Our day at the beach

So today is Saturday. School starts again on Monday, so we decided to head to the beach today for a little R&R before we start working again. The day started at 8:15am because we needed to have breakfast and then leave for the beach prior to 9am. The bus ride to the beach is anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, so we were planning ahead. After researching yesterday for about 2 hours on how to get to the beach, we arrived at the Seobu bus terminal at about 9:15 and tried to buy tickets to the Daecheon Beach. The lady then said that we needed to go to the Daejeon Bus Terminal. So we caught a cab there, where we were told to catch the #841 bus to the beach. We found the #841 bus and had a small run-in. Who would have thought that you needed exact change to use the bus. Let alone - you don't know how much you are supposed to be paying. Well, we got a discount because the bus driver was getting irritated with us. It only cost a total of 1700 won ($1.70) instead of the 2000 won ($2.00) that it was supposed to cost because the bus driver was frustrated with our lack of Korean; looks like we got a discount! The bus continued to make frequent stops in the city and then made a final stop at the Seobu Bus Terminal where everyone but us got off the bus. Now - if you reference back to the top of this post, you will see that we initially started this trip at the Seobu station. Nice huh!

Well, the #841 bus driver must have had some compassion for us because he walked us into the Seobu station and helped us buy tickets to the beach. Realize now that it is 11:15am. Yes, it has now taken us almost 3 hours to get back to where we started. Well, we talked about it and decided to bag the beach for today due to the time and having to be back home to be able to go out tonight.

What have we learned from this little adventure, you may ask?!?!?!

We have learned:

1. Always have proper change for the bus. If the bus driver continues to yell at you in Korean, keep adding change to the bin until the yelling stops.

2. When everyone gets off the bus and you are the only 2 Caucasians left on the bus - GET OFF THE BUS. I know, it seems like a simple concept, but its us and what do you expect....

3. When asking for a ticket on the bus to the beach - don't use the beach name....use the name of the town that the beach is in. Ultimately this was our initial down fall. We could have saved 3 hours this morning.

4. Don't wear your swimming suit - change when you get to the beach. This is an important one. Underwear is ten times better to wear when you are confused/lost/getting yelled at.

5. When you see the same people 2 times in one morning....throw up your arms and call no joy. Yes, this happened to us at Seobu station. To the point where the guy was badgering us to get back in a cab to go to the Daejeon station again. Of course - this was all in Korean....ya, like we understand!!!!

6. When in need of interpreters while traveling - call 02-1330. Yeah, amazing...there was a sign right next to the ticket booth in the bus terminal. We didn't see it until the second time we were there this morning.

So end result: $20 and 3 hours later - we are going to the beach next weekend. We will make sure to have proper change for the bus and will use the Bor yeong city name to get the bus instead of the beach name. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks.....

Also, the Jeju post is coming. We have to gather our thoughts about that trip as it was so amazing and we don't want to make you all have to read 5 pages.....just trying to think of you guys :)