Bruise City

Two weekends ago Sara and I decided to make the trek to Herbz Hills an Eco theme park just south of Daegu.  I'd heard about it a few times from both friends and blogs but the major draw/reason for going was the high ropes and zip-line course.  I immediately had flash backs to my 7th grade outdoor ed experience where I was basically too chicken to do anything. However, I felt that i'd changed a bit since then and was up for the adventure.

I met Sara in Waegwon where we caught the train to Dongdaegu and then were greeted with the news that it'd be another hour bus to the park - I was under the impression this would be 30 minutes. Oh well, what are you going to do.  Generally I don't mind the transportation in Korea but by the end of this bus ride I was ready to run off the bus - we were greeted with an hour of bickering ajumas, seriously the were stressing us out.  Anyway, we arrived at the park, managed to explain what tickets we wanted "zip-a line-a" w/ hand motions of course, and we were on our way.

 Random statues and very creepy clown

We made our way to the zip-line course, showed our tickets and were told to return for the next training class which would take place in about 20 minutes.  Being a typical hot Korean day we got some iced tea and wandered around the "romantic herb garden", I really got the sense that this place was either for A) Families with small children or B) couples. Soon enough we made our way back to the Zip line area to gear up and get our safety instructions - this is the good part.

So it's easy enough to watch someone demonstrate how to put a harness and helmet on - put this leg here, that one there, and pull the straps tight - okay got it.  But then the instructor kept talking, a few times demonstrating with clips and the zip line contraption but other times just talking.  It became pretty comical as Sara and I pretended to understand what he was talking about, make our own dialogue to go along with his instructions.  At one point he paused, looked directly at Sara and I and asked if we spoke Korea.  When we shook our heads "no" he responded with, what I image meant, good luck, followed by polite laughter from the rest of the crowd.  Thanks dude. A few more directions and we were sent to the practice course, about 2 feet off the ground and kind of pointless, and then it was time to start.

Sara and I went with the "King Kong" course - second most difficult but included the most zip-lines. The instructor chuckled as we told him our choice and asked "ooh first time? King-kong, very fast!".  uh ok? He showed us how to start the rope ladder to the trees and just like that he was gone and we were on our own. The beginning was probably the hardest part, climbing up a wall of rope is much harder than it looks - who am I kidding, it looks hard.  Once in the trees we made our way through different obstacles, zip lines, and tight ropes.  I felt like a monkey for a good half hour, that is until I carelessly missed a step, causing me to fall and smack my leg on the edge of the platform while giving my arm a nice rub down on the metal wire.  Thanks to the harness I didn't fall far at all but my arm had felt better, not one to complain I carried on and soon enough we were back on safe ground. While taking off our harnesses I got a good look at my battle would - already showing a gradient of blue, purple and red with a few scratches.  The Korean guys that were on the course behind us looked at me with great concern and told me I was strong!

Our course

The beginning 

and the end 

We made our way through the rest of the park including a sculpture herb garden, an herb store with soaps, candles and incense, an outdoor water area, petting zoo and game area.   If we were with a bigger group or there were less kids around I may have taken part in the bumper cars or water activities but I didn't want to be that foreigner as those rides were mostly occupied by small children.  The petting zoo made me laugh as it included the such exotic animals as a raccoon, chipmunk, skunk and even some deer!  Again lots of kids wandering around, offering their carrot sticks (bought for 1,000 won) to the animals so we kind of breezed through this area.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of us in the trees as I didn't really feel like lugging my camera along but I did get a few beautiful pictures of my battle wounds.  The bruise looks a lot worse than it really is, it doesn't even hurt to touch it, however I did opt to wear some longer sleeves to school the past week - didn't want the staff and students freaking out.

           

Thankfully I got this shiner just one short week before mudfest - minimal attire required, but more on that next time.