Muju Water Rafting & ATVing

On Saturday (July 7), a few of us embarked on a trip to Muju for an afternoon of water rafting in the Geumgang River. Muju is a county in Jeollabuk-do, the province above mine and is known for the annual Muju Firefly Festival in June.

Nari, Yuri, and I left Mokpo at 5:30am to meet Shirley at the Gwangju Bus terminal by 6:30am. We grabbed some sandwiches from a little shop called Isaac's.

Some early morning confusion ensued when I ordered a 베이글 치즈 ("bagel cheese" pronounced "baeygul chee-juh"), which was confused with 베이컨 ("bacon" pronounced "baey-con"). I even pointed to the item on the menu, and the girl kept refusing my order because maybe she thought I wanted bacon in my bagel.  And maybe they were out of bacon...or out of bagels...or maybe they don't make bagels with bacon. I had no idea. She seemed even more confused when I said I didn't want any meat. Anyways, I eventually got my bagel sandwich: cabbage and sweet sauce on a corn omelet with a slice of melted cheese; it tasted like cheesy, caramel popcorn. Nice-uh. 

Our 3.5 hour bus departed for Muju at 7:05am.

Directions from Mokpo to Muju: Take a bus from the Mokpo Bus terminal to the Gwangju Bus terminal (5,400won; 1 hour). Then take another bus from the Gwangju Bus terminal to the Muju Bus terminal (15,400won; 3.5 hours). As of now, the 6 bus times to Muju from Gwangju are: 7:05am, 9:15am, 11:10am, 1:20pm, 3:00pm, 5:00pm. Check to make sure!

Nari, Yuri, and Shirley enjoying their sandwiches

Shirley enjoying her sandwich and tomato smoothie

Bagel cheese sandwich from Isaac's for 2,500won

I passed out on the bus for at least 2 solid hours and woke up to an impeccable view of lush green fields, rolling evergreen mountains, and my favorite puffy, white clouds blotched across crystal blue skies.

Then we took a 10,000won taxi to the address at the bottom of the website: http://www.kglog.co.kr/

The side of our bus: Muju's known for walnuts?

We got out of the taxi in the middle of the road and walked down a flight of cobbled stone stairs. We left our belongings in the main office, a small facility parked by the river. We handed over 30,000won for rafting and changed in the bathroom, a dank space full of mosquitoes and a small, brown frog that hopped behind the sink pipes. We boarded a van. Someone drove us up stream to a breath-taking view of the river running between the greenest mountains rising into the bluest of skies. You only see this stuff in National Geographic. 

Our poor raft guide in the back

Ready for rafting

How do we get in and where do we put our shoes?

Off we go!

After we strapped into the life jackets and clicked on our helmets, we were ready to lift the raft and get into the water. The guide taught us how to use the paddles. He would count "1, 2" and then we would paddle and count "3, 4." We shared our raft with a family of four: a husband and wife and their two daughters. Most of the people on the other rafts were also foreigners or males in their 20s. We definitely got segregated onto the boat for non-extremists.

I must admit that as much as I like to observe nature, I am maladjusted to the great outdoors. I went camping once four years ago, and it was awful. Too many woodsy smells,  too few sounds. Too many trees, too few sidewalks. I had never been so glad to be back in the city. This experience reminded me of that.

We would paddle a little, float down the stream a little. Then when two rafts came within the vicinity of one another, we would start splashing water at each other. My black mascara and eyeliner ran in every direction. Some Korean guy in another raft pointed out in Korean that I was crying black tears. waahhhh. Aside from getting nature's bodily fluids in my eyes, the journey down stream was great. 

We stopped to take a plunge into a deeper section of the river. The raft guides moved everyone into two rafts and piled the empty rafts on top of each other to create a platform to jump off of. This activity I was reluctant to do. I didn't know what's in the water or how deep it is or why anyone would want to leave the comforts of the raft. Pfffft. Well everyone was taking turns jumping in and they survived, so I climbed up to the platform. The guides pushed me around on the wobbly raft until I sat down. Then they grabbed me by the life vest and swung me into the water face first. Talk about being rough-handled. Surprisingly, the water was very refreshing, and once I was in, I didn't really want to get out. I really enjoy swimming, so that river was my element.

[The following was written by my special guest blogger, Shirley! She can tell it better than myself, as myself.]

Once we were back in our rafts, Nari, Yuri, and Shirley decided to upset the peace and mutiny the raft. In English they plotted to throw our raft guide overboard. They talked about forcing the raft guide’s foot out of the strap, and then pushing him off the boat into the water. Even the Korean family on the boat with us caught onto the plan and rearranged their seating so the three traitors could execute their plan. I wanted no part of this, so I sat at the other end of the raft and watched as they carried out their plan. The guide was definitely caught off-guard, but little did the three conspirators know that our raft guide was a wall of muscle.  He put up a good fight, but alas he fell into the river with a satisfying plop. 

We started rowing away from our guide but little did we know that we were rowing into unfriendly waters because suddenly Shirley was pulled into the water by one of the other raft guides. What can I say?  Karma’s a bitch. 

The rest of our ride down stream was calm and we arrived back to the Muju rafting office all in one piece. 

We changed into dry clothing and my fellow compadres suddenly got the crazy idea that they wanted to go ATV riding.  First, let me explain that I hate two things the most in life…well maybe three.  First being children, second being interaction with nature, and third being moving vehicles.  This atv riding thing combined two of my least favorite things.  Of course, being the masochist that I am, I agreed to go and dished out 20,000 W. Yes my friends, I pay for my suffering.  #YOLO (You only live once.)

ATVing ... yeaaaah!

Our ATV instructor had us put on our helmets and hop onto the ATV. Our introduction to ATV riding was simple. This is the break and that’s the acceleration….alright!! Let’s get it, leggo! First, we were instructed to slowly drive down a hill and come to a stop. Once we accomplished this, apparently we were ready to tackle the muddy ATV trails.  Shirley took to ATV riding like a champ. Apparently there is nothing to do in the woodlands of Pennsylvania, so all the folks buy ATVs and drive them around their many acres of land.  Well seeing as I am from the land of sunshine and unforgettable women, I couldn’t relate and thus I floundered, but let me make it clear that the two sisters Nari and Yuri also had a difficult time. This may be because we weren’t taught how to steer.  It’s not as simple as steering a bike people! You actually have to put your weight into it and the ATV doesn’t like turning because it’s huge and lazy. Countless times our ATV guide had to turn around and help out one of our fallen comrades. At some point I didn’t make a sharp enough turn and I crashed into a ditch full of mud. Along with the mud, a million little frogs came splashing out. I killed a family of amphibians. Sorry dudes, I didn’t mean to do it.  But don’t worry everyone, a group of rafters witnessed my skills and applauded my efforts; at least, this is how I decide to interpret pointing and laughing. -_-

In the end, Nari’s ATV broke down twice, Yuri crashed once, Shirley’s ATV overheated, and I was a murderer.  Now don’t let this negativity ruin your willingness to go ATV riding.  Nari, Yuri, and Shirley loved it and they planned to come back and do it all over again.  Obviously, there are people out there who enjoy driving through nature, but I am not one of them, so please don’t let my blog stop you for trying it. Cause guess what?  #YOLO

We finished our day off with picture-taking and we were off to Gwangju. Actually, I should mention that the Muju rafting office was kind enough to pay for our taxi cab back to the Muju Bus Terminal.  ^^  When we arrived in Gwangju we had dinner at TGIF. I ordered the smoked salmon pasta bread bowl. Sure I recommend it.  But I really, really recommend the beef fajitas. I kept eyeing Shirley’s plate all night.  

Overall, it was a pleasant trip and I hope if you get the chance you go and check it out. Here is the link to the place we went to:  www.kglog.co.kr (Korean only)

Peace Homes.  

My favorite clouds -- they remind me of Aus   :)

**b'wing b'wing**

Smoked Salmon Pasta Bread Bowl @ TGIF's