주석 Chuseok Vacation

Last Monday, Koreans celebrated Chuseok (their Thanksgiving equivalent.) Most Korean families travel to their hometowns during this time, so all of the big cities eerily empty out. For foreigners however, it means a five-day weekend and taking over those cities or neighboring countries, like Japan or Taiwan.

I had left school early the previous Friday to pick up Kate from the airport. Talk about Chuseok traffic. It was hell. It reminded me of the traffic on the GW in New York, which made made me homesick/slightly pissed off. Though I had no other way of getting there, so I kind of just had to put in my music and deal with it. We spent our time in Seoul for the next two days doing touristy things. We went on a Seoul City bus Tour, which I absolutely recommend. You can choose from three different routes. The one we chose was two hours long in duration, but you can get off wherever you want and buses come through in 30-minute intervals to pick you up. It's really nice because it's up to you which sites you get off at and how long you stay at each one. It no doubt kept us on a schedule. We saw Deoksugung Palace, The National Museum of Korea, and stopped in Insadong- a must for any tourist traveling through Seoul who is looking to buy traditional gifts and souveniers. There, we tried some green tea made fresh in front of us from ingredients grown in Jeju. Delicious. We also witnessed a man making traditional Korean rice cakes. These things are at almost every teacher's meeting and given out at special events as part favors, so I've had my fair share. It was cool to finally see how they come together. The sticky rice mixture was in a large wooden stand, and he was literally wacking the thing from over his head as hard as he could with a wooden hammer. This was now my third time in Insadong; I can't get enough. Strolling down the streets, window shopping and people-watching with coffee or tea in hand, is probably one of my favorite past-times.  I showed Kate the night life of Hongdae and Itaewon, which is always a good time. We stayed at an awesome hostel called Jin's Paradise. Jin is now one of my coolest Korean friends. His hostel is about a 7-minute walk from exit 1 and 2 of Itaewon Station. Perfect location. Great rooms, safe, clean, affordable, and really popular with young travelers. It has a real homey, hippy kind of vibe. To top it off, the roof has a breathtaking view of Seoul and Namsan Tower. 

Kate experiencing Hongdae

Jin's view from the roof

Amazing

Awesome lounging room in the palace. This kid was loving it.

Cutie in her hanbok (traditional Korean dresses)

Outside of the museum

Always find Buddhas so interesting and serene

Gorgeous paintings

Making green tea from Jeju 

Making rice cakes

Guards in front of the Palace

Showing different Asian Buddhas.

We took a subway ride to Myeongdong to visit the four-story Forever 21. Yes, I said four-story. We didn't even make it to H&M. Foreigners love this place, because if you're anything like me, I'm not into the huge frills and lace that is Korean fashion. Of course they still have simple clothes, but you need to search, especially for your size. So going to Myeongdong is an exciting, thrilling adventure, that doesn't happen so often. I actually spent a good amount of money (way to go me.) While walking back from Myeongdong, we came across a beautiful Catholic Church. Myeongdong Cathedral. It was the very first parish built in South Korea. Let's not forget to bring up The Flying Pan- my favorite breakfast joint in Seoul thus far. I don't think I've made a Seoul trip yet without getting there. Below is their avocado chicken sandwich, along with a seasonal pumpkin cheesecake. We could NOT pass that up, especially being disappointed after finding that even the Seoul Starbucks' weren't selling their pumpkin lattes. We headed back to Andong on Sunday, avoiding all the traffic of the holiday since most families had started their travels at the start of the weekend. Thank goodness.

Chicken avocado

Pumpkin cheesecake 

Out in Itaewon 

We left early the next morning for Busan. We met up with my friends from Andong, who had been there on vacation since Saturday. That afternoon we took a beyond crowded bus to  Haedong Yongung Temple. Since it was the actual day of Chuseok, we didn't think it would be crazy busy, but we quickly found the opposite to be true. I guess visiting temples is a popular thing to do on this holiday. We stood on line for about 15 minutes before we hit the cliffs overlooking the water and the temple, then got back on line to walk over to the actual temple. The sight was absolutely breathtaking. I can say it's the most beautiful temple site I've seen thus far, and my temple count is getting up there. I'll let the pictures try and explain, but we all know they can only do some much justice. We hung out on Haeundae beach for a while after that until we figured we should go eat something. We were all still ridiculously full from lunch, so we ventured into the market for some small street food before the bars.  For lunch, we all had burgers at Wolfhound. I got a delicious veggie burger, but the size of the thing was enormous. I'm sure I wouldn't think that if I got it back in the States, but the fact that we're not used to eating greasy, huge helpings of food anymore affects you. My stomach actually felt a little upset afterwards. It's amazing the difference in portion size between the States and Korea. Kate got her street food experience, but opted out of the spicy tteokbokki, which I gladly ordered. Mmm soo good. I'm sure I've explained it before, but tteokbokki is Korean's most famous street food and you can find it at almost every vendor. It's consists of rice cakes, scallions, imitation fish cakes, and a really spicy red pepper sauce. It's so creamy and kind of perfect. It fills you up, and is usually only around 3,000 won.

On line for the temple 

Rubbing Buddha's belly supposedly brings wealth and good luck, and some think pregnancy. (When we were walking back, an ahjumma was rubbing this guy like crazy, and all her friends were hysterical with laughter. Their laughs are always contagious.)

LOVE this shot. This boy was very much in his own world. 

ahhhhh I can't get over these Korean children.

Busan was absolutely beautiful the next day. It's always a treat to sit on that beach with no worries, not even that you just paid an obnoxious amount for a tall Starbucks coffee. If I close my eyes, and ignore all the Korean being spoken, I can feel like I'm back home on our beaches. Very comforting.

Busan Market

This went on for 20 minutes. Down to the water, up the sand. Down to the water, up the sand. OH how life was so simple as a child.

 We traveled back the next day being that I had to go back to work on Thursday. I introduced Kate to all that is Andong and she finally got a sense of what the real Korea is all about. She saw a clear difference between Seoul and Busan and my city. I'm overly grateful that she was able to make this trip, and that she got back safe and sound. I love my visitors and am thankful I have such wonderful people in my life that make a huge trips to come see me (Yes, mom, you and Dennis.)

So our tiny vacation finally came to an end, and I was back off to work.. but only for two days, and then I finally made it to our city's International Maskdance Festival.. I'll get on that post in the next few days..