Suwon with Cassandra

So for my second to last weekend in Korea Cass invited me to go tour a place called Suwon south OK Seoul. I said sure because I love seeing new places!  So in Suwon they have this fortress and in the middle of the city is the fortress wall and we walked almost all the way around!  We had the best weather you could ask for.  A bit cloudy with a nice cool breeze and no rain!!!

Here were at the start of the day at the East Gate Entrance to the fortress!

My great buddy and awesome friend, Cass.

Many different watch tower points along the way!

Very cool looking church we only got to see form a distance!  

Great views from inside the fortress.

I love beautiful flowers!

The dragon tram that went form the east gate to the west gate.  We were good and walked thew whole thing!

Great photo spots all along the wall!

So here is when we reached the tough part.  it was along way up and stairs all the way.  We didn't really know where we were going but knew where we needed to get to and this way seemed the best way.  This picture is about when I thought I was going to kill Cass and we were not even half way.  From here it looked like we were almost done but you went around a small turn and saw a whole other stairway!  But I have learned from all my traveling that if it is hard to get to it is usually the nest place to be!  And I was right because at the top was amazing views of Suwon!

Awesome!

Here is the village at the bottom we were headed to because they have a special performance on Saturdays!

Now headed down!  I am glad we didn't go up this stairway because it would have been much worse than the way we went.

A beautiful purple Daisy!

So on the bus to the fortress we saw in the distance this Buddha statue and it looked awesome but it looked really far form anywhere we were going to be.  So Cass even said "I love you Erin but we are not walking to that Buddha, it is too far."  On the way down to the show, what do you know but here is the Buddha!  I was so happy that I got to see it up close because it was beautiful!

Pretty buildings near the Buddha

Inside the temple below the Buddha were some cool lanterns and many small statues with little Christmas lights!  Very cool place.

Waiting for the show and recovering form the long walk!  It did take Cass four pictures to finally get her smiling and not have her tongue out!

And the show!  Lots of traditional Korean dancing and music!

                                         

This guy was really fun to watch.  He is a great entertainer and did an amazing act on the tight rope.  Here he is posing for all of us to take pictures.  He was crazy good and don't even know how to describe him so watch the video below!  

A great day with awesome weather and one of my best friends in Korea.  Today marked 2 weeks left for me here and I still can't believe it!  next week Muido again with all the teachers!!

Busan Take 2!!

I loved Busan so much the first time I wanted to go again and had one last 3 day weekend so went.  I went with Rachel and Kelley this time and we had a great time.  I knew how busy it would be this weekend so I booked our train tickets early and hostel early.  About 2 days before we are supposed to head out I accidently canceled our train tickets and there were no more to be purchased for that night to go.  Luckily Rachel was smart and we ended up taking the bus to Busan.  So instead of a 2.5 hour train ride we had a lovely 5 hour bus ride.  At least we made it.  It was a really nice bus as well.  I went back to the same hostel as before and it was so nice to see Nicole and Sue again the same girls who I met the first time I went.  Here are some pictures from yet another great trip away! 

Just starting the bus ride to Busan!

First day in weeks we had seen the sun and we got to do it on a beach.  This is Songjeong Beach which the cab driver suggested and it was a much nicer, and clean beach than Haeundae!

Beautiful day!! 

Nap time.  Kelley and I were the only ones who were purposely lying out in the sun!  It felt so good!

Rachel is a shade girl!

Such a crazy busy beach though.  They have it all worked out too because to get a good spot on the beach you have to pay for the umbrella.  Luckily it is only $5 and you do need the shade at some point.  Nice they provide it too!

First night walking around and they have these cool lights.  

They were having a lot of different activities going on on the beach walkway and this one was preparing for their silent disco tomorrow night.  We didn't even get to go the next night either!

I am a butterfly!

Laying out and Rachel still on her phone!  This fun wall had a few different pictures you could pose with!

On Sunday we decided we needed to see some of the Busan area and took the Busan City Tour Bus and it turned out to be a crazy idea but we eventually got to the places we wanted too!  They only have one bus every 40 minutes and didn't plan for the busy holiday weekend so if the bus was full you had to

 wait another 40 minutes.  Bad planning and Korea is usually so good.  Anyways our first stop was Taejongdae and it was a beautiful place with ocean views and a nice temple.  Quite a walk though and hot!

The light house

Beginning the long walk down to the light house and some really neat rock you could walk out on!  But it was a long with many, many stairs!  We almost lost Rachel!

There we are!  Me, Kelley and Rachel!

Always wanted to try a picture like this but you can see the rocks behind me so not quite the same effect.

Rachel playing this game she has on her phone.  She was always on it!  here we are waiting for the dang bus that didn't want to come!  I think we waited almost an hour.

And the sun decided to come out and it got really hot.  So being my Korean self I had to use the umbrella in the sun!

Having to stand on the very crowded bus.

We also went to this really cool fish market Jagalchi Fish Market.  They had all kinds of seafood and it looked really cool.

An escapee!

Very famous for their eel here and we didn't get to try it!  Not enough time and not big enough stomachs.

I swear he is looking at me saying "Help Me!!"  I almost wanted to buy a few things to just release them!

Being Superman

Our final dinner and it was delicious.  Rachel is an awesome cook!

After dinner we walked back to the beach and right as we got there a light and firework show happened on a boat in the ocean.  I have said it before and will again, the Koreans know how to do fireworks!!

Last day and walking around Dongbaek Park.  Here is a view of Haeundae beach.  Busy as always.  Turns out this was the last summer season holiday weekend so everyone was out!

Last day and headed home!

Beautiful sky scrapers here.

A no fishing sign with fisherman in the background! Made me smile.

Saying goodbye to Nicole again!  She is the nicest person and I hope to see her again some day!

We did get the train home and it was nice to only have a 2.5 hour ride.  Another great weekend away and counting don until the end.  Only 3 weeks left from after this trip.