Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

            For the past few weeks in Changwon it has been raining cats and dogs. The weather reports have shown up to three or four inches of rain per day. There are breaks in the sky every once in a while but this past Saturday could not be survived without a sturdy umbrella. The indoor activity of choice was to go to the local sports complex and bet on some bike races.

The soccer field outside my office takes about ten minutes to becoming a swimming pool

            After a wet and windy 1km walk to the complex the admissions lady kindly took my W400 ($0.40) admission fee and it was time for the races. Inside the arena was a very clean and nice looking 200m bike track. The infield was lifeless and so were the stands except for a few people watching the odds on the big screen. 11:20 a.m. rolled around and the first race had begun, except not in the Changwon arena, it was televised. Of the 18 races that were to occur that day, this was a huge bummer because it would have been just as easy to stay home and watch TV without losing money to a sports book.

Changwon Bike Track

There was one race every 25 minutes and each one only lasted about five minutes. Much like auto racing, there was a pace car/bike which led the pack for five of the six laps. The last lap was a giant shootout for the racers and their 1-speed bicycles. It was interesting because the crowd can’t see the racers until all the bets are placed because the racers don’t get to the track until seconds before the race starts.

Lunch was a Gatorade and some cookies



At the start with the pace biker on the right



A few laps into the race



One lap to go and they are off



Crossing the finish

Betting ranged from W100 ($0.10) to W100,000 ($100) and the lottery style betting sheet was very confusing to fill out because there was hardly any English. After struggling with understanding how to bet for a few minutes a nice older Korean came over and made a lot of confusing hand gestures. Communicating with him was difficult but somehow he managed to point out the information desk where a semi-English speaking Korean explained the betting card.

The betting book

Betting slips that I filled out wrong

My bet



The betting window

            A few races in I noticed in the program that through the day many different race tracks are used and from 2:30 to 6:00 Changwon was the track. I have learned to read Korean recently and can recognize when something says Changwon or Busan (the big local city). My money stayed in my pocket until the Changwon races started and it was fun to bet a few dollars here and there. Of the two Changwon races watched, I won at least one of my three bets for each race. The only negative about the race track was that you couldn’t buy any beer which didn’t make sense because one would think gambling and alcohol go hand in hand.

At around 3:00 the rain was still pouring and it was time to walk home. The older Korean who had helped explain the bike racing process walked out of the arena to a local convenience store where we each got an adult beverage. There was one table around the side of the store and we huddled under a tiny umbrella where one Korean was already passed out drunk and there was a table cluttered with Soju-like bottles. The Korean who was seated in front of us clearly partied a bit too hard for the rain and I really wish I could have given him a bid to Theta Chi, my college fraternity. Half in the rain, half under the umbrella he continued to talk into his hand saying hello in Korean as his cell phone was ringing in his pocket. The only time he woke up was to throw all the empty bottles off the tables in search of something else to drink. He ended up taking our Korean friends drink, pouring himself a full glass, taking a tiny sip and then went back to sleep. Our Korean friend didn’t seem to care because he started to eat the sleeping mans chips.

My new gambling friend

My new drinking friend

The walk home to the hotel was miserable in the monsoon but by the next day my clothes had dried and the rain was gone. Sometimes little journeys like this one are the best because you have no expectations and anything that happens becomes a fun time.