First vacation destination in Korea: Busan. So the third Friday in May is Buddha's birthday!! Yep--I live in a country where they celebrate Buddha's bday--pretty awes. This, in turn, means holiday for moi! Mal and I decide to take advantage of this long weekend and head down south to the lovely beach city that is Busan. I have never seen so many foreigners! You know you're LIVING in a foreign country when you do a double-take at the people that look like you.
We opt to take the Korea Train Express (KTX) down to the South-eastern most point of the country. This trek takes less than three hours because this train goes up to 220mph!! Dang. It's crazy to me that you can go from the northern most point of Korea to the southern most part in a day. Still, there is so much to see.
If I may say something about the KTX--OMGLOVEIT. It is the most relaxing medium of transportation I have ever experienced. The train is spotless, you sit in a very comfortable seat, that reclines without disrupting the person behind you--genius!? You can completely relax on this trip while your view takes you through the countryside of Korea that is mountains, valleys and little villages.
Our first night in Busan we are on a mission for sushi. I mean, you come to the ocean, you want fresh, raw fish, right?! We find a place where the sushi rolls are so large it is hard to fit them in your mouth with one bite--that's what she said? Delicious but slightly awkward. Good place to go if you want to embarrass yourself.
Post dinner we find ourselves at a local bar called "Thursday Party." Sounds appropriate to me. So we have some beverages and hang out with the local foreigners. Good times.
Saturday makes me realize how much A step in one direction changes everything that can happen in a day. Coincidence? Luck? Clearly, I do not have the answers. But I digress. We wake up Saturday morning to pouring rain. I'm talking London style rain. Nevertheless, we are on vacation so we must play. We decide that today would be a great day to explore one of the famous Buddhist temples in Busan--after all, it was Buddha's birthday on Friday! After waiting an HOUR for our "brunch," we head to the subway to get to the temple. I use quotations on "brunch" because although I can give it a B+ for effort, it tastes nothing like the amazing brunch you can have in the US of A. (already making a list of the meals I want upon return)
We opt to take the Korea Train Express (KTX) down to the South-eastern most point of the country. This trek takes less than three hours because this train goes up to 220mph!! Dang. It's crazy to me that you can go from the northern most point of Korea to the southern most part in a day. Still, there is so much to see.
If I may say something about the KTX--OMGLOVEIT. It is the most relaxing medium of transportation I have ever experienced. The train is spotless, you sit in a very comfortable seat, that reclines without disrupting the person behind you--genius!? You can completely relax on this trip while your view takes you through the countryside of Korea that is mountains, valleys and little villages.Our first night in Busan we are on a mission for sushi. I mean, you come to the ocean, you want fresh, raw fish, right?! We find a place where the sushi rolls are so large it is hard to fit them in your mouth with one bite--that's what she said? Delicious but slightly awkward. Good place to go if you want to embarrass yourself.
Post dinner we find ourselves at a local bar called "Thursday Party." Sounds appropriate to me. So we have some beverages and hang out with the local foreigners. Good times.
Saturday makes me realize how much A step in one direction changes everything that can happen in a day. Coincidence? Luck? Clearly, I do not have the answers. But I digress. We wake up Saturday morning to pouring rain. I'm talking London style rain. Nevertheless, we are on vacation so we must play. We decide that today would be a great day to explore one of the famous Buddhist temples in Busan--after all, it was Buddha's birthday on Friday! After waiting an HOUR for our "brunch," we head to the subway to get to the temple. I use quotations on "brunch" because although I can give it a B+ for effort, it tastes nothing like the amazing brunch you can have in the US of A. (already making a list of the meals I want upon return)Here the day gets a bit interesting. Sitting on the slightly crowded train, a man comes up and stands directly in front of Mal and I. There is plenty of room on this train and no reason for him to stand there. He just STARES at us with the most creepy, blank, dumbfounded look I've EVER seen. I try to brush it off as in Korea we get stared at often as we look different. However, this staring is a bit extreme, and then he takes two steps and moves his body within inches of my face, basically blocking me out. So, naturally, as I feel threatened, I jump up and move to another area. Mal does the same. My heart is beating at a ridiculous rate, but the man appeared not to follow us. So we get off the train as we have to transfer and low and behold, there he is, right behind us. We are walking quickly trying to get away from him when he begins to shout at us in a vicious manner. We of course, have no idea what he is saying. I am still curious to know what was on his mind. Was he unstable? Did he hate us because we were Americans? Was he wanting to hangout with us? (If the latter is the case, I would suggest to him to be a bit less creepy when trying to meet someone.) My first reaction to this was to find someone to talk to or look for help. I see a 6'5"ish foreigner guy and I go up to him with this: "Hi do you speak English because I think we are being followed and are a bit freaked out and would love if we could just talk with you guys for a few minutes?!" And, two new friendships are born! The two guys were on their way to the Jagalchi fish market. The train is pulling up and we still were planning on our temple but the guys were like hey why don't you come with us to the famous fish market (which we were planning on for Sunday) so we say what the hell, let's dooo it!
This is a market where there are thousands of live fish in tanks. Everything you can imagine is here. You can even pick out your specific fish, clam, shrimp, octopus, etc that you want and take it in a bag upstairs and eat it at the restaurant. Talk about fresh. This is where Mal ate the raw squid.
Notice I say MAL, as I could not participate. One of the many tough women working at the market, takes the squid out of the tank, de-brains and de-organs the thing (i.e. get its guts out) by squeezing it and then she gets out her butcher knife and chop chop chop. The reason this is such a big deal is because the squid's tenticles continue to move for quite some time after it has been chopped up!! SICK. The rumor is that the tenticles can technically get suctioned to your throat and kill you. Thankfully, that didn't happen to the people I was with. I applaud them for this, however I am doing quite fine with my sushi that does not move on my plate. :D
Notice I say MAL, as I could not participate. One of the many tough women working at the market, takes the squid out of the tank, de-brains and de-organs the thing (i.e. get its guts out) by squeezing it and then she gets out her butcher knife and chop chop chop. The reason this is such a big deal is because the squid's tenticles continue to move for quite some time after it has been chopped up!! SICK. The rumor is that the tenticles can technically get suctioned to your throat and kill you. Thankfully, that didn't happen to the people I was with. I applaud them for this, however I am doing quite fine with my sushi that does not move on my plate. :D
Saturday night is another evening at a local bar, with new friends, that ends with some jumping in the ocean at about 2am. Just a bit chilly. A bit!
We wake up Sunday to the relentless rain and decide that we must go see one of the temples. 
We go to Haedong Younggongsa Temple. It is breathtaking despite the rain. It is a temple built on rocks right on the ocean. Once you enter the temple grounds, you can just feel its humbleness.
Most of the temple is outside and as we look at each other and laugh several times realizing how soaked we are, we decide to call it quits and head back towards the city and get ready for the KTX back to Seoul.
Although it rained for over 48 hours straight, we had an amazing time. Cannot wait to go back to this lovely beach city in the summer!!!
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