Been feeling under the weather lately, but I wanted to do a quick post for the New Year’s Eve celebration.
For Russians, it’s one of the major celebrations that involves a MAJOR feast!
Check it out:
It actually looks much better. Again, I suck at photography
There’s only six of us, and we’ll be eating on and off until the clock strikes 12 (the feast began at 9.30pm).
It’s not exactly big here in Korea, but there’s a tradition observed by a lot of the locals here where they will gather at the beach for the first sunrise of the year. Missed it last year, but I hope to make it this year!
Returned to beautiful Jangyu for my mother-in-law’s haircut, just a stone’s throw away from her old apartment, where I stayed during my first visit to Busan about four years ago.
Excellent candidate for a Silent Hill-like event
After that, it was time for more shopping at Lotte Premium Outlets (Gimhae).
If you really focus, you’ll be able to hear your bank account cryingNow, today being Christmas Day and all, with more and more Koreans observing it… I was hopeful it wouldn’t be too crowded. Goddammit.This time at least, I captured photographic evidence of steep discounts!
Is… is my bank account crying even louder?
Oh yea and I captured this:
The fourteen year-old in me was giggling uncontrollably
Next on the list: Halal meat. My wife, her brother and mom had already eaten and I was starving. Plus I was saving space for Samsa, a delicious meat-filled Uzbek baked bun/pastry.
Not sure what the area is called, but here’s the street name:
I am NOT attempting to type that on this phone with Autocorrect waiting eagerly, and cracking its knuckles
The nearest LRT station would be either Royal Tomb of King Suro (no, seriously) or Buwon. We drove there and man, it reminded me a little of some really narrow streets in Bangkok where cars mingled with pedestrians.
Here’s the cool thing about the place. It’s a true melting pot. You’ve got everyone from Indonesians to Vietnamese to Thais to Uzbeks and more.
Much more festive, it’s just that my photography skills are still almost non-existent.
We parked near the mosque:
Something weird about this. Can’t quite put my finger on it…
Before heading to the restaurant to get our meat (they also sell frozen meat), we checked out the nearby wet market which reminded me a lot of the old markets in Singapore:
Bank account seemed glad to see this place for some reason.
According to my brother-in-law, the prices here were significantly cheaper than in Busan.
Finally we arrived at the restaurant:
Hand over the Samsas and nobody gets hurt.
I’d show you a picture of the Samsa, but I’ve pretty much eaten all of them. They’re that good. And a hot Samsa in winter? Oh yeah.
At this very moment, I’m typing this on a phone, on a big comfy couch in the hall, with my reflection and its full tummy in the glass window staring at me. I regret nothing.
Not only is it Christmas Eve, but it’s also my brother-in-law’s birthday! So naturally… we all headed out before he woke up to do some shopping 😂
A short cab ride later and we arrive at Lotte Premium Outlets Busan.
Christmas is getting ever bigger in Korea, but it’s still not as big of a deal here as the Lunar New Year.
The place wasn’t too packed and there were a few good discounts according to my wife and her mom, who happen to be experts in matters like this. View from inside a cafe that blasted music like it was trying to become a club
Pro tip: There’s more discounts on the weekend. And especially on Christmas Eve.
While the ladies went shopping, I entered the very mouth of madness:
Abandon hope all ye who enter
This would be a good place to bury daddy
I don’t know what is it about me and kids, but there’s always one or two kids that seem to go’OMG A FRIENDLY GROWN-UP!’ but since there were more kids than usual… I had to basically reject quite a few.
For the last time… I AM NOT YOUR DADDY.
Shopping done and baby exhausted, we headed back and while I was at the gym, they prepared the birthday feast:
Because my wife’s family is Korean-Russian, the entire spread was a kind of hybrid of two distinct cuisines.
A relatively new seaside attraction that opened up in 2013, located on a cliff on Oryukdo Island. I’ll talk more about whether you should visit further near the bottom of this post.
The drive from Haeundae Beach to Oryukdo took us over Gwangandaegyo, also known as the Diamond Bridge. I never get tired of the view:
As long as you don’t think about possibility plunging to the depths of the sea, you’ll definitely enjoy the view!
One of these days I’ll have to check and see if I can walk up there.
After that was a short journey through one of those quaint, little towns that lies at the entrance to the mountain road that will take you to the cliffs on the other side.
Must be their day off. All of them.Koreans enjoy livening up their industrial plants with cheerful murals
Made a quick stop on the mountain road to make sure we were headed in the right direction and not to Japan or something.
When we arrived, it was unexpectedly packed! I’m talking a small road filled with cars and tour buses. Turns out it was just our bad luck. Like, an hour later, the roads were clear.
So we parked a little farther out:
A pleasant stroll downhill. Pleasant so long as you don’t think of the journey back up with a cranky baby.
The whole area by the seaside is breathtaking. The views definitely merit that word. It’s like being in a masterpiece of a painting or walking in a dream.
And the air. Holy crap. It’s so fresh. If Mentos grew naturally, this is where you’d find a motherlode. Makes you feel refreshed and relaxed at the same time.
I’d never want to live here, because I’d never want to get tired of seeing such beauty.
Anyway, on to the Skywalk!
From here, it’s just a short walk up to the Skywalk proper:
Admission is free and you’ll have to cover your shoes before entering:
Only in Korea.Here we go:
If you have vertigo, probably not the best idea.
The Skywalk itself was OK. Probably because I’ve experienced similar platforms that were much, much higher up like the Euraka Skydeck’s ‘The Edge’ in Melbourne and even the walk in Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.
The Littlest Dictator was quiet… for a moment.
Next, we walked down to the bay, where there’s a small market for fresh fish:
The trailer is a little restaurant if you’re in the mood for seafood Should you visit?
Depends, really. The natural beauty of Okyudo Island is enchanting, surreal even. If nature is your thing, I’d highly recommend it.
If you’re going solely for the Skywalk though, then you might want to give it a pass.
The place is a major pain to get to, and if you took public transport (excluding cabs), it could easily take you more than an hour to reach.
After it rained, something awesome happened. Well, awesome to me, anyway. There’s fog! Thick, low fog. I love this weather, man. Not too many days like this in Singapore.
Here’s the view on a clear day:
Now with the fog:
So I’ve got the idea to sell some of my pictures via stock photography sites, and one of them recommended bright and sunny days. But I don’t know man, there’s just something about cool, foggy weather, you know?
Reminds me of some shows set in Victoria-era London and Silent Hill. The fog also slows things down… adds mystery.
Perfect for sitting with a warm cup of coffee while reading a book or watching a horror movie or doodling.
Wtf is a ‘Winter Blend’?
Think I’ll go and create something.
Looks like a pretty cloudy day today, and it’s projected to snow across most of Korea tomorrow! Most… just not Busan. GODDAMMIT.
However, I do have a plan! Ready or not, I’m hitting Jangsan Mountain early tomorrow morning, possibly before sunrise. I WILL HAVE MY SNOW.
It’ll probably kick my unprepared ass, though
In the past month we’ve been here, I’ve received two or three earthquake (!!) notifications. If you have coverage here, you’ll get an alert on your phone.
Oh yea and the apartment has a scary-as-hell alarm that goes off followed by an announcement.
It’s a long run to the ground floor
Apparently quakes happen regularly, and you only get notified if it goes beyond 2.0 on the Richter scale.
Seeing how they’ve had major ones recently, I was a little spooked at first. But yea, it’s nothing to get too worried about. Overall it’s a pretty stable country. Japan however…
Coming from tropical Singapore, I never thought I’d say this, but it was a balmy 17 degrees Celsius (I know… I know… must be losing my mind).
Couldn’t resist taking the Littlest Dictator outside. I’ll also include a bit about a cosy café we visited a couple of days ago.
So here’s a comprehensive review of Ladife with all the details you need before deciding on a visit: Yea, it’s pretty good.
So the first thing I did today was get my bandaged replaced:
So the doc says it looks good and tomorrow should wrap up the entire treatment. Still feels I’ve been ripped off but eh, it gave me a reason to head somewhere in the day time after putting the Littlest Dictator to sleep… at goddamn 2am. Holy crap can she go!
Over here, pedestrians tend to give way to cars. NOT ME
Once we reached home, I had a ton of crap to do. But ahh dammit. It’s not often we experience what I call ‘Ideal Baby Weather’.
Because I was alone and a genius, I didn’t take pictures of the playground we visited. So um, here’s another playground we went to the other day:
Meh, close enough
So she has this thing where if she’s interested in someone or something, she just stares. What can I say? Babies are not known for their social graces.
Seeing how she looks more like her Korean mom, whereas I look like an escaped convict from a maximum security facility in Pakistan, it made it look like I was trying to cheer up a reluctant kid I’d just kidnapped.
I swear, if she’d just shouted ‘No! Want mama!!’ it would not have ended well for me.
Overall though, it was a pretty good day. Here’s a picture I took of some flowers:
A little something different this time. There was once when even the idea of travel (except to neighbouring Malaysia) didn’t enter my mind. It was impossible
This article really hits home for me. By all means travel the world and extol its virtues. Just don’t be a dick about it.
Just remembered to post this. Back when I was walking around looking for a gym, I happened to stumble across a wet market near the Haeundae Cultural Centre.
Reminded me a lot of the wet markets in Singapore, which will soon be all gone (if they’re not all gone already).
I gotta admit, it felt a little awkward taking these pictures without buying anything
Besides the stuff you’d normally find in a market like fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, fresh cocaine, you’d also be able to find Korea-specific stuff like whatever these are:
They can’t all be kimchi. I think.
So yea, a cool little wet market.
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