Chuseok Vacation in Namhae

*Disclosure to Family* You will see me drinking...do not be alarmed or angry. It was all done in the name of I-haven't-had-good-beer-in-a-year.

My Chuseok break feell on the end of September and the beginning of October. I went to Namhae for the Oktoberfest celebration that was occuring in the German village on the island of Namhae. Namhae is in the southern part of South Korea. We drove through the night on Friday to Namhae and I discovered I had developed a nasty case of motion sickness. I watched the whole way behind the driver as the sun rose at around 5:30 Am and we still hadn't arrived to our pension. WE finally pulled in around 7 AM and I was
exhausted and ready to get off a moving vehicle for quite some time. I spent most of the day sleeping trying to recover. I stayed in a room with 3 other girls, Jennifer, Jenni, and Vanessa. Luckily, the three of them were also getting over being sick. We walked on the beach and found the many remains of dead jellyfish...needless to say I was glad to not be swimming here!

The next morning I woke up feeling better and prepared to go hiking with a group of people on the trip. Two of these girls were so ill prepared for hiking; I mean full make up on their face, not wearing tennis shoes and looking more prepared to go out then for a hike!

view from bottom

We hiked Geumsan where there is the Boriam temple at the top. It was just around 2 hours up and a little over three hours coming down. We took a couple detours along the way going along the ridges.

You can see what those two girls were weaing! I couldn't help but laugh.

A great statue. You can see how gorgeous this area is.

At the top.

A temple we found that we could go into...and then got promptly was asked to leave.

The next day we spent the day on the bus going to where the german village is on Namhae. We were suppose to go kayaking that day on the bay, but I left my camera in our room so I didn't take any pictures. I wish I had because it would have been absolutely worth it! But I was afraid of getting the camera wet.

The moonrise that night.

The next day was spent at the German Village for Oktoberfest! It was another gorgeous sunny day and I was completely ready to have some great beer! The area was incredibly cute and right across from our pension was this adorable cafe where I got one of the best cafe mochas and blueberry muffin. It wasn't the best breakfast to start a day of drinking off, but I was able to get food at the festival.
The pogession of pictures shows how my sobriety left through out the day and ended with me coming in 3 for a drinking contest. I plead insanity on doing that, but it was one of my highlights living in Korea!

The first beer of the day! SO yummy!

a couple girls did a beer race, I find it entertaining. They ran around the stadium trying not to spill their beer.

Me, Jennifer, Jenny

Tara and I

Oh lookie! I'm on stage for the drinking contest, round 1

I tied with the British girl.

That's right, the girls drank out the boots for the final round. The men still got to drink their beer out of a straw. I am very thankful for the Germans on the trip who helped me figure out how to drink out of the damn thing!

After drinking that final Two and half beers in the boot, I was dismayed when they wouldn't let us keep them! COME ON! that would have been my perfect souvenior for the trip. Oh well, I kept my stein ;)

What did I win, coming in third? More FREE BEER!

After the contest I went back down the hill to sober up a bit so I wasn't too completely wasted for the next day of traveling. Big difference from this morning!

I'm feeling no pain in this picture.

The night ended with some great fireworks! I had a great time in Namhae, and I would place it as my second favorite place in Korea after Gyeonju. I enjoyed this trip and it was a great Chuseok vacation for me!