Love, Korea

Autumn beauty gleaned from a weekend wandering.

Fresh Air Friends

I love days like this... spent mainly in the Great Outdoors! Making the most of the milder, finally-feels-like-Spring weather, a small crew of us caught a $1 bus ride to the bottom of Geoje-do, to a sweet spot called Mangsan. I had been there once before, in Autumn, and was keen to get back... it is about a half-day hike, following the ridge along a small range of mountains, with most of it along the coast, so there are some stellar views! We packed a picnic, and one of the guys brought a camping stove and some marinated meat and veggies, which you wrap up in lettuce leaves and eat (a Korean specialty called bulgogi.) Food really does taste amazing outside in the fresh air, especially after you've worked up an appetite for it! Of course, that was before we got told off (in Korean, haha) for using our camping stove in the park. I guess it was a no-fire zone! Oh well, the meat was cooked, and we had already finished eating most of it by that point. The hike finished up at pretty Myeongsa, a sandy beach with shells littering the water's edge. After chillin' there for awhile, we managed to miss the bus home... even though a valiant attempt was made to run after it and flag it down! Hitchhiking seems easy enough on the island, though, and we soon found a ride with a bunch of Korean Samsung workers, in their faded grey-blue uniforms, on a private Samsung bus. A few of them attempted conversation with us, using their cellphone translators to communicate. The fresh sea air, warm food and time spend with new friends and old... made for an all-around awesome Saturday!

Haeundae Beach

A gaggle of girls on a free Saturday

A cityside beach known as Haeundae

Cool sea breezes, but sun at its best

Space to roam free or curl up and rest

Coffee to warm up noses and toes

Convos to lighten the corners of souls

This light and this wind

is a simple heart's pleasure

Even birds know the secret-

together is treasure!

-Fun photos and terrible poetry, gleaned from yesterday's morning meanderings at Haeundae Beach in Busan. Girlz day out. ;0)

Night Hike

I tried to fit in a hike before sunset last night, and made it to the top of a nearby mountain just in time to capture some of these sweet shots of a glowing Geoje city and the sun setting over the water. The ships looked amazing all lit up. Geoje Island boasts two major shipyards; Daewoo (or DSME) Shipyard which is in nearby city, Okpo, and Samsung Heavy Industries, which is pictured below. It was a lovely end to the day, but I had to scramble down in the dark, and my cat-eye night vision wasn't working... I ended up slipping and twisting my ankle. Nothing too serious (and I didn't smash the camera, thankfully!) but my foot is still quite stiff and sore today, so I think I'll be giving 'er a rest for awhile.

Room with a View

I went for a sweet hike today, with the Canadians, Dan and Lindsay, an American couple, Mike and Alyssa, and a Korean teacher from one of their schools, Julie. It was definitely one of the most challenging hikes I've done here. We pretty much blitzed straight up a mountain, but the views and the breeze at the top made it so worth it! Have you ever driven for a long time by endlessly rolling fields and hills, when all of a sudden you catch a glimpse of the ocean and your heart catches in your throat and you start getting really excited, as though you've just seen the love of your life? Or felt like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, singing "The Hills Are Alive" at the top of her lungs, in a mountaintop field full of flowers? I totally had that experience coming out of the trees today and into the open sunshine, with this gorgeous landscape sprawling out in front of me. I just wanted to start frolicing like a little kid! Which I didn't, for the sake of the others with me. It'd be nice if they'd think of me as somewhat normal for a few more weeks, seeing as how I've just met three of them today. Don't want to put it all out there at once, you know. That's how you scare away your potential friends. ;0) Never mind, I'm blah-ing! Here are some pics from the hike: