Busan Holiday: Day #1

To celebrate our spring break, our family spent Monday - Wednesday in the beautiful seaside city of Busan. Boasting the best beaches in Korea, it is also home to Korea's biggest port. With about 3 million residents, it is a large city and there were a lot of fun things to do and see. As soon as we got off our train, we explored the Jagalchi Fish Market (home to some pretty amazing, bizarre and beautiful fish) and the Gukje (Foreigner's) Market. Then we were ready for the beach and, while it is too early to swim in the ocean, it was a perfect afternoon for flying kites and walking in the sand. Haeundae Beach is large and long, sweeping at both ends to create a cove-like effect. At night a nearby bridge (Gwangan Grand Bridge which is, indeed, grand and massive) lights up and provides a pretty destination for an evening stroll.

Busan Holiday: Day #2

Our second day in Busan featured weather that was quite blustery and chilly. Undaunted, we braved the wind and waves to enjoy a boat cruise out around some beautiful islands in the bay. Hannah and Brian even managed to stay on the upper deck for the duration of our time on the water, which was impressive! We spent our afternoon at the Busan Aquarium, marveling at God's amazing creative hand. Creatures such as upside-down jellyfish and the leafy sea dragon (a type of sea horse) were incredible and beautiful, and the large shark tank was fantastic, especially when we walked through the large glass tunnel that allowed us to see the sharks swimming overhead. Very cool. A little time on the beach and dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant finished off a wonderful day.

Busan Holiday: Day #3

On day three of our Busan adventure we explored a Buddhist temple along the coast (Haedong Yonggungsa Temple), about 15-20 minutes away from Hauendae Beach and our hotel. It was a spectacular location and the temple itself had quite an interesting story: it was originally built in the 1300s in honour of a Boddhivista who had a special relationship with the sea (legend has it she would retreat to a seaside location and ride a dragon while there; hence, the temple had a lot of dragon/sea serpent imagery, which was quite fascinating). A long walk on the beach and out to the point consumed our afternoon, and as evening approached we boarded the train back to Daejeon. What a great little seaside holiday!

A Night on the Town...

On Friday night, as Hannah and Cora walked over to the school for a youth group "lock-in" event (a sleepover with lots of games and activities and food), Brian, Rebecca and I took a taxi over to a place called Rodeotown for dinner and a movie. We saw Amazing Grace, the movie that chronicles William Wilberforce's passionate work to end slavery in Britain and its colonies in the 1800s. If you haven't seen it, it is a fantastic movie (a great web site to check out is www.amazingchange.com; this site honours Wilberforce's work and challenges us to examine issues of modern-day slavery). On the way home we rode in a taxi that had the most amazing surround system imaginable. Combined with the computer/DVD player/TV screen/GPS device on the dashboard, this taxi provided an entertaining journey back to our apartment!

Dr. Fish in Daejeon...

On Wednesday the TCIS high school newspaper class (20 students plus me, LeeAnne, as the staff advisor) went on a little adventure to conduct some field research across town. After Brian's experience with Dr. Fish at the men's retreat, we decided one of the staff reporters should write an article about the whole phenomenon for the next issue of The Golden Dragon. Lo and behold, we found out a Dr. Fish pool had just opened in Daejeon. So on Wednesday at lunch the whole crew hopped on a bus to find out just what the Dr. Fish experience is like. We spent about 25 minutes with our feet in and out of the water, with students shrieking and laughing with wild abandon. The idea is that the fish eat the dead skin off your feet, which apparently is healthy and good for you. I could not get past how ticklish it felt when the fish were nibbling away, and could only force myself to keep my feet in the water for about 30 seconds at a time (laughing hysterically the whole time, of course!). It was a fun field trip, and I'm looking forward to the article that will be finished next week!

Downtown Daejeon... you never know what you'll see!

Clowns on stilts, bears taking a break on a department store bench, a Korean warrior peddling goods... the downtown shopping area of Daejeon is a lot of fun, and there are always new and exciting things to see there. Add shopping at stores with "Soup" in their names, that sell "performance feminist fashion", into the mix and you've got an excellent afternoon!

Adventures Downtown...

On Saturday afternoon Brian and I wandered around downtown for a few hours, enjoying the old market and buying some fresh cilantro at a new World Foods store that just opened. We really cannot express how happy we are to know we can buy fresh cilantro in Daejeon!! In fact, Brian is making a favourite cilantro-heavy dish right now (a Portuguese soup with tonnes of cilantro and garlic - yummy!).

A weekend in Hong Kong...

This past weekend I (LeeAnne) was blessed with a trip to Hong Kong to attend an IB conference. I had lots of time to explore Hong Kong, as well, as I flew in early on Thursday and the conference didn't begin until Friday morning. And the evenings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday offered more excellent opportunities for exploring. Hong Kong is so vibrant and cosmopolitan! It reminded me a little of Toronto, except it is much more densely populated and the British and Chinese elements are (of course!) exceptionally evident. I guess it was kind of like a super-sized British/Asian Toronto, and it was wonderful.

The Bird Market...

There is this crazy place in Hong Kong called the Bird Market, where hundreds of birds (of various sizes, breeds and colours) are offered up for sale. Cage upon cage of exotic and beautiful birds line small alleys and open spaces, along with all kinds of bird paraphernalia, from cages of all types to bird seed, toys and bells. On one hand, it was sad to see all of these beautiful birds caged up. However, what was magical about the place was how the older people working in many of the stalls so lovingly handled the birds and the cages. Also, bird song filled the air and produced an ethereal atmosphere. I sat for a long time on a little bench, just listening to the birds and enjoying the warm afternoon. It was very lovely and unlike any place I've ever been.

The Big Buddha in Hong Kong...

In 1993, on Lantau Island, an enormous Buddha statue was unveiled at the top of Lantau Peak. Next to a Buddhist monastery (which, by the way, features at least three vegetarian restaurants) the statue is massive and is surrounded by six smaller statues of Buddhist worshipers presenting gifts. You get to this site by taking a 25-minute gondola ride up over some beautiful peaks and valleys, and the ride also affords some gorgeous views of the populated areas of Lantau Island. This provided for an excellent afternoon trip when I first arrived in Hong Kong.