Action speaks in all
Cultures, the same, pulse-pounding…
But, sci fi? Not so.

Our eyes flickered open, and we found ourselves in the fomentation room of the jjimjilbang, with little additional idea what that meant. It was about 7:00, and the baths downstairs were already packed with people getting ready to head out for their days. The women’s rang with conversation as people cheerily greeted each other and gossiped, though from what Evan says the men’s side was not the same. We sped through saunas, hot tubs, and cold baths, heading as soon as we could to breakfast.

Breakfast was a sad affair at Paris Baguette, where we had some admittedly delicious pastries and spent a good deal of time writing our blog posts for you people to enjoy. All the pastries here are slightly too sweet, and even things that are supposed to be salty are sweet.. I got a garlic toast, which tasted as much of sugar as garlic, and Evan a red bean and cream cheese amazingness roll. While it gave us the energy we needed, we are getting tired of pastry.

The next stop, as soon as it opened, was the World Eros Museum, also located in the World Cup Stadium (a strange place for both a jjimjilbang and an erotic art museum). Something about the museum seemed very tongue in cheek (in a totally innocent way), and they had displays of erotic art from all the Asian cultures. Some of the art featured men with oversized penises who were tripping on them. Some featured condoms, in one case sewn into a dress. It was less erotic than incredibly amusing, and we considered our 7,000 won well spent.

Next up was a stop in the movie theatre, also located in the World Cup Stadium (this thing is huge, and not used anymore for football). We’d seen a bunch of fliers for a film called Snowpiercer, which starred an actor from the weird Korean movie we recently watched (Old Boy). It was a “sci-fi” movie with the awful premise that, when the world freezes over, the last vestiges of humanity ride a train in a circle around the earth forever. And the train never stops. And the poor people ride in the back, the rich in the front, and on occasion there are revolts. ?????? We couldn’t really puzzle this one out, but it made an alright action movie, so we didn’t mind.

With our funds dwindling dangerously low, we took a bus back to Seogwipo to top up from a cash machine at a CVS. While there, we stopped for lunch and then grabbed another bus to head towards the head of Olle trail 10, which we plan to hike tomorrow. Unfortunately, when we got off the bus, we realized that Evan had left his wallet onboard. We failed to catch up to the bus running, and grabbed a taxi instead, urging the driver to “Follow that bus!” We did manage to catch it, and retrieve the wallet, but the experience reminded us to keep a close watch on our things.

The first guest house we stopped in had no spaces left, but the owner mercifully spoke heaps of English and found us a space at his friend’s pension. We showered gratefully and then spent the evening wandering around town for dinner and snacks and such. Tomorrow we’ve got to wake up early again, so to bed early, too.