Here you can see Kevin's maternal Grandfather, the proprietor a sweet country restaurant, and myself chillin' after lunch. Mr. Kim owns a Sasum (elk) farm nearby, so we stopped at this restaurant for some of his elks. Next is me enjoying some sengsasum and elk antler liquor. Sengsasum is small marinated strips of raw elk. Quite palatable, it was very soft, almost gooey meat. A traditional delicacy, it's served with the distilled juice of elk antlers, which is is quite similar to my good friend Jaegermeister. Last shot here is Kev and I up on the hill overlooking the farm. To get there Mr. Kim drove us up a mountain in what appeared to be a 30 year old 4x4 land rover type deal. Very exciting. We're facing towards the shrine to his Grandmother and ancestors where we paid our respects.
That night we headed south to Mokpo proper, climbed a mountain there and did a quick driveby tour with Kevin's uncle. After a very picturesque sunset overlooking the harbour and massive shipworks, we took a cross-country bus east towards Pusan. That night we stayed at the Vesta Jimjibang on Haeundae beach for a measly $8.
Note on Jimjibangs: Dotted all over Korea is the culturally unique establishment known as as a Jimjibang, or sauna room. Basically they're very nicely decked out sauna's, with segregated male and female whirlpool areas and a common area with huge clay saunas. Entire families to come and sweat out some toxins for a few hours. I say it's pretty unique because there's really nothing quite like it. Because they're open 24hrs a day and many have 'napping rooms' you can save yourself a lot of money by staying at them. Just bring earplugs. It seems that in Korea, the harder you snore, the better a sleep you are getting.
That Friday we got up early for a ferry tour of the Pusan harbour. This place is unreasonably big. Claimed to be the 4th largest commercial port in the world, it's busyness is compounded by Korea's status as one of the most prolific shipbuilding nations. The cargo vessels shipping goods to and from Pusan are just ridiculously big. Hyundai, who we know for making cars, has an even larger ship building division.
After the ferry tour we walked down Haeundae beach, the most famous in Korea. The Pusan International Film Fest was taking place, so Kev and I took the obligatory 'I was there' shot. The rest of the day was spent at an Aquarium, walking all over downtown Pusan, going to City Hall, and a night out in the student district of Seomyeon. A note on the second picture here: This was a wonderful sight that made me pretty jealous. We found a primary school with a slide that went from the second floor of the school OVER a busy road and into the play ground. I believe batman, indy jones, macgyver and wonder woman went here together.
Saturday morning was a bit fuzzy, but we managed to drag ourselves to Beomuhsah mountian for a climb. Amazing views of the sprawling metropolis of Pusan, however the pollution was a little nauseating to see. You can see the haze in the first picture. At the summit were these two Ajushi's (old men) enjoying some Ramyun and Makkoli (riceish wine).
The climb down was through a valley between Beomuhsah and the rest of hte Pusan range. Halfway down there was a Buddhist temple with the building sprawled down the mountain. Very transcendental two hour walk back to the subway station, complete with Buddhist chanting that echoed through valley. Thart night we entered the foreigner district for a night out, which is never advised. Too many drunk expats exploiting cheap Korean beer.
Sunday morning we headed to some Film Festival events, walked through an open air market and shopping district, and climbed Pusan tower. From the tower we could see the summit we climbed the day before; gave good context for the height of hte tower. Doesn't approach the CN tower. We then headed town to the fishing wharfs to watch a little tug vs. trawler action. Great fun.
As it was approaching time for our train back to Seoul, we headed to the Jalgachi fish market where I was the only white person in the vicinity. For Gordon's amusement, notice the little old lady hanging out behind her dried fish, and the gigantic octopus for sale. Also notice the sweet electrospaceship dolphin on this fishing vessel. Goodluck or to scare off space pirates, I'm not sure.
The train back to Seoul encountered a slight snafu, the tickets we had been sold were keyed in for hte wrong date, and they had sold our seats again. Were we allowed to ride the train? of course, but that meant we needed to stand in the cabin area between cars. Would never happen in Canada, but was kinda fun. Increased our hobo quotient a bit I think.
Back in Seoul we stopped at a traditional bar for some Dongdongjuu and seafood pajon: milky rice liquour and an egg/riceflour pancake. Very good epilogue for this trip.
All in all an excellent weekend. Good chance to see some of the Korean countryside and experince a harbour city. Pusan has a bit of a 'twang' accent that I couldn't quite pick up on, but has a similar jokey quality as Newfies do in Canada. Tried to take my father's advice to be a Traveller and not a Tourist as much as possible, and I think it worked out.
Back into the thick of teaching and touring Seoul on the weekends. Visited Itaewon and a large war Museum yesterday (I hugged a Scud!!!). Jealous of those who got turkey this weekend. Enjoy your poultry.
Take Care,
Evan.
2 comments:
Those people must stink like ass in that fish market. that lady's head was practicly right in the fish!
Pusan looks mad cool. Glad you had a nice Korean thanksgiving.
that fish market looked pretty awesome. thanksgiving was kinda lonely. uncle frank had a cold so they didnt come up to the cottage so it was only mum dad and i. we had way to much turkey. schools good but the house is still too quite. i dont have anyone to try and beat up on even if i lose. seems like you are having a great time.
Gordon
miss ya too
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