The maskadance festival seems ages ago now, but this is the first opportunity I have had to blog it, so here is the first installment.

We left on the Tuesday of Ch’usok ? a good day because it was before the Koreans started traveling as many of them had to work on Wednesday. After almost missing each other at Yongsan subway station in Seoul, and each waiting for almost an hour in different places because neither of our mobile phones would work. We managed to get to the station in time to grab a McDonalds (how do they always make it taste the same?) before boarding the train to Andong without further incident – Other than having to pee in a hole in the floor at the station! An indignity, which since arriving in Korea I had avoided until then. Why can’t people build proper toilets?

Boarding the train it felt as though we had walked into the first class compartment. There was masses of leg room (odd considering Koreans are fairly short!), foot rests on the back of the seat in front and the seats were comfy (well for the first hour!). A man selling Kimbap (a traditional Korean food) wizzed his way down the train before we set of. Then the train departed and we headed out of the city and into the beautiful Korean countryside.

Looking at the rolling hills, lush green fields huge mountains, farms, traditional Korean houses and miles of rice paddies it made me yearn for the freedom of a car. But despite the longing to see parts of Korean that are hidden to us city dwellers I’m still not convinced I’m brave, or stupid enough to drive in this country! Gazing out of the window I realised that some of the countryside we passed though was not unlike that you would see traveling through parts of England, but it was without the ugly housing and industrial estates that are frequently situated beside English train lines.

As I stopped gazing out of the window and came back to reality I realized a mother and daughter had got on the train at the last stop and were sitting on the seats beside Emily and myself. Normally I would barely have noticed them but they were shamelessly staring and talking about us, they were even leaning forward to get a better look! Is there nowhere in the country where people don’t feel they have the right to stare? Sitting on that train with my every movement being watched made me feel so uncomfortable. I was glad when they got off. But my relief was short lived as they were replaced by someone else who staring was equally unsettling!

As we neared Andong the train emptied out and I finally felt comfortable enough to doze off for an hour before arriving.

Finding the hotel and checking in was another adventure in itself. Stay tuned for the next instalment.

* Posted by j150vsc on 20/10/2006.