Road Trip To Geochang...2

After a couple of glasses of beer and wine and way too much Korean TV it was time to head off for some sightseeing. The first place Sung Ho drove us to was the provincial park I think is named Geumosan. The Lonely Planet pimps it as being "just outside the city of Gumi, a major industrial area, and the park is mostly a recreational area for the local workers." Not exactly a great sell. If this was the park we visited the authors never made it there because I loved the place.

This park is the first place I've seen in Korea where I'd actually like to camp. There were a few tents set up along the river and climbing up the hill. There wasn't the normal concrete slap set up in nice rows that I've seen people camp out on. The camp sites looked soft (maybe from the rain) private (three arms lengths from the next tent) and sheltered (definitely from the trees). We walked a little ways up the river to see the main attraction of the park. Turns out it's a giant bolder that has "famous people's names" (Sung Ho's words) chiseled into it. Tagging from the 17th century if you will. It was a cool sight and had it not been raining, the perfect spot to cook up some samgyeopsal (thick bacon like pork loaded with fat, YUM!!!!). We already have plans to return this fall.

After this we headed back into town where we had a good diner at a restaurant. Saejin got told off for odering a Seoul soju and the wrong brand of beer. Turns out each province has it's local favorites. We ate way to fast and then had to decide if we would stay in Geochang or head into Deagu. We chose the later because Sung Ho handn't been there since he did his undergraduate degree there. He was so happy and made us walk down almost every street in the downtown core so he could soak it all in.

Eventually we found a cool bar called The Beatles for our first few rounds and then on to a bar Saejin and Sung Ho had some wild night in from their past. After this we went to a couple of clubs that were ok and then off to find a hotel. It was a quiet but fun night.