Busan and Haeundae Beach

Friday night we had a staff dinner, hosted by the school. The director Mr. Kim took everyone out for dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant. There were about 25-30 people there and the plan afterwards was to rest up for a temple stay a few of us had planned. This plan took a very different turn in a matter of 5 minutes. Another group of coworkers were planning on heading to Busan which is a few hours south of Seoul.

We arrived at Seoul Station to purchase bus tickets for the 4 hour ride; we quickly came to realize that there were only 2 tickets left, but 5 of us who were going. We decided to split up and we would meet in Busan in the morning. Forrest and Olivia took the bus, while Jason, Crystal, and I tried to figure out a game plan to get to Busan. The final decision was to take the KTX, but it didn’t leave until 5:30 am on Saturday morning and it was 11:45 pm Friday. At most metropolitan bus/train depots late night patrons tend to be an interesting breed and Seoul Station did not disappoint. There were a variety of locals milling around the station but the three of us had the distinct pleasure of being the only foreigners until almost 4 am (we stuck out like a sore thumb).

When 5:30 am finally arrived the three of us boarded the train and set sail for clear skies, and warm weather. The train took a little less than 3 hours to travel 210 miles, but didn’t make much of an impression because I slept the ride there. We found a hotel in Haeundae , dropped off our bags, showered up and wandered down the street to the beach.



The beach was pretty awesome. The water was super clear, which is very different than the water at home. It’s usually in your best interest to not go in the water in Los Angeles, but in Busan it was encouraged. We hung at the beach for a few hours; dug in the sand, napped, played with the local wildlife, and then went back to the hotel to wash up for the evening.





That evening we went to the local live fish market that had just about every kind of seafood item you could think of. The way the market worked was you picked the live creature from one of the many vendors, they would cook it, and then you get to eat it. This was definitely an experience.



Now my eating repertoire only includes one kind of fish and that is a goldfish cracker. Outside of that; seafood and I don’t mix. Forrest picked out the lucky creatures that would be moving upstairs with us for dinner and we went and found our table. A few minutes later a king crab, live octopus, clams, and more were laid upon the table. Inside my head was a toddler throwing a pretty intense tantrum, but on the outside I held my composure, and actually tried the crab.

Thanks Crystal for the photo.



The next morning we went to the Busan aquarium before heading to the bus. There were a lot of awesome creatures. Overall it was a solid weekend.









Listening to Bright Eyes Lua.