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.
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:
It was 25 degrees Celsius inside, but I was so out of it, I actually thought the curtains were of a special material that kept the heat in or something. And then I looked at the thermostat 😂.
So far on this trip, I’ve injured my hand…
On the plus side, it makes me feel a little bit like Ryu
… developed a slight fever and now have an annoying cough.
At first it got me a little down. Sure I’ll be here until mid-February, but I had so many plans which I’ll now have to change.
But man, there are worse ways to spend three months, you know? I mean, I’m in a goddamn luxury apartment by the sea:
Oh yes, poor pitiful me
And I’m warm and I’ve got access to a car here. Sometimes you just need to smack yourself in the face and realise just how fortunate you really are.
Sure the plans will change, but it’ll still be pretty damn awesome.
Also, I’d have to be a real ass to complain about being able to enjoy this view every day:
We decided to have a nice stroll along the beach yesterday and earlier this evening. Simple, right?
Now in Singapore, all you had to do was ensure the Littlest Dictator basically isn’t buck naked.
But here, check out all this crap:
And then we wrapped her in 20 woollen blankets
So first we headed to the clinic to get my bandage replaced:
The cold makes you… do thingsIf the pinwheels are spinning rapidly, then you’re probably freezing your little kimchi offSuperman’s weakness isn’t kryptonite, it’s Korean fried chicken places blatantly flouting copyright laws
Finally arrived at the clinic.
The nurse cackling manically probably shouldn’t worry me.Bandaged replaced, onwards to the beach!
But first…
Again, the cold… it makes you… do things.
Finally…
I also still suck at photography
The pictures don’t do it justice. It was so beautiful and surreal, like you were walking in a painting or one of those really slick promotional videos on big screen TVs at E Mart.
My wife’s Samsung S7 did much better:Samsung: The S7, this time the camera actually works!
Now back to my crappy pictures!
That car insisted on being in the picture Under the hood
Baby was getting restless. Fortunately just outside Paradise Hotel…
Trees and lights! A restless toddler’s kryptonite!
The journey back up the hill is a good workout for your quads, and will prompt you to remind yourself over and over again ‘It was worth it.’ “Was it really?” ‘Shut up brain! It was totally worth it!’
Totally… worth it. Dear GOD has the baby always been this heavy?
Sunset at Haeundae Beach is definitely a sight to behold. And best of all? No crowds!
One Weird Dude's Busan Blog 