Busan Never Fails

And neither does my traveling bad luck. Though this time it wasn't hardly as bad. But let me start at the beginning. Half way into last week I had decided that I needed to get out of Gwangju, not just because I do the same shit every week, but I also need to reconfirm my love for this city and see what else is out there. My original plan was to head to Seoul, since I haven't really spent much time there, but my traveling buddy, Indy, suggested Busan and I knew I couldn't go wrong with that. So I booked a motel and some tickets and by 11am on Saturday we were off to Busan.

Four hours of sparkling conversation later we arrived at our destination. The Busan bus station is awkwardly stationed on the ass end of Busan, luckily so was the motel, so we got on the Subway and rode a few stops down to our destination. But not before being harassed by numerous Koreans trying to be helpful. Unfortunately their helpfulness came off more annoying than useful. Even though they barely spoke English, they were sure they knew exactly what we wanted. They practically were forcing us to buy Subway tickets and I wanted to do no such thing! Instead we were looking to purchase a subway card and recharge my existing one. Finally after trying to tell them in Korean and abandoning all hopes of communication we came across the card vending machine.

After we got off the subway we were very harshly greeted with Korea's rainy season. They say this time of year lasts a few weeks, but I could have sworn it seems to last all summer leaving only spring and fall to be enjoyable seasons. This Saturday it should have been renamed "heaviest downpour ever season" because by the time we reached the motel we were thoroughly soaked. Then, because in Korea motels are used primarily for one reason (coughsexcough) we were informed that we could not check in until 10:30pm! This would have been fine if I wasn't super dirty and rained on. Oh yes, that reminds me, I managed to go about two weeks without a hot water in my apartment. Apparently they had to fix something and all of our buildings went without hot water for what felt like months. I've since never appreciated a hot shower more!

Eventually, through my lovely Korean friend and impromptu translator, we were able to convince the motel owner to at least let us leave our bags there while we check out the city. So, with umbrellas in one hand and cameras in the other we got on the subway to check out 범어사 (Beomeosa) Temple. According to the Official Site of Korea Tourism:

"Boeomeosa Temple is located at the edge of Mt. Geumjeongsan, a famous mountain in Busan. About 1,300 years ago it was constructed by monk Ui Sang in the 18th year (678) of King Munmu (reign 661~681) of the Silla Kingdom. The original Beomeosa Temple building was lost during Imjinwaeran Invasion (Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592) but was renovated in 1713, which remains as it now is."

The one good thing about sight seeing when there is torrential rain is the lack of tourists. We were practically the only people roaming through the temple. It was also a bit hidden away, with a nice stream heavily flowing down giant rocks. Despite the terrible weather it had a very calming feeling, and it was nice to hang out there for a while and attempt to take some pictures in the rain.

After the temple we moseyed around a shopping area and retreated to the motel where I took the most amazingly long hottest shower ever. Since it was a Saturday night I also took a good while getting ready and by the time we were leaving the motel it was almost 10pm. Before leaving on this trip we had both agreed our one main motivation for going to Busan was just to go to a Mexican restaurant, so if for some reason we were unable to do that it would be heart breaking! On the subway to the Mexican restaurant in Haeundae I started to worry that we may be too late to eat! I did remember it being open very late for drinks, but I didn't know if they stopped serving food too. When we finally got there we sat down and quickly ordered some delicious burritos. But, as I had feared, we were indeed too late to eat! They offered us some nachos instead and we took them with a side of Margaritas to help swallow down the pain of missing out on Burritos. Inhaling both of them in record time still was not enough to cure our hunger or mission for Western food, so we headed to the the next stop. Some meaty burgers, a pitcher of beer, a rare encounter with a Canadian micro-brewed Cider, and one tasty mojito later it was time for bed!

The next day the combination of said food and beverages had a toll on my stomach and I did not wake ready and willing to conquer Busan. If there wasn't a check out time I'm quite sure I would have spent the day in bed watching a big screen TV (with cool English channels!) in a monster size bed. But since there was a check out time, I ended up doing something way more awesome, but required far more effort than TV watching.

First, we headed right back to Haeundae where we were greeted with brunch! The excitement that we both felt as the much anticipated Western meal was approaching dissipated when they dropped a disgusting plate of wannabe brunch down. My hunger forced me to finish some of the strangely cooked eggs and off-putting sausages but I finally gave up in order to save room for our second attempt at Mexican food later that evening.

We then hopped in a cab to go to our second destination, 해동용궁사 (Haedongyunggongsa) Temple. This temple was a bit more hidden away as well, and the view once you got there was simply amazing. That day, unlike the day before, was incredibly sunny and a bit hot but very very beautiful. I managed to take a few pictures that I hope captured the beauty of the spot. I could have sat around staring out at the ocean all day, but we just ended up staying an hour or two, since we were on a time constraint for our mini vacation.

A long, crowded intercity bus ride later we were back at the beach and ready for Mexican food attempt #2. This time we were successfully given the goods in addition to a much needed Bloody Mary. I watched in awe as Indy finished one giant burrito and two additional tacos (or was it three? I don't remember!) As for me, I could only finish one giant burrito and two delicious overpriced cocktails. That was more than enough to leave me satisfied and feeling a little less depressed about having to go back to Gwangju so soon.

I slept the majority of the bus ride home, I was absolutely pooped after our little mini vacation. I can't wait for my actual vacation, starting July 30th-August 15th. I'm going to Fukuoka, Japan for 8 nights, spending a few days in Gwangju (one of which will be my birthday!) then headed off to some islands with a Korea traveling group and some friends.