Best Meal of the Trip? Live Octopus, Hands Down.

(More on that later :) )

First, a comment on how awesome the Indigo Girls are.  I am love love loving their debut album - about 25 years late, but that's okay.  Right now I can think of no better soundtrack to unpacking, pedicuring, blog writing, video constructing and last-hours-of-the-weekend-enjoying.  Get it, girls!

So, back to business.  Since today was Korea's Memorial Day, Diane and I took advantage of the three day weekend, and ventured to Busan, a city on the southeast coast of Korea.  Since we fully intend to go back when it isn't so busy (this weekend, it seemed that everyone and their brother went to Busan...), we took it pretty easy, not doing a whole lot...  Just our style :)

Friday night after school was over, I took the bus to Suwon, the capital of Gyeonggi Province (the area surrounding Seoul) to meet Diane, who lives about half an hour south of Suwon.  While waiting to board the bus for the two hour journey ahead of me, as I was yakking with Diane on the phone, an old lady came up to me, tapped my face with her hand and a huge smile on her face.  Then she tapped my overnight bag and my butt.  I was just as surprised to have this happen as you are to read it.  Usually people look at me like I'm a crazy (a tall white girl with short hair in the country?  Unheard of.), but they NEVER touch me.  Once again, never a dull moment in the Gwanj.

Friday night, once I met up with Diane, and we traveled to her city of Pyeontaek, we met up with Heather, Diane's neighbor who teaches as the boy's middle school near Diane's school who I also met at orientation.  We had a delightful barbeque dinner.  The next day, we woke up bright and early to board the KTX train bound for Busan.  Since we bought our tickets only a week before, there were no seats left in economy seating, so we were forced to pay $10 extra for first class tickets.  BALLS.  What a tough trip down we had :)

After we arrived to Busan, and took the subway to our hotel, we wasted no time in finding a cafe at which to lounge, plot our plan of action and, of course, people watch.  The rest of Friday was spent wandering around looking for an awesome pajeon (savory green onion and seafood pancake) restaurant.  We walked in circles a couple of times (when will we learn that Lonely Planet guide directions leave much to be desired?), then walked for at least a mile if not more before randomly taking turns to get back where we started before stumbling upon the first of several landmarks we were looking for.  Half an hour later we still hadn't found the restaurant, so we broke down and asked a nice woman for help.  She was a peach and showed us to the famous (and well worth the adventure of a walk) pajeon house.  We were seated right in front of the woman cooking the pancakes, so after much observation (read: shameless staring), I think I have the technique down.  (Watch our Iowa!)  Then, we headed for the beach.  We were pleasantly greeted by a quiet, mostly deserted, soft sanded beach with a beautiful view of a famous lit bridge.  A couple of hours of girl talk later, we called it a night.  What a great day!

Skyline by the beach - my camera does some crazy biz at night :)

Obligatory feet-on-the-beach picture with the bridge

Some self portrait action...  Loved that beach!!

The next day, we took a cab to a coastal area (I cannot remember the name...).  It was so refreshing to ride in a car with the windows down.  My high school friends are probably re-reading that last sentence because I used to HATE driving with the windows down, but now I find it quite refreshing.  What a great ride.  Once we got to the coastal area, we took a trolley ride to a lighthouse to enjoy the view and the ocean.

Some Lighthouse Action...

Check out this adorable (stalker-esque) video I shot of a family trying to take clever pictures.  Jumping photos are an international sensation, obviously.  :)

We called my friend June, who was also an assistant teacher at the academic high school and is Korean and lives in Busan until she starts university in England in the fall.  We met June and her sister Chloe at Jaegalchi Fish Market to eat some of Busan's famous seafood.  We had no idea what was in store for us!

Our fish-sperts:  June (right) and Chloe (left)

Chloe and June led us into the fish market which consisted of aisle after aisle of topless tanks filled with water and live sea creatures.  So, you purchase your desired fish, etc., and then carry it upstairs to the restaurant where they prepare it for you.  As we were walking through the market, we stopped at a particular stall to have a look at the different types of seafood available and all of a sudden, the woman manning the stand reached into the octopus tank and rapidly plopped two octopi on the ground.  Inches from my feet.  Don't worry - I captured it on video :)  YIKES.  After walking around several aisles of the fish market, we followed Chloe to a friend of their mom's (or some connection like that...) fish restaurant.  They ordered a frenzy of food in rapid Korean so Diane and I weren't quite sure what we were getting.  Soon, a plate of octopus (pieces) arrived at our table.  It was still moving.  June demonstrated how to pick it up, dip it in the soy sauce and wasabi or hot(ish) red sauce before stuffing the small piece into her mouth and thoroughly chewing it (because imagine NOT chewing it - alive.  in your belly.  YIKES).  Now it was Diane's and my turn.  We mimicked June's technique, and to my pleasant surprise, it was not disgusting, but rather quite tasty.  The octopus itself didn't have much of a distinct flavor (I mostly tasted the respective sauce into which it was dipped), but the movement didn't freak me out either.  The four of us devoured the plate of octopus along with two other types of raw fish and sea creatures.  An unforgettable lunch for sure!

Enjoy a short fish video!

We then ventured to Haeundae Beach to meet Heather and some of her friends at the Sand Festival that had been going on all weekend.  It was fun to see Heather and the sand sculptures but this beach was way too crowded for us, so we traveled back to our neck of the woods, grabbed a pizza from Pizza Hut ( !! ) and spent the rest of the night hanging out in our hotel.  What a fantastic weekend!