Jon Far Away: Busan...

This weekend I went to Busan, which is the 2nd largest city in Korea. I met up with a group of about 30 TaLK scholars and we stayed in a pension, which is basically a rented 2 room apartment that we could all sleep in.

Busan is hands down my favorite city. I love Busan.

I left for Busan straight after school on Friday. The journey took about 3.5 hours by bus, costing me about $18.00. I arrived at the pension around 10:30 at night and then we waited for a few other people to show up and headed to the bar.

Our pension was in the Haeundae area of Busan, which was about a 5 minute walk away from a beautiful beach and the night life of this area. The first night we went to a bar and then to Club Elune. This club had electronic music and was a great time. There was also a drunk Korean guy buying everyone drinks, which was nice and made it a more fun experience (not paying for drinks is awesome).

The next day I woke up with a slight hangover. I cured this by walking to the beach and enjoying the sea breeze for a little while. Once everyone woke up we got breakfast and then walked along the beach and did a short hike around a peninsula. It was beautiful. Perfect rocky cliffs next to the ocean and the most greenery I have seen in Korea so far. I wanted to stay here far longer, but we had places to go and things to see.

Next we all hopped into a cab and went to a famous ocean-side temple in Busan. This temple was AMAZING. It was strewn across cliffs by the ocean. The walk to get to the temple went through a small street market selling various foods and trinkets. Once we finally get to the temple we say on the rocks overlooking the ocean for what seemed like hours, doing nothing but enjoying the experience. It was so nice to just chill and not worry about anything for once.

We got back to the pension around 5:00 and then ate dinner and started getting ready for another night out. We first went to a really cool bar called Sector 510. This bar had a DJ, white walls, and florescent pink and green lighting. It was a fitting place to start the night as we got (yet again) more free drinks. I think its a symptom of being a foreigner in Korea, the free drinks. I like it, but then again don't deserve it. I'll take what I can get though. After the bar we went to a hip-hop club down the street called Maktum. This place was awesome and the music was varied so it didn't get boring. I was one of the last ones out of this club, leaving at around 4:00am. It was a nice evening.

The last day we woke up and went to get Chinese food for breakfast. Afterwards we cleaned the pension and left to go to the famous Jalgalchi fish market. Here we explored, had a nice lunch of fried fish, and the group I was with decided to take the plunge and try live octopus. yes, LIVE octopus. This was one of the best meals I've had in Korea so far. It was like sushi, but still moving. You could feel the suction cups of the tentacles grab onto the inside of your mouth as you chewed and swallowed it. I would definitely eat it again. (It tastes pretty good as well)

The way home was tricky. The bus was sold out for the rest of the night, so I had to go to a different city (Daegu) and then get on a train that took about 3 hours. Oh, and there was only standing room left on the train. But it was worth it, because I love taking the train and I had an awesome weekend. So as long as I got home I would be happy. (and I got home)

That was the story of my weekend in Busan, and I want to go again, and again, and again.

I love Busan.