Last weekend, Jarrett, our Canadian friend we so lovingly refer to as "Maggie" and I took the three hour bus ride down to Gongneung for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. I had been worried that the blossoms would be affected by the snow we'd been having but luckily, they delivered. The blossoms were beautiful and we got to catch up with a lot of old friends. We even ran into one of the elementary principals from Yanggu.
(I have recently been lamenting my loss of anonymity. I am seen by a Korean I know even three hours from home.)
Around dusk, we three headed back to Chuncheon (the nearest major city to Yanggu) only then realizing that we'd miss the last bus to Yanggu and we'd have to get a hotel in Chuncheon.
Maggie assured us she knew of a cheap love motel* near the bus terminal and so we set off. After arriving at this hotel (Hotel If), we were told they had no vacancies. This is how we ended up staying in the nicer, more expensive Hotel Petite a few blocks away. Initially, I was pretty mad about the price (the three of us paid 140,000 won all together for two rooms) but my negativity was assuaged when I saw the king size bed a jacuzzi bathtub. (Jarrett and I share a twin at home and I haven't seen a bathtub since I arrived here.)
The best part of the trip was the next morning, post-latte and well-rested, when we went shopping at E-mart**. There were no Koreans pushing and shoving their ways down the narrow aisles, trying to get to that Kimchi sale. It was early Sunday morning and they were all at church or sleeping; we had the place to ourselves. Brilliant.
*love motel- a cheap hotel Korean couples use for alone time away from their families. (They usually live many generations in a household.)
**E-mart- the Korean Wal Mart
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