Ulsan/Gyeongju Bike Rally 2005

I stole this picture from Dee (the beauty featured in this picture holding the uzi. Don't ever call a girl holding an uzi anything but beautiful) and the Princess Party Patrol
I am evil, yes I am

This weekend I took part in my first ever motorbike (and scooter) bike rally, and it was awesome.

The Inferno 2005: Scooter and Motorcycle Rally took place this weekend. It was put on by the Hell's Ajummas, sponsered by Ulsan Motorbike and promoted by Fin Madden and the Ulsan Pear. The cost was 50,000 won ($50 US) and that got me a Hell's Ajummas t-shirt, a pair of bike gloves, a box of kimbap(sushi) for lunch on Saturday, a private buffet supper at our hotel on Saturday night, a night at a resort hotel in Gyeonju and breakfast on Sunday, and a hell of a good time.

I had to make my way to the Benchwarmers bar to confirm my registration and pick up my t-shirt, scavenger hunt list and a map of Gyeongju.

Yes, this was a scavenger hunt. It consisted of such routine things as "take a picture of your team at specific temple", "get a speeding ticket" and "ride town to Busan (an hour and a half south) and take naked pictures of yourself and team in the super crowded fish market. The more crazy the item was, combined with how crappy the engine in your bike was, determined the amount of points that you'd receive for each item that was checked off.

Did you notice how I mentioned things about a "team" in there?

I needed a team.

So...

A new guy to Ulsan from Perth, Australia, named James, informed me that he had no team either. Within a couple of minutes, team "What the Hell" was registered with two members; James and Blake. I now had a team, and was ready to kick some scavenger hunt ass.

The entire (mostly I assume) Hell's Ajummas Ulsan Chapter met at the Ulsan train station at 10am on Saturday, June 11th. Mr. Goh, the owner of Ulsan Motorbike, met us there as well. In all, there were over 50 of us and about 40 bikes/scooters. When we were all organized, Mr. Goh led us to his shop on the north end of town. We had our final checks and then we were off on the highway, heading toward Gyeongju; the ancient captial of Korea. UNESCO named it one of the world's 10 most important ancient cultural cities, and that's cool.

It was an awesome feeling to be riding down the road in a pack of 40 or so motorbikes. I quickly understood why bike rallys are so popular in America.

Gyeongju is about 50km north of Ulsan, but it took us a good hour to get there. We weren't exactly speeding. After the hour or so, we arrived to the warm greeting of some of the staff and a sign that said "Welcome Hell's Ajummas" at our hotel just outside of the ancient city of Gyeongju.

At this point, we were all parked in one section of the large resort parking lot. The Ulsan Motorbike pick-up truck was there and filled with coolers (ie. garbage can full of ice) filled with iced coffee and beer (for the non-riders at this point, of course) and boxes of kimbab (sushi rolls). At this point, we met a couple of more people (which ironically, were a "couple") on a scooter to join our team. The teams were off, and we were in the race to win the scavenger hunt!

Off to a strange and cool multi-headed Buddha statue and temple we went. This was followed buy leisurely making our way to many other cool ancient sites, consisting of many tombs, temples, carvings and ancient villages. We then came upon the Korean National Gyeonju Museum. It was at this point were any chance of placing respectfully in the compatition was destroyed. Having been interested in ancient things all of my life, I was as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Yes, at this point I was so happy to be in a modern Korean museum, looking at not-so-modern things, that 10 beautiful Korean virgins would not have registered with me. Well okay, that's a bit of an exaduration. The point is that I was no longer concerned with placing in the scavenger hunt. I was a tourist dammit! At this point, it was only James and I. The other half of our team had given up on us.

The scavenger hunt officially ended at the hotel at 5:30. We arrived at just about 6:30, just in time for supper.

Supper was privately served to the Hell's Ajumma's in our own hall; buffet style. We had our choice of a large variety of Korean and Western food (ie. kimchi dishes, sushi and spaghetti), water and beer. I made sure to nicely stuff my self with as much food as possible and drink as much beer as time would allow. I did quite well.

From here, we went to the awards and fluff talk ceremony where prizes were awarded to the winners and where every team got to have their photo taken. Team "What the Hell" officially came in last place with "only a pathetic ten points, no nudity in their photos and were the only team to come in late due to having spent a whole two hours in a $#@&ing museum when they should've been getting naked". We were each given a pair of motorbike gloves for our museum-like effort.

From here, it was then time to head up to my western style hotel room for a shower. I then went in search of everyone. I quickly found a small group of 20 or so people heading to a casino at the Hilton hotel. As we entered the casino, we were carded for our alien registration cards. I found this to be quite peculiar. Inside the casino, it was dead. There were the usual assortment of slot machines, roulette wheels and backjack tables which you would expect to see in a casino, complete with dealers and ushers. That was normal. The only strange part was the ghost town feel of the place. It was just dead. Us foreign motorcyclists were the only ones in the casino. Why was that?

For some reason, Koreans don't seem to be allowed to gamble in their own country. I'm not sure why. I've been given reasons ranging from "it's the Confusian way" to "the government doesn't want Koreans to become addicted to gambling".

After blowing a few thousand won in a slot machine, I gave up and made my way back to my hotel to see what everyone else was up to. Apparently everyone else had just got back from skinny dipping in the closed for the night pool and had begun a game of naked truth or dare. I was told that, since I was wearing "at least four pieces of clothing" that I was allowed to join. I regretfully declined and made my way to bed, after having seen a room full of drunken naked people.

The next day began at the crack of noon (well, 11:30). We all gathered in the parking lot and made our way, via Harley-Davidson Korean police escort (really cool guys), to a lunch buffet where we had our choice of a large variety of Korean and Western food (ie. kimchi dishes, sushi and spaghetti), water and beer.

Deja-vu is the feeling that you get when you think that you have just experienced something that you have experienced earlier.

We then made our way, via Harley-Davidson Korean police escort (really cool guys), along the coastal highway towards Ulsan. At about the halfway point, we ended up stopping at a beach, and then another beach, for some lazing around and swimming in the cold Sea of Japan... I mean the East Sea.

Somewhere around here, people went their seperate ways. In the end, there were six of us who wrote into Ulsan together and had supper at T.G.I.Fridays. I went from there to, where else, Tomestone.

Awesome weekend.