Vacation!

July 27-31
We have a vacation from July 27-31 (which includes Saturday and Sunday, which I never work, but nonetheless count among my already paltry number of vacation days for the year). So BBro and I made plans (aka she made all the plans, and I did nothing) to go to Busan for the weekend.
Busan (also, for some reason, spelled Pusan) is toward the south-east of Korea, and is the second biggest city in the country. We wanted to have as much time as we could in the city, so we woke up bright and early (5:30 for me) and met at Seoul Station, where the KTX trains leave from. BBro was about half an hour late, as one of us ALWAYS is, but we still had lots of time to transfer from the subway to the normal train, and find our gate and have breakfast (oreos and canned ice coffee – breakfast of champions). So then we get on the train for our long, long, long journey. We got some crackers from the cart on the train, which had something creamy on them (cream? Maybe? Butter?), which is pretty gross, and yet completely typical for Korea. The ride itself is pretty uneventful, but the train goes about 800 km/h, which is pretty cool.

So our first shop was some place that was supposed to have amazing shopping. Alas, it only had women’s clothing stores, which sort of blew for me. But it did have a store called BEYONCE which is amazing. But overall, not good. I also tripped on a table at lunch. Then we went to the Museum of Modern Art, on account of I love modern art <3<3<3<3 Fiona Valverde <3<3<3 But it was closed, until the next day when a new exhibit opened. OMG I hate vacation, everything that happens is just like in stupid Seoul. So, back on the subway again, and – oh, the first time we tried to get on, we thought we could use out T-money cards from Seoul, so we swiped them, and….walked right in to the turnstiles. Awkward! So this time we knew better and we got our tickets from the machine. I wanted to see if anyone would notice if we got child tickets (half price), so I pressed the button, and this random woman FREAKED OUT and tried to “help us,” by buying us adult tickets. While BBro was choking to death.

Anyway, when we got off our (full price) subway ride, this crazy old man started talking to us – instead of just giggling and pointing, as is usually the case. But he was about 110 years old, so he was clearly senile. He told us about how he was in the Korean military, and he was the English interpreter when they were in the US. His English was actually pretty good, up until the point when he asked “Can you understand my English,” and we stared at him all agape; for some reason we had understood everything previous, but not this. So we ruined an old man’s self-esteem. Anyhoo, he still decided he wanted to take us wherever we were going, which was the Millak fish village. It took us FOREVER to find it; he decided he had to go home, and gave us some horrible directions, but we had a map anyway. So we go in this grody looking building, that’s just tank after tank after tank of fish, and shellfish, and SHARKS, and some weird tubules. We got two different kinds of fish from a nice lady. Now, I love sushi, but seeing the fish have their heads cut off and skin cut off, and then put in front of me to eat… I wasn’t that hungry. I recovered though, and it was actually really good. Clearly the freshest fish possible ever in the world.

After that we went to this amusement park called Me World, that we saw perched atop a hill. It had a roller coaster and a ferris wheel, and a flume ride (as well as these crazy animals that you can drive around the park), and its incredibly amazing. Then we got a cab and tried to take us to the hotel the website itinerary suggested, which it turns out IS NOT EVEN A HOTEL AT ALL. It’s some sort of spa.
Plus, I got in trouble there because I didn’t put my shoes in the “encampment for shoes.” So, we have to find another place to stay, even though this one took about an hour to find (the cab driver didn’t know where it was, then we tried to find it on our own, then an old man [so nice in Busan! But crazy] told us where it was). The second place we found was… Who knows – no English name. A love motel. But we didn’t stay there long, we walked down the street to where the restaurants are, and this man ATTACKED US, trying to get us to eat at his restaurant. So we did (But a woman using the same “advertising” approach, for the same restaurant, made a kid cry). We got some clams, which the guy cooked at our table, and they were AMAZING. So winner.

Day two started much the same way that day one ended: with a huge seafood meal. Apparently its all they have in Busan, since it’s right on the coast. We got this octopus and onion omlette. Which sounds bizarre, but is actually pretty delicious. Except for it comes with a bowl of tiny dried fish. Not so hot.
Then we went to the Yonggungsa Temple, which is a pretty nice place once you get down A HUNDRED AND EIGHT FRIGGING STAIRS. Which might be fine on a normal day, but when the temperature is the highest its been so far this year, and the humidity is about 10000%, its not THAT fun. But it was really interesting to see the temple, and the monks, and the weird underground crypt that people pray in, and all the Buddha statues (I rubbed a belly for good luck!) that people make offerings to (generally milk, it seems, which might not be the best idea on this hot day), and the…. Gift shop? I thought monks took a vow of poverty. And this shit is expensive too. BBro got a lovely “authentic” (ie: it has a “made in China” sticker) Buddha paperweight snowglobe. The gold coins offered to Buddha in it? American pennies. You stay classy, Yonggungsa Temple…

Also, there are Swastikas everywhere at Temples. Interesting…

Next we went to the most amazing aquarium. It had everything I’d ever heard of, and then some. And penguins! And also this live show, which had a mermaid, which was awesome, and then a pirate, who was horrible and disgusting, so we left at that part. We saw the hugest turtles and sharks and jellyfish, and the whole thing was underground. Then we went on the hilariously cheesy “simulation ride” which is like a roller coaster, only it doesn’t roll (or coast, for that matter), it just sort of jostles around in front of a screen of an under-the-sea scene. Awesome, nonetheless. Oh, and we had Bennigans for dinner too, which had good bread, but was otherwise fairly disgusting. It’s because they couldn’t decide whether they wanted to have Korean food or American food, so they tried to come up with some horrible, soggy hybrid. One way or the other, folks.

After all that – it’s the longest, narrowest restaurant I’ve ever seen, it takes like 45 minutes to walk from one end to the other – we went to the Mipo Harbour for a cruise! While we were waiting in line, it started to sprinkle a little bit. No worries, the boat was going to be IN water anyway, so we figured it wouldn’t be affected much. When we got on the boat, it was pouring pretty hard, but we were still pumped, we weren’t going to let it get us down.
By the time we set off, though, it was the CRAZIEST, most hardcore storm I had ever seen. The boat was rocking so hard, and rain was coming in EVERYWHERE. We were sitting in the front row, and the canopy didn’t quite make it all the way, so we might have gotten a little extra, even. At one point the driver announced something, but we ignored him… until a few minutes later I looked back and every! single! person! was gone! Apparently there’s a downstairs to the boat, and he told them to go down. Only we couldn’t hear or see what was going on. Hi! We’re tourists! The boat ride was so intense, and the islands we went to see were barely visible because the rain was so hard and the waves were so high. But since it’s Korean weather, the ride back was perfectly smooth and fine.

After that terrifying few hours, we tried to find a mall that the website itinerary had recommended, and the amazing-sounded Horrorwood, which is to be found within said mall. First problem: the mall’s name is completely wrong in the itinerary. Problem the second: Horrorwood isn’t in the mall. At all! Ugh. Never trust that stupid itinerary. That’s twice now. Dejected, we took the train to Gyeongju (2 hours), and then a cab to the Sarangchae Guest House (ok, itinerary, you get one more chance). Since BBro’s director had cancelled our reservation, instead of confirming it, it was, of course, full. Luckily we found the All-in Motel fairly close by, which had this cracked-out Sauna Shower, which I used to about 45 minutes – which is a bad BAD idea. I was so steamy at the end, I could barely breathe. And it had the HUGEST bed, which led to a good sleep…….

Day three! We left the All-in (and its huge rack of porn), and found a restaurant for breakfast. We add cold noodles and sat on the floor (we’re practically Korean!), and then walked to a park called Daereungwon. This whole area of Gyeongju is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which makes it pretty cool. The first sight was a group of tombs of former rulers, who are buried, and then on top are HUGE mounds, like man-made grassy mountains. They bury husbands and wives next to each other, and it totally makes their graves look like boobs… Anyway, they excavated one of them, and you can walk into it. The guy in this grave is living in style! Er… Dying in style? Well, already dead in style, I suppose. Anyway, his tomb is pimped out – air conditioned. Some of the artifacts they found are in cases around the tomb, they’re pretty interesting. The kings must have always had sore backs, they had to wear so much bling. This was also the site of my favorite moment in Korea
Brittany: Hi! You…Take…Picture? Us? Here?
Guy: Sure, ok, where do you want to stand?
[We pose]
Brittany: Gamsahamnida
Guy: …I’m Chinese…

Bahaha. It still makes me laugh, to think about it. “Asians all look the same,” she tries to reason. Anyway, when we had walked out the end of the park and were where we started our morning, we asked a tour guide where to find out next stop, the Cheomseongdae Observatory, “Sure, just go back to the other entrance, and ….” Of course.


A long walk later, we found it, and it was…Frankly, a lot less cool than I thought it would be. It’s pretty much just a stone tower. And not even a really big one. It’s pretty old, but still, I was expecting more. Then we saw a famous forest… an ice storage room… where a palace used to be… And then Anapji Pond, a huge pond with a bunch of buildings around it, which was actually quite stunning. The king who had it built wanted to use it as a place to breed rare and exotic animals. Now people go there to have picnics.

Next we took the bus to Bulguksi Temple, which is the most famous temple in the country, and houses many of South Korea’s national treasures (Dongdaemun is national treasure number one, haha suckers). The walk to this temple didn’t have as many tacky gifts, but it had about 50 people selling corndogs. Everything leading up to the Temple is horrible and tacky, but then once you get there, its huge and breathtaking.
It’s just gigantic, open rooms one after another, and then the ones that are closed in have row upon row of paper lanters, and interesting artifacts. But, alas, they have a “photo prohibition,” according to their signs. We skipped our last stop, a Grotto, and instead went back toward the station. We stopped at a huge bakery that had about 40 bakers working, and they all make little breads filled with red bean. The first bite I thought it tasted ok, but turns out that no, it’s horrible and disgusting. Good thing we bought 20 of them. To get that taste out of our mouths, we went to So-and-sos Yogurt Ice Cream (that’s not its real name, I just have a bad memory). We asked for yogurt ice cream, and they said no!? So we pointed at the menu, emblazoned with Yogurt Ice Cream, and pretty much nothing else (since it’s a Yogurt Ice Cream store). Still no. Point to the giant picture of ice cream? No. Point to the ice cream machine that’s clearly right there? Another no. Man, they really did not want to sell us ice cream.

So, we just went to the station, and had a heck of a time trying to buy tickets. But eventually we got them, and even did our transfer (fairly) successfully (Oh my gosh! Is this it? I can’t tell if this is it! Should we get off? What if this isn’t it? I’ll go look! I can’t tell if this is it! There’s no sign!). We arrived back in Seoul quite late. All in all, quite the successful trip!