Boseong

The bus trip from Jindo to Boseong was looooong. It was even loooonger when a drunk older halmoni (grandma) got on the bus and HAD to sit RIGHT next to ME! (despite the bus being basically empty). She smelled and was obnoxious from the start. She smelled of a mix between alcohol and like kimchee, BAD combo.

When she sat down, I had to turn to her and ask, Do you HAVE to sit right there?! There are other seats!! She responded in a temperament that reminded me of children who don’t know any better (but it was clear she was uneducated), how she wanted to sit in the front because she too liked sitting in the front. She repeated it several times, as if I hadn’t heard her the first or second or third time. But she wasn’t upset at me for asking this question, she was just responding with the reason why she sat there, regardless of the fact that this annoyed me. I mean SERIOUSLY, I’m going to BOSEONG; WHO goes to Boseong?!?! I guess I wouldn’t have cared as much, if she didn’t smell.

She dozed off at some point, then literally, ALL OF A SUDDEN she awoke startled, with a jump, and grabbed my left arm. She started saying things like, oh you’re just so pretty, where are you from? She continued with other nonsensical comments. At this point, I was tired, and wasn’t in the mood to be gracious. I just wanted to be left alone and was hoping that she’d get off soon.

This halmoni then started badgering the bus driver about when she was going to arrive at her destination, how much longer it was going to be, etc. When the driver told her how long, she was like, can’t you go any faster, is it really that far? I could go faster on foot, blah blah blah. The driver was like, I can drop you off and you can start walking if you like.

She continued to say things to him, thus annoying the OTHER passengers on the bus. The other passengers on the bus then started to yell back at her to calm down, keep quiet, stop pestering the bus driver, just stay still… asking if she’s been drinking, etc. Much of this reminded me of parents scolding their children.

At first she was like – No, I haven’t been drinking, I’m just having a good time. She shut up for all of 2 seconds, then turned to me and was like… “gi-buhn nuh-moo nah-pah suh, suuhl johk-o-man mah-shu-suh” – English → I was feeling really bad today so I had a little to drink. She then continued to repeat this statement for the next 30 minutes adding emphasis to how bad she was feeling (it apparently got worse as she repeated it) and to how much she actually did consume (this too got worse with repetition). And well, I just sat there having mixed feelings of pity/almost understanding, and annoyance. She was a very sorry sort of person and there were moments where my heart went out to her, quickly retracted though as she breathed on me, fell asleep on me, grabbed me, and well just sat there next to me.

She got off, FINALLY, but at the next bus stop, a ha-duh-buh-jji (grandfather) got on and sigh, yes sat down next to me.

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I swear this part IS about Boseong; I DID go there and on this same day. The bus from Jindo dropped me at the local bus stop, where I had to take the bus to Daehan Dawon Plantation. It’s the oldest tea plantation in Korea and I think the most famous.

I arrived, paid the small entry fee (absurd for a tea farm, but whatever), and strolled along the grounds, taking photos and breathing it all in.

Up close tea leaves...

They look like rows of velvet... mmmm the tastiness that awaits.

This was both funny and sad. This poor ahjussi has to sit here, hoping someone will want to pay for his photographic skills. As far as I could tell, everyone roaming around had cameras of their own.

My final look over the plantation.

There’s not much to do on a tea plantation other than look at rows of tea leaves; I went into the store to (obviously) buy some tea (the point of me even coming here) and at their little café thing, I bought a cup of nok-cha latte aka, green tea latte. I paid 3,000w for this and it was putrid. Completely disgusting. WORSE than the coffee I mentioned drinking at Il-deung bawi. It was waaaaaaay too sweet and the flavor was just, vomit inducing. I tried to down it as I had paid for it…but this proved to be impossible. I, in the end had to chuck it. I had even carried it to the bus stop, waited there, talked to others waiting for the bus who had asked what I was drinking, where I was going, etc. They all seemed to be amazed at what I was doing (mountain hopping solo) and everyone was very curious.

There were like 8 of us standing there waiting for the bus back to Boseong terminal, when this cop car pulled up and asked where we were going. It all happened so fast that I didn’t get it until the car had pulled away, but the cop (since he clearly had nothing better to do), offered a ride to the elderly woman and a few others back to town. I thought this was a nice gesture; the protectors of the people combining their jobs with plain old good will. I wish more of these kinds of actions were visible with cops in NYC but, alas, I do not know of one place in America where I could see the same thing happen in front of my eyes.

I decided to just go back up to Daejun this same night, as I was tired of traveling by bus and just wanted to go “home”. However, there is no such thing as a direct bus to Daejun from Boseong, so I had to go through Gwangju, then onto Daejun. Basically, it took forever and I got into my aunt’s place late. But, I was tuckered so, I passed out immediately, as I had also decided to go back up to Seoul with my gomo very early the next morning.