Train to Busan (2)

As some of you may know, last year there was a Korean movie that was release called Train to Busan. It was very popular mostly thanks to the main character who is played by the beautiful and talented Gong Yoo. I watched it with my friend Saeyoung because I thought it sounded like a cute romantic comedy. Turns out it is about zombies! They attack everyone on the train going from Seoul to Busan. I didn't know when I watched it, but a few months later I would be on that very train!

Day 5 

Saeyeon, Kristen and I, along with another one of our friends from BYUH Mina, went on a weekend trip to Busan. We took a taxi in the morning from Saeyeon's house to Seoul Station. We had ordered our tickets online so we were able to go right to our terminal. One thing that stood out to me is that there was no security and no one checked our tickets, even when we got on the train! I guess it shows how honest people are.

 

We were lucky enough to get seats all together. We had four seats that faced each other and we shared a table in the middle. The train ride was much shorter than I thought, only about two hours! And thankfully we had no sightings of zombies ;)

 

Busan was a little more chilly than Seoul because it is near the coast. I was excited to see the ocean again. Saeyeon brought her travel book so we were ready to explore as much as we could!

Along with the book, we also had our friend Mateo who was kind enough to show us around his hometown! He attends BYUH with us. The first thing we did when we arrived was eat 밀면 which is a traditional dish in Busan. It is wheat noodles that are served cold. 

  

We then visited 자갈치시장 which is the biggest fish market in Busan. We walked around and saw people selling all kinds of live fish! It was kind of funny because once they figured out we weren't going to buy anything they tried to shoo us away haha. It was fun to look at the fish though. It was almost like being in an aquarium except the fish kept trying to jump out of the tank! 

  

Outside of the fish market is where we saw the ocean! It was beautiful!

We then took a taxi and went to visit 감천문화마을. According to Wikipedia "the area is known for its steep streets, twisting alleys, and brightly painted houses, which have been restored and enhanced in recent years to attract tourism" The houses are so cute! Each one is a different color so the whole neighborhood is a rainbow! It was the perfect place to take lots of pictures. 

 

 

Kristen and I found some steps with different books painted on them so we had to take a picture by the Harry Potter one :) Nearby they had a place that would engrave rings so we both got one with our names in Korean!

Our lovely Korean guides :) 

 

Saeyeon wanted to try 씨앗호떡 which is a traditional treat in Busan and we found some when we went back to the train station to pick up our luggage. After we got our bags we took the subway to our hotel and we said goodbye to Mateo. 

Day 6 

This was the day we did most of our touring of Busan. We started by going to Haedong Yonggungsa. It is a Buddhist temple that was built in 1376. 

 

 

When we first walked in we saw statues for the zodiac signs so we each took a picture by our animal :)

 

 

Underneath the temple there was a cave with a fresh water well. We all drank from the ladle that was provided. I'm not sure what it was for, but hopefully it will bring us some luck! 

 

On the way back down we stopped to get some street food. I discovered that corndogs are common in Korea, but they have a twist to them. They coat the outside with sugar! Then they put ketchup on top of that. I was happy to see my favorite condiment in Korea :) After our snack we had a real meal of 돼지국밥 which is another traditional meal in Busan. 

 

We also got some ice cream, but instead of a traditional cone they put it inside one that looked like a fish!

 

 

We found the ocean again!! 

It was cloudy and a little chilly, but we all stuck our feet in :)

 

We relaxed for a bit and then headed back to our hotel. Kristen and I got McDonalds for dinner and Mina and Saeyeon got street food :) The hotel we stayed at was really nice and they even provided breakfast in the morning! (rice, seaweed, bulgogi, cereal, eggs) Saeyeon gave them a nice review for us :)

 Day 7

 

Sunday was our last day in Busan. We wanted to attend church before we caught the train back to Seoul so we tried looking up one close to the subway. It's actually a miracle that we found it. We knew the general area where it was, but we couldn't find the building. We were wandering the streets when suddenly we saw a couple in front of us in Sunday clothes! We figured they were members of the local ward so we started following them. When we turned the corner we realized they turned down another street but straight in front of us in bright white was the church! You never know when you are unknowingly an answer to someone's prayers :)

 

When we walked in the chapel and met the missionaries. One was from Hong Kong and the other was from Utah. They gave a pair of translators to me a Kristen. We put the headphones in our ears and they spoke into a microphone in the back to translate what the members were saying at the pulpit. We were familiar with this from attending Korean gospel forum at BYUH :)

I thought it was interesting that the EFY medley is well known even in Korea :)

 

After sacrament meeting we had to head to the station to catch our train. One of the sweet members of the ward saw us leaving and offered to drive us in her car! She was so sweet! It is such a blessing to be part of a world wide church. No matter where you go there are kind people willing to serve. 

I'll go into more details about the rest of our adventures in Seoul in the next post!

Thanks for reading!

♥ TTFN, KARISSA