Bring on the Bull!

This weekend was the big bull fighting festival in Cheongdo, (a little city about 30 mins from Daegu). Angie came up to accompany me to the festival, and even though we initially had a little difficulty finding it, we finally made it to the stadium. Fortunately, it was a relatively inexpensive little adventure. The train only cost 5,000 won for a round trip (less than five bucks), entrance to the stadium was 5,000 won, and the bus to get back was only 1,100 won. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the bus station on the way to the stadium (it looked nothing like a normal bus stop), so we had to take a cab, and the driver took advantage of the fact that we were obviously not from the area. He took us the longest way possible and charged us 13,000 won. Jerk.
Anyway, the festival itself was pretty cool. It was packed, there were all kinds of vendors and entertainers, and there were as many foreigners there as I've ever seen in Korea (with the exception of the MoonKkang foreign teacher Christmas party, perhaps). They had these two human statues outside the stadium, and they were quite convincing. One of them was a bit playful though, and he'd move unexpectedly to freak out people who posed for pictures next to them. Of course, I was no exception. Angie and I stood between them while a Korean took our picture, and the playful statue decided to pull my hair. Cute. And here's a picture of the inside of the stadium, as well.
Watching bull fighting is a bit like watching baseball. You go, chat with the people next to you, vendors walk around trying to sell you beer and snacks, and there's something in the middle to entertain you while you socialize. I found it to be much more interesting to watch if I chose a bull to root for before the fight began. I was almost always wrong, but it made in interesting anyway. Here's a little snippet of what I saw while I was there: