This weekend was the buddha birthday holiday weekend so we decided to goto the Boseong Green Tea Fields in Jeolla province which is on the southwest. I've never been to Jeolla since arriving in Korea as its awkward to get to from Gyeongsang province where I am in the southeast, with no direct trains and long bus journey times. To get to Boseong first we were going to take a 4 hour bus across to Gwangju friday nite and rest for the night. Then saturday morning continue on the hour long bus south to Boseong, where we would have to change again for a local bus. As it was a holiday weekend buses were selling out. I tried to get a teacher to help me book online on the korean site as the english site only lets you view bus times, prices, and available seats. Even with a local helping me it was quite difficult figuring out how to book, and then how to print out the tickets. We had to install an add on and eventually after a few tries got it to work. By lunchtime I checked the site again and the bus we had booked was now sold out. Getting to the terminal from school was slow in rush hour and holiday traffic but I made it by 5.45 in time for the 6pm bus we had booked. Then we were told to exchange our printed tickets for actual ones from the counter so we had to line again. The bus we had booked was the expensive one at 19,000w ($17.50) but was actually quite nicer than normal intercity buses. Leaving the city and getting on the highway was busy again in traffic but the roads cleared once we left Daegu. The bus was strange in that it had the A/C blowing from the top while the heat was on at the bottom. The journey was 3.5 hours with a highway truck stop and we made it to Gwangju just before 10pm. The Gwangju bus terminal is a massive complex that doubles as a shopping centre, dept store, and movie theatre. This is a much nicer arrangement than daegu which has about 10 or so small terminals scattered all around the city. I split up from my friends as I had wanted to stay in an overnight sauna. I found one nearby for 7000w ($6.50). This was a high rise office type building, not an underground bunker like last time. Also it was not that crowded considering it was near the bus terminal and a holiday weekend. The darkened sleeping room was empty and had blackened windows except for the edges to allow for some morning light to enter. Only two couples came in the sleeping room during the night, and didnt make a sound, so I had a good nights sleep. Also there were no annoying cellphone alarm ringtones like other larger saunas. Walking around in the morning the place was still quite empty. Rested and refreshed I met back with my friends to continue to the Boseong Green Tea Fields As my first time in Gwangju it did seem quite impressive. I almost ended up here picking random cities on my application to come to korea and placing Gwangju as my second choice not knowing anything about the city. A large Kia motor plant was by the bus terminal and it had a very modern city centre. I took a guide map and it seems there are quite a few historical and cultural things to see so I plan on coming back at some point.