Busan, Part I & II, Food Crawl Coda...

Busan Part I...

Tuesday started by waking up early in the morning and I decided to go for a jog. Very unsuccessful because our apartment is in a busy part of Seoul, the environment is just not suited for jogging. Furthermore, my jogging attempt took me into one of the MANY markets…needless to say, I stopped jogging, looked at all of the food, bought some rice cakes (떡) and coffee and had the first of my three part breakfast ;) (walked back home, mapping out all of the other food vendors that I want to visit that was around my neighborhood). I thought about some of my friends who would’ve enjoyed my morning ‘jog’ with me

Statue that I saw during my 'jog'...

Entrance to one of the king's palace during my morning 'jog'

Came home, my aunt prepared Korean chicken soup for breakfast, and saying no would’ve been rude, so had breakfast, MVT. II. Cleaned up, and went out with my brother (who did an awesome job remembering and navigating the Korean subway system) to meet one of his friends who owns a coffee cafe in the heart of Seoul City Hall. Enjoyed some good coffee at his cafe (Breakfast, MVT. III) came back to meet mom to head out to Busan (부산).

Korean subway system...

mom and I riding the subway...

We traveled to Busan by high speed rail (cuts down a 5 hour road trip to 2 hours) to visit with one of my parents’ friends. Busan is a beach town that is in the southern part of Seoul, it’s well known for it’s beaches and seafood. After we dropped off our bags in the friend’s apartment, we went sightseeing to Tae Jong Dae (태종대) mountain. We got on the tram bus which took us to the highest point of the mountain and had a beautiful view of the ocean and Busan. Afterwards, mom’s friend dropped us off at the Busan fish market. We walked around for a bit and looked for a place to eat. While searching for a place to eat, it was INCREDIBLE how vigilant restaurant workers were trying to get people to come. Every restaurant that we passed, a lady got in our FACE and started to beg us (in Korean) “Hey Friend! Come inside! We make the best food, come in, we’ll hook you up!” Not only did they beg for our business, they came out and followed us to the next food shop, where the next restaurant worker took over. We finally settled on the place and went inside.

The scene at the restaurant:

Mind you, the place that we went inside was NOT a four-star restaurant or anything close to it…it was basically a glorified street food vendor that had indoor sitting area. We went inside and opened up the menu. The prices were REDICULOUS! Mom started to complain, I suggested that we leave, but she was too busy yelling at our waitress to hear me. I’m SO used to mom always yelling at waitresses whenever we go out, it didn’t even phase me (one time, she yelled at an Olive Garden waiter because she didn’t like how he put down our plate…I guess he DID sort of throw the plate onto the table instead of placing it…don’t mess with mother). She then decided that she will tell what we want to eat, and the price that we will pay for each dish…the waitress looked over at the cook/owner, who shook her head in agreement. As you can imagine, the food wasn’t very good and the service stunk, and our bill was higher than the agreed price and they charged us for rice and water (rice is suppose to be free in Korean restaurants). Whatever…we’ll put that experience behind us.

Brother riding the rail...

Busan fish market

After the restaurant FAIL, walked around JaGatChi market (자갈치 시장), which is a mix of outdoor/indoor market place. I was so excited to see a Krispy Kreme Donuts, so I insisted that we go inside for coffee and deserts. Krispy Kreme is just like the US Krispy Kreme, but, they serve ParBingSoo (팥빙수), a Korean treat which is shaved ice with various toppings. Krispy Kreme made up for the crappy experience at the fish market. Random point: In middle of walking around this insane outdoor market place, in Busan, Korea, all of a sudden, things got quiet and they started playing Barber’s Adagio for Strings over the market’s speakers. For those of you who know me very well, you know that my kids just got done playing the Barber. Total randomness and very serene in middle of Busan chaos. Took taxi back to mom’s friends house, passed out

Teens digging in for some street food in Busan outdoor market. They're eating 떡복끼, Korean HOT rice cakes

Home sweet home! :)

Our treat at Krispy Kreme...we decided to get a Hello Kitty donut...before and after :)

Amazing Korean Shaved Ice (팥빙수) at Krispy Kreme...US Krispy Kreme need to serve this!!

Busan, South Korea, Part II...

Woke up early and I decided to go back to the mountain that visited the night before (태중대) and instead of riding the tram, I decided to hike/jog the entire mountain trail. I hiked the severe inclines and jogged the more even parts (WAY more severe inclines!). The hike/jog was amazing and it was the highlight of my trip thus far. First, no one was there because it was so early in the morning, everything was stunningly beautiful, and I decided to listen to Bach solo violin solos performed by Arthur Grumiaux during the hike/jog. Bach fit perfectly…listening to the music made me think of my friends Karel and Chin Mi, who I heard playing working on these pieces in the past…they played it so beautifully! At the end of the trail, the plan was to take a taxi back to the apartment, but I decided to get to know the neighborhood better and walked/jogged back instead. Along the way, I got lost couple of times, but got home eventually. Mom’s friend made us a homemade breakfast, yummy, great! Afterwards she took us to Busan beach, walked around a bit (a beach is a beach no matter where in the world you are), had lunch, said out goodbyes and got back on the high speed train back to Seoul. Overall, a pretty cool excursion, looking forward to getting back to Seoul!

Scenes from my hike/jog through 태중대 mountain..

more scenes...it was BEAUTIFUL! And Bach made it even more amazing...

Map of the mountain hike that I took in the AM...

Dinner at Busan...very traditional style, we sit on the floor

Dinner at Busan featured Korean BarBQ Pork, traditional Korean vegetable spreads and all kinds of Kimchi, lettuce wraps, various lettuce salads, hot bean paste soup, and mixed bean rice steamed and prepared in bamboo...YUM

Once we got back to Seoul, washed up a little bit then we decided to go on a night time food crawl. There are many night time markets that stays open til very late. Tonight, we went to Gwang Jang market (광 장 시장), only about a 15 minute walk from my uncles. The place was crazy full of drunks, and amazing street food.

Entrance to the market

Inside the market

Our food vendor...

Blood sausage (순대) wrapped in cow intestine casing and cow liver (it's delicious people, keep your "gross" comments to yourself, it's rude :) )

They call this CRACK kimbop (마약 김밥), rice wrapped in seaweed with meats and veggies. They call it CRACK kimbop because you can't stop eating it...I will attest that the name is very accurate!

Dukbogi (떡볶이), rice cakes in hot paste/sauce. EVERY Korean grows up eating this...I would say this is as Korean as it gets! Quintessential Korean street food! YUM!!

YUMMMMMMMMY DUBOKI!

CRACK kimbop!

Blood sausage! YUM!!