Sitting on Songjeong

In the spirit of summer (or rather, the recent end thereof), I thought I would share one of my favorite discoveries from this too quickly gone by summer season: Songjeong Beach, tucked up on Busan's eastern coast in the Haeundae area. Remember how I barely updated at all this summer? Yeah, I was here.
                                                                                                         
Fun Fact: The sand on the beach is soft and fine, unlike the sticky, coarse sand at Gwangalli and Haeundae, Busan's two more famous and more accessible beaches. When you go to Gwangalli or Haeundae, you better be prepared to spend the rest of the day with tiny shell chips and and sand stuck to your legs, clinging to your skin for dear life. Unlike those two, Songjeong's sand isn't trucked in. This is the real deal (read: it's not a man-made beach). It feels nice under your bare feet. And it falls right off your legs easily when it's time to go home. 
                                                                                                         
Fun Fact: Unless you have your own vehicle, you're going to spend a bit of money on a taxi or time on the bus, depending on your starting point. The closest the subway gets is the last few stops on the green line. No fear, your travel efforts will be handsomely rewarded. Because Songjeong isn't completely overrun with tourists, the scene is much less developed than those other aforementioned beaches. For example, you can find like three or four chain coffee shops instead of twenty. Your food options are more limited to Korean restaurants, toast stands, or the couple of convenience stores. Songjeong is Busan's "family beach." 
                                                                            

Fun Fact: If you go on a crowded day, and are searching for a precious front-row parasol (because why in the world would you want someone blocking your view of the water), go ahead and keep on looking in the crowded area. There were large sections at Songjeong that looked to us like they had plenty of room for us to nestle in. We lacked the proper military credentials, though, that would have allowed us to park it in that special section.

Fun Fact: The water is more blue here than anywhere else we've seen in Busan so far, except Igidae. The teal water and the mountains made for some rad scenery. Plus, there's a banana boat that you can zip around on AND you can camp here. Awesome.
                                                 
Fun Fact: Diga loves the sand, hates the water. Shane mostly loves the water. It's pretty shallow here, but if you go far enough, you can actually swim. Don't get too close to the buoy, or those jet-ski lifeguards are coming your way.                                       
One perfect day, splashing around, he was asked by a gaggle of pretty university girls why he wasn't at Haeundae, where the "girls wear bikinis". He also may have appeared on a TV show, but we will never know. Yes, a random man sat down next to him, egging him on to.... something.... while another filmed it all on a film-making camera. "Fighting!" the man prompted! "Fighting!" Shane repeated! Oh, put down the beer, do it again. Can't have alcohol in the shot. "Fighting!" the man prompted! "Fighting!" Shane repeated! Something something something in Hangul. One more time. "Fighting!" the man prompted! "Fighting!" Shane repeated! They weren't interested in my ability to yell "Fighting!". I stand awkwardly out of camera range. These things happen to Shane.

I can only hope that 2011's warm weather stretches long into October like last year. Beach season may be over for everyone else, but for me, Songjeong is still waiting.

Party Down at The Party Premium

Meticulously prepared, brilliantly colored, course after luscious course, The Party Premium delivers.

I love eating. So does Shane, and coincidentally, our most welcome guests for almost two weeks, my sister Crystal and her husband Nick. They visited Korea over her birthday, and Nick works as a professional chef. This could only point to one thing: a really, really tasty fancy dinner while they were here. 

We settled on The Party Premium, an upscale buffet located in Haeundae in the lower level of the Pale de CZ building. Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly and by one manager in particular who backed away from our table bowing all the way. We were seated in our very own glass room, either because we had made our reservations earlier than any of the other patrons, or because they wanted to put us in a showcase. Crystal chose a bottle of Tempranillo, we ordered a few beers, and off we were. 

We ate forever for an hour and a half, until they began to tear down the buffet at 10:00 pm. Some of the  highlights: gorgonzola pizza, mocha gelato, bamboo steamed squash and beef soup, freshly squeezed mango juice, a wide array of sushi and sashimi, cheese plates, beef carpaccio, smoked duck salad, chicken caesar salad, Peking duck... and that was just for starters.

A meal at The Party Premium isn't your best budget choice; however, this isn't Old Country Buffet. The food's high quality along with the wide variety of options makes it a great place for a special night out. Now, I'm just waiting for another such special occasion to roll around so I have an excuse to go back.

For more info and lots more pictures of food, hit up www.gotheparty.com. 

Beach Day at Haeundae

On the southeast corner of Busan extends Haeundae Beach, most famously known for holding the Guiness World Record for the most sun parasols on a beach at once. Haeundae (pronounced Hi-oon-day) is one of the locales in Busan that draws tens of thousands of sun seeking tourists and honeymooners from around Asia each year. Lucky for us, by the time Shane and I went with some friends in early September, beach season was more or less over-- more room for us to stretch in the sand.

The locals who were there huddled under rows of large umbrellas rented for the afternoon. Herein lies a stark cultural difference between the foreigners and the Koreans: foreigners want sun on their skin, Koreans tend to prize lighter skin shades. Not only that, the umbrellas aren't just stuck in the ground helter skelter, but instead are arranged in a fixed grid pattern, each umbrella's edge bumping the next. The result is that each group is surrounded on each side by another no more than four feet away. If the umbrella group in front of you also rents beach chairs with their umbrella, you can say goodbye to your view of the sea altogether. These beach bums didn't seem to mind.

The Sea of Japan borders Busan, though Koreans tend to call it the South Sea because of the historical friction between the two countries.

We six, in celebration of Courtney's and Leah's birthdays, took turns crossing the street for cold beers from a convenience store. Unlike the group of US soldiers next to us toting a cooler of Bud, we opted for Korean beers-- mainly Cass and Hite. My happy discovery of the day was Cass Lemon, a shandy-esque light beer, perfectly refreshing on a humid day.

Shane and I switched between dips in the water and cans of beer, until our pale Wisconsin skin could handle no more. Shane's skin was burnt for a week.