We finally arrived in Busan four days ago, for what might be our final visit before my mother-in-law moves to France.
It’ll also be our longest stay at three months wooHoo!!
Figured it would be nice to write and post pictures of the places we’ll visit, and the challenges we’ll face, especially with a hyperactive baby! Man, the game completely changes with the Littlest Dictator along for the ride!
First step! Locating a decent gym.
#busan #haeundae #southkorea #travel
So pre-Covid, my family and I would return to Korea every year to visit my mother-in-law, first in Jangyu, and later in Haeundae, Busan.
Over the years, I’d gone from loving Korea, to developing what I felt was a more balanced view (like with all places, there are pros and cons), and still having a very positive view of the country. Looked forward to our visits every year.
I mean, in general the people were polite and friendly, it was safe (alone nighttime walks in winter were awesome) and clean, especially the restrooms.
But just two days in Incheon and I was already considering heading back home. That’s how irritated I was. And we’ve actually planned to stay here for the whole month!
I’ll talk about the weather and architecture a bit later, but the most drastic change is the attitudes of the people here.
I mean damn! In general, the negative aspects seems more pronounced here for some people, from minor things like not returning the traditional greeting, to even rude staff.
Now again, I’ve only been here for two days, and I have met kind and friendly people here. But by and large, the people here seem… colder.
I get that I’m still learning Korean, but in Busan and hell, other countries, when the locals see that you’re putting in an effort to speak their language, they perk up! Really seem to appreciate it.
Here, even the sales staff seem… annoyed? Like I’m wasting their precious time.
And bizarrely, it’s been only the women. The men have been by and large friendly and I don’t know what to make of it. It’s just strange and hopefully over time, as I interact more and better understand the culture of this city, maybe (eh, likely) my view will change.
The difference is jarring and maybe I’m still adjusting to it. The literal non-stop rain has not helped, that’s for sure.
Anyhow, I’m picking up a car today so we’ll get to visit more places, meet more people. Onward with the journey!
This is a test to show Alexandra how blog posts are published.
So Singapore’s been under a kind of lockdown for the past two months (or is it three?Wait, it’s already June??) called the… ugh, Circuit-Breaker.
There’s a lot to write about the struggles faced by a lot of people right now, especially those who can’t afford large apartments or even air-conditiong (it can go beyond 35 degrees Celsius on some days) and there is no way I’d be able to do them justice.
Instead, I’ll write about what I’ll miss about this period.
We’ve been quite fortunate. I’ve still got a decent job that allows me to work from home, a nearby supermarket that’s open 24-7, high-speed internet, and yes, air-conditioning as well.
The grass during this period has grown quite a bit, bringing me back to my mini-expeditions around the area when I was little.
This was way before all the development, and we were considered to be living in a remote area next to the forest. Well, as remote as you can be in Singapore at least.
So I procrastinated as usual, and this was supposed to be finished like, a month ago.
We’re now in Phase 2, and quite a few restrictions have been lifted. Sure enough, the lawnmowers returned and it’s like seeing my head after my first haircut in maybe two months?
The virus isn’t gone yet, but crowds have been thronging some areas. Yeah… does not fill me with a ton of confidence, especially with second waves appearing in China and Korea.
Fortunately I’m still able to work from home.
I can’t imagine how it must be to those who are aware of the risk and still have to get out there or they’ll starve. I’ve gotta say, this is hands down the best company I’ve ever worked for.
There’s reports of vaccines undergoing human trials, and I am hopeful.
Who knows, by the end of year we might even be back in Korea! And I’ll finally get to see Incheon and Seoul.
Until then, stay safe and hang in there!
Oh man. I think it’s been a whole year. Longer, actually!
It’s kind of funny because on the main page, I can see a post titled “2019, Finally!”
Posted in… February 2019. Yep.
And scrolling through the sheer number of images on my phone to choose the featured image made me realise just how much has happened since then.
First things first. 2020 has been… Hoo boy! Quite the year so far, hasn’t it?
I mean damn, when news of Covid-19 (the coronavirus) first started coming out of China, people made jokes about pandemics of the past… but we’re in March now, and no one’s laughing.
Fortunately, we seem to have a grip on it here in Singapore.
Brief panic-buying aside, even with the Malaysian lockdown (scheduled to end in a few days), there haven’t been any shortages or even unusually long queues.
We’re expecting a rise in cases though, and I haven’t been to the malls since the new social distancing measures were announced a day or two ago.
On the bright side, I have to say that working from home really agrees with me. Until I’m doing proposals at 3am… but yeah, that’s… that’s not really a major difference from what I’m used to so… yeah.
Maybe in times like these, it’s best to remember the good things that have happened, and try to stay as positive as possible, though it can be as hard as scaling a mountain with business shoes at night (which I kind of did in Hong Kong). Would not recommend it.
So yeah, a lot has happened. From my mother-in-law finally making the move to Incheon (and just before the outbreak!) to a close friend getting married, to my first-ever trip to Hong Kong, to my return visits to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. It’s been quite the year!
There’s so much more to write about… but it’s 1am and I’m exhausted.
So I’ll leave you guys with a few pretty pictures taken recently here in Singapore.
Oh, and I’ve only just learned how the new “Gallery upload” function works in the updated WordPress format. So… yeah. Eh, I’ll post more pictures later.
To get warmed up, I figured I’d write a little bit about our trip earlier today.
For those who don’t know, here in Singapore the Chinese New Year and the day after are official holidays. Unlike the other holidays mostly celebrated by minorities but we ah… we don’t really talk about that here.
Anyway, two days off! WooHoo!
Hadn’t had much time to spend with the Littlest Dictator, and Jenia recommended West Coast Park. Perfect!
It’ll probably be empty, I thought. I foolishly thought. How very wrong I was…
And yes, it’s basically the only place here where you can get food… unless you’re in the mood to go fishing for your lunch.
Jenia said that the last time she saw queues like this here, she’d waited an hour.
I quickly glanced at the McCafe section and the queue was short! Managed to place an order fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, we had to settle for their… sandwiches. Look, they’re not horrible by any means… but if I had to choose between their burgers and these, I’d go for the damn burgers. Yep, that’s where they’re at.
The Himalayan Tea Latte was pretty good though, as always.
We then moved onto the park!
OK fine, fine… it wasn’t like it was overflowing with people. Just many more than I expected. And more than what I prefer… which is close to zero.
The weather wasn’t too bad, and it kind of hovered between sunny and just about to rain, with the dark clouds over the water seemingly too shy to cross over. The wind wasn’t shy though, which made it quite nice.
The Littlest Dictator was so excited to play, and she’s at the age where she’s eager to make friends (and burp directly in my face, but that’s a different story).
As we all know, it can be hard to immediately join a group, or even hang out with someone you’ve never met before, you know? Especially for little kids still learning social skills.
So I… sucked it up, and made friends with a few other kids and we played for a while until it was time to go.
Oh and fortunately this time round, none of the other kids called me “daddy”, which happens occasionally. And it’s never been not creepy.
They were great actually, and even cheered her on at one point, which made her really happy and proud. Always a huge bonus.
Also, WHY DO I ALWAYS END UP BEING THE ONLY ADULT WHO PLAYS WITH THE KIDS.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I mind all that much, and I do like entertaining kids.
And watching The Littlest Dictator having fun, socialising and being part of the group is totally worth it no matter how tired I get. Every time.
But yeah, it’s EVERY. TIME. I get the feeling I’m on the receiving end of a long-running prank I’m unaware of.
Ah, you know what though? If it means she gets to have fun each time and feel great about herself, then bring it on.
Yeah, a pretty good day.
Oh man, I’ve been meaning to write this for ages. Specifically on the first day of 2019. As you can tell, I’m an expert at procrastination.
So many things have happened since my last post, but two main things have remained the same. My mother-in-law, Raya, is still in Busan, and we’re still here in Singapore.
I’ve actually been doing a ton of traveling, mostly for work, and at first I’d wanted to continue posting, but I’d made the mistake of getting an iPhone SE with only 16GB of memory, which means I had to constantly back up and delete pictures which became a major pain.
BUT! I now have an Android-powered Huawei P20 Pro! More pictures! And with better quality! YES!
Anyway, before I get into the other stuff, our plans have changed quite drastically. After considering France, we’d agreed that it might not be practical, and Raya decided on Jeju-Do instead. I was pretty stoked. But again, there’s no direct flights to it, and since most of her siblings are on the mainland, it made her understandably concerned about being somewhat isolated.
In the end, she settled on Incheon, which is where the main airport is located, which you’d fly into to get to Seoul! Gotta say, I’m stoked about this too! At long last I might see Seoul! And of course, the ticket prices are gonna be cheaper too, since we’d be able to take direct flights.
Right now though, there’s a sort of property downturn, and no one’s buying or selling. Hell, she’d even drastically reduced the cost of her luxury apartment, and yet there are no buyers still. Not even prospective ones. So she’s staying put in Busan for now.
In the meantime, things are going pretty well for me in my current role! Been traveling often to KL and even been to Bangkok twice, hopefully with more trips to come.
There really is so much to write about, but for now, I’ll share a few pictures of the places I’ve been.
First, Bangkok!
Next, Kuala Lumpur!
Actually, I haven’t had the time yet to take many new pictures so um, keep tuned!
Anyway, it feels good to be back!
In this post I’ll be talking about our experience when my 3 year-old fell sick and needed medical help urgently on a Sunday, with Monday right afterwards being a public holiday.
If you need to get your infant or toddler to a doctor immediately on a Sunday or public holiday, please scroll down to the bottom of this post for information on the hospitals with a department for little children.
With that being said, onward with the post!
It almost didn’t happen but we’re back in Busan for just three-and-a-half weeks this time before my mother-in-law moves to France.
While we’re excited to be here, after a poor flying experience with Air China (there’ll be a whole separate post for that!), something happened that made us realise just how risky it can be to travel with a toddler to Busan.
After just a few days, our three year-old daughter a.k.a. The Littlest Dictator contracted a urinary tract infection, that caused her a lot of pain whenever she had to pee. The poor girl would cry and scream every time.
An infection like that requires antibiotics so you really need to get to a doctor.
Problem was, it was a Saturday night, with Sunday being New Year’s Eve, meaning the next day would be a holiday as well. So just take her to a hospital. No problem, right? Turns out not all hospitals here have a paediatrician or even a children’s section in their A&E departments.
I went to the largest hospital near our place in Haeundae, the Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital and was told that the specialist would only be available on Tuesday and later Friday. With the pain The Littlest Dictator was in, this was unacceptable.
Fortunately after pressing a little bit for help, the counter clerk gave me two recommendations: Pusan National University Hospital (PNUH) and Dong A University Hospital. He said these were Grade 3 hospitals, meaning they’d have children’s specialists on call at all times.
I would learn later from speaking with various people that apparently, these were the only Grade 3 hospitals in all of Busan and that most people including Koreans did not know what Grade 3 hospitals even were.
Wouldn’t be a problem if you were near the Busan KTX station.
For us in Haeundae, it means more than an hour of traveling to the other side of the city, which is huge (compared to Singapore at least!)
Early next morning while the family had breakfast I’d decided to head over the Busan Tourist Information Center (I’ll try and get a picture later) to see if maybe they had suggestions. Turns out, not really. They tried calling another large hospital nearby, the Haeundae Bumin Hospital who actually asked us to check with the Inje University Hospital I’d gone to previously. So yep.
So I let my brother–in-law know where I was so he could pick me up. And miraculously on this particular morning, he seemed to have forgotten how to use the goddamn GPS and I instead had to walk back and forth in the freezing cold until he finally let me know that he and my wife were at the Burger King in the middle of a road that wasn’t even near any of the places we’d talked about. WELL DONE, MAN.
But he was driving us, and without him the cab ride would’ve cost a crazy amount so fine.
Of course naturally, he got lost and instead of going to Dong A University Hospital – which he had insisted was nearer even though everyone I met said that PNUH was closer to where we were – we ended up in a weird small mountain town at a building for Dongan Medical Centre or something. A small clinic that wasn’t even open. GODDAMMIT.
We eventually reached PNUH but not before the Littlest Dictator had to pee again and cried out in pain. This is what happens when you leave the navigation to people who are too goddamn proud to be wrong, you know what I mean?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad he was around to help and even stuck around to bring us back home. But the delays were really unnecessary. 4/10.
Anyway, we finally reached PNUH and YES! They really did have a children’s department.
Of course the moment I arrived, they straight up asked me if I’d be OK if the bill reached or exceeded USD $1K (around 1,000,000 in Korean Won). Yea that was the first red flag, I guess.
We were led to the children’s section:
Not long after that, I had to keep slapping away the hands of grabby doctors and nurses who were super eager to run tests, a few of which I realized later were not necessary. Those tests did manage to significantly bump up the bill though…
Overall, our experience with the staff were alright. Most of them spoke English, sometimes broken but enough to communicate.
After a couple of hours over there they finally confirmed what we suspected about the UTI and prescribed antibiotics.
And how much did it cost? A whopping KRW 876M (around USD $876). HOLY SHIT. I mean sure we’ve got travel insurance that we could claim back against back in Singapore, but if we hadn’t had the money up-front, I shudder to think what would’ve happened.
Fortunately the Littlest Dictator is doing much better now, and the pain seems to have gone away though she still needs to finish the course of antibiotics.
As much as I loved visiting Busan, this was something I did not expect and man, you should seriously reconsider visiting if you’ve got a little one in tow.
I’ll try and add more pictures to this post much later.
In the meantime, here’s the information on PNUH and Dong A University Hospital:
While at either of these hospitals, if you need translation help, call or get them to call 1330.
It’s a 24-hr hotline specifically for tourists, maintained by the Korea Tourism Organization and they’ve got excellent English speakers who can help.
Here’s a link to more information: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TRV/TV_ENG_3_1.jsp
Pusan National University Hospital
Website: http://english.pnuh.or.kr/english/main/main.do?rbsIdx=1?rbsIdx=1
Location: Address : 179 Gudeok-ro, Seo-gu, Busan-si, 49241 Korea
Contact number: +82-51-240-7472~3
Dong A University Hospital
Website: https://www.damc.or.kr/eng/main/main.php
Location: 26 Daesingongwon-ro, Seo-gu, Busan-si, 602-812 Korea
Contact number: +82-51-240-2400~1
Update 12th Jan 18: Included information on two other children’s hospitals in Haeundae:
Haeundae Pureun Bada Children’s Hospital
A couple of days after our costly experience with PNUH, I found a flyer stuck to the front door (this is still a pretty common advertising tactic in Busan) for Haeundae Pureun Bada Children’s Hospital, which apparently opened on the 5th of Jan 18.
Other that what’s in the flyer, I haven’t been able to find any other additional information on this hospital, including a website. Not sure if I’ll have the time to swing by, or even if they have an A&E section but it’s good to know that it’s around.
Unfortunately I can’t even find an English transliteration of the address. But if you call 1330, the helpline staff should be able to get in touch with them for you.
Centum Children’s Hospital
This is another hospital that I found via Google while looking for the Haeundae Pureun Bada hospital above. I’d probably come across this one before, but figured I’d include it in this post as well.
The website is a little bizarre and looks somewhat broken though: http://www.ctadong.co.kr/
Not sure if they have any English speakers there, but again just remember to call 1330 and they should be able to help you out.
Contact details:
Tel: 051-743-1588
Address: 407 Haeun-daero, U-dong, Haeundae, Busan
Again, one important thing to note is that neither of these two might have an A&E or even open during Sunday and public holidays. So for emergencies, you might still have to head to one of the two Grade 3 hospitals mentioned above: PNUH and Dong A University Hospital.
Stay safe everyone!
Spent a week in KL recently for a conference and to meet a few prospects. Nowadays I travel to KL for work every other week, sometimes for a day, sometimes longer. The last time I’d been in the city proper before this job was probably around 17-20 years ago. HOLY CRAP I AM OLD!
Anyway, it’s a mixed bag to me. If you live in Singapore and head over there, it’s like being in a different version of the same video game level. You’d know immediately that it’s different, but at first you’d probably struggle to identify the specific differences.
But first! Here’s a picture I took on the way to the hotel from the airport:
It was a 40-min ride (“WHAT??” – Singaporean who’d never left the country before).
I’d take Grab or Uber everywhere I went, so it took me a while to notice that it is NOT pedestrian-friendly! I once booked a hotel that was geographically close to the client’s location, thinking I was so clever. “Ha!” I thought to myself “It’ll be so easy to get to the client’s location! I will not be wasting time with a long commute and will therefore be more productive!”
What is typically a 10-min walk in Singapore, turned out to be more like 30 minutes. Brilliant.
Stayed at Holiday Inn Express, which was OK for the most part. Had a visitor in the form of a small cockroach so that was nice since I was getting a little bit lonely.
The conference was scheduled to begin two days later, so after the last meeting on the first day, I figured I better get my shopping in now.
Now I could see the twin towers (Suria KLCC) from my room, but since it’s KL, walking would probably take me a few days and by the time I arrived I would’ve had a long beard and a volleyball named Wilson.
Fortunately a nice lady was going near where I was headed, so she offered to escort me to where I’d just need to get off just one or two more stops to the KLCC station.
I was NOT expecting to cross busy roads in dimly-lit areas at night. But I made it! Either that, or this is a really crappy dream.
I think it was just after Deepavali, so there were a ton of Indian tourists there and the festive decorations were nice. But the mall was huge and I was tired. Can’t recall if I got everything I wanted in the first evening, but over the next couple of days I would return and complete my… destiny. Shopping. Just a little bit.
I’d been missing quite a few hours of sleep throughout the week, so I figured that at the end of a long first day, I’d at least get to recharge without being interrupted.
Me at 2.59am: Ahh… recharging. Gonna wake up fresh for a brand new day tomorrow!
The building opposite the hotel at 3am: HAHAHAH LISTEN TO MY ALARM ALL NIGHT LONG, YOU FOOLISH MORTAL!
So yeah. That happened.
Lack of sleep is probably why I can’t recall taking this picture just outside the hotel:
Loved how they tacked on “with LAW” at the end, as if it were a nice additional topping in a salad.
Whenever I’m in town, I try to find food that I normally couldn’t get the Halal version of back home. Lo and behold next to the hotel lobby:
Yea I know… I know… it’s nothing to scream about but I love places like these, and Halal ones are hard to find in Singapore.
It was a little intimidating at first, I’ll admit. When they ask what you want, naturally assuming that you, a fully-grown adult male in a suit, would know what you want. But I was just in awe of all the choices. So… many… choices…
Once I must’ve ordered something extraordinary “Jalapenos? Cranberries? Eggs? Sauce made from the happy tears of yellow Yaks that reside in a temple in the Himalayas? YES PLEASE. ALL OF THEM. NO. ONE WRAP. ALL. OF. THEM.” because the girl actually called out to her colleagues and exclaimed in Malay about how… unreal it was.
So anyway yea, loved O’Briens.
Like Singapore, there’s an interesting mix of old colonial-era buildings and spanking new concrete and glass towers, quite similar to Singapore.
What was interesting though is that nearly at all times, you could see the remnants of a forest trying to make a comeback. Overgrown grass next to sidewalks, vines and what seemed to me like little patches of forest here and there, in between buildings, next to expressways, under overpasses.
On the second-last day I think, I finally got to leave the conference a little earlier and got to see the towers in broad daylight, as opposed to seeing them only in the evening like some kind of vampire without all the cool powers.
Oh, and this was me on the final day of the conference.
Headed back to the airport and was surprised by a pretty cool cover of “Mentera Semerah Padi”, by M. Nasir. Probably the only Malay song I kind of like.
Yea overall it wasn’t a bad trip, and KL’s starting to grow on me. Which is what I thought. Until I missed my most recent flight and had to spend more than 12 goddamn hours at KLIA.
After another long week, we finally got our one day away from the Littlest Dictator.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter. But any parents who claim not to want a break from their baby are either lying or have already gone off the deep end. Kids will do that to you. They’re like those Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, and you’ve always got to be on your toes or you’re well and truly screwed. It gets exhausting.
Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, the day off. So we headed over to West Coast Park.
I had a rough idea of where it was, but didn’t know exactly how to get there. And I wasn’t going to use Google Maps because dammit, I used to cycle past it on the way to work four or five years ago and I don’t need a damn phone to tell me how to get there.
I totally needed my phone.
We reached there eventually after walking about maybe 30 mins from the Clementi Bus Interchange.
We had a sandwich at a Subway-like place, at an newly-refurbished old, three or four-storey building in an equally old neighbourhood.
The many “licensed moneylenders” and pawnshops made it a little bit depressing. Clementi is what property agencies call a “mature estate”, which means it’s been around for longer than most, and is relatively well-developed.
The old housing estates and low buildings with shops on the ground floor and apartments on the floor above have got a kind of charm. Brings back nostalgic memories for me. And some not-so-pleasant ones.
I grew up in a tiny two-bedroom apartment, and as the years went by, slowly realised that we were on the lower portion of the income scale. Not dirt poor by any means. But yeah, quite lacking in certain areas.
By the way, as we walked through the neighbourhoods to get to the park, it only occured to me to take pictures once we’d arrived. So ah, you’re just gonna have to use your imagination for now. Put all those Sesame Street hours to good use!
After walking for a while and wondering if we were lost, and ng refusing to check my phone because I’m a man goddammit, we finally arrived!
Beautiful place. So green and windy and bright. Last time I was there, all I could remember was some tiny boats tied near the shore and nothing much else. Hadn’t been there in more than 15 years.
I was quite pleasant surprised.
Looks like it’s windy often because there were quite a few people there flying kites. Maybe one day I’ll show the Littlest Dictator how to fly one.
Usually a trip to a park in Singapore is accompanied by massive amounts of swearing and feeling like a perpetually melting chocolate bar. But this time it was pretty good. Weather was just perfect.
And even on a Saturday, there weren’t many people.
Yea I wouldn’t mind heading back there at all.
One Weird Dude's Busan Blog 