Best & Worst Day Ever - Part I

This last Wednesday was a crazy day. Because Kenwood and Victoria (whose "couple name" we've decided is Kentoria) stayed home to get Victoria some medical attention, there were only seven of us and Dr. Peterson. We all piled into the rented van and stopped at the bank to get some money for Dr. Peterson. Two hours later we were still sitting in the van outside the bank. There was some problem with the bank not letting him withdraw money from his account. FINALLY we got out of there and went to Home Plus for lunch. I had Toast (토스트) which in Korea means a toasted white bread sandwich with egg, cabbage, jam, savory sauce, pickles, and your choice of other fillings (ham, bulgogi, cheese, pizza sauce, vegetables, etc.). It's delicious and cheap! It was just a super ironic morning because we spent a good 3-4 hours just a few minutes from the hanok where Kentoria thought we were going all the way to Yandong (얀동) which was a 3 hour car ride away. Because we blew our morning with financial issues, we decided to head up to Gupo (구포) and Ulsan (울산) to see some nearby sites.

Our first stop was to Gupo where we saw the remains of the old Japanese fortress used during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The photo with the rock wall is most of what remains.

A Trip to North Korea

Not to worry! We didn't actually cross the border to N. Korea!

Dr. Peterson showed us these apartments down the street from where we're staying that reminded him of being in N.K. It was like being teleported! Except for the greenery in the distance we could have been north of the DMZ. It is insane that there is an apartment complex that not only looks like this but that is also inhabited.

Gimhae - panorama

English Fail

Can you find it?

*HINT: It starts with a 'W'*

Escape to the Beach

I'm almost all caught up!

Last Saturday we bought bus tickets and rode all the way out to Busan and Haeundae beach for a weekend of sand and sun. It was a nice day, but most of us definitely got more sand than sun. After chilling on the beach for a while, four of us decided to walk around the beach to the other side of the mini peninsula. We found a lot of awesome views (and the boys managed to climb down to some rocks close to the water), eventually crossing a suspension bridge to get to the building where the APEC conference was held several years ago. I don't remember when it was, but Bush was still president according to all the photos. It's pretty surreal seeing him wear a hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) over his suit and tie.

After walking back to the others we all went out to a cheap dinner before riding the bus back to Gimhae. While the weather wasn't amazing, I'm glad that it wasn't typical summer - Haeundae beach is very popular with tourists and locals and on a nice day they come like a swarm to the beach.

No mu-hyun Memorial

Last Tuesday, while Dr. Peterson was gone, we went up to No mu-hyun's memorial up in small village near Gimhae. We were planning on going on Monday the 23rd, which was the 2 year anniversary of his death, but it was raining and we wanted to hike while we were at the memorial. For those of you who aren't keeping up with South Korean news/politics, No mu-hyun (노무현) was the 16th president of Korea who committed suicide on May 23, 2009 (the current president is #17). He is known as the "moron president" (바보 대통령) - this was originally an insult created by his opponents because he came from a small village and passed the bar exam without any university training. But since he was elected this has become a term of endearment. After his term as president ended, he returned to the countryside to live out the rest of his life - which was unusual compared to other past presidents who all stayed in nice, guarded apartments in Seoul. Not wanting him to have to struggle financially, one of No mu-hyun's family members gave him a large sum of money which he accepted. Word got out about a "bribe" to which No mu-hyun replied he'd accepted no such thing, only to back track and confirm that he did accept money. On May 23, 2009 No mu-hyun went back to his hometown in Gimhae to visit. With his body guards in tow he decided to take a walk up the small mountain nearby, a hike he made often, even during his presidency. He managed to get out of sight of the guards on the way up and took the opportunity to jump off the top of the mountain. His suicide attempt left him severely injured but alive when paramedics got to him at the base of the mountain. Within hours, however, he died while at the hospital.

Walking up the same path that No mu-hyun had hiked almost two years ago exactly, it was easy to see how the body guards could have lost sight of him. The path is steep and makes winding turns - those that were walking just ahead of us were out of sight almost the entire time, even though the distance between us wasn't that much. I was surprised that when we reached the top there were no hand rails or fence of any kind separating visitors from plummeting off the mountain. Scary!