe rice stretched out towards the distant city of Geonju on the other side of the valley. Patches of red peppers and squash lined the streets of the tiny village. We consumed a bowl of ramen noodle and made our way into the village hoping to find the trails we read about.

We wandered for two hours, failing to find a trail. The mountain was to our right, but there were no signs indicated how we might climb her. Instead, we decided to give up on our quest and go back to town where we could rent bikes and tour the city. We caught a cab who misunderstood us and brought us to the massive Geonju National Museum complex. Admission was only 40 American cents.

Just past the entrance to the museum is a gong weighing 19 tons made in the Silla Dynasty. It is the largest ever made by any Asian culture and has a sordid, gruesome history. When it was originally cast, there was structural defect and the gong would not ring. It was re-cast, and this time a little boy was thrown into the molten iron as a sacrifice to make the gong ring as per a revelation from God given to the King's head priest. The gong is nicknamed the "mommy" gong (english translation) because that's what the boy was screaming as they threw him in.

Great. Just great. God, I am so glad I am a part of the human race. I gave the finger to the mommy gong and toured the museum. It was filled with artifacts unearthed from Geonju: Pottery, spears, swords, Buddhist figures, rocks that held Buddhist figures, pagodas, etc. It was all very interesting, but tiring. We left the museum and made our way back to town.

The one-eyed man who owned the bicycle shop spoke english, and despite the fact that he was closing in an hour he arranged to meet us back at the shop in three hours to pick up the bikes. Five dollars a day for a bicycle can't be beat. We rode them all over town, along the river, stopping only for dinner. After dinner we rode out to a Chusok festival and listened to some traditional Korean music.

Today I am wandering the endless markets of Nampo-dong looking for a shower curtain. Unlike in the states, holidays are no excuse to close the stores. People line the avenues and alleyways picking over the stalls for whatever they can or want to find. It's better than wal-mart: It's outside, there is anything you could ever dream to buy, and you can haggle over the price. If you are into people watching, Nampo-dong cannot be beat. But I'll write more on this later. I'm at a PC-bong, or room, where you can rent a hyper-fast internet-ready computer for a dollar an hour. It's great, but I really must return to shopping. It's going to take a while to find a shower-curtain stall, even here.

--Notes