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Jaimi and me went on our second adventure in South Korea to Busan, the biggest port city in Korea. It takes 3.5 hours to get there on the bullet train (and costs 100,000 won return) which is a sweet ride to the tip of the country.

This was also our first couch surfing experience which is a great way to meet others with adventurous minds that are willing to host you and/or show you around their city. We stayed with Pablo who is a Puerto Rican English teacher who has been living in Korea for almost 12 years! He was also hosting 2 others at the same time as us - a Canadian and a Thai-American - and we had such a great time sight seeing and exploring together.

Couchsurfer meeting

Although Busan is the second biggest city in South Korea, it’s dramatically smaller compared to Seoul. Busan it’s only 4 million people.

We only managed to spend about 2 hours on our last day on the beaches since the beaches are quite far from the downtown area. It seems that most people either stay by the beach, or in downtown.. it’s quite hard to do both due to the distance.

Pablo lives close to the downtown area so we spent a lot of time hanging out with other couch surfers and local Koreans. We visited Bemoesa Temple on our first day, which is in the north of the city at the base of Geumjong mountain. It was built in 678 during the Silla dynasty and is one of the most popular temples in the country. It’s gorgeous since it’s surrounded by mountainous scenery.

These guardians are in the entrance of the Buddhist temples

After a pretty mellow night of drinking with some new friends we decided to spend the next day doing what all Koreans love best - relaxing at the spa which is called jimjilbang in Korean. We went to Heosimcheong which claims to be the biggest spa in Asia (capacity of 2000 people). Since this was my first time at a jimjilbang, I had nothing to compare it to but the experience was truly unique and amazing.

Five hours at this spa was super relaxing and after exfolliating my body I had never felt cleaner in my life!

Pablo insisted we had to try the fish at Jagalchi fish market, the biggest fish market in Asia. Again, another great new experience because the one thing that I’m not good at is trying new food. I was quite confused when the cut up pieces of octupus were still moving (very tasty indeed). And I ate a lot of different raw fish which were very slimy.

I had a lot of new experiences on this quick trip to Busan and I plan on visiting again in the summer so I can lay on the beach before starting a new adventure taking the ferry over to Japan.

If the inspiring new video of matt don’t make you wake up and start discovering the world, nothing will do. Plus is a lot of fun! Matt prosecute the simple objetive of dance around the world, a rewarding goal that allow him discover lots of interesting places and show them to the people in a funny way.

WhereTheHellIsMatt 2008

After almost two months of living in Seoul, I frequently lose the notion of where I’m living until I leave home and I realize I’m surrounded by Korean script in the streets. Living in a country with an alien language is an extraordinary experience and is helping me to understand the world (even myself!) better than ever.

That’s how Hangul looks like

It’s not easy though, It’s specially frustrating when Koreans don’t understand super basic English or corporal language and it’s even worse when you don’t understand what the people are saying to you.

If I’m listening to very complicated English conversations and I’m tired, my mind starts wandering because I get lost. But here the problem is a bit different. The Korean guy can be saying something as simple as “do you want a bag?” in the supermarket or “Do you want a cup or a jar?” in the bar. And you don’t have any idea or what they are saying! It’s completely frustrating.

We are used to living comfortably in our country where we always understand everything, but when there is a huge language barrier, you need to put yourself in the place of the other and think: “If I were him, what I would say to me now?”.

Namdaemun Market

I’ve been always very easy going and open minded but everything reaches new levels when you need to speak with people whom you have basic communications issues with. Placing myself in the position of the other is a good way to discover the real me. Furthermore, I’m starting to question myself if it’s worth to use as many superficial words as we use when speaking our native language.

At least Korean people have lots of patience. If you try to speak or understand them in their own language, they are really nice. Even when you are trying to communicate with them in English they are nice. They are usually shy because they are afraid of making mistakes but when they open their mouths, they usually use perfect grammar and good pronunciation.

In contrast, if you are in Spain you can’t expect the people to even look at you a second time if you are speaking English or even if you are trying to speak Spanish with a strange accent… unless you have huge boobs! If that is the case, they will speak with you in Korean if necessary!

The best way to describe Korean food is spicy and colorful. Also, It tastes strange but once you are used to it, it is really tasty and healthy.

We Spaniards tend to think that Mediterranean diet is the most healthy diet because lots of scientific papers said that. In my experience, that is not true. I mean, if you were following a 100% Mediterranean diet means that you are eating small quantities of meat and fish, and tons of fruits, fresh vegetables, grains and carbohydrates.

100% Mediterranean diet is very balanced. It’s common sense that a balanced diet is healthier than eating at the same fast food restaurant every night around the corner!

The problem is that we stop following the real Mediterranean diet the moment we start to eat meat and fish every day. Classical Mediterranean diet is fresh vegetables and carbohydrates based but since we have become richer, families now spend more and more money on expensive products like fish and meat instead of relying on cheap beans, potatoes and grains. Moreover Mediterranean cuisine is normally oily when cooking meat and fish and everything together means that we eat too much fat.

On the contrary, the diet in Korea is based on rice and vegetables. Rice is eaten steamed or fried or in forms of rice cakes or noodles. Meat and fish is expensive and usually there are small portions but there are few dishes where meat is the main part of a dish. The exception are the Koreans BBQ, restaurants where you are given the meat in raw form and you prepare and cook it by yourself.

In Korea there are hundreds, thousands of restaurants. Virtually every corner has a restaurant or a street food store. And all of them are extremely cheap.

These days I’m having lunch (a good meal) for 2 eur!

The food prices in the markets are almost the same price as in restaurants, so the Koreans tend not to cook at home and instead, have a great time having dinner with friends. In the evenings all the restaurants are full of people, normally in groups of 4 or 6 people all together enjoying food and soju. In Korea, social relationships are established during eating. Lots of food. And lots of alcohol.

In Korea every time your boss wants to go out, all the office is forced to go with him for dinner. But the boss (who is the boss because he is the older guy) treats all the people for food and soju. If you don’t want to be seen like a problematic guy, you are forced to go. I love this system, after a few bottles of soju, all the problems that you can have with your coworkers are diluted in alcohol. If someday I have my own business I’ll apply this principle (drink more!) to solve all the corporate problems.

Actually it’s common to see drunk executives in the subway and in the streets after 10 in the night. Some of them in very bad condition. In Korea it’s accepted to go drunk or with a huge hangover to work if the night before you went out for dinner with your boss.

I won a day trip through the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) to the city of Jeonju which is about 2.5 hours south of Seoul. We got to explore the city made famous by creating one of Korea’s favorite dish - bibimpap. This dish consists of rice and heaps of vegetables, sometimes meat and egg. It’s normally served in a hot dish with a raw egg so the egg cooks as you eat it. It’s definitely delicious and one of my favorites!

Bibimbap

We also had the day to explore the Hanok Village in Jeonju which displays life in the old times. It was interesting to see paper made the old way, especially because Korean paper is very beautiful and made into lanterns, fans, and other similar things.

Korean temple and pagoda in the hill

We were also given a quick drumming lesson with the Korean drum that was amusing and very fun to learn. Afterwards we were able to dress in Korean traditional outfits. It was wierd seeing foreigners in hanboks but so much fun. Hanboks are only worn on special occasions now, but in the old days it was used for everyday wear. They are usually very bright colors with pretty patterns, and reminds you that Korean men has different mindset that European ones.

Playing the Korean drums like a pro

Meditating with the Hanbok

Jeonju was the capital during the Baekja dynasty so it still holds temples and cultural sights from this period. The most important is a shrine called Gyeongijeon which house paintings of important kings from the many dynasties which ruled Korea, as well as the placenta of royal children. It is located in a park which has a bamboo grove and is a nice sight to walk trough.

Panorama of the Gyeongijeon temple

It was a great dash of Korean culture but I also feel like if you’ve seen one hanok village, you’ve seen them all! Korean history is the same throughout all the cities and towns so it does get boring since these villages are really tourist traps. But you have to go at least once to know what it’s all about.