I apologize in advance for the less than stellar quality of the pictures...some are just cellphone shots, others were taken with my little Canon G9. It looked like it could rain any minute, plus it was crappy grey overcast/clouds all weekend, so most pictures are completely devoid of decent contrast or saturation. I also haven't had time to process any of these yet, so forgive my crappy horizons and stuff, I'll fix them when I have time and I'll go back to all these places with the real camera one day and replace this photos :)
Anyhoo, I told Des and Dawni that I wanted to see the water in Masan and they were nice enough to go along with my weirdness and we decided to make a day of it. Fun things in Korea...McDonald's delivery (because that's what McD's is lacking back home...)....24/7
I also checked out the bus and train stations for schedules and a rough idea on prices...they're not too bad! Mokpo, a beautiful city on the southwest coast is only about 20k won each way ($18). The Masan train station, like every other major one I've been to here, is pretty modern and very clean:
Coming out of the station:
After we met up, we headed to the Masan Fish Market...where they have every kind of sea creature you can think of, and a ton you've never heard of or seen...most of them are alive and climbing, wriggling, slithering, and flopping around. I assume this has the same effect on some customers as the smell of fresh pizza does on me...the market. Super crowded, you can buy everything from severed and somewhat prepared pig heads to suits (I bought a 1 litre bottle of honey mustard for about $3!):
The pig head (not for the faint of heart...do not click if that sort of stuff bothers you);
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Then we kept walking around until we bumped into the ferry terminal for what used to be known as Pig Island...everyone calls it something else, I'm sticking it Pig Island. It's basically an amusement part on an island in the middle of the bay that is surrounded by Masan, Changwon and Jinhae. It's a wicked place, even now, in the off-season, when it's fairly deserted and everything is closed...the little ferry that takes you to the Island costs about $4.30 both ways, so it's definitely something I plan on doing a few times...with stopping for pictures plenty of times, we walked around the island and up to the top (where they have a REALLY sketchy rollercoaster Des and I have sworn to try) in an hour. It should be a ton of fun when it's all lit up, and crowded with loud carnival music in the summer :)
When you first get off the little ferry:
It reminded me a LOT of being on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco. You take a little ferry from a big city onto this little island that has a "theme" haha...and there's a big bridge in the background...
The pig of Pig Island...with some blossoms and palm trees in the background :)
Masan from Pig Island:
I was beachcombing (yeah, I missed doing that!) and found a starfish! Hoping to send it home to my parents in the near future :)
More from the island...
The little ferry we took there and back:
The boat had an awesome little mascot...it looked like a little Mexican bull-fighter pig...totally appropriate for a ferry in for Korea :D
One of the amusement park rides:
Little bridge and downtown Masan in the background:
Rides waiting for better weather:
Kind of the main area near the mini ferry terminal:
After going back to Masan, we headed to E-Mart where we had dinner...I had bibimbap...veggies, hot rice, raw egg, noodles...delicious...with soup and a ton of side dishes...about $4.50 :D Cheap, healthy, and filling!
Then, after buying some more veggie goodies at E-Mart, we decided to head home...on the way home saw this...looks like a night club:
At the bus stop (where they have these cool signs telling you which bus is how many minutes away:
After much pondering Des and I decided which bus I have to get on...we were right about the number, but wrong about the direction...so my journey home lasted 2 hours...half an hour bus ride in the wrong direction, an hour wait for the next bus in a quiet little (read: boring) neighbourhood of Changwon, then an hour back home (half an hour of which was to get back to where I started haha)...it's okay...I've learned two things...one...since I can now read Hangul well enough, I should put that to good use...I read the bus sign and din't see Chung-ri (or Jung-ri, depending on whom you ask) on it. Still, I figured I'm just missing something or they didn't put it on...I should have walked across the street and checked what they had. Also, I learned how to ask "Is this bus/train going to Jung-ri/Busan/Seoul/whatever?". Very valuable stuff!
On Sunday, I had plans to meet up with Mark, Peter and Brandon, three awesome Yanks, two of whom I've met before. We went into Changwon where Peter and Brandon headed to church and Mark and Daejon (sp?) his little dog that's barely bigger than a hamster :) walked around downtown...Mark showed me an awesome park/man-made lake in the middle of Changwon where they have laser shows at night in the spring/summer/fall! Definitely going back on a warm night :) It was chilly/rainy/overcast, but whatever, it was still a great day :) We were going to look at cherry blossoms, but the weather was so-so at best and the blossoms weren't fully open yet (they're late this year thanks to an unusually cold spring), so we just hung around town. It turns out that all these guys like photography...While we were there, Peter bought a Canon 550D (aka T2i), which, I'm sure you can imagine, was very exciting for me! I started helping him with its use and we'll go shooting some more to familiarize him with the gear. Mark also has a 550D/T2i and Brandon has a Nikon D5000.
After monkeying around in Changwon (and having an awesome/huge buffet lunch), Mark took us on a beautiful scenic route out to a famous little island with a famous little bridge just south of Masan.
Most of the island consists of the bridge and an awesome little coffee shop with amazing views:
On the little footbridge next to that bridge, they have hundreds (thousands?) of locks...I think the idea is generally the same as that place in Italy somewhere where lovers leave locks to symbolize being together forever or something like that... (also...the G9 at f2.8...no creamy 85 1.8-ish bokeh, but not too shabby!)
The view from the bridge:
I have to wrap this up quickly...the boys and I had an awesome time at the coffee place (we were there for hours, sipping hot chocolate and daring each other to chug bitter as hell black tea haha) and I'm definitely looking forward to hanging out with them again!
Okay...that's about it! I have more to talk about, but I have to run off to get...*drum roll* a cellphone! Mark was kind enough to give me a celly he had kicking around (another foreigner's who recently left), so I'm going to get a pay as you go deal and see how it is :)
Thanks for reading! Catch you soon :)
T
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