Busan for Buddha's Birthday

A group of friends and I decided to make a trip to Busan for Buddha’s birthday with a few specific destinations in mind:  beach, temple, and rocks. Just getting to Busan from Gyeongju was, in itself, an adventure.  Two of us were leaving from Gyeongju and two were coming from outside of Daegu so we made separate travel arrangements. My traveling companion and I wanted to take the bus because it only took about an hour to get there, but as we didn’t read enough Korean, we couldn’t decipher the Korean website enough to order tickets online. There was an English version of the website, but when I plugged in our information, it only pulled up a list of available times and spots left with nowhere to actually buy tickets. So, all in all, it wasn’t very helpful. The night before we were supposed to leave, I checked the website and all the tickets for the bus we wanted to take seemed to be sold out. So, instead of taking a chance, we bought Korail tickets ( 2 hour ride train ride and an English language site). The whole bus system in Korea really baffles me. I probably will never completely figure it out.

We made it to our hostel without getting lost, due to my friend’s prudent planning. I did no planning whatsoever( which I don’t recommend).  A Korean friend actually cautioned me from staying in a hostel. His thought was something like: “Well, you might find some hairs on your bed,” and he followed his remark with a grimace. He also recommended not drinking the hostel water. So, bracing for the worst and thinking of my one interesting hostel experience in Vancouver, Canada, I followed my friend to the Blue Backpacker’s Hostel.

I was pleasantly surprised.  We stayed in a four bed, dorm-style room. Everything seemed to be immaculately clean, comfortable and cute. The bed there was probably more comfortable than my own bed in my Korean apartment. The bathroom was spacious and spotless. There was a kitchen area ( probably the dirtiest place and it wasn’t that dirty)  and outside rooftop seating.

 My only gripe was the pair of mosquitoes that somehow sneaked their way into our room through the screen and took turns snacking on the four of us. I woke up in the middle of the night with an itchy elbow and thigh, freaking out thinking, "Oh crap! Are there bedbugs?"  because of my friend's cautions. That only lasted until we heard the unmistakable buzz of at least one of the mosquitoes.
  

 Unfortunately, we didn’t think about turning on the fan to disrupt the insect's flight paths until the following evening, during which I hunted down and killed at least two of them. I caught one on the ceiling and smeared a bright red stain across the top of it. I was too caught up in my mission to care about what it might look like to the next residents of our room. With the fan on, we escaped bites for the following two nights.

For Buddha’s birthday, we went out to Haeundae and walked around, enjoying the great weather. May 17^th also happened to be Norway’s Constitution Day, so when I spotted the flags and folks dressed up in traditional-looking clothes walking past, I hastily dug into my bag for my camera, but I only ended up with pictures snapped from phone. I have a friend whose husband is from Norway so I sent the pictures later that night, just in time to say an early “Happy Constitution Day” for them in the US.

This is one of my favorite pictures because of the look on the ajumma's face.

After spending the afternoon in Haeundae, we trekked out to find a temple. After a cab ride in traffic and several wrong turns later on foot, we followed a large crowd up a giant hill to Samgwangsa Temple. My co-teacher mentioned before I left on Thursday that you could go eat free bibimbap at the temples for Buddha’s birthday. We didn’t end up finding or eating any, but when I texted my friend back in Gyeongju to see how she was enjoying her day, she said that five temple visits later, she was still in the car with her co-teacher’s family and that she never wanted to eat bibimbap ( Korean dish mixed with various vegetables, usually some beef, sometimes an egg, rice, and gochuchang sauce)again.  I know it was a bit of an exaggeration, but that much bibimbap would have made me want to shun the dish for some time as well. I think she has a particularly kind and attentive co-teacher who doesn’t like her to feel left out.

Our last big adventure in Busan was bouldering ( climbing on rocks without a harness and ropes). We took the subway out to meet a British expat friend of my friends, then we boarded a bus and wound our way up to Mount Geumjeong. We spent the afternoon sitting under the trees, snacking and playing on the rocks. Some of the problems were a little too tough for the gals, but we enjoyed getting out of the city to get our hands and shoes dirty.

The bus ride back was an entirely different story. If you ever want an alternative way to strengthen your abdominal muscles, get on a small Korean bus heading down a mountain with winding roads and passengers filled to the max. All you have to do is grab a bar on the wall or one from the ceiling to the floor and hold on for dear life. We survived, though!

 All in all, Busan is a fantastic city to visit. There’s a ton to do from shopping and eating, to outdoor adventures. The subway is much more foreigner friendly ( if you can read English, Japanese or Mandarin, I believe) than the buses and the stations and cars are much cleaner than other metropolitan cities I’ve heard stories about. I will be going back soon.