Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Eunoia]

I was with my gf on the way to her family's home in the country for Seolnal. We got on the bus from Chuncheon to her hometown, but there were no seats - standing room only, for a 50-minute drive. "Great", thinks I.

Mr. Bus Driver is typically insane on the winding, curvy road, cutting corners, speeding, trying to pass where he shouldn't, all that jazz. Been through it before, but this time I was standing about 4 feet from the front of the bus thinking to myself, "Man, if this guy hits someone head-on, there's absolutely nothing to stop me from going through that windshield..." Tried to occupy my thoughts with happier things... At one point the bus stopped and a middle-aged fellow got on and took his standing position between me and the glass. "Ah, now I have a buffer!", thinks I, ever-so-selfishly.

So we're about 10 minutes from the end of the line and we're climbing the final mountain pass. About to go into a left-hand hairpin, so the driver is slowing down. I look over my left shoulder out the windshield and see a silver Tuscani coming out of the hairpin and crossing the centre-line right into our path. I have just enough time to tighten my grip before the impact.

Fortunately, by that time we were going slow enough that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The older man ended up by the windshield, kind of slumped over the dash, but he was alright (just had a sore arm, I think he said.) If I hadn't seen the car coming and had a looser grip, I probably would've landed right on top of him. One, maybe two other standees on the bus fell down, but nobody was seriously hurt. Lucky thing.

As for the Tuscani? Well, the front left corner of the bus creamed the passenger-side front quarter panel and plowed into the engine compartment. The car spun around and ended up perpendicular to the road, facing the opposite side bank. The driver (there was no passenger) got out after a few moments and looked shaken up, but otherwise seeemed pretty much OK. He took a look at what was left of his car and kind of sat down on the side of the road, a few people went over to him to see if he was alright, and so forth. My gf called her dad who came to pick us up, and that was that.

(Oh yeah, this was the kind of bus where you pay at the end of the trip - needless to say, we didn't pay... )

I actually felt fairly giddy afterwards, probably because it could have been so much worse...

Anyway that's my story, sorry that it's not really all that exciting. Anyone else have a Seolnal (or other) car/bus/motorcycle accident story to share?

[JongnoGuru]

[hellofaniceguy]

Glad you are OK. However...why didn't YOU have the balls to tell the idiot bus driver to slow down?!? You're the passenger! "I'd have told the driver to slow down or I'll smack you upside your head...it's my life on this bus as well as the other passengers...you want to die...fine by me...but I'm not going with you...so slow the hell down!"

[casey's moon]

[VanIslander]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Me in a hagwon two years ago: "So, kids, how was your Seolnal?"

Student: "My grandmother was killed in a head-on-collision on the highway."

Me: "Scrabble?"