Stumbled Upon

This was a while ago but I've put myself on house arrest due to flu and double pink-eye (apparently my students are germ-ridden cretins who don't wash their hands) so I really have nothing better to do.

A few weeks ago, me and my friend, Sarah, decided to take advantage of the rising temperatures and go hiking. We didn't set out with a real plan but I knew of a few places around my neighborhood that I'd been wanting to explore so we started there. 

First, was a bright cluster of buildings I'd caught a glimpse of peaking through the trees from the bus. It was on the top of a hill and it was hard to tell how to gain access and whether or not visitors would be welcome. We wandered down a windy little neighborhood until we found a narrow walkway leading up the hill. 

What we found at the top turned out to be the city's Buddhist University. 

These funny little Aladdin roofs were what I'd spotted.

Apparently, it only runs during the week so the place was abandoned. It had kind of a "Spirited Away" vibe with all the traditional architecture and eery silence save for a collection of wind chimes. 

The coolest dragon.

The story of Buddha on the side of the temple.

After a little walk-through, we sat up on a balcony and enjoyed the view of Chuncheon as well as the quiet. I've decided I might go up there some Saturdays to read and relax. Maybe I'll pick up sketching and writing again.

The next stop was a little pavilion I'd spotted on another taller hill. We walked along the river until we reached it. The grounds opened up with this little scene:

Apparently most of these markers were memorials to prominent figures in Chuncheon. It's not actually a graveyard, like we initially thought. Just where they all got moved to. 

Behind the memorials we found the start to a hiking trail. Partway up, we found the pavilion. The spot had a great view of my neighborhood, Udu-dong. 

After the pavilion, we got into the real hiking. The trail was surprisingly steep in places, but luckily there were ropes in place so we could climb up Indiana Jones-style. We ran into an older woman, her son, and grandson who sort of accompanied us most of the way. The little boy was pretty gung--hoe about the ropes and kept competing with us to find the faster shortcut. It was fun and the grandmother was really sweet. We found a little hidey-hole to investigate. I'm not sure if it was some remnant from the war or the foundation to a tiny house but there was just enough space for a couple people to squeeze through the little opening in the ground and crouch inside. 

The rest of the hike was beautiful and the views were a great payoff. 

I'll definitely be visiting more during warmer weather. 

The whole day turned out pretty fortuitous. Once we made it back down, the sun was setting so we walked back towards my apartment to grab some Chinese food and enjoy Udu-dong at it's finest:

I get this view of Soyang River every day while waiting for the bus. My life is awesome.

The blue castle is where I take yoga. It's awesome.

I love where I live. 

Cherry Blossom Festival

Korea really knows how to bring it when Springtime hits. I've been overwhelmed with all the cool trips and events I want to go to. While winter was rough, Spring is definitely making up for it.

My neighbors trees.

 First there was the sea-parting festival and then, two weeks later, each city began to hold their own cherry blossom festival. Chuncheon is just barely starting to show signs of blooms and I can't wait to see them all over Udu-dong. Being over-zealous, I wanted to go to the biggest and most popular one down South in Jinhae so me and three friends signed up and caught a bus headed towards Busan (another city I've been dying to visit). 

Our view of the countryside from the bus rapidly filled up with blossoming cherry trees as we drove further South.

We'd been warned that it would rain, but when we arrived, it was all sunshine and blooms. 

Our first stop was at Jinhae train station where we could watch the trains come and go through the numerous fluffy pink trees. We walked along the tracks, jumping off whenever the whistle blew and sampling some of the street food. It was kind of ridiculous but so many people kept crowding the tracks with selfie sticks that the train could barely move and police had to tell them multiple times to get off the tracks before they moved out of the way. People are weird. 

Once we'd gotten our fill, we headed further into the city. 

That's when the rain hit. We'd brought umbrellas, but had imagined light showers. What we got was borderline flash-floods and a constant downpour. 

This didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. We made our way around the city through the rain, taking in the blossoms. 

I look like crap in most of the photos due to being half-drowned but what can you do....

The rain made the trees snow petals and the effect was pretty breathtaking. We did dip into a restaurant when the rain got too heavy and enjoyed some traditional bibimbap before exploring more and eventually taking shelter in a coffee shop until it was time to go to our hotel. 

Here's the happy family of cannibals we got to stare at while stuck in traffic.

The hostel we stayed at was in Busan, right on the coast. The next day was still a little damp but the rain had finally let up. We decided to skip the tours and sleep in a little before exploring the city. We'd all been jonnzing some good seafood so we kept it on our radar while taking in the sights. Our friend, Joy, had to leave a little early so she's not in any of the pictures. 

Eventually, we found this little sushi place and it was phenomenal. I don't know if I was just starving or if was seriously the best nigiri I've ever had but I was craving it for days after. 

We ordered a couples meal, since it sounded like plenty of food for three people. But then Sarah got up to use the restroom. While she was gone, the waitress brought out the plates of nigiri. Me and Veronica sat for a moment staring from the platters to each other. Then we both said, "I don't want to share." So we ended up each taking a platter and ordering one more for Sarah. 

I don't want to share....

You wanna lose them fingers?

After sushi, we grabbed some honey ice-cream and sat at the beach, enjoying the view of the bridge. Then it was time to head back to Chuncheon. The only shame was that we didn't see more of Busan but I definitely plan to go there again as soon as I get a chance (maybe during a longer weekend). 

Honey ice-cream is the sheesh.