Adventures in South Korea!: Nerds & Tracksuits

Shortly after our first trip to Daegu, our friends Sky and Emily asked if we wanted to go for a weekend and check out the Goryeong Daegaya Festival, that was just outside of Daegu. From the posters and the description, it sounded like it was going to be similar to a renaissance fair, but dedicated to ancient Korean times instead of the Renaissance. We thought it was going to be a large gathering of nerds in period clothing, so we said, "Hell yes!"

The Goryeong Daegaya Festival Promotional Poster 2010

The description (copied and pasted from the Korea Tourism homepage):

"Step back into an age of cunning warlords and political alliances with this festival dedicated to Daegaya, a city state in the Gaya confederacy about 1500 years ago. You have plenty of chances to get a taste of life as a feudal warrior including booths where you can make knifes, helmets, bows, and armor. You'll even have a chance to be knighted as a Daegaya warrior."

Sounds pretty sweet and super nerdy right?

WRONG!!!

It was completely for elementary age children! That brief English description of it never once mentions children, even though that was the target audience for the festival. The 'knifes, helmets, bows, and armor' they claimed you could make, where all made from paper! It was hilarious! Although it was no where near the renaissance-esque fair we imagined it was going to be, it was still pretty awesome and a lot of fun.

Here are the pictures from the weekend:

Nerds

Tracksuit

The sex toy machine in the stairwell of the Kabin Motel.

(Andrew asked his Co-teacher for a translation of the sign and she said, "It's about sex stuffs. Condoms and... [after a pause] Are these things you need?" Then it started to get weird, so he changed the subject.)

SALE...gross

These were the ladies that were available for
'hire' when we left to have a few drinks.

Emily and Sky entranced by something Judy is saying.

Sky's 막걸리 Jugs

막걸리 (mak-kul-lee) is an unfiltered, carbonated rice wine. It was traditionally the drink of choice for rural farmers and laborers, but has recently become more popular and trendy with younger generations. It's usually served in either a large stone or ceramic bowl with a ladle or one of these dented, gold tea kettles, and regardless of how it's served, you always drink it from small bowls.

It's pretty delicious too!

One lady was 'hired' in the time we were gone,
which really wasn't that long...

This is one of the seersucker robes
available to the guests at the Kabin Motel.

(We each stole one...)

In the morning, only these three were left. Poor girls...

The Backery & Munchkin section at Dunkin' Donuts!

Do all Dunkin' Donuts locations have these sections?

In the morning, we discovered this gorilla
(clearly of the male variety)
right near where we stayed.

After our quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts for coffee, an ATM for some cash and some early morning fish cake snacks outside the subway station, we were on a bus headed to Goryeong.

Welcome to the Goryeong Daegaya Festival!

One of the many school groups

On our way in!

Archery Practice

They look more like characters from
Planet of the Apes than ancient warriors.
Is that racist?

A giant cauldron of Lord knows what

Stuffed Cuttlefish

"I'll give you some meat to fumble..."
-Sky

Fumbled Meat (not Sky's)

Emily is really slow at taking pictures.
(Notice her badass, paper helmet!)

Hey-Yo! Still in the tracksuit...\

A beverage tank

This is the only picture taken all weekend
where Andrew is not wearing the tracksuit.

The view from the Visitor's Resting Area (that you had to hike to)

Pounding rice for rice cakes

Right...

Not sure what an external tourist is.

Awesome!

Those poor, poor bunnies...

A sexy Korean lady-cop

We were basically the only white folks in attendance,
so lots of people wanted to take pictures of us and with us.
We are pretty sure we will be on the website!

Mmmm, sauce covered chicken feet

The plate of stuffed cuttlefish and Korean sausage we split

???

We think these are the Hoisting Wishpapers

There was a bonsai exhibit

Ever seen so many bonsai trees in one place?

Self-timer shots inside the bonsai greenhouse!

There was a large sign advertising, "Red Bean Sorbet"
"That's interesting," we thought, so we tried some...

It was shaved ice, with canned pineapple chunks,
candied jelly cubes and a scoop of beans with a
thick drizzle of sweetened cream over the top.
Not sorbet in ANY way!

Some performers

Us (and Sky) in our helmets

The mountains of Goryeong

The final attraction we visited was labeled "Korean Death Experience" on the map. We didn't know what that meant, so we headed there to investigate. At the top of a little hill, we found a couple of hut-like structures and a man dressed in all black wearing face paint. We were told that for 1,000 won (under $1) we could wear the traditional burial ceremony clothing, write a will, and lay in a coffin for '3 to 5 minutes.' Of course, we didn't hesitate to hand over the money!

Dressed in our burial clothes, with our Last Will & Testament in hand,
the Korean Grim Reaper lassos us and leads us to our final resting place...

Clockwise from the left: Andrew, Sky, Emily, Empty, Judy

They helped us into them, then hammered the lids shut. It sounds pretty scary, but dying in Korea was actually quite comfortable and relaxing. It was dark and cool, and smelled of freshly cut ceder. Not a bad way to go...