Evening all,
So it's been a while since we last posted a blog, and for that I apologize. To anyone who has been following regularly I am especially apologetic. Since our lives here have really settled in, we're doing more living than "oo'ing" and "aw'ing" which result in blogging due to shock and awe!
The last really interesting thing we did here was take a trip to Busan with a friend from school and her boyfriend. We drove down on a Saturday night and got set up in a fairly nice hotel before heading out for a bite to eat and some drinks.
Now, Busan is the second largest city in South Korea and it is on the Southern coast. The most popular beaches are located here, and it is literally a seaside city. There is a large overpass bridge that was constructed to bypass downtown traffic that swings way out into the bay and gives a great view of the water front buildings. We made sure to take a drive over this before settling into "walking" mode.
After dropping off our things, and the car, at "Hotel Orange", we headed for the beach and a bar / restaurant called the Fuzzy Navel. We heard that this place had excellent Mexican food and Nicole and I were in the mood. However, the service was atrocious and they were cut down to the "bar menu" since it was a little late. After our pitcher took 45 minutes to arrive, and they totally forgot about our nachos, we downed our beers and headed for greener pastures.
Our next stop was an aisle of small Korean restaurants about 200 meters long. There must have been at least 60 restaurants on this strip, each specializing in their own specific meat product (mostly seafood). There were tanks of live eels, crabs, fish, squid, octopus, etc. We eventually decided on a nice looking Sashimi restaurant (raw fish, like sushi but without the rice and rolls) and settled in for the long haul. We spent about two hours savouring different flavors of spice, raw fish, kimchi, clams, hard boiled eggs, soup, rice, and lettuce to wrap it all together, as well as the famous Korean "red sauce". There were definitely other dishes but I can't remember them all right now as this was a couple weeks ago.
Finally we picked up and headed for a bar around 2 AM. We found a nice Irish pub and as we walked in they were shouting "Last call!" so we grabbed some pints of Red Rock and took in the Busan night at the second floor balcony for a few minutes before switching venues for a 3rd time. The 4th and final establishment we visited that night was ... if I remember correctly. "North of 88. Awesome Miami Bar." There are some pretty hilarious English translations in Korea, especially if you're on the lookout. The cocktails were decent, for the most part (the white russian was a let down, too much Kaluha, not enough vodka), and we had a good time. Then it was time for bed after a short walk back to the hotel.
* Sleep *
The next morning we all washed up and decided on the aquarium as our next stop. However, before we started our day we wanted to sustenance! The mexican craving was still strong, and as we strolled along a road toward the beach I happened to notice Taco El Puebla. This was another Mexican food restaurant that had been rated highly and we had no idea about the location. It was a lucky find and we all sat down for nacho chips, guacamole, burritos and quesadillas. The food was excellent! I'm not sure that it tops the Mexican place in Seoul we visited a few weeks earlier but it is definitely close. Stuff and content, we headed for the beach.
The Busan Aquarium is located right on the main beach and is 95% underground. From the outside it does not look very impressive but that is before you realize it goes 4 floors down into the beachside sand, contains a fish tank 3 stories tall with multiple passageways, and multitudes of exotic fish. It was very interesting to see all the fauna, although most of the information was in Korean. We have plenty of pictures that I'm sure will be posted eventually (on Facebook), and I will try to "blog" the links to them (for those of you that do not have Facebook) so you can see them too.
After a 3D movie finale hosted by Happy Feet (it was a ridiculous animated chase scene involving penguins, a giant seal, and a massive moving platform with rollercoaster seats bolted to the floor), we were done with the aquarium and wondering what to do for the rest of the day.
A quick review of the guide book and a group consensus led us to the waterside temple of Yonggungsa. (http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264404) It is apparently one of the most beautiful temples in Busan and is one of the few temples in Korea located on the ocean shore (most are in / on mountains). It was a beautiful place (as you can see by the photos in the link above) and again, we will post our own photos on Facebook to be sure. We spent a couple of hours strolling through the picturesque ambience of the old temple, and hurling 100 WON coins at the "good luck" fountain below the rope bridge leading to the temple. It was trip we will not soon forget.
We then headed back to Daejeon. The trip took about 4 hours and we got back into town about 10 o'clock. It was an exhausting day and Nicole and I crashed pretty much immediately. Another great weekend in South Korea and many more stories and memories to share.
Hopefully the next blog comes sooner.
Until then... Adios Amigos,
Joe (and Nicole)
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