Okay, so they don't look that swollen, but trust me, they were swollen. And the walk didn't help that much. Anyway, we went to this Chinese restaurant because we were both hungry and had my favorite dish - jajangmyeung, which also happens to be the only dish I really know how to say in Korean, so it worked out well for us.
Jamie got to Daejeon on Thursday night, so we made plans to go somewhere on the weekend. We were going to go to Seoul, but decided it'd be easier to travel to Busan for the weekend. We asked Paddy about accommodations and he told us that we could just stay in a love motel because they're everywhere in Busan. A love motel, by the way, is a place where people go to have sex, in case you hadn't figured that out already. They even charge by the hour. The whole going-to-a-new-city-without-hotel-reservations completely went against everything that I learned about traveling, but because I was trying to be more laid-back, I went with it. To compromise, Jamie and I made plans to stay at a jimjaebang, mostly because it's cheap (like 8,000 W). I felt only slightly better about our sleeping situation, though.
Anyway, Saturday rolled around and off we were to Busan on the KTX. On our way to the station we stopped at this delicious toast place that's right next to the station. We had a really good breakfast, and as you can see, we were in very high spirits before we left for Busan. Yay for toast! It takes about two hours to travel to Busan by KTX, but due to our particularly enthralling discussion about religion, the time flew and we were there before we knew it (we also happened to be sitting next to two soldiers, but that's of no importance :D ).
On Friday, while I was teaching, Jamie researched the things she wanted to do in Busan. She found this city bus tour that would allow us to get on and off the bus whenever we wanted. I had done this with Katherine in Rome (except in Rome, Katherine and I barely got off the bus. But that's neither here nor there), so I knew that it'd be a pretty good way to see the entire city. So, once we got off the train, we went to the tourist center and asked about the city bus tour. We found it pretty easily and then we were off to Gwangalli beach.
Busan is gorgeous.
Of course I had to play in the water!
And my photo shoot.
Yippee!
Beautiful Busan.
To be honest, it really isn't that hard for a city to impress me. If there are beaches and mountains, I'm good to go. Anyway, Jamie and I spent about an hour on the beach taking pictures and playing in the (freezing) water. We stopped to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant, where I (OF COURSE) had pho. Mmmmmm. We walked along the coast for another few hours (where I saw people PLAYING VOLLEYBALL) and came upon an amusement park where we rode a few rides. It was more a carnival than an amusement park, only because the park was run down, the rides were terrifying (because you literally feared for your life) and there were only five rides. It was still fun and totally worth the 10,000 W we paid to ride the rides though. On a side note, I apologize if my blogging isn't nearly as enthralling as it used to be. I try to be fun and witty, but all that really ends up happening is that I feel like I'm doing a homework assignment, so I'm not nearly as motivated to write anymore. I'm working on it though; I want to keep everyone updated through exciting narrative. Be patient!
Okay, where was I?
After the amusement park, we decided to hop back on the bus to go to Haeundae Beach (which everyone kept talking about like it was the place to go). After much confusion with directions and walking in the wrong direction for 15 minutes, we made our way back to the bus stop and got back on the bus. Haeundae Beach really wasn't that spectacular. I mean, yes, it was a beach and I always love beaches, but the other beach was much more exciting. I think the area is more appealing to Westerners because there are a lot of American restaurants like Bennigans, Outback Steakhouse (YUM), TGI Fridays, Baskin Robins and every single bar/pub that you can think of serving every kind of alcohol that you can dream up. We did find this fascinating little outdoor market though where vendors would be squatting on the street butchering every kind of animal/insect imagineable. There were sliced pig heads, worms, ants, bees, fish, chicken feet...whenever Jamie gives me her pictures, I'll happily post the pictures that she took of the grossness that lined the streets of Busan. It makes me shudder to think about the bees though. GROSS.
We made a quick stop at Baskin Robins (don't judge) where I had walnut flavored ice cream (delicious) and...well, I forgot what Jamie had. I was much more focused on the magic that was in my cone. We hopped back on the bus to head back to Busan Station so we could take the night bus that departed from the station. We both fell asleep on the bus as it made its way back to the station. It was glorious. Once we arrived back at the station, we had some time to kill. We wandered around Chinatown for a little while until Jamie gave me the brilliant idea that I should buy a back pack. All day, I was carrying my stupid messenger bag full of useless crap that I didn't end up using anyway. Jamie, by the way, is a brilliant haggler. I was so shy and apprehensive, so I made her haggle for me and I ended up buying a back pack for 20,000 W. She saved me 15,000 W! I've always been the type of person that would go to a vendor, ask how much it is, then buy it. No haggling for me. But no. She made me go to five different stalls (who all happened to sell the same backpack) so we could find out how much we should ask for the backpack. Anyway, she was brilliant.
I love him :)
One of the performances
After the performance, it was time for us to get on the night city tour bus, except that all the seats were booked. So we moved on to Plan B. We took the subway back to the Gwangalli beach so we could find some dinner. We delayed dinner once we got there because we wanted to take some night pictures with the bridge. We walked out on the beach and there were couples everywhere, all cuddling and looking at the Gwangan Bridge: some had fireworks, some were content to simply be next to each other. As a romantic, I was absolutely enamored with the scene in front of me: couples staring at the bridge while the moon's light glittered on the waves that were softly crashing on the shore. It was straight out of a romance novel, except that I didn't care that I didn't have anyone to cuddle with or that I was single.
The bridge at night
After Jamie and I took a significant amount of pictures, we decided to find somewhere to eat. I told Jamie to choose where to eat since I'm generally not a picky eater, so off we were to find a restaurant. Jamie took a little longer than I would have liked to pick a restaurant, so by the time we got to the chosen place, I was starving and a little cranky. It turned out, however, that the "restaurant" she chose was, in fact, NOT a restaurant, but a pesky tea house. We sat down anyway because the people who owned the place were so nice and ordered some tea that did nothing to calm my shaky hands due to lack of food. Jamie, always somewhat abrasive, asked them if they had any food (which, I knew they didn't), but they actually cooked us some food. Neither of us are big fans of sea weed, mostly because it's gross, but we ate what they cooked us anyway because it was such a sweet gesture.
The fabulous couple
While we were eating, it started to pour outside. We, of course, didn't have an umbrella, but the couple GAVE one to us. My faith in the goodness of people was again renewed that night because the Korean couple didn't have to make us dinner or give us an umbrella or help us navigate to the jimjaebang, but they did. Why? I have no idea. They simply wanted to help us. Why can't I be surrounded by these kinds of people?
Anyway, we walked through the pouring rain until we found a taxi (this took a while) that would take us to the Vesta Spa where we were going to spend the night (after we bathed of course). It was Jamie's first experience at at jimjaebang, and my second, so we were a little apprehensive about the naked thing, especially since we both knew we'd be stared at a whole lot. Yes, people did stare, but not only did they stare, they also got out of every pool that Jamie and I would enter. It was almost insulting, especially since we were naked, but I'll clarify that not everyone got out of the pools, only most of them. That fact didn't make me feel much better though. I felt like some American parasite that smelled nasty. And did I mention I was also naked? I felt so vulnerable!
It really wasn't that bad. I mostly stuck up my nose in the air like the proud American that I was and just kept hopping from pool to pool. As Jamie and I were sitting in the pool that blasted missles of water on our back, we noticed some very intense massages happening across the bath house. There were these older woman wearing panties and a bra, or nothing at all, slapping, scrubbing and what looked like abusing these woman lying on the massage tables. We were, to say the least, intrigued, so we wandered over to the tables and tried to communicate how much we wanted to pay for the massages. Remember, I had Jamie with me, and she always haggles down the price, so we ended up paying 30,000 W usually 50,000 W) to get a massage, shampoo and condition, cucumber mask and scrub down. I was so excited because I was thinking, "Yes! I can't wait to be pampered! This is going to be awesome!"
I had gotten a massage once before and it was amazing...I actually dosed off while the woman was massaging me. There was nice classical music playing and it was just really peaceful and nice.
At the jimjaebang...not so much. Keep in mind that the women massaging us were half naked (mine at least had panties and a bra on - Jamie's only had panties on, haha) and had these scubber pads on their hands just scrubbing EVERY INCH of my body. It felt like they were ripping off my skin. It wasn't peaceful. It wasn't even pleasant. It mostly hurt, since I was slightly sunburned as well.
We were so lubed with baby oil that every time they would yell "SIDE" and bang the table, we'd both almost slide off the table in our attempt to turn onto our side. I felt like a beached, naked whale. Once they put the cucumber mask on my face, I coudn't stop giggling. Then I'd turn my head to look at Jamie (who was laying on her belly) and I could see Jamie's massager's breasts hitting Jamie in the head as the woman was bending over Jamie's head to scrub her back. It was absolutely hilarious. And if I wasn't in so much pain, I probably would have enjoyed myself immensely. After everything was finished, I didn't feel refreshed or relaxed, but my skin was softer than a baby's bottom. Those women work hard for their money. Seriously.
Anyway, after the...interesting massage, Jamie and I went to put on our XXL uniforms and made our way out to the area that we'd be sleeping in. We were both exhausted after an extremely long day, and because we had very little sleep from the night before. So we were ready to SLEEP. Yet...when we went into the sleeping area, there was absolutely NO space left. There weren't any mattresses or pillows or even ROOM to put the mattresses and pillows that we didn't have. It was almost 2:00 AM and we had just figured out that we didn't have a place to sleep. I wanted to sceam "I TOLD YOU SO!" but I kept my cool and calmly discussed our options with Jamie.
A. We could sleep in the noisy, uncomfortable spa.
B. We could look in our Lonely Planet and see what places we could find.
C. Go sleep out on a park bench.
Plan C was out, since it was still pouring outside. Plan A looked like it'd be a disaster, so we went with Plan B. We changed our clothes and went out to the reception area and asked the woman to call a taxi for us. She said she'd call and then told us five minutes later (after not that much effort of calling a cab) that there weren't any taxis left because it was raining. I wanted to scream some profanity at her, but I again kept my cool and told Jamie that we'd just walk around outside until we found a taxi. Thank God for the angelic couple from earlier, because if we hadn't have had the umbrella they'd given us, we would have been completely screwed. So there we were, walking around in the pouring rain, both trying to fit under this small umbrella, at 2:30 AM with no cars in sight. It was a completely pathetic moment until we heard a honk behind us and there was a blessed taxi. (The taxis have a habit of honking at you to see if you want a ride or not. Usually it's annoying, but in this instance, it was heaven.) So we got into the taxi and pointed at a hotel that we'd found in our LP. Of course, the taxi driver didn't speak much English, but since everyone in Korea wants to help, he called a friend of his that spoke English and handed Jamie the phone. Long story short, we figured out where we needed to go and the taxi driver took the longest way EVER to get us back to Busan Station. The taxi fare was almost 30,000 W. Jamie wanted to punch him, but with much restraint from me, she only slammed the door really hard. I was still in cool, calm, collect mode, so I just gave him the money and got the hell out of the cab.
We were able to get a room at the tourist hotel for 50,000 W. Needless to say, if we had booked a room before we got there, we would have saved a lot of money. We almost spent 100,000 W because of bad planning. Lesson learned. No more laid back, cool Trisha.
We got up to our bedroom and instantly fell asleep. Actually, Jamie fell asleep instantly, in the middle of me baring my soul to her. But again, that's neither here nor there. As usual, it took me a little while to fall asleep, but once I did, I was down for the count for almost ten hours.
This whole blog was just ONE day in Busan. It felt like the longest day of my life, but it was one of the BEST days of my life. I love Busan. I love Jamie. It was just an all around fabulous day.
And just because, here are some soldier pictures we took :)
Soldier boy number 1
Soldier boy number 2
As they say in the movies:
To Be Continued...
Thanks for writing this. Love ya
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