Human Easter Eggs? Yes Please!

The last weekend in March, I went on a trip to Busan to go to some bars and attend the Indian Holi Festival. It was a pretty good time, although it started a bit rough.  I was supposed to meet the bus at Dongdaegu Station at 10:30 in the morning on Saturday  but got a text at 9:00 to say that the bus was going to be twenty minutes early, and was going to pick me up 30 minutes further away then planned. This meant I was going to be late even if I left right then and I still needed to get in a shower before I left.  I made it to the bus about fifteen minutes late, but on time for the original meeting time, so I didn't feel too bad.

After an hour of sleep and watching Cool Runnings on the bus, we arrived in Busan and at our first bar.  It was a nice little foreigner run place called Sharkey's and had the best burgers I have had in a long, long time.  They even had and avocado burger, in which I gladly partook and felt myself enter food heaven for a bit.  The side salad, with dried cranberries and black olives, left me unmoved, and so did the bloody mary, which was mainly Tabasco and tomato juice and in no way measured up to the art form that bloody marys are back at home.  After lunch at the bar we had about 6 hours to just wander around the beach and the surrounding area.  I took off my shoes and walked in the water for a bit, picking up beach glass and shells, then headed over to check out the cherry blossoms.  I wasn't super impressed by them, but I walk by a bunch every day on the way to work and after awhile flowers are just flowers.  After the walk and a short nap on the beach.  I headed to the love motel we were staying in to meet my three roommates and got ready for the night.


We got back on our bus around seven and headed downtown for dinner, drinks, and dancing.  The bus turned out to be a karaoke bus, with flashing light and screens and we made good use of it on the drive o the bar where we were having dinner.  Dinner was okay, nut it was saved by the pulled pork and the decent drinks.  We sat around talking and drinking for a few hours before heading across the street to the next bar and more drinks and talking and hookah.  There happened to be three birthday people on the trip so midnight was a big moment of drinks and singing and back patting, followed by all forty of us spilling out of the bar and onto the street for some pictures, regrouping, and heading to dance away the rest of the night at a club.  That is correct friends, after a year of managing to avoid clubs, I was dragged to one for a few hours of dancing my ass off to music I didn't know or had thought I had forgotten.

The next morning we woke bright and early, guzzled some coffee and snacks from Starbucks to try and tame the hangovers, and got back on the bus for the ride to the Holi festival site.  Once we arrived, we stumbled around in a confused mass waiting for someone to tell us something about what was going on and why we were there at 9 am when the festival didn't start for two more hours, and why were those crazy Indians already dancing like professional Bollywood dancers out on the sand.  A brave few ventured into the fray and located the trip leader and our super splendid hats, and our paint packets.  We were then informed that we had to share one packet with a partner.  This did not seem fair, but they soothed our ruffled feather with free samosas and beer, the perfect way to get the hangovers to abate and keep us entertained until the festival started.

At about ten minutes to eleven we wandered over to the festival area where a surprisingly large crowd had gathered and counted down to the start of the festival.  As we hit one in the countdown, the air exploded with puffs of brightly colored, powdered paint that reeked of patchouli and the screams and laughter of people decorating each other like human Easter eggs.  Then came the dancing, with more paint throwing and drinking (and getting hit in the eye with powdered paint which was even less pleasant than it sounds.)  The party continued until we ran out of pant, which actually took longer then I thought it would, due to the lack of paint for each person.  After the powdered paint ran out they busted out buckets or acrylic paint, which was cool until you got hit with a faceful of it and it started to dry and turn into a mask of skin tearing torture.  After the painting subsided and dancing cooled off, we sat around on the beach talking and drinking for a few hours, wishing it was just a little sunnier and warmer.

Eventually we got to be too cold and too uncomfortable with our bodies and faces being covered in drying paint, and headed to the bathroom to wash off the Easter decorations we had covered ourselves in.  Of course, Korean bathrooms don't have toilet paper on a normal day, so we had to switch over to plan B and wander over to the nearest 7-11 covered in paint, and buy out their entire stock of wet wipes and tried to clean off at least some of the paint before we grabbed some quick lunch and hopped back on the bus and headed home.

I was the only one to get off the bus in Daegu, and while I have had some fun subway rides before, never have I been stared at quite as much as I was that day.  At least this time they actually had a reason to stare.  I got home, showered off the filth of the bars and beach and sun and sand and paint and who knows what else from this weekend of just letting go and having fun.  It was a good trip, but I don't think I will go on another one with that group.  I liked the people and I had a great time, but I wish we could have done more and spent less time drinking and wandering with no purpose.  Overall, 8.9 out of 10 my fine friends.  And I have also decided that someday when I have kids, they will celebrate Easter this way.  Minus the booze and bars.