Korea: dressing up, Busan, bridges and tunnels, shipyards, Geoje

Korean girls dressed in traditional clothes

Thursday, 28 May 2015:

We left the cool arty Mini hotel in Gyeongju where we had spent 2 nites. When Peter asked the manager for help with a phonecall to the Avis office in Soeul, he mentioned he spoke better German than English. He liked to practice his German with us it seemed. 

We passed a new Hannok hotel at the outskirts of Gyengju and couldn't resist to have a look. I put some traditional Korean outfits on for fun and I wasn't the only one ^-^ 

always fun dressing up

After a while we arrived in Busan, the second largest city of Korea.

We started in the east where the beach is and the posh hotels, restaurants and bars are. All these impressive skyscrapers, wow.

On a terrace in the harbour we had a fish & chips (yeah 'patatjes') accompanied by two great beers; one of them was a Paulaner a German white, which was in contrast to the Hoegaerde white beer, rather expensive, but tasted great

the beach of Busan not yet so busy in May

 

online with wifi of the hotel nearby

fish and chips lunch at Fingers & Chat in Busan

the remains 

The get to our next stop; the Radiance hotel in Geoje (an island near Busan), we passed a lot of bridges and tunnels. Interesting trip as we saw enormous shipyards. Korea is the worlds leading ship builder.

photos made from a driving car

view from our balcony at the Radiance hotel in Deokpo

taste of a 'real' beer at the cafe of the Radiance hotel

the best Bibimbap we had until now in Okpo

view on the shipyard of DSME

We had bought some drinks in Okpo which we wanted to consume on our balcony. Yeah, this evening we have a cool room WITH a balcony at the 6th floor with seaview. 

However, I (Carina) was so silly to close the balcony door at a certain moment. Arghhh we were stuck. Luckily Peter had his mobile phone and we could call the hotel. The receptionist understood English (phew) and came up to our room and saved us. 

Korea: An umbrella against the sun - Hahoe Folk Village (Day 14)

Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Sooo warm here (> 30 degrees C), that we used our umbrella against the sun. 

Today we visited the Hahoe Folk Village: an ancient Korean village in traditional style, which is still inhabited. Hahoe Folk Village is situated in the neighbourhood of Andong. On the premises is the Hahoedong Mask Museum situated, which pleasantly surprised us because of their large interesting collection of masks from all around the world. 

After our extensive visit we drove to our next destination: the Mini Hotel in Gyeongju. A very nice new modern/minimalistic/arty hotel which gives great value for money. Only negative thing is the too hard mattress. 

'Vincent Van Gogh sceneries'

at the entrance of the Hahoe village

I wrote down two wishes on thin rice paper and hung them on the 600 year old zelkova tree, that is said to be inhabited by the Goddess Samsin. Now lets hope they come true.

inhabitants of the village

Yeongmogak house in the village houses a small but interesting museum about the origin of the village.

too funny

After a short bus trip back to the entrance, we visited the mask museum. It was bloody hot and we were glad to be able to take the bus as was this little girl.

In the evening we had a nice very typical Korean dinner; bibimbap. Bibimbap consists of rice, fresh vegetables and a fried egg in the middle. Very tasty. 

 

After dinner a stroll in the park where the tumuli are. Lovely serene atmosphere.