After [eating] our way through Yeongdeok and Gyeongju we were ready for a little more time at home, which ironically just meant more food. I managed a successful stop at the outlet mall in Daegu, thanks solely to Uniqlo and we had equal success at a buckwheat noodle restaurant in the Palgongsan area of the city. Noodles in Korea are, for me, a hit or miss. Half the time I'm bored after a few bites, but on the other hand there are times I want to dive into a never-ending bowl. I had high hopes for this one, but it was actually the ddeokdorimuk and buckwheat pancake that stole the show. I thought surely I would be able to skip dinner that evening, but shortly after arriving home I was presented with a take-out menu and asked what we should order for dinner. Magically I was able to put away a heaping plate of jokbal and of course a handful of shots to go with it, I mean I couldn't say 'no' to sampling dad's liquor collection. In a small effort to counterbalance the full day(s) of eating we decided to end the evening with a walk through the city. I was surprised to see multiple international markets, but foolish me should have realized that as a large farming community, Changnyeong is chock-full of immigrants. I mean who else is going to do the difficult manual labor? We walked clear across town to "I Mart" a crafty spin-off of the ever-popular Emart in Korea, bought ice cream and then made our way home to pass out in a proper food coma. The following day we were set to travel south to Busan, but with a 3 pm check-in time, we were in no major hurry to rush out of the city. I had long ago starred the Upo Wetlands on my google maps, and as they were only a short drive way, we decided to go explore. As the largest wetland in Korea I was expecting a bit more, but the fact that we rented a tandem bike to do our exploring added the value to the trip I was after. They're tricky though, bike rentals at the entrance to the park are in great supply, but the path around the area is actually limited to bikes, with the greater majority being off-limits. Nevertheless we took advantage of our two hour rental and explored two different ends of the wetlands, saw that famous crested ibis, despite its being mostly hidden in the tree above, and climbed to one of the observatories. From there it was a quick trip back to the house, ridiculous purchase of a 1L coffee and then head to the bus station to catch a ride south to Busan, a city I've always loved and was excited to be returning to. Busan was yet another city on this trip where the both of us were able to share memories. I had frequently visited during my various stints of teaching English in Korea and Seohui had gone to high school in the city, returning again to work after graduating college. It was wild walking the streets of Haeundae, much developed from my first trips, and compare our previous lives in the city. We chose to stay in Gwangalli in a lovely beach-view apartment, and spent the first few hours of our visit taking advantage of such a location. Aside from a nostalgia tour, a purpose of this visit was to visit one of Seohui's friends who owns an Izakaya style bar in the city. Not having eaten much all day we were more than ready to sample the menu, but I was personally most excited for the Okonomiyaki, but all of the food we had was delicious. I was surprised to hear that 서희 hadn't been to his friends place in nearly 10 years, which made it all the better that we made the trip. Had this trip been 10 years prior I would have most definitely been recommending we move on to round two and possibly three or four, but none of that happened. Instead we enjoyed a walk along the coast, discovered a pier that offered a new view of Gwangalli bridge and then went home to change into comfy clothes and relax. I'm honestly not convinced the drinking scene was ever my first choice, but more or less something I fell into time and time again, but I must admit, the homebody in me is more than happy to have these quiet nights with someone by my side. We had a list of things we were considering for our time in Busan, but as vacations go, time got away from us and only a few were scratched off the to-do list. Friday morning we walked to Haeundae - again a small attempt to balance all the food, and I enjoyed my first ever Milmyeon, just another version of noodles that Busan holds as a "must eat." We spent some time at the beach, but were ultimately driven away by the strong winds and sandstorm, but we were able to catch sight of two impressive sand sculptures before leaving. There is a ton of promotion going on in Busan right now in an attempt to host the World Expo in 2030. The real highlight of Friday afternoon was meeting my old co-worker Juyeon, her husband, and two year-old daughter for coffee in the afternoon. Although I've kept in touch with Juyeon over the years, we haven't been able to meet for almost 8 years due to both of our busy schedules, and periods of living in different countries. Juyeon came to Buksam in my second year of teaching and added great value to my life there, another teacher close to my age, and as a bonus spoke great English (although she'll try to tell you otherwise). Her husband Brian is equally as kind so I was excited to meet them, although a little nervous that the meeting would be awkward or we would have nothing to talk about. Thankfully, that was far from true, and we spent hours catching up, distracted by her adorable daughter and speaking of hopeful plans to meet again in the future and visit each others homes. I left the cafe feeling so satisfied, whenever I meet with old friends I remember why I love this country so much and what made me come back, even if they are now a plane ride away while I'm living on the island. Our final day in Busan I wanted to explore something new so we decided to catch a bus over to Oryukdo, one of the many popular coastal walks in Busan. 서희 had been before, but as our bus neared he was surprised by how much the area had been developed, which made it feel as if he was visiting for the first time himself. There's a skywalk which takes you right up and over the ocean, but with how windy it was that day I was so concentrated on trying not to blow away or lose my phone that I wasn't able to fully enjoy the views. We stopped in the visitor center, wrote a few slow postcards, to be delivered a year from now and then hiked through the coastal walkways for a bit. I also discovered there is an east coast hiking trail, similar to the Olle trails in Jeju - so add that to my Korea Bucket list. We were flying out of Busan later that evening and had a few odd hours to kill before heading to the airport. Something about the afternoon sun and knowing that it was the end of our week of vacation, an afternoon, beach-side beer felt like the perfect cap on a successful week. We made our way back to Gwangali and settled in at Happy Monk, a bar I've walked by so many times but had yet not visited. It had been ages since I've had a draft beer and that afternoon it was exactly what I didn't know I needed. Spotting a darts board across the bar I suggested we play a game, and when 서희 told me he's pretty good I wasn't sure how it would go. When I crushed him in the first game he was surprised, but I reminded him he never asked how good I was. With time for one more meal before catching our flight I decided that it was only appropriate we cap off our trip with the other notable Busan dish - dwaeji gukbap (pork soup?), with the optional addition of sundae (blood sausage). This is another prime example of the conflicting duality of who I am, while I often tiptoe the line of vegetarianism, sundae gukbak is a dish I can get on board with. When I first accepted this job in Jeju I thought for sure that the abundance of vacations meant I would be parading around Southeast Asia once again. Instead I've spent the majority away from Jeju on the mainland, almost exclusively in Gyeongsan-do. While this is not what I had planned or expected, I'm not even the slightest bit disappointed by the way things have turned out. My travel plans have almost always centered around people, food or both, and it's quite evident that this trip rewarded me with an abundance of both.
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AsiaKoreaWhere to start. After living on and off in this country for nearly 10 years I have memories, experiences and stories galore. I'll now always be a bit partial to the Land of the Morning Calm. Filled with delicious foods, beautiful nature and friendly people, I'm always happy to return. Archives
June 2023
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