So, we kind of took the summer off blogging-wise. Vacationed to the States, got to see the families, and even had a sweet, unexpected stopover in the Big D! Getting back to South Korea and back to school life means it's time to get up to date with our latest trips, so here's a bit of a flashback.
We took our trip to Busan just before finishing the school year. Considering that Buddha's Birthday is at the end of May and we got a good four day weekend for it, it felt oddly like a Memorial Day break. Busan was the perfect destination for a spring getaway: it's a very quick 30 minute flight from Jeju, and as a southern port city, it has some great beaches. Though it's the second largest city in South Korea, we were surprised at how different the vibe there was from Seoul. In Seoul, it feels like everyone's constantly trying to be on their game: even at 11 pm (depending on the neighborhood), it still feels like most of the people in the subway are in business suits and heels. In Busan, even at 11 am, people are still shuffling around in their flipflops and sweats. Where Seoul seems buttoned-up and perfectly coiffed, Busan feels like everyone's letting it all hang out. Neighborhoods feel a bit more casual, a bit more run-down, and a bit friendlier. In Seoul, I feel underdressed in my standard-tourist-wear t-shirt and jeans. In Busan, I'm a chameleon. I think you get the picture.
As usual, we booked fancy accommodations (read: a love motel), this time in the center of the city near Seomyeon Station, an easy spot to get to the subway. As it happens, Seomyeon turned out to be a good neighborhood for us: central, happening late into the night but not seedy, and with lots of fun stores and restaurants to explore. We found our motel pretty easily. Finding our room amongst all the fanfare was a bit more difficult...
Clearly, we forgot to pack glow sticks for this hotel.
This may not seem risqué, but this is the porthole from the bedroom into the shower.
A level of copywriting laziness you don't usually see printed on the walls of your hotel room.
After we'd thoroughly reveled in the level of ridiculousness of our room, we went out to explore the neighborhood. Upon our first walk around, we discovered many more Japanese restaurants than we were used to (apparently because of the higher amount of Japanese tourists visiting Busan), and we learned that one of Busan's specialties is 크로겟 (croquettes), which we love.
Didn't know sticker people were so friggin' rude.
Mmmm, bubble tea.
Dear cat, I'm sorry about your anatomy.
(Regrettably, no cat cafes were visited in the course of this trip.)
My heart is also where the good sweets is.
Especially liked the crane motif.
Cardboard King laughs at your feeble attempts to find boxes when you are moving.
The hardest gang in Busan.
After they frightened us off their territory, we headed over to the Nampo area.
First stop: the famous Jagalchi fish market, to do some wandering around.
The line was so long I never had the pleasure of eating... a giant sugar water droplet?
Technicolor Busan.
Upon first entering the fish section of the outdoor market, Ben spotted one of these guys hurl himself out of a bucket of his friends and start making a break for it. First time we've seen an octopus walk down the street. We let the ahjumma (older woman) guarding the bucket know, and--in one of our favorite moments of the trip--she gave us a salute and casually picked up the octopus and plunked it back into the bucket.
The throne of the Garlic Queen. She's generally smelled and not seen.
Retro-looking harbor picture.
Fake flower store. Real cute wife.
From Jagalchi, we crossed over to the gigantic Gukje market, where you could wander around forever looking at miscellaneous food, clothes, shoes, and many random things more, like...
Motorcycle helmet masks. Yes, please.
...and Wobblesauce. You can put this on everything.
From there, it was to the Busan Tower, which was all decked out in lanterns for Buddha's birthday.
There, for perhaps the first time ever for us in Korea, we found an escalator to take up the hill rather than millions of stairs. At the top, we found Monty Python-esque questions and, of course, couples affixing locks to things to show their undying love for one another.
I don't know, Question, you tell me.
Hannah believes this particular couple's love is not legit enough
and they should indeed quit.
View from the top! Busan is so hilly!
Admiral Yi Sun Shin, we meet again. What other logic-defying
military victories are you dreaming up?
Giant pinwheel roof. ALL THE COLORS!!!!
From there, it was off to Samgwangsa, a Buddist Temple, with our friends Ben and Jae. Apparently Samgwangsa isn't much frequented by tourists except for during Buddha's birthday,
when things clearly get... a bit spectacular.
Stairwell of giant, glowing zodiac animals. Take that, placemat at the Chinese restaurant.
This is one of our zodiac years... if only our placemat had been clearer on if new year begins on January 1st or after Chinese New Year...
Even the carvings on the handrails of the stairs were pretty magical.
This guy asked for a kiss, but I've already got my prince ^^, so... the frog's available?
Danger Mouse
Chicken nipple location service...served.
The view from up above. And you ain't seen nothin' yet.
Glowy elephant fountain...
Palace of amazingness...
...and giant robot dragons. WHAT?!?!?!
The one on the right ate a star and started beating up on Goombas like nobody's business.
Under the lantern ceiling.
Sooo many lanterns.
Each one donated by a family.
You want to go here, yes?
Just in case you weren't impressed yet by the millions of lanterns...
From above the ceiling of lanterns.
Buddha: Yeah, it's my birthday. I'm feeling pretty chill about it.
Turtle turtle.
Insert your own witty comment here. We're too busy still being amazed.
More zodiac animals on the way down! Couldn't help thinking of Fruits Basket.
This one's for you, Mum. ^_~
A bit hard to leave these guys behind after this absolutely stunning experience, but we had to go eat at a loud Warawara (where patrons could apparently press an emergency strobe light button in case of lack of dancing?) and then get to bed to have energy for our next day's adventure, in which we...
hiked through an abandoned neighborhood...
and up a mountain...
to a remote temple carved into the side of a cliff: Seokbulsa.
Unlike Samgwangsa, there were no huge crowds here, but there was a steady flow of faithful visitors coming to pray. Ben managed to snap these quickly and unobtrusively.
A bit of a rest at the top before continuing back down...
Ben figured out an easier route to the temple than many of those we saw described in other blogs. (If you leave a flattering comment, he might retrace our route for you...) Of course, however, these directions meant making our way from Mandeok station through an abandoned town, which was a sight unto itself.
We could see from the flyers and banners still stapled to many boards and buildings that there'd been a big rallying cry to try to save the neighborhood, yet we barely saw a soul while we were there. We got a bit of the story from Jae later: apparently a big company had bought all the land to redevelop it, but many of the residents didn't want to pack up and move away. There were a lot of empty buildings, piles of trash left around, doorways partly open, and a whole lot of quiet... In another words, it would have been a good place to try to convince someone the rapture had happened.
It was SPOOOOOOKY.
BOO!!!
After all that hiking, we headed to the Pusan National University area for some well-deserved croquettes. Mmmm, croquettes. There were a lot of fun shops here to wander in and out of as well.
For sunset, we headed to Haeundae Beach, Busan's most famous beach destination.
They just so happened to be hosting a sand castle competition.
...Sand castles here are not messing around.
Down at the far end of the beach, there was a huge sand mound for playing on, so of course Ben had to go do jumps and flips down it. After a little convincing, I came along. ^_~
Beautiful night shots of the city,
and of the walking path along the nearby cliffs.
This building was classically trained.
It may not be Seoul, but Busan's night lights are still pretty impressive.
Good night, Haeundae! It's off to bed so that tomorrow we can go to...
Gamcheon Cultural Village! The most colorful town in ... who knows? But man, was it cool.
Many people have described this village as one of the least "Korean"-looking places in Busan. The crazy colors, the houses practically built on top of each other, and the zany themes (like the Africa house here) are all part of the unique flavor of this neighborhood,
which was slowly fading until its revival.
which was slowly fading until its revival.
Dr. Seuss birds?
The aliens almost got me.
Huge smoothie?
Hey! Who stepped on a duck?
Me in line waiting to be cut in half and filled with herbs.
Hannah made me leave before I got to the front. LAME.
Poor decision portrait.
Hannah offers her services.
It's time for this place.
Apparently, they host gameshows here where contestants have to find their way around the village and collect items without getting lost.
Om nom nom...
Screw you, birds. These houses are for looks only.
Arrow points to wife.
Succulent.
Lighthouse house next to coffee cup house.
Om nom nom nom...
Everyone who lives here must have thighs and calves like Adonis.
The alleyways may have been a bit narrow at times.
In South Korea, road forks you!
Om nom nom nom!
Poor Decision Portrait 2.
Nice wings, hun.
No, You Hush!!!!
(Had to represent our librarian friends.)
Quirky and surreal, with encroaching touristy-ness, Gamcheon is still unique enough to warrant a morning's wander around. From there, we headed off to the Kyungsung University area, which--although it boasted many restaurants, cafes, bars, and the like--we found unremarkable except for...
Ummm, wait... you can't have guns here...
After pondering this, we sauntered our way to Gwangalli Beach to meet up again with our friends for a dinner on the waterfront with a view of the very animated Diamond Bridge.
If you can make out the eyes on the peaks of the bridge, you can imagine what it was like to see them bob and blink like they were really on someone's face... Perhaps our favorite part, though, was watching the light show of Pong on the bridge. XD
Overall, a lovely, character-filled city with plenty to do and some fun things to see. A great way to close out our travels for the 2014-2015 year! ^^
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