mokpo (목포) and the end

from gwangju, we took a bus to mokpo (목포)...after the horrid experience the day before, we were understandably nervous, but this was a direct bus, and went straight to the bus terminal in mokpo...though it was a farther distance, the time involved was only 50 minutes...woo hoo!!! mokpo is a port city, on the southwest coast of the peninsula...there isn't a whole lot else going on there...
from the bus station, we took a taxi to the train station, and booked a train ticket back to gwangju the next day...(despite this bus ride being good, we were still nervous about another bus)...we found a love motel close to the train station (only 25,000 won, or about $22...you can't find anything that cheap in the states!!) and booked in...we used the tourist map, street signs and guidebook to get us to the ferry terminal...we figured there had to be some sort of ferry ride we could take just because...and there was...we didn't understand the information boards we could see, but there was a nice lady at information who told us what we could do...the next boat left almost immediately, but we wanted lunch, and that seemed more important...so we went to find lunch, only having to walk across the street...yay...sometime during lunch kim asked me why i kept eating the same food, she had noticed i ordered the same thing quite a few times during our trip...what can i say, i have no problem with repetitive eating:)
the next fery ride was two hours later, so we had some time to kill...we decided to walk along the coast, enjoying the water view, nice weather, and constant breeze...it was sunny, and there were quite a few men out fishing...the ferry ride itself was nothing spectacular, but it was enjoyable...just being out on a boat for a couple hours in calm water is great:)...some people got off at the islands, they were probably going to visit family...
after the ferry we followed the signs to the "mountain" in the middle of town...yudalsan...(유달산)...it's not really a mountain, more a hill...especially since you can drive right up almost to the top...it isn't a high mountain, but the views over the city are great...(though mokpo isn't particularly scenic)...a lovely place to be with lovely weather...up near the top is a statue of admiral yi sunshin...one of the most important military figures in korean history, it was in this area that he showed how much of a genius he is...a story which is related on information boards in at least three places...lol...we definitely had the idea after that...according to the sign, this was also the most "lively" statue of the guy in korea...i thought it looked just the same as the statue in seoul, but apparently, i'm wrong...on our way down the "mountain" we passed by a building that was eerily empty...it looked like a european building, not a typical korean building...behind the building was a gated tunnel, which seemed even more creepy, especially because we couldn't figure out what it was...a little further down we found a sign that said the building was the former japanese consulate...no wonder it was now totally deserted, with no attention drawn to the site...
in our search for dinner, we opted for a place that served lots of different types of mandu...(dumplings, like the well known polish pierogis)...the sign outside the restaurant said they had pizza mandu, among other options, but when we asked about those inside, we were told they weren't available...we sat and waited for quite a while for someone to come take our order...while waiting we counted at least four employees who looked directly at us, and were clearly aware that we were ready to order, but they seemed scared to come talk to the foreigners...when they did come take our order, we did it quickly, and in korean...
from there it was back to the hotel where i stayed up longer than i should've watching a bad american movie...kim went to sleep waaaay earlier than i did...
the next morning we got on the train back to gwangju...the train took longer than the bus! at the train station in gwangju we stored our bags in the lockers they have available, then got lunch...after lunch we decided to go see the one remaining 5.18 sight we hadn't seen...the 5.18 national cemetary...interestingly enough, the bus we took to get out to the cemetary was bus #518...as we looked at the route, we figured out we could've used this bus quite a bit during our first day in town...oh well...the cemetary was nice and quiet...we saw the old cemetary, as well as the new one...the old one was dug up and partly destroyed in the mid 80s when the military dictatorship running the country decided it wasn't good to have a cemetary devoted to those who had died in an uprising about democracy...i have no idea what happened to the bodies, but in 1994, the new cemetary project was started; it was completed in 1997...national cemetary designation came in 2002...the volunteer information lady told us there are over 600 bodies buried there...some of them died during and soon after the uprising, others who were involved are still alive, and will be buried there after they die...there are also a few graves of unknown folks, and a few graves devoted to those they know died back then, but they don't have the bodies...
we took the bus back into town, then took the ktx (bullet train again, yippee!!) back to seoul, arriving 3 hours later...a great trip!!!!!!!

india part 7

after hyderabad we visited bengaluru...the name was only officially changed from bangalore in 2006, so people still use the old name quite a bit...it's more of a business destination than a tourist destination...this ended up working in our favor...since the economy is based on business and IT, that means leisure tourism isn't so important, and therefore there are no touts...AWESOME!!! it was great not to be hassled...we found the city market, and enjoyed walking around it...just like so many other markets in india, if you want it, you'll find it at the city market...toys, clothes, silverware, kitchen supplies, spices, food, chai, etc...everything...we were able to buy fresh produce at local prices, and layna even bought a spoon for a whopping 3 rupees...we were also able to take a lot of people pictures inside the market, and received the bindi mark from a guy selling all the powder used for those marks...
i like to visit gardens, and there were some mentioned in the guidebook, so one morning we set off to find those...they ended up not being all that great, but we enjoyed our walk to get there...we passed a sports arena, and in an effort to find a women's bathroom somewhere in the facilities ran into a guy who offered us chai...he just held it out on a tray, with no spoken words...when we finished he showed us where to put the rubbish, then let us go...strange, but awesome...next to the arena we saw a volleyball tournament...according to the sign, it was sponsored by an indian company, and involved teams from all over india...the first time i've seen tall indians...i didn't even know they existed!!! anywho, one of layna's sisters used to play volleyball, and my roomie as a frosh at uni was a volleyball player (we want mudge!!!!) so we were both curious to watch...we stood outside the fence, figuring only people involved in the tourney should go inside...but rather quickly we were motioned in, to seats at one end of one of the courts...then we were left alone to watch and enjoy...AWESOME!!!
i loved bengaluru...a friendly city without any of the hassle we've experienced in other cities...talking to locals was a joy...
our last day there, we reconnected with ben, though only for four hours...he had gotten distracted in hyderabad...hee hee...we were moving on, but agreed to meet up again later...
after bengaluru we headed for a destination that hadn't been on our originally itinerary...goa...the beaches of goa are known worldwide...well, some people think so...goa is a very small indian state, and not like any of the others...it's one of the richest states...(tourists, farming, and fishing are the major sources of income)...we spent 5 days relaxing on a beach...we picked a VERY QUIET beach...ours was populated mostly by older, mostly upper class europeans...there was no night life at all, and very few other backpackers...unfortunately, layna was rather sick for a couple days, so she didn't enjoy it as much as i did...(you all know how i love to soak up sun)...i did wear suncream though, and even covered my face...i guess i've picked up a few habits over the years...lol...on the train to goa layna was bit by mosquitoes again, this time around her feet and ankles...they didn't bite me at all...strange...her bites ended up getting infected, causing her feet to swell a bit, and cause quite a bit of pain...(they looked gross too!)...one day layna rented a bike and went riding down the beach...she stopped for lunch at a random restaurant a ways up, on a totally different beach...she ended up talking to the owner for quite a while, and he wouldn't let her pay for her meal at the end, telling her she could pay when she returned for dinner later that night...so for dinner we walked back to that restaurant...a measly hour and a half walk at a pretty quick pace...(it did feel pretty good though even though it's such a cliche...a long walk on a beach)...dinner was absolutely fantastic, and again the owner sat down with us...not surprisingly, there is a lot of seafood in goa...YUM...and i had the best mango juice i've ever had...in the end, he wouldn't let us pay for our meal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i still feel guilty for that...it was fantastic, and he was a great guy...layna repaid him our last afternoon in goa by calling him up and inviting him down for lunch...he's entirely self made, and helps other people in the community...very very cool...we both want to go back to goa...(yet another idea of what to do after we finish the major portion of this trip...not that either of us knows when or where that will be)...
goa is a part of the country that was formerly ruled by the portuguese...so it seemed that most locals have "Christian" names...they are also Catholic...