Friday was a betty boop polka dotted shorts and yellow polo kinda day. :) I decided to head over to the 101 building for a sky high view of the city in the morning. It is the second tallest building in the world or something crazy like that! And the elevator goes 89 floors in 37 seconds. Woah is right!
Yes, my ears did pop 2 or 3 times on the way up and down. xD
The view was nice, though kinda hazy. I didn't stay long, as it's just a building with a high view (let's be honest here!), but I did mail my Dad a postcard from there. He now has one from me while in the N.Seoul Tower building and the 101 building. :) I like to think he really enjoys getting little surprises like that when I can.
I made my way back to the hostel to grab some cash before walking down the street to find a quick bite to eat for lunch. I ended up choosing freshly steamed dumplings from a street vendor, and boy am I glad I did! They were delicious and the best dumplings I've ever had! On Nom Nom!!! I also bought some milk tea, but it tasted gross to me sadly. :( After eating on the steps of the subway station, I boarded my first of 3 trains heading towards the coast. It was a 45 minute ride in total, but all above ground offering this great view of the city, mountains and surrounding landscape as we moved. I was in heaven! I listened to my music and snapped photos for the whole ride, taking in the breathtaking scenery. Semi run down buildings stand close together with wide, open streets running between them. Dark, mysterious mountains lie in the distance, half shrouded in storm coulds and fog. It is such a beautiful country really.
I disembarked at the last station and caught the bus to the fishermans wharf. It was a great board walk area with a little bridge and local shops. I strolled along, enjoying the ocean air against my skin again and smiling at the calm joy within. I sat and enjoyed a mango/passion fruit smoothie (yum!) while sketching the bridge into my sketchbook. I then thought, "Well, the sunsets from here are suppossed to be spectacular, and I still have an hour, so let's see if we can find the beach nearby." What the hey right? So, doing what I do best, I start walking. I walked out to the main road, turned left, and walked until I saw a small tiny trail that looked good. After coming away from the trees and bushes, I stumble upon a white sand beach with a stretch of black/grey rocks between the sand and ocean. The water had receeded and you could walk among/on the rocks out to the water. There were maybe 3 or 4 people there, all far away, and I was able to enjoy this isolated beutiful beach during sunset almost completely isolated. It was a dream come true, similar to my field of flowers. Only this wasn't tainted by other people nearby. It was mine, my moment, my space in time to enjoy the beauty of God's work and reflect on how lucky I am. Love captured in a moment. Joy.
I decided after the sun had set to grab a quick meal, snap some photos of the bridge and surrounding area at night before making the journey back home. (It was also at this point that I had to super glue the heel of my shoe back on, as playing on the rocks destoryed it! Woops! xD )
A shower and outfit change later, I'm excitedly exiting the subway and making the short walk to the Friday night dance in Taipei! The directions looked simple enough- walk straight, turn right at the first intersection, and it was on the corner of the second block. Easy pesy right?
Wrong.
I walked to the end of the block, turn right and walk straight. I reach the end of the block, cross the street and continue to the light of the next street. I double check the name of the street, expecting to see the name of the road it's suppossed to be. Red flag! It's not the road I need! I had somehow walked past it. I double back and see a small sign between two buildings, so I follow it around. It's at this point that I take my headphones out and see people milling around in this retaurant type place. I decide to go in and see if maybe that was the location. After wandering around for half a minute looking dazed and confused, I open a door and try to walk into the bar area. A girl stops me and says the dance is NT$350. Yay! I found it!
The lesson wasn't over and I didn't know anyone, so I plopped a seat at the bar, ordered myself an apple juice, and just watched. The lesson ended around 10:15ish, and the live band began. Oh yeah, it was wonderful! I was itching to dance honestly, so when I saw guy standing on the edge of the floor doing some low key charleston moves, I asked him to dance. No one else was dancing, and it was a small room with a small floor. The 9 member band played a semi-fast song for us that lasted probably 5 or 6 minutes, but it was awesome!!! We had the floor to ourselves, and I found out later that he has been dancing for 10+ years. No wonder he was so good and he had moves I didn't know! He asked me to dance again, to which I happily replied yes! That night, when I wasn't dancing, I was talking to someone new who approached me! Way to go Taipei! I meet and talked with more people from the Taipei scene in that single night then I did in the first four months of being at the Seoul swing scene I think. It's a little sad, but Koreans are very shy and nervous to speak in English. That night, the scene celebrated two birthdays, had one semi-jam circle (it only half formed for part of a song, lol), and a random chorus line form which I was part of! While small and young, I would definitely rate this is a must on any dancers travel list. :D
The next day I wandered around a local area that Akira recommended to me, which was really nice. It was simply a downtown local area where kids go to play in water, new bridal couples get photos taken, and river front access with one of the bridges there. I didn't stay long, as I wanted to go to the National Palace Museum, and planned on coming back later. Since it was around 1, I figured it was a good time to grab food. After wandering around, I found a tiny hole in the wall vegetarian place on a back street. Despite it's location, I was surrounded by locals sitting down and served a delicious meal of noodles with veggies and marina type sauce. Yum!
Okay, the National Palace Museum. It houses the largest collection of Chinese art in the world. I will be the first to admit that I am a huge geek for museums. When my ex took me to the Chicago Museum of Art, I was in 7th heaven- literally nearly running from one piece of art to another the entire 3 hours we were there. So naturally, being the nerdy, geeky, museum loving girl I am, I was excited! By day 3 though, my legs were sore from 2 days straight of walking for about 10 hrs/day, and my heels hurt so bad walking down stairs that I limped. Therefore, my ability to stand for long periods of time, and my patience of slowly strolling through a large, crowded museum was near 0. I breezed through that place, WAY faster then I should have! It just didn't have anything I enjoyed as an artist (mostly pottery, glaze work). The few rooms with religious relics and calligraphy were my favorites, and I spent the most time there. There was this crazy long line on the top floor to see some famous jade piece, and when I saw it, I laughed and turned around to start leaving the museum. I was done, and I knew it. While unquestioningly it is an excellent collection, it was not for me. If I had come on a weekday when it was less crowded, I was less tired, I might have enjoyed it more. But alas, I did not. I came on a Saturday at the end of a 3 days straight self-walking tour of Taipei! I rate it highly, but would change when I go next time around. Don't miss the gardens right next to it though, they are simply beautful and a great stroll with to enjoy the fresh air afterwards! I spent a fair amount of time there honestly- what can I say? I love nature!
After a meal at a local restaurant (first sit down meal the entire trip!), some night shots of the bridge and a shower, I collapsed onto the couch and wandered around facebook for a while. I ended my time in Taiwan by enjoying a fun conversation with Akira, a guy from Hong Kong, and a guy from Malaysia! I felt like an intellectual, discussing everything from daily life, language differences, to huge political issues, current events, and our opinions of various countries. You can't experience things like this anywhere else, and I felt very blessed to be able to participate in this modern day salon. People say the US is a melting pot, but I gotta tell ya, I have meet more people from various parts of the world at hostels and international lindy events that I ever have in the US. Truely amazing way to end my time.
Sunday morning I said goodbye to this country, and begin making plans for when I could come back next to visit and teach for a few months. Current list of countries I want to live in: 7. Number I have succeeded in living in: 2 (soon to be 3). :)
Taiwan, I grossly underestimated how amazing you are! I apologize from the bottom of my heart! Sitting on the plan Wednesday evening, all I could think was how I wished the plan was going to Cambodia (that country stole my heart). But now that I have seen and experienced your beauty for myself, I can honestly say that you are the best kept secret I've stumbled across so far. I imagine that there are tons more still to be discovered, but I am patient and they're not going anywhere. No need to rush life.
和平，爱，& 摇摆舞
丽塔
Seoul, South Korea
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Taipei Getaway
When my coteacher told me last week that I had off May 23-May 28th last week, I was so excited. I jumped on my trusted flight search site, looked for the cheapest flights, and found ones for Taipei, Taiwan were super cheap. Done! After booking my hostel and finding out where swing dancing was in the city, I didn't really bother with more. It wasn't until Tuesday night that I finally sat down and made a list of things I wanted to see and do. Completely different from how I normally do things! Rather thrilling and exciting honestly!
After I landed, I got directions for which bus to take and was on my way to Taipei! I felt incredibly awesome to be honest, as buses terrify me, and I can't read or speak a lick of Chinese. Yeah, strange, I know. The bus driver was incredibly nice and came to get me when we reached the stop I needed though. I was able to find the MTR, which is the local subway system, and reach my hostel around 10pm. (The entrance to the hostel is literally just a door between two stores. It was deceptively hard to find at first!) I immediately learned that the woman working the desk had chosen Rita as her English name! How crazy is that! I also learned tonight that her favorite dog is the corgi!!! (for those of you who don't know, that's mine too!) I spent the evening talking with some of the other guests, and it felt really awesome. Last night I meet, two Taiwanese women working at the hostel who can both speak English, an American, a Korean who speak a tiny bit of English and fair amount of Chinese, a Japanese who speak Chinese and English, and a Chinese who speaks English. Wow! Man, I am slacking! I gotta get my learning on and pick up at least one language!!! (I think that will be my intellectual goal for the remainder of the year.) I knew this place was really going to be awesome though when, after dropping my things off and settling in on the couch, Rita 1 (the hostel Rita. I am Rita 2.) walked in saying, "Girl time!" while carrying two different nail polishes. xD Oh yeah, I love this place! After hanging out for a little while and speaking with one of the women on places to visit, I crawled into bed and gratefully drifted off to sleep.
Today I headed out to explore the city. Starting with Longshan Temple across the city, I slowly began to explore the lower corner of Taipei. The temple was beautiful, intricately detailed and heavily populated with believers coming to worship. Though not very big, definitely a must-see of the city! I decided I wanted to try and see the river, so being the crazy foreigner that I am, I began to walk towards the water front! Keep in mind, I'm one of maybe 5 white Europeans I've seen all day, and a female, walking alone in a part of Taipei I bet no foreigners ever go to. It was around this time that I began to notice the stares that wouldn't end until I returned to my hostel this evening. Sadly I couldn't figure out how to reach the river, and I was beginning to feel nervous being so far out honestly after a while. So, I found a little place on the side of the street for lunch, got this strange, yet deliciously warm, sandwich thing (I was craving street food, what can I say!) before meandering back to the subway. I explored Chian Kia Sheck Memorial Hall and sat in the shade of a small park nearby sketching one of the pretty trees. (By the way, London isn't the only city with soldiers who stand still! There were two soldiers at the entrance to the main building. They were so still, I couldn't even tell if they were real at first- dead serious! Even their eyes didn't move from what I could tell! As I was leaving, I saw a man walk over, remove the rope blocking one of the soldiers off, and pull his uniform straight for him. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.)
Seeing as how it was crazy hot, I went back to the hostel for a break. I was invited by Kang to join her and Akira for dinner and shopping at 6pm. What the hey, why not?! Since there was still 2 hours, I hopped on a bus and explored an old soldier village near Taipei Building 101. It was delightfully pretty there. Surrounding the area are modern buildings, with the 101 building looming just a block away, creating this really neat contrast between city and country. The area wasn't very big, you could walk through and around the whole place in less then 10 minutes probably. It's replicated to look like an old soldiers village, just scaled down I think. There were buildings, most of them empty though and only for appearance. There was wonderfully grassy areas, big looming trees, and really pretty flowers surrounding the buildings, each with its own brightly colored door. :) I even saw not one, but three Taiwanese woman all dressed up in gowns getting professional photo shoots done too. It was kinda cool. I've now seen wedding or engagement photo shoots in Angkor Wat, Cambodia; Hoi An, Vietnam; and Taipei, Taiwan! xD Something rather awesome about that! I tried to check out the 101 building, but the wait was 40 minutes, and I wanted to get back and take a shower before dinner. So I have left that for another day instead.
On my way back to the hostel, I found a butterfly on the sidewalk. I thought it might be dead at first, but it turned out to be alive and merely needed a little help. I took it to the side, where it could be protected from the wind a little, and passerby's shoes. It struggled for a few, crawled around on my hand before gaining enough strength to fly away. I don't now what it is about butterflies, but they seem to like me. ^.^
A mini self photo shoot, bus, and shower later, I joined Kang (a Korean woman visiting Taipei) and Akira (a Japanese guy studying Chinese here) for dinner at the local night market. (Though I didn't know we were going there at first. I didn't know what we were doing or where we going at all I must admit) It was really funny watching them speak to each other. They communicated through Chinese, seemed to argue every 5 minutes, and would occasionally remember I was there. I didn't mind, and just enjoyed the company. We idly walked the small night market nearby. I stood as they argued for about 3 minutes over whether to eat at one open aired buffet style restaurant. Something about traveling reduces my irritation level to near 0, so I found it entirely amusing. We finally decided to eat there, and it was good. On our walk back, I got some fresh squeezed orange juice (literally, I watched them grab oranges, cut them in half, squeeze the orange juice out and pour the juice in a cup!) and Kang got some fresh fruit. We all shared the fruit, so it was a yummy way to end the evening!
Tomorrow, I think I'll go to the Taipai 101 building and then explore the fisherman's wharf. In the evening, swing dancing! :D
Fantastico! Me gusta bailar!
(Some Chinese girl just walked behind me and showed me on skype to her Mom. Weird . . . and slightly funny . . . I think she's only late teens, wayyyyy early 20's at best.)
Alright, I'm out. After walking for nearly 10 hours today, I need some rest!
Peace, Love, and Traveling,
Rita
After I landed, I got directions for which bus to take and was on my way to Taipei! I felt incredibly awesome to be honest, as buses terrify me, and I can't read or speak a lick of Chinese. Yeah, strange, I know. The bus driver was incredibly nice and came to get me when we reached the stop I needed though. I was able to find the MTR, which is the local subway system, and reach my hostel around 10pm. (The entrance to the hostel is literally just a door between two stores. It was deceptively hard to find at first!) I immediately learned that the woman working the desk had chosen Rita as her English name! How crazy is that! I also learned tonight that her favorite dog is the corgi!!! (for those of you who don't know, that's mine too!) I spent the evening talking with some of the other guests, and it felt really awesome. Last night I meet, two Taiwanese women working at the hostel who can both speak English, an American, a Korean who speak a tiny bit of English and fair amount of Chinese, a Japanese who speak Chinese and English, and a Chinese who speaks English. Wow! Man, I am slacking! I gotta get my learning on and pick up at least one language!!! (I think that will be my intellectual goal for the remainder of the year.) I knew this place was really going to be awesome though when, after dropping my things off and settling in on the couch, Rita 1 (the hostel Rita. I am Rita 2.) walked in saying, "Girl time!" while carrying two different nail polishes. xD Oh yeah, I love this place! After hanging out for a little while and speaking with one of the women on places to visit, I crawled into bed and gratefully drifted off to sleep.
Today I headed out to explore the city. Starting with Longshan Temple across the city, I slowly began to explore the lower corner of Taipei. The temple was beautiful, intricately detailed and heavily populated with believers coming to worship. Though not very big, definitely a must-see of the city! I decided I wanted to try and see the river, so being the crazy foreigner that I am, I began to walk towards the water front! Keep in mind, I'm one of maybe 5 white Europeans I've seen all day, and a female, walking alone in a part of Taipei I bet no foreigners ever go to. It was around this time that I began to notice the stares that wouldn't end until I returned to my hostel this evening. Sadly I couldn't figure out how to reach the river, and I was beginning to feel nervous being so far out honestly after a while. So, I found a little place on the side of the street for lunch, got this strange, yet deliciously warm, sandwich thing (I was craving street food, what can I say!) before meandering back to the subway. I explored Chian Kia Sheck Memorial Hall and sat in the shade of a small park nearby sketching one of the pretty trees. (By the way, London isn't the only city with soldiers who stand still! There were two soldiers at the entrance to the main building. They were so still, I couldn't even tell if they were real at first- dead serious! Even their eyes didn't move from what I could tell! As I was leaving, I saw a man walk over, remove the rope blocking one of the soldiers off, and pull his uniform straight for him. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.)
Seeing as how it was crazy hot, I went back to the hostel for a break. I was invited by Kang to join her and Akira for dinner and shopping at 6pm. What the hey, why not?! Since there was still 2 hours, I hopped on a bus and explored an old soldier village near Taipei Building 101. It was delightfully pretty there. Surrounding the area are modern buildings, with the 101 building looming just a block away, creating this really neat contrast between city and country. The area wasn't very big, you could walk through and around the whole place in less then 10 minutes probably. It's replicated to look like an old soldiers village, just scaled down I think. There were buildings, most of them empty though and only for appearance. There was wonderfully grassy areas, big looming trees, and really pretty flowers surrounding the buildings, each with its own brightly colored door. :) I even saw not one, but three Taiwanese woman all dressed up in gowns getting professional photo shoots done too. It was kinda cool. I've now seen wedding or engagement photo shoots in Angkor Wat, Cambodia; Hoi An, Vietnam; and Taipei, Taiwan! xD Something rather awesome about that! I tried to check out the 101 building, but the wait was 40 minutes, and I wanted to get back and take a shower before dinner. So I have left that for another day instead.
On my way back to the hostel, I found a butterfly on the sidewalk. I thought it might be dead at first, but it turned out to be alive and merely needed a little help. I took it to the side, where it could be protected from the wind a little, and passerby's shoes. It struggled for a few, crawled around on my hand before gaining enough strength to fly away. I don't now what it is about butterflies, but they seem to like me. ^.^
A mini self photo shoot, bus, and shower later, I joined Kang (a Korean woman visiting Taipei) and Akira (a Japanese guy studying Chinese here) for dinner at the local night market. (Though I didn't know we were going there at first. I didn't know what we were doing or where we going at all I must admit) It was really funny watching them speak to each other. They communicated through Chinese, seemed to argue every 5 minutes, and would occasionally remember I was there. I didn't mind, and just enjoyed the company. We idly walked the small night market nearby. I stood as they argued for about 3 minutes over whether to eat at one open aired buffet style restaurant. Something about traveling reduces my irritation level to near 0, so I found it entirely amusing. We finally decided to eat there, and it was good. On our walk back, I got some fresh squeezed orange juice (literally, I watched them grab oranges, cut them in half, squeeze the orange juice out and pour the juice in a cup!) and Kang got some fresh fruit. We all shared the fruit, so it was a yummy way to end the evening!
Tomorrow, I think I'll go to the Taipai 101 building and then explore the fisherman's wharf. In the evening, swing dancing! :D
Fantastico! Me gusta bailar!
(Some Chinese girl just walked behind me and showed me on skype to her Mom. Weird . . . and slightly funny . . . I think she's only late teens, wayyyyy early 20's at best.)
Alright, I'm out. After walking for nearly 10 hours today, I need some rest!
Peace, Love, and Traveling,
Rita
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Late night writings
Sweet honest girl,
Learn to play the game.
Sweet honest girl,
You'll never be the same.
Naive blue eyes,
See the world all wrong.
Naive blue eyes,
Unsure where you belong.
Kind gentle one,
You don't understand.
Kind gentle one,
This is no dreamland.
Jaded girl, wise;
Let me in your heart.
Jaded girl, wise;
I'll be your fresh start.
---
Wary rabbit,
Always on my mind.
Wary rabbit,
It's you I long to find.
Woman misused,
Don't run in fear.
Woman misused,
Come close to me, near.
Long-distance friend,
Missing you always.
Long-distance friend,
My heart never strays.
Graceful, confused;
Let us meet tonight.
Graceful, confused;
In dreams, we hold tight.
------
Texted someone, and something they said inspired me. I haven't written a poem in years, but this just kinda came to me. I'm not very good with poems, but this seemed to flow. So I didn't fight it.
I realized tonight that when you find someone you don't mind waiting for, you know you've found someone worth waiting for.
-----
Life in Korea has been good this semester. Daily life is going well, I'm having troubles with my co-teacher, but that's normal at this point. Bible study has ended, but my group continues to meet up anyways. Having some troubles with a friend, but hopefully we'll pull through and salvage our friendship somehow. A friend from back in the states may be coming to visit, and I'm really hoping he decides to! It would be awesome to have a friend come here!!! Uhm, let's see, what else . . . Oh! I went swing dancing both Wednesday and Friday this week! It was great! I danced almost the entire time both nights! Though I found out from a guy friend that it's probably because the guys all find me attractive or something based on the shirts I wear. They're normal western shirts, but no one shows anything below their collar bones here really, or shoulders for that matter. And I do, so my normal shirts back home are a little scandalous maybe here. :/ Oh well.
I think the best way to understand the clash of Western vs. Easter culture is by describing a comic he told me about:
On the left side of the panel is a Korean woman. She is dressed in a high cut shirt, short mini skirt and heals. On the right is a Western/American woman wearing jeans and a tank top. A thought bubble coming from both of them, meets at the top of the panel and says "Whore".
In the west, it's okay to show upper torso skin, cleavage and bra straps. In the east, it's okay to show leg, butt and even panties. Just differences in culture.
I think it's interesting honestly, wonder how the differences came about.
Alright, bed time over here. Hope everyone is doing well.
Love you,
Rita
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Busan? Pusan? Who cares, it's a beach!
Last week was very stressful for me. I don't know if my hormones decided to just mess with me for the fun of it, or what, but by Friday afternoon, I was ready to pop. Thank goodness I had plans to go down south with my friend Sam for the weekend! One city that my friends and I had all wanted to go was a beach town called Busan (or Pusan, depending upon where you look). Since my one friends folks are in town for three weeks, she told us she planned to go down with them. So Sam and I decided we'll go by ourselves, no biggy. (Later we found out that she had decided to go down the same weekend as us! At first we thought this was great news, but later found the opposite to be true sadly.) Sam and I meet up, grabbed some food, and took the slightly slower train down to Busan. While it was only 5 hours, the ride felt like it took forever, mostly because we would stop every 30 min or so and people stood in the aisle. Poor Sam kept getting hit with bags since she was in the aisle seat. We finally dragged our very tired bodies off the train around 11pm, found a taxi, then walked from the subway stop to our hostel. After 12 failed attempts at contacting our friend to get our room key, she finally woke up enough to hand us our key. Not gonna lie, we were kinda freaking out.
Despite sleeping in till 9am, we both felt really tired and I know I was incapable of a real conversation until Sam got some tea in me. We (sort of, but not really) made lunch plan with our friend and her folks before we went off to a water temple. It was pretty, but most temples look the same after a while, so didn't spend long walking around there. There was a pretty area where you could sit on rocks and overlook the ocean right next to the temple though. So we hung out there for a while, Sam just relaxing and me drawing. A taxi brought us back to town where we had Mexican with our friend and her folks, which was fine. They went off to a soccer game while we went to the beach!
Ahhhh, the beach. I never imagined that I would miss something I felt so ambivalent towards growing up. There's something calming, soothing and reminiscent of home about a beach now. We just chilled on the steps, taking pictures, people watching, and talking. We walked around, watched an amature dance competition, then walked around a park area. We saw a mermaid statue and lighthouse! :) There was also a fun suspended bridge on the walk, I wish the whole thing was made that way! We found a cafe afterwards and (accidentally!) listened in on a conversation next to us, talking about their conversation on Kakao. Now before you judge us, we live in Seoul, where we never hear English. When we do, we both still whip around and look for the person speaking in English. It's so rare, that we are caught off guard understanding others. So when this guy was speaking in Englilsh Right Next To Us, we couldn't help but listen! Yeah, I know, weak defense. Whatever. :P Afterwards we read on the beach before meeting up with our friend and her folks. We walked around one of the largest department stores in the world, enjoyed grass on the roof (no seriously, the roof was covered in grass! I did cartwheels!), before parting ways to find dinner. (I'm sorry to say, after parting ways, Sam and I were feeling all the more frustrated with our friend than ever. I won't go into all of the details, but basically she has stopped communicating with us, making planning very difficult to do.)
After a delicious meal at Outback, we grabbed tea and basically sat in the common room at the hostel to read for a while. We tried to wake up for the sunrise, but we either missed it or couldn't see it because of the hill. We weren't sure, but neither of us were pleased. We made the hour ride back to the KTX station, walked around an outside market with our friend and her folks, and then grabbed lunch before going home. I discovered that trains put me to sleep really fast!
All in all, it wasn't a bad trip. Just not as smooth or enjoyable as I was hoping.
Sam and I are planning a trip to Puerto Princesa, Philippines in late June, and we're both really excited! We're also looking in going to the World Expo/World Fair in Yeosu, Ulsan and then Jeju before I leave in August. See my lovely maps? Red stars are places I've been, blue are ones that I plan on going to within the next year or so. :)
Gotta stay positive, life isn't always going to be sunshine and cotton candy you know.
Love,
Rita
Despite sleeping in till 9am, we both felt really tired and I know I was incapable of a real conversation until Sam got some tea in me. We (sort of, but not really) made lunch plan with our friend and her folks before we went off to a water temple. It was pretty, but most temples look the same after a while, so didn't spend long walking around there. There was a pretty area where you could sit on rocks and overlook the ocean right next to the temple though. So we hung out there for a while, Sam just relaxing and me drawing. A taxi brought us back to town where we had Mexican with our friend and her folks, which was fine. They went off to a soccer game while we went to the beach!
Ahhhh, the beach. I never imagined that I would miss something I felt so ambivalent towards growing up. There's something calming, soothing and reminiscent of home about a beach now. We just chilled on the steps, taking pictures, people watching, and talking. We walked around, watched an amature dance competition, then walked around a park area. We saw a mermaid statue and lighthouse! :) There was also a fun suspended bridge on the walk, I wish the whole thing was made that way! We found a cafe afterwards and (accidentally!) listened in on a conversation next to us, talking about their conversation on Kakao. Now before you judge us, we live in Seoul, where we never hear English. When we do, we both still whip around and look for the person speaking in English. It's so rare, that we are caught off guard understanding others. So when this guy was speaking in Englilsh Right Next To Us, we couldn't help but listen! Yeah, I know, weak defense. Whatever. :P Afterwards we read on the beach before meeting up with our friend and her folks. We walked around one of the largest department stores in the world, enjoyed grass on the roof (no seriously, the roof was covered in grass! I did cartwheels!), before parting ways to find dinner. (I'm sorry to say, after parting ways, Sam and I were feeling all the more frustrated with our friend than ever. I won't go into all of the details, but basically she has stopped communicating with us, making planning very difficult to do.)
After a delicious meal at Outback, we grabbed tea and basically sat in the common room at the hostel to read for a while. We tried to wake up for the sunrise, but we either missed it or couldn't see it because of the hill. We weren't sure, but neither of us were pleased. We made the hour ride back to the KTX station, walked around an outside market with our friend and her folks, and then grabbed lunch before going home. I discovered that trains put me to sleep really fast!
All in all, it wasn't a bad trip. Just not as smooth or enjoyable as I was hoping.
Sam and I are planning a trip to Puerto Princesa, Philippines in late June, and we're both really excited! We're also looking in going to the World Expo/World Fair in Yeosu, Ulsan and then Jeju before I leave in August. See my lovely maps? Red stars are places I've been, blue are ones that I plan on going to within the next year or so. :)
Gotta stay positive, life isn't always going to be sunshine and cotton candy you know.
Love,
Rita
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