BUSAN BABY!

First off. I missed the beach. A lot. 2nd, I LOVE BUSAN!

quick story. We wake at early 9am to take KTX train friday. we're rushed, no time for anything, we get on the train thinking there will be food. oops, no food. its a 3 hour train ride. don't panic, we'll just eat the little amount of food Angela brought and we all will share---then i notice the 2 boys beside me are playing Nintendo DS. I pull out mine and next thing you know i'm playing Mario Kart with them, like a little kid again, they're speaking english i'm exclaiming in korean...its great! The mom tells them to eat and they'r like "aw mom, just one more game!" and wow...i say, no eat...and the mom gave us a whole plate full of kimbap (korean sushi) and strawberries and apples! it was like totally korean hospitality and homemade and delicious and thats when you'll fall in love with these people.

Ok so NOW busan!
we visited the largest Fish market in korea....Pusan is a Port after all. We enjoyed eating raw flounder, grilled flounder, raw sea urchins, and shellfish and conch. so delicious and unique. unbelievable how smooth it all went. went to the markets and shopped some more and i bought a lot of things it was funny. i love to haggle. lots of various things... I certainly enjoyed the different ...subtle fashion difference in korea. And the accent. And it was Budda's birthday festival so we enjoyed being total torists in that event. again it was just a peaceful day. we take the train to the beach and hotel...it starts to rain. We found the place sooo perfectly. Love paris baguette---has always taken care of me (they pointed us in the right direction of the hotel). Hmm, we enjoyed gettin there...we leave angela to find herself a hotel...with great success! (in the rain, what a champ) My parents and i want something unique...i think of shabu shabu (like...fondu boiling soup instantly cooks thin pieces of meat) and the ajuma feeds us! She doesnt have to but just because we're the only customer and the taxi got lost finding them and it was almost toooo special! Like kings and queens again. She loved to feed us and told her she didnt have to but "my pleasure". they love redhair lol. so awesome meal, we sleep like babies that night after listenin to the ocean for a little bit.

The next morning breakfast was fit for a king. western and eastern styles, all u can eat, its all about service here. and the view was not even 20 feet from the waves. after eating, we hit up the beach. last night's rain had scared away the crowd but the sun shown bright for us. silly college girls got a picture with us, haha. we just walked and talked...its only about a mile long beach. then had beautiful outback lunch/dinner at 4:30! hyesung met up with us and ah, like kids we all splashed in the waves again. haha. she left shortly, parents and i tried another stab at good food. Choge gooyie (shell fish on grille) and this time we were the only foreingers in a HUGE tent space and it was THE place to eat! everyone was surprised we were there....the waitor---a guy who knew the most english i imagine, showed us how to cook it and made it for us and it was delicious and funny and my dad tried it all...that was good. After dinner we met up with angela and alex and shared a drink. Laughed at the adventures we did that day...learned a lot. Just relaxed. Another perfect day.

Sunday, wow...so i got my dad to plan the hotels in jeju before they all get booked...not a good idea to b stranded! So excellent...and then we went to a buddist temple!

Being's budda's bday it was going to be jam packed. we met a foreigner from CDI hagwon, funny how u can kinda tell they work tehre by how they act... another story. But he showed us how to get tehre much easier than me (he was showing his family and was actually from busan). so we take pictures and explore....do a hike to a temple off the path. Such luck as it may be....a random girl that looked my age asked if we would like to have tea. she was an english teacher and comes here regularly to have tea with the monk. We accept and he is so excited to speak english with foreigners. He tells us about buddist and the way he lives, felt like a college dorm. a workout bench, his bed, loved to draw and meditate and tea and plants. all in that one room. Monks dont eat meat and believe in living very simple lives. so we totally rocked his day. as he said upon leaving him "i will never forget you" Awesome times. the girl walks back with us... we actually take a taxi down because we're late...but who cares!? we met a monk and had tea (grown from his garden!) and he drew a picture for us... We found out she was 37, that was wild (seriously looked like 24).

We parted ways with the girl and were late but met up with angela and alex and hyesung to go back to bucheon. due to time, we decided to have a great dinner at an indian restaurant. yum! before getting our seats, we ran to this bar "rock and roll" i believe and had a pint overlooking the ocean on the top floor (10th). quite nice. dinner was excellent, just like...home? haha, the lamb, the curry, the nan...except no basmati rice :(

We rush to the train station...thought we'd b late... enjoyed the budda parade and concert? and lantern festival i imagine. slept the whole train ride back.

My parents stayed in busan and went to jeju the next morning. That is an adventure I have yet to be completely told myself... We had not a single day of just doing nothing...is that good? is that bad? it certainly was a lot to in a small time!

They returned Friday morning....To find some more drama of my life. as said, they saw more in teh time they come than the months i've been here. Good? Bad? Molla.

Pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015900&id=105600042&l=37a4b1a6d4

SEOUL COMING SOON...