LATENIGHT - KOREA

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Dongjakgu to Incheon and Home, Day 6.

We had a plane to catch on Saturday, our last day. We woke up at my brother-in-law's house and tidied the place up in preparation for our leaving. We were off to Incheon to catch our flight home to Canada and my in-laws would be heading back to Busan.

We also went for a bit of shopping although there wasn't much room in our luggage for more souvenirs. However, we did want to help stock up the newlyweds' home a bit before we left so we ventured out to one of the local streets where some household wares could be found.

The streets in my brother-in-law's neighbourhood are tiny, I will say. These days though, there's a bit of a facelift going on. A lot of the older buildings are being torn down and brand new ones going up. The night before the wedding, we passed by a huge open pit with a small excavator working away. By the time we were back, the foundation was laid and the building started. It's still quite a chore to navigate though, and made worse if you have to squeeze past construction equipment.

The style of many of the buildings is the same, but you can tell by the brickwork that the places are newer. My brother-in-law's is probably only a few years old. Across the street a new building was going up that was the exact same style, but it had light grey bricks and a glossy parkade underneath. It looked like glass more than concrete.

Shops along the street, Dongjak-gu, Seoul.

We made our way to the shops down the hill and started looking for whatever would be useful, whether it was paper towel, garbage cans, or kitchen stuff. We also noticed they didn't have a wall clock yet so that was something I started hunting for, as a farewell gift. I found some beautiful ones at great prices. All in all, the prices of most things were cheaper than in Canada, too. I found Gillette razor blades for less than a third what you pay in Canada.

Still, finding Western products was a bit like uncovering a treasure trove. I took the above picture just to show you what sorts of things we uncovered in one tiny shop - the kind where everything was stacked floor to ceiling and the whole store was just a nook blocked off from under a pedway staircase, if I recall.

There was a lot more I wished I could have seen and done, but we were on a timetable. It was back to the place and time to grab our luggage for the cab ride to Incheon airport.

My last photo of the trip was snapped out the cab window as we drove by this bridge over the Han River.

One week was too short, especially after being absent for four years. I won't deny that I think about going back again. I think about it when I post these pictures; I think about it when I get a message from the family over there; I am sure I will think about it heavily when tax season rolls around again in Spring.

Our flight back to Toronto went alright. I was a bit disappointed to find that Lotteria no longer sells Teryburgers which I'd had a craving for from Day 1. I think I ended up grabbing a Bulgogi burger of some sort before I caught the plane. I noticed that the menu had gotten a lot more advanced in the last four years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you can get cheese on your burger now.

Half a day later, we were back. I know I've been lax in getting these pictures up (though with the backdates, I don't have to admit to exactly how lazy/time-constrained I was.) I really hope that I'll manage a follow up in 2009 and that we get another chance to go over. If not in 2009, then soon after. Who knows? If we settle in Toronto, we might get company coming back our way, as the newlyweds have a strong desire to see Canada. Only time will tell.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Garden of Morning Calm Part I, Day 5.

The road to the Garden of Morning Calm involved some steep and narrow backroads leading up through the countryside and mountains. We got there mid morning and filed out of the vans to take to the waking trails and see the beautiful flowers, trees and shrubs against the backdrop of Korean mountains.

I believe admission was about 8000 won per person and if you're a budding photographer, it's worth the price. Parking was a bit hard to find and we ended up in one of the lots highest up on the hillside.

We joined the throngs and worked our way through the gardens. As the day got closer to noon, a lot of people were showing up to picnic on some of the open fields, also a great idea.

It was truly a beautiful stroll and a great family outing for our last full day in Korea. The inclines seemed a lot higher than they actually were, too, so there was no major exertion getting in the way of enjoying the peacefulness.

Traditional roof peeking out from the trees.

There are a few interpretive centres on site, built in traditional form to maintain the aesthetic.

At one spot, near a small riverbed where the water is largely just a trickle, people have taken to stacking the old river stones into rock sculptures.

I tried to stop and admire the little things but we also wanted to keep up with everyone in the group. All of us from the night before were walking the trails together and especially for the newlyweds, it was a gorgeous photo opportunity for their first full day as a married couple.

Cont'd...

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Garden of Morning Calm Part II, Day 5.

What with the couple of hours we had to walk around, the Garden of Morning Calm was one of the main chances I got to take some shots for our memories. Of course, most of those were family shots and you can see those on my Facebook account if you're on my list. These shots, for the most part, are less personal and more of the scenery itself.

One of the Yangban's buildings in shadow.

The Yangban's House is one of the centre points of the garden. In the middle of the trails, you can walk into the traditional residence, its courtyard and several of the buildings.

A number of traditional items grace the walls of some of the outbuildings.

Lots of visitors sat around the house to take a rest in the shade, as even in fall, the weather was still getting quite hot at midday. We took our pictures and pressed on.

Between the mountains in the background, the green of the valley, and all the colours of the flowers, it's hard to narrow down a single best thing. They all merge together into a very tranquil piece of land away from the usual bustle of Korea.

Probably one of my favourite shots from the day isn't even really of flowers. It's this shot of grasses against the mountains.

Toward the end of the trails, there's also a nice little waterfall and brook area. The falls aren't huge by any stretch but they're a great spot to cool your heels on a hot day.

After leaving the garden, we said farewell to the newlyweds who were now off to explore around the country on their true honeymoon. They'd be stopping in at Busan in a few days but first, the rest of us were off to one more night staying at their house in Seoul. Turns out that we hit the city right around suppertime though, and even though it was Saturday, there was a bit of a rush hour.

Don't let the Busan Pharmacist sign fool you; we were in Seoul, specifically Dongjak-gu, Sangdo-dong. Back for our last night, it was time for supper and snacks afterward. One of my few un-rushed nighttime pictures, I snapped this on the streets of my brother-in-law's neighbourhood as we ventured out for Korean pears and wine. The next day, we'd be flying back to Canada.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Overnight to Cheongpyeong, Day 4 and 5.

After the service, we hopped in a pair of vans and headed up to Cheongpyeong, to spend the evening near the headwaters of the Han. "Pension" is the new Konglish appellation for the kind of cabin or resort where you can conceivably spend your pension money.

Gate on the way out of Korea University.

The above photo was just a quick shot of the gate into the university where the service and reception were held. A few minutes later, we were through the gate and on the road out of Seoul.

I grabbed what pictures I could as the sun was going down and dusk setting in. The van had a sunroof so I tried some pictures through that when we were in slower traffic. Slow traffic, would unfortunately, but the theme from then on for the next few hours. Getting out of the city for the weekend was a popular idea.

I also tried a few out the side window. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get a lot of nighttime shots of Korea on the trip, but the most important thing was that we enjoyed our time and had a great vacation with the family.

I added a few more shots in the morning, to show the pretty scenery around the Cheongpyeong area. I was rather peaceful up there, despite a lot of people taking advantage of the nice fall weather to also hit the country.

Looking up at the pension, multi-floored as opposed to single units.

With so many of us, it was nice to have our own kitchen facilities and the place we rented had lots of floorspace for us to crash on. Altogether, we had ourselves, my wife's best friend, my parents-in-law, the bride and groom and each of their best friends - nine in total if my calculations are right.

After eating and drinking the night through, we left the Pension and began the ride back. Traffic wasn't as bad on Saturday morning and we were looking forward to making a couple of stops along the way. One thing that surprised me was the western-style home construction in the area. Much was designed for cabins instead of regular homes, but it was odd to see the more familiar Western roofs all throughout the mountains.

Back on the road, our next stop was the Garden of Morning Calm to get even closer to cultivated nature.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Friday, October 03, 2008

My brother and sister in law on their wedding day.

The Happy Day, Day 4.

Friday was the big day and the main reason for our trip at this time. My brother-in-law was about to be married.

We'd met his fiance for the first time after landing at Seoul Station and were able to share supper together before she headed out to prepare at home for the big day.

My brother-in-law was moving at a hectic pace and a bit nervous, I'd say, but very happy and attentive to all of us just as he should have been focusing on himself. Helping out tremendously, however, was one of his childhood friends from Busan who'd become our chauffeur for the day (he'd been a driver for his military service so he was infinitely well qualified.)

We were also very happy to meet our future sister-in-law. She speaks English (big bonus for me) and has a very endearing sense of humour. There was no time at all that we felt like we hadn't known each other for ages, which is a pretty big feat when you're welcoming two people from abroad into your life.

All of this just added to feelings I already had. Korea is definitely a second home. It didn't quite feel that way when I lived there, but since marrying my wife, I've felt that I now significantly have a foot in each of our countries. Being so warmly received by my in-laws in Korea, however, and having the old comfortableness of Seoul come back to me upon arriving there, it started making me wonder how long before we'd be planning the next trip and whether it might be for more than a week or two. My wife and I love our families and feel blessed every day that we won the jackpot on both sides of the family tree.

The wedding itself would be held at Korea University, where both my brother-in-law and his fiance had attended. I think there was a desire to make it a more secular affair and the officiant of the service was actually a political figure whom they had both worked with at one time on matters of labour and human rights. I suppose, as I have extended my family through Korea, this actually made me feel closer to the national fabric of the country too. I sometimes think I have made more bonds with Korea after leaving the country than while I was there.

Now, I didn't get a photo of the poster but it's worth noting that the university is also the proud home to Korean super woman and record-breaking weightlifter Jang Mi-Ran who had competed at the Beijing Olympics that summer.

It's certainly a beautiful campus and reminded me a bit of my old alma mater in Canada. We raced to get there through Seoul traffic (with a brand new GPS that's all the rage now in Korea) and quickly took photos of the bride and groom in tux and dress. They'd be changing into more traditional clothes immediately after the service so now was the best time to get their shots out of the way. They even had a star photographer, the author of a travel guide which had featured my sister-in-law while she did volunteer work abroad.

The service went well. My wife, her best friend and I actually played a few songs on ukulele, tambourine and guitar for the service to help celebrate. Afterwards, we had a buffet dinner downstairs. Over 500 guests were there, including many from my wife's rather huge extended family in the east. They'd chartered a bus to bring them in. After eating, we raced upstairs and a second, traditional ceremony was held, as you can see above.

What was maybe less traditional was that after my sister-in-law gave my wife a sticky piece of yut to eat, she slipped it to me and I had to finish it. You see, the tradition is that the bride gives it to her new sister-in-law as a symbol to "keep her mouth quiet", from whence comes a rather rude expression in Korea when used out of context, which I suppose would be more in line with my wife giving it to me.

I haven't included a photo of all the food unwrapped because, you see, at the time of the ceremony, I had no idea it was real. It looked so beautiful, I assumed it was just props. I was so wrong. My sister-in-law's wonderfully talented aunt is a specialist in traditional foods and runs a catering business to that extent. Everything you see on the table above is real, including the male and female chickens (wrapped out of view) and even foods such as stingray which we'd be snacking on later.

Ceremony over, we got out of our suits as best we could and into more comfortable clothes. We hopped into two vans and, much like my wife and I, began their honeymoon with a family road trip to share more time. We headed out of Seoul and into the countryside to a "pension" resort near the headwaters of the Han River.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Thursday, October 02, 2008

The Trainride to Seoul, Day 3.

We had one duty to accomplish on Thursday and that was to travel to Seoul. I'd taken the trip a few times by bus and sometimes by train, once upon a time, but the new high-speed KTX began service just as I left Korea in March 2005. In comparison, when Yeji left Seoul a couple of months later, she was able to take the new KTX to Busan to see her folks then. It's nice to cut a couple of hours off the trip. This post is of the images I was able to capture on the journey.

Having not really recorded the station names, this post might be a bit short on commentary. Busan and its suburbs take up the first half hour or so of the trip, with a few stops here and there, but it's not too long until you get to see some rice paddies and countryside towns. The mountains, of course, are always popping into view.

I'm thinking these buildings are on the approach to Daegu though I could easily be corrected. As far as I can remember, the station below is also somewhere along the outskirts of Daegu. All I know is that I've maintained the order of the photos so you can at least see things in the same manner in which I did on my voyage.

If there's one thing that Korea has as a strength for developing tourism, it's that you can travel around the country cheaply and expediently. Our tickets to Seoul cost about 45,000 won, which at the time was less than forty bucks Canadian. Regular buses and trains are even cheaper.

The scenery started getting busier again close to Seoul as we made our way to arrive around supper time. In my other regular posts lately, I've mentioned that I've yet to feel at home in Toronto or Mississauga but getting back to Seoul sure felt that much more familiar and being surrounded by family made it even more so.

We got in to the station and met my brother-in-law and his fiance (the first time meeting her for either Yeji or I.) The next day would be the wedding but for tonight, we drove back to their new house, had supper and turned in for a good night's sleep before the busy day to come.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Sun going down over a bay at Taejongdae.

Sunset on the Coast, Day 2, evening.

We rushed along the roads in a hope to get in one more photo stop before evening but Busan's rush hour traffic was slowing us down. By the time we got to the coast at Taejongdae, the sun was just about to go down.

We were on our way to Jasalbawee ("Suicide Rock"), which is a cliff along the oceanside with many pointed rocks below. For a place so-named, you wouldn't necessarily expect a small amusement park to be at the base of the hill, or trolley cars ferrying the crowds to the top -- an at the time we arrived, both were largely inactive. The trolley was still running but the wait would have been an additional forty-five minutes which would have taken us too late into the evening.

As we walked back down the hill from the visitor station, it was getting darker. I took another shot of the town from the other side of the hospital shown in the photo above.

By now, the ships in the harbour were also all alit for the night and this is one of my favourite photos from the trip. The harbours around Busan are always busy and quite remarkable to look out over.

On the ride back to my in-laws' house, I was in the middle of the van so it was a bit tricky to capture any night time images, which are usually my favourite. I took this one above which turned out fairly clear, but was limited by the motion of the van and the problem of trying to capture low-light photos when your batteries are starting to run down.

This was pretty much the last clear photo of the night but with so much of the building in darkness, it was time to put the camera away and patiently enjoy the rest of the ride home. The next day, we'd be saying goodbye to Busan and making our way to Seoul in preparation of my brother-in-law's wedding on Friday.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Yongkungsa Part I, Day 2, mid afternoon.

[...Cont'd.] Most of these shots in the second half of my post on Yongkungsa are from inside the main part of the temple proper, not including the above shot taken from on high, of course. Once again, for personal shots of ourselves, have a look on our Facebook pages where you'll find both phots from this visit and a previous visit that my wife made in the two weeks before I was able to arrive in Korea to meet her. I only wish I was able to enjoy the country for as long, this time around.

Under the decorative rooves of the temple.

The original temple, Bomoonsa, survived until 1592. In that year is was burned down during invasion by Japan.

In the 1930s, Venerable monk Wunkang of Tongdo temple undertook its reconstruction and Venerable Monk Jeongam inaugurated it following one hundred days of prayer to the Boddhisattva by many monks.

Boddhisattva Statue near the top of the cliff, overlooking the temple.

On the 99th night, the Boddhisattva appeared in a dream, clad in white, and embroidered five colours of brightness to the sky. The temple's name was then changed to Haedong Yongkungsa.

The temple continues to attract worshippers and is known as a sacred place for those who seek to receive visions from the Boddhisattva in their dreams.

Haedong Yongkungsa's motto is, as posted at the temple: "The only thing must be answered by and through your heartful prayer whatsoever."

Dragon statue as you enter/exit the main grounds of the temple.

The meaning of Bongrae, the mountain, is "mystery and purification enough for an immortal willing by come down." and the original Bomoon temple was "to symbolize the vast and infinite energy of the Boddhisattva having great virtues of mercy and compassion."

Candles in the man-made cave under the temple.

Having ascended to the plateau over looking the temple from behind, we made our way back down to the staircase, stopping briefly to examine a man-made cave below the centre of the courtyard.

It was alreayd getting later in the day but we hoped to rush back to Taejongdae by sunset.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Buddha statue on the approach to the temple.

Yongkungsa Part I, Day 2, mid afternoon.

After the beach, our next stop was an inspiring coastal temple named Haedong Yongkung - translation: King's Dragon Temple. The current temple dates back to the 1930s, but the original temple on this site was constructed in 1376, by a monk named Naong. Its original name had been Bomoon temple.

As you first enter the temple grounds, twelve statues flank the wall on your left that leads the way while other, more modern sculptures are arranged to your right.

A pagoda lies next to the entrance to the staircase which descends the steep bank to the temple. The stairs are known as the 108 sorrows, I was told. Golden dragons then flank the top of the stairs.

Golden dragon statue as you start along the stairs down.

The temple's creator, Naong, was an advisor to King Kongmin and practices asceticism at Bunhwang temple in Kyungju. During a period of intense drought across the land, Naong dreamt that the Divine Sea of East Seas told him to pray at the foundation of a temple at Mount Bongrae, in order for the land to grow and the winds and rains to become favourable once more.

Naong travelled and discovered the site that would then become Bomoon temple. Unlike most temples which are built in the mountains, Bomoon was along the coast where the waves crashed against the cliff and where it appeared the place was "returning its fortune in the evening if giving a Buddhist service in the morning."

YongGung Temple as seen from the rocky stairway leading in.

Midway down the stairs, the path splits and there are two areas above the temple where one may say prayers and seek their own inspiration. The main path continues on to a white stone bridge that leads you across to the temple courtyard and buildings.

Dragons over the doorway of the main temple building.

As with other Korean temples, the buildings are elaborately painted and figures grace the eaves and supports.

The spirit of the ocean is all around as the surf crashes against the rocks below the temple. From most vantage points you gaze out at the East Sea. After viewing the blackened statue on the cliff top leading in, we retraced our steps and then crossed the bridge to the main temple area. [Cont'd...]

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Haeundae Beach, Day 2, early afternoon.

Once we hooked back up with the in-laws, were ate and headed out. The plan was to visit Taejongdae and one of the temples up the coast, but I also wanted to swing by Haeundae for the first time in a long while, just to see the beach. Yeji's dad runs a doksashil (study room) and has a neat little van that serves as the bus. We all piled in that and went on a tour. Off we drove to Gwangalee bridge and onward to the beach.

Apartment towns seen from Gwangalee Bridge.

I've noticed a few small changes by this point. Smoothie King seems to be a new fast food stop that has popped up all over, and at first I thought they might have taken over Burger King's shops since they're almost identical on the exterior. I later saw a couple of Burger Kings elsewhere so I guess that's not the case. Another change was that LG25 is now GS25, as I'd heard about before.

Busan's biggest changes, however, are in real estate as numerous buildings have gone up over the past few years, especially under the Lotte brand. Lotte Castles seem to be everywhere.

Another name that was new was Trump's. Donald Trump has invested in several buildings and we'd see one in Seoul later on, also. Haeundae especially is considered a rich town in Busan. Its location near the beach has made it a popular place to live and play. A lot of western restaurants and businesses also have located there.

We were very fortunate to have beautiful weather. It'd been nice, then turning cold, according to Yeji, but from the time I arrived it was steady T-shirt weather. Even though it was October, it was still a beautiful day to hit the beach. The benefit of the season was that it wasn't crowded.

We took lots of pictures as the waves rushed in. Many of the shots of us are on Facebook, as I mentioned before. Here is primarily the shots of the beach itself, along with other places we visited.

The Pusan International Film Festival gets underway.

Something which would have been nice to attend, if we had time, was the Pusan International Film Festival which was getting started just as we were about to leave Busan for Seoul. (For those not familiar, Busan vs. Pusan is simply a conflict of different Romanization methods over time.)

A few photos accomplished we packed into the van again and continued on up the coast to YongGung/Yongkung Temple.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Nampo-dong, Day 2, morning.

The next day we were scheduled to travel around with my in-laws in the afternoon, but having woke up early, we took a bus into the main part of Busan, Nampodong, to get a couple of things done right away. There are some services that Koreans provides a lot more cheaply and efficiently than their Canadian counterparts do and after four years I wanted to make sure I took the opportunity to avail myself.

First up: eyeglasses. One annoyance I have in Canada these days is that for all the "selection" eye glass companies promise you that they have, in fact, there's only one basic design of eyeglasses in the country: rectangular. I used to get really riled up when the Hakim optical commercial would come on and everyone was wearing the same glasses in different colours, while all the while touting their variety of styles and lenses. So, after breaking down two years ago and buying a pair domestically and hating them, I was determined to get a pair I would like in Korea. Ideally, they'd be similar to my last decent pair that I bought in early 2004 before I left. The other nice thing is the ability to walk in and get tested immediately. When I shopped for glasses in Halifax, the opticians rotate between various stores and you have to schedule an appointment for the right day.

We ventured back through Nampodong to a district called Gookjae Shijang (Market) where several eyeglass stores were located. It turns out that while I had a great selection of styles, they were all of the brand new titanium variety. You could bend them whichever way you wanted and they'd bounce back into shape, however they were also so light that they felt like you were wearing paper glasses. I have no idea how they'd protect the lens.

I was momentarily disheartened as the attendant went through pair after pair and my wife told me how fashionable each one was. After many long, unsuccessful minutes, the attendant was getting visibly frustrated, as I was too. Perhaps it's a guys' thing though. The young male optician slipped up beside her quietly with a pair in his hands and then held them up. Perfect. The first attendant just huffed, jokingly, and shook her head. A quick vision test followed and they'd be ready for me in an hour. The total cost was probably about 40% less than I would have been charged in Canada, and the vision test was included free, I believe.

Looking up to the mountain, in Nampodong, Busan.

Task number two was to visit a dentist since I wanted nice-looking teeth before meeting the rest of the family at the wedding. Again, I have my complaints in Canada and was looking very forward to the simplistic, and inexpensive, trip to the dentist that Korea could offer. In Canada, dentists are getting like car mechanics. They try to find as much wrong with your teeth as possible when they get you in, and if you're a new client, you get hit up for x-rays and new patient exams before they even touch your teeth. The last dentist I had wanted to re-set my jaw because when he pushed it, he found he could get to move out of its normal slot. My solution was to not push it again. That has worked well for 34 years -- in fact, I can't really ever recall having it move out of its slot until that dentist seemed determined to make up a problem to which his solution would have cost thousands. Of course, dentists love me because I also still have my full set of wisdom teeth which they've quoted me hundreds to have each removed. The Korean dentist offered to do it for $25 each.

I admit that finding a dentist was a bit more tricky than I remembered, but we managed. The first one we went to seemed to service mainly old women, so we moved on. We found another but the dentist was partially retired and only performed a couple of services these days. He did, however, point us to the third dentist and called ahead to make sure we could get in right away. We went there immediately and within minutes, I was in the chair.

It took fifteen minutes and cost about $50. That was a bit more than it used to cost me four years ago, but with the exchange rate where it is, it wasn't a lot more. Even with my health plan at work, I expect I would have paid at least as much for the dentist in Canada once you factor in the unnecessary exams I'd have been force to undergo (and who can quantify the equivalent of cost for having to wait for an appointment with a new dentist.) I'm sure thatI could have saved some money on eyeglasses through my company health plan, but again, the hassle of booking appointments and the lack of any decent styles for something that is critical to how you present yourself to the world, left me no doubt that I was happier getting it done at the little shop in Busan.

Beauty salon, coffee house and other shops in Nampodong, Busan.

We made our way back to pick up my new glasses then headed out of the district, stopping at a couple of shops along the way. For some reason, I had been craving a Teri-burger at Lotteria since I arrived in-country, but lunch was waiting, I was reminded. Starving, we hailed a cab so that we could rush home and eat before setting out again with my parents-in-law for some sightseeing.

ABC-Mart and sculpture in Nampodong, Busan.

The afternoon plans included a trip past Haeundae beach and on to a temple along the coast. Time permitting, we'd take in Taejongdae again too.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Back to Korea, Day 1

As I stated at Chuseok, the event of my brother-in-law's wedding led to the occasion for us to return to Korea for the first time in about four and a half years. I'm retro posting here, to the dates that the pictures relate to, just to organize them a bit better. While this blog had always been the more personal of the ones I've done, I still hesitate to post the dates of my absence from home on the world wide web, just in case the wrong eyes read them. We're back now and some of you have already seen some of the shots of Yeji and I on Facebook. I've split up my photos so that ones of people will appear there, while the ones that are primarily of the country will be posted here.

Now, Yeji actually left a couple of weeks earlier than I did. I could only manage a week off work, what with the new job and all. So, she was waiting for me in Busan when I left Toronto's Pearson airport around midnight on Sunday, September 28th. It was about a 14-hour flight to Seoul, via Incheon airport, however this would get me in during the middle of night and I'd have another seven hours or so before I could catch the first domestic flight of the day to Busan, via Kimhae airport. By the end of my flight, it'd be Tuesday morning in Korea.

Incheon Airport is quote the place. It's a lot different from Gimpo Airport which was my first taste of Korea. Nonetheless, I spent most of the stop-over lying flat on a hard, wooden bench and reading a couple of the Giles Milton books I'd brought on the flight. Around 6:30, a coffee shop kiosk opened and I could get something to wake me up. At 7am, I think it was, they started issuing boarding passes at the Korean Air domestic desk (my flight was at 9am) but security didn't open until 8:30.

Domestic Departures at Incheon Airport, 6 a.m.

Finally aboard my second and final flight of that leg, we took off and made our way across Korea. Again, I was entranced by how orderly plots of farmland land look from above, and how the condo towns sprout out in the countryside like the backs of pipe organs. The morning mist was still filling the valleys so once we ascended and got past the more populated reaches of Seoul, it was mostly mountains springing up out of the clouds that filled the view. The flight wasn't long at all though -- only an hour -- and we arrived at Kimhae. Kimhae's a good deal smaller, and you still have to take a bus from where your plane ends its taxi to the terminal. The washrooms seem to have been completely renovated since I last flew there, though. That was nice.

Looking across at Busan from a narrow road on Young-Do

My in-laws live on Young Do, a large island in Busan Harbour. Yeji met me at the airport and we cabbed it back to find the first of many meals awaiting. I'd hoped to get out into the city a bit but after eating, I took an extended nap to recover from the flight. Shortly after I woke and showered, Yeji's aunt and uncle arrive with armloads of hweh for supper (sliced raw fish.)

Busan is the best place in Korea for fresh seafood and even after moving to Toronto this summer, hweh is one of the dishes we stil can't get here. In addition, we had beef ribs (bulgalbi), abalone, lotus root, sliced tuna, and a tonne of other side dishes. Every day was set to be filled with lots of eating. We would have one full day in Busan, after this, and on Thursday, we'd be taking the KTX for Seoul. The wedding was scheduled for Friday and since we were stuck in Canada prior to this, we still hadn't met our future sister-in-law.

However, the next day would be spent around town. I had some errands to run and I wanted to stretch my legs.

Labels: Korea Trip 2008