Day 3

Real breakfast, day two. Still approve.

Our day plan was to go off to a little island known as 영도 (Yeongdo) that existed just off the coast of Busan. Right by Nampo, the third and final site of the BIFF (sorry, had to try and get each place out there), one can easily just trek over the bridge to get on to the island. The water looked very clear and pretty!

Although the walk over is manageable, to enjoy most of the island by foot is a difficult task. It’s not the tiniest island out there. It seemed best to just try and explore the tip of the island where a nice trail was marked out along the perimeter of a small mountain.

The tip of the island was known as 태종대 (Taejongdae). The path was essentially an inclining and declining 5K. Thank god for all those years of running I stored up in my legs with some extra hiking to boot. But since the weather was really humid and getting to us, I assumed it would take around three or so hours to get around the entire tip taking into account the starting an stoping we would do along the way for temples and sights.

How wrong I was.

The trek seemed like a walk in the park after we managed to get through it in about 90 minutes including all the places we stopped by. “What did we see?” I say you ask. Relatively close to the start existed a smaller shrine known as 금영사 (Gumyeongsa Temple). It was a very secluded part of the path. For good reason, as it seemed to be solely used for prayer. Better that be left protected. Going further along the path, it started getting closer to the edge so we managed to see the ocean as we walked. It kept on hitting me that what I was seeing was the Pacific and not the Atlantic. Although it may seem trivial, the Pacific, despite my few interactions with it, is still such a foreign concept. For me, before Korea, the Pacific meant the West, the other side, the coast I never knew as home. Now, the Pacific personifies the vast depths of the East, but an entirely different East from that of my own. To the naked eye, the horizon can look the same along any ocean lining, but this was not the horizon I knew. But the more important question—would it become the horizon I would know?

Sorry, for the existential digression… back to the events.

So yeah, we reached the tip of the tip where a lighthouse and platform hovered right over the sea. We took a bit of a break and I chowed down on some ice cream (force of habit). After feeling a bit relaxed, we continued the trek up hill until the turning point around 태종사 (Taejongsa Temple). Right before entering the temple, there exists a small tribute to student protestors. A girl explaining the tribute to a bunch of elementary students had her phone ring with Ariana Grande’s “Problem” playing, breaking the ominous silence with a bit of humor. The further along the path you went, the deeper in to the temple garden’s you entered. It was scenic. Like if you’re basic, you probably would have been all over it for a planned-candid photo to Instagram with a inspirational quote and a blessed hashtag. Yeah, it was that scenic.

We headed back out of the path and park and came back into the town. Word on the street was that a very large 찜질방 (sauna). Now, the only hot springs/sauna place I have been to was the one that was a part of my Costa Rica spring break trip. That being said, I assume they are expensive and really chic in the States. Here is another area where Korea greatly surpasses the States. Not only are saunas extremely cheap in Korea (we paid under the US equivalent of $8), but they are open 24 hours a day. Yeah, people, if they lack a place to stay for the night, will often crash at these saunas, which owners are totally okay with. And if you thinks saunas are the only things present in these saunas, you are wrong, again. Often times, saunas in Korea are accompanied with public baths (you go in butt-naked), salt rooms, ice rooms, arcades, PC rooms, and karaokes. The one we went to was quite sizable and I got to sun-tan… naked. I was a happy camper.

By the time we got out, the hot weather reduced to a nice warm that felt gentle on your skin. Refreshed would probably be an understatement for how I felt at that moment. After feeling like I had grown new skin, we caught a bus back into mainland Busan at Nampo and went over to 자갈치시장 (Jagalchi Market), a famous and expansive fish and seafood market right by the water. For those not faint of heart, I would say go sweep through my recent gap year photos upload for a plethora of “ooh”s and “aah”s of various sea creatures. Now imagine, people eating them. Yeah, from octopi to squid, from stingray to sea slug, and of course, your garden variety fish, lobster, crabs, and shellfish, too.

The market was loaded but we needed to choose a place to eat. Luckily, the urge to not eat raw food cut our options down to half. But Busan is one of the best places to munch on fish, we needed to make sure we enjoyed some of it. So we decided to go to a 생선구이 (fish grill) and boy, we were pleased (excluding the waitress that became our mortal enemy afterwards). The fish was delicious. The meat was so finely cooked. The bones were easy to rip off. 잘 먹었어요!

Well, we were right next to BIFF Square in Nampo, so we decided to check out a bit of the shopping. Options abound, I didn’t want to spend money too much for clothing. Nevertheless, the browsing experience was nice. Ladies, I’m not sure how much you’re into male clothing but I would say that male clothing in Korea is way more fashionable than female clothing. Our little shopping trip was cut short by the skies deciding to rain on our parade, again. We spent the rest of the night chowing down on chicken after watching some “Running Man”, one of Korea’s most popular variety programs and one of the few I know of.

Day 4

So we were going to head back to Seoul via the ITX-새매울 (ITX-Saemaeul), the mid-speed and extra comfy train that could do the return trip in just under four hours, so we could catch the last subway rides home since they close right after midnight.

As a kid, few things mattered to me. DBZ, Final Fantasy, The Fairly Oddparents and The Peanuts probably marked the cornerstones of my childhood. It probably would come to no surprise then at how giddy I got once I was informed there was a Charlie Brown Cafe in Busan. By sheer luck, it happened to be right next to our guesthouse. Bless the heavens. We arrived right at the opening and had our first brunch in Korea. Mine personally comprised of orange juice, bagels, and tiramisu. The cafe theme was very authentic. Everything was actually copyrighted by the United Feature Syndicate for uber legitimacy. And the Charlie-Brown-ness galore was on point.

Following our brunch, we headed back to Kyungsung University for a second go at the UN Memorial Cemetery. This time, we managed to enter and get immediately taken back by the grandiosity of the place. Honorable, as it was, it was also pretty sobering to realize that the graves around us were only of those of who where part of the UN Peacekeeping Forces. The only hopeful fact that could really be taken in was knowing that no other loved one would have to be buried at the site.

Right outside the cemetery was a quaint park were children were running around as grandparents were conversing. Such a happy atmosphere surrounding a somber one. It helped elevate our mood before heading back to the guesthouse to pick up our bags for our return train. You cannot eat on a sad stomach! Luckily the emotional turnaround came just in time for my second burger ever in Korean and it was pleasant.