...and then the bus broke down!

Me, Kelsey, and Lisa at the Korea Amethyst Festival

"Hide them!" the worker told us upon showing him our loot while exiting the mine area. Our findings WAY surpassed the amount that would fit in the small bags we were given. We had too much fun retrieving amethyst from the stream!...

A 4:30am alarm woke me from a deep sleep. After a moment to get myself oriented, I made a wake-up call to Kelsey, the new teacher (she has yet to get an alarm clock... as her neighbor, I'm acting as one). A mantra to myself not to forget the directions (little as they were) and toilet paper, I prepared for the day trip to the Korea Amethyst Festival. A 1.5 hour subway ride got us to the DongSeoul bus terminal in time for the 7:30am bus to Uljin, a seaside town on Korea's east coast. The bus was surprisingly luxurious... first-class-like seats throughout! Perfect to pull the footrest up, push the seat back, and take a nap! There were only about 8 people on the bus, so there was plenty of room to stretch out and relax.

What a treat to be able to see Korea's countryside. Once you leave Seoul, the land becomes quite mountainous, lush, and green. There were many private farms and small villages tucked into the folds of the mountain valleys. The views were breathtaking. We stopped at a rest stop about 2 hours into the journey, and I was able to snap a shot of the misty mountains. It doesn't even begin to do justice to the beauty of it all, though.

After the rest stop, we started on a trek along a winding mountain road. Many a sign said "Danger!" and a picture of a car falling off a cliff into the water was more common than I'd like to remember! At times, the road was just wide enough for the bus. Other times, there was no road, and we got to try offroading!

I highly recommend this drive for anyone travelling through Korea. Simply amazing! We followed a river as it wound down the mountain. The waterfalls and pathways carved through the rock were so picturesque. Unfortunately, the road was so windy that getting a picture worth anything was simply impossible!

We arrived in Uljin with the greatest need for a bathroom after 3 hours on a winding mountain road! There are 2 bathroom rules in Korea: 1. Bring your own toilet paper, and 2. Be prepared for a urinal!

Following the directions from the Tour2Korea website, we were to take a local bus to Sogwang-ri! Well.... asking around, we finally found that we were to take a bus on the other side of the road. Problem number 1 - the bus runs 2 times a day: 8:30am and 5:00pm. The bus got us in just after 12:00, so we were stuck! Sogwang-ri is not on the map... So, the adventure of trying to communicate to a taxi driver, find out an approximate price, and discover if the man knew where we wanted to go commenced. We tried the free translation service, but the man didn't know what amethyst was. This festival is not well publicized, and most Koreans don't know anything about the mines. We tried the tourist information person, who claimed there is no Korean translation for amethyst or mine (ok... sounds odd to me!). Finally, Lisa called her mom (who lives here in Korea) to talk with the taxi driver. A hilarious back-and-forth ensued that included Lisa's mom trying to haggle with the taxi driver for a better deal, trying to get him to take us to a good JimJilBang (sauna where you can stay for 24 hours) if we missed the last bus back to Seoul, trying to get him to pick us up at a certain time at the mines, and trying to explain why Lisa doesn't speak Korean! We were laughing hysterically already, and the trip had just begun! We stopped in the "town" of Sogwang-ri (which consisted of city hall and about 3 houses), and the taxi driver stopped to speak with an old Ajumma. From what we gathered from the conversation, we were to go to her house when we were finished (if we missed the bus back to Uljin), she would give us dinner and call him to come pick us up! Crazy! He then took us to the mine, where we (of course) had to pose with him for a picture.

I think we were the only foreigners ever to have visited the mine! It was hilarious how well we were treated! The woman who sold us our tickets was tickled and embarassed to use her English! We got a personal guide around the property (which no one else had). He took us to the Amethyst Energy Room, where we drank from a communal pool of water purified by amethyst (from communal cups that were supposedly clean because of the amethyst water...???). We then sat in the cool, damp room and were told to close our eyes and breathe deeply for 10 minutes. We were the only ones doing this, and we had to of the guides making sure we kept our eyes closed! All of the Koreans visiting the room came in, drank some water, and exited! Finally, we were allowed to leave the room!

We were led to a stream in which we could search for amethyst rocks. There are 2 kinds of rocks - the lighter kind that can be used for purifying water and the darker kind for jewelry. There were a handful of people in the stream, so we dropped our bags, removed our shoes, and went into the icy cold water! We trekked up the mountain in this stream, searching for purple sparkles the whole way. How neat this experience was, we all thought! Then, we kept seeing a man on a motorbike riding up and down the path. Eventually, we heard a "plop, plop, plop," and we caught him throwing amethyst into the water! The theory developed that the whole thing is a hoax! The amethyst found in the stream is the reject pile from the amethyst used to make jewelry. This mysterious motorbike man (the amethyst-giver) spent the whole day throwing amethyst in the river for tourists to find! It was a hoot! We continued looking anyway because it was so much fun!

We hiked to the top of the mountain in search of the Purple Pond of Fortune. Instead, we found a nice, older man ready to give us a tour of the mines. Navigating through a low-ceilinged cave, we passed disgusting bugs, mushrooms, and followed a line of amethyst that runs through the mountain.

Our descent of the mountain was accompanied by a short rainstorm. At the bottom, we found the Purple Pond of Fortune (complete with amethyst rocks glued to the fountain), and we all wished on a coin.

From there, we planned to exit and make the trek back to "town" to catch the bus. We were stopped on the way out to see the amethyst we gathered and put it into purple bags. When we showed him our big shopping bag of amethyst, we were told to "Hide it!" Hilarious! We stuffed it into my backpack. The whole staff was outside as we were preparing to leave, and we were encouraged to walk on the amethyst footpath. There are different textures created from amethyst rock that were meant to promote circulation. OUCH!!!! It was like walking on a bed of nails, and it was LONG, too! The girl was laughing at us the whole time... probably because of the faces and noises we were making!

We needed to head out to the bus, but everyone was so kind and wanted pictures with the foreigners! We posed for many pictures and were even given souvenirs of amethyst earrings! The hospitality was amazing! We were also given a ride back to "town" in the mine's truck! Good thing, too, because a downpour began right as we were getting into the truck.

Look for the little white dog running after the truck!

While waiting for the bus, we were entertained by the locals (all 5 of them and their pets!).


We made it to the Uljin bus terminal with 5 minutes to catch the bus to Seoul! Thank goodness!!! We ran to get our tickets and get on the bus (this time there were even fewer people on the bus). I think we were all asleep within 10 minutes of heading back to Seoul. I woke up a a few times on the drive over the windy mountain road, and I forced myself to go back to sleep! It was POURING rain, and we were so close to the edge of the road. It was better to be asleep! A few times, I felt (and heard) the bus skid as the driver pressed the brakes! Yikes!

We stopped at the rest stop on the way back. After waiting for a straggler, the bus driver went to start the bus.... nothing! He tried again.... nothing! He tried several times, and we finally guessed that the battery was dead (at a rest stop somewhere in the middle of Korea). Well, you would think he'd get on the phone to dispatch to let them know what was going on... perhaps call a replacement bus or tow truck. You'd think. Instead, he stood outside in the parking lot under his umbrella. Doing nothing! Staring around the parking lot for a good 30 mintues. Finally, he went over to the gas station to borrow jumper cables and had a truck sitting in the parking lot jump us! By this time, we were over an hour late. Timing transportation in Seoul is important because the subways stop running at midnight or 1am. Well, being late, we took a subway that stopped way before our stop. We had to get a cab home at 1am. What a day!