South Korea: Gumi Bears FTW

For Saturday, October 22, 2011

Busan

I rode the bus to see the Haedong Yonggung Temple. Of course, I didn’t hear the stop name clearly when it was announced on the bus, so I overshot by a kilometer or two, so I had to backtrack on foot. On the way, I saw a shrine on a rock in the sea by the shore, so I diverted down a side road to check it out. On my way back to the main road, I took another route and discovered a large Buddhist temple that had a spectacular interior. Sadly, I can’t recall the name of it, nor can I find it on the tourist map I had. I made it to Yonggungsa on foot and spent about a half hour touring the complex. I was a little disappointed, as there wasn’t much to see. I had liked the other temple more, actually. I rode the bus back to Haeundae, the city area where my hostel was. I was really hungry and wanted something quick, but couldn’t find any fast food, so I ate a quick lunch of Pringles, Snickers, and Coke bought from a convenience store. I had planned to visit the Jagalchi fish market after lunch, but it started raining hard, so I decided to check out what was going on at the BEXCO expo building nearby. Nothing was happening there at all, even though it’s huge, which was a bummer, so with it raining so hard and everything I wanted to do involving being outside, I returned to the hostel and read about Tokyo from the guidebook my parents had given me. While lounging at the hostel, I met a group of English teachers, Aaron, Alex, Fenton, Paul, Gloria, Allie, and Rita, and their friend Jin, who had come from Gumi in South Korea to play in an ultimate frisbee competition for English teachers. Their team name was the Gumi Bears. They invited me to join them for lamb galbi, which excited me because I had loved dak (chicken) galbi. After dinner, we walked to an expat bar called Billie Jean to listen to a band because the drummer was their ultimate frisbee team captain. The band was surprisingly good! I had a great time. We drank and danced and chatted until about 2 AM when I felt tired and parted ways. Rita caught up with me because she wanted to leave too, so we walked from the beach area where the bar was back to the tall buildings, and then I walked with her while she tried to remember the way back to her hotel. Then I got lost trying to get back to the hostel. After a few tries, I found my way home.