Beautiful Busan

We are back from Busan and we definitely enjoyed our time there. We caught a ride with Derek's head teacher, Mrs. Kwon to Gwangmyeong Station and boarded the bullet train, KTX. Thanks to last minute notice at Derek's school, we recorded Derek's students grades to turn in for mid-term the next week on the 3 hour journey. There were many foreigners on the train and it was both interesting and bewildering to hear what they had to say. I guess we are starting to feel like scenery here and are a bit surprised when other foreigners that are "foreign" to us are around.

We made it into Busan just in time for the rain. We caught a taxi, Derek did his thing in Korean and we arrived at our really AMAZING and ENTERTAINING hotel for the weekend. Seriously, this hotel was immensely interactive and equipped to relax you as much as humanely possible! When we arrived the owner greeted us out of the front desk/his kitchen window to his family's apartment and told us that he would be up in 5 minutes to show us how to use the "remote." This remote ended up being the real "universal remote." The remote controlled the lights to the ceiling - THE UNIVERSE!








Yep! We had blue lights on the ceiling! And a BIG SCREEN TV! This is pretty entertaining for a couple who have a TV only as decoration! We managed to find "KUNG FU PANDA" to entertain us. The room got even better with a 3-head shower, a sauna and a BATH TUB! If you know Anlee, then you know a bath tub is a little piece of heaven and something to be taken full advantage of!

Wake up at 8:00am for a day of exploring and movies! More to come later!

We are on our way to Busan! The international film festival is world famous and draws over 10,000 film fanatics and critics every year. It placed Busan on the map and certified Korea as a hot spot for film making. Our experience of the festival last year included the WORST film ever made, straight from a Polish director, and a great environmental film - of which we remember quite a bit - and lastly a film about the Palestinian conflict showcasing the day-to-day life of a Palestinian in Israeli occupied Gaza - striking, captivating and eye-awakening.

This year we are venturing out a bit and taking in a film by an Italian director. We have high expectations to laugh a little since the film is about a bunch of old men reuniting with their old rock band road-tripping through Italy. :) Saturday we are becoming official movie critics and Sunday we are becoming official beach bums. We plan on enjoying the cooler temperatures on the sand and looking out to sea. We need some down time after a week of fighting colds and hectic school schedules. We leave on the KTX train tonight; this train goes upwards of 200mph and is so smooth you're not even aware you are moving. We arrive pretty late tonight and will make our way to our "couples hostel" for the night. It has a bathtub so Anlee plans on being a prune by 11pm! YES!

This is a special trip for us because last year we really solidified our friendship during great talks and excursions throughout the city. (Anlee was completely ga-ga over Derek and he was just starting to recognize the warm fuzzies!) Click on the Busan poster above for a link to Anlee's blog post about last year's Busan trip - complete with a video of the highlights!

Look below for an excerpt from Derek's blog about our trip last year:

This past weekend I took a trip with 3 friends down to Busan on the south tip of the Korean peninsula. The purpose of the trip was to go to the Busan International Film Festival. We took the high speed (180 MPH) train there and back. It was about a 2 and a half hour trip. Super smooth and comfortable. I could have stayed on there much longer. Hopefully, the flight tomorrow will be similar. It was a good weekend. Spent some time on the beach-walking, taking pictures, playing Frisbee, etc. Ate some great food, most of it western. Went to a couple of Italian restaurants. For some reason, I just haven't been feeling the Korean food lately.

His love and ours

D&A