GIVE ME LIFE, BUSAN 😆

"May your soul revive, rekindle and rejoice.” - Lailah Gifty Akita

OH HOW TIME FLIES.........

So, I've made it to the half-mark of my 1st year in South Korea!!🙌 Let me tell you, it has been a journey of lessons and adventures. God has brought me through so much, and I can't thank Him enough!😩🙏

Well, I got a break (which was sooo much needed), but I wasn't sure at first of what and where exactly I wanted to spend that time. The only thing I did know, was that I wanted to be on someone's beach, soaking up the good sun, in good weather. I decided to stay in the country and explore more places. I heard so many good things about Busan that I had to check out the hype for myself. Let's just say I prefer Busan more than Seoul. (Yes, mostly because of the beaches.🙄🤷) 

It might be hard to believe, but sad to say, I can not give a comparison since I haven't "traveled" my own country like I do others. Anyways, you're probably more concerned about my adventures and what I got into while in Busan.

The Arrival
A caught an early morning bus from my city to Busan, arrived with good time and took the metro to my guesthouse. Checked-in, got myself situated, and found a map to work with. (I already had my itinerary laid out, but I wanted to see what else I could come across.) The first stop was 용두산공원 (Yongdusan Park) then on to 태종대 (Taejongdae). Taejongdae is a natural park on cliffs that face the sea. You can visit a temple, the lighthouse, take a boat ride, and/or each fresh seafood from the local sellers on the bay. (By the way, if you're a seafood eater and don't mind trying new foods, BUSAN IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!)🙃 Speaking of seafood, I went to the famous fish market, Jagalchi- 자갈치시장, (just to look and say I've been there💁) where you select the seafood you want and either take it home to cook, or you can go upstairs and have it prepared to your liking and eat it there.🤗

Jagalchi Market

When the Day Trying to be Cute was not the Day🙄
So I woke up feeling good, the weather was great, and felt the need to look how I was feeling.💁

 

I wore this black, maxi dress in 31℃ weather...💀 At least I wore my Sperry's and not flip-flops. I ended up tying my dress up before I even made it to my first stop. On this lovely, hot day, I visited the Gamcheon Culture Village (감천문화마을), which they say is the Machu Picchu/Santoronio of South Korea.🤸 I spent more time there than expected, as those hills were no joke. I wanted to see a specific temple, but I decided to visit the beaches instead. I just walked around Dadaepo and relaxed at Gwangalli. If you ever visit Busan (as I was recommended), I recommend that you visit Gwangalli in the afternoon and stay til sunset to see the bridge light up. It's an experience!

Dadaepo Beach

Gwangalli Beach

A Change in the Schedule

It's day 3, I had major plans, but due to inclement weather🙄.... Some words of advice: Whenever you're on vacation, always have a back-up-plan and/or make the most of your time with the change.  Things happen, and your plan may not go as scheduled.  Try not to let things ruin your trip.  Moving along now... I pulled out my map and picked out an area that I'd like to see.  The weather was a little muggy, so I didn't mind sight-seeing and wandering through Busan's streets.  I stopped by the Busan Asiad Main Stadium, Samgwangsa Temple, and chilled for some time in Samnak Eco Park.

Fun Day at the Beach

I was extremely relaxed to the point I didn't have the urge to get up early and "explore."  I took my time getting my day started and headed for Haeundae Beach.  Along the way, I stopped by the Murimaru APEC House to check out the views.  Once I arrived at the beach, I set up my "campsite," played in the water for a bit, and laid out, soaking up the sun.  Later on, the clouds started to take over, so I decided to pack my things up and check some other sites out.  On my handy-dandy map, I saw a baby bottle-shaped lighthouse and wanted to check it out. (It is located in the deep outskirts. So deep that when I got off the long bus ride, took my pictures and walked back to catch the next bus.  I missed one walking back, so I had to wait another 15-20 mins for the next one.🙄😑)  As it was getting late in the evening, there was one last place I wanted to check out before I left Busan, Oryukdo's Skywalk.  Let me tell you, it was so majestic that I didn't want to leave. But, I had to🤷. I think I visited the mall's sky-view 3 times to see good views of the city.  I caught the views from the top of the mall one last time.  I'm sure you can tell from my picture that the views were amazing everywhere.  This is what caused me to over-stay my time at these places.
And finally, another recommendation I have is SPALand!  If you want to experience an amazing Korean public bathhouse, THIS IS THE PLACE TO GO while in Busan.🙃  It was wonderful.  Since I went late in the evening, I only stayed 2 of the 4 hours we're granted.  (Now if you don't plan to visit Korea, the "closest" experience you can get that I know of🤔, is from King's Spa in Dallas, Texas.)   

Murimaru APEC House

Haeundae Beach

Oryukdo

Yeongdodaegyo Bridge

Peace out BUSAN!
This was the day I went to the bus station (after some last minute wandering) and took the next available bus to my city. I didn't see the point in staying, as I had nothing planned.  But, the ONE thing I did see was the raising and lowing of Yeongdodaegyo Bridge (the bridge in the previous picture.)  I read somewhere that the bridge raises once-a-day.  I had very little intentions on seeing it before, but I was sitting on the metro and thought, "I wonder if I could catch the time."  I google-searched the bridge and found out the time, 14:00.  It was 13:42 and I was one metro stop away.  Can we say perfect timing?🤔😌
 

잘가요 부산!

*VIDEO WILL BE POSTED SOON*

***All PHOTOS were taken with my phone's camera***

When Arkansans Meet Up in Gwangju, SK

"Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." -Joshua J. Marine

I tell you, it's extremely crazy how small this 🌏is.  Finding another Arkansas in the same country is not the crazy part, but in a sense, knowing you're "family through marriage."  Hey Brittany!!🙋

I've been looking for an opportunity to see something else in South Korea, and I got the chance to check out Gwangju.  It's a nice, decent size city.  I'm a "northerner" here in South Korea, so Brittany had to show me around this part of the south.  😅  For the short weekend adventures, I really enjoyed myself.  It's refreshing to catch up with someone from home.

I believe that I can conquer any part of Korean with Brittany.  With our reasonable amount of Korean and understanding, we're able to get around pretty well.  She had me experience my first public bus ride.  (I wasn't for buses at first, I always preferred the metro.)  Even though Brittany is very familiar with Gwangju, I had her reaching new levels with hiking and walking the absolute most🙃. It's amazing what other travelers can bring to your adventures.  When we first arrived, we went to a lovely Korean BBQ spot and grilled us some good meat.  The weather isn't to shiny in Korea, as it is the monsoon season, but we didn't let that stop up.  We did some sightseeing and then decided to hit the bowling lanes for a night of fun!  It was at that moment when I decided I needed to find the bowling alley in my city.🎳

05.18 Memorial Park

 

Asian Culture Complex Fountain

Conquering Mudeungsan 무등산

1100m Up- "Mama I made it!"

So, we started our morning off with breakfast at 0700, fueling ourselves for the hike. *SN: As you know, there seems to always be some type of bump in the road that tries to hold you back. I had an encounter at the convenient store where I learned the difference between five thousand and fifty thousand in Korean. 🤷 You learn something new everyday!* Let the adventures begin!

So we started our journey, not knowing exactly where we were hiking to, we were just walking for the views.  The further along we got, our goal started to develop. I think we surprised a lot of Koreans on our hike. They were so intrigued to see two black, foreign women hiking. The higher we got, the more conversations they wanted to have with us. We did have our two sets of couples that we kept track of. They were our guide to pace ourselves😎. Speaking of "the higher we got," the trails got steeper and steeper. Their definition of intermediate seemed to be advanced. But, we had to keep going cause we didn't want the older folks outdoing us. Every time we got close to reaching a stopping point, we'd convince ourselves to turn back around cause we did enough. Once we got to that reaching point, we'd change the decision and continued because we could do it. Still, the higher we got up, the more encounters we had with Koreans. A man tired to give Brittany a whole hiking lesson and more about why we need hiking shoes.🙄 Clearly we made it thus far, our Nike's did just fine. Mind you, we saw some Koreans with tennis shoes, slides, forces...... Anyways, with all the counter convincing, we finally made it to the top! 

 

 

 

It was definitely needed. We were able to talk about life, reflect on our experiences here as teachers, and our future plans and goals in life. We're just two Arkansans trying to see the world.

Until the next adventure,

“Everybody wants to reach the peak, but there is no growth on the top of a mountain. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life’s next peak.” -Andy Andrews

  

This Cause for a CELEBRATION in Singapore!

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

So, I've realized that my trips have to encounter some type of hiccup(s) or confusion at the airport(s).   🙄🤦✈

I get to the airport 3 hours early like a good traveler 🤗, wait in the queue for about 2 hours and wait at the gate with about 1 hour remaining. I look at the gate's message board with flight information to Rome at 14:10 (mind you, my flight's at 14:20.) In my mind, I'm thinking my flight is departing after. *SN: I had very little sleep, and I was tired* The gates open for this flight and they started to board. I recalled my ticket saying that I should be boarding my flight around this time🤔. I pull out my ticket....😑 I was at the wrong gate for 50 minutes. Luckily, my gate was 3 gates down, and I made boarding on time. I'm going to Singapore!👐✈

So my friend, Chelsea, is from Singapore. How did we meet?🤔 Well, about 3 years ago, we studied abroad at the same university in Chile, had 2 classes together, and was placed in the same group in one of our classes. Also, a friend and I planned a trip to Argentina and ran into Chelsea at the same hostel, unplanned. It's crazy how small the 🌏is.  Anyways, my week(end) in Singapore caused for a celebration. It was the week of my birthday, and Chelsea completed her CFA exam.  It's time to celebrate👐.

After I arrived and got settled in, Chelsea took me to a local spot that Singaporeans love to eat Chinese food. Chelsea said I did very well for trying new foods. After that, she showed me around Little India.

The next day, I went walking around Chinatown collecting too many souvenirs 🤦, and wandered through the streets towards Bugis Junction and Clarke Quay. After that self-tour, I met back up with Chels, and we went to the water park, Adventure Cove.  I didn't plan to get my hair wet🙄, but I ended up having a good time. 😝 We took a walk through Sentosa and ended up on the beach enjoying music, food, and good vibes.  

 

 

June 5😏: A day filled with adventures.
So the hotel I stayed at has this wonderful infinity pool that oversees the city with great views. I spent a couple of hours there enjoying the weather. After that, I took it upon myself to explore more of Singapore.

Later that night, Chelsea and her friends took me out to celebrate my birthday 🎶"On a Tuesday!" [No photos available🙃.] I made it back to my room in great condition!🖒

JUNE 6: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
Waking up earlier than expected, I went out to the pool again and had breakfast there. It was so relaxing. I wasn't really in the mood to site see, just relax and take in everything that I was experiencing. I went to the movies to see Wonder Woman, then relaxed by the pier until I reconnected with Chelsea. Final things we enjoyed together were the "Gardens by the Bay" and "Marina Bay Sands" lights show and a dinner with typical Singaporean food. 

Overall, I had an amazing time in Singapore. I thank God for allowing me to cross paths and become friends with Chelsea! I look forward to another trip in the future. 

Until my next adventures....

Where in the 🌏 will I be next?

From the University to Beijing to Seoul

I'm just posting to be posting. So, nothing really has been happening since Thailand. I've been trying to catch up on so much sleep. Traveling takes the energy out of you. It's like a full time job.  But, I STILL love doing it.

In other news, I did meet up with an old friend. You'd be amazed at the amount of people you come across while traveling and living overseas.  One of my friends from university traveled with her sister to Korea. We ended up meeting with one another and hanging out in Seoul. This isn't our first time being international together.  We did an internship program with our university in Beijing, China. So many memories we made (I have blogs for those-June 2015).  A couple weeks after that weekend with her, I went back to Seoul for another day of tourism.

Well, until the next adventure....

Photos of the Month of May