And-ong ‘die’ adda hand Darren...

A couple of weekends ago (2^nd & 3^rd October) I travelled to Andong (http://www.maskdance.com/english/main.asp) for the Annual mask festival. It is one of the must see’s for anyone doing this teaching gig. We caught the late morning train through to Andong where we met up with James Lee (who was introduced to us on our 2nd weekend in Yoenchoen, by Chris) as he was also headed to the fest. Following out 1hr 20min  train ride we disembarked only to find we had no idea where we were actually going. Luckily James met up with some of his friends and we just followed like lemmings off a clip (insert pic).

We arrived at the main site and immediately set out n search of food. Sandy found this delightful waffle pace that made like schwama pancakes (PIC) a long with éclairs and waffles.  Whilst order food I noticed some of James’ friends standing by what looked like an amusement park ride. Turns out (excuse the pun when it becomes apparent) that it was like a barrel roll ride. You got strapped in like on a roller coaster and then proceeded to get beaten up by a machine that was a little wanting on some of the safety aspects.

There was no padding on the bracing so as a result my shoulders and clavicle’s were destroyed by this 8min barrage of metal bars as I slid from side to side in my seat. Unlike Sandy (who joined me on the ride with James’ friends) I managed to save serious bruising on my legs by wedging myself in place such that I did not bounce up and down while moving from Side to side. As Sandy so eloquently put it: “We just paid W3000 to get beaten up!” For further reading on Korean Amusement Park rides see http://sandysinkorea.blogspot.com/2010/10/korean-amusement-parks.html  

After catching my breath and letting the colour return to my face we all then tried to contact all the various people we were meeting there. The Pohang crew (plus Melinde and the Klug Twins (All from SA), minus Dan who was working) as well as a bunch of other people we were in orientation with (Dave, Emily, Michael, Jason... I forget), were eventually liaised with and all I had to do was find Jeff so I could drop off my bags *As I say that, I see him with Carey-Lee* - GREAT SUCCESS!

Jeff took all but Sandy and Colleen (we bumped into the Pohang crowed upon exist from the fest site, while the former 2 chose to stay and walk around the grounds) to have Andong Jjimdak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andong_jjimdak) the famous local dish, which was amazing! A couple of beers later and dropping off my stuff at Jeff’s, we were back at the camp grounds where we all went and made our own masks.

Andong Jjimdak

An evening of Fireworks, where Sandy and I eventually found our way onto the river bank to sit directly under the Fires Strings (Korean Fireworks where you have 5 lines laced with somethig that burns like a sparkler, that is strund across the river) (Korean and Western best explained through pictures)...

...was followed by a substantial amount of alcohol consumption at the two pubs Jeff took us too. The South African End of the Table (Grant from Mitchell’s Plain, Carrey-Lee from PE, Sookie from Pta, Leon from the WC as well&myself (plus our honorary South African Andrew (From New York but was at the World Cup for 3 weeks) got considerably rowdey and hilarious as the night got earlier and earlier. When Dave from England joined in the banter there was no stopping us! Also in attendance were Jasmine (who I had travelled with to SK) and Kate who was from CT but had been in Korea since Feb. This was where I heard of the Drinking game ‘Titantic’ (not played and to be avoided by me in future) where a shot glass sits in a glass of beer and the bottle to fill the shot is passed around with little by little the shot becoming fuller and fuller. Whoever pours the defining dose into the shot glass that sinks it has to down the lot!! Lethal Stuff!

Suddenly there was mention of dancing and Sookie and I could not have gotten out of there fast enough. We hopped into a taxi (@01:30) with a pair from the states who are college friends of Jeff’s and were staying with him and the male American tells him where we want to go. 40min later we have no idea where we are and the meter is sitting at 40 000 Won. My thoughts shit this guy has heard wrong, he is taking us out of the city. Sookie and I pipe up to check and he has heard wrong. We were now 16 km outside Andong and heading for a middle school in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully the driver turns around and even knocks 10 000 off the fair for his mistake. It is at this point that the dancing party has returned home minus Dave and Andrew, as they didn’t want to pay the entrance. I go to sleep and hear Dave arrive home. That was all I heard luckily. He got in at apparently 04:30 with Andrew, and was rather hammered and had an hour long rant about something but  I somehow slept through all of this. I later heard that Andrew had found the washing machine was rather comfortable and was sleeping on it with his legs out the window until his feet got wet, so he moved to the floor like the rest of us.

 07:30 I awaken and wonder through the mass of sleeping bodies to eventually have a shower and Sookie, having woken up, and I head to the festival site to get breakfast and buy stuff before I was to leave at about 12ish after meeting up with everyone. I got to see the Korean "Bob Dylan"...

I have bought loads of things which I hope to start sending home soon. After some more wondering around we all went and caught the train back to our homes so ending out mask festival. Next up is... The Jinju Lantern Festival this weekend!

Upcoming features: "KOREAN F1-YIPPY!!!" "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over a ..." ; The Musical stylings of ‘Hauser Front loader’ AND a special Treat: Michael Jackson getting older.

Geoff’s non pornographic Asian adventure continues shortly...

P.S. Here are a few more pics from the festival itself. There was so much going on that I figured it would be way easier to just put it in pictures.

James surveying the layout of the Festival site

Me with one of the mascots

Dave, Jeff and Carry-Lee, on the way back to the festival from Jeff's place after putting down our bags