Top 10 Favorite Places

Goobongsan

This is the mountain five minutes walking distance from our apartment. While it isn’t a long trip to get there, it is one of the most spectacular places we have had the chance to explore, and I say this after running on it nearly every day for the last three months. It is a beautiful mountain, with trails twisting around and over the top, wildlife, temples and an escape from the city. It is the place I will miss most in Korea.

Boseong

Boseong is where the green tea fields are located. We had a chance to visit is twice and both times I loved it. The tea fields are stunning and Boseong itself is a quite little town. It is so green and calm there. Plus, you can visit it by train, so why not go?!

Busan

The second largest city in South Korea, Busan is full of fantastic adventures. Haeundae beach was our main hang out spot during our visits. With its beautiful beach, variety of restaurants and market street there was so much to see, do and taste. Beyond Haeundae is a world waiting for exploration- the UN Cemetery, multiple temples, the Busan International Film Festival streets, one of the largest fish markets in the country and so much more. We loved this city.

Gyeongju

Described as one giant outdoor museum, Gyeongju was one place we wished we could have visited for so much longer as our one day there simply wasn’t enough to see it all. Really, we barely touched the tip of the iceberg for seeing the beautiful sites from the ancient Silla Dynasty, let alone the gorgeous temples and shrines in the area. It is well worth a long weekend trip to see it all.

Gwangju

Gwangju, oh Gwangju. Our first adventure, our first steps out of Yeosu. Besides being a close escape into a bigger city, Gwangju offers several art galleries, amazing food choices and lots of shopping options. It has an awesome pedestrian area full of shops which is a grand place for simply wandering and taking in life.

Suncheon

Only 40 minutes from Yeosu, Suncheon has a beautiful marsh-land conservation area as well as a huge garden expo. The views, sights and animals were quite beautiful and it is a great wander on a nice weekend. We enjoyed the slower pace and simply seeing the natural world in a non-mountainous form.

Jeonju

Jeonju is a nearby city well known for both is folk village and for bibimbap, a rice dish that is said to have come from this city. While we did not try any of the bibimbap, the folk village was fantastic. The historical buildings are beautiful and the shops were quite cute.

Jirisan

Temples and mountains, two of my favorite things in Korea. Jirisan is one of the tallest mountains in Korea. Several temples are scattered on the mountain, boasting beautiful statues and architecture. The trail itself kicked us in the butt, but it was a gorgeous hike. To make it to the top, plan on camping out for the night, but otherwise go for the day and hike around on the trails taking in Korea’s natural beauty.

Nagan

Nagan was the first fold village we visited, way back last October when we first arrived in Yeosu. It is outside of Suncheon on a twisty road and extremely popular in the fall. People still live and work in the village. We got to see the process for making rice cakes (as well as participate), see some beautiful pottery and wander around the old buildings and walls. It is a nice place to visit, even if it is a bit of the beaten path.

Geumodo

Geumodo is one of the small islands off the coast of Yeosu. We took a ferry out to the almost uninhabited island. It is well known and visited for its hiking trails. There are several hiking ‘courses’ that link together all over the island. While it is a bit remote, getting there was not too complicated and the hiking was gorgeous. The course we took followed the coastline, giving us beautiful views of the horizon vanishing into the fog.

Ticking Time

Three more sleeps. Three more days. One more run. Our time is almost done!

Two of the three new teachers have arrived in Yeosu and are being introduced to the craziness of our school and students. Yesterday was the first day with them at the school and it passed in a flash of faces and words. I came home totally exhausted, as it was like teaching two classes simultaneously- teaching the students the lesson and teaching the teachers how I  teach our program- but it was awesome. The students seem excited/curious about the new teachers which is good news because last week they were anything but. And the teacher who shadowed me was full of energy and excited to meet the students.

Having the new teachers here has been great for us. It is wonderful to be meeting them in person and fun to share our stories. They seem like a great match for our students and school, which is a huge relief. Whereas last week I was feeling sad about leaving, I am now fully ready. Our friend Emily left last Wednesday and it’s been a slow week since. With the new teachers however, time is flying full speed ahead to Friday and our departure from Korea.

We spent the weekend cleaning the apartment and packing. When we first moved into our apartment it was filthy, so we wanted to make sure that was not the case for the new teachers, who are currently staying with headmaster, his wife and their five kids in their tiny apartment. Making it so they can immediately move in and not have to clean is the least we can do for them. Everything is just about perfect now- one more vacuum job and a wipe down of the counters and we’re set.

As for packing, almost all of our belongings are in boxes headed across the Pacific Ocean. All that’s left are the things we are taking with us. By sending so much home we managed to cut our luggage in half, thankfully. Four suitcases drug all across Asia sounds painful to me!

And now, our trip is all but planned. It seems crazy to think that at the end of the week we will be in Malaysia, taking in new sites and taking our first steps away from this chapter in our lives. It’s been a grand adventure and now we are looking forward to the new adventures awaiting us in three short days.

We’ll stay in touch as much as possible!

Love,

Kali and Andy

 

~Kali

 

Chuseok Travels~ Gyeongju

Fifty minutes on a bus, no problem. At least, that is what we thought late Monday morning as we boarded the express bus to Gyeongju. We can do anything for fifty minutes. Fifty minutes, however, came and went as we were stalled in traffic outside a tiny town. Kilometer by kilometer we crept along, wondering which of the small clusters of buildings was our destination.

As it turns out, none of them were. Gyeongju is not a small town, but rather a small city dating from the Silla Dynasty (57 BC to 935 AD). Our guidebook described it as a giant outdoor museum, dotted generously with historical sites. We had never heard of it, but our guidebook assured us that it was one place definitely worth visiting. If only we could get there!

Two hours after leaving Busan, we rolled down the streets of the city, thick and sluggish with holiday traffic. The bus station was overflowing with people boarding and departing buses all under a hot sun. One thing was for sure, we were well away from the coast with its cool breeze. The day was hot with a warm wind baking us into the sidewalk a bit.

It was early afternoon when we walked out of the station and our sights immediately landed on the bike rental shop across the street. After a quick look at our newly acquired tourist map (a bilingual tourist map!) we decided that bikes would be the way the go. For about $7 each we rented three bikes for the afternoon, loaded our stuff into the baskets on the front and off we went in search of our hostel. The hostel was run by a very nice lady who showed us to our room before we hopped back on our bikes and took off.

How nice it was to be pedaling along the cobblestone sidewalk, the wind blowing in our hair, passing by giant hilly mounds (which are actually ancient tombs), restaurants decorated in traditional style and groups of visitors. Our first stop was the Anapji Pond where a Silla palace once stood. There is nothing really left of the palace or surrounding buildings except for a few stone markers, but three of the pagodas have been rebuilt around the pond. We wandered around, sweating like crazy and enjoying the scenery before jumping back on our bikes and heading out in search of food.

While we waited for our dinner of Bibimbap (rice and vegetables) we looked at the map, noting the hundred or so sites in and around the city. There are so many places to see, yet because of our short amount of time there, we could only see a few, mainly those within the city limits. After dinner we crossed the road and both walked and rode through the flower garden, numerous tombs and a traditional village. We stopped at an ancient observatory just as the sun was beginning to set. By dark we had returned our bikes and stopped at a cafe for some dessert before venturing back to our hostel. The rest of our night was spend talking and sharing chicken with a group of Korean ladies in the hostel kitchen, a perfectly busy day behind us.

Gyeongju is an amazing city, one I wish we had found earlier on during our time in Korea. It is set up for tourists, complete with bilingual maps and information, road signs and attractions easily reached. There were so, so, so many place to visit and we barely touched the tip of the iceberg. Part of me wondered if we would be able to return, but the six hour bus trip back to Yeosu yesterday made it clear that time-wise it just isn’t possible in our remaining three weeks. So, I am glad we got to go, even just for a short time. If ever the winds carry us back to Korea, we’ll be sure to spend more time in Gyeongju.

And now, here we are, twenty-four days left until we fly to Malaysia. There is still so much packing to do and the last details of our trip to plan, but little by little, we are getting ready. For now though, we are glad for this last trip in Korea before we say goodbye.

See you in seven weeks!

Love,

Kali and Andy

~Kali

Chuseok Travels~ Busan

Last weekend was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, holiday in Korea. Chuseok, Autumn Festival, is a three day celebration likened to Thanksgiving in that it is centered on family and food. It is a time for families to gather together, usually at grandparent’s homes in the country, which means there is a mass exodus out of the cities. So, while most Koreans left their city lives to travel to their smaller hometowns, Emily, Andy and I headed out on our last Korea adventure, first to Busan, the second biggest city in Korea, then onto Gyeongju.

Andy and I first went to Busan in June and fell in love with the city. It is much more liberal and youthful than Yeosu and as such seems to brim with diversity and life. People don’t gawk at us or yell “Waygugan!” when we walk into a store or down the street. It is easier to blend in and feel more comfortable as we are just a couple of many hundreds of foreigners rather than three of three hundred foreigners in Yeosu.  The feeling of being the zoo animal diminishes significantly. After such a great first experience there  we were aiming to go back, but things just didn’t line up until now, which worked out perfectly, as the high tourist season is at an end. Finding a hostel was no problem.

On the morning we left it was raining and while it had mostly stopped by the time we arrived in Busan, we decided to do a day exploring the town and save the beach for the morning. During our first visit, Andy and I just wandered around the most famous beach in Busan, Haeundae. However, there is tons more to see and do in Busan besides the beach and with two days in the city rather than just one, we hopped on the subway to see the sites.

Our first stop was the UN Cemetery for the Korean War. Emily’s boyfriend’s grandfather was stationed in Busan during the war and she wanted to take a few pictures for him. I knew next to nothing about the Korean War and was interested, so our stop there turned into almost the whole afternoon. The cemetery was beautiful and peaceful, despite the roaring city around it. High rise apartments and a golf driving range surround the cemetery, but inside all we could hear were birds and the occasional quiet conversation between visitors. I had no idea how many soldiers died in Busan during the war (almost 40,000) and was touched by the effort the Korean government had put into honoring them. It was sadly beautiful to see all the flags flying side by side and to see how the international community had rallied together.

As the cemetery was closing we got back on the subway and headed to the southwest part of Busan to visit the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) square. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but had read that it was worth a wander. What we discovered was a big outdoor market full of vendors selling a variety of things, primarily in the form of food. We immediately bought nut-filled hotteok (doughy, sugar-filled pancakes) and later on found a crepe shop where we enjoyed crepes oozing with nutella. We capped off the night back in Haeundae at a local pub.

The next day was beautiful and hot, so after a late start to the morning we went to the beach. The crowds were pretty thin at that time of day and we had plenty of space to splash and swim around. By the time we got hungry great groups of people were beginning to pour onto the beach. We vacated our lovely umbrella and after lunching on Indian Food, took the subway out to a temple on another beach. The temple was very popular due to Chuseok, but there was surprisingly little pushing or shoving and only the occasional person stopped in the middle of the path to take a selfie with a newly acquired selfie-stick (long poles onto which smart phones are attached, used to take pictures of yourself and your surroundings; selfie-sticks are the new rage in Korea and vendors are selling them like crazy for pretty cheap all over the place in Busan). We watched the sun set over the temple, admiring the giant statues and watching people bow to the figurines in the shrines.

While there was still more to see in Busan, the cold bug that has been going around school caught up with me, so we spent the rest of the night drinking tea in a cafe then playing cards at our lovely hostel. Our need to see new things in the city had been happily met and we were looking forward to the next stage of our trip: Gyeongju.

Weekend Adventures

Enjoying Mexican food in Gwangju

The most super cool train ever!

Green tea noodle soup

The beautiful trash

Someone had a raging party and it sure wasn’t college students

Who knew exercise equipment could be so fun?!

The weirdest desert ever…cheesecake bites, almonds, cheese powder (because Koreans feel like cheese goes well with sugar…), corn flakes and shaved ice

A return to beautiful Boseong

The last few weekends we’ve been retracing our steps and visiting our favorite places in Korea before we head out in just four short weeks. Two weekends ago we went to Gwangju. Last weekend we headed back to Boseong, which is one of our all time favorite places in Korea.  We first visited Boseong four months ago, just as spring was getting in full swing. The lush greenery of the fields after the long grey months of winter filled us with wondrous joy. It was intoxicating, in a way, to see so much color. The world felt alive again. We returned from our trip there with such ravings that our friend Emily has wanted to go since, but had not made it there. So, last weekend instead of facing the buses to visit Hyangiram temple on Dolson island one more time, we boarded a train back to the hills of tea and didn’t look back.

Having learned from our first voyage there that Boseong is a tiny town, we decided to make it a day trip  instead of the whole weekend. Our train ride got us to Boseong right around lunchtime and we were able to take a short bus ride out to the fields  (rather than a taxi) for some green tea infused deliciousness. At the entrance to the fields there is a little cafe offering typical Korean fare, like grilled pork, as well as some more unusual varieties, such as green tea noodles and green tea pajeon (a type of savory pancake usually full of seafood). We opted to share two giant bowls of green tea noodle soup which was super yummy. Unlike many Korean soups, this one wasn’t swimming in red pepper sauce and instead offered a more subtle, gentle flavor.

Full of hot soup, we bought tickets and headed up the beautiful tree lined path to the hillside fields. Before climbing to the top of the fields however, we decided that some green tea ice cream was in order. The days was warm, but not too hot, thankfully. We sat outside enjoying the day and watching people meander about. It was a little more busy than during our first visit, but no overwhelming crowds. The beauty and sense of seclusion from civilization were still there, much to my delight.

After eating our ice cream (and fighting off some wasps as we did so) we started up the hill, passing people left and right as they panted and plodded up, stopping with some frequency to take selfies the whole way up. High heels and dresses really aren’t the best idea for wandering around the fields, many of the women we passed quickly discovered. We were a bit worried about a few of the people because they didn’t sound so good, but eventually they made it to the top to share the fantastic view of the surrounding mountains and distant ocean.

Our wanderings around the fields brought us to the gate around late afternoon, so we headed back to Boseong to catch the 6 o’clock train back, only to discover that there was no train at 6 (my bad… I misread the timetable!). The next train was at 9, which meant we had time for some pizza at the park. Unfortunately, the place we bought pizza last time, pizza made with a green tea crust (I know it sounds weird, but it was AMAZING!) was closed, so we just got a regular pizza then climbed to the hilltop park. We spend the rest of our time playing on the awesome exercise equipment and hanging out at a coffee shop.

All in all, we returned to Yeosu thoroughly pleased. Boseong was yet again a gloriously beautiful trip with minimal stress and simplicity in terms of transportation. I am so glad that we got to go one more time and that we could share the experience with Emily. It seems crazy to me that our days are so numbered now. I am dreading the day we have to say goodbye. Fortunately, however, we have three full weeks left together and one more crazy, awesome trip planned! Next week is Chuseok (sort of like Thanksgiving/Christmas in Korea- the biggest holiday of the year besides New Year) so the three of us are headed to Busan (another favorite place) and then to Gyeongju for some historical site seeing. We are pretty psyched!

In the mean time, we are almost ready for our Grand Asian Adventure and are looking forward to being state-side again. Hope you all are well! Can’t wait to see you!

Love,

Kali and Andy

 

~Kali