Trip to Korea

Wow, it's been a few weeks since I've updated this.  Last Thursday I departed for Seoul, SK to meet my best friend who is teaching in Busan, a city on the southern coast of South Korea. I was a little nervous about my travels because I had to trust public transport (a bus) to get me to the airport in Taipei on time.  I left plenty of time and waited about 2.5 hours at the airport.  The flight was fine, and I had really good fish on the plane.  We planned on meeting at the Seoul Train Station, so I took an hour bus from the Incheon Airport (outskirts of Seoul) to the station.  Colleen arrived about 15 minutes after I did and we reunited around 5:20pm.  One of her friends, Kenna, who is also a teacher in Busan was also meeting a friend from home in Seoul so we decided to stay overnight at a Marriot.  Colleen and I stopped at the information desk and walked around the area around the train station.  We discovered a Forever 21!  It was better than many I've been to in the States.  It was strange finally being together in Asia...and both being teachers.  Of course, it took us forever to settle on a place to get dinner (we actually walked out of 2 restaurants...), but ended up with delicious Chinese fare.  Next on the itinerary was finding the Marriot.  We got to the right subway stop, and when we exited, Colleen immediately saw a Marriot sign (though in the distance).  We figured that had to be it...why would there be more than one Marriot in the same area?  15 minutes later, we crossed a highway and Colleen nearly lost her life while retrieving her dropped sunglasses from the road.  We reached the Marriot, only to discover that they were Marriot Apartments....and the staff barely spoke English.  Luckily they called us a taxi, and we finally got to the correct hotel.  It was a brand new hotel and none of the taxi drivers were familiar with it.  We met Courtney, Kenna's friend, who works as a flight attendant and found the hotel for us.  It was beautiful and modern.  After a day of traveling, I showered and we relaxed a little while waiting for Kenna to arrive.  Colleen had done some research on the hot night spots of Seoul, so we hopped in a taxi (after midnight!) and got out at an area lined with pubs and clubs.  There were some interesting names, "Thursday Party" and "Ho Bar" among others.  Colleen and I scouted out the bars while the other two grabbed some food.  While walking, two other American girls (who had already been out for a few hours) approached us and wanted to be friends.  We went to a Western club with them, but for some reason, the minute they learned we liked to dance, they weren't interested in hanging out...strange.  I had my first experience with Soju, a Korean liqour...although the night was relatively tame.  We met some Korean businessmen who were quite clingy, but also a lot of fun.

The next day we started the day on the subway bound for the National Palace of Korea.  The subway system of Seoul is less efficient than others...at least the ticketing procedure is.  You have to put a 50 cent deposit down everytime you buy a ticket, and then get the refund from a machine when you exit.  It took too much time and effort for us.  It was also a Korean holiday weekend, so throughout the weekend, there were a lot of stores and places that weren't open like normal...and overbooked transportation (I almost didn't have a ride to the airport for my return flight!).  Anyways...the Palace was really cool, and we arrived just as the guards were changing.  A North Carolina woman and her family was there and took some group shots of us...there are a lot of pictures from this place.

The weather the whole weekend was gorgeous - a lot different from Taipei (although it can be pretty too).  It was about 10 degress cooler, not humid at all, and the evenings required sweaters.  We also explored a Korean village and festival which was going on during the holiday.  We took a taxi to an insane indoor shopping market....it was packed with people and very overwhelming.  It would have been easier with less people.  We were starting to fade after shopping....and recharged with some unique streetfood and rest by the water. 

 Colleen and I said goodbye to the girls who were staying another night in Seoul, and departed for Busan.  It's hard to believe after a late night out, full day of touring, and 3 hour train ride that we went out in Busan that night...but time was precious, didn't want to waste a moment.  So we got to Colleen's apartment, which looked just like the pictures...comparable to the size of mine, but with an extra empty room and more equiped kitchen.  We met up with two more of Colleen's teacher friends, Giselle and Krissy.  The place we spent most of the time was called Kino Eye.  Another relatively relaxed night of meeting Western teachers and Korean guys who wanted to follow us around all night. 

Saturday was definately the best day of my trip.  We got up and went to Haeundae beach, which is known to be a touristy place.  It is, but it's no wonder...it's gorgeous!  It reminded me a lot of a beach in Australia...inlet surrounded by buildings built up on the hillside.  I still couldn't get over how nice the weather was.  The only beach I've been to in October was Cape May and it was rainy.  The whole experience was so remenicsent of Bondi Beach in Australia where we enjoyed Oporto (Australian fast food) picnics on the beach.  We were determined to recreate this novelty and a trip to Lotteria (Korean McDonalds) did the trick.  We layed on the beach for an hour or so, talking non-stop about our past adventures in Australia and Germany.  Next, we decided to walk down the beach which turned into a stroll around the edge of the inlet to a lighthouse.  We could see Japan from the outlook, which is only possible 60 days a year...that shows how clear a day it was.  We walked back to town and had already decided we would be eating at the Outback Steakhouse in town.  We worked at one when we studied abroad in Australia and had many Korean coworkers.

 

That night we had some fun dressing up mannequin legs that had somehow gotten into Colleen's apartment (...).  We enjoyed the old pastime of dancing to Mika, Bruce, and Queen while getting ready.  Krissy came over and we headed off to the bars.  Again, there was a Thursday Party where we started.  We hopped around to other spots, had a photo shoot on the beach with the lovely bridge in the background, and private karaoke room.

It was pretty hard to face the next day, knowing that it was my last...but it was nice to have a somewhat laid back day in Nampodong.  This is the district Colleen works in.  We had to take 2 buses to get there, but conveniently there's a bus stop right next to her apartment.  It truly is a shopping mecca - tons of stylish boutiques as well as some moderately priced places.  It also houses the fish market, Busan Tower, and markets.  Colleen showed me the outside of her school, and we shopped around a little.  She was on scout for a brown leather jacket, and had tried on numerous ones in Seoul.  I didn't realize how popular they were Korea right now...now I'm curious to see if they're selling as much in Taipei.  We met up with the other girls and went up in the Busan tower.  It was really cozy up top, complete with a cafe, ice cream, and comfy seating.  We relaxed up there for about 45 minutes taking pictures and enjoying the 360 degree view of Busan.  Then as we were about to depart for the elevator, we saw a sign that said "observation deck this way."  We were so content with the cafe level that nearly missed the highest point of the tower altogether!

Next we made our way to the fish market, and on the way admired the puppies in the pet store windows.  I did learn, unfortunatley, how well known Korea is for feasting on dogs...this was very difficult to face as the helpless puppies stared up from their crates.  I was also amazed by how much Koreans treat their dogs as accessories.  It's pretty comical how much they dress them up, put shoes on them, and even dye their fur!  The fish market was a sight to behold.  Run solely by women, there were endless amounts of sea creatures.  Most of which I did not recognize.  Walking by the stands, it was not uncommon to see the meat moving even after being cut up.  Some of the stands also had eating areas where you could sit down for the freshest seafood meal imaginable.  Koreans even eat fish while it's still moving after it's been cooked!
We decided to grab some street food to tie us over while we did some market shopping.  There were some delicious nut/cinnemon sugar filled, fried dough that everyone was eating.  I tried Kimbap, a seaweed roll up of rice, vegetable, tofu rolled.  I've actually enjoyed this numerous times in Taipei, not knowing it was native to Korea.  Colleen and I split off from the others and meandered through the market, looking at crazy "Engrish" tshirts.  Both in Taiwan and Korea, people will be seen wearing any type of sensless English on their shirts.  Example: "I am happy at the good" " "No Smorking" "Hello Lovely Silly, " or simply a list of 20 American actors.  All along, that night, in the back of my mind I knew these were the last hours of my time there, but I tried to be dilusional and ignore it.  We met up with the rest of the group and ate at a Korean BBQ restaurant.  It was a neat experience.  We were served raw pork, vegetables, soup, and an egg bake.  By this point, we were all pretty out-of-it, but the food was good and I'm glad I got to take part in Samgyeopsal.  We walked into a movie lounge (I'm not sure if that's what it was called), but it's basically the same idea as kareoke, but with movies.  Although the price they wanted to charge for our group, was not worth it, so we decided to head home.  Krissy, Colleen, and I made a stop at Coldstone complained about teaching.  The kids they teach sound a lot like mine.  The Asian student culture and attitudes of kids seems pretty even across the boards.  Colleen and I watched a few episodes of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, tried to recall all of the places we visited and went out in Germany and called it a night...I had a 6am train to catch the next morning.