Heart & Seoul: Erin's Adventures in Korea

I have returned!

Busan was absolutely amazing. I really, really loved it there, to the point where I almost wish I was teaching in Busan instead of Seoul. The people are amazingly friendly (and I didn't get stared at!), the city is much more multicultural (because it's a port city, they have large Chinese, Japanese, Russian and North American populations), and the scenery is just beautiful. The city itself isn't quite as pretty as Seoul -- the buildings are older and more weathered, and like any port town the smell of fish often hangs heavily in the air, but the air is so much cleaner than in Seoul (which is fair since Busan is only about 1/5 the size of Seoul).

Our bus left Seoul at 10am on Saturday morning and we got into Busan by 5:30, including a 15 minute pit stop for bathroom breaks and snacks. We were pretty happy about that, especially since we'd all been told by co-workers and friends that since it was Chuseok it was going to take us like 10 hours to get there. But it didn't, so it was all good. Getting home was another story, but I'll get there.

The first night we were there we parted ways with Anna and Janelle, who were staying with a friend of Anna's, and just checked into our hotel (which I didn't take any pictures off but if you're interested in checking it out, the website is here. For $10 a night each, it was pretty freakin' awesome! And the people who worked there were awesome -- they gave us fruit for no reason and they were super friendly. It was right in the centre of Busan, which was nice because it meant that we could pretty much get anywhere in the city with very little effort. We went for dinner and then just spent the rest of the time wandering around our neighbourhood checking things out.

Sunday we headed to Haeundae Beach and wandered around by the beach, then went to the Busan Aquarium, which was absolutely incredible. There were SO MANY sharks, which I'm totally terrified of, and we went on a glass bottom boat trip in the shark tank and fed some of the fish (not the actual sharks, thank god) as the sharks swam circles around the boat. Dad, you would have loved this place, there were SO many cool fish and stuff. It was beautiful. That night we were exhausted, so after dinner and some more walking around we rented a movie from the front desk at the hotel and just chilled. Lauren was tired and decided to go to bed, but Alicia and I were still awake so we headed across the road to the bowling alley and played a few rounds, which was hilarious because we're both so bad. I did, however, get to wear a size 6 bowling shoe, which made me happy because so far trying on shoes in Korea has been a comedic experience as Korean women have pretty much the smallest feet in the world and they don't make womens' shoes in my size (haha nice, eh?). So it was nice to ask for a size nine bowling shoe and discover it was huge, even on my canoe feet. Hilarity ensued when Alicia decided to give the lady her name for our score card, because the girl working the desk barely spoke English and we both still suck at Korean. In hindsight I should have given her mine, since I can write my name in Korean, but Alicia beat me to the punch and this is what ensued:

Korean desk girl: *asks for our name*
Alicia: A
Girl: *writes down A*
Alicia: L
Girl: *writes down R*
Alicia and I: *try our hardest not to laugh
Alicia: *I*
Girl: *writes down I*
Alicia: C
Girl: *writes down G*
Girl: *starts laughing because the thinks Alicia's name is hysterical
Alicia and I: *start killing ourselves laughing at what she's written down*
Alicia: I
Girl: *writes down I*
Alicia: A
Girl: *writes down A*

In the end? Alicia is now "Arigia" and remained so for the rest of the trip (and let's face it, probably the rest of forever). Ahahaha poor Alicia can't catch a break. People mistake her for Korean, or they think she's Japanese, her students refuse to believe she's Chinese-Canadian and not just a Korean lying to them about being Korean, and then they massacre her name with Konglish. So hilarious.

Monday we woke up to pouring rain, so we slept in and then just chilled out at the hotel. After lunch we decided we were just going to brave the rain, so we headed down to the docks to the Jagalchi fish market, which is the largest fish market in Korea and one of the largest in the world. It was simultaneously disgusting and amazing -- you can buy everything here from crab to mackerel to whale meat to mussels to eel, all freshly pulled from the ocean. It smelled awful in there, as you can imagine, so I mostly mouth-breathed through the whole thing, but it was so cool to see all the bizarre fish that I'd never even seen before. It was awesome. After the fish market we all reeked, so we came back to the hotel and showered and changed. Once we were clean and not smelling like fish anymore, we headed back out into the city. By this point the rain had stopped, so we went to what we thought was Chungnyeolsa Shrine, but really wasn't. I still have no idea what that first shrine was called, but it was amazing. It was a lot smaller than the actual Chungnyeolsa Shrine, but instead we found ourselves at this really incredible little Buddhist temple. We were the only people there, and were met by this monk who we thought was going to kick us out but really just wanted to say hello. She asked us where we were from, and we told her Canada and America, and then she asked Alicia and I if we were from Quebec and said "Bonjour" in the most hilarious Korean-accented French ever. I can't really explain how funny it was, but god, we tried so hard not to laugh. She gave us bananas and dates and let us wander around, then walked us back down the mountain (seriously, the climbing we did on this trip was unreal), chatting the whole way. She was 46 years old, but she didn't look a day over thirty (and was thrilled when we told her so), and couldn't believe that Alicia was 23 (she's so short and looks about 16 lol). She invited us to come back on Saturday for tea, but we had to decline since we were returning to Seoul on Wednesday, but she said we were welcome back at her temple any time we were in Busan. So even though it wasn't the real Chungnyeolsa Shrine, it was totally worth it if only to meet her. She was so cool.

After sweating up and down the hills of Not-Chungnyeolsa Shrine, we decided to head to the hot springs, which was AMAZING and a whole lot of nudity (no bath suits allowed GAH) and really, really cool. The spa was so beautiful and even though we went in thinking it was going to be a natural hot spring (and were a weeeeee bit disappointed to find out that it wasn't), it was still one of the most amazing parts of the trip, and so nice after a day of rain and stinky fish. Afterwards we were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel and all passed out.

Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous, so after breakfast we decided to see Beomeosa Shrine, which is one of the largest Buddhist temples in all of Korea. It was as beautiful as we'd heard -- some of it was built as early as the 9th century, and the most recent of the buildings were built in the 1600s. It was super busy here because of Chuseok (which is a time for Korean Buddhists to visit temples and shrines to pay their respects to the ancestors and reflect on the year's bounty), so at times I felt a little out of place and even like I was imposing, but there were a ton of other whiteys there, so it wasn't so bad. The surrounding mountainside was just as beautiful as the shrine at Beomeosa, and Alicia and I spent much of the morning climbing through the woods and around the many spring-fed rivers and waterfalls. It was SO beautiful, and the pictures I took doesn't even do it justice. If this place was in Seoul I would go there very night and just read. Seriously, so beautiful.

After Beomeosa we parted ways with Lauren, who'd had her fill of temples and just wanted to go to the beach. While the beach was beautiful, there are beaches in Canada. There aren't gorgeous Buddhist temples like Samgwangsa, however, which is where Alicia and I headed. While the area around Samgwangsa temple wasn't as gorgeous as Beomeosa, Samgwangsa was just incredible. There was a huge, huge pagoda there that was just gorgeous, and it was so high up the mountain that the view was amazing. Our cab driver got lost on the way to the temple, so when we finally got there he refused to take our money, so we got a $5 cab ride for free! w00t! Then while we were at the temple taking a break just to enjoy the scenery, a guy totally perved on us (well, me, really), and just stood there straight up staring at me for like, ever. He finally left and went down to get in his car, but not without another few solid minutes of staring as he walked down the stairs and through the little parking lot. Then a guy came up the hill on his moped, sat at the bottom of the stairs on his bike staring, revved his engine a couple times as Alicia and I just sat there dying with laughter, and then finally left. I just love feeling like a total freak in Korea. It's great.

We were completely exhausted by the time we climbed down the mountain (seriously, the stairs in this place! My legs are still killing me!) and starving as well, so we hit up a galbi place and brought endless amusement to the wait staff there, none of whom spoke any English but were so friendly regardless. We all just laughed our way through our lack of ability to communicate, but still had the best meal I've had so far in Korea (galbi, by the way, is beef that you barbecue right at your table, then wrap in mint leaves with mushrooms and onions). We also had more fish-bone noodles and japchae as well, which is my favourite side. Korean side dishes are awesome, because if you don't like them it doesn't matter because they're free, and if you do like them you can just keep ordering more, because they're free!! :D After dinner we met up with Lauren and headed back to the hotel, rented another movie, and I pretty much just passed out.

This morning there wasn't much time for anything other than packing and breakfast (which was free at the hotel, yay!), and then we caught our bus and headed back to Seoul. Unfortunately the rest of Korea was trying to get back to Seoul as well, so our five hour bus ride ended up taking around eight hours, but I slept most of the way so it wasn't a big deal. Even with this extra time on the trip back the vacation was still one of the best I've been on, and it was so nice to get out of Seoul and away from the insanity of this massive city. It is nice to be back, though...getting up for school tomorrow is going to be a little tough, but I actually missed my kids because apparently I'm some kind of freak lol. And besides, it's only two days, and then it's the weekend again! This weekend is Hannah's birthday, so we're going out, either in Gangnam (Korea's Beverley Hills) or in Hangdae (a little less hardcore but still so fun), so I'm sort of hoping we go to Hangdae. Then next week we have Wednesday off for another holiday (man, Korea is so great), so it's not really as if I have a hard two weeks coming up. :D

I'm glad to be home in Seoul, though (as strange as it seems to call Seoul "home), and I took about eight hundred pictures, so I'm going to upload those tomorrow and get them up here ASAP. I hope you've all had a great week, and that I see you online soon -- I missed talking to you all!! But for now I'm exhausted after a long day of traveling, so I'm headed to bed. Night!