Busan - Day 2

The morning started at 9am. We got ready for the day and headed off to find the aquarium (which is famous in Busan). Luckily there were signs leading towards it, so it was easy to find, and right on the beach. We bought our tickets and headed on in.

One of the coolest things at the aquarium was getting to watch the shark feeding. The shark tank was amazing and had one of those walkways made of glass right through it. They had mostly the same fish that we have at aquariums back in the states, though they are missing the northwoods fish... no trout or muskeys :-( But lots of types of squid and octopus and eel.

After the aquarium, we ate at Popeyes (I know...we are super adventurous). Then we headed down to the beach. We were at Haeundae Beach for a little while. It was a little cold, but the view was amazing. There are 3 islands off the coast and you can see them pretty well. There were also plenty of pigeons all over the place to keep us entertained.

We kept walking along the beach until we found Mi Wharf. Fromt he whart we got on a boat and headed out to sea!! We got an up close view of the 3 islands and of Busan Lighthouse, though we didn't actually land on any of the islands. The boat was freezing, but the view was worth it. Once we docked, we walked along the road and looked at all the raw fish restaurants with their tanks of fish outside. Neither of us were hungry though, so we passed by them.

From there we headed to the mall to see if there were any interesting movies playing. We got tickets for "Constantine" with Keanu Reeves. We checked out the bookstore until it was time to see our movie. I got 4 books from around 20,000 Won ($18) which is super cheap compared to the bookstores in Seoul.

Finally, it was time for the movie! Popcorn in hand, we made our way to the theater. It was farely good, but luckily I didn't have any expectations going into it. Probably a movie I will someday buy in Yongsan (that means I'll buy it cheaply).

Then it was time for dinner. We got chicken fried rice that was only 2,600 Won ($2.50) but it tasted fantastic! And, it was right next to the mall that the movie theater was in, so we didn't have to walk out in the cold for very long!

From there it was back to the hotel. Another relaxing evening for us. We watched "Arlington Road" and The Simpsons (2 episodes to be exact...I loved it!!!). Plus 3rd Rock from the Sun was on! We wanted to watch "Who is Cletus Tout" but it didn't work. Then we tried "Swordfish" but the box was empty (no movie inside) That's how "Arlington Road" got picked, but it wasn't that bad of a movie! Then it was time for bed... we had a lot going on the next day!

**Elissa**

Busan - Day 1

Well, Spring Break has officially started for me! I'm in Busan with Beth, here's what happened our first day...

Today Beth and I headed to Busan. I got to Suwon train station at 1:20pm. I headed to the ATM, then I went to get our tickets. We got 2 first class tickets for the 1:50pm express train to Busan. Beth got to the station at 1:43 and we headed straight on the train.

Beth was coming from the Yongsan army base, so she brought me Taco Bell!!!! ^__^ I got a supreme chalupa, beef burrito and soft shell taco, all of which I savored. It was fantastic and the first time I'd have TB in almost 6 months!

The train ride was uneventful. We got to Busan Station at around 6:10pm. Then we went to the subway station, had a little trouble buying tickets but got help from a very nice Korean woman and headed on our way to Haeundae Beach.

It's still cold here, which is disappointing. Once we got to the station, we went to find a hotel. We ended up staying in a love hotel named "Valenintes." The room is decent, but the bed is round. It also has 2 showers (one doubles as a steam shower), which is a little weird, but whatever it's only 30,000 Won a night (about $28).

Then Beth and I went to dinner. We wandered around for a while until we found a restaurant. Since it was a Sunday night and during the off-season here at the beach, many places were closed. We ended up eating spicy chicken and rice which was very delicious.

Then we got ice cream. My ice cream had pop rocks in it!!! I LOVE POP ROCKS!!!!

After that we went to find a bar. The whole off-season, Sunday night thing made it suck, plus it was cold. We didn't get very far in our search before we opted to buy a bottle of Windsor at a Family Mart (with some coke) and watch movies back at our hotel. We watched "Boondock Saints" and made it in early evening, but all in all, it was an eventful day!

~~Elissa~~

Update!

Well, since I haven't been in school regularily, I've been really, really horrible at updating my blog. I made it home safe from Taiwan (yes, for those of you that don't know, I spent Chinese New Year in Taiwan... Feb. 8-13). I'll be posting my Taiwan adventure sometime at the end of next week. I'm on vacation until March 2nd. Tomorrow my friend Beth and I are going to take a train down to Busan. Busan is in the south part of Korean on the coast. It's about a 5 1/2 hour train ride there. We plan on doing some site seeing since both of us are on vacation at that time. We may also be stopping in some other cities, no real definite plans. Though, we do know we are going to check out the aquarium and fish market in Busan, along with the beaches :-) It should be an adventure, I'll write more about how it goes later!

Hope you're all doing well!
**Elissa**