Seoul of Asia

Well we finally did it. After all those times of planning and then changing plans, the lady and I traveled to Seoul in early July. The rain was awful on the bus ride up from Gwangju but the trip was well worth the danger. Since the weather wasn't ideal, we decided to make this a trip for the indoors-inclined. 

Basement entrance of Techno Mart from the Subway. 

(Originally written in June 2011)

After getting off the bus and onto the subway, our first stop was to Techno Mart. Now this was a beautiful place. 

10 floors and jam-packed with more electronics only someone hellbent on world domination would ever need. There's also a CGV IMAX on the top floor and a food court just below that. 

This place had everything. I've come to find that Gwangju has its limits when dealing with electronics. For Seoul, there are no such boundaries and Techno Mart is just part of the proof. We were easily able to find the Xbox power adapter that we came for and did a bit more exploring. 

Got cameras?

After exploring each floor, we moved up for some food. 

(...To Be Continued)

Back at it again....

A lot has happened since I last wrote here. We've traveled quite a bit on the peninsula and off it in Jeju. Jeju was an amazing experience and is definitely a place that I'd consider living in someday. I'll write more about that very soon as well. 

Possibly one of the greatest innovators the world has seen, Steve Jobs, passed away. I know there are a lot of haters out there but come on, Jobs was an innovator and didn't give up until perfection was achieved in his products. 

Also, a large movement has seemingly spread across the U.S. and onto the rest of the world. Initially known as "Occupy Wall Street", there are movements across the globe involving people frustrated with the current financial situation in the World. 

We made trips to Seoul and Daegu which I'll be posting about very soon. We have a map of Korea and keep adding stars to each place after visiting. Our new apartment doesn't seem to have walls that get along with double-sided tape. Everything keeps falling. 

Back!

Too Long but We went to Busan

Oh, Busan. Why did I buy a silly hat in you.

Hello Everyone! (that's how I open my classes)

Well, I don't feel like doing any work right now and it's been a while since I've written here. There was a brief period where nothing exciting was happening so I didn't feel the need to write anything.

We've been to a few places since then. Busan was probably the highlight, though.

Taken by Christina from Busan Tower. 

We live in a very small, old city where speaking can become a struggle because most Koreans here don't speak English very well or even at all. Busan was a totally different story. It seemed that everywhere we went, the local Koreans spoke almost flawless English.

Scenes from Yonggungsa Temple. Go there, please.

Busan also had its moments when one might feel like they are in Korea. For instance, this Buddha within  beautiful Yonggungsa Temple on the ocean was one of the most beautiful places I will ever visit. 

I'm a horrible photoblogger because I have 0 pictures of the baseball game between Lotte Giants and Hanwa Eagles. In short, I went to see a baseball game between the aforementioned teams and had a ball. I wasn't much interested in the game so I essentially paid $7 to drink beer and have long chats with my old friend from home for a few hours. 

More from Yonggungsa.

After the game, we were out with friends and ended up falling asleep on the beach. 

Haeundae Beach.

We woke up to this after an hour and headed back to our hotel. After a not-so-great meal of Indian food (First Nepal in Gwangju is everyone's favorite), we visited the aquarium. 

Here were some cool jellyfish in the aquarium and of course, there were some sharks.

Anyone can pay some money and swim with these guys but we didn't get to sign up before the trip. The application has to be completed online so I'll save that for next time. After the aquarium, we headed back home to Gwangju and I went to Burger King. I knew we were back in Gwangju when I had to slowly explain and point to what I wanted to eat. 

As a whole, Gwangju and Busan are very different from each other. Busan is huge and has many more international people which gives the Koreans more impetus to speak perfect English. In Gwangju, struggling to speak Korean with the locals isn't always a bad thing and sometimes, I pick up new phrases from helpful taxi drivers or even kids who visit English Village. 

Busan is a great place to visit. I would just prefer living somewhere that feels more like Korea. I know we stuck to the more touristy areas of Busan so I can't say it's all this way. It's just that traveling to Busan actually made me appreciate this city more. At first, I was angry for having chosen to live in Gwangju but I changed my mind after hearing English spoken so much. Sometimes I prefer to just disappear in a haze of another language. 

Christina and I in Mokpo

Other than Busan, we took a brief trip to nearby Mokpo. We had higher expectations for this place than what we actually saw. There was no beach although being near water was pleasant. Mokpo is a port city about an hour south of Gwangju. While there were no beautiful beaches, this place made for a nice escape from Gwangju for a couple of days. 

View from our Hotel in Mokpo.

The town was not very busy on this day and we were able to walk up to a hotel not far from the water and stay for only $40. That's how not-happening this place was when we visited! There were some cool sites though. 

You guys will be so delicious. 

Mokpo is home to a pretty large fish market that boasts many different types of seafood. At some point, I'll gather up enough courage to eat some live octopus. For now, my comfort level is at merely taking pictures of them waiting to be purchased and eaten. 

As a whole, Mokpo is underwhelming but the city has hiking opportunities and some nice views of the water. Many people travel there to get to Jeju Island by ferry so Mokpo benefits from lots of tourist traffic. 

Walking down a path on the shore.

I believe the next trip is definitely going to be to Seoul. There we will get to see one of the world's largest cities and I will get to see one of the world's Electronics Meccas. 

Until then, Anyeong Haseyo!