Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival - April 8

This is Sunday, the day after the insane 7 hour hike up and down a crazy mountain ridge. I was surprisingly OK. The leg soreness came only on Monday, where I could hardly move my legs and back. It took the whole week to recover.

So, after the motel, it took forever to drive to the festival area. There were so many people there. This was the map of the area where we were.

Eventually we arrived in Changwon city, Jinhae region. The trees were fantastic!!!

They even had little palm trees. It felt really nice to be in the southern part of the country, where summer had already arrived.

A lot of tourist buses were there. Not for foreigners, but for Koreans. This festival was the biggest in the country for Cherry Blossoms, and everyone and their grandmother was there.

This is Nadia. She hiked with the slow group (me) yesterday, even though she could have run the whole thing.

This is Braam. Nadias friend. They are both from South Africa. This is where I met both of them for the first time. I've seen them since on other trips.

And here are the amazingly picturesque images of the white trees.

Random cute Korean baby.

This is how moms carry their babies. Usually wrapped around their body with a blanket.

Loved my hair that weekend.

Lunch time!! Pork spine stew. SOOOOO good!!! It's called Gamja-tang. 

Then I went off to the actual festival part, where they had all the tents.

And there was one tent that did pottery. I so wanted to join in.

And roast pig!!! WHOAA!! I wanted to take a bite!

It's the famous black pig that's supposed to taste so much better. It actually doesn't taste better at all. It's just pork.

The coolest way to eat potatoes at a festival!

And awesome character socks!!!! Korea has converted me on this front for sure. I love having cute and strange and funny socks!

And they had to have a guy in drag as well. I don't know why. But there always is one at every festival.

And then there was a traditional Korean percussion group.

And guys dressed like warriors?

Hmm?

Then, on the way back, it took FOREVER to just leave the city because of the sheer number of people. I knew I'd never arrive in time to Seoul to get the last bus back to my area, so, I decided to get off the bus and make my own way home. Good idea in theory, but did not turn out so well. 

When I got to the train station, it was all fully booked. Only place it would go to was another city in the middle of the country. So, that was my only choice. 

I arrived in Daegu, and at 22:10 was the last bus going to my area. It was a night bus, and would get into Sokcho at 5am. Well, perfect, then I can wait until 5:30am and get the first local bus back to my little town.

Morning snack!

Then I got to school and took a nap.