Oh but first - crap - I had to catch up by posting pictures from Jeonju!
Okay, so the first grade teacher at my school has a grandson in first grade and he lives in Jeonju. His English is fantastic and I can talk to him like I'd talk to any 6 year old. When I was visiting, they took me to MaiSan in nearby Jinan. It was beautiful!
MaiSan from a distance. Mai San literally means "horse ear mountain".
Actually at MaiSan, Kevin and I pose in front of this temple. The stones you see piled up in the back there were stacked by hand without any mortar or cement. Some guy did this a long time ago and people rebuild the stones if a heavy rain washes them away.
The ceiling inside a temple.
I was told you have to bow and pray 108 times to get your wish to come true. That seems like a whole lot of bowing. It also reminds me of Barry Woolner's phrase "cosmic bellhop" - ring a bell or do something special and your personal god snaps to to serve you. (note the sarcasm)
We climbed up the mountain side behind the temple and this is the view from there.
It was beautiful and impressive. Definitely worth the small hike. I had a lot of fun that weekend. On the way back I bought a bubble gun for Kevin and we popped bubbles in the parking lot. A kid has to have some real fun, I think. He spends so much time in school and elective activities. He's going to grow up to be a genius, and get an amazing job I think, but for now he should be a 6 year old boy sometimes.
Here's pictures from my "long" weekend in Busan with Jongsoo. We had a great time, but tired out from excessive walking + carrying shopping bags. (i say "long" because a 3 day weekend just doesn't cut it!)
This is outside the train station in Busan.
It was colder than we expected so we bought these "couple shirts" with hoods. In Korea, couples do all kinds of cutesy things together. They're not so big on PDA (public display(s) of affection) but they do dress in matching outfits, wear cutesy couple matching accessories, and have couple rings.
That was... Friday night. We went to this place with a ton of street vendor carts and ate delicious things. Grilled chicken kabobs, spiral cut fried potato, freshly squeezed lemonade, and more.
Saturday we did most of the things - shopping and beach walking.
This is just outside of Shinsegae. Supposedly this is the world's largest shopping mall? I don't know. But I do know it's very big. The Lotte version of "Trevi Plaza" is amusing to me.
The entrance to Shinsegae. Here we bought a bunch of stuff. I got new clothes for work, and we found and bought expensive macarons.
We took the macarons to Haeundae beach and ate them there. They were absolutely delicious! (flavors melon, strawberry and intense chocolate)
A nice girl offered to take our picture. She took a few angles. I like this one best.
There was no real sunshine to speak of, but it was still warm. Those people with bare skin on the left are foreigners, guaranteed. Real Koreans hate the sun and cover up every square inch of skin.
White skin is considered beautiful here. People go to great lengths to prevent tanning - they even wear long slip on sleeves and gloves!
When the school staff goes outside I pop my collar like everyone else - to protect my neck skin from the sun. Lol. Actually my friend at work did it for me the first time. They were all surprised to hear that I like the sun and voluntarily stand in the sunny places without sunscreen or coverings. No sun hat, sun screen or other.
These two kids were so cute sitting and waiting for the waves to come up and get them. So much fun!
The scenery at Haeundae beach is beautiful, btw.
Found this funny ad on the side of a building.
Yes, that's a car parked on the side of a building.
We didn't hang out at the beach much/for long. We went to the aquarium right after this.
This catfish was so old, he was blind, so he hung out up top awaiting feedings. He was cute.
Jongsoo enjoyed the part where you could touch and pick up some sea creatures. I was happier just taking the pictures. I've never liked touching these things. Lol!
This fish had derp written all over its face.
An eel.. maybe a moray kind? I would have taken pictures of the names but I was being lazy.
This is an electric eel, a very large one. It reminded me of a short anaconda, it was so thick!
Reverse or inside-out jellyfish. I forget the exact name, sorry.
A HUGE octopus.
I've got more pictures, but this is getting long enough and I'm not near to done. Agh!
From there, we went to Gwangalli beach where J was depressed to find his favorite burger place closed.
But the beach was beautiful, and we eventually found some other yummy food.
It was very pretty in the dark too. The buildings above light up and change colors, and the bridge is all lit up as well.
The next day we pretty much just spent travelling back home.
A weekend well spent. Looks like you had a lot of fun! Huzzah for aquariums and beaches :)
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