Fireworks in Busan

Ever since we moved to Korea we have heard people talking about the Busan Fireworks Festival and how we need to make sure we attend. The fireworks festival started in 2005 to celebrate the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and has been going strong for 6 years now. Leading up to the weekend D was told about how busy Busan is during this time and how 80,000 people attend the final night, which is the night that I wanted to go, of course. So we got some tips about where we should park and that we should take the subway to the actual event so we packed up and headed out.

The fireworks were set to start until 8pm but we left Ulsan at about 2pm to factor in the Starbucks stop, the 1 hour drive and of course the time we would have to spend waiting for the event to start. With the thought of 80,000 people showing up I wanted us to get good seats and be able to see as much as possible. Once in Busan we hopped on the subway and rode to Gwangalli beach. We arrived at the beach at about 4pm and bought a mat to sit on and set up the tri-pod for D's camera. At that time the beach wasn't too busy but there were still a steady flow of people arriving.

By the time it was getting dark the beach had completely filled up and there wasn't a spot of sand to be seen.

This made it very difficult when I tried to make my way to get us some dinner. We dined on a bag of fried chicken, which Korean's call "Mexican Chicken", and of course some Hite Beer.

The fireworks finally started at 8pm and boy they were worth the wait!

I had never seen fireworks like this before! The whole beach was "ooing" and "ahhing" the whole time. My favorite was the "Niagara Falls" fireworks, where it looked like water was pouring off the bridge.

D and I both had a great time hanging out on the beach together and watching a great show

After the show we had to make our way back to the subway and ultimately to the car. This proved to be a difficult task as the streets were filled with people wantin to do the exact same thing! The subway station was a mad house, but they did have some people moderating how many people could go down the stairs at a time so that no one would fall down the stairs.

Once back at the car it proved even more difficult to get out of Busan, as it took us about 1.5hours to go 1.5km. We did finally make it home at 12:30am. It was a great day even though most of it was spent waiting around, but it was with good company so the time flew.

There are many more pictures in our Picasa album http://picasaweb.google.com/dennis.blackwell/15BusanFireworks#

Love,
J

Surprise in Ulsan

So I got the surprise of my life last week. I know that most of you knew about it, and I can't believe you were able to keep it a secret. For those of you who didn't know here is the story.

D asked me to go with him to pick up a co-worker from the airport who was coming in to check out Ulsan as he was going to be coming here to do some work. I wasn't all that interested in going but thought it would be nice to keep D company on the drive, he also insisted that I come. On the drive to the airport I was asking D a million questions about this co-worker coming in. Why was he coming? Are they really busy now? How long will he be here? What is he like? He isn't taking work away from you? What are his kids names? If you know me this is typical behaviour, I just want to know everything.

So at the airport while we waited for the plane to arrive we watched some Korean baseball and checked out all that Ulsan airport has to offer (it is nothing in case you were wondering). The plane finally arrives from Seoul and we line up with the other people waiting for people to get off the plane. The usual suspects come out of the arrival gate and then I see two young looking people who I think "oh great more english teachers". The one with the hood up looks a lot like Fiona but think to myself it is just my imagination. Then she takes off her hood and I notice that her boyfriend Taylor is filming me! IT IS FIONA!!! "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" I scream so that everyone in arrivals area is staring at me.

The next few minutes I am in total shock and can't believe my eyes! After lots of hugging and introductions (D has never met Taylor) we headed off to the car. We got home and had a few drinks because after traveling for 26 hours you need a couple gin and tonics. Fiona and Taylor came bearing gifts of magazine, candy and of course vodka in a glass skull (best hostess gift ever!) Both Fiona and Taylor were very tired understandably so they went off to bed but I couldn't sleep so I laid in bed trying to fall asleep but just couldn't!

The next day we woke up caught up, at some breakfast, cleaned up and were on our way. Since they were only going to be in Ulsan for a few days we had a lot of accomplish! We started by walking around where I live. We walked to the foreigners compound, then to Shiller (sp) road, Hyundai department store, Home Plus (grocery store) and Ilsan beach(y). After that we went for Shabu Shabu, a great Korean dish where you cook raw meat and veggies in boiling broth.

After lunch we headed to "new" downtown to look at the sights there. We walked around the Lotte and Hyundai department stores to check out the high end merchandise. Turns out most things are about twice as much as they are back home as we found out when we tried on some LV sunglasses. I also can't not mention the cab driver that took us back to the apartment. He spoke no english and we had such a hard time telling him where to take us that I had to call one of D's coworkers to tell the taxi driver where to go. After that it was Korean ballads at 20 decibles and some pretty fierce hand clapping and dancing in the cab (this was mostly done by the driver himself).

That night we went back downtown to take Fiona and Taylor out for a traditional Korean night out, which basically means eating and drinking a lot and ending the night with Karaoke. We started out at BBQ and were joined by two of Dennis' coworkers and a friend of theirs.
The night progressed when Sejin took us to a seafood restaurant, I know we just ate dinner but it was time for dinner #2. The first course was giant clams cooked on the hot plate at our table and then cooked with cheese, garlic, and jalepeno peppers. Then came the seafood platter...

After devouring all of that (Dennis ate the head) and many more bottles of Hite beer and soju we were off for some Karaoke!

I don't need to go into great detail here as I know you all know what happened at the karaoke bar: we all sang like angels and went home to bed at a reasonable hour...

The next day when we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed...we all drove out to Busan together to do some more sightseeing. We went to Shinsigae for lunch and some shopping. Then we went to the fish market so that Fiona could hold an octopus.

Back in Ulsan we decided to stay close to home for dinner and went to a Japanese sashimi restaurant down the street from us. After dinner we played with the claw machine (vending machine where you use the claw to pick up toys), which is a total scam! There was a sweet Baretta gun in there and none of us could get it, not even after feeding the machine about $20! To calm our nerves we went and had some "bekju", I don't really know how to describe this drink better than it is a milky looking cold beverage that tastes sort of like the candy bottle caps (I know Fiona will disagree with me on that), that is served in a gold tea pot! After adding some Cilsing Cider the beverage is drinkable! For stop number three of the night we went to D and my favorite bar by us "The Polaroid Bar"! This tiny bar is covered in polaroids of each person that comes to the bar.

This picture is currently on display in the bar right now!

The next day we decided to do some real Korean sightseeing and not just looking at unaffordable handbags. We drove to Gyeongju to look at the grotto and Bulguksa temple. After getting our fill of sightseeing we headed back into town to make a very special dinner for a special lady.

I had totally forgot that it was Canadian Thanksgiving last weekend until Taylor and Fiona reminded me. So to celebrate that and Fiona's birthday we made "Mapley/ Bacony chicken with potato and mushroom gratin, as well as some zucchini and salad. Of course we had some champagne to celebrate Fiona's birthday.

Of course we had surprise cake too! We were trying to keep the cake a surprise but Fiona kept asking us to buy her a cake and we had to keep changing the subject so she would stop talking about it the whole weekend. She was very relieved to have a cake.

The next day Fiona and Taylor had to go to Busan to catch a plane to Jeju island. I was so sad to see them go because it was so nice having them here. Both D and I loved having a "normal" weekend with friends. We all had such a great time together and lucky for us it gets to continue this weekend as we are all meeting up in Seoul!!!

To be continued....

JAPAN!

Sorry for the long delay in getting this latest post out. I feel as though I have been quite busy since we got home on Sunday night. We had a great time in Tokyo. I measured with my new I-pod nano how many steps we were taking each day and we were averaging about 15,000 step which is about 15km per day, and this doesn't cover all the ground we covered on the subway. So needless to say we covered a lot of ground in 5 days. There was only one day of bad weather but that didn't stop us from having a good time. Below is a quick breakdown of our trip.

Day 1: Arrived at 1:30 with no jet-lag which is rare for travelers to Japan. After a hour and a half train ride to Asakusa and a wander around looking for our hotel, we arrived! Our hotel was nice, and we got a cute traditional style room. We cleaned up and went out to walk around as there is a great market and temple close to our hotel. Asakusa is Tokyo's oldest geisha district and has a very traditional Japanese atmosphere.

D and I decided to try to find a tempura restaurant that was recommended to us. It is known to have the best tempura in all of Tokyo. Well the food was great but the tables were very small and we had to sit about 2 feet from the table! After dinner we went out for some beers at a local bar. We decided that it should be an early night as we had a full 4 days ahead of us.

Day 2: The next morning we decided to head to Shibuya (we always said "Shibooooya!") which is one of the busiest districts in Tokyo. This is the area that is always shown in movies that take place in Tokyo. There are lots of people and even more neon lights! We had read there was plenty of good shopping there so we looked around at some of the shops.

After we headed to Omotesando Hills to check out the high end shops. D and I had a great time popping into the different stores there. We also went to Harijuku Street and checked out the interesting people there and clothing stores that sell costume wear.

We headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and then got on the subway again to meet my Uncle Kyle and Aunt Yoshiko for dinner. They took us to "Gopanchi" which is the restaurant that inspired the fight scene in "Kill Bill" (movie). The food was amazing and the company was even better. Kyle introduced us to drinking sake out of a cedar box. The sake is poured into a glass that is inside the cedar box and the waiter will pour the sake till it over flows into the cedar box, you have to the waiter "when" to stop pouring. I am not a big sake fan but this was really good!


Day 3: So after a night of drinking champagne and sake D and I decided to wake up at 4am to go to the Tsukiji Fish market to go to the Tuna auction. They only allow 140 people in to watch the auction and we got there shortly after they gave the last ticket away. It was disappointing to have woken up that early and to miss it but stayed and walked around the market anyway. After walking around and trying to not get in the way of too many people we went out for a sushi breakfast. We walked around for a bit but after realizing that nothing would be open until 10am we decided to head back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

So after a nice nap we headed to the Ginza district. This is a very upscale district so we mostly just popped into stores and wandered around. After Ginza we went to Ueno, or as we call it now "Jean Mecca". Now most of your probably know about Ds obsession with salvage dry denim jeans and this is where it started. Each store it filled with many different brands and D was like a kid in a candy store. He bought a couple pairs and says that he is set for years, I will believe it when I see it. ;)
That night we met up with Uncle Kyle again and his gang of ne'er-do-wells for some drinks.

Day 4: The next morning Uncle Kyle played tour guide for us and took us to Odaiba which is an artificial island in Tokyo bay. From here you get to see the bay and a great view of the city.

Now you can't go to Tokyo without checking out the electronic districts so Kyle took us to a place that was full of camera stores. D showed great restraint by not buying anything. I did help by telling him that we had a wedding to plan for! He did end up buying a new camera bag which was on his list of things to get.
That night we got back on the subway and headed to Kyle and Yoshiko's apartment for dinner.
I had to include one picture of us on the subway since we spent so much time on it!

Kyle and Yoshiko really outdid themselves and made us a delicious home cooked meal. We also had a great time getting to know their 3 cats, who kept trying to get handouts while Kyle was cooking.

Day 5: On our last day we headed back to Harajuku as we were told it was the best time to go down and check out the ladies in their costumes. It was really fun to walk around there as well as the park connected to the Meiji Shrine.


After that we headed back to the hotel and then off to the airport. Getting to the Narita airport was the most stressful experience of my life so far, both of us couldn't believe we actually made it on the plane that night.

So that is our trip in a nutshell. If you would like to see all of our pictures click on http://picasaweb.google.com/dennis.blackwell/110TokyoTrip2010#

We don't have much planned over the next few weeks in anticipation for our visitors at the end of October! The weather is still very nice here so we are going on lots of walks and runs. Some of the women here are going to be running a half marathon in February and they have asked me to be their trainer, which of course I am more than happy to do.

I hope you are all happy and healthy. Miss you lots!

Jennifer