Busan, the other city in South Korea

So this week I finally left Seoul and went to the second largest city in Seoul, Busan. It's about five hours away by bus or 2 by the fastest train and is only about 4 million people compared to Seoul's 10 million.

This is the view as soon as you get out of the train station. I liked Busan alot (more than Seoul) The first night we, my roommate and another friend, just wandered through the city and came upon this food market. The sellers were all very nice. Actually one of the main things I liked about this city was it's "small town" charm. People were very personable and helpful, much more so than Seoul. They also stared more, but that could be because we were staying in a very non-touristy area.
Saturday morning we went to one of the top five temples in Korea. Beomeosa Temple. Much bigger than usually and still in use despite being over 1,500 years old. Monks still live and practice Buddhism here and a few of these monks actually spoke to me. But my Korean isn't good enough yet to get past simple conversation.

After the temple we decided to take a "short, easy hike" to the nearby fortress. Short and easy to Korean's is 2km up stone steps. Korean hiking is a difficult thing. Trails don't use switchbacks and usually go in a straight path up the mountain and hikers where special outdoor clothing and carry ski poles. We were not prepared. The three of us wore flimsy shoes, jeans and purses. I feel like we were laugh at a lot by those who passed us.
But it was worth it. This is the North Gate to the fortress set on top of KumJang Mountain.

And the views of the city were really nice.
Also, the trail followed the old fortress wall that apparently stopped one of the earlier Japanese invasions.
While on the trail we got a bit bored and started following the hiker who most seemed to know what he was doing. The swishing of his track pants set a good tempo to march by.

We ended up coming down on the other side of the mountain, having no map or plan, into this rural farming suburb. They had Saturday afternoon games set up for the people in the town that we took part in.
After all the hiking we went and relaxed in a huge hot spring in town that had several different types of baths for you to bathe in. Very relaxing and good for the skin.


The best part of the trip was the Jagalchi Fish market I went to by myself on Sunday morning. (My roommate is a picky, girly, environmentalist and my friend is a vegan) Busan is a port city known best for its seafood. Plus being father south and on the Eastern Sea it's much warmer than Seoul so I spent the morning sunning and examining seafood that I can't name or recognize.
These things are something Ki Sung made me try once and I still want to kill him for it. They're disgusting.
Types of clams
the port

Finally, I went to lay on the beach. Though it's the middle of November it was warm enough to take off my shoes and eat ice cream. This is Haeundae Beach, famous for once having a million people on it at one time. They say that you couldn't walk on the sand and that you had to swim through people, not water.

Finally, when I got back to Seoul Ki Sung and I went to a jimjjilbang, or rest house. Like the hot spring there were separate sides for men and women to enjoy different types of bathes and then later you meet up with the opposite sex in a rest room on another floor.
When you're in a jimjjilbang they give you pajama like clothes to wear and lounge in. Seen here. The floor is heated and you just sort of lay around and watch TV, drink and eat, read or enjoy one of the massive oven/saunas or massage chairs.
So, that was this past week. I only have three weeks left in Seoul till I come home for a bit. This weekend I'm going to Tokyo so I'll be sure to report back about that, then one more week then finals, then home. See you soon.

North Korea has no Trees!

So, the title is not actually true, but I'll get to that later.

This weekend was very interesting. First, on Friday night I went with Ki Sung to a magic show put on at Yonsei. It was very amatuerish but I got to see the junior/senior among students relationship in action. For instance, the guys who gave Ki Sung and I tickets was Ki Sung's junior in his major and though they were "friends" he wouldn't look Ki Sung in the eye.
Afterwards I got to eat in a tent restaurant. Which is literally a tent set up beside the road with folding tables that serves food late into the night.
Saturday morning I attended Ki Sung's cousin's wedding. It was a western style wedding, so it's was set up like ours except that it's held in a wedding hall that does six weddings an hour, the wedding itself only took an hour, and people from other weddings kept wandering in. Not even the bride and groom were safe as the people from the company hired to run the wedding kept fidgeting with the bride's dress as she said her vows and camera men were at the pulpit with the preacher taking photos.

Each bouquet was for a weddding, there were about 30 in this room.
Here is Ki Sung's family and the bride and yes I am in some of there family photos now.
Ki Sung can sing very well and so he preformed a song for the couple accompanied by his junior.

And the reception afterwards took place in the cafeteria in the basement where you got a meal ticket and were served and hurried along by waitresses. All the wedding parties ate together.
Now, for the most exciting part of my trip. Sunday morning I woke up at 4am and spent the day in North Korea.

Ok, let that sink in. Yup, I crossed the DMZ, about 20 minutes into North Korean territory and went sightseeing in a city called Kaesong there.
So, here is the South Korean checkpoint. We left Seoul at 6am and arrived in Kaesong at 10am. The four hours in between was for security clearance. A straight ride from Seoul to Kaesong only takes about 40mins. But it's a whole other world across the border. A world that has its own currency but makes foreigners use the American dollar.
The official North Korean border. We weren't allowed to take pictures from the bus, guards stationed on the bus and along the roadsides made sure of it. They were actually supposed to censor my photos coming back but it being Sunday evening the security was amazingly lax on both the North and South Korean side. We were escorted by no less than four trucks with North Korean soldiers at all times and when we were allowed to leave the bus, there were designated buildings to take pictures of. I didn't follow the rules very well as you'll see later. So, many of the following photos were supposed to have been censored but weren't.


This is a typical North Korean building. The houses all looked like this. There is glass in the windows but it's not particularly straight, the buildings themselves and pretty dilapidated, there is a shingle roof and all the windows are painted this color blue. It's pretty much the only color in the cities apart from the colors of the changing leaves and the clothing. Oddly enough, neon green is also used alot. Fences and buildings would be painted this color. Never in large amounts but it is still kind of shocking in such concrete surroundings.
So, the reason we visited Kaesong is that it is the Old Koryo Dynasty capital and so has many historic sites. Here is a waterfall.
And the names carved into the stone are about 500 years old. Chinese characters are apparently no longer allowed in North Korea so these names far predate this policy.
We ate lunch at a "famous"restaurant in the city. 13 side dishes but no main course and the lights and heating were off due to power shortages. North Korea didn't seem very poor but little things like that show what we're missing.
So, here is the begining of covertly taken photos. This is downtown Kaesong. We were allowed to walk about a block but North Koreans were kept far away from us. But you can see them crossing the street.
A tower.
A department store
A building under construction. It's apparently being made in the "traditional style" but what that means is that they don't have the equipment or technology to upgrade their building techniques. This building will be finished in 10 years and is already falling apart.

A statue of Kim Il Sung overlooking the city. We were not allowed to approach it.
Note the North Korean car in this picture. Outside of the military vehicles we saw two cars both seemed to be from the 1950's. North Korea has these wide well paved roads and even a highway to Pyongyang but no cars to drive on it.
Some houses and a famous mountain. It looks like a pregnant woman lying on her back.

An office building
A park


I traveled with two guys from my dorm, this is Fabeel.
While the city was very interesting my favorite part of the tour was this man. Chang Son Jun. He is a North Korean citizen of Kaesong assigned to stay on the bus with us and make sure we followed the rules, (no photos and no political talk) But he sat next to me. My Korean is good enough that we could have a simple conversation. He has two children, likes to play sports, is learning English and supports Obama!
He was very nice to me. And explained more than our tour guide. And though there is no way to ever see him again, I have a friend in North Korea.
The rest of the tour after the city center was kind of boring. Here I'm gaining 10 years good luck.
And we went to a Koryo palace. This is an old shrine.
A dedication to Kim Il Sung when he visited in 1992. Propaganda was everywhere, from big signs in the hills to large paintings of the Kim family by the roads and in the fields.
And finally, Kaesong is know for its ginseng so here are some 1,000 year old ginseng trees.
A view across the DMZ. The scenery was beautiful. All the trees have been cut down on the North Korean side to prevent spies and defectors but the land itself is very well preserved and majestic. There are huge mountains in North Korea with villages in the valleys. This same landscape has been destroyed in Seoul where neon covered buildings cover everything and hiking means walking a paved path with hand rails. Kaesong maybe poor but the simplicity of it was actually very beautiful.
South Korean guards
And the road blocks leading up to the border.
So, sorry I didn't tell anyone I was going to North Korea beforehand but I didn't want to worry you. Actually, a lot of people did the same as me. I really enjoyed my trip and I am now safely back in South Korea. On a completely different note I have something to add to my lists of foods I ate but probably shouldn't have, Tuna fish eyes.