Showing posts with label cherry blossom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cherry blossom. Show all posts

Two Weddings and a Festival

Where to begin?! So very very behind because we’ve been so busy doing things it hasn’t left any time to write about them! There is a lot to tell so I’ll try and keep each thing brief but informative.

I’ll start with the weddings. I went to 2 in as many weeks and even though what I witnessed was the “Western ceremony”, it was quite different to what I know of weddings back home. The first of the two was Dave’s principle’s son’s, and the second, which Dave didn’t attend, was my co-teacher’s (the woman at school who is in charge of looking after me). I already tried writing this briefly and it didn’t work so I’m going to have to write in bullet points – I’ll just mention the things that were…different…
    Wedding 1: In the foyer there were 5 or 6 big prints of the bride and groom, all very posed and airbrushed, some wearing wedding outfits, others looking casual in jeans, matching t-shirts and geeky glasses. I thought it was pretty cheesy but the photos were well done and Dave seemed to like the concept.
    Before each wedding started, the bride was perched on a throne in a small room, smiling, scared to move in case her makeup fell off, and being gawked at by all the guests. But they were sights to behold. Total Disney princesses, complete with tiaras!
    Wedding 1: There was a long catwalk down the middle of the wedding hall.
    Wedding 1: The bride walked down said catwalk to what can only be described as the standard wedding tune (dun-dun-du-duuun…) but with some strange kind of electro-dub-KPOP-“put-a-donk-on-it” thing happening in the background.
    A large number of guests waited outside the hall and didn’t watch the ceremony at all.
    All the guests talked throughout the whole thing.
    At both weddings, the groom serenaded the bride with some kind of cheesy ballad.
    Wedding 1: The groom had to prove his strength for the honeymoon by doing press-ups on the catwalk…in his tux.
    He then took his shoe off and ran around the room with it for people to put money in.
    Most people only seemed to be there for the free food. Ok that’s not so different.
    It turns out my co-teacher was 3 months pregnant on her wedding day! Luckily for her she didn’t start to show until a couple of weeks later…
    Wedding 1: We gave a gift of about 30,000 (pretty cheap of us) and were given 10,000 back because we weren’t going for the meal after…even though we did! Oops!
    Wedding 1: All the guests were dressed in dark wintry colours, unlike me who rocked up in a bright orange dress! And they were all dressed really casually, which was lucky for Dave who decided to sport the David Tennant suit-and-trainers ensemble.

Well as you can imagine with all the romance of the weddings and the joy of 2 free lunches, Dave and I were in search of more lovey-dovey activities to fill the glorious spring weekends. So our next stop was Jinhae, home of The World’s Best Blossom Festival (aka Korea’s best). As they say, a picture can show things with images much better than I can write them with words so here is a little sample of what we saw…

Obligatory cheesy picture

Nice blossom picture

Us and some blossom

Dave, Alicia and Chris.
Attempt at an Abbey Road style blossom picture
but Dave just looks "special"

Statue on the way to the navy base.

The day was lovely and we even got to see Korea’s biggest naval base…which involved an hour long walk along a road that was like something out of Scooby Doo – you know, when they are running down a corridor and pass the same vase 5 times? Well it was like that but with trees and driveways and the occasional sailor – anyway we got to the end of the road and hopped on a bus to head back, which ended up taking us through the base. But it wasn't very interesting anyway. It didn't spoil the day though because we got to walk and hold hands and look at blossom and take cheesy photos and even the smell of silkworms couldn't take the magic away.

Note: Silkworms have become my least favourite smell in the world (not just Korea) and I don’t understand why they have to be sold everywhere when I never even see anyone eating them!!!!

Jinju Bus Terminal Schedule

NOTE: Most metropolitan cities have more than one express bus terminal - Bukbu (North), Nambu (South), Dongbu (East), and Seobu (West)

Official Links
Jinju (Korean)
http://www.jinjuterminal.kr/board/bbs/board.php?bo_table=info&wr_id=5

English Schedule Search
http://visitkorea.or.kr/ena/TR/TR_EN_5_1_3_1_2.jsp

English Schedule for Both Stations - Major Routes Only
(Alphabetical Order - Please confirm with Official Korean Website as departure times / prices are likely to change due to Dynamic Korea)


JINJU Bus Terminal ► BUSAN Seobu Terminal
Fare: W6,900
05:50 – every 10-20 minutes - 21:10

JINJU Bus Terminal ► CHANGWON Bus Terminal
06:35 07:00 07:20 08:30 09:00 09:40 10:30 11:00 12:10 13:00 13:50 14:30 15:20 15:50 16:20 17:00 17:40 18:20 19:00 19:40

JINJU Bus Terminal ► CHANGWON Bus Terminal (via Masan)
22:30 23:30 24:10 01:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► CHEONGGYE-RI / UN-RI
Fare: W3,400
08:20 14:15 16:50 19:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► CHEONGHAKDONG Village
This is one of the southern entrances to Jirisan National Park.
Fare: W7,100
07:10 15:50

JINJU Bus Terminal ► CHEONGJU Bus Terminal
8:00 10:10 12:10 14:10 16:10 18:10

JINJU Bus Terminal ► DAEGU Bus Terminal
07:00 07:50 08:40 09:20 09:45 10:30 11:10 11:50 12:30 13:50 14:30 15:10 15:40 16:20 17:10 17:40 18:20 18:50 19:45

JINJU Bus Terminal ► DAEJEON Bus Terminal
06:10 07:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► DAEWONSA (Temple)
This is the eastern entrance to Jirisan National Park.
Fare: W4,300
06:30 07:30 08:30 09:30 10:30 11:35 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:35 16:30 17:30 18:30 19:30 20:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GEOCHANG Bus Terminal
06:50 - every 30 minutes - 19:47

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GEORIM / NAEDAE-RI
This is one of the southeastern entrances to Jirisan National Park.
Fare: W5,000 (Naedae-ri) / W5,800 (Georim)
06:20 09:20 12:00 17:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GIMCHEON Bus Terminal
06:13 06:50 07:35 09:54 10:51 11:25 13:10 14:04 15:40 18:34

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GIMHAE Bus Terminal
07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GUMI Bus Terminal
09:10 12:10 15:19 18:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GWANGJU Bus Terminal
08:40 09:55 12:50 18:15 18:35

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GWANGYANG Bus Terminal
07:55 08:55 10:25 11:40 14:50 16:10 18:35

JINJU Bus Terminal ► GYEONGJU / POHANG
08:00 10:00 11:20 12:00 14:00 15:20 16:00 18:30 19:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► HADONG Bus Terminal
This is the transfer point to reach the south entrance to Jirisan National Park (via Ssanggyesa).
Fare: W4,300
06:35 - every 30 minutes - 21:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► HAEINSA (Temple)
This is the entrance to Gayasan National Park.
09:30 13:10 17:40

JINJU Bus Terminal ► HAMYANG Bus Terminal
Fare: W5,500
06:00 - ever 5-10 minutes - 21:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► HAPCHEON Bus Terminal
This is a transfer point to reach the entrance to Gayasan National Park (via Haeinsa).
07:00 08:20 11:10 12:10 14:10 15:10 16:10 18:40 20:10

JINJU Bus Terminal ► HWA-EOMSA(Temple)
This is the western entrance to Jirisan National Park.
09:50 17:10

JINJU Bus Terminal ► HONGGYE
Fare: W4,300
06:40 08:40 10:30 12:30 14:30 16:30 18:30 19:30 20:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► INCHEON Bus Terminal
16:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► JANGGYE Bus Terminal
08:55 15:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► JEONJU Bus Terminal
06:52 - every 30-40 minutes - 18:28 19:37

JINJU Bus Terminal ► JINAN Bus Terminal
10:58 17:25

JINJU Bus Terminal ► JUNGSAN-NI Tourist Village
This is one of the southeastern entrances to Jirisan National Park.
Fare: W4,700
06:20 07:05 08:05 09:20 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:10

JINJU Bus Terminal ► NAMHAE Bus Terminal
06:40 - every 20 minutes - 20:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► SAMCHEONPO
06:00 - every 10 minutes - 22:30 23:00 23:30 24:00

JINJU Bus Terminal ► SANGJUMIJO
07:45 09:45 12:40 13:10 14:25 15:30 16:20

JINJU Bus Terminal ► SEOSANG Bus Terminal
07:07 07:28 11:39

JINJU Bus Terminal ► SSANGGYESA (Temple)
This is one of the southern entrances to Jirisan National Park.
06:35 06:57 08:35 09:25 11:05 12:20 13:25 15:29 16:05 17:30

JINJU Bus Terminal ► SUNCHEON Bus Terminal 
07:00 07:55 09:00 10:10 11:25 11:55 12:30 13:20 14:25 14:55 16:10 17:50 18:20 19:50

JINJU Bus Terminal ► YEOSU Bus Terminal
12:30 14:50 18:20