Tall Tales From A Short Canadian

Yo,

Haeundae sucks in the summer. It is a great part of Korea ten months out of the year. We had to get out this weekend, so we took the train to see our old pals Zack and Jane. They have just arrived to Korea recently, but are certainly not new to Asia or to teaching the Engrishee. Anyway, they are currently staying in a mellow little city called Milyang, which took us an hour to get to by train. The train cost us 4$ each, each way, and was a very comfortable ride. It was very nice to get out to the country. Our visit consisted of some walking around on black ashphalt in the sweltering 39 degree heat, sipping a few cold Hites, playing some guitars by the river, reading my book (The Brothers Karamazov–a great read!) whenever I could, and having a traditional Korean BBQ. Our BBQ host was very congenial, and, well, wasted. He was also quite touchy with the girls, but funny and generous all the same. We ended up getting a lot of free pork, beer, and soju from the bent gent, not to mention a free Korean lesson.

Despite my first bonefide hangover in 2 months, I got up early and visited a temple site along the bank of the river. Here are some pics. I like taking pics.

Older Koreans love to hang out in these pavilions and just lay around fanning themselves, sleeping, or chatting.

Below: Zack and Jane, oozing personality. Friends of Zack will surely recognize his characteristic greeting gesture, which has evolved little over the years. Welcome to the Pe<n>insula, fucker! And thanks for the spelling lesson…;)

I couldn’t have been that happy! I think I pushed it a bit for the camera. It was a fun trip, however. 

The weekend before, in an effort to escape the madness of our neighborhood, we made our way to Taejong-Dae Park, one of Busan’s feature tourist attractions. Following an accidental hour and a half long bus tour of North Western Busan (we hopped the bus on the wrong side of the road!), we made it to the park. It was magma hot! We got lost and pretty much peaked a small mountain. We really went there to relax, but instead were on the move the entire time, constantly surrounded by people. Koreans spoke to us loudly from speakers perched in treetops. SUVs filled the air with exhaust. We did enjoy a 20 minute “pleasure boat” cruise, though. The park itself was quite nice, too, once we got off the main road.

Below, ajumas slave away preparing seafood. People sit all over the rocks drinking spirits and chewing squid.

Adios, amigos and amigas. We miss and love you all. Stay cool.

suteebun

Hi,

After getting home from Taiwan, we still had two days of rest before Hagwon Hell was resumed. Since it was very hot out, we decided to brave the beach. What a rodeo! KBS News announced early this week that an estimated 2.1 million people visited the beach on Sunday alone. We went to Haeundae Beach on Monday, and I was absolutely blown away by the number of people. The first picture below is from our apartment window. A little different now, huh?

Unreal! What is wrong with these people? If I had the choice, which I assume most of these visitors to Busan do, I would go to the nice quiet beaches further north. Below are two pictures showing the trash that washes up every day. At 6 PM every night when the beach umbrellas and most people clear away, we can plainly see the heaps of garbage from our apartment. The beach is covered with litter by the end of each day. I swam in the garbage on Monday. It was disgusting. These were taken on the “quiet” end of the beach.

Well, we weathered the storm for a few hours with the help of Nepalese aliens Kumar and company, and a couple cold maekjoos. I doubt I’ll be going back until September. Once was enough.

Cheers,

suteebun