Changwon and Jinhae (for the supposed Cherry Blossom Festival) ~ coucoukorea

In order to attend the Cherry Blossom Festival in Jinhae, we travelled from Ulsan to Changwon by bus, stayed the night in a love motel, and then took the intercity bus from Changwon to Jinhae on Sunday morning.

To call it a cherry blossom festival would be wrong, actually. It was not about the flowers. It was a festival, period. There were various artisan booths, a street market or two, food, etc. Nothing was really cherry blossom-themed, which disappointed me a bit. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed the experience. It wasn't Ulsan, it wasn't the same-old, and it was interesting.

On the bus ride to Changwon.

Changwon seems more foreigner-friendly than Ulsan, which is surprising really since, you know, Ulsan is Hyundai Central, with all the foreign employees, and the English teachers like myself, and Changwon isn't much of a bleep on the map of South Korea. Yet there you go: it was cleaner, cared more about its appearance, and was more cosmopolitan. Which is not to say that Ulsan isn't cosmopolitan. It is. But all of those things together made for a very nice experience on the whole. I have good memories of Changwon. Except the dance restriction at Cocoon bar. "You drink 30 minutes, you dance 30 minutes." Except it ended up being 40 minutes of forced drinking and 20 minutes of dancing. Alone. We were pretty much the only ones dancing. But we didn't care! Yay! Finally we can dance!

Waiting inside Cocoon bar to be allowed to dance. Yes, that's right, there's a restriction on when you can dance. Wait WHAT?!

We are never going back to Cocoon, that's for damn sure.

I don't remember this Korean BBQ place's name, but they are thieves and we are never going back.

The photos really make it seem like Changwon was a terrible place, right? Noooo... no no no, it was very nice. We even found a sex shop which was more like a small walk-in closet than a shop. But then again, I wasn't surprised: Korea is super conservative regarding sex so... yep, better hide your toys! ;)

Like I mentioned earlier, we slept in a love motel. What's a love motel, you ask? Well, again with the sexual conservatism. Except this is weird, because these love motels are literally everywhere and everyone knows what they're for, yet no one will admit to having sex. Or accept homophobia. Or accept sex before marriage. Or... you get my drift.

So, ahem. Love motels are basically super swanky (usually) motels used for sexcapades. Teenagers will use them to do the deed away from their parents' judging clutches. Star-crossed lovers will use them to do the deed away from their families' judging eyes. Casual sex partners will use them for their activities to hide away from society's judging stare. And so on. Married couples may even use them just for the heck of it.

Or to save some bucks. Love motels are cheaper than hotels, so that is why we stayed in one. No funny business! ;)

We have arrived in Jinhae. I have found BIGBANG.

Jinhae the next day. Jinhae was supposed to be about cherry blossoms, but it was not. Instead, we found a gigantic fair. I felt cheated, but quickly recovered. Because, after all, I am a BIGBANG fan. I am an iVIP!