Current Journal

Although this update is being uploaded from a painfully slow internet connection in Africa, this is the journal of two weeks that I spent in South Korea with Alison!!! More on Africa to come later...

After a 14 hour direct flight from San Francisco, I arrive in Korea with bloodshot eyes...yet my very first impression is still almost exactly what I have pictured in my head! With bright neon lights of every imaginable color and store signs of un-decodable symbols, pulling into Seoul at night fulfills my image of a stereotypical big Asian city.

But I won't stay here, I am headed south to Busan, and within three hours of my arrival I have already taken three modes of transportation: bus, bullet train, and taxi. Even without speaking a word of Korean, I am amazed that I make it to Alison's apartment without any confusion whatsoever. The apartment sits at the base of steep, wooded hills and has a nice view of Busan city. Heated floors keep the place cozy, and it comes with all the modern amenities, save the fish broiler which takes the place of a real oven. Here in the city, Alison has been teaching English for almost three months as the only foreign staff member at her large school. To emphasize the lack of other foreigners, the only other westerners that I see over the course of my visit in Korea are other English teachers, no tourists.

Clean and modern, Busan is a bustling city of four million that sits on the southeast coast of the Korean peninsula - just about as far as one can get from Seoul. Its dominant features are steep, pine covered hills that are encroached upon by waves of apartment complexes and freeways. On a clear day you can see across the Korea Straight (or Sea of Japan, depending on who you ask), to the Japanese islands, and there are a variety of beaches as well as the busy port. With mountains, ocean, and a metropolitan city center, Busan has plenty to offer, and it is the perfect location to get a taste of Korea and its law abiding citizens. Here is a place where the locals won't cross the street when the "walk" signal is red, even when there are absolutely no cars to be seen in any direction. Because of the sprawled out nature of the city, it is necessary to use the efficient bus and metro system to explore Busan.

My very first night in town, we head out to a traditional Korean BBQ restaurant with several of Alison's fellow English teachers - Tori, Kayla, and Olivia. In typical Korean fashion, we all take off our shoes and sit on the floor around a table that is about one foot off the ground. This presents the impossible dilemma of how to sit so that your knees are not in too much pain by the time the meal is over. Here, I brave my first side dish of kimchi, a fermented cabbage (sounds delicious, right?) and find that it's not all that bad. However, it's still hard to get over the fact that I am eating aged, wilted lettuce. But the Korean BBQ does not disappoint, and flavorful meat cooks over coals on the table right in front of us; when the meat reaches perfection, it is eaten wrapped in lettuce with garlic and sauces.

Although Alison is technically on winter break, she is teaching an English camp each morning, and I use this time to wander around the city on my own. It is time well spent, and I get a good feel for Busan by walking aimlessly, browsing open air markets, eating street food, and attempting to speak the four words of Korean that I know. By the first day these include hello, thank you, yes, and no. Each afternoon Alison acts as my professional tour guide, and over the course of two weeks we succeed in visiting every location in Busan recommended by the guidebook - and more.

Our first trip is to the Hae Dong Yong Gung Buddhist Temple, which sits atop the cliffs northeast of the city, dramatically overlooking the ocean. Aside from the impressive architecture and sculptures, the setting alone makes the trip worthwhile, and we enjoy the tranquility as the sun drops on the horizon. Soon after, we ride the subway back to downtown and meet up with Mi Sook, a Korean teacher who works with Alison. She has generously offered to prepare a traditional Korean dinner for us at her apartment.

At the apartment, I meet Mi Sook's family, and by the time the night is finished we are all good friends. Her kids speak English quite well, and their intense schooling ensures that they are very bright and witty. Our meal is a variety of Korean dishes (including kimchi, of course), and we sit on the floor to eat, being the locals that we are. At the end of the night, they present us with a gift - a baseball that has been signed by each family member!

The next day is jam packed, and after I take a morning hike we ride the subway to the waterfront and central area of Busan. Here, we wander the endless Gukje open air market which is teeming with Koreans purchasing everything from leather jackets and chopsticks to garlic and squid. It is quite an impressive spectacle, but once we've had enough we visit an excellent tea house before heading to the top of the Busan Tower. One of Busan's classic landmarks, the Busan Tower looks much like the air traffic control tower at any large airport, and from the top we are treated to excellent nighttime views of the city, shimmering in its bright neon colors.

After the tower, our final stop is the famous Jagalchi fish market, located right on the waterfront in a modern building. Here, on the bottom floor, there are hundreds of tanks filled with live fish, squid, seaweed, clams, and much much more. The most exciting part is that we are able to select our own fish to be prepared at the restaurants just upstairs; a whole new meaning to fresh fish! We opt for a flounder and another unidentified species, the fish are netted, and we head upstairs where we wait for our meal to be prepared. Both fish are cooked to perfection, and we enjoy our dinner with soju, a typical Korean liquor. Soon enough, the locals sitting nearby begin to offer us some daunting side dishes - probably only to laugh at our reaction, but we indulge nonetheless. I eat some sort of sea worm (smothered in sauce to eliminate any flavor whatsoever) and we both try the squid, which is relatively tasteless but definitely has the distinct texture of rubber. On the way out we find a streetside stand and enjoy a blazing hot hota, a unique fried pastry that is similar in taste to a Mexican churro. Having completely surpassed our cultural expectations of the day, it's time to head home.

On Wednesday the time has come for some real exercise. In the frigid, unseasonable cold, we set off for the summit of Mt. Baekyang, a 641 meter peak behind Alison's apartment. Although we only need to climb about 2,000 vertical feet, the Koreans are apparently unaware that switchbacks have been invented, and the trails literally run straight up the steep hillside. It is tiring indeed, yet we build up a sweat that fends off the cold and soon leave our jackets behind. At the top we are awarded a spectacular 360 degree panorama of the entire surrounding area. From above, the sprawl of Busan is broken up by numerous hills that stand like islands against a river of encroaching apartment complexes. To the north the mountains continue and to the south an endless line of ships stream into Busan Port. Speedwalking down, we make the round trip hike in record time and meet up with Alisons English teacher crew - supplemented by a hilarious Brit named Andrew - for a traditional Korean soup dinner. However, the restaurant turns out to be closed (under construction), and we settle for the Beer Dak...fried chicken and Korean beer. Not quite the local experience, but still tasty.

The next afternoon Alison and I head for a fortress perched high above the city. We take a tram ride into the hills, and after much confusion with the Korean lettered signs we find our way. Upon reaching some large, granite boulders, we stop to try our climbing skills. Of course we are given dirty looks by the law abiding Koreans who would never dream of stepping off the trail to explore the area, but nobody stops us. We soon come across a small village famous for its fresh goat meat; however, with our embarrassing lack of Korean language skills, we can’t convey to the waitress that we want to try it. When a hilarious game of charades fails, Alison resorts to drawing a fine picture of a goat on a handy post-it note - and the sketch is an instant success! We are then shown our own private dining room, remove our shoes, and proceed to eat a meal of succulent goat meat, kimchi (goes without saying) and a delicious rice wine called makali (sorry for the butchered spelling, Al!). Feeling more than satisfied, we follow the fortress wall back to a bus stop that eventually takes up to the Beomosa temple.

We arrive at the temple around sunset, and the entire area is quiet and void of other tourists. Set against the steep mountainside below the fortress, Beomosa is a spectacular temple with colorful architecture and a picturesque courtyard. Lanterns light the walkway, and we stroll through the courtyard in the silence of twilight. At exactly 6pm, we witness an amazing spectacle. Two monks take turns playing the drum for exactly ten minutes while the rest of the monks slowly file out through the courtyard. It is a very mesmerizing scene, and we feel slightly uncomfortable and out of place, not knowing if we should even be there. That is, of course, until one of the monks calls out nonchalantly, "Hey! Where are you guys from!"

After only five days, my time in Korea with Alison is drawing to a close, and we plan one last day trip out to Taejongdae - the tip of a small island located in the Busan harbor. Here there are excellent views, several temples, a lighthouse, and the suicide cliffs - where apparently many Koreans used to jump to their deaths. Now, a statue of a woman with two children stands guards as a reminder to those about to jump that there is much to live for. We check out one of the temples (unremarkable compared to the previous two), climb the lighthouse, and watch the mix of fishing vessels and cargo ships returning to port from across the Korea Strait. The water is a beautiful deep blue, its color further drawn out by the dropping sun. Walking back to the bus stop, there is a spectacular sunset taking place behind the wall of pine tress. Not wanting to miss the show, we hustle to find a decent view. Upon reaching a clearing, we both stop dead in our tracks and contemplate an unlikely scene. The rusty red sun is slowly dropping to the horizon, yet something is obviously different. It looks more like a scene out of Avatar than a typical sunset, and there is a perfectly round slice taken out of the sun. The only possible explanation is that we have stumbled upon a solar eclipse. As it drops below the horizon, several Koreans walk by without even noticing. It is hard to believe that nobody knows about the eclipse, and are thus questioning the reality of what we have just witnessed. However, a quick internet search that night reveals that we have indeed had the good fortune to witness a rare solar eclipse, at sunset, in Korea!

With my time in Korea at an end, I bid farewell to Alison and take a three hour bullet train ride back to Seoul. At one point, it hits 300 km/hr, which is about 180 miles per hour! but apparently I wasn't meant to leave Korea in such a short time. I soon find out that the flight back to San Francisco is completely full, and as a standby passenger I am unable to get a seat. With only one flight per day leaving for San Francisco, I will have to try again tomorrow. Tired and lacking other options, I find a hotel near the airport in the sprawling, industrial city of Incheon. Spending some time here makes me realize how lucky Alison is to be teaching in Busan and not in this area. Although it is not dirty or dangerous by any means, a constant haze hangs in the air and factories are abound; the land is flat and interesting attractions are few and far between. On the bright side, I manage to find a phenomenal Korean BBQ restaurant.

In the morning I head back to the airport, but complications with my standby ticket prevent me from making the flight yet again. And because United only makes the flight from Seoul to San Francisco five times a week, my chances of getting on the plane look quite grim until the next Friday, five days away. Quickly deciding against the pricey hotels and hostels in Seoul, I head back to Busan for another week of adventure with Alison!

With English camp now finished, I am able to spend more time with Alison, and we immediately set off to see more of Busan. A long bus ride takes us into the hills above the port to visit Central Park. The area reminds me a bit of Valparaiso in Chile with steep hillsides and colorful houses. The focal point of the park is a massive concrete tower built as a Korean War monument. We read over some war history and then enter a dome shaped room covered with the names of the deceased. We finish our tour of the park by walking to the southern point where a strange monument of no apparent logic has been erected. Along the way there are many statues and plaques describing the role of Busan during the war. The evening is topped off by a bright orange sunset over the city.

Our final excursion in Busan is to Hyundae beach, the "Waikiki" of Korea. Although it's not very Hawaii-esque today, pictures prove that during the summer months the waterfront is packed with tourists toting inner tubes and umbrellas that cover every square inch of the sand. The water is impressively clear, and we follow a nice path along the rocky coastline to another lighthouse. Retracing our path back to the subway, I see a strange sight in the water. Currently, up to this point in my visit, my register of wildlife in Korea is a magpie and a glimpse of a grouse-like bird in the woods near the fortress. So you can imagine how excited I get when I see a turtle in the ocean! We descend to the water where two Korean ladies are watching the turtle. Or turtles, that is. We soon see that there are three turtles, not just one, and they appear quite beautiful in the blue waters.

My first impression is to be completely excited that we have spotted some rare wildlife in Korea. However, on closer inspection of the turtles, they are fighting hard against the currents and bumping violently on the rocks. And they don't have the flippers of a sea turtle. Having owned several turtles in my life, I realize that these are clearly not ocean dwelling turtles, and they obviously don't belong in the turbulent salt water. So, with much difficulty among the wet rocks, Alison grabs one and we inspect it closer. Surely it is ecstatic to be out of the water. But before we can think, one of the Korean ladies comes up to us, grabs the turtle, walks to the end of the rocks and says some sort of prayer before hurtling the poor turtle back into the water! Another passerby informs us that they are "returning captive animals into the wild." Maybe it's with good intention, but this is certainly not the natural habitat for a pond turtle; the turtles must be rescued. But it is with great difficulty...one has already been swept too far out to sea, and when Alison discreetly grabs another one out of the water, the same lady comes over, snatches it away, and tosses it back. So we decide to wait it out, and eventually the Korean ladies leave. With a little help from the wind and incoming tide, we are able to grab two of the turtles and whisk them to safety. Or so we think.

Our first stop is the aquarium, just a five minute walk from our current location. There, however, we are sternly turned away and are now left with two homeless turtles and no idea what to do, being that we are in the middle of a giant city. Next we go to the tourist information and find somebody who speaks English. They tell us that although they are river turtles, they eat the fish and are a nuisance to fisherman. She tells us to throw them back in the ocean. We politely say no thanks, find a picture of a river on a map, show it to the taxi driver, and take the turtles across town to be released into their new home. Although not perfect, it is certainly better than the salt water and rocky shoreline. Later that night we do some research to find that they are indeed native Reeve's Pond Turtle, natural habitat: rivers, lakes, and ponds. We did the right thing, and that night we celebrate with yet another phenomenal Korean BBQ.

Wednesday's flight back to the US is also full, and it looks like my next chance of getting out is Friday. At this point I consider just becoming a resident of South Korea and picking up a job teaching English. Today we opt for a lazy day, and we wander the Gukje market again in search of the elusive corn dog that Alison keeps raving about. No luck with the corndog, but we do pick up some decent street food and head to the DVD Bong. Bong means room in Korean, and that is essentially all this is. You pay a small fee, pick out a DVD, and then get your own room with a large leather couch to watch the movie. Quite a genius idea, and you can even bring in your own drinks and snacks!

On my last day in Korea (this time for real!), we go to the Busan Museum of Modern History which is essentially a written assault on the Japanese. The words "ravage, pillage, plunder, and exploit" are included in just about every sentence, and by the time we leave the museum we are quite amused. Certainly the Japanese did some terrible things to the Koreans, but the one sided view was to the point of being comical to say the least. My last Korean dinner is in a distant part of Busan with the same crew of English teachers, informally known as the O-towns. Everyone else is leaving for Thailand tomorrow, so the table talk is dominated by beaches, Bangkok, and the famous Full Moon Festival.

Early in the morning Alison and I say our goodbyes for the second time. I then catch the bullet train to Seoul, while she heads to the Busan airport to catch the flight to Thailand. This time my standby luck has turned for the better, and I finally make it onto the flight. In a quick turnaround, I meet my parents (and dog) at the San Francisco airport before catching a quick connecting flight to Atlanta. Here I spend the night with my college friend Brad, and by the next afternoon I am sitting in the last seat on a sold out flight to Johannesburg, South Africa!

Thanks for reading...more to come soon from Africa!