부산 Busan

Korea's second-largest city lies just across the Tsushima Strait from Japan. Busan is famous for its beaches and seafood. This dish is called Ho-eh, but its difficult to pronounce. Imagine you were Canadian, but added the pretentious 'wh-' sound to beginning of 'eh?" Or, you could just read it in Korean as '회.'

I believe Busan's relationship with Seoul is similar to that of Osaka and Tokyo. The people of Busan have a different dialect (사투리) and seem to have a different culture from those in Seoul. As opposed to many people from the countryside these days, Busanians are proud of where they come from. Let's take a look at some pictures!

Inside Shinsegae Department store with my friend Hyeona from Busan.

Inside Shinsegae Department store is an ice rink!

In front of the largest department store in the world, Shinsegae in Busan.

Busan is a port city and it has a lovely seaside atmosphere. I enjoyed the green mountains and the turquoise sea. The feel of the wind and the colors of the city reminded me of Okinawa.

It was near here that the UN troops were able to hold out against the North Korean Army, saving Korea from unification under Kim Il Sung.

Thank you, Eunyeong, for this meal!

Hi there! I'm back to show you what spring looked like in Seoul this year.

At the moment it's humid and almost 30 degrees, so looking at these photos makes me a little nostalgic for these days in April.

The view from Namsan (남산). This mountain is just north of the Han River (한강) and overlooks the heart of Seoul.

On top of Namsan, there is Seoul Tower. I've never been to the top, but I hear it's good to go at night.

As you can see, this was a little earlier on in the day, when we started climbing from Myeongdong to the top of Namsan. The cherry trees were still blossoming at this time in April.

The only picture from my trip to Chuncheon (춘천), capital of Gangwon-do. It might be most famous for talk-kalbi (닭갈비), which is what you see in the picture. "Talk" means chicken and kalbi/galbi we discussed before. As you can see, it is cooked on a big metal plate and you just eat directly from it with your chopsticks.

Ichon (이촌), where the National Museum is, lies just north of the Han River. It had some great examples of cherry trees outside of the local elementary and middle schools.