The ferry dock is right behind the home plus which is a 8 minute walk from our apartment. We walked to the dock along with some of the children of Korea who had to get to school at that early hour. Don’t feel too bad for them though, they get out at noon everyday!
So we get to the Dock about 8am, and the ferry left at 8:30….and the station had a line out the door… Great…. It actually was not so bad, because the station is really equivalent to a small trailer, so we let the five people ahead of us go, and we purchased our ferry tickets. We walked across the street to the “Pegasus” ( The name of the ferry) and boarded with no problem. We had great seats next to the window and for the next hour and a half we watched the shore of Geoje turn into the bay and the bay turn into the Busan coastline. Well, I fell asleep…. Hey 6:50 is early for anyone! But I awoke just in time to see Busan getting closer and closer through out tiny ferry window.
We arrived and headed into the ferry station. First thing first, we needed a map…, Well actually we had to use the restroom so that was the first thing, but next we headed to the information area, and asked for a map. The Busan tourist map was much more accurate than the Tong Yeong or the Geoje map, so that was helpful, but it said “train” instead of “subway” which made things a bit confusing, but we figured it out. There was actually a train too, which rides on a path similar to the subway route, but the map mentions nothing of it… so that caused a bit of confusion.
Now with Map in hand and empty bladders we were ready to discover the city…. But where to go first. We crossed the street and headed to what looked like “ a big bunch of buildings that are cool looking” and our adventure began.
Unfortunately it was really cold ( duh, November) but we had our coats and scarves. But despite this, we decided to head into an “Underground mall” to orient ourselves and figure out which location was closest. This was a stroke of luck on our part because at this point we were still carrying all our luggage ( well an extra duffel bag). This underground mall turned into a subway station, and at a subway station that have lockers you can rent for 1,000 won, which is equal to less than a dollar…. 12 hours for less than a dollar…. Thank you Korea! It was really simple to use,, you just put in the coins till it says 0, and then lock it and take the key! So we shoved anything we didn’t need into this tiny locker ( thankfully it all fit) and began walking around the underground mall. We decided we wanted to do some more shopping so we decided to go to a place listed in the Guide book for the Jang-gu area ( yes Busan is divided into about 10 different districts…we got to about four in this trip) and go to the Jagalchi Market ( for fish) the Dried fish market, Kookje Market, Piff Square and do some exploring… maybe go to the museum of Art that was supposedly near the exit of Nampo-dong station.
First stop was the dried fish market…. Literally stalls and stalls of of dried anchovies…. All different sized, boxes of them…. And that was all the market sold… we figured that a lot of the soups here have a fishy taste, because they make fish stock using the dried fish… they boil them till they literally boil away and you are left with fish water… which apparently works well for a base to any soup… I always wondered if that really was fish I was tasting… now I know it is!
This is the view from the end of the dried fish Market, this was the point I remembered I had a blog to make and I needed to start taking pictures!
Dried squid on hangers... use what you got! love it!
The vendor street before we got to the Jagalichi Fish Market. The buckets had cascading waterfalls and this was a huge assortment of sea creatures for sale!
The view of the building and a little Ajuma heading towards it... she was walking way faster than we were!
This was a restaurant where a TV crew had visited at one point. Our good friend told us any time a restaurant get publicity they will post the pictures outside, to try and draw in more crowds!
Some weird fish I saw in a tank... they creep me out.
Inside the Market, this was all you could see for at least two hundred feet this place was huge.
More creepy sea animals you are supposed to eat them and not take pictures of, so of course I got odd stares!
On the other side of the building they had a harbor view you could see the whole coastline as well as the workers unloading the fish for the market! It was beautiful.
Close up
Building Sign.
This is about half the building.
The Dock where you can watch them unload the catch of the day.
Joseph at the dock!
Me at the dock... I love the background on this one!
And one more of the tugboats for good measure.
So after our fill of traditional Fish markets, decided we didn’t want to smell like fish for the rest of the day we headed towards the big buildings! We came across the Busan theatre ( it was an Imax theatre and was going to show the new Jim Carey version of “A Christmas Carol” with Jim Carey starring as scrooge… That actually looked really neat and despite it kinda being a kids movie I totally want to see it. Maybe we will come back for the Imax version! Anyway the weird part about this movie theatre was that the concession stands were outside the theatre… and even weirder they serve these really crunchy potato things, and dried squid… Yes, nothing says a good time at the movies like the dried crunchy body of something that had been in the ocean three days ago! I have tried dried fish, (Joseph had a jerky phase for about three days … which ended on fish jerky day mind you…) but not dried squid… just because you can make out the shape… fish is a generic piece, but with the squid you think to yourself “ Yes…. I am eating the tentacles…” and that freaks me out.
Who wants some squid?
More outside concession stands.
The side of the building is an Ad for 2012
We also came across a Norae-bang ( singing room) that had wild Zombie figures of Michael Jackson and a girls zombie that we thought might be Madonna ( but that is because it just looked old and was wearing a short skirt… but it may have been Zombie Brittney… hard to tell with all that runny zombie makeup.)
Madonna or no?
Suddenly Joseph’s 10 year old boy radar went off and we found ourselves inside the largest arcade with the widest variety of aracade games I have ever seen in my entire life. It was massive, and had some very interesting Games. I took pictures when I could. They had giant crane games… but nothing was won… it was tragic.
Joseph checking out the situation
My favorite " Use a shotgun to kill cute fuzzy things"
Giant crane machine.
Next we went to the Jagalchi Market…. This is the largest live fish market in all of Korea… or at least that is what they say, but after being there, I kinda believe them. It was a huge building with about 8 stories tall, with a convention center, history hall, restaurant and areas dedicated to squid, octopus, fish, dried fish, clams, mussels, and a great open air loading dock… you can actually watch them come in from the ocean and unload the nights catch onto the dock from a great deck area that also looks out over all of the coastal area bridges and all… Of course we had to stop and take a few pictures here.
Inside the Market, this was all you could see for at least two hundred feet this place was huge.
More creepy sea animals you are supposed to eat them and not take pictures of, so of course I got odd stares!
On the other side of the building they had a harbor view you could see the whole coastline as well as the workers unloading the fish for the market! It was beautiful.
Close up
Building Sign.
This is about half the building.
The Dock where you can watch them unload the catch of the day.
We got to watch these tugboats push around all of these huge ships, it was crazy.
Joseph at the dock!
Me at the dock... I love the background on this one!
And one more of the tugboats for good measure.
So after our fill of traditional Fish markets, decided we didn’t want to smell like fish for the rest of the day we headed towards the big buildings! We came across the Busan theatre ( it was an Imax theatre and was going to show the new Jim Carey version of “A Christmas Carol” with Jim Carey starring as scrooge… That actually looked really neat and despite it kinda being a kids movie I totally want to see it. Maybe we will come back for the Imax version! Anyway the weird part about this movie theatre was that the concession stands were outside the theatre… and even weirder they serve these really crunchy potato things, and dried squid… Yes, nothing says a good time at the movies like the dried crunchy body of something that had been in the ocean three days ago! I have tried dried fish, (Joseph had a jerky phase for about three days … which ended on fish jerky day mind you…) but not dried squid… just because you can make out the shape… fish is a generic piece, but with the squid you think to yourself “ Yes…. I am eating the tentacles…” and that freaks me out.
Who wants some squid?
More outside concession stands.
The side of the building is an Ad for 2012
We also came across a Norae-bang ( singing room) that had wild Zombie figures of Michael Jackson and a girls zombie that we thought might be Madonna ( but that is because it just looked old and was wearing a short skirt… but it may have been Zombie Brittney… hard to tell with all that runny zombie makeup.)
Madonna or no?
Suddenly Joseph’s 10 year old boy radar went off and we found ourselves inside the largest arcade with the widest variety of aracade games I have ever seen in my entire life. It was massive, and had some very interesting Games. I took pictures when I could. They had giant crane games… but nothing was won… it was tragic.
Joseph checking out the situation
My favorite " Use a shotgun to kill cute fuzzy things"
Giant crane machine.
Bongo Drum Game.
They don't have Guitar Hero, they have Guitar Freaks 3 in Korea!
Ride your lucky horse to victory at the virtual race track.
Pang Pang which was a pain pain, because you throw balls at a sensor on the screen that didn't work after you take a picture... haha Oops. My bad.
Singing booths, They love Karoke here.... LOVE IT.
Race your baby to victory.... I didn't see a baby as cute as Caleb or Mason though.... haha.
They don't have Guitar Hero, they have Guitar Freaks 3 in Korea!
Ride your lucky horse to victory at the virtual race track.
Pang Pang which was a pain pain, because you throw balls at a sensor on the screen that didn't work after you take a picture... haha Oops. My bad.
Singing booths, They love Karoke here.... LOVE IT.
Race your baby to victory.... I didn't see a baby as cute as Caleb or Mason though.... haha.
Even More gianter Crane game with three levels... Ohh lord the money we spent.
So after wasting his allotted amount of money we headed back out to the street with the promise that if we had more time later we would return. ( but we didn't HAHAHAHHA)
Next on our list was lunch… so we headed to, What else… McDonalds. It is Hilarious to me that while living in NC, I was within 1 mile in either direction of a McDonalds, and went to them maybe once for breakfast, but never for lunch or dinner, and now when I am completely devoid of On the Border, Fat Daddies Qudoba, Char-Grill or even a Stinking Applebees, Suddenly a cheeseburger and fries from McDonalds sounds like the most appetizing meal… and that is just what we got… Two cheeseburger sets please… ( they don’t call them combos, Here they are sets which actually makes a lot of sense because in the Korean number system, 1 is hana, 2 is dul and 3 – set. A Combo sounds like just two things, but if you think about it you really get three items, A burger, fries and coke… so the Koreans may be right on this one….) Things get difficult though if you want to order two # 3 Sets…. Set sets juseyo?.... Good thing cheese burger was number two, and Joseph and I have fully functional hands to show how many we want!
So with out bellies full we decided to hit the restroom before the shopping extravaganza that would soon be Kookje Market!
Funny thing about this McDonalds, it was connected to the movie theatre, and it was in the basement, so we head down these spiral stairs, and Joseph goes to the left and I go to the right… I finish and come out and Joseph is standing there, along with 30 other dudes… apparently when I went into the almost empty ladies room, Joseph opened the door to the 2 stall mens room, only to find about 20 guy packed in there… What could they possibly have been doing? I have no idea. So he hurried me back up the stairs ( which was almost impossible, because more and more dudes were coming down and Koreans NEVER KEEP RIGHT!!!!UGH THEY WALK DOWN THE MIDDLE AND LOOK AT YOU LIKE YOU ARE A JERK…. Even on sidewalks, I always end up dancing while trying to figure out which way they want to go…left….right… no left… no right….. UGH…. Just stay to the right… Ok… sorry my tirade is over now. ) My only guess is some Guy movie let out and there was a mad rush for the bathroom…. Or an all boys school bus pulled up and they were on a field trip to Mcdonalds… So instead we headed over to Tom and Toms coffee, so Joseph could use the restroom and we could sit and look at the map with relative quiet. I ordered a Mocha too, because I am slowly becoming addicted again…. I forgot how much I love coffee! I am my mothers daughter.
MMMMMHHH. Mocha.
Joseph being an Extreme tourist... map and Guidebook at once! Rock.
The guidebook described it as a great place to shop and find some of the best bargains in South Korea… so of course we had to go to look for a hat for me, and a jacket and hat for Joseph.
This Market can only be described as Immense. It was about three quarter mile long streets that intersected with three perpendicular streets… coming out to be about 9 square blocks of just all out shopping. And it was awesome.
Wall to wall shops containing anything and everything you could possibly want…. It was stacked almost ceiling high with whatever item that stall sold… if it was hats, they had a billion hats to choose from…. I got one for 10,000 won that I thought looked really cool. It was Angora and black… went perfectly with my pea-coat. I seriously love this hat! I put it on and wore it the rest of the day. Joseph found a hat he liked too, but it was damaged and they didn't have another one in his size... so we spent the rest of the day hitting every hat stall to see if they had it... but nowhere did...
We walked around this market for hours… and didn’t see all of it. There was also a cool food section where it looked like they were serving big bulgogi burgers, and had we not just had McDonalds it would have been fun to try some. But there was, as always, Kimchi for sale, fish, and rice cakes! All of it Fascinating no matter how many times before I have seen the same items.
Here is the Christmas store!!
The Leather Jacket Store.
The Pot section of the homeware stall.
Fabrice store. This place actually had really cool fabrics, and since Joseph's mom makes irish dance dresses we had to get a picture for her... So Mrs. Kelly if you see anything you like we can go back and get it!
Beans and Kimchi for sale...
We bought a few souvenirs and then decided to move further up the Nampo-dong area to what our map called “Bookstore Alley”
Not having television, we tend to read a bit more ( I can usually find something to update on my blog or some dishes to clean, but before bed it is nice to curl up for twenty or thirty minutes to wind down after a long day. ) So we are always on the Hunt for English Books, and here we were not disappointed. We found the Alley, no problem, and we were surprised to find another open air bookstore stall area much like Kookje Market. Except it was all books, and Magazines. Joseph even commented that it looked like Diagon Alley ( Or if you are like me, you know the bookstore was Flourish and Blotts… not that I am a huge dork or anything… but that was the feeling you got! Books were stacked haphazardly everywhere you turned. It was a dream come true and a nightmare all in one… Pull out the wrong book and you would get buried alive, no joke.)
The best part, was that some bookstalls had a small shelf outside that contained some English books, they were used, but totally in English. They also had a surplus of Magazines like Cosmo, Elle and National Geographic… Many were from the 80’s but who cares, I could read the darn things!
So after careful selection Joseph got two books, A Stephen King novel and The Prince, and I got the biography of Stanislavski ( Yeah theatre) and a Korean to English Dictionary to go with our English to Korean dictionary…. All four books about 21, 000 won, which is about 20 dollars total… Very exciting.
So after wasting his allotted amount of money we headed back out to the street with the promise that if we had more time later we would return. ( but we didn't HAHAHAHHA)
Next on our list was lunch… so we headed to, What else… McDonalds. It is Hilarious to me that while living in NC, I was within 1 mile in either direction of a McDonalds, and went to them maybe once for breakfast, but never for lunch or dinner, and now when I am completely devoid of On the Border, Fat Daddies Qudoba, Char-Grill or even a Stinking Applebees, Suddenly a cheeseburger and fries from McDonalds sounds like the most appetizing meal… and that is just what we got… Two cheeseburger sets please… ( they don’t call them combos, Here they are sets which actually makes a lot of sense because in the Korean number system, 1 is hana, 2 is dul and 3 – set. A Combo sounds like just two things, but if you think about it you really get three items, A burger, fries and coke… so the Koreans may be right on this one….) Things get difficult though if you want to order two # 3 Sets…. Set sets juseyo?.... Good thing cheese burger was number two, and Joseph and I have fully functional hands to show how many we want!
So with out bellies full we decided to hit the restroom before the shopping extravaganza that would soon be Kookje Market!
Funny thing about this McDonalds, it was connected to the movie theatre, and it was in the basement, so we head down these spiral stairs, and Joseph goes to the left and I go to the right… I finish and come out and Joseph is standing there, along with 30 other dudes… apparently when I went into the almost empty ladies room, Joseph opened the door to the 2 stall mens room, only to find about 20 guy packed in there… What could they possibly have been doing? I have no idea. So he hurried me back up the stairs ( which was almost impossible, because more and more dudes were coming down and Koreans NEVER KEEP RIGHT!!!!UGH THEY WALK DOWN THE MIDDLE AND LOOK AT YOU LIKE YOU ARE A JERK…. Even on sidewalks, I always end up dancing while trying to figure out which way they want to go…left….right… no left… no right….. UGH…. Just stay to the right… Ok… sorry my tirade is over now. ) My only guess is some Guy movie let out and there was a mad rush for the bathroom…. Or an all boys school bus pulled up and they were on a field trip to Mcdonalds… So instead we headed over to Tom and Toms coffee, so Joseph could use the restroom and we could sit and look at the map with relative quiet. I ordered a Mocha too, because I am slowly becoming addicted again…. I forgot how much I love coffee! I am my mothers daughter.
MMMMMHHH. Mocha.
Joseph being an Extreme tourist... map and Guidebook at once! Rock.
The guidebook described it as a great place to shop and find some of the best bargains in South Korea… so of course we had to go to look for a hat for me, and a jacket and hat for Joseph.This Market can only be described as Immense. It was about three quarter mile long streets that intersected with three perpendicular streets… coming out to be about 9 square blocks of just all out shopping. And it was awesome.
Wall to wall shops containing anything and everything you could possibly want…. It was stacked almost ceiling high with whatever item that stall sold… if it was hats, they had a billion hats to choose from…. I got one for 10,000 won that I thought looked really cool. It was Angora and black… went perfectly with my pea-coat. I seriously love this hat! I put it on and wore it the rest of the day. Joseph found a hat he liked too, but it was damaged and they didn't have another one in his size... so we spent the rest of the day hitting every hat stall to see if they had it... but nowhere did...
We walked around this market for hours… and didn’t see all of it. There was also a cool food section where it looked like they were serving big bulgogi burgers, and had we not just had McDonalds it would have been fun to try some. But there was, as always, Kimchi for sale, fish, and rice cakes! All of it Fascinating no matter how many times before I have seen the same items.
Here is the Christmas store!!
The Leather Jacket Store.
The Pot section of the homeware stall.
Fabrice store. This place actually had really cool fabrics, and since Joseph's mom makes irish dance dresses we had to get a picture for her... So Mrs. Kelly if you see anything you like we can go back and get it!
Beans and Kimchi for sale...
We bought a few souvenirs and then decided to move further up the Nampo-dong area to what our map called “Bookstore Alley”
Not having television, we tend to read a bit more ( I can usually find something to update on my blog or some dishes to clean, but before bed it is nice to curl up for twenty or thirty minutes to wind down after a long day. ) So we are always on the Hunt for English Books, and here we were not disappointed. We found the Alley, no problem, and we were surprised to find another open air bookstore stall area much like Kookje Market. Except it was all books, and Magazines. Joseph even commented that it looked like Diagon Alley ( Or if you are like me, you know the bookstore was Flourish and Blotts… not that I am a huge dork or anything… but that was the feeling you got! Books were stacked haphazardly everywhere you turned. It was a dream come true and a nightmare all in one… Pull out the wrong book and you would get buried alive, no joke.)
The best part, was that some bookstalls had a small shelf outside that contained some English books, they were used, but totally in English. They also had a surplus of Magazines like Cosmo, Elle and National Geographic… Many were from the 80’s but who cares, I could read the darn things!
So after careful selection Joseph got two books, A Stephen King novel and The Prince, and I got the biography of Stanislavski ( Yeah theatre) and a Korean to English Dictionary to go with our English to Korean dictionary…. All four books about 21, 000 won, which is about 20 dollars total… Very exciting.
One of the book Stalls.
This was one of the Bigger
Book Vending machine... too bad it was in Korean.
Since it was dark when we got there, a Motel was the first thing we needed, so we could stash our stuff, clean up and bit and then head out for a great dinner ( destination unknown)…. So we went into a few places that said Motel ( because they are cheaper than Hotels by about 30, 000 won and they give you a toothbrush!) and we stumbled across a gem called the Picasso Motel…. Well in Hangul it was pronounced “ Pic- hah- sooooo but we figured it was Picasso…. So we checked in and found ourselves staying in a slightly tacky yet very functional room for much less than any other comparable hotel in the states!
With out stuff in the hotel, we headed out to find dinner. We didn’t know what would be available, but we wanted it to be as western as possible, and we totally hit the motherload. In one building mind you we found the following American Restaurants. Starbucks, Caribu Coffee ( yes they were next to each other). An Indian Restaurant, A TGI Fridays, A Bennigans and an Outback Steakhouse.
So we walked among all the floors checking out each menu, and though Outback and TGI Fridays had more to choose from, Bennigans was a bit cheaper and had the items we wanted, Plus they serve really good bread there… so that is Where we went.
. When we go back we will probably go to Outback, but they had a really good looking combo plate and I wanted the cheap and delicious looking Chicken Quesadilla ( I love Mexican!) .
Combo plate, it was tropical steak, chicken and Shrimp.
Mmmmmmm Quesidillas! WITH REAL SOUR CREAM!!!!
We sat on the fifth floor overlooking the Haeundae Beach lights while enjoying out westernized Korean steak/chicken/shrimp combo plate and quesadillas, and had a moment of realization. As much as we were enjoying this meal and this time, we both were starting to miss our families. We thought about how Thanksgiving was coming up and how we would still be at work… I have never missed a Thanksgiving, and to have the Koreans not even aknowledge this holiday saddens me. Not just because I don’t get the day off work ( haha) but because my day to be thankful for my job, and family and status in life will not be acknowledged this year… so we took time over our meal to contemplate how in only one year our lives have found us in a brand new spot, and how thankful we were for the bread before us and the time we have together and for our families back home who support us! It was a nice time to remember Home and family and will probably act as part of our thanksgiving here in Korea.
After dinner we walked out on the beach, took a few pictures, and explored a bit more. We saw tons more restaurants as well as a place called the fuzzy Navel Bar and taco grill… so of course that was planned to be lunch the next day.
View from the beach!
Walking around E-Mart to escape the cold... Joseph of the escalator.
me and my new hat on the escalator.
We decided to try a few drinks while at the e-mart, so I got this one, Multi Vita - it was actually really good, it tasted like liquid candy ( those things called Smarties... it was yummy)
Joseph got this one, it was not so good. It tasted like Pepto Bismol to me, but it was supposed to be a soda water and cream.... it looked cool, but he ended up wanting to drink my candy drink.
And to go along with the drink thing, These free drinks were provided in our Motel ( which I took pictures of but that will be the first part of day two...) But this first drink with the lady coming out of the corn husk was exactly what I was afraid of... It was like corn water... no sweetener, just corn and water... it was revolting. 
and the third one was Aloe drink... the drink itself was not so bad, it was sweet, but it had weird little green blobs of jelly floating in it. That part was not so good. At least they were free....
This was one of the Bigger
walk ways.
After our purchases we decided our feet hurt, and we wanted to go to Haeundae Beach area before it got too dark. So we headed back to Nampo-dong station where we left our luggage, and came back to find that not a thing went wrong, we opened the locker no problem, pulled out our stuff, and then attempted to purchase our subway tickets… This part proved to be much more tricky that we thought. What was most frustrating was it was all automated on a touch screen and in Korean…. But thankfully the saving grace was the tiny button in the top right corner that said English… and you hit it, and Magically all was readable… to bad we had no idea what they meant by one way section? Or two way section stop…. Darn you bad translation….
So we picked what we thought was right… to get to the change over station, and the thing let us on, and we made it to the change station and there purchased new tickets and changed trains…. This was the hard part was figuring which side to go down, because the way they name the routes is by the biggest stop, not necessarily the next stop… so once we figured out to just look at the entire line instead of just the next stop, we found it easier to figure which way we wanted to go . ( if that makes any sense) . So we get on the next train and take the latter part of the trip to Haeundae… A few stops before we got off, a few Korean girls got on who were obviously dressed up with somewhere to go. One girl kept holding up her cell phone and taking pictures, and then began to adjust her headband so it was just perfect, and then I realized, she was not taking pictures of herself, she was taking pictures of us…. I usually don’t notice much when people stare, but it irks me when they take pictures….
I know the saying is, “ Why don’t you take a picture, it will last longer” but it makes you feel inhuman, like you are just some outsider that is somehow less than them, which I don’t like… Then I realized all three of them were doing it and I started to get really paranoid… was there something in my teeth, was my hair messed up, Did this new hat I purchased on a whim make me look stupid… or was it the fact that I had been up since 6:50 and hiking all day, and looked a hot mess…. Insecurity aside I am sure it was just because I was white. Or Because Joseph is so good looking ( as he assured me was the reason once we left the station and I told him what I had witnessed) but it was a strange feeling, to be the minority, to be stared at and to be judged… it will definitely make me more conscious of my own behaviors from now on. I never would want to make people feel that way. ( well not all judgment aside, the reason I noticed them in the first place was because I thought the Korean girls looked really stupid walking around in super high heels and short skirts in the middle of November… come on, have a brain… even I, the girl who loves to disobey her mothers orders and wear sandals in winter would never be caught dead freezing that much of my legs off in November when it is this cold…. I don’t mind a few frostbitten toes, but my entire lower body is another story!)
So we picked what we thought was right… to get to the change over station, and the thing let us on, and we made it to the change station and there purchased new tickets and changed trains…. This was the hard part was figuring which side to go down, because the way they name the routes is by the biggest stop, not necessarily the next stop… so once we figured out to just look at the entire line instead of just the next stop, we found it easier to figure which way we wanted to go . ( if that makes any sense) . So we get on the next train and take the latter part of the trip to Haeundae… A few stops before we got off, a few Korean girls got on who were obviously dressed up with somewhere to go. One girl kept holding up her cell phone and taking pictures, and then began to adjust her headband so it was just perfect, and then I realized, she was not taking pictures of herself, she was taking pictures of us…. I usually don’t notice much when people stare, but it irks me when they take pictures….
I know the saying is, “ Why don’t you take a picture, it will last longer” but it makes you feel inhuman, like you are just some outsider that is somehow less than them, which I don’t like… Then I realized all three of them were doing it and I started to get really paranoid… was there something in my teeth, was my hair messed up, Did this new hat I purchased on a whim make me look stupid… or was it the fact that I had been up since 6:50 and hiking all day, and looked a hot mess…. Insecurity aside I am sure it was just because I was white. Or Because Joseph is so good looking ( as he assured me was the reason once we left the station and I told him what I had witnessed) but it was a strange feeling, to be the minority, to be stared at and to be judged… it will definitely make me more conscious of my own behaviors from now on. I never would want to make people feel that way. ( well not all judgment aside, the reason I noticed them in the first place was because I thought the Korean girls looked really stupid walking around in super high heels and short skirts in the middle of November… come on, have a brain… even I, the girl who loves to disobey her mothers orders and wear sandals in winter would never be caught dead freezing that much of my legs off in November when it is this cold…. I don’t mind a few frostbitten toes, but my entire lower body is another story!)
So we got off the subway, and took a minute to look at the cool Book vending machine in the Subway before heading up the stairs to shove our tickets into the machine to get out… unfortunately the machine had other plans… apparently Joseph and I were not so quick as we thought in picking up how to work the subway line… we were apparently too far out of our section and we had to pay 200 won more to get out of the subway… tricky of them to make you send your ticket through to get into the subway, and to get out to make sure you paid the correct amount, which we didn’t by about 13 cents… It was scary though, because it took out ticket, beeped loudly and instead of allowing us through the turnstile spit the ticket back out at us, and we had to have two Korean ladies signal Subway security to help us through, but he was very friendly, apparently this happens all the time. Not sure how we messed it up, but it was no problem, so soon we were on our way again!
Book Vending machine... too bad it was in Korean.
Since it was dark when we got there, a Motel was the first thing we needed, so we could stash our stuff, clean up and bit and then head out for a great dinner ( destination unknown)…. So we went into a few places that said Motel ( because they are cheaper than Hotels by about 30, 000 won and they give you a toothbrush!) and we stumbled across a gem called the Picasso Motel…. Well in Hangul it was pronounced “ Pic- hah- sooooo but we figured it was Picasso…. So we checked in and found ourselves staying in a slightly tacky yet very functional room for much less than any other comparable hotel in the states!With out stuff in the hotel, we headed out to find dinner. We didn’t know what would be available, but we wanted it to be as western as possible, and we totally hit the motherload. In one building mind you we found the following American Restaurants. Starbucks, Caribu Coffee ( yes they were next to each other). An Indian Restaurant, A TGI Fridays, A Bennigans and an Outback Steakhouse.
So we walked among all the floors checking out each menu, and though Outback and TGI Fridays had more to choose from, Bennigans was a bit cheaper and had the items we wanted, Plus they serve really good bread there… so that is Where we went.
. When we go back we will probably go to Outback, but they had a really good looking combo plate and I wanted the cheap and delicious looking Chicken Quesadilla ( I love Mexican!) . Combo plate, it was tropical steak, chicken and Shrimp.
Mmmmmmm Quesidillas! WITH REAL SOUR CREAM!!!!
We sat on the fifth floor overlooking the Haeundae Beach lights while enjoying out westernized Korean steak/chicken/shrimp combo plate and quesadillas, and had a moment of realization. As much as we were enjoying this meal and this time, we both were starting to miss our families. We thought about how Thanksgiving was coming up and how we would still be at work… I have never missed a Thanksgiving, and to have the Koreans not even aknowledge this holiday saddens me. Not just because I don’t get the day off work ( haha) but because my day to be thankful for my job, and family and status in life will not be acknowledged this year… so we took time over our meal to contemplate how in only one year our lives have found us in a brand new spot, and how thankful we were for the bread before us and the time we have together and for our families back home who support us! It was a nice time to remember Home and family and will probably act as part of our thanksgiving here in Korea.
After dinner we walked out on the beach, took a few pictures, and explored a bit more. We saw tons more restaurants as well as a place called the fuzzy Navel Bar and taco grill… so of course that was planned to be lunch the next day.
View from the beach!
Walking around E-Mart to escape the cold... Joseph of the escalator.
me and my new hat on the escalator.
We decided to try a few drinks while at the e-mart, so I got this one, Multi Vita - it was actually really good, it tasted like liquid candy ( those things called Smarties... it was yummy)
Joseph got this one, it was not so good. It tasted like Pepto Bismol to me, but it was supposed to be a soda water and cream.... it looked cool, but he ended up wanting to drink my candy drink.
And to go along with the drink thing, These free drinks were provided in our Motel ( which I took pictures of but that will be the first part of day two...) But this first drink with the lady coming out of the corn husk was exactly what I was afraid of... It was like corn water... no sweetener, just corn and water... it was revolting.
The second can was OJ, no problem there
and the third one was Aloe drink... the drink itself was not so bad, it was sweet, but it had weird little green blobs of jelly floating in it. That part was not so good. At least they were free.... Finally, After walking around a few stores, and shops we found ourselves halfway across town from our motel…. Drat….so we hailed a cab and told him “Picasso Motel”… he had no idea what we just said… so he drove off… ugh…. This can’t be good…..
So we hailed another taxi, and said to him “ Picasso Motel and pointed on the map, so even though I am sure he had no idea what we said, he didn’t want to leave us like that other guy and he drove us back to the general area, and then through broken Korean he realized we meant the “Pic-haah-soo Mo-tel”…. apparently you have to pronounce it Korean or else they have no clue what you are saying… Come on kroeans, take a guess, don’t leave us on the side of the road…. Oh well, at least we got home okay….
And that is it for this blog…. This was only the first day, and I have written almost a novel, so I will go ahead and post this half first and tomorrow or the day after you will be treated to the second day of our trip to Busan!
So we hailed another taxi, and said to him “ Picasso Motel and pointed on the map, so even though I am sure he had no idea what we said, he didn’t want to leave us like that other guy and he drove us back to the general area, and then through broken Korean he realized we meant the “Pic-haah-soo Mo-tel”…. apparently you have to pronounce it Korean or else they have no clue what you are saying… Come on kroeans, take a guess, don’t leave us on the side of the road…. Oh well, at least we got home okay….
And that is it for this blog…. This was only the first day, and I have written almost a novel, so I will go ahead and post this half first and tomorrow or the day after you will be treated to the second day of our trip to Busan!
No comments:
Post a Comment