Another weekend on a bus

It is Friday- hooray! The weeks do seem to be racing by at the moment. I guess that the closer I get to leaving Korea the faster time will pass- wonder if Einstein had a theory on ESL contracts and their effect on time. Since my time here is running out I have decided that I have to make the most of my weekends- rather than just lying in bed all day, though there is a place for that too, obviously. To that end, I am going to visit friends in Gwangju tomorrow.

Now that all sounds nice and lovely until I tell you that Gwangju is at least a five and a half hour bus ride away from Gangneung. It took the best part of eight hours to get home last time I visited- during which time the TV on the bus was on and blaring out some comedy show which seemed to last the whole journey. The other thing is that I have to get up early to go. I have researched the bus times this time as last time I went I just missed the bus and had to wait another two hours for the next one- and I had got there at 7.30am.

But I have found the ideal thing to while away wasted hours at the bus terminal

Mini singing rooms (norae bang) which me and Tania happened across on our way to Chuncheon last week (can't help thinking that the woman on the door of the norae bang might have just heard my singing- she looks in pain and appears to be mouthing the words 'oh god no, why me??'). They are very snug though

It might be worth getting there a couple of hours early. And if I found myself missing breakfast I could always pop to this shop in the terminal for a tasty, though smelly, snack

Can't see myself finding any Mars Bars there though. I know that I will be spending a large part of the journey sleeping. I know this because there is something about being on a moving vehicle that just sends me to la-la land immediately- usually to the disgust of the driver who has brought me along for company. When on an aeroplane I am hard pressed to stay awake until the plane has reached the runway. And I am sure that Matt was less than impressed when I kept falling asleep while driving through National Parks in South Africa, missing all the wildlife.

I am not likely to miss any marauding lions on the way to Gwangju but Korea is so beautiful at this time of year. On the way to Chuncheon last week we saw so much snow and snow covered mountains. Every time I tried to take a photo something would get in the way. But I did get one shot as we reached the less snowy areas. And the blue skies almost make the cold worthwhile...almost

Wish me luck! And it is worth remembering that Korean buses don't have toilets on them