Back to Busan

Hi! This past Friday was Buddha's Birthday, which meant that we didn't have school. Of course my friends and I (and apparently every other foreigner in Korea) decided to turn our 3-day weekend into a mini spring break vacay.

Thursday night Sara, Anna, Rebecca, and I jumped on the 9:20 KTX to Busan. We arrived around midnight, and cabbed over to Haeundae Beach. We went to the love motel we stayed at during our initial visit and rented out a cheap room for the night. The night was still young, so we went out to a bar we must've made quite an impression at on our first visit, because Sara and Rebecca's picture is still on the wall and they remembered us and bought us drinks.

Friday morning we checked out and dragged all of our stuff to the beach to meet up with John and Q. And wow...the beach was exactly like spring break. It felt like Panama City, only we were missing a Wisco flag, red cups, and fake IDs. It was a beautiful day and the beach was packed with vacationing weigooks (Korean word for foreigners). I wish I could have understood the Korean conversations around me, they must have been so confused. Wanting a tan? Playing football? And volleyball? Blaring music? In a way though, I think it was a good thing. I feel like when Koreans see weigooks in isolation, they think we are so bizarre...but seeing huge groups of us all together, they can see that the way we act, talk, and dress is our normal.

Haeundae Beach

We checked into our hotel (the amazing Novotel right on the beach!) at 2, and then went to lunch. We went to TGI Fridays...nothing special but it was the first time I've had it since I left America last year, and I was pretty excited. After lunch we went back to the beach until the sunset and then went up to our room to get ready for the night. We went out to a bar to meet up with some friends, and then to the club that was in the downstairs part of our hotel. It was so much fun, but we got tired early (relatively speaking) and were in our hotel by 2am. We're getting old, I know.

Lunchtime view of Haeundae Beach

Novotel on Haeundae

Anna, Reebs, Sara, and me watching the sunset on Haeundae

Hotel view

Saturday we woke up to lots of rain...we were so disappointed because we wanted another good beach day, but no such luck. We went to a lunch/brunch buffet across from our hotel, and then chilled in our hotel room for most of the day. After grabbing dinner, we got ready for our last night out. We went to one bar that was FULL of foreigners and was totally out of control...girls slut dancing on the pool tables, boys swinging from the ceiling with their shirts off...it felt like home and it was awesome. After that we went to a club that was a little bit more low key which was a great way to end the night.

Me and Rebecca enjoying the hotel on our rainy day

Sara, Q, John, and me at Rock 'n' Roll Bar

U2 Bar with Sara

Sunday we had bought tickets to leave on a 2pm train because we wanted extra beach time, but of course it was still POURING rain outside...so I called the front desk to ask for a late check out. By the time we cleaned up the room which we successfully trashed (we do it to every hotel somehow), it was time to leave for the train station. We had tickets in first class for our return trip because the regular class was sold out. The extra money was definitely worth it because we each had tons of space to ourselves. We were definitely in recovery after we had been three-day weekend warriors. There was a little girl sitting in the seat in front of me, maybe 2 or 3 years old. She kept running back to my seat to say hello and give me candy (only to take it all back 15 seconds later). She was sooo adorable. We arrived at Seoul Station at 5, ate dinner quick, and then went our separate ways. It was such a great getaway and EVERYONE was there, so it was even more memorable.

This week is a full week of work...standard usual business. North Korea is starting to get a little crazy. I'm not convinced that tensions will rise to the point of a full-scale war, although we should all be careful not to forget that the two countries are technically, legally, still at war with each other. The US has of course pledged to support SK and I think that will be a huge deterrent for the North when it comes to any sort of a military action. South Korea is imposing economic sanctions, and restricting trade. With North Korea having such scarce resources, I definitely think it will have a negative impact on them, but I do also worry about how they will react. South Korea is also considering putting up Cold War-style propaganda speakers along the DMZ, and the North says they will shoot the speakers down, to which the soldiers in the South have been instructed to retaliate. I think for most of us, its just business as usual around here...but I have to admit that it does make me a little nervous living so close to the danger zone. These rising tensions, though, have happened in the past and I think its just part of the roller coaster relationship on this divided peninsula. In the meantime, I've registered with the US Embassy here so if anything major does go down...they'll be sure to contact me and get me out of here right away. Hopefully things will cool down soon.

Bangkok has been a hotspot lately for conflict as well. I think the media has blown it out of proportion quite a bit, but things did get pretty bad there for awhile. I've been asked a lot about what exactly the conflict is over. To be honest I don't know much, but my general knowledge (which I hope is correct??) is that several years ago the military staged a coup, and ousted the Prime Minister. People in his party won the subsequent elections, but it was found they committed election fraud. They then declared the current Prime Minister to be the winner, and red shirts have been opposed ever since. They want new elections and have been demonstrating, and protesting and it has turned violent. It makes me sad to see such a great city with such wonderful people going through such a difficult time. I hope that once things are settled there, it won't deter people from continuing to visit. The islands are safe, though, since the protesting and violence is all in the government centered areas in Bangkok.

This weekend should be (hopefully) pretty low key, since we don't have any holidays or major plans. Weather is looking good though, so I'm sure we'll find something entertaining to do. Here's your K-Pop song for the week. Here is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Hyori Lee. It sort of feels like a strange combination of all of Lady Gaga's videos, but the song is still fun. That's all for now...bye!

"I like it in the city when two worlds collide. You get the people and the government, everybody taking different sides. Shows that we ain't gonna stand shit, shows that we are united, shows that we ain't gonna take it. Memories are fresh. The people I've met are the wonders of my world." -- Adele, "Hometown Glory"

Busan: No Reservations

Hi everyone! Last week my friends and I decided we wanted to go to Busan. We decided we would just wing it - with the exception of our train tickets to Busan we were not going to make any reservations - Anthony Bourdain style. We didn't book a hotel or plan anything out for the weekend. I went to Busan with Sara, Rebecca, and David - all from Wisco- and then met another friend down there. We had some trouble reserving our tickets for the train initially, but thanks to Rebecca becoming a Korail member we will never have trouble booking tickets again. We all met at Seoul Station around 7 to get some dinner - McDonalds of course. Then we spent the rest of the time making sure we had everything in order, namely reading material and alcohol for the train ride. Our train didn't leave until 9pm so we were there in plenty of time. We hopped on the train with our boxes (yes boxes!!!) of soju in hand and prepared for our 2 1/2 hour ride on the KTX bullet train to Busan.

Waiting for the train on the platform with 2 boxes of soju to get me through the train ride

Travel buddies Megan and Patrick

Me and Rebecca on the train

The train ride there went by very quickly. We arrived into Busan just before midnight and the first thing we noticed was that even though it was the middle of the night it was significantly warmer than Seoul. We hopped in a cab once we got off the train and went to Haeundae Beach - the area in Busan we were staying. Busan is located on the southeast coast of South Korea and most of the action is around the beaches. Busan is sort of the Miami of South Korea - although its not warm all year round, it does have more mild weather and has better weather than Seoul. We had the cab drop us off where we estimated a good place to be to find a love motel - super sleezy places intended for Korean businessmen to take their mistresses but a travelers dream because it has all the amenities of a hotel but not nearly as expensive. We decided on a pink hotel lit up with neon signs. Can never go wrong with a pink hotel. It ended up having a room available and so we booked it for 2 nights and went to our room. The room was pretty big - a king size bed perfect for us girls and had a couch we made David sleep on. Only issue was that the shower/whirlpool had a door, but the wall of the bathroom was a huge window looking out into the rest of the hotel room. Awkward. Overall though it was one of the nicer love motels I've stayed in, but just to remind us what the room is really intended for we had a condom vending machine at the door:

A condom dispenser with an AIDS lollipop. Um?!

After putting our stuff down we decided to explore the area - it was close to 1am by this point but things are open pretty much all night in Korea so we had no trouble finding things to do. We walked down by the beach and ran into the PIFF pavilion. Busan just finished hosting the Busan (Pusan) International Film Festival. Josh Hartnett was in town for the event and it was a huge deal for the film festival to draw in such a big name American actor. The beach was amazing even at night - it was full of people sitting around and drinking or just hanging out.

Me, Sara, and Rebecca on the beach

Haeundae Beach, Busan

We walked around on the boardwalk and ran into a little area with coin-operated bumper cars. So dangerous. I have no idea why they think its a good idea to have those readily available for whoever might stumble past but we definitely took advantage of the situation. All you have to do is put in a 500won coin and the music on the little cars start playing and you can just bump into whoever else is driving around. So fun.

We went back to our hotel around 3 or so, but the boys decided to hit up the casino. The next morning we woke up pretty late - our room didn't have windows so it was totally dark and we just kept on sleeping thinking it was the middle of the night still. We all took showers with limited lighting since we didn't want to give a free show to the other people in the room. So there I am showering away when A HUGE FREAKING SPIDER pops out of nowhere and is hanging out in the shower with me. Now, I know people probably think I'm exaggerating when I say that this spider was huge, but for once I'm not. This was a fat juicy hairy black spider. I didn't know what to do. So there I am in the in the see-through shower while I'm being held hostage by a giant spider blocking the exit. Terrifying. Naturally, I started screaming at the top of my lungs and having no other defense against the spider, I unhooked the detachable shower head and used it as a high pressure water gun to shoot the sucker to the other side of the shower so I could grab a towel and run for it. I ran out of the bathroom and sent in someone to kill it. I could hear the crunch it made as it was smushed. Absolutely disgusting. I steered clear of the bathroom as much as possible from that point on.

Once the spider drama was over, the 5 of us went to a burger place near the beach (my first since I arrived in Korea!) and had some lunch. After that we went to the beach and layed out for a few hours. The water was freezing and it was even a little chilly to be laying out in swim suits, so we just sat on the beach in our clothes but when the sun came out it was soooo nice. Here's some pics from the beach:

In front of the "independent filmmakers lounge" from the PIFF

On the beach!

Haeundae Beach, Busan

Eventually the boys decided to go back to the casino to try to "win their money back" from the night before, and us girls decided to give the Busan seafood a try. Now, I've never really liked seafood very much, but I decided to be a good sport about it because I've been all about trying new things since I got here. Busan is supposed to have really good seafood so I figured this would be the place to give it a go. We found a place that had several people sitting outside which is always a good sign. Our choice? Fresh clams. They were fresh out of the tank, and cooked right in front of us. We really didn't have a clue how to eat them. The other girls enjoyed them, but I wasn't a big fan. Ah well. I tried.

Dinner...

Clams!

Crabs!

View from the restaurant

How do we eat this?!

After dinner we stopped at Starbucks to pick up some cheesecake, and then bought some wine and beer for the night. We made a quick pit stop at our hotel to drop some things off and pick up others. We met up with the boys and then hopped in a taxi to Gwangali Beach. Once a year there is a huge fireworks show at Gwangali Beach in Busan and people from all over Korea come here to enjoy the show. Everyone brings blankets and sits on beach eating and drinking and watches as the fireworks are lit off the Rainbow Bridge. I have seen a lot of things and been a lot of places and I have to say - this is one of my favorite things I have seen or done. The whole atmosphere was amazing. Sitting on a beach on the edge of a huge city surrounded by mountains watching fireworks.

We arrived about 2 hours before the show was schedule to begin, and it would have done us good to get there even earlier. We managed to find a spot on the crowded beach to put our stuff down. We passed the time by lighting sparklers which entertained a lot of the children around us. The fireworks show was the best I have ever seen - every second was like a grand finale, combined with the lights display from the bridge. All of the high rise hotels and apartments shut off their neon lights to make the beach darker, and at some points we weren't even watching the fireworks in front of us. We would turn around and watch the buildings sparkle from the reflection of the fireworks. The show was set to music of course, blared over several loud speakers set up throughout the beach. Throughout the show we ate our cheesecake and drank our beer and wine.

Playing with sparklers on the beach :)

Gwangali Beach

Rainbow Bridge

Waiting for the show to begin

Fireworks!

The show lasted about 45 minutes and once it was finished we shoved our way through the masses of people and found a small carnival that had been set up on the beach. Rebecca and I decided to take a chance on a ride called "Crazy Flip". It pretty much just spun us upside down a bunch of times. Nothing too crazy but still fun.

After the carnival we walked through the fish market where you can choose your own live fish. Here's a bit of what we saw...

Fishies

Eels

Of course, what's a fish market without some live octopus (octopi?)

We stopped at a traditional Korean restaurant near the beach and had a quick meal. We went to a bar for a drink, and then headed back to Haeundae where we made lots of new friends and hung out until the wee hours of the morning, as usual.

Experimenting with our Asian style :)

Checked out of the love motel around noon and went to Starbucks on the beach. We spent an hour or two on the beach before hopping in a cab back to Busan Station where we were lucky enough to catch the next KTX to Seoul. Grabbed dinner at Seoul Station once we were back and then headed home. I highly highly recommend Busan for anyone to decides to come to Korea, it was definitely worth the trip and we will be going back again once the winter is over for some more fun in the sun. So that's all for now - I need to try to get the sand out of my hair, shoes, iPod, etc. Hiking Monday, Everland (amusement park) Tuesday, no classes Wednesday (still have to go to school but no teaching necessary). I'll get paid to watch movies and skype with all of you! I hate to brag - but I really do have the best job ever. I have yet to take a vacation day but out of the past 20 possible days for me to teach - I have taught 8. Life is good :)

Film Festival!

I'm on the beach and you're not. Ha ha!

"I dig my toes into the sand. The ocean looks like a thousand diamonds strewn across a blue blanket. I lean against the wind, pretend that I am weightless. And in this moment I am happy." --Incubus