Busan - a weekend of

We would hate to find ourselves back home in the States regretting a lack of adventure and travel as we look in retrospect on our time here. I am sure we would only fall short of kicking ourselves in the face.

So we have sworn to take the bull by the horns and ride this year off into the proverbial sunset.

After all, Korea (even including that lame communist state up north) is not that big. All 85,000 sq. miles could comfortably fit within the grand state of Colorado (CO being 104,000 sq. miles). So there is no excuse to not see a lion’s share of it within our year here.

And having said that, we really haven’t done that badly. To date we have trudged through much of the northwest (Incheon/Bucheon/Seoul) – scootered around Jeju Island (as far south as Korea gets) – hiked around the southwestern tip of the peninsula (see our post on the “butterfly festival”) – and just this weekend, splashed around the coastal town of Busan (southeastern tip – 2^nd largest city in the country).

The KTX is a Korean pride and joy (honestly they stole the technology from the French, but they would rather die than admit that); it is a high-speed passenger train that spans Korea from north to south. Reaching speeds of just over 300km/hr (188mph for you folks back home), it is surprisingly quiet, smooth and rather inexpensive.

It was a last minute decision to put together a trip to Busan, although we had been talking about it with our friend Greg for some time. It was only towards the end of last weekend’s church retreat that we started getting serious. “You know guys, we need to get out more often. There is too much to see; we have no excuse to sit around watching The Office episodes all weekend.”

A couple hours of internet research, few phone calls, a trip to Bucheon Station for KTX tickets, and we had the logistics all set for a frolicking good time at the beach.

There were six of us when everyone showed up at Songnae Station for the hour hop over to Seoul Station where our KTX departed at 21:20. “Oh shoot!! We forgot the camera! Son of a bee-sting!!” Bad way to start a weekend trip, and that is the reason for the sever lack of quality pictures to document this adventure. Sad day.

You do have to love a train ride though. We got 4 tickets for less than the price of 3 (don’t ask, we just smiled and nodded), we had a private table between us on which we played cards and sipped wine. (Okay, honestly, we brought the wine, intending to consume it, but we ended up falling asleep…see? that just sounds lame.)

Two hours and forty minutes later we arrived, eyes half-mast, at Busan Station. After a 30 minute bus ride we were somewhere in the vicinity of our hostel, a hostel that only took us another 30 minutes of somewhat aimless wandering to find.

2am and we finally hit the hay, but my were those some comfy pillows! Morning took us to the nearby Micky D’s. We passed these golden arches the night before and thought: “Okay! That’s what we need for breakfast in the morning!” And don’t look down your critical noses at us for this. You must understand that the “traditional" Korean breakfast is a combination of kimchi, rice, soup, and ramen. You try that on for size this Saturday morning and tell me how you feel by lunch. Besides the soft-serve was only 500 won!

Haeundae Beach is “the most popular beach in all of Korea.” A statement that is supported by the fact that the city of Busan attempted to set a Guinness world record for the most number of beach-umbrellas on their 1.5km long beach. They were shooting for 12,000, but I think they fell short with only 9,500+.

The key here was to avoid the crowds. We were about as interested in participating in the Guinness record attempt as you would be in having all your teeth removed just prior to Thanksgiving Day. The fact that crowds only gather in July and August was our main motivation to make this trip when we did – the beach was sparsely populated, much to our delight, and the water was surprisingly just warm enough that if you stayed active you would not catch hypothermia.

Body-surfing and general frolicking in the sea built the appetite for a Starbucks latte. The only Starbucks in the area was lacking outdoor seating and this was a point of contention among the six of us, so instead we pressed on toward our lunch destination.

Now here is where I will openly jab a few at Greg, our non-official Busan tour guide. “The burgers are tremendous! Just like back at home. I always get the bacon-cheeseburger.” Now, you, our loyal readers, must remember that the words “bacon” and “cheese” do NOT exist in the Korean language; the best “burgers” one can find here come from a restaurant that is know more for their salty-fries, saturated-fat, and double arches. So, to find a hamburger true-to-form is worth writing about. I, however, will only devote this sentence to the burgers we experienced: chewy bun, “meat loaf” textured beef patty (at least it was beef), and purple-died radishes. Don’t ask.

p.s. Greg didn’t even order the burger himself! He went with the pizza. Ordering only after we had!