Dynamic Busan

Summer vacation couldn't have come at a better time. Six months of teaching, without so much of a vacation, will suck the best of teachers dry! Vacation fell right at the end of July, and it was the perfect opportunity to plan a trip to Busan.

Busan is the second largest, however most fortunately located, city in Korea. Located on the southeast coast, it is most famous for it's beautiful beaches and awesome city life. A city any beach-sick Californian can appreciate. Haeundae Beach heralds it's fame in a saturated blanket of well-oiled bodies and copious amounts of "parasols". Which you can rent, along with two chairs a mat, and free water, for only $15. Not the well oiled-bodies- the parasols.

The beach.

Unless one owns a car, plans to fly, or I guess navigates the city streets on your moped all the way to Busan, you must take the train. A $48 round trip ticket will save you a seat on a less than fancy, however fully functioning Mungungwa train. But, to be completely honest, it's quite enjoyable! If you're traveling with friends, bring snacks and games. The seats turn towards each other; it makes for a quite enjoyable ride! The train drops you off at Busan Station, perfectly connected to the simple Busan subway line. A short ride up line 3 will drop you right off at Haeundae Beach, and set you back a one way ticket for 1200W. Not too bad!

Unknown to us, we planned our trip on one of the busiest weekends of the year in Busan! The 15th Annual Busan Sea Festival preparations were gearing up when we arrived on Thursday, and were in full swing when we were leaving Sunday. You can probably guess what that means. Hotels we're full, at least the ones who we could call from afar, who could understand English. Though we booked in advance, I would recommend finding a room when you show up! I didn't really believe the Google Map of "motel, Busan" with it's own sea of red location dots, but it was perfectly accurate. The masses of motels is real with PLENTY in walking distance of the subway station with perfect views of the ocean! Most of which, at normal off season rates, will keep you up for $30-70 a night! Not to shabby.

Our accommodations were less than impressive, and sadly pricey. However, considering we were a short 2 minute walk from the sand, could see it from our room, and spent more time on it than in our room, it's drab soon faded and it became well worth every won. Let's be honest, you're only in your room to shower for dinner, and to crash after the sun's soaked the best out of you-- who cares what it looks like in the end, right?

On a more personal note, this trip had one goal. Relaxation. We wanted nothing more than to roll out of bed, eat delicious food, soak in the glorious sun, and do it again the next day! And that's what we did! It was delightful! I got more sun the first hour than I probably should have the whole weekend, what can you do? I have little to report about what we did during the day, except the conditions of the beach. Because my days consisted of tanning, napping, reading, music, and friends. Simple, yet sooo lovely.

The beaches however, were crazy! Literally. By 2 or 3 o'clock, no sun could be found on the sand. The beach was literally covered inch by inch with umbrellas, under which huddled folks of sun-stricken folks. Myself included. My favorite part of this was the fast food salesmen. Hunched over, most often in jeans and tennis shoes, jumping over towels and through rubber tubes, they sold everything from fried chicken to patbingsu, beer to "iced" coffee. I have never seen more people in one place with so many large objects before. And that was just on the sand.

"Parasol" city.

The water scene was an epic display as well. Thousands, literally, thousands of squealing wave riders! Many rocking the yellow inner tubes they rented for $5. Most of who were in full clothing: jeans, long sleeve shirts, hats. But my favorite were the young bikini clad women rocking the waves in hats, jewelry, denim bottoms, sunglasses, and a full face of make-up. Though comical, so impressive! How the heck do they keep it all on so well? Waterproof in all aspects of the word. Impressive i tell you. Impressive!

The masses.

We ate a lot of fantastic food in Busan. Can vacation promise anything else? I think not! Busan is known for it's fresh seafood. Fancy that. We were set on eating a delicious sashimi meal during our time, and oh, we found it! Saturday night we traveled down the coast to find a famous jazz club called Monk. Well we found it, and right down the street stumbled across what looked promising for a delicious seafood meal! We sat down. No English menu. No Korean. No English speaking staff. AWESOME! I cannot tell you what I ate, however, it was delicious! The most delicious sashimi and banchan i've ever eaten. We also found a fantastic Mexican restaurant, Fuzzy Navel, which had the most delicious taco I've eaten in Korea. Shrimp fajitas? Mojito? Um, ok! We ate it twice, once for dinner. Again the next day for lunch. How could you not?

Dinner at Fuzzy Navel

Our delicious sashimi dinner.

Saturday night, as mentioned, we visited Monk. Only a short subway ride from Haeundae, it was relatively easy to find. For 5,000W we found a table in a cozy, underground jazz club. I sipped my classy glass of house red, a chilled homeland Carlos Rossi Sangria, and sat back to enjoy the music! It was good! It's been a while since I've heard some good live jazz, and it was fantastic!

Music at Monk

Busan was fantastic! We said countless times, "Man, this really feels like vacation!" A feeling sometimes hard to come by when everything is foreign and a quiet place is hard to find. But we accomplished our one goal- relax! And well, we came back, relaxed, well-fed, and tan.
I'd say a pretty successful vacation, if you ask me!

Haeundae Skyline from the window of a random bar.

Stumbled upon this view after finding an awesome stepped path across the beach.
Gwangan Bridge.

And now we're back! Thanks for the love Busan!
-s

A Sweet Collision

Travel is more than sightseeing. It’s reach is beyond the gates of an un-ventured city and it’s end far above a brilliant skyline of the world’s most impressive shores. Though sadly it’s often boiled down to a pursuit of the most impressive and a constant pressing onward to the next thrill. All the while, simple alleys and worn door frames are passed over. The very places which house the people that make these wonders so rich. These people fill the streets and their hands make the trinkets we buy. Guilty travelers look through these faces, past the ticket booths, onto to the golden statues. After all, that’s what we came to see, right?

Let me digress for a moment.

I believe in a Creator. A creator who creates good and beautiful things! Things which flow out of who he is. I’d even venture to say that he might create beauty simply for the delight of his children. Does the grandness of Yosemite Valley serve a purpose? Can it’s extravagance be calculated? Or maybe, it exists simply to display the beauty and expanse of a good Creator who takes delight in creating awesome things. A photo-op, road trip worthy, account of a God whose hand is mighty and whose brilliance is breathtaking! Could it be that he would create things just for our enjoyment? Does he smile when giddiness rises out of a soul seeing the first glimpse from the summit? I think so! But I must venture still to say, without question, that the people whom he scatters across this globe in the very places we esteem worthy of travel, are even more so astounding. Created in the very image of this great Creator, far more intricate and highly cherished than the greatest of all the world’s natural most bewitching wonders. Worthy of more affections than the best of these.

Allow me to venture a bit further. What if one’s desire to see the world’s treasures collided sweetly with one’s deep seeded personal convictions? Could these ordained soap boxes of sorts, planted in the heart of a fearfully fashioned heart, move from personal conviction to action, in a place fantastically awesome? Could travel be the means by which I fulfill what I was created to do? Something greater than a full passport, a collection of anecdotes to share with friends, and a collection of tailored pieces for publication?

I have to argue yes.

Change is possible. Travel is the means by which we do it. Writing is the method by which I steward my gift of a voice.

A year ago I sat, fixated on my now retired iBook, in a dimly lit dorm room. A week long, campus- wide discussion prompted my own investigation. Article after article, hour after hour, I was left shaken. Forever so. That night a deep seeded fury took root in a young heart. A young heart ambitious to see, explore and write about the world one over. Convicted of the massive problems that plague it, convinced she knew someone who was coming to make things right, and two hands free and longing to do something about it in the meantime. You see, in the midst of a beautifully created, brilliantly orchestrated world, there is evil. Evil that is stealing, killing, destroying that which was created to flourish. This wasn’t new to me; I knew things were broken. But I was shaken with the urge to do something about it. Shaken beyond the ability to sleep, and so I read on.

International Trade: A Marketplace of Humans. For vile, horribly defiling, repulsively debasing, purposes. Men. Women. Children. In all corners of the world. From the bungalows of Thailand, the weathered cobble stone of Europe, to the iconic comfort and perceived greatness that is California and Las Vegas. People! Bought! Taken! Used up by the superior-ly vile in the most exotic, intoxicating, sought after world wondrous locations. A white washed extravagance of a beautiful place secretly rotten within. Funded by travelers themselves.

I stand at a balance. On it sits an awe and wonder of a world waiting to be explored, and its counter in a fiery mission to change it. Repulsed to think I could have some contribution to it. How do I, as a traveler, uphold, admire, and pursue the beauty of this world without treading past the souls of people who I was created to touch?

I am convinced it’s a rather delicate balance. Passions and convictions have the opportunity to move to powerful world change when eyes find their way off the golden statues of a foreign land, and into the eyes of the people who live there. To dive head first into their stories, venturing relentlessly to listen and love in radical ways. I was given a heart, a mind, a relative restlessness, and a MacBook, wired to go and be and do big things. Not for thrill’s sake, or outside accolades, but rather on mission to make a change in things. And to tell people about it! To bring life where death threats, and light where darkness looms. Nothing fancy. Just an overflow of love into the lives and land of folks who need it most.

Ironically, I find this very mission dropping me into the loftiest of world wonders. Adventure awaits. But my eyes are fixed. Heaven forbid travel ever again be simply for the next grand wonder over the people who I might meet there.

Traveling to Insa-Dong

I haven’t traveled a whole lot. I mean, I could hardly call myself a traveler, but I’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like, and I’m hooked!

I’m convinced that traveling is about newness. Experiencing something for the first time. Whether you’ve been there before or not doesn’t matter. It’s about arriving, looking around and recognizing there’s something here for you! That, well for most people, is exciting! Hence the wanderlust syndrome: craving the adventure and newness of going someplace new, trying something different and loosing yourself in the crowd of locals. It’s in the goog

ling the heck out of a destination, saving pictures of the must see spots, and memorizing just about every guide book possible before you leave, to finally arrive at the coveted location. It’s the the feeling of standing in Red Square, Moscow, Russia looking up at St. Basil’s Cathedral and thinking... where the heck am I and how did i get here?! You think about all the pictures and books and mo

vies that display this place, blink a few times to make sure it’s actually real, and then you buy a postcard that will hardly replicate the emotion you felt to finally see it! To return home not fully convinced that you were actually there!

That, my friends, is what i experienced today. In a small way. I stepped off the subway today in Seoul, Korea, headed to Insa-Dong, and it hit me. I’m in Korea! Doing life, traveling around, and loving

Jesus in Korea! Seeing the places I’ve researched for so long and in a country I’ve been waiting to get to for months. I’m finally here... and I love it!

My hope for this next is to document my Korean adventure with the greater hope of exploring the a amateur shot at journalism(and to provide the folks who love me a creative outlet to keep up).

I am convinced that Christ’s beauty permeates the corners of the earth. And well, I want to see Jesus! Because i am also convinced that seeing Jesus changes everything. Traveling to see him, first in Korea, is the beginning of a great adventure! Not that he, or my pocket promise any future travels, but i am convinced that for one year he has me here for a mighty reason! And i hope that my travels and insights to the beauty of Korea would show you a little bit about the might King i serve... and just how beautiful he has created the world. Fallen, yes. Broken, yes. But beautiful. AH!... so beautiful!

So let me introduce you to Insa-Dong. Adventure #1