Busan Part 2

The rains eased and the sky cleared on the second day of our trip to Busan. Our morning started out with breakfast at the hostel and then a trip to a beautiful park that had a great view of the entire city. Busan has an almost Matsumoto-like feel to it in some places, and there was one street that really made me think about my time in Japan. We walked past a lot interesting shops and restaurants as we wound our way to a giant fish market right next to a bay. We looked around for quite a while, and it was interesting seeing so many different types of fish and sea critters. I even saw a container of whale sashimi (shh...don't tell the Sea Shepherd) as we meandered through the stalls and buildings. The day before we had planned to eat some sashimi, but the area we were going to was known to be very expensive so we opted not to eat it that night, instead, we chose our own fish and had them prepared for us at the market restaurant for a very reasonable price. It was delicious.

From the fish market we headed off to an area of the city famous for movies because of the Busan film festival. The food there was delicious and there were a lot of neat shops selling everything from shoes, camera's, clothes, and everything else you could imagine. We spent a while there before we decided to take a trip up to a mountain where the view of the ocean and cliffs is supposed to be wonderful. Unfortunately, the clouds came in and we were unable to complete our journey. We had to buy our tickets back home before it got too late, so we took a bus to the train station and purchased them before heading out again with our few remaining hours. We chose to go to a really neat area called Amnam Park that was right next to the ocean. I have put in only a few pictures of the rocky cliffs and sea on this post, but the views there were spectacular and the water was very clean and clear. We walked over a mile along rugged cliffs, crossing bridges and rocky shorelines along the way before making it to another beach where we caught a taxi to catch our train in time.

The trip home was fun. Soojeong, Goeun, and I played games and talked almost the whole way back. I would love to go back to Busan sometime in the future so that I can see more of the city and surrounding mountains. I highly recommend a stop there if you ever make your way to South Korea.



Before..

..After

Busan Day 1

Our trip to Busan started in the early hours at Seoul Station. Soojeong, Goeun, and I met there to take the 8:05 train to the southern city of Busan. We had originally planned to take the KTX (high speed train) but were unable to reserve the seats in time. Our train wasn't bad at all though, it was comfortable and the views outside the window were wonderful. There is just something about going to the beach that triggers rain. I still haven't figured that out. Partway through our journey to Busan we hit rain, rain, and more rain. Our hopes that it would be sunny and nice in Busan were doused when we arrived at the train station to a monsoon-like rain. Not letting the rain spoil our mood too much, we set off towards the famous Haeundae Beach and the nearby aquarium that we planned to visit. We stopped at a little shop for lunch and dined on some delicious local cuisine, and then off we went to the beach. The water wasn't near as cold as had been in Sokcho, but we still only put our feet in to test the water. It was warm enough to swim.

Busan aquarium was a lot of fun and they had a lot of good exhibits to see. It was nice to get out of the rain for a while and enjoy seeing all the neat fish together. We spent a good amount of time there before catching a ride in a taxi to the hostel we stayed in. It was called Arpina Youth Hostel, but it was more like a nice hotel. Goeun reserved our room with her travel company ID at a special rate, and the room was quite nice; three beds, TV, air conditioning, and a great view from the balcony of the mountains and part of the ocean. We set our stuff there and set out again to explore more of the city. As the evening progressed the rain came to a stop and we were able to enjoy walking around the city taking in all the sites and sounds. We stopped at another beach that had a good view of a really neat bridge, and from there we went to eat dinner and relax at a cafe that overlooked the beach. Our night ended with a quick run to the biggest shopping center in the world (it was in the Guinness Book of World Records), and then a snack and beer run at a local supermarket. We headed back to the hotel were we cleaned up, turned on the TV, and enjoyed our purchases before turning in for the night.




Soojeong, Myself, and Goeun

Soojeong and the fish

Soojeong's best friend Goeun who went to Busan with us

Off to Busan

I just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow Soojeong, her friend Goeun, and I will be going to the southern city of Busan to visit the beach and sights. I will not be taking my laptop, but I will post pictures and get everyone caught up on what has been going lately.

Indoor Mountain/Waterpark Pt. 1

A few days ago, Soojeong and I went on a trip to an indoor mountain/waterpark in an area just outside of Seoul. On the mountain-side of the building, you could rent ski's, a snowboard, or go sledding (which is what we did). I have never seen something so cool inside a building. The inside was gigantic and it really felt like winter. The sledding area was only half-way up the mountain, but it was quite a slope. The sleds were comprised of three inter tube's attached by a rope in the middle. There were a few different lanes you could choose from. There was no one at all for the most part, so we were able to ride as many times as we wanted. Next year we want to try snowboarding. I tried to post a video of us going down the slope, but the website is having errors. If it works later, I will post the video of us taking a ride down the mountain.

OSU Player

How I found this while walking with Soojeong and our friends, I will never know. When I looked up on a billboard and saw an OSU player complete with last name, OSU logo, and OSU orange uniform, I was unimaginably surprised. I wonder if the artist who runs the shop or studio is a former Korean student graduate of OSU? It must be something along those lines. Why else would someone choose to put an OSU player on a sign in Korea?

Wedding Trip to Sokcho (속초)

I am excited to post that in this post I can show everyone a glimpse of Korea outside of the megalopolis that is Seoul. Soojeong's cousin's wedding was this past Sunday in Soojeong's hometown of Sokcho in the northeastern part of Korea. The morning of the wedding Soojeong and I met up with her cousin and then fiancee to take pictures of them getting ready at the salon. We ended up riding with them to Sokcho a little later in the day, and it took about three hours to get there. I was really surprised to see how the landscape changes even if you are only fifteen minutes outside of Seoul. Mountains really do cover nearly 70% of Korea.

After we arrived in Sokcho, we went to the hotel/resort where the wedding was held. It was magnificent. The rooms were beautiful and the sea near the resort was clear as any beach in Florida. Too cold to swim right now, but it was fun to wade in it a little bit. The wedding ceremony was very nice and they really had it decorated beautifully. I got to meet a lot of Soojeong's family, and I enjoyed that a lot. After the wedding festivities we met up with more of Soojeong's family at their shop in Sokcho to relax for a while. Soojeong's mother, sister, and Joe headed back Sunday, but Soojeong, her father, and I stayed the night at a sauna so we could go hiking the next day. Sauna's are nice places to stay: cheap, clean, and interesting. Monday morning we met up with Soojeong's uncle for breakfast, then off to the mountains we went.

Soeroksan is the name of the mountain/national park we went to. It was so strange to be able to be so close to the beach and mountains at the same time. From downtown Sokcho and the beach you can see that the mountains circle the city. The mountains here are quite different from the Rockies. They are not near as tall, and the flora and fauna are also different. Nevertheless, I really enjoy them. Mountains streams are everywhere, the trees are very green and flowering, and the mountains themselves seem to have come out of some ancient wall scroll painting. Buddhist temples and Buddha statues were scattered throughout the mountains. The one in the cave was very pretty. Near that cave we sat down for a snack, enjoyed the mountain air and chipmunks playing, then headed back to Seoul to end our trip. On the way back we stopped at Soojeong's dad's friends restaurant in a beautiful mountain valley for dinner and conversation, and then we hit the road again passing valley's and mountains all the way back. One of my best memories of the trip is when we stopped at a rest area for a tiny break so her dad could take a little rest (we were full and sleepy from dinner). Soojeong and I took a little walk down the road to where we found a little stream with tiny fish jumping out of the water. We waded in trying to see them better, but all we could do was catch glimpses of them as the darted to and fro. We headed back to the car and made our way back to Seoul.

Korean Folk Village

Soojeong and I decided to take a trip to the Korean Folk Village to get out of Seoul for a bit, and to show me what a traditional Korean village was like. We hopped on a bus and rode for around and hour and a half before arriving there. Even the 711 at the entrance to the village had a traditional Korean roof. After we bought our tickets and headed into the park, I realized that the place was a lot bigger than I had originally thought. It was very interesting and it really felt like you were in a different time and place. There were peasants house's, farmer's houses, wealthier person's houses, etc., it was really interesting to see how architecture and amenities changed depending on income and social status. Another interesting thing about the folk village is that they made a lot of the foods and drinks that are sold in their restaurants. When we ate dinner, our rice wine was made at the distillery located inside the park. There were many craftsmen there making everything from candy, masks, baskets, pottery, and even metal items.

We watched a number of performance's, and I wish that I could put all of what I saw on this blog. The horse tricks were incredible and everyone who performed was very talented. Archery and spear throwing demonstrations were done from horseback. The dance that we watched is performed at Korean Thanksgiving and other special events. Hats have a long ribbon attached that moves according to how you move your head. It was very interesting to watch and I really enjoyed it. The rest of the day winded down with us winding down and taking it easy. If any of you reading this decide to visit Korea in the future, I highly recommend a trip here.

*Note to Eric* I think these kids put us to shame with their b-twist like moves. They make it look so easy.

WTF?

Soojeong, her best friend, and I decided to eat at an Italian restaurant in a nice part of the city one evening last week. Soojeong had bought a coupon online for a set price and with that you were supposed to be able to get two pasta's, drink, etc., but this was not to be the case. Korean service is very similar to the Japanese in that you get good service and rarely do people make mistakes. When we got to the restaurant around 8:00, we found out the coupon was not good after 8:00. Good thing the guy taking our order was new and the manager cut him a break. We got our drinks and ordered our pastas. Quite a complicated ordeal. After about 15 minutes, one pasta dish came out and the three of us set to work eating it. One bowl down. We waited..waited..and waited some more, but our second bowl did not come. It was decided that we would ask the servers what was up, and come to find out they had forgotten about our order. The manager herself came and personally talked with Soojeong and her friend about the situation, and it was decided that before we left the manager would give us something for our troubles. Soojeong went to collect the prize while Goeun and I waited.

Soojeong came back a few minutes later and was carrying something in a bag. She wanted us to guess what we had received for all the trouble. I raked my brain for everything that American restaurants do..coupons, money back, merchandise... None of those were correct. What in the world could it be? The answer was.....TOOTHPASTE. I kid you not, toothpaste. A three pack of brand new toothpaste was our compensation. We all had a good laugh and joked about whether that came from the managers own grocery sack from her shopping earlier in the day. I told Joe (the guy who I am staying with) about this, and apparently he and Soojeong's sister have also received toothpaste as a prize somewhere. Strange isn't it?

Bukchon and Samcheong-dong Part 2

Samcheong-dong is just lies at the base of the giant hill that Bukchon lies on. Soojeong and I walked down a set of stairs and down into the main for of the town. For me, it really had a Colorado mountain-town feel to it. The streets were not nearly as crowded as the main parts of Seoul, there were a lot of trees and flowers, and the restaurants and shops were very varied in what they had to offer. I think there was a little bit of everything there. Of all the places I have been to since coming to Korea, I think it is one of my favorites. We walked up the street for a long ways before taking a break at a cafe/restaurant to get something to drink. My kiwi banana juice was delicious. After cooling off and people watching (I found a guy with a mullet) we headed back to the main city on foot stopping to look at shops along the way.

Bukchon and Samcheong-dong Part 1

For a different change of scenery, Soojeong decided to take me to an area near Gyeongbokgung Palace that is full of traditional homes and little shops. We actually visited two areas; one being Bukchon and the other being Samcheong-dong. These were two areas that fit my taste. Bukchon had a lot of old style houses that people still live in to this day. Of course, most of these houses are owned by wealthy people and they are a lot different than they were hundreds of years ago. Along the streets leading up into the neighborhoods were shops that I think my brothers would have liked a lot. There was everything that you could want; art galleries, clothes, food, cafe's, jewelry, and little museums. I think that Seoul must be the cafe capital of the world, because there are so many per square mile that I can't count them all. I like that though. There are cafe's with open veranda's with views of the city, artsy modern cafe's, and even cafe's made up like Victorian England homes. When we got past all of the shops and into the neighborhood's, it really surprised me. I thought to myself, "this is the kind of the place that people dream of finding when they come to Korea". These first few pictures are just of Bukchon and the neighborhoods around it. Part two of this post will be of Samcheong-dong