So my best friend Kim is here this week in Korea visiting! It is so great to have her here and sharing in mine and Angie's Korea adventures. In the short time Kim is here we are trying to squeeze in as much of Korea as we possibly can for her and unfortunately some of that time I am actually at work so her and Angie get to adventure without me.
The first part of Kim's trip so far has primarily taken us to Busan to ring in the Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year). Lunar New Year in Korea is a pretty mellow and family affair for most Koreans. There are no major celebrations like the images you see from Hong Kong. Basically here the families get together and they will visit their families Buddhist temples and pay their respects to their ancestors. Children are given their annual allowances from their relatives and the younger generations make deep bows to the grandparents to show respect. For the three of us, we spent the day wandering Busan and taking in some traditional Korean performances.
We arrived in Busan on Sunday evening and basically wandered the city and planned our routes for the next couple of days. Angie and I took Kim to Jagalchi Fish Market for dinner and then around some of the outdoor markets. As the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped we opted for a quiet girls night in with facials, a little drinking, some girl talk, and movies. For the next day we planned on hitting Geumjeong Sanseong Fortress, Beomosa temple, and I believe a second temple before heading over to the Busan Cultural Center for some traditional Korean performances including Korean fan dancing, orchestra, and drumming. Like all excellent adventures the day didn't go exactly as expected.
The first surprise of the day occurred as we ventured toward the fortress. We made it off the subway and on to the bus with no difficulty, however when the same name is used for different sites that is where confusion enters. Instead of getting off at Geumjeong Sanseong Fortress we got off at perhaps Geumjeong Sanseong temple (whoops). As we stood at the gate of the closed temple a nice man walked over to us and confirmed our suspicions that we got off the bus too early. We crossed the street and began to wait for the next bus to come pick us up. While waiting we were trying to determine where on the map we needed to exit the bus when a nice Korean couple stopped their car and inquired where we were headed. Since we were headed in the same direction they offered to give us a lift to the entrance which what on their way. (Oh Korea, how incredibly helpful you can be in times of need.) The woman's English was incredibly good and we had a lovely ride up hill. They dropped us off at the East Gate entrance to the fortress and continued on their way.
We began to explore the East Gate and the wind started to pick up. Realizing we weren't exactly where we thought we were going to be dropped off we began the walk over to the North Gate. This walk became an unexpected hiking expedition we were not quite prepared to make. While we were all wearing adequate clothing for the cold weather our foot wear choices were not exactly chosen with a hike in mind. My own footwear was perfect for hiking as they were more normal low rise hiking shoes, however my socks were also low rise which as the hike progressed began to fall a bit and cut into the back of my ankle. Kim had on her Hush Puppy casual high boots which proved to be an decent choice for the hike except that I think she said they lacked some of the traction that would have been more desirable on a hike. Angie was the worst shoe choice of the group. For the most part, comfort and warmth, her fake Ugg-like boots did the trick. She also wore the short socks which began sliding off so she removed, however her boots lacked traction and in an unfortunate muddy patch she went down. We brushed off as much of the mud as we could but the remainder had to dry. Luckily the cold wind was helping her out and she was not hurt. She did get a severe but friendly talking to by an older Korean man for her choice in foot wear. We were all still smiles and only about 1/2 way to the North Gate.
As we continued our journey stopping to take in the incredible vistas from the ridge of the mountain we ran into a very friendly Korean gentleman asked us where we were from and told us he was on the bus with us and that he saw us get off too soon. He shared his current music selection of Ricky Martin with us and bid us a good hike. Shortly there after we caught up to him again and he gave us three chocolates and a mandarin orange. He told us that it is considered fate when you run into someone three times. You should take that as a good sign that person is meant to be in your life. We smiled and thanked him for his kindness and he was off. His kindness was definitely appreciated since we had a few snacks but nothing of note since we didn't plan on actually hiking but rather just some casual meandering. We finally made it to the North Gate, took a quick pit stop and then headed toward the temple.
As usually happens, our misdirection provided us with a fortuitous opportunity. During our descent to the temple, we figured out it is actually more of a temple complex with a lower main temple area and a lower area. We hit the upper area of the Beomosa temple first. This area was quiet and had only a few visitors. We respectfully took some pictures and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere in the area. At this point we had expected it to be larger and I think we sort of thought this was it... we soon realized we were wrong. We continued our descent and came to the lower section of the temple. This area was much larger and much, much, much more crowded. We explored this area of the temple, snapped a few more photos and watched as the locals paid their respects to their ancestors. At this point were were definitely getting hungry and some of our old aches and injuries began to let us know they were still with us, plus we had a date with traditional Korean performers we didn't want to miss.On the bus back down the mountain, we met our friend from the hike again. We gave him a smile and greeting and we were on our way. We had time for a quick snack before the show. During our light lunch/snack we estimated we had unexpectedly hiked/walked about 6 miles that day in total. Even though the hike was unexpected and cold it was amazing. We encountered some of the nicest and most helpful people I have met in Korea and even though our bodies were aching in the end we were all smiles. Now it was time to relax and enjoy the performances.
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