16 Days, 6 Cities: {part 1}

Korean Vacation

My Journey through South Korea

Setting out on an adventure that well, honestly I don't know if I was ready for. I wasn't very well prepared due to the craziness of work the week before and getting sick. Thus, leaving me without a plan of where to stay for three nights of the journey. I had most other things booked or planned but there were three days that I just didn't know where I was going or what I was going to do.  So I packed my giant backpack and headed to the airport. Then it began...

Gwang-ju

On the first leg of my trip, I flew from Jeju-do to Gwang-ju to visit my friend Grace and to meet her family.  They are really the first Korean family that I have met and spent time with. They were just the sweetest people and I loved playing card games with Grace and her cousins all Sunday afternoon after church. Grace had to do all of the translating between her parents and I, but I hope to work on my Korean so next time I will be able to at least have a small conversation with them without translating through Grace. The Jeong family took such good care of me and made me feel right at home. As they dropped me off at the bus station, Grace's mom gave me a bag full of snacks for my trip. Such a lovely family, and I hope to see them again this summer.

They were just too cute:)

While I was in Gwang-ju I stayed at a guest house, which was really just a room in the upstairs of a families home. The daughter of the family was having a sleepover with her friends and they were staying in the room across the hall. When they saw me I could just hear giggling and then they finally became brave enough to come out and say "Hello." Then they wanted to take lots of pictures with me and make sure I knew Gangnam Style. Thus, we broke out into a spontaneous dance party in true Gangnam style fashion. 

Busan

Next, I took a bus to Busan. I didn't have any plans to meet people in Busan, so this part of the trip I was a solo-traveler.  I arrived at 1 of 2 bus stations, the problem was that I didn't know which one. It took some time to try to find a sign that would tell me where I was in Busan. I had to figure that out first so that I could figure out how to get to my hostel by the subway. I eventually figured it out and found my way pretty easily. Now, if this would have been my first time taking a subway, I would have been freaking out. I was very thankful that I had already learned how to work a subway system and read the map in London a few years ago.

The elevators lit up going to my Hostel.

I stayed at a hostel in the Nampo area of Busan. What a nice place! This is the a huge shopping district and at night all of the streets were lit up with lights over the sidewalks, making you feel like you are in some kind of magical land. There are many different kinds of shopping in this area. You could go to the underground market and shop at a tiny locally-owned stores. You could also shop on the main street where there are many chain/brand name stores. Then there was the international market that sold everything from socks to a full, hot meal, right in the middle of the street. It was quite the sight. One of my favorite moments while exploring this area in Busan was walking from the underground market into the huge mall that was connected to it. If I would have come in from any other entrance I don't think I would have been as amazed, but coming in from the bottom floor and right in front of me was a huge water and light show playing.  I came in at the perfect time. There was k-pop playing with the water and lights dancing to the music. All of the families in the mall were gathered in the middle of the mall enjoying the show and the children were so adorable and dancing to the music. It was like I just walked into a huge party. Probably my favorite memory from Busan.

Water and light show!

My only full day in Busan was spent mostly outside. Most things to do in Korea, are outside. Which isn't a problem...during the summer months. It was really cold. I went to the Busan tower to get a good look at the view over the city.  Someone also suggested to me to go to the roof of the mall, because the view is really good from up there as well. They were right. On top of the mall there was a park, petting zoo, coffee shop and an observation deck. So, that was pretty neat.

Jenny and I at Les Miserables!!!

Daegu

Next stop, Daegu. I was pretty pumped to go to Daegu, not because of the city itself but because I was going to be staying with a friend from the states and we had tickets to go see the Korean production of Les Miserables! It was such an amazing show. Now it was all in Korean, but that didn't matter because the whole show is a musical and you know exactly what is going on because of what song is playing. The voices were beautiful and the acting was fantastic. But the most amazing part about it was the special effects! There was one part in the show where Jenny and I looked at each other and were like "Did that really just happen?!?!" We couldn't believe how amazing it was.  I think we both wanted to go the next night to, but it's too bad that the tickets are about $60 per show. Otherwise, we would have been there.

Sorry, I had to split the stories of this trip into a two part series because they are taking me awhile to write. I will try to post them next week! I just wanted to post at least part of it now!

-Jenna