Busan

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. There is no excuse really I've just been lazy.

I went to Busan a few weekends ago with my friend Jasmine from college. Jasmine is a Fulbright teaching English/learning Korean in Iksan, a rural area of Korea. We did a little impromptu down to Busan which is on the southeastern coast of Korea.

There is a big beach called Haeundae that is a big draw of Busan. We took a walk there.

There are big beach umbrella/parasol things everywhere since Koreans hate to tan.

Lots of couples, families, old people on a stroll, too.

It's crazy how developed it is there, right along the beachfront.

The beach connects to a former island, but a land bridge formed between the island and the peninsula over the years so there's a nice walk to the island, too.

rocks on the way we saw

That's a statue out there. It's supposed to be a princess looking towards the sea while waiting for her prince to come home.

cool picture on a light

There was a large building built on the island for some international economic conference held a few years back. They preserved it like a museum.

mother-of-pearl artwork

Bush in hanbok--everyone looks awkward

We also went to a street market. I forgot to take pictures for the most part, but there was a lot of food. Eel is very popular for eating. I saw a guy behead and skin an eel alive, as it continued to writhe around.

Afterwards we went to an international art fair being held in Busan's cultural center. There was some interesting art, including art by a painter called "The Dumb Artist" who apparently refused to sell any of his art for money because that was not the reason for artmaking. His work was being sold for $17 million. I'm guessing he is deceased.

Some of the art I liked:

looks like coral

The next day I woke up real early so went for another stroll on the beach, where it was really foggy.

And foggy in the mountains I saw on my bus ride back up.