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!
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.
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:
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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