Busan!

On Tuesday July 20th, we took a 4 hour train from Cheonan Station (line 1) to the city of Busan. Busan is South Korea's 2nd largest city and on the south-eastern coast. When we arrived, the first thing we wanted to do was drop off our stuff. We found a hotel room among the many to choose from right in front of the station. We were surprised when we looked around and saw so much Russian writing. We realized we were in a part of town with many Russian immigrants. It was a bit late but we decided to take the subway to Beomeosa station to see "Beomeosa" -- a Korean Buddhist temple. It was a simple but nice temple with beautiful surroundings. Many people were having picnics on the creek next to the temple.Next, we read in our guide book that there was a nice park nearby called "geumgang" with a cable car. We took a 5 minute taxi from Ocheonjang station and arrived at the park at 6:45pm, only to discover it had closed at 6:30pm. We still got a chance to look around and it seemed nice and relaxing. We walked around that area of town for a while and saw a lot of fruit, veggies, fish, and drinks for sale. One man was selling an interesting looking drink I had never seen before. It seemed he was pressing it out of a tree trunk. We paid 2,000 won (less than $2) for this dark, bitter drink made from arrow root. The man said it was good for the heart. We also had a sweet rice drink called sikhye (식혜, pronounced sheek-hay) for 500 won (about 50 cents).

We headed back to the hotel and got ready for a night out on Haeundae Beach, the most popular beach in Busan. To save time, we took a taxi to the beach and got to drive over Diamond Bridge, which is really beautiful at night. Before we headed out to the beach, we had some pajeon (green onion pancake): The weather was lovely and the beach was full of Korean people hanging out on the sand, having snacks and playing drinking games. After a few hours of doing the same, we headed back to get a good night sleep.

On Wednesday we planned to have lunch with Steve's coworker Gumin, who is from Busan. She showed up with her boyfriend who was awesome enough to drive us to an incredible raw restaurant. This restaurant was on the 14th floor of a building overlooking Busan's southern port.

The meal started with abalone porridge (전복죽, Jeonbokjuk), and the courses from then on never seemed to stop. Highlights were:

 (산낙지, sannakji)
sashimi plate, including 3-4 different types of tunaand this:

Then we headed over to the Jagalchi fish market. When in Rome....
Hundreds of fish vendors sell their catch inside and outside of a huge building right on Nampo Port. It's hard work!
Finally, we made our way to Taejongdae (태종대), a national park in Busan. We saw a lighthouse, a gorgeous pebble beach, and another Buddhist temple before we had to leave to make it to our train back home. Busan is truly a beautiful city... I can't wait to go back!

Finally, some culture...

On the Monday after mudfest weekend, we were ready for a low key day. We decided to see some 'real' Korean culture. We took the subway to Suwon station (line 1, exit 4) and found the tourist information building. From here, we bought our tickets and took a free shuttle to the "Korean Folk Village" in Yongin city. When we arrived, we noticed a Korean traditional music and dance show was coming up. This was my favorite part of the day. Watch part of the show here:

We were supposed to see a tightrope walker after, but unfortunately we came on his day off! There was a haunted house, which was entertaining, and some museums. Although everything was in Korean, we were able to decipher some interesting facts. There is also an amusement park and lots of other things to do!

Fermenting Pots (for kimchi, gochujang (red pepper paste), dwenjang (soybean paste) and more

Cost: 12,000 (entrance fee) or 18,000 won for the full package (entrance, museums, haunted house, and amusement park)
Where: 30 minutes east of Suwon (by shuttle)
Directions from Suwon Station: Take exit 4, turn left, and you'll see the Tourist Information Center. This is where you can buy tickets and take a shuttle to the Folk Village.
What: Korean Culture + fun
When: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Saturdays 9am-5:30pm

Let's get muddy!

Boryeong Mudfest is an annual event that took place this year July 17-25, 2010 on Daecheon Beach. Because it worked better with our summer vacation schedules, we decided to go the closing weekend, July 24-25, 2010. Our bus ride, hotel and entrance fee were booked with Adventure Korea. We met at Hongdae station early Saturday morning and rode for about 3 hours before arriving to a giant field of mud. Every year mud is shipped to the festival from this area. To our surprise we were told to grab a number for the 5k we were about to race! After the 5k we were given medals and snacks and played some games in the mud. After a rinse off, we were on our way to the actual festival.

When we arrived, we were taken straight to our accommodations. Since there were 6 in our group, we stayed in a "Min Bak" which is just a room with lots of floor space (no bed) and 6 blankets and pillows. There was also a kitchenette with a small fridge, 2 propane stoves, and a rice cooker (although we used none of these). After dropping our stuff off, we had lunch and headed out to see what the mudfest was all about. We found mud and paintbrushes and it was quite clear we needed to cover our bodies at that point. We waited in line for an inflatable slide, watched people mud wrestle, and explored the area. We decided to head back to our room to shower off before dinner and discovered our shower had no hot water. We tried to get the staff to turn it on but they kept giving us the run around. First, they said something along the lines of 'foreigners use too much hot water' then they tell us that there is a 'no hot water policy until 9pm'... It just didn't make sense. Since we were so muddy, were forced to suffer through the icy pain! Anyway, after the torture, we got dinner and played on the beach for a while. We found a big frog with a tail!

The next day was even muddier. We slid on more inflatable rides, mud wrestled, swam in the ocean, and relaxed on the beach before heading home.

I would definitely recommend mudfest to anyone who happens to be in Korea when it happens... and although it is nice to have everything all planned out for you, I think it would be a lot cheaper to book transportation and accommodation yourself.

What I learned: mud + beach + cool people = happiness, even if you've only had one (icy cold) shower all weekend.

Loving Hut near Itaweon

Although I am not strict with my dietary habits when it comes to vegetarianism, I love to eat veggie whenever I can. I heard about a grand opening of a vegan restaurant called Loving Hut opening near Itaewon. I had gone a few months back to the Loving Hut location in Sinchon with Sam and Erika and liked it a lot. Although it was a little tricky to find, we eventually made it with some perseverance.
What it is: Loving Hut is an international chain of restaurant offering vegan cuisine, and has over 40 locations in South Korea.

Getting there: We went to Itaewon station, took exit 2 and got pretty lost. It is about a 20 minute walk from Itaewon, and I've since heard that a closer station to exit from would be Hannam. This map should help. It's past Soonchunyang Hospital, across from Kookmin bank on the 2nd floor.

The food: The menu has various western (burgers, hot dogs) and Korean options. However, we came opening weekend, so many of the menu items were not available. We ordered the spaghetti, a vegan cutlet, and japchae dapbap. To drink, we ordered the soy pumpkin latte and the green tea latte. Everything was delicious. The spaghetti was a little too salty, but the mushrooms really created a meaty, hearty consistency that I've never tasted with a vegetarian dish. The vegan cutlet was good, but if you're looking for something that replicates meat, this isn't it. The japchae dapbap (stir-fried sweet potato noodles and veggies, over rice) was amazing. It was nice to have something Korean (or Korean-Chinese fusion) with all of the flavor and none of the meat. It was better than any japchae with meat we have ever tried. My pumpkin latte had a subtle flavor, and it was made with actual pumpkin (yum!).

Half-eaten cutlet. Would have taken more pictures but we were starving!

The cost: Main dishes cost about 7,000 won. Lattes cost 3,500 won. Hamburgers and hot dogs were about 3,500 won, but judging from my Sinchon experience, feel like just a snack.

Service: When we first arrived, I was surprised to see the place filled with Korean women (the Sinchon location was predominantly patronized by foreign customers while we were there). We sat down and were greeted with fresh oranges and bean rice cakes to welcome us to the grand opening. We ordered our meal and waited about 20 minutes for the spaghetti to come out. We shared that and waited even longer for the cutlet. Soon, we asked about our lattes and japchae and it seemed they totally forgot. I think this location definitely needs to work out some kinks with the speed of service and communication (they brought one of our dishes to another table-- twice), but the food was good enough for me to come back regardless.

They also had many vegan take home goodies. We bought the mandu (dumplings) that were expensive (9,800 won) and tasted okay. I will just try to make my own next time.

Children's Day vacation

What an awesome weekend! Yesterday was Children's Day, a national holiday, so we got the day off. It also happened to be my school's anniversary of foundation so I got Monday and Tuesday off, too! Friday was Steve's birthday so we had a party for him at our house. We saw Iron Man 2 on Sunday, and went to Everland amusement park on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Everland was a lot of fun! We had only planned to go one day but decided to stay another day, partly because we got there so late on Monday, but mostly because we were having such a good time.

What it is: Everland is the biggest amusement park in South Korea. The park has themed areas, very similar to Disneyland. There are roller coasters, arcade games, souvenir shops, food, animals, parades, and more.
Getting there: We took the subway to Suwon Station (line 1). From there, we took the city bus no. 66. You can also take any 66 bus (66-1, 66-2, etc). The bus ride took about an hour and 15 minutes. Update: We went to Everland and Carribean Bay again recently and discovered a direct shuttle bus right outside Suwon station that only took 45 minutes. A round-trip ticket is 8,000 won (one-way is 5,000).

Cost: One day admission costs 37,000 won. But with the coupon at the bottom of this page, foreigners can save 6,000 won.

Food: The food was similar throughout the park: chicken, hot dogs, burgers, churros, etc. There were also a few sit-down restaurants. The food wasn't crazy theme park prices, but about what you'd pay outside the park. One thing that Everland has over Disneyland is beer! They had Korean beer for 3,500 won per pint, and Hefeweizen or Schwarzbier for 7,000 at Holland Village.

Highlights: We spent most of our time at Zootopia. This part of the park had live animals such as monkeys, bears, giraffes, sea lions, and much more. The big thing they were advertising was the "Herbivore Safari" so we waited over an hour to ride in a tour bus through a maze of animals. It was pretty cool. I would try to sit on the drivers side next time, because the bears do tricks and the driver throws them food on that side.

Another cool thing was the "Mystery Mansion." We couldn't understand anything the creepy gargoyles were saying, but the awesome optical illusions surpass language barriers.

The best roller coaster was the T Express, which is the world's steepest wooden roller coaster. This is a must-do if you love a thrill. Another I tried was a coaster with two full revolutions, Rolling X Train, which was less extreme, but still fun.
"Holland Village" was also a super cool area. There was a live cover band, food, good beer, and a gorgeous garden nearby.
There are also parades with different themes throughout the year. This time of year was all about Spring, and at 8pm we saw an amazing light parade called "Magician of Spring."

Hwaseong Fortress!

Steve and I have been waiting for the weather to get warmer so we could explore what Korea has to offer culturally. No more excuses! The weather has been so nice we decided to check out Hwaseong Fortress with our friends Sam and Erika. We took the subway up to Suwon Station and then it was only a short bus ride away to the actual fortress. After glancing around we saw several stairs where we decided to start our trek around the fortress. The stairs were very steep but once we got past those, the view of Suwon was great. Can't wait to go back! Here's a video Sam made of our trip:

Cooking in Korea

Here's a delicious meal Steve and I prepared in Korea. Korean-style soup, fried rice, salad, and garlic bread.

Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, blackberry vinaigrette, and olive oil. The blackberry vinaigrette was very sweet so we added some apple cider vinegar to give it a kick.


Stir-frying veggies before adding the rice. Onions, garlic, Korean melon (like zucchini), mushrooms, green chili peppers, cherry tomatoes, and danmoji (Korean pickled radish).

Added the rice and a little soy sauce. We don't have a rice cooker so we buy the pre-cooked, microwaveable rice. It's still yummy!

Korean-style soup. Made with all the veggies in the fried rice, plus chung guk jung (fermented soy beans) and spicy sundubu jigae stock (can be bought at any market, comes in a pouch).

We also had garlic bread. We bought bread from a bakery and added olive oil and garlic, then put it in the microwave for about 25 seconds.

I really liked that everything in this dinner could be thrown together and still taste delicious. Yum! And this all couldn't have been as good without the delicious Sriracha Hot Sauce sent from the U.S. by Randy. Thanks!