Lack of postings

So there have been no postings really as of late except one of a trip I took in August. I actually finished that post late Tuesday night, October the 13th, but it shows that it was posted on August 17th, which is when I originally started the post. That just shows how much time has elapsed since I have sat down to write. I am the gold standard blogging. Anyways, I will continue to be busy with life, grad school apps and trying to figure out what life has in store for me, so I can't make any promises, but I will try to make an effort to post more more. Please stay tuned.........

Weekend Getaway to Namhae (hey that rhymes!)

So as many of you may know, I was seeing a girl here in Korea since about the ides of March (I don't pay attention to history). After a short hiatus, we patched things right around the end of July and things have been great ever since. Well since soccer season is on a break, I thought it would be a good idea for the two of us to get out of Ulsan and take advantage of the summer weather. So together we picked out Namhae, which is an island (although really it's like a string of 4 islands) on the South coast of Korea.

So after a delayed start on Saturday morning, due to the fact that this guy still hasn't learned his lesson with soju, Carmen and I made it to the Ulsan bus terminal around 11:00 am Saturday morning. After a short trip to Busan, we came to the quick realization that we had to go to another city just to get a bus to Namhae. I still think we could have gotten a bus from a different bus station in Busan, but that still would've required a long trip on the subway so it wouldn't have been too different. So from Busan, we were on our way to Jinju only so we could catch another bus to Namhae.

From Jinju, we were able to get board a bus for Namhae in little time. Once we got to the island, we were both content with our selection. The island was very green, full of rice fields and tree covered mountains. It also had lots of nice coves and views of the sea, a very welcome change from the industrial city that is Ulsan. We arrived in Namhae somewhere around 5:00, which was a little disappointing as it had been such a beautiful day on Saturday, but our arrival was delayed by hangovers, indirect bus routes and highways packed with people fleeing the city for the weekend.

Having arrived at the bus station with nothing but some 3 paragraphs in the Lonely Planet book, we wandered around hoping to find some food and lodging. Since the directions in the L.P. were fairly vague (not the first time the Lonely Planet has failed me in Korea, probably won't be the last), we decided it would be best to head towards the beach we wanted to check out and hope there was lodging there. Wanting to take advantage of the nice day and sunshine, we passed on the bus ride and opted for the 20,000 won (16 dollar cab ride).

Shortly after we got to the beach we decided to get some food as we had spent most of the day on a bus with only eating some cookies. After passing tent after tent that were meant to serve as restaurants on the beach, we finally came to one that looked like it could fit the bill. So the two of us ordered doenjang jjigae, which is a stew that comes from soybean paste. Being on the beach, and in Korea, where things from the sea seem to find a way on your plate regardless, it was of little surprise to see some shrimp and mussels in there. We even had the pleasure of seeing spongebob's boss (the crab) look us in the eye as we digged in the bowl.

Refueled and ready to roll, we decided it was time to find a place to stow our things for the evening. We checked a couple of motels for rooms but they were all booked, and it was no surprise as this was during the busy travel month of August. The Sangjo beach area doesn't have many hotels anyways, and all the ones were all booked up. Soon people could see that we didn't have a place to stay and they began to approach us with staying in a Minbak. A minbak is apparently a guesthouse which is pretty tiny to be gin with, and they offer you a small room with nothing but some blankets on the floor. Pass. We kept on walking around after checking out a few Minbaks, utnil we finally came to one where the guy actually had a room with a bed to offer us. Paid the guy 20,000 won for the night (about $15.00) and done deal.

After resting up and putting our stuff down, we decided to walk around the beach area. Since it was such a nice evening, and there is literally nothing to do there, so we went out and got some bokbunja, or raspberry wine, our favorite drink in Korea, and jalapeño doritos and just chilled on the beach.

The following day we made a trip to the beach although Sunday was not nearly as nice of a day as Sunday was. Lots of clouds and practically no sun, but since we were at the beach we decided to take advantage. So we hopped into the water and it was a little chilly but not too bad. It would have been a lot better if it was sunny and hot outside, but we enjoyed going in regardless. After playing around in the beach for a bit, we decided to try out the banana boats that were setting off at the end of the beach.

Now, the only ever time I'd have ever been on a banana boat was in Mexico, where they had a proper boat pulling us. Here in Korea they use jet skis, so we didn't go nearly as fast as the one in Mexico. Also, in Mexico they took a sharp turn that forced us all into the water but here they took some turns here and there but nothing that forced us into the water. Carmen tried her hand in getting me into the water by tugging and pushing but to no avail. I wasn't going to be the only one in the water.

Coming in from a fun but dry banana boat ride, we went for a dip in the beach for a bit longer and then decided it was time to make the trip back to Ulsan. Since we there are no direct buses to Ulsan, we decided to get a bus back to Masan which is a city in between Namhae and Ulsan, and supposedly has an awesome authentic Mexican restaurant, a needle in the haystack of korean bbqs and soup restaurants. By late afternoon, we had jetted off from Sangjo beach and en route to Masan.

As mentioned before, our trip also coincided with the busiest travel month in Korea. And being in a beach town, many people from the city also shared our aspirations of jetting from the city and going to the beach for the weekend. What this led to was some of the busiest highways I'd ever been on. By Lonely Planet standards, a trip from Ulsan(approximately) to Namhae should take around 3 hours. More than 3 hours later and we were still at a standstill outside of Masan. Carmen's dream of getting good Mexican food was slowly fading away as we started to fear that we would get to Masan after it closes.

We eventually crawled into Masan sometime around 8 or so, and started to look around for this Mexican restaurant. We weren't given real clear directions on how to get there and Carmen was told that we would be able to get into a taxi and tell the driver "Mexican Restaurant" and the taxi driver would know the place. Fail. But, Carmen's desire was strong, so where there's a will there's a way. After asking for directions for a p.c. bang, or p.c. room, we got access to our good ol' trusty friend "internet" and were able to get a phone number for the place. Carmen called and was able to talk to the owner, a chilanga or person from Mexico City, who was able to help us with directions and get tell the taxi driver what to say.

Carmen's quest was near completion as were welcomed into a piece of Mexico in Korea. After Carmen chatted with the women for a bit and we wondered about what to order as there were so many options, options of foods that had only been in our dreams for the last several months. We decided to go about the menu with a group attack mentality, getting a couple of dishes each and then sharing. So out came the enchiladas, the tacos al pastor. And the tostadas, oh the tostadas. And how about some delicious agua de horchata to wash it down? Don't mind if I help myself to some of that horchata, and another glass for extra measure. After finishing round one, we decided to go all out and get some more tacos, and order some tamales for the road. By the time we were finished, we were both completely satisfied yet in stomach pain. We managed to rack up a 45,000 won dinner bill, maybe some 37.5 dollars. I guess that's not too bad for a dinner in the states, but by Korean standards, that's expensive, yet it was worth every penny.

With a content Carmen, we trekked over to the bus station to catch a bus back to Ulsan. Luckily for us, most of the travelers had made it to their destination at this point, so the night trip to Ulsan was a short one. Back to Ulsan to start the daily grind the very next day.......

Something funny happened on the way to the stag party.....

After beign called out by a drunken buffoon about my lack of writing on the blog (just kidding B, I know you weren't too drunk, ha!), I figured it was time for me to sit down again and crank one out for you guys. This particular post is a short one but I like it regardless. It's not particularly insightful on Korea or anything like that but it does highlight the fact that it's the small things that make life and that sometimes the journey can be as much fun as the actual destination. Enjoy!

So a friend of mine from the football (soccer) team I play on is getting married in late August, so that means 2 things my friends, bridal showers and dress shopping....errr, I mean one thing, stag party!! As a group, we decided to head to some place called Geoje, some small city which has to be better than Ulsan by default.

Saturday afternoon rolls around and I lazily walk to the meeting spot to cram into a 9 person van with 6 other guys from the team. Most of the people got there on Friday but the rest of us get out late in the evening on Fridays so it made more sense to leave on Saturday. So we roll out on our 4-5 hour trek somewhere around 1:00 and everything seems to be going well.

At one point we stop for at a truck stop for a bathroom break, get some snacks and stretch out. My friend Donal and I step inside and come across one of those once in a lifetime decisions, you know the ones where you make a bold move which could be seen as a heroic move or a complete utter move? Yeah, one of those moves. So there we are in the truck stop, looking at the vast cds and cassettes (yes they still sell them somewhere) where our eyes come across the only western one, and quite frankly the only one we recognized. ABBA Gold, on cassette!! Now, the decision was a tough one, as the cassette costed 5,000 won, or about 4 dollars. After looking at each other we knew there was no option, no guts no glory!

With our split purchase in our hand, we walked back into the van with grinning and giggling like school girls. The moment JK started the van, we popped in the tape, anxiously waiting the response or boos. The first song that came on, to no surprise, was "Dancing Queen". Within seconds, all seven of us were singing along to the song, quite a feat considering that there were two koreans in the van, one who hadn't said a word in English in the 3 hours up to that point. The sound wasn't great, but oh what a sight, 7 grown men singing "Dancing Queen". We listened to the rest of the tape, but I don't think anything could've topped the initial rendition of "Dancing Queen".

Now the rest of the weekend was good, had some good laughs, blah blah blah, but I know that the ABBA experience will always stay with me. Like I said before, sometimes it's those small moments that make a good time great, a great night an excellent, etc. And really, that's what it's all about..................

Who needs a bunch of mud anyway, right?

Well let me start with my token apology about being a poor blogger, been busy but been really lazy as well. What can you do? Anyways, last weekend, the 11th and 12th of July, was the kickoff to a weeklong fest appropriately named "Mudfest" in Boryeong, a coastal city on the west coast of Korea. They apparently ship in some mud which is supposed to be healthy (although some people reported that they had a bad reaction to the mud) and have it on the beach, and people spend the weekend on the beach, in the mud and get drunk all weekend. The event is pretty big amongst the foreigner community, and something like 90% of the people that attend are foreigners.

I was unable to attend but to be honest I wasn't sure if I wanted to go as it seemed like a spring break type event, but at the same time I wanted to see what it was like because it was so hyped up. No mudfest, but fun was still to be had in Ulsan, right? So Saturday evening I met up with my good friends Mal and Lu, the dog they were dogsitting (her owner was at mudfest surprise, surprise) at one of the beaches here in Ulsan. I started off the evening by passing by a cart on the boardwalk area of the beach that sold Italian treats and sangria. Sangria, in Korea, who would've thought you would be able to sangria here? So I picked up some cups for Mal, Lu and I. The verdict, better than I thought it would've been and the couple that served it to me was super nice and seemed super cool, so definitely a plus and a recommendation if you find yourself on Ilsan Beach in Ulsan.

From there, we met up with our Korean friend Martin and headed to a hof (beerhouse, they took the name from the German word) for some beers and fried bar food. Since it was raining and it seemed like there was no end in sight, we decided to head to a restaurant and get some proper food. With Martin being our master of Korean culture and making sure that we get as much as possible, he took us to try a new Korean food, 족 발 (jok bal) or pig's leg. Just think of them taking a piggy's leg and then slicing the leg into slices that look like silver dollar pancakes. Presented in a big pile with some bones and a knee cap in there, and you're good to go. And just like a lot of Korean cuisine, it was served with doenjang (soy bean paste), garlic, and leaves to wrap the meat up and eat like tacos! The jok bal was pretty good, very fatty and wasn't my overall favorite Korean meal, but definitely worth trying.

After our meal and one doggie wee incident in the entrance of the restaurant, the 5 of us (including our canine friend), got into a taxi and head across town to where Mal and Lu live. We then went to a bar to continue our festivities, but unfortunately the bar had other plans by serving us some of the weakest drinks I had ever drank in my life. Congratulations Wa Bar for actually making people sober up in a bar, well played. Weak drinks aside, it was a good time as our friend Mike was able to meet up with us there as we were just able to enjoy some good company.

The next day I woke up for a soccer game which we ended up forfeiting after a nasty injury decimated our squad of 9 people down to 8 (normal squads have 11 plus substitutes. Another casualty of mudfest). While I was unhappy that we lost, I was content that I got to go home and get some much needed rest.

Later on that day, I met up with my friend JK at Munsu Soccer Stadium (a site for the 2002 World Cup) to watch the Ulsan Hyundai Tigers take on FC Daegu in a K-League match up. It was pretty cool because we sat with the comissioner of the Korean Amateur Soccer League, which was probably more exciting for JK as I couldn't really have a conversation with them due to the language barrier. Still, I think it was good for them to see a foreigner that was interested in the local football team.

From there, the comissioner dropped me off near my home so I could get some dinner and cap off the weekend. All in all it was a good weekend, despite missing out on the most talked about party in Korea........

The Big Guy's Birthday

The Big Guy, the big, fat, bald one that is, had a birthday in the beginning of May. That's right, I'm talking about Buddha! The following are the tales of my weekend celebrating his birth with soccer, lanterns and merriment.

For those of you that aren't in the know, 25% of the Korean population claims to be Buddhist, thus making it one of the main religions of Korea. Consequently, 25% of the population claims to be Christian as well. But much like Christian Holidays, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated by everyone, regardless of their beliefs. What that means is everyoen heads to the temples, but I'm getting ahead of myself so let's start from the beginning........

So after a morning Saturday practice on May 2, I rushed back to my home to take a quick shower and pack my school bag with all the necessities for a one day trip. I refueled with some quick little snacks at the local grocery store and then went over to the Ulsan Bus Station.

Seeing as how Ulsan isn't exactly the hub of Korean Culture nor Buddhism, I decided to take a trip to Busan and check out some temples there. One of the best things about living in Ulsan is that Busan, Korea's 2nd biggest city, is a 40 minute bus ride away, making it perfect for weekend trips. Another good point is due to the clsoe proximity to Busan, buses leaving for Busan from Ulsan leave every 7 minutes. I was literally en route to Busan within 5 minutes of getting to the station. A-SSSAAAHHH!!!

As previously noted, it took me maybe 40 minutes to get to Busan. From the bus station I was able to navigate the subway to find the station I needed to get to my destination, Samgwansa Temple, a modern temple located inthe heart of the metropolis. While looking at the subway map, I realize that Beomeosa Station, the stop which leads to Beomeosa Temple, is one stop over from the bus station and is still on the way to my final destination. 왜 안돼 (way- an dway), or "why not?" Hooray for sponteanity!

After getting off the subway, I decided to follow the signs pointing to the temple and walk the 3 kilometers to the temple as opposed to taking the bus. I came to this decision as I figured I would not be able to figure out Lonely Planet's directions, only to find the bus station that services the temple by accident. A-SSAH! So I paid the 1,000 won (about .75 U.S.) fare and crammed into the bus full of people itching to taste some of that sweet, sweet Buddha B-Day cake.

So for the first kilometer, everything was going well, we were moving fine along fine, and then boom, we hit the traffic of half the city of Busan in this hill. Finally, after some minutes of waiting there, these older Korean ladies got the same idea that I had, which was to get off and walk it and get there in half the time. I took advantage of their abilities to ask the driver to let them off and got off as well and continued my trek to see the birthday boy. On my trek, not only did I pass the bus that left the station prior to the bus that I was on, but I past 2 other buses, which is to say the 3 buses that left before my bus had left.

Considering the amount of cars waiting to arrive to the temple, it was no surprise that the temple was crammed even from the bottom gate. The steps leading up to the temple were adorned with paper lamps in the shades of green, red, yellow and blue. Totally Asian and totally cool.

So I walked around a bit, took some pictures of the pagoda and the all the lanterns. One thing about Beomeosa is that it is supposed to be one of the most famous temples of Busan. While the actual temple itself didn't seem to impress, the surroundings were pretty cool as there were lush green mountain/hilltops in the background. The lonely planet book noted how you almost forget that you're in a city of a couple million people which I could see, minus the whole fact that half of those couple of million people were at the same temple as me.

I continued to meander around the temple and saw some more prayer halls but was unable to get close as there was some type of ceremony going on. Beatened down by the vast amount of people at the park, I decided to take a few more pictures of the pagoda and go on my way.

From Beomeosa, I took the subway to Samgwansa Temple. I had gone to Samgwansa with Mal, Lu and Mike in my first trip to Busan and remembered them having tons of poles meant for the lanterns. Surely, they would have a great set up for festivities, i thought.

Samgwansa is totally different from Beomeosa. Samgwansa is right off of semi-main street where as Beomeosa is a bit more hidden in the mountains and forest. Beomeosa is an odler temple while Samgwansa is a newer temple. With that said, don't let Samgwansa's youthful age (I believe it was built in the 80's, of the 20th century) fool you about it's importance. Apparently, or so a woman told Mal on our last visit, Samgwansa is the hub of a certain sect of Buddhism for a large part of Korea, making it a rather important temple.

Walking up to the temple gate, as the taxi couldn't take me to the temple gate due to the people traffic, you could see all the people selling traditional buddhist garb and everything buddhist. As I got closer to the temple, the items became more frivolous and irrelevant to the actual celebration. Starting with some slushees then moving to random t-shirts and finishing with street vendors selling q-tips and band-aids. Really? Not sure what that was all about, but it just goes to show that nothing is sacred anymore, not Christmas, not Buddha's Birthday and definitely not Presidents Day......err, well forget the last one.

As predicted, the decorations at Samgwansa was quite impressive. There were large dragons and a roof of lanterns covering the grounds of the temple. I meandered through the masses of people and tried my best to capture the moment without offending the religious attending. With that said, a lot of the decorations were similar to those of Beomeosa so I did not stay there too long.

Finished with Samgwansa, I went back to Haeundae to meet up with a my former coworker and his girlfriend. From there we went to his new apartment and started up the night with some Andong Soju, which is 40% alcohol. We then packed up some homemade soju fruit juice cocktails and went over to the Busan sports complex to watch the Ulsan Hyundai Tigers, the professional soccer team of Ulsan, face off against Busan L'Park.

Being my first in-person professional event in Korea, the differences between Korean and American sporting events were clear even before I entered the stadium. For one, the most expensive ticket was 8,000 won, or approximately 6 dollars. Not even for MLS games in America are tickets that cheap. Furthermore, there were few people at the stadium, definitely under 5,000, which is shocking because soccer is most definitely in the top 3 in the world of Korean sport.

After getting past the shock of the prices and lack of attendance, it then hit me that we totally walked in with quart size jugs of homemade soju cocktail. Not only did they not detain us for the alcohol but they also sold cans of beer, at ridiculously reasonable prices. It's almost as if they encourage you to get drunk at the games. They obviously haven't had many people from Cleveland attend their sporting events here. Now back in the states, I usually like to have a beer in one hand with some nachos in the other and enjoy a good contest. Korea does things a little differently, with packages of dried squid or ramyeon (the Korean pronunciation of ramen). It's actually quite a sight to see a giant thermos of hot water next to the snack stand so you can prepare you ramyeon.

Well, my mood was lightened with a 2-1 win for the visiting Ulsan Club and by my soju cocktail. The celebrations continued as the 3 of us went to the Haeundae Beach area where we hit up several bars. At that point everything pretty much got blurry and basically all I remember was getting some gimchi jjigae (gimchi stew) before heading back to my friends place where I would crash on his floor.

The next day came early, as I had set my alarm for 10 till 9 so I could get back to Ulsan to catch the soccer bus to take us to our match in Daegu. With my stomach feeling like it had just been on the scrambler ride at an amusement park, I snuck out of my friends apartment and navigated my way back to the bus station to catch the bus back to Ulsan. Ah, this is the life I lead...........

Oh, Korea....

I was originally going to write a post about why I suck at being a blogger, but to be honest I just couldn't be bothered. Look, I get busy at times, and others I get distracted and don't get around to doing the blog. What can you do? So instead of lyign to myself and saying that I will write that post, I've decided to write about some interesting little stories that have occurred here in Korea.

Just a typical Saturday morning, I stopped in MacDonalds and got some breakfast before heading off to soccer practice. As I climbed into the taxi, I heard two words that I hadn't heard in a while, "Good Morning". For the most part, the cab drivers here are reluctant to start up a convo with me, or most foreigners, mostly for the communication barrier but I just so happened to stumble across one that could speak some English, and wanted to have a Saturday morning chat.

We start chatting about the typical stuff, why I'm in Korea, what's teaching like, etc. Then, the driver asks me if I like pop. At first I didn't quite understand what he was saying,I thought he was saying "Park", but then he explained by saying "Beatles? do you like pop?"

Ohhhhhhh, pop music, I think to myself. "Yeah, I like the Beatles. I like pop". So the driver puts in his cd and we start rocking out to some Beatles. And by rocking out, I mean him and I singing "Let It Be" together. Dare I say the most awesome version of "Let It Be"? Korean taxi driver and his Korean accent with my out of tune singing which is heightened at 8:45 in the morning. Brilliant!

Now the story would be good if it ended there, but unfortunately, my newly found friend dared for something greater. "Simon and Garfunkel, do you like?" he asked me. Why yes, yes I do. So after destroying some Beatles, we made our own rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water", a version just as awesome as our Beatles cover.

After the Simon and Garfunkel, we arrived at my destination so the merriment came to a tearful end. I will say that I don't think I've ever been in such a cheerful mood after stepping out of a taxi, so well played Korean taxi driver. These are the moments that make my experience in Korea. This is my life.......

Busan Trip

Continuing with my trend of being really behind on the blog, I am going to write about a trip to Busan that occurred in the middle of March.

So for my friend Lu's Birthday, we decided to take a little weekend trip to Busan, Korea's second biggest city and also a 30-40 minute ride from Ulsan. We being, Mal and Lu, and Mike, the Canadian engineer. We get to Haeundae, a district in Busan, shortly before noon. From there we go in search for our accommodation for the evening, to the love motels!!!

In Korea, they have motels that are called "love motels" which are motels basically built for their name. How can one tell? Good question. Let's see they have little curtains in their entrance so people can't see who is getting in and out of the cars and they have condoms in the rooms. They are cheaper than hotels and usually are pretty comfortable and not as sleezy as one would think with their name. Keep in mind, I think the moniker "love motel" comes from foreigners and the koreans just differentiate by calling them "hotels" and "motels".

After searching around and checking out a handful of different motels, we finally came to agree on one that had a room with two beds so Mike and I could split the cost without partaking in the love. We drop our stuff in the hotel and then go wandering about Haeundae.

The motel that we checked into, and all the motels we checked out, were all a 5 minute walk to Haeundae Beach, so after Mike and Mal got some Starbucks, we headed off to the beach. Lu and I were both excited to be on the beach so we promptly took off our shoes and walked around barefoot. Soon, we were taking the token "jumping picture" right on the edge of water. On a sidenote, Haeundae beach is Korea's most popular beach and is one of the top 8 sceneries of Korea. It definitely did not disappoint, although let's keep in mind that it's not Thailand, Hawaii, the Caribbean, etc.

After trying in vain to get the sand off of us, we decided it was time to get some lunch, b.b.q style. From there we headed on over to the Busan Metro and with the help of the Lonely Planet Guidebook, we just picked some area and went on our way. After getting to our unplanned destination, we stumbled across a decent sized book sotre. Now, I'm always keen to checking out bookstores because I'm always on the hunt for expanding my Spanish library here in Korea and surprisingly, there isn't a lot of Spanish materials here. Basically, anytime I'm in Seoul or Busan, the two largest cities, any bookstore of significant size is considered a must stop for me. Sure enough, they did have some books, mostly reference books, but I was able to find a book about Modern Spanish History for 7 bucks, AHH-SSSAH!!!

Upon exiting the bookstore we notice a little waffle stand in the street. This day just keeps getting better and better! Now, we have just eaten a short time ago but I am never one to back down from eating more. The waffle did not dissapoint as I picked the waffle with blueberry ice cream, ass-aah!

After getting my waffle fix, we moved on and were able to find an open air market. This wasn't the first market I had been to in Korea, as a matter of fact, I walk by one pretty much on a daily basis, but this had to be the best one I had seen so far. They had everything from your everyday fruits and vegetables, to the more exciting random parts of pig and dried stingray. Seeing how we didn't really need any of the forementioned items, we decided to move forward and consult some local maps to try and find somewhere else to visit. To the temples!!

We arrived to some temple whose name wasn't important to remember, and kicked it around there for a bit. A lot of the same from what I've seen in Korea with some minor changes. For one it had a really cool pagoda where people were walking around it and then doing prayers. Around the pagoda they had some wall with these really cool images, like some monkey, tiger and dragon soldiers, the stuff you'd expect to see in Asia. It was kind of difficult to take pictures of the whole temple because they had all these gray poles going up to hold these lanterns for when they hold Buddha's Birthday, which is coming up in May. Hands down, the best part of the temple is that right next to the temple they have an atm. I can just imagine the monks passing around the collection basket during a service and someone running to the cash machine to take out some money........

As mentioned, the temple wasn't really anything new so we moved on and headed back to the motel. Lu and Mal have a friend who is living in Hong Kong that was going to meet up with us so we decided to kill some time by picking up some soju and starting the party in the motel. Hooray for soju and pineapple fanta!

So Vic, the friend from Hong Kong showed up, so we went out to one of the university districts in Busan to celebrate Lu's existence. We first went to a hof (pronounced ho-peh) which comes from German, and had some beers and some fried appetizers as a snack. From there, we went to a foreigner bar to keep the festivities going. On a total random note, we ran into some friends from Ulsan at this bar, who just so happened to be celebating one of the girls' b-days as well. After everyoen got their fill of liquid fun and Madonna, we went back to the motel to get some much needed sleep.

The next day we wake up fairly early as Mal, Lu and Mike had booked a scuba dive with sharks at the Busan Aquarium. I, being the procastinator that I am, never got around to booking mine, so after seeing them off i decided to kick it in Haeundae for a bit. After strolling the beach for a 2nd time, I came across a map that showed some park on the other side of the beach and off I went. The park was a good walk and it was really a nice day to be out and about. They had some wallkways where you coudl take pictures of yourself with this famous bridge in the background. Another highlight of this park is that it has the APEC building from the 2005 APEC conference held in Busan (APEC stands for Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation, or something along those lines). The building itself is pretty cool because it's all futuristic looking, kind of like something you would see at Epcot Center. Then I got to enter the building where I was promptly greeted by a robot, awesome! From there I got to see the boardroom and where all the countries sat.

From there soem time had passed and I thought maybe the three musketeers might be close to being done but Lu called to confirm that they would be in the second group of swimmers so I still had some time. With my handy dandy map I saw there was some park with some waterfalls, a hiking trail and some temples. Why not? So I got in the first taxi and was off in search of some waterfalls. I hiked for a bit and saw a running stream but no waterfall. Hiked a little more and saw the temple. A little further and saw a waterfall but not a very big one, definitely not something worth putting on a tourist map. So I decide to continue walking and see if I come across a waterfall that was worth stopping for.

Now, when I was planning this trek I thought it was going to be a simple breeze in the park, maybe a 1 km walk to the waterfall and 1 km back, nothing too grand. Now I'm walking hiking up this hill and I begin to realize that a. I am the only non-korean on the mountain and b. that I'm the only one not decked out in North Face gear or Korean imitation North Face. As a matter of fact, I was pretty much in my clothes that I had worn the night before, i.e. jeans, t-shirt and tennis shoes. So I continue hiking and come across a slight clearing in the trees where you can see all of Haeundae. The sky rise apartments, the ocean, everything. I think hey this is a pretty awesome view but what would it be like from the top and besides I wasn't really in the mood for stopping yet.

So I continue my hike and must have gone close to 4 km (from the beginning of the park) and still haven't gotten to a peak or even a better clearing. Uggh! To top things, I hadn't planned to go for an extensive hike which means I didn't have any water, hadn't eaten anything since the night before. Not one of the best ideas. But I was feeling fine so I continue hiking and it appears that I am getting closer to the top of the peak and will complete my mission. Nope, I was dead wrong as I wasn't even close to any kind of clearing and the frustration kept building up. I will note though that the highlight of this point was that I was walking by an old mine field, or so the fence and barbed wire fence indicated.

My frustration gets the best of me and I decide that it's not going to happen, I'm not going to see the top and I really don't want to be stranded on a mountain due to dehydration/exhaustion, etc. I pack it in and start heading back only to get to a clearing I had passed on the way up. At this clearing they had a sign that said I was 1.4 km from the top of the peak. Now I think to myself that I definitely hiked close to 1.4 from this clearing before and that it really isn't too much to hike, less than a mile, so it was definitely do-able. Move over frustration, determination is coming through. But, I wasn't going to be able to do the trek alone, I would need nourishment. So i stopped by the only food vendor in sight, (there were actually restaurants on the hill/mountain, but they were a little bit of a hike away) which was some guy selling melon flavored popsicles on the side of the trail. Ok, maybe not the first choice of most hikers but my body could probably use the sugar at the point.

I've got my popsicle and my determination so it's to the top or bust. So I continue my hike but this time take a different trail to see if it will maybe take me to the top. I continue on and go what feels like a km and the peak is not in sight, not good. I continue on and on until I finally get to a clearing which has some rocks and enough of a clearing where you can see all of Haeundae. Ok, not the ultimate goal but it wasn't going to have to do, much like a tie in a sporting event. I sit down for a bit, have some korean take a picture of me and then decide to pack it in and head down the trail.

As I descended I came across one of the small outdoor restaurant/food stands and think to myself that I might as well, get some protein/carbs in me. So after taking a look at the menu I see a plate called 김치 두부 (or kimchi dubu- kimchi tofu). Now in my tired, semi hungover and dehydrated state, I thought it was going to be kimchi dubu jjigae, which is a stew with all of the forementioned ingredients, something I've eaten before and know that I like it. Well, you can imagine my surprise when the waiter brings me out a plate of about 12 2x2x1 (in inches) blocks of tofu topped with kimchi. Being in Korea, I've developed a little bit of thing for tofu, especially when prepared well, same goes for kimchi, but the two of them in mass quantities......? And the kimchi wasn't even good...ick. So I forced myself to eat as much as I could thinking to myself that my body could use the protein and vitamins, leaving at least half of the plate for the staff to clear.

I finally got to the bottom of the hill and walked aways until I was able to hail a cab back to the motel/aquarium area. Coincidently, right aboutthe time when I was getting back to the aquarium, Mal, Lu and Mike had just finished with their dive. After meeting up we headed back to Mal and Lu's room as Mike and I had already checked out, and just lounged around for a bit. After taking our much needed break, we took a walk down to this building right across from Haeundae Beach to get some Indian for Lu's B-Day dinner. And from there, Mike and I packed into the car and came back to Ulsan, thus concluding our trip to Busan.......