So the wife had to head over to the immigration office to extend her visa by one more month and man, while I love most of the Koreans I’ve met here, if you have to deal with them, try and bring along a local if you can. Not a pleasant experience and I’d probably have lodged an official complaint if I’d been there.
Aaaanyway. Here are some pics of Chinatown that my wife took!
Chinatown and the Russian districts are almost the same basically, and pretty close to Nampo. This is where you’ll find awesome (and Halal!) Russian and Eastern European dishes (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.)
Be warned though, Texas Street is a notorious red-light area and is somewhere there. Generally safe overall but I’d avoid that street at night unless you enjoy the company of drunk, burly Russians (hey if it’s your thing, you’ll probably love it!)
It’s really close to the Busan KTX Station too so it’s not hard to get to.
Edit: This is like, my 3rd attempt to post it due to a weird problem with the app basically saying “Hey, hey, you want to post this? It’s interesting right? Yeah? NO. SCREW YOU, HUMAN! KISS MY DIGITAL RECTUM! SKYNET 4 LYFE!”
Baby’s down for her nap, and my laptop needs recharging (like, 20 mins into the series finale of Rectify) so there’s time for another post!
We went skiing! Or, as I should call it, ‘That Time My Ass Kissed the Icy Floor Over and Over Again.’
More detailed information on the resort and how to get there can be found at the bottom of this post.
I had no idea what was to come
We went to the Eden Valley Ski Resort in Yangsan. At night. For the first time. So yea, we got a little lost.
I don’t know man, this looks just a wee bit off than what I expected a ski resort to look like
We finally found the proper route and you can tell it is (you know, besides looking at the signs) by the increasing number of ski/snowboard gear shops the further you go.
We settled on getting equipment from here:
There was a guy in hockey mask and a bloodied machete who was pretty nice and spoke with high-pitched British accent
The place was fine, but just bear in mind that they are an independent shop.
Be very specific about what you need to rent and for how long, and remember that they do not have any say regarding the admission cost. My brother-in-law told me that the guy spoke as if he were connected to the resort. I’m hoping it was a communication issue. Yeah. Communication issue.
Anyway, I’d recommend renting directly at the resort. Easier to drop off the items and stuff.
We finally arrived:
Getting the tickets
One important thing to bear in mind, especially if you’ve never skiied before: There is no beginner -level slope. I mean, they have one, but you’ll get what I mean further down.
First, the view from the bottom:
The one on the left is supposedly the one for beginners. LIES, ALL LIES
For starters, we had to take a goddamn ski lift to get to the top of the beginner-level slope.
For beginners. That is, for you to begin crapping yourself
Aaaand here’s the view from the top of the slope:
Notice how it looks deceptively flat… that’s because there’s a super-steep decline that connects to the slope on the rightThought I’d take one last picture of my being alive
Being the genius that I so clearly am, I’d decided to sit in the snow for a moment to rest. In non-waterproof pants. It’s amazing what a freezing ass and the threat of hypothermia can do to motivate you to speed down a death slope.
My last fall was when I’d decided to just go for it… and was speeding downwards when I realized I couldn’t stop. Because of the speed, I actually bounced off the damn ice. Oh yea, and I’d also neglected to wear safety gear. You know, all part of being a goddamn genius.
Luckily I got away only with slight cuts on the elbow which I legit thought was bleeding heavily at the time (shut up).
Would I do it again? With safety equipment, I’d say yes.
Would I recommend it to beginners?
HELL NO ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND??
Overall, an… enlightening experience.
Getting There:
We drove there at night (night skiing is from 9pm-1am), and the road conditions were pretty good.
Well, I was going to post about our ski trip in Yangsan, but the WordPress app decided that ‘Hey, why don’t I be an ass and keep heading back to the top of the post whenever you try to edit? That’s cool right, bro? RIGHT BRO?’
So here’s a short post about… home-made sushi!
All this from only 8K won’s worth of smoked salmon. Yeah not too bad. Weather’s been getting steadily colder. YES. I keep getting my Jangsan Mountain visit delayed. But I’m feeling better now. Soon hopefully, I’ll reach the top and… SNOW!! There better be snow, man.
Haven’t yet had the time to make a full post about skiing in Yangsan, since the toddler seems to have a death wish, or keeps trying to give me a freakin’ heart attack.
Anyway… I LOVE WATCHING MOVIES IN KOREA. Haeundae is supposedly an expensive, ‘happening’ area… but the cinemas are always empty! Forget Friday or Saturday night, it was even empty when The Force Awakens first came out.
I usually go to the one at NC:
Hello, old friend
There are a few cinemas in the area, and I have no idea they stay in business but I LOVE IT.
I have finally recovered, and there’s so much to catch up on!
First up is our walk along old railway tracks by the sea.
Fortunately I don’t think it says ‘Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter’.
It’s actually a really cool shortcut to take to get from Haeundae Beach to the two lighthouses on the other side of the mountain near Songjeong Beach.
Just head to the end of Haeundae Beach, where the seafood restaurants are, and where you can also take a ferry tour. Once you reach there, go up the narrow road.
Forgot to take a day time picture, so um, here you go
The historical information is in Korean, but along the way you’ll encounter an old tunnel and abandoned stone monitoring booths facing the sea which make me think the tracks were used by the military back in ththe 50’s or earlier.
Must’ve sucked for the soldier. Great view though!
And the there’s the tunnel:
Get to the choppa!! What? I HAD TO
There a few couples there who’d take pics. And one would set up a tripod to take some romantic selfies. At one point, a guy tried to lift up his girl in her arms… but failed! Buahahahah!! I laughed and laughed…
But I digress. Here’s some more pics:
Such a handsome bastard
And finally we arrived on the other side of the mountain, at the end of the tracks:
Songjeong Beach is still a bit further but it was getting dark so we stopped by an Angels-in-Us cafe and got a cab back. Koreans have quite the thing for phallic signs
I’d say it takes about an 30-40 mins to walk the entire way. Not a very well-known tourist attraction but definitely worth it.
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.
One Weird Dude's Busan Blog 