I never thought I would utter the words I just did in the same sentence and although they are the unlikeliest trio since 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe', I kid you not, today was just another regular day in Korea when you see things you probably wouldn't anywhere else in the world.
I think it will be hard to translate into words the mixture of bizzareness I have seen this afternoon but once again it reminds me quite why coming to Korea was such a good idea.
After my horrendous bout of Korean fever last night I was pleased to discover that he after effects of a horrible night's sleep had not culminated in my demise, which is what at some points last night it felt like, but as it turns out I was actually feeling a hell off a lot better this morning. I guess that's what a full 14 hours in bed can do for you! It's so much worse being I'll when you are not at home!
We had to be up at 9.30am to meet Anna this morning as I managed to watch the first quarter between Miami and Atlanta in the NBA Playoffs before I left. Anna's other sister game to pick us up from the Ministop just down the road before we headed into the unknown roads beyond Suwon Station. It's a bit of a stereotype to say that all of Korea looks the same with it's Las Vegas style lights and never ending rows of flats but we could have honestly been anywhere in Suwon at any point on that journey. Sitting in the back of a people carrier the three of us began to feel a little car sick but almost as if by magic a rather strange but welcome distraction got us giggling.
We picked up a friend of Anna's family on the way to the temple and he was sitting in front of us when all of a sudden we heard this strange yelping noise coming out of the bag which was laid next to him on he seat. Me, Charlie and Kevin all looked at each other as if to say 'What was that?' only for us to lean over the seat, see the man open his bag and pull a tiny kitten out of it. My instant reaction was 'well of course there's a kitten in there, what else would you be carrying in there!' We discovered through translation that the kitten was actually twenty weeks old and they guy was carrying it about because he had found it abandoned and had been trying to hand reer it. Still, not what you would expect to be bringing along on a road trip. This might not be quite so strange without what unfolded beforehand which was what can only be described as mass hysteria over the fact that there was a dog sticking it's head out of the window. The same guy with the kitten in his bag even took pictures off this common event like it was some kind of strange phenomenon never seen before. That's what dogs in cars do right.
The other thing which was strange about the incident was the fact that there was no prior mention, in Korean or otherwise that he had a cat in his bag. I've I was hiding a pint sized meower in my bag I'd want people to be amazed by it and that might be the first thing I mention. In a confusing society I have come to tollerate and expect such behaviour!
We eventually arrived at the temple which was basically in the middle of nowhere after a 45 minutes ride. None of us being Buddhists but still wanting to be part of the occasion we took a trip into the temple and conducted a prayer ritual which involved standing up and bowing down to a big statue of Buddah which was inside. Following this we made a wish infront of a rather scaled down statue as we poured a scoop of water over the statues head three times.
As the ceremony for the actual Buddhists was taking place we headed for a walk around a nearby lake to discover that as glamarous as it might be to be a monk with a computer, a nice copy machine and a Sky Life digital dish it's probably not the ideal location to be right by sewerage works and the world's worst lake for fishing on.
We rejoined the celebrations when it became time to eat and we had a traditional Buddah birthday meal of rice and vegetables. After this we saw the second strangest thing of the day which may just have topped the kitten in the bag. We knew there was going to be dancing at this event, well what kind of birthday event is it without some form of dancing. However what we were comepltely unaware of was that said dance would be b-boy hip-hop dancing in the middle of the temple! Apparently this was due to take place outside but when it started to rain there was only one place they could conduct the 'show'.
I'll give them credit, the dancing was impressive (as the video at the bottom of the page shows) but I'm not sure how appropriate it all was. Me, Kevin and Charlie were cracking up at the hillarious juxdaposition between Korean's hip-hop dancing to music with American cultural roots inside a monks temple, and that was even before the karaoke singer got up and started sharing his dulset tones with the world. I must admit I'm no lead vocalist and this guy could have been singing the song perfectly well but at that point it all became too much to take in and I did have to bite the inside of my lips to stop the laughter!
After this we were all Buddah-d out and it was time to return to Suwon for some dinner. We spent about twenty minutes near Talkster looking for a place which Charlie said he saw yesterday but in vain we returned to our rooms for a rest before trying to tick another 'adventure' off our list by heading to CVG cinema in the evening. Thankfully Anna was there to guide us through the process of buying a ticket to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and even more relieving was the fact that the film was in English.
In a society that seems to be so mad on efficiency (just look at their 5 minute medical for example) it seemed highly pointless that when we met Anna she was in a queue with a ticket waiting to queue for a ticket!? Very much like in a doctors surgery back in England or at a deli you had to wait to be called forward to buy a ticket. Why don't they just let people buy them in the first place instead of making them wait to get a number in the meantime you are waiting to get a ticket! Is it just me that this doesn't make sense too!?
Aisde from the strange farce with the tickets I managed to get myself some popcorn and I really enjoyed the film. I've always like the X-Men films and this was no different. The special effects were absolutely amazing and the storyline helped to explain some things about the other three films. I came out of the cinema feeling like it was 8000 won well spent!
Time for bed me thinks, I'm just watching Chelsea vs Fulham with Korean commentary but I think once it gets finished it will be time to sleep!x
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