So Very, Very Cold.

Well hello there, everyone. Hope you all had a good White Day. I can assure you I'm not slacking off here, we've just been very busy these past few days. I know I still have a week's worth of things to post about, and I know I'm not going to get through all of them before we leave on Wednesday. However, I am determined to make it through the whole trip this time, so please bear with me and continue reading until the end!

Now, without further ado, here's more Korea!

Our day started entirely too early (9am) considering we had gotten to bed so late the previous night. We took a bus to Busan Station (I believe), where we met up with her friend, Liz, so we could hop on the "Korail" train to Gyeongju. The train wasn't what I was expecting at all. Instead of a long, quick, electric model like I'm used to, it was this big, hulking, 4-car diesel monstrosity. However, it looked pretty similar to a Japanese train on the inside, and the ride was smooth.

 

Don't we look happy for being so tired? 

It was about an hour and a half's ride to Bulguksa, where we were going to visit a big, famous temple. So we got off the train and started walking toward the temple. ...About 20 minutes into this, we discovered we were getting nowhere, so we hailed a taxi and were very glad we did, as it would've easily taken us another hour to reach our destination by foot!



Here I am at the beginning of our journey. You can definitely tell it's winter. It felt like it, too! Must've only been in the low to mid-40s, with drizzle and wind. Not a very good day to be outside.



This, obviously, would be the outside of the temple.



Ashley assures us this is a very popular picture spot, here in front of the arch. We just decided to go with it and let her snap this photo.



The underside of the eaves were painted with very intricate and brightly colored details. It must have taken an immense amount of time to do all that!



When you look through the hole in this statue at just the right angle, it looks like the Buddha from inside the hall is looking at you.




These are the stairs we had to climb to get to the other parts of the temple. The steps themselves were very short/shallow, too, which makes it very difficult for anyone whose feet are bigger than, say, a size 5 to climb up! (I even had some trouble and my feet are 7.5).





The view from the top of the stairs is nice, though. As you can see, there's a lot more of that painting going on in the eaves of that building, too.





I'm not really sure what purpose these stones served, but this entire section was covered with stacks of them. Some were topped with a won coin, too.





This was on the other side of the stone stacks. I'm not sure what it was used for, but I'm guessing there used to be statues there in that cordoned off area.





Ashley said it's good luck to rub the boar, so naturally I thought I'd give it a shot... while making the dumbest face possible. I apologize for that.


Since it was starting to rain harder and it was very cold, we left the temple and headed down to the bottom of the hill in search for some place to eat. Within just a few minutes, we happened upon a place serving bibimbap, which was good, seeing as that's what Ashley wanted us to try! This particular place was serving up the "dolsot" version (as noted in the wikipedia article).


The place itself was very tiny and seemed to be run by only 3 older ladies, but they were nice enough. It did feel a little odd, though, as after being there for about 10 minutes, the only two other tables of patrons left, so we were literally the only people in the restaurant.





As per Korean tradition, we started our meal with all kinds of side dishes--kimchi, some sort of marinated peppers, tofu, seaweed, a bunch of other stuff I don't know, and a kind of Korean pancake. It seems to be similar to Japan's "okonomiyaki", which is basically a thin batter cooked on a griddle with all kinds of vegetables and sometimes meat or fish mixed in. This particular one had octopus in it. Mmm~





There's Liz and Ashley! (As you can see, not a single other person in the place).





Isn't it nice occasionally seeing us without our jackets on? We promise we actually change what we wear underneath them--though sometimes it's hard to tell. (Also, I'd just like to note that I'm wearing a tank top and a long sleeve shirt underneath my sweater, and with my jacket, scarf and hat on, I was still cold!





It's already half gone, but here's the bibimbap. When they serve it in the pot, it's extremely hot. It comes with a raw egg cracked on top, and the pot is so hot that it instantly fries the egg as you stir it in with the rice. Also, if you don't stir it often enough, the rice will stick together on the bottom and get brown and crispy, so I had to eat it without taking a picture first. Sorry.





As you may have noticed, we have even more side dishes now--two soups have been added to the mix. 


Once we had eaten our fill, we took another taxi to the nearby folk craft village to look for souvenirs. Even though it was a Saturday, there were hardly any people out, probably because the weather was so bad. Regardless, we all walked away with something new! I got a new little silk bag for my camera, Ashley bought some necklaces, Liz got a bracelet, and Cinnamon bought something for a friend.


We were pretty tired after that, so we took the bus back to Gyeongju station and made the hour and a half trip back to Busan. We had some time to kill before dinner, seeing as none of us were hungry yet, so we went to Centum City. It was a very nice, very new shopping area attached to the station. Apparently, Shinsegae, which is located there, is the largest department store in the world. And it was very busy!


While we were there, we went to a big book store looking for a CD for Cinnamon, but unfortunately, they were all sold out. Popular group! In the end, we left with nothing, and decided to finally go eat. For that, I'm pretty sure we went to Haeundae station. 


This was a pretty nice place, and it was set up like a little village. There were all these different little houses with seating areas inside, and in the middle was the kitchen area, with all these people outside doing various things--washing dishes, cleaning grills, bringing food to and fro. On the menu this time was more bulgogi!





This time around, everyone got their very own tray of side dishes! And in case you were wondering, that bottle next to the grill doesn't contain alcohol, it contains barley water. That seems to be the norm when it comes to free beverages in Korea. 





This particular type of grill seemed very strange to me. I can't fathom why you'd have the slits in the grill on the dome part, rather than on the bottom, where you'd think you would want to catch the grease/fat as it drips. Because of this design, every so often, a server would come and take the entire grill part away and exchange it for a new, clean one. Not exactly the most convenient method.


After dinner, we went back home, as we were all pretty tired from our long day. Up next is Nampo-dong and Haeundae/Gwangalli Beach (yes, beach)!


 

Japan Doesn't Want to Let Us Go (Part 1)

Friday morning, we were up just about at the crack of dawn, or at least that's when our bodies seemed to think it was. We packed up all of our things, checked out of the hostel around 7:30am, and made our way to Kyoto station. There, we hopped on the 8:02 Hikari shinkansen bound for Shin-Osaka.

There, we had about a 40 minute wait until the Hikari Rail Star came for us.



Cinnamon is demonstrating how she feels about being in Shin-Osaka. We have a bit of a grudge against Osaka dating back to the last time we were there. If it says "Loop Line," it should go in a loop!



We grabbed some food (but not from here... this was just next to where we were standing), and waited.



The train we were waiting for is the Hikari Rail Star 553. I never chronicled Osaka in our last blog, but let me explain here why we hate the Rail Star. Normally, the shinkansens running between Tokyo and either Shin-Osaka or Hiroshima (sometimes Okayama), of which we take the regular Hikari, are 15 cars long. The first 5 cars are free seating, meaning you don't need a reservation in order to ride. Of those five cars, one of them (car 3) is a smoking car. We always try to show up early so we'll be able to get a seat. This has never been a problem on a Hikari train.

However, the Hikari doesn't run past Hiroshima for some reason. Instead, you get the Hikari Rail Star. It's only an 8 car train, of which 3 cars are for non-reserved seating (with car 2 being the smoking car). When we were in Japan last time, we had to go from Shin-Kobe to Hiroshima, and the only trains that were coming within the hour were the Rail Stars. Long story short, Cinnamon found a seat on the train, and there were none left for me, so I had to stand between the smoking and non-smoking cars with about 7 other people for 45 minutes until a seat finally became available. It was not fun. This is why we decided to pick up the train where it begins its route... and it's a good thing, because it was already overfull by the time we left Shin-Osaka!

About 3 hours later, we made it to Fukuoka. We needed to get to the international ferry terminal, and Cinnamon knew you could get there by bus. Only we couldn't find the right bus, so we ended up taking a taxi. That cost us roughly $12 for about a 10 minute ride. But at least we got there--and with plenty of time to spare!



It's a very unimpressive place.


When we got there, it was about 12:45, and we couldn't check in until 2:15, so we sat and ate the snacks we bought in Osaka.





I had a peanut sandwich (as if that wasn't obvious). I think these things are awesome. Sure, it's kind of a waste of bread, but you never have to worry about things sliding out of your sandwich. This one was made of Cinnamon's favorite--peanut cream. It doesn't have the stickiness of peanut butter. Instead, it has the texture of whipped frosting or mousse or something. I like it, though.





Cinnamon here is explaining how the ferry works, what with its fancy-shmancy jetfoil and all. (Please consult this link to the official ferry site if you want to learn just what that is). "It's all 'shhhpshhhhh!,'" she says.





It takes just 2 hours and 55 minutes to go from Fukuoka, Japan, to Busan, South Korea! It felt like we had to wait that long just to check in, but finally, the time came! Then we got to go upstairs and wait to board... with about 30 old Korean ladies returning from a tour of Japan. They were loud.





I've got all my stuff ready: boarding pass, passport, customs form and disembarkation card for Korea! Let's get this show on the road!


Finally, they let us go through the boarding gate. ...Which only led to another waiting area, and a place where you could buy duty-free goods. Half an hour later, we were allowed to board the ferry at last!





You can tell we're running on very little sleep, can't you? Also, there wasn't really anywhere to put your luggage, so it's all piled up around our feet, but at least there was ample legroom for it.





Here's the view from the window, looking out on the port. And on the left is Hakata Port Tower (not to be confused with Fukuoka Tower).





In about the time it took me to take the previous two pictures, Cinnamon went from smiling... to this. And she would continue to look like this for the next 3 hours. It was not a good ride at all. Every account we had read about the ferry said that due to the jetfoil design, you could hardly feel the motions of the boat, so it was a very smooth ride.


Lies. All lies.


We must have chosen the worst possible day to take the ferry, because the ride was very choppy and bumpy, and you could feel every little swaying motion of the boat. For three hours. Cinnamon, who was already not feeling very well that day, was pretty nauseous, and even I had my moments when I didn't feel so great. Needless to say, we were very glad when we finally made it to Busan!


Just like an airport, once we got there, we had to go through immigration (which went rather quickly, as the majority of the people on the ferry were Korean and thus in a different line than we were), then security, then customs. 

Finally, we were officially in South Korea... which meant we had to hit up the ATM in the ferry terminal so we could get some won. Korean won is worth nothing. 10,000 won (which was their highest denomination bill until the 50,000 was introduced about a year ago) is worth about $10. So if you want to take out about $100 from the ATM, you get 10 10,000 won bills. As you can imagine, their change isn't worth much (especially their 1 won coins).


There was some kind of older (maybe mid-30s) woman who offered to help us find where we wanted to go, since we apparently looked lost (though I highly doubt it). We were supposed to meet Ashley at the subway station nearest the ferry terminal, but this lady had no idea which station was the closest... despite saying she lived in Busan. Needless to say, we declined her help and managed to make it to the station very easily, after only about an 8 minute walk.





This sign was pretty helpful! Except this "meeting place" was located right between two exits, which put us in a cold crosswind.





We're at Jungang-dong station. It should be noted that I can't read nor understand a word of Korean. 





This station (all of them, actually) had turnstiles, which was very strange to us. (Japan's ticket gates look like these). While we were waiting for Ashley to show up, we saw at least two people duck underneath them to get through. It was kind of hilarious. 


At long last, she showed up, and we got to ride the subway to Myeongnyun-dong station, where she lives. There were quite a few differences between Japan's subway system and Korea's, but I won't get into that here. If you're at all curious, (which you probably aren't), you can always ask. And after putting our stuff down at Ashley's place, we headed back out and took the bus to... possibly Nampo-dong, where we were eager to try some Korean yakiniku, called bulgogi. 





These are the prices for the food, but I couldn't tell you what kinds of food they're offering here.





Unlike with Japanese yakiniku, you automatically get all these little side dishes. There was some sort of sauce, a spicy salad, kimchi, a non-spicy (possibly mayo-based) salad, onions in some sort of sauce, daikon radish slices, and in the basket, romaine lettuce and sesame leaves. 





Here's Ashley, putting our meat on the grill! Oh, and about 15 cloves of garlic!





They give you a pair of kitchen shears with the meat so you can cut it up into smaller bits as it cooks.





I think this is technically what you're supposed to do with it... or something close to it, anyway. It was pretty good, but I still prefer Japanese yakiniku. I did, however, discover I am not a fan of kimchi. Too spicy and pungent for me. Then again, I don't like cabbage when it's not soaked in sauce and fermented, so that was probably a no-brainer.


The most amazing thing was this entire meal (including 3 bowls of rice and a small pot of soup not pictured) cost roughly $12. No, that's not a typo. All three of us ate our fill for just twelve dollars. It's outrageous!


Afterward, we braved the rain (as it seems to follow us wherever we go--even when we leave the country) and headed to Cold Stone for dessert. Yes, they have those in both Japan and Korea. By the time we finished, it was about 11:30pm.



On the way back to Ashley's place, we stopped by a 7eleven attached to her building, and I bought this Chilsung Cider. (They call it cider, but it's pretty much exactly like Sprite). Back at her place, we tried to plan out our Saturday in advance. In the end, we were up until 2am, and we didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but we were tired, so it was off to bed!


Up next, Gyeongju!

Shops and Flowers

[This is the second post of the day, so please make sure you don't forget to read the previous one below this, where you can see our pictures of Fushimi Inari shrine!]

We left our hostel around 11am so we could do some shopping. It was chilly and rainy, which naturally just made things even more fun!

There are several covered shopping streets in the downtown area, so we were focusing on those. Cinnamon was looking for a tiny store where she had bought a silver ring on our last trip, as she misplaced or lost it somehow. However, it was not to be. Either the store is incredibly elusive and we completely missed it during our repeated walks up and down the streets, or it's no longer there. This was disappointing, but there's not much that could be done. We did luck out and find a gift to bring our friend Ashley (for you B&N folks, that would be Ashley Madison, who formerly worked in the cafe), who we were going to be visiting in South Korea the next day, so at least it wasn't all for naught.

After wandering the streets for a while, we headed over toward the Gion area. It turned out to be not all that interesting. Most of the stores were selling traditional gifts and/or foods, and looked pretty expensive, so we didn't linger for long. Instead, we headed back to the covered streets and went to the Star Restaurant for lunch! This was the place with all those strawberry parfaits. We didn't have any of them, though. Instead, I had omurice with ketchup sauce (which wasn't bad), and Cinnamon also had omurice, but hers was the "cheese gratin" kind. 

Once we had warmed up and filled our tummies, we finally mustered up the energy to head back out into the cold and do some more walking. Our legs and bodies wanted to protest, as mine were a little sore from our hiking the previous day, and the cold, dreary weather just made both of us want to curl up under the covers. That's no way to spend our last day in Kyoto, so we pressed on, headed toward the Imperial Palace!

It wasn't more than a 10 minute walk there, and was very easy to find, so we headed into the garden. The paths were made of tiny little rocks, which were a huge pain to walk on, as they constantly shifted underfoot and gave our ankles quite a workout. But then we came upon this!



It's a plum tree in bloom! So naturally, I had to take about 50 pictures of the blossoms (okay, 97, but who's counting?). Flower photography is what I do best, after all (much to Cinnamon's displeasure)!



So many blossoms!



I like this one. It has a very Japanese look to it (or so I think). Plus, you can see the mountains in the background!



And I thought I might as well include Cinnamon in the picture. She was looking pretty bored. Also, her camera batteries died the day before at Fushimi shrine, so she couldn't participate in the photo fest.



There were actually quite a few people out and about taking pictures. I don't know why you'd want to pass up an opportunity like that--the blossoms were gorgeous!

Finally, we made it to the Imperial Palace itself! ...But you can't get in without making a reservation (which we did not do), so this was as close as we could get.

And then we came upon even more trees in bloom! The map we saw later, near the garden entrance, said these were apricot and peach groves, so... I think this is an apricot flower? They were kind of all mixed in together, though.

I don't really know which flower this is, but it's my favorite picture. I like that it looks like it's blushing. So pretty~ Wish I had taken more pictures from that tree.

It started sprinkling as I was in the middle of taking pictures, so Cinnamon was nice enough to by my "umbrella man", as I called her, and hold her umbrella over me so my camera lens didn't get wet.

And thus, I was able to get more pictures!

...Like these!

Cinnamon liked this gigantic tree, so she gave it a hug. It's huge!

Then she started getting fed up with me and left me, taking her umbrella with her. She has no patience for my flower photography perfectionism. I won't stop until I get a perfectly clear (or near enough) picture! 

Here's one final shot of all the trees in bloom before I finally put my camera away and opened up my own umbrella to keep dry. 

We finished wandering through the garden (or at least the part we were in), and headed back to our place after stopping for snacks at the conbini. After we had eaten our ice cream, Cinnamon declared she wanted french fries, so we walked across the river to McDonald's and indulged her craving. 

We had to get up extremely early (like 6:30am early) the next day in order to catch the shinkansen to Fukuoka (about a 3 hour ride) so we'd have enough time to get to the ferry terminal to check in at 2:15pm. That may sound early, but had we waited for a later train, we would have gotten into Fukuoka too late. But that's a story that will be told next time. Two updates in one day is quite enough for me. I'm headed to bed!