Jalgachi Market - Busan

A couple of weeks ago was Buddha's Birthday. We had a four day weekend and decided to take this golden opportunity to take a trail to Busan, Korea. Alex and I tried getting KTX high speed train tickets a month in advance, but since it was such a busy travel weekend, the tickets were already sold out. So we ended up on the "slow" train, where we traveled just about the length of the country in 5 hours.

When we arrived, we hit the ground running before even going to our hostel. Our first stop was the Busan tower to get a lay of the land. We then headed to the famous Jagalchi Fish Market. We were told it is one of the largest fish markets in Asia. We figured this was as good a place as any to try Sannakji or live octopus. Check out the video. 

The massive building at the bottom is Jagalchi Fish Market 

Hunting it down

Gwangan Bridge

Gwangan Bridge

This is a thing

Please don't eat me. 

She just caught a live fish to show a customer and ask if it will do. Kind of like a bottle of wine at a nice restaurant.

I was taking a picture of the restaurant sign above this couple. They thought I was sneakily taking a picture of them until I pointed above them to the sign. They were cool so I gestured if they wanted me to take a picture of them after all. They complied. I love Koreans. 

Our chef Jacky of Jacky's Seafood. We think this guy may be a celebrity chef. There were pictures of him in the restaurant of him on TV.

We have been waiting for the right time to try Sannakji (live octapus) and what better place than Jagalchi Market? We found this legit looking stall on the 2nd floor of the market called Jacky's Seafood. We told the waitress we'd like Sannakji and she gasped in surprise. I think she thought we were brave for gringos.  It is apparently a dangerous thing to eat because of the suction cups on the tentacles. It is possible for the suction cups to stick to your esophagus on the way down and the heimlich will not help to dislodge them. So, yes. It is possible to die from eating this.

The plate came with a dozen side dishes that filled us up more than we had anticipated. When the Sannakji came, it was squirming all over the plate. It was cut up in small pieces and covered in sesame oil for our safety. As you'll see, it was quite difficult to pick up. 

After getting a grip on it and dipping it in the usual red pepper sauce, it was delicious. It was tender and fun. While chewing, you could feel and hear the suction cups popping like pop rocks. I took my time to make sure I chomped on each suction before attempting to swallow. I would definitely have this again.

Lotus Lantern Festival - Seoul

Saturday April 26th -

I dusted off my nifty fifty low light camera and we headed to Seoul. We had heard that the Lotus Lantern festival was one of the biggest in Seoul and figured we should check it out. There was to be a big parade of more than 100,000 lanterns to celebrate Buddha's birthday.

We headed to Jongo Station and watched the procession march endlessly down Jongo Street. I wasn't sure how interesting it would be, but the scale of it alone was mouth dropping. Also, if you like low light photography, this is the place.

Cherry Blossoms

Spring has sprung in Korea and the cherry blossoms are in full swing this week. We woke up Monday morning to a white christmas. These trees are absolutely everywhere! They seem to be a procession line of happiness on nearly every street. Eat your heart out Washington DC. Every street looks like the walk around the Jefferson Memorial. 

Our street. I didn't have to go far. 

Everyone loves a nice cherry blossom picture. 

Welcome to Korea!

We made it to Korea! Another continent, another year. Alex and I are teaching at a private English school in Suji, a fast growing city 29 km south of Seoul. We work long days with great co-workers and have a pretty sick apartment by any standards. We have a two bedroom with plenty of space in a new building occupied exclusively by the foreign teachers at our school. 

So far, South Korea is a faster and busier lifestyle than that of South America so my posts while I'm here will be fewer but hopefully just as fun. I'll post plenty about the food and deservedly so. The variety, spice, and social aspect of the cuisine here are like that of no other culture I have experienced. The food simply has everything I'm looking for from red chili peppers, to noodles, to garlic and two hour self-cooking bbq sessions. This is going to be fun. 

The people here so far are so incredibly nice and hospitable. Everyone tries to help us even when they don't speak a word of English. This is a culture of respect and one that has quickly earned ours. 

We are very excited for our time here and I'll do my best to chronicle the highlights. 

South American Adventures Slideshow

Months after returning from our trip to South America, I have finally sorted through the more than 8,000 photos I took along the journey. As my first experiment with a slideshow I thought I would pack it full with all the highlights. I narrowed it down to under 500 photos of everything great, from friendly faces, to favorite restaurant experiences, to climbing volcanoes, world wonders and sketchy trips across borders. This has it all. Now all I need is this youtube post to remember the good times in the deep south.

This is incredibly long for a slideshow so I don't expect anyone to watch it all. However, it rather well covers our life from October 2012 to July 2013. Hell, maybe this is more for me than for you, but after spending so much time on it, I may as well share.

Warning: the volume is loud for some reason, so turn down your speakers before playing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40b12qxcEfI

(The Blogger YouTube video upload isn't finding my video so I needed to lamely put a link to the video. No thumbnail. Sorry.)

Huanchaco, Peru

Back on the Pacific!

After our incredible 5 day Salkantay Trek to Machu Pichu, we took the train out of Aguas Calientes, and grabbed a combi back to Cuzco. We spent one night recovering at our hostel and took a night bus to Lima the next evening. We were so exhausted, we thought we'd rest and recover on the trip to the coast. Wrong. The bus ride to Lima was absolutely brutal. It was about 23 hours of slaloming down the mountains to the Pacific. We arrived in Lima the following late afternoon dizzy and groggy and had a mere couple hours until our next overnight bus up the coast to Trujillo. We arrived soon after the sunrise and plurged for a taxi for a 10 minute ride to the beach and Huanchaco. At this point, we were feeling nauseous and weak and beginning to wonder if we'd have the strength to make it to the hostel before we lost it.

We pulled up at My Friend Hostel and arranged for a private room for 10 soles each ($8 total a night for the two of us). We barely made it up the stairs and threw our things on the floor of our room. We were a mess. The good news was we had a private bathroom. The bad news was that the door to this bathroom was like that of a saloon in the wild west that hardly provided us with any privacy from each other during our most ill moments in South America. It was a "bonding experience." Gross. I don't know if it was the rather expensive chicken restaurant we ate at in lima, the bus station meat I ate in Cuzco, the exhaustion and weakness from our 5 day trek, the bobble-headed journey through the mountains with off and on sleep or just the fact that we spent 32 of the last 34 hours on a bus, but we were in rough shape.

It was a solid 2-3 days before we really even left our room for anything other than soup from the kitchen downstairs. When we final emerged to explore our quaint little beach town that recently entered its off-season, we found massive waves and an empty beach.

Fishing is the way of life in Huanchaco. It is known as the birthplace of Ceviche. 

Fisherman in Huanchaco have been using reed boats and nets  for over 3,000 years. On the way back to shore, they would "surf" the waves. Locals claim this makes Huanchaco the birthplace of surfing. 

A fisherman giving a boy some fish

Stormy waters brought massive jellyfish to the beaches. This was the day we were going to take our first surf lesson. No thank you! We postponed a day and waited for the waters to clear. Dozens of these jellyfish were easily visible in the water from the pier. 

Once we had gotten our strength back and there was no sign of jellyfish monsters, we took a surf lesson  at Muchik Surf School. We had heard it was one of the oldest and best surf schools in Huanchaco so we gave it a go. The instructors were great. They took the time to teach us what we needed to know ahead of time and gave us feedback on our form. Once we were out there, they guided us into the waves, told us which waves to take and when to paddle. Alex did great!

Sweet form brah! 

The sun is shinning and the weather is sweet… for surfing

2nd oldest church in Peru!

Waves of Huanchaco

One of the best treats we found in a bakery in all of South America

Cremoladas! Our hostel was known for being the best cremoladas in Peru and we can attest to that. We watched the staff of the hostel make these fresh daily with real fresh fruit, ice and a little sugar. The doorbell of our hostel was ringing non-stop with locals buying cremoladas. 

Best cremoladas ever. Frozen blended fruit snack for 2 soles (80 cents). Notice the massive waves in the background. 

Our amazing hostel by the ocean in Huanchaco. If you find yourself anywhere near Trujillo, Peru, spend a few days at Hospedaje Oceano. Awesome staff, clean room, great prices, fast wifi and did I mention the cremoladas?