The more interesting parts of the voyage started on the bus ride there. A shade less than 4 hours, the placement of the rest stop within the first 45 minutes of the ride was a poor choice indeed. By two hours in and a few pitchers of Hite deep, full bladders started becoming a major issue for Kory and me. As we approached Busan and started hitting major traffic, ideas of urinating before our arrival began circulating among the group.
Option 1: out the tiny window in the back left of the bus using Mike for a blocker,
Option 2: Into an empty beer pitcher--wide mouth of course--using Mike as a blocker.
Despite Mike positioning himself many times between myself and the old ajuma seated a couple feet away, the uncomfortable stretch needed to execute the maneuver made it impossible to relieve myself, and so both Kory and I had to wait until we got there. Anticlimax I know, but perhaps some foreshadowing for later events.
Friday night out was debaucherous and tiring having already been drinking since 4, so at around 2am I returned to the hotel room to find Kory in his boxers watching Sound of Music. We then took a bath together in what seemed to be a large tub. It was much smaller than expected and there was lots of uncomfortable touching.
Saturday was a nice beach day, where we walked around hungover and did stupid foreigner things. See exhibits A & B:
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
After a really shitty Italian meal that caused Mike to throw a temper tantrum, we hit up a couple of bars on the beach and luckily saw some friends from Friday night. I say luckily not because we were glad to see them, but because they had a plan. Oddly enough, these two Korean Americans had spent their afternoon creating a fake survey to distribute to possible hotties at the bar. While this transparent ploy was easily spotted by most girls they tried it on--showcasing their desperation--it was still good entertainment for the rest of us.
The night continued on as normal until Mike came onto the dance floor holding about 12 roman candles. Immediately, the group ran out onto the beach and began a fireworks battle, running around on the sand shooting the roman candles in every direction. It was chaos. Now, I have been known to get caught up in the moment at times, and once again, serendipity trapped me with its sweet allure. I could only stand and watch as the pink flare from my roman candle shot directly into Ember's hair. The hilarity of the moment was in two things:
(1) There was at least a 3-second span from when the pink orb landed in her hair to when her head leapt forward in reaction (apparently she only realized at the smell of burning)
(2) Frozen in panic, my arm had not moved from its previous position, and 5 seconds later another blast nailed Ember straight in the forehead.
There were many apologies, but, in the end it was all worth it.
[shotgunning interlude]
THE ADVENTURES OF SAD PANDA
Meet sad panda, a caricature of a very drunk Michael Zimmerman. Sad panda is sad cause his stomach hurts.
When we arrived back to our hotel with sad panda, we noticed that none of the lights were working. We called the repairman to come up and fix it. Right as the old korean man walked into our room, sad panda had to sprint to the bathroom and growl into the sink. Whether it was the smell of sad panda's growl breath or the sight of an invasive species in the hotel room, he actually sprinted away into the hallway.
Next, the sad panda flopped into bed and passed out. About a half hour later, sad panda was feeling a bit dizzy, and gurgled a little slop onto his pillow. Kory ran over with a garbage pointing and yelling "trash can, trash can", whereupon the sad panda acknowledged this, then decided to go straight for the floor. Not to use another animal analogy, but he kind of looked like a barfing sea lion. For someone who was sleeping on some couch cushions less than 3 feet away, you would think i would have been more concerned about the ever growing panda juice creeping towards my bed.
i was too busy laughing. and besides, it was sad panda.
The next day we went to Beomeosa Temple.
Hidden up in the mountains, it was beautiful, especially with all the lanterns set up for Buddha's birthday. Sad panda lapped up some water from a sacred bucket. This was to be a grave mistake.
Some two hours later we all arrived to the bus terminal exhausted. Most of us had our juices and snack bags clutched in our hands, sad panda had his puke bag. Sure enough, moments after the bus pulled away from the station, a familiar grumble found its way to sad panda's stomach. Out came the bag, and out came the sacred water from Beomeosa Temple, along with bursts of laughter from his friends. A good time was had by most.
Sad Panda in Action
