South Korea day 9

You win, Korea. I can't handle soju anymore. It goes down as easily as water but hits as hard as vodka. From this moment on I need to stop: 1) drinking or 2) challenging Americans to drinking competitions.

The hangover was awful. Even the supposed magical hangover cure; 'triangle kimbap', was not enough to save me. James and the American guy, Frank, had both left to go to work teaching English in schools on the other side of the island which meant I had the entire flat to myself. I left to go exploring at 1pm when my hangover was at least manageable.

Walking around town was pretty great. It was nice to get out of the city and see 'real' Korea. It was a little dirty, there were rice patties next to beaten down shops, there was nothing written in English anywhere and most people stared vacently at me like they'd never seen a white person before. I went into a shop to get food and the lady there tried to have a conversation with me in Korean; clearly the only white people she had seen were teachers who spoke Korean. It was really fun and awkward because I could tell she was trying hard to simplify what she was saying in pigeon Korean in the hope that I would know enough to communicate back. But sadly the only words I know are "hello" and "thank you". I managed to get by using hand gestures thoigh! After that It was too late for me to do any proper touristy shit, so I decided to do a nice easy 1 hour hike past a temple. It was wonderful, the trees were pretty and it started snowing half way through too!

When I got back to the flat I chatted with Frank and James a tad, drank some much needed water and played xbox360 for about an hour before I caught my next bus to Jinju!

As soon as I arrived in Jinju I made my way to the jimjibang (찜질방). The Americans strongly recommend the place to me because it was only 8000 won to stay there for 1 night and it's essentially one giant spa complete with saunas, hot tubs and weights rooms. What they didn't tell me, however, was just how many naked old Asian men would be there. So... Many... Naked... Old... Asian... Men...

After relaxing in the steam room and sauna for 2 hours I decided to put on the orange shirt and pants they gave me and set up my bed on the marble floor with a couple of blankets and mats.