We took the train down to Daegu after work on Friday without incident. We arrived near midnight, and walked around for almost an hour looking for a place to stay that would hold 8 people. This was partially because the FIRST place we looked told us that the rooms would be ready in 10 minutes, and this was incorrectly told to the rest of us as the room wasn't available. So instead of waiting for 10 minutes, we wandered the streets of Daegu.
When we finally got back to the original hotel, the rooms were now taken (though by whom, we have no idea - what other group of 8 people had all of a sudden wandered in??). So we found a place right next door. Everyone except for myself and Laura decided to go out into town for "one drink". I knew this would mean they weren't going to get back until 5am, so the two of us went to sleep, and sure enough, they all straggled in sometime around/after dawn.
The hotel we stayed at was at the end of a suspicious-at-night, but character-filled-during-the-day alley. Because I got a good-night's sleep, I woke up early the next morning (7ish or so) and went off in search of coffee, which was only yo be found at that hour back by the train station. I got back to the hotel, and we all headed back to the station to get to the town of Cheong-do, which is where the festival actually was. On the way we took a different route than I had taken, and passed by this lovely sight:
A cramped and sweaty 20-minute bus ride after the pleasant 20 minute train ride got us to the festival area. We saw the standard festival fare, including bondegi, which I have yet to try (I'm sorry, does boiled silk worm larvae sound appetizing to you??). Rob decided to get some, though. Props to him.
The entrance fee was about $5, and even though the website said you didn't have to pay if you were born in the year of the ox, this sign dispelled that myth.
After wandering around the stadium area for a while we headed into the area to see what was what. Several people commented on our horns, and wanted to know where we bought them. I think if it hadn't taken the better part of 5 hours to make them, we'd have considered making extras to bring with us next year.
The actual bull-fighting was pretty self-explanatory. Two bulls were brought out into the ring and pulled head-to-head by their 'owners'. Then they just pushed at each other's heads until one tuned his head and ran away. This could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 25 minutes, depending on the bulls.
We made it more interesting by betting on which bull we thought would win (I won 1,000 won on the only bet I made), standing up and talking to the massive amount of foreigners in our area of the stadium, and drinking incessantly.
After watching the fighting for a few hours, we headed back to Daegu. Amy decided to borrow my horns for a while.
Since we ended up with about 20 people who all knew each other, we decided to split up for dinner. I went with my friends from Gueryong to a place called Gorilla Burger, which was supposed to be amazing. I thought it was decent. We had a bit of a time finding it because Chris was in the bathroom when the train stopped at our stop so he had to wait until the next stop 20 minutes away, and then buy another ticket and wait for the train to come back down to Daegu.
We stayed out for most of the evening in Daegu, with different people going to different bars and switching back and forth. I stayed out till about 2 or so, and then headed back to the hotel with Hannah, since she didn't know how to get back. I was surprised that I made a straight shot back to the hotel, seeing as how it was the first time I'd ever been to Daegu. But once I got my bearings on the main streets it was relatively easy to navigate.
The next day we got tickets back to Seoul around 1, so we headed back into town for breakfast of bi-bim-mandu, which I'd never had. Amy, Hannah and I went to a coffee shop called Amoeba, and then we all took the train back to Seoul.
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