Dongbaek Island and Haeundae, Busan

As I was leaving the UN Cemetery, I still had no plans and no map except for my Lonely Planet (which was rather lacking in information for Busan) so I asked the gentleman that guided me around the memorabilia hall for some advice on where to go next. "Well, Haeundae, of course!" he replied. "Even in the winter...?" I had been thinking about going to Haeundae but I had decided it wasn't worth the trek out to that side of town since it was winter and there wouldn't be anything to see. "Ok, start from Dongbaek Island and you can see the great APEC meeting hall, and then you can go see Haeundae!" I had no idea what he was talking about, but since I had no other plans, I said ok. He put me in a taxi to the nearest subway station and I took Line 2 to Dongbaek Station and walked to the "Island".

In fact, it must have been an Island at one point, I suppose, but now this island is more of a peninsula just south of the famous Haeundae beach.

There are many walking trails around the island. If you find one that goes up, you will find yourself at this beautiful building which is next to a grand statue. The figure in the statue looks like King Sejong, but I didn't see that written anywhere, so I suppose he could be any Korean king from the past. Other than that, there's not much up the hill that I was able to see.

If you keep walking around the outside you can find the Nurimaru APEC house. This is what the ajosshi from the UN Cemetery was talking about. Now, I didn't even know what APEC was... I'd heard the name around but the US belongs to so many economic and trade organizations that are all acronyms, how was I supposed to know that APEC stands for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation? Anyway, if you didn't know, now you know.

While the building isn't extremely exciting, you can walk through and see where the conferences were held and see that they really do look like the ones you see on TV.

But more lovely here than the APEC house is the views. Here is the famous Gwangan Bridge which is 7.4 km long. Quite an impressive sight.

As you continue walking around the island, you start to approach Haeundae beach. Here a woman was praying on the rocks.

And then finally I arrived at Haeundae beach. Probably much nicer looking in this season without the insane amount of people in the summer months.

Here I was finally able to find a tourist information center and get myself a map. I ate lunch at an Indian restaurant here, but compared to the wonderful Indian food I've had in Seoul I found it overpriced and nothing special. But, as I sat alone, eating my lunch, I picked up a wifi signal and found some a girl on Couchsurfing to meet up with for the day to look around.

While I waited to meet up with her, I wandered around the Haeundae Market. As you would expect, there were lots of fish, plus all the other things you generally see in any Korean market. An interesting stop by, but not quite like the market I visited the next day, so please wait to get your market fix for a few more days.

UN Cemetery (UNMCK) in Busan

My first stop in Busan was the UN Cemetery in Nam-gu. This cemetery was once a cemetery owned by the Korean government with tombs of soldiers from the UN forces that were killed during the Korean War. In 1974 the land was officially given to the UN and is now the only cemetery in the world to be officially owned by the UN.

More incredible than the tombs, was the Wall of Remembrance which names every soldier killed in action. As you enter, the countries are listed and you will be surprised to see the names of solders from countries you might not have expected to see here like Thailand, Turkey or Ethiopia. Then as you walk around, you'll find the American names listed. And you'll realize that they just go on and on and on forever. The number of American deaths is staggering and it can be quite moving to walk around seeing the endless list of names. It was especially moving for me since my grandfather served in the Korean war. I wish he were still around today so I could ask him more about the war and about the Korea that he saw half a century ago. My mother tells me, though, that he really loved Korea and even picked up a little Korean language while he was here.

If you wander into the memorial service hall, the friendly volunteers will play a movie about the history of the cemetery for you in pretty much any language you can desire. They will probably also give you a tour of the memorabilia hall. The man that guided me around was a soldier during the war and had lots to say. I wanted to speak Korean with him, but I realized that his English was far superior to my Korean and eventually the conversation changed entirely to English, much to my chagrin. I went on a Tuesday morning and had the place to myself. There were a few people out on their daily walk, but I was the only tourist milling around the place.

I highly recommend the UN cemetery to anyone visiting Busan. It's a great way to learn about history, not to mention the beautiful surroundings. One can't help but notice the beautiful, well kept landscaping around the park. I mentioned this point to the gentleman showing me around the memorabilia hall, and he told me that landscapers come from all over to Korea to learn from the landscapers that maintain the UN Cemetery in Busan.


The UNMCK website, being published by the UN, has excellent information in English. Please refer there for more information about how to get there and more information about events and hours.

Korean Movie Review: GLove

Friday night I went to see the Korean movie 글러브 or GLove. It's a typical sports movie where a new coach comes in and turns a riffraff team of misfits into winners.

Here the story revolves around the coach, a washed up baseball star who is no longer allowed to play in the Korean baseball league. To get back into the league's good graces he decides to do some community service by coaching a baseball team at a school for the deaf. While the coach has attitude problems at first, and thinks he's too good to be a coach for these kids who can't even hear the crack of the bat, he soon finds the passion for the sport that he lost long ago.

The main character on the team is the pitcher who lost his hearing only in middle school. He doesn't fit in with the other team members and doesn't want to join the team. But, because of his incredible skill, the coach convinces him to play for the team, and he gives the other boys confidence to improve and play better.

The team goes into the national tournament, up against the best teams in the country with only a 10 man team (there are only 21 boys in the whole school). No replacements for injuries and no subs during the course of the game. Will the boys have what it takes to compete against the best of the best? Watch and find out!

This movie was formulaic at best, but as all these sport movies tend to be, it was heartwarming and humorous at times. At the moment it's playing in Seoul, subtitled, at certain CGVs such as Myongdong. Look for the (영문자막) next to the title. Yea, they don't have write in English that there is an English subtitled movie. Great marketing as ever. As usual, catching their targeted audience and whatnot... I wish I worked in the marketing department for CGV... oh what I would do with their English language marketing....

Birds, Flowers and Sushi (Day 2 in Kobe)

We woke up rather leisurely on my last full day in Japan. As it was New Year's Eve, there wasn't a whole lot we could do for the day. Nori managed to find the one thing that was open, and that was the Bird and Flower Park. Basically, a greenhouse full of flowers and ponds with lily pads with an area to see tropical birds up close. Personally, I hate to see these creatures living in such conditions... people gawking at them, feeding them... many of them not flying  around, saying to me they must have their wings clipped. But, at the same time, it's also a rare experience to see these creatures up close and personal (sometimes too close and personal)

I had some fun taking photos in the flower garden.... 

Penguins! 

I love the colors on these ducks!! 

Then it was on to a dinner of sushi. I made a point to get one more taste of sushi since I'm guessing this could be my last trip to Japan (I've been 3 times now). We wondered around and found a decent looking place which turned out to be much better and nicer and cheaper than I expected. 

Nori sure does know how to order food. He went all out, ordering salad, tempura.... 

Sashimi....

And finally the sushi.... and even after we ate all that, he ordered more fried fish and fried potatoes.. I think I didn't walk out but more like rolled out of the restaurant. And amazingly, all this food, plus a little sake to drink came to about 10,000 yen. Yes, it's expencive, but we ordered a lot of food in a nice ambiance and great service from waitresses in kimonos. The more he ordered the more I imagined the bill racking up. But, anyway, you only live once, right?

New Year's Celebrations in Japan

Selling door ornaments called shimekazari, made with oranges, paper and tree branches in a local market in Osaka. 

New Year's is probably the best and worst time to visit Japan. Best time, because you can see the traditional culture of Japan. People visiting temples and shrines, people preparing their homes for the holiday, and just a sense of general excitement and anticipation that is in the air, similar to being in America around Christmastime.  Worst time, because museums are closed, the locals are busy and visiting families and temples may be packed with visitors, making for less than attractive photos and difficulties seeing the sights.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to ring this big bell. Japanese ring a bell and make a wish for the new year. Small bells can be seen all around various temples, but not everyone gets to ring one like this! It pays to make friends with the local monk ^^.

In the homes, moochi (Japanese rice cake ... kind of like 떡) is placed in the home. I asked what the meaning of this was, but no one knew. I guess I don't know what the meaning of a Christmas tree is either. It's just something that belongs there.

Here is Nori's front door, adorned with a shimekazari. This is made of shimenawa (rice straw), tree branches and an orange. It is placed there to ward off evil spirits. This blog has a good, simple explanation.

Temples are a hubbub of action. We came to this major temple in Kobe a little earlier than most and missed the evening crowd. Japanese like to visit the temple at midnight on New Year's to hear the monks ring the bell 108 times.

Passageways are lined with vendors selling anything imaginable, but more than anything else was lots and lots of food.

In the morning, we came back to the same temple and found it packed. We pushed our way through the crowd and followed the police directing foot traffic into the temple to make our New Year's wishes.

The Kobe Beef Experience

As I was in Kobe, I figured I had to try Kobe beef. It's the one thing (other than the earthquake) that is world famous about Kobe and I figured someone, someday will ask me... "so, did you eat real Kobe beef in Kobe?" And if I were to answer "no." to that question I would be really lame and disappointed with myself, so, that's how I found myself in a steak house getting a a crazy expensive meal and trying to savor every moment.

While the cows are not massaged daily and fed beer as it is commonly thought, there are strict criteria that must be followed in order beef to be called Kobe beef. 1) the cow must be raised in Hyogo prefecture in Japan by designated producers. 2) The cows must be slaughtered at particular slaughterhouses and examined closely. 3) The fat marbling, firmness, texture and color are graded on a scale (BMS- Beef Marbling Score) and must achieve a certain amount of points.

Since there are such high standards, the cows are raised in a "stress-free" environment, according to the pamphlet I received. They are only fed fresh water, the best feed and allowed to "grow at their leisure to maturity". So, I guess for those vegetarians who are concerned about animal rights, you might not feel so guilty eating Kobe beef as opposed to some of the other varieties out there.

On to my Kobe beef experience....

Nori made reservations for us to eat at Nishimura which was close to his house. It's a teppanyaki style eatery where they cook the food on a grill in front of your eyes.

While they're not generous with the steak (you get about a fist size portion, which is probably the correct size... but I'm an American who is used to a steak more or less the size of a dinner plate), the meal itself is about 7 courses, so you won't leave feeling hungry by any means.

We started with soup and salad, western style.

Then, out came the meat. The big hunk with lots of fat was split between three of us. It looked a lot smaller on the plate after it was cooked though...

See?

On to the seafood

And a second course of meat, this time fried with bean sprouts. 

Finally, it was time for desert and tea or coffee. I found that Japanese really like western style black tea for some reason. 

And here we all are; me, Nori, Nori's friend and Nori's friend's mom. All of them were excited to practice English with me and I was happy to have great company for dinner! If you happen to stop by Kobe, make sure you get to taste Kobe beef!

Bonus! A video of the experience! Enjoy.. hope you're not hungry now!

Day One in Kobe

I arrived in Kobe on the morning of December 30th and was met by my friend from college, Nori, and his friend from his English class that wanted to meet me and practice English. Despite the rainy and cold weather, they gave me a whirlwind tour of the city. The first stop we made was the Disaster Reduction Museum, a museum dedicated to remembering the Kobe earthquake that struck in 1995 and preventing the same destruction from happening again by educating people about disaster preparedness. The museum was one of the highlights of this trip to Japan and a must see for anyone who stops by Kobe. Unfortunately, I couldn't take photos inside the museum, so I don't have anything to show here.

After the museum, we went to Chinatown for lunch. Since Kobe is a port city at some point a Chinese population was established here, but today it's more touristy and Japanese style Chinese food. But, anyway, it was fun to try and interesting to look around.

Nori's friend knew this woman serving up dumplings, so we popped into this restaurant for lunch.

Noodles, steamed buns, soup filled dumplings ... mmm....

Not Puma, but Pork and Panda.

From there we headed over to the waterfront area. We walked through Kobe Harborland, which is a fairly large shopping and entertainment complex complete with a small amusement park. While it's not really my thing, it was really nice to see the waterfront.

Nori here is trying hard to win one of those little Rillakuma thingamabobs... 200 yen later and nothing...

We were tired of walking around, so we stopped at a funny little "American" themed cafe for a cup of coffee (and tea for me). It was full of Southwestern Native American style prints and jewelery but it was cute. And, the thing that was most fun was the waitress who brought us some books to peruse while we sat around and relaxed. Here, Nori is reading our horoscopes and giving us insight into our nature.

From there it was on to eating Kobe beef, but I'll leave that for the next post.