청도 Wine Tunnel and Bullfighting

This weekend I headed out to Cheongdo with a big group of foreigners on the Daegu Compass trip.  Had the usual dinner with the 각산 group.  Mark had an upset stomach, so he skipped dinner and also the day trip.


Headed downtown for the 9am bus which took us to the Wine Tunnel.  Befriended some of the new February EPIK lot. The Wine Tunnel is an old, disused railway tunnel that's been converted for aging persimmon wine.  It was pouring outside (and so a little drippy in the tunnel).  We tasted some of their wine (and then helped ourselves to some more).  After exploring the tunnel as far as it went, we decided to stop off at some of the food vendors outside for 맥주 and 소주 (which began the slow spiral that lead to C passing out drunk later that night in the rain!)

똥집

Next stop was the Bullfighting Theme Park (actually a small museum with a big 4D movie).  There were such invaluable treasures such as a mirror ball bull, a small recreation of an arena (despite the real one next door) and a strength tester where Victoria and I dragged the bull by the rope as hard as we could whilst still posing for the photo.  The 4D film essentially showed the Rocky of bullfighting - he'd trained long and hard in the field and so was just making a comeback fight when the film cut out (sorry, spoilers).  Grabbed a meal voucher and headed into the arena.


Had supper with the newbies as well as the photographer.  The new 대구 EPIK teachers all know the new 각산 girls, and hadn't tried all the new Korean food so that was fun.  According to Chris the girl I was sat next to at dinner was texting him later asking about me!  Started on the 동동주 and used some of the meal vouchers for takeout 소주.


Sat and watched a few... competitions.. matches.. not entirely sure on the nomenclature!  You could put bets on the matches, but it was all in Korean and honestly I couldn't be bothered.  Got told off firstly for having beer bottles (but the guy said cans were OK).  Afterwards he followed us up to where we were sat up away from everyone else minding our own business and confiscated our beer cans!  It seemed to be another example of "not for foreigners!" as many of the locals were sat with 막걸리.


Afterwards we drove out to pick strawberries in a big covered plot under a KTX bridge.  Got talking to some more people in the strawberry farm, met a lawyer for the US army.  Didn't really want to say anything but if there's anyone here who'll need a lawyer its that lot.  I think I annoyed some saffers - not to be mean but they employ Afrikaaners who I have trouble understanding when they speak English.  It's mostly accent but it's also a lot of slang.  They were going on about how amazing it is there and I pointed out that recent figures suggest that half of women in SA will be raped at some point in their lives.  I also wanted to point out that if they could've gotten jobs there they would've but anyway.   I guess everyone thinks the grass is greener somewhere else!

Saturday was Jims birthday celebration so headed straight out to 울산 when we got back.  Had another one of those caffeine pills which helped the night fly by.
  
One point I specifically remember is using one of those fancy Japanese style toilets all in Korean correctly for the first time ever!  아싸!


Sunday I enjoyed the weather by hanging out in the park near 울산, eat 샤브샤브 with the 구영리 people before finishing the evening in the local Spa Valley 찜질방.  Well fed, warm and scrubbed clean to the skin is how all weekends should end!