BULLFIGHTING!

This should really be in the "Let's Fighting Love" section!

 It's not just for Spaniards! They have bullfighting in Korea, too, and a trip to Cheongdo for the annual bullfighting festival was on my docket this weekend. First, please don't feel bad if you were not aware of the tradition of bullfighting steeped in ancient lore of Korea...no one else is aware either! That is why every single person I told about this little trip (with the exception of my road buddy, Michell) looked at me askance, and said, "Bullfighting?!?" as if it were the most ridiculous thing they'd ever heard. But this post is total non-fiction, I swear! 

Second, bullfighting in Korea IS definitely different than Spanish/Hispanic/Latin bullfighting; specifically, it's completely bull-on-bull action. And there is no fight-to-the-death about this fighting - the battles are decided, much like sumo wrestling, when one bull gets the other bull to a) flip over or b) turn around and run away. Yes, they get scratches on their heads from the horns, but rarely is there goring or scratching out of eyes, etc. Thankfully, as Chell and I had a pact to leave the MINUTE eyes popped out...

For all my european and europhile friends - I am not flipping off the
camera! The peace sign is a universal thing to do in pics here:) 

Now, Chell and I were serious about this bullfighting trip, since the tour actually was cancelled just yesterday due to "lack of interest"...silly. So we looked up the driving directions and decided to road trip it ourselves. Great choice, as I have no idea if I'll ever see this kind of thing again:) 

Unbelievably, I got quite into the fights. Toward the end of the day, we somehow ended up seated in the "VIP" section, and we were cheering with all the locals. There is definitely a strategy to the bulls, as well as the cheering on of "Sushida!" when it looks like a fight is going to end. 

All in all, another incredible adventure:) 

You can't tell, but these bulls are huge!
Our nice view from the VIP section...at least that's what we called it:)