Busan/ Pusan

     My school had a four day weekend so I headed down to Busan (or sometimes spelled Pusan) with some friends. Busan is the second largest city in Korea. It is on the coast so we wanted to stay as close to the beach as possible. After doing some research we found a cheap hotel called Lord Beach close to the beach in the Haeundae  area. We chose it half because of what it offered and half because we liked saying "Loooorrrrrddd Beeeaaacchhhh" with a heavy British accent. We planned on going out on Friday but ended up getting there so late two of us copped out and caught The Sopranos on the hotel flat screen instead. 

     Saturday was a beautiful day and we spent most of our time at the beach. We had our bathing suits on but the water was so clod I was the only one who braved it. Most of the Korean people played in the sand and took pictures of each other(MANY PICTURES). The ones that did go in the water swam in their clothes. The only bathing suits we saw were on foreigners. The seafood in Busan is supposed to be very fresh so we headed a restaurant by the shore to check it out. I was VERY fresh. All the fish were on display and were taken out of the aquariums right next to our table. A grill was placed in the middle and we were in charge of cooking. This is pretty typical in Korea but the non-meat eater in me cringed a little. After that we headed to a bar, Starface, with all you can drink for 15,000 Won. We stayed there for a bit and met lots of random people as well as friends of a friend of a friend. Some dancing going on but the sound system was pretty bad. At about 1:30 AM we got antsy and decided to go to another bar on the beach called Thursday Party. We had a total of 5 peeps, so we had to split up to take a taxi. I ended up getting in with three girls who were friends of friends of friends. We chatted for a while and everything was fine until the girl on my right stated puking out the window. It continued until we arrived. We got out and I quickly jetted not wanting to be a part of the clean up crew. Everyone at Thursday Party was sitting but the music was really good so we started our own dance party. For some reason, white girls dancing seems to attract Korean girls. I usually make about 1-2 Korean friends when I dance. Sometimes I can't tell if they are mocking me or if they genuinely think I am cool. Anyways, we stayed there until about 3:30 AM, went to the beach, ate some pizza and headed home. We got back to the hotel around 5 AM. 

     The weather wasn't as nice the next morning but we went to the beach anyway, had some greasy lunch (but oh so good) and then went back to check on a friend with a killer hangover. We stayed at the hotel  for while waiting for her to recover and another friend to arrive then headed to another beach , Gwangalli. Everyone told us that sushi is fabulous in Busan so we went to a huge building with fish restaurants on every floor. We ordered a sushi platter and we received about 6 different courses starting out with side dishes and ending with dessert.  And there was a couple of surprises along the way: two of the courses were still alive. The first was live octopus (as seen in the video below). I had heard about it before but it was quite a sight to see the tentacles squirming in front of me. Although it turned my stomach, I had to try. It took a couple of minutes but after dipping it in sauce I popped it n my mouth. Not bad but I couldn't do it more than once.. All in all a terrific meal. We decided to go to a university neighborhood, go to some bars and then Noraebang (karaoke). We ended up going to two bars, the second being a different Thursday Party. It had a pretty fun atmosphere and we met some Korean guys and invited them to noraebang. We had a really good noraebang session with everyone participating. I did "Like a Virgin", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "P.I.M.P". I think I also helped out with "Betty Davis Eyes". It ended up being a not so early night again with most of us getting home at 4 AM.

     Monday was our last day. Two of us headed up to Beomeosa Temple in norther Busan. I was not feeling very motivated after such a late night but I am so glad I did. It was a gorgeous day and the temperature was perfect. The temple was surrounded by a forest and everything was really lush and green.  The artwork of the temple and surrounding the temple was very intricate and beautiful. We witnessed many people praying and some drinking temple water. It was really nice to get some fresh air. In Seoul, I feel emerged in smog and yucky city smells. Being in Busan was a fabulous break from that. I came back feeling rejuvenated and ready to get back to my students!