I definitely ate too many choco pies, finishing off the entire box of twelve within a day. I regretted the donuts even more, but continued my obsession with cramming Korean for most of the day, the hours ticking by uneventfully.
As I was planning to move on to Busan the next day, I had arranged with my host to treat him to dinner. He had a lecture to give at a local university and a window of time between the end of his day job at a middle school and the graduate seminar. He picked me up and we drove to the university, parked, then headed off campus to get some Chinese food.
I chilled in a lounge in the graduate building while he went up to do his professor thing. I tried reading, but an old acquaintance decided to reconnect, so I spent much of the hour switching over to WeChat to answer messages. I’m not really qualified to be giving anyone life advice, especially regarding such weighty decisions as “should I marry this person.” I barely knew you, why ask me. You should at least have to climb a mountain or something if you want to seek my wisdom…and be limited to three questions.
In no particular rush to get out of the house, I took my time the next morning packing up and organizing my suitcase. Of course, I still put in a few hours of study. My one contact in Busan went so far as to send me a bus schedule, which bodes well. I shouldn’t be complaining, considering I basically just had a free apartment for a week, but overall a lot of my contacts have fallen through, leaving me to dine alone a lot more than expected.
I walked to the Bus Terminal at East Daegu Station along a road with police stationed every 50 meters. I wonder what was going on. That’s the kind of presence for clearing a street for a really important motorcade. The sidewalks were fine. I bought my ticket no problem, and had nearly an hour to kill (to save 2000 on the ticket between “regular” and “express”). I had only had one meal mid morning to finish off the rest of the kimchi and lettuce (in a pot of ramen noodles) and being nearly 2 in the afternoon, I was feeling a bit peckish. I decided to treat myself to a bubble tea and a bag of chips.
I dozed the first part of the bus ride and spent the rest of it watching educational videos. The bus was supposed to take close to two hours, but the maniac of a driver got us there in under 90 minutes. As we were veering through the streets of Busan, as if in some cut scene from Black Panther, I was starting to get nauseous.
I’ve been so looking forward to staying in this guesthouse. I stayed here in August 2017 and found it immaculately clean, spacious, and the best value for money I’ve ever seen. I was relieved to find that a year and a half absence hasn’t ruined the place. I didn’t notice how starved for company I’ve been these past two weeks, but I was trying to quietly work, but every person who walks in or out pricks up my ears. They like to throw movies on the projector in the late afternoon and evening, and the first movie to show up was Okja (about the giant pig). I’d never seen it, but only made it half way before being too distracted by the conversations within earshot and workmen repairing lights.
There is a Home Plus supermarket only about 600 meters away, so I made up for the junk food lunch by eating a salad dinner. The evening was a bit quieter and I got a little more work in before heading up to sleep. I almost had the entire 4-person dorm to myself, though I heard someone come in as I was drifting off. I didn’t see him in the morning, and he is already checked out. That is one thing that is a little weird about this place. A lot of people pass through so quickly. It’s also more like a hotel than a hostel. There are two entire buildings, each five stories, with rooms. Whole families come.
| Long Black | 4300 |
| Dinner (Chinese) | 21000 |
| Subtotal: | 25300 |
| Bus ticket | 9800 |
| Bacon chips | 1500 |
| Bobba tea | 5400 (!) |
| Salad(s) | 2990 |
| Subtotal: | 19690 |
| Guesthouse (7 nights) | 499 RMB |
| Total: | 771 RMB (USD 115) |
Running Total: 9088 RMB
(USD 1355)
Daily Average: 239 RMB
(USD 35.65)