Ong Bak 2

Yesterday Keith and I went to see Ong Bak 2 the Thai martial arts film. I had seen the first one a few years ago and it had so much frantic action that I almost felt tired when I left the cinema. Great fun!

We decided to go see it here in Korea even though the film was in Thai with Korean subtitles. After all, how much story do you need to understand to watch a movie that's 98% action with crazy stunts and fights. If there was a story I'm not really sure what it was. The protagonist got captured as a child when some dude killed his father and then he was put into some kind of slave outfit. Then some guys showed up and made away with the slavers and the youngster was trained in martial arts.

The movie was fine, lots of exciting action and decent stunts, but we couldn't follow the story. On top of the obvious language barrier, the bad guys all looked very similar in their wacky Thai hats and earrings. The bad guys also looked like some of the good guys. The best part of the movie was the sound, the cinema we watched it in had Dolby Surround turned up with so much bass that every time someone got hit you felt like you'd been punched in the chest.

In short, it was a confusing but fun movie. I'll have to go read up on it so I can figure out what the guys with the hats and earrings were up to.

The New Guy

My new co-worker, Greg, arrived this week. A fresh-faced lad of 22 from Colorado. He's on the ball and a decent sorta guy. There are lots of real arseholes in Korea teaching English. The majority of foreigners teaching here are pretty decent but the asshole and idiot population is disproportionately large compared to back in the west. Or maybe it's just that they stand out more here. Anyway, the new dude is pretty cool, which is a huge relief.

I took him on a 'random bus tour' to the southern end of the city. I sometimes get on a bus at random (even if I don't know where it goes) when I'm in the mood to see something different. It's usually amusing and, unlike the subway, you can watch the city roll by; an excellent way to have a really cheap adventure. I figured it would be an entertaining way for him to see how the transit systems work in Busan and get some entertainment out of it myself.

The south end of the city has a huge unspoiled beach, as an added bonus it was practically deserted. Haeundae, the main beach in Busan, is really touristy and built-up. The beach has almost become a kind of sandbox for hundreds of hotels. Dadaepo Beach, on the other hand, is practically unaltered. They say that it's full of pollution because the city's main industrial sector used to be in that area. But the city's water supply comes partly from the Nakdong River, right next to the beach, whereas the river nearest Haeundae practically releases raw sewage into the ocean. I'm willing to give Dadaepo Beach the benefit of the doubt.

It was a pretty windy day, so we just walked around a bit and caught the bus back to our end of town. We were pretty beat and we'd been on the go all day, home was a good idea.

Next time I'm down there I'll bring my camera and get some photos. As this adventure was totally off-the-cuff, I went out without my usual adventure accoutrements.

Jangsan, Galbi, and Tasty Lemon Tarts

Last weekend was relatively tame compared to the overly-active four day weekend before it. I managed to get in some of the usual things again:

On Saturday Keith(whiskeynexhaust), his girlfriend Karen, Paul (another drinking buddy) and I decided to climb Jang Mountain (Jangsan, 632m), out in the east end of the city where all of them live. It's close to an hour by subway for me to get out there, but I find that it's worth the trip to hang out with people who are as dark and crazy as myself.

Jangsan (634m) is shorter than Geumjeongsan (842m) but it's steeper and a little less travelled. It was kinda hot that day and by the time we got to the top I was thoroughly drenched with sweat. There's supposed to be a temple next to a waterfall on the back of the mountain, so we set off down the back of the mountain hoping that it would be a fantasy-type waterfall where sweaty, sun baked hikers could refresh themselves under a cold, crystalline shower with a beer can filled pond at its base. Alas, it was not to be.

The path 'round the back of the mountain seemed to keep going in a direction we didn't like, so we decided to find a shortcut. How bad can it be? We can always see the city from the mountainside. We ended up half-lost in the woods after we tried to descend the mountain by following a rock wash (dried up spring melt stream) of huge boulders (above right, Paul is in the distance). The going got dangerously ankle-busting, so it was decided that we'd try to cut across the mountain face through the brush. It took a while but we managed to get down with no broken ankles and only a few scratches and scrapes to show for our misadventure. Post-hike, we sat at tables outside a convenience store drinking beer and doing crossword puzzles until everyone was ready for soup and dumplings at one of the neighbourhood Korean diners.

Later that evening I met up with Lynn and we hit a super cheap galbi restaurant; we both ate like kings (or king and queen) for less than 12000 won, including beer. I eat way more meat here than I ever did in Canada. It's kinda weird because it's cheaper to eat at a restaurant than it is to eat at home, if you want anything with a bit of variety, that is. If you're eating just rice and a simple soup or something it probably costs the same as eating at a diner

Later we went to see One Drop East, a local funk band made up of expats (teachers), they aren't bad and I've seen them a few times. They play a small repertoire of funk, reggae and R&B tunes with one or two of their own songs. It's all right but they usually play at Moe's, a crowded second-floor jazz and blues (mostly) bar, and after a while the crowding starts to get tiresome. So we cut out and went for drinks at Soul Trane (at left), a basement bar that used to play funk and house music, but they moved to a new place and turned into a pubby type place, which is fine with us. Relaxingly dark and only a little dank, it's my bar of choice in the neighbourhood. My favourite watering hole of all isn't a bar, it's actually the plastic tables outside the convenience store across the street. You can sit outside literally in the street and see and talk to everyone without any noise or crowd. Kinda like a cafe but more low-rent. Keith and I can often be found there having a brew, we think it's the best bar in Busan.

On Sunday Se-yeong and I went for Vietnamese noodle soup (pho) and she gave me some homemade lemon tarts. Absolutely delicious! I gave some to Paul one night and he said that I'd be an idiot if I didn't ask her to marry me. She bakes when she gets stressed out and she calls it her 'angry bread', which always cracks me up, but it's appropriate. Who knew angry could be so tasty when properly handled? She's a great baker, really some of the best baking I've ever had. Pound cake, cookies and quite a few other treats. The lemon tarts were made with real lemons and topped with real whipped cream. And they're always packaged in really nice boxes and bows.

Outstanding Review of Star Trek at the Guardian

Peter Bradshaw over at The Guardian has written an awesomely positive review of the latest 'Trek. Go have a read.

It's been in the theaters since yesterday here but I haven't ventured out to see it yet. I was kind of surprised at the lacklustre turnout at the cinema when I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Dunno how well Korean's like Trek but I'll be there tonight.

Cockles, no Mussels, Alive, Alive, O

Ever since I was a little kid one of my favourite seafoods has been mussels. In Newfoundland blue mussels grow just about everywhere and only rarely are there any health warnings about them (although this may have changed in the past few years. In Korea they're called hong hab (hohng hop, "red shellfish"), the same type that are around Newfoundland, and they were really cheap and easy to get when I first got here but I haven't seen them in quite a few months.

A couple of weeks ago, when we were out looking at the bikes, I asked Se-yeong to ask a lady in the seafood department if they were going to get any mussels. Apparently they're inedible at the moment due to toxic tides. I see the shucked raw shellfish in styrofoam trays in the supermarket but my upbringing won't allow me to eat any shellfish that can't be seen opening their shells when cooked. I suppose they're alright, I mean the supermarket sells them, but I just can't trust them to be okay to eat. I suppose I'll have to break down and try some soon though, I really miss them.

I noticed that they had dried mussels in the dried seafood cooler at the supermarket (it says "gun hong hab" in Korean on the bag in the photo -- "dried mussels") . I recognized these little wrinkled sea-raisins from my Chinese cooking addiction. From the photo on the bag I'd guess they're used in some sort of banchan. Usually I toss a bunch of mussels into my doenjangjjigae when I make it, which makes it pretty rich, so I thought that perhaps dried mussels might do the trick. Se-yeong said that they should be good for that so I'll have to give it a try this weekend. If I can figure out how to make that banchan dish I'll give it a try but I think it might be a bit too strong tasting.

A new favourite shellfish, that I haven't seen in Newfoundland, is the cockle (photo at the top). Newfoundland has few sandy beaches for clams to live on, its rocky cliffs and stone beaches are better suited to the mussel. I can remember eating soft-shell clams in Newfoundland (where they are called "cocks and hens", I'll leave the possible reason to your imagination) but they're harder to find than mussels and "dirtier". A little pot of cockles costs about 2,500 won (~$2CDN) and I just eat them right out of the shell dipped in a little vinegar and pepper. They don't really taste as good as mussels to me but they're really meaty.

If you need to look up any words in Newfoundland English I highly recommend the searchable online Dictionary of Newfoundland English. It's a great tool for any Newfoundlander interested in history and culture. I might start using it in my ESL classes so that a new generation of Koreans will know the proper English terminology for an 'armful of something' is a 'yaffle'. I will warn you that it's better to use the little alphabetic index than to search for a word, the search feature seems to only search the text of the definitions, not the words themselves.

Sandwich Day

This weekend past was a long holiday weekend for Children's Day. Since the holiday fell on a Tuesday our school was closed on Monday (the sandwich day) to make a four day weekend. A lot of businesses did this because (perhaps) there have been so few holidays in the past few months. Perhaps, too, it was because it was Buddha's 2553rd birthday on Saturday past.

On Saturday Keith, some of his friends, and I rode to the top of Geumjeong Mountain, Busan's tallest mountain, by cablecar. We hiked across the top of the mountain to Beomeosa (Bum Uh Sa), a large temple, to see the lanterns hung for Buddha's birthday and eat free bibimbap. The hike to the temple took about 4 hours or so and it was a perfect day for it. The temple was a riot of color, traditional music and chanting. The girls made paper lotuses, of which I was very jealous. I'd seen kids making them earlier but hadn't thought to see if adults were allowed to make them, too!

I hiked down the mountain early, missing the lantern lighting because I was due to meet my friend Lynn, whom I hadn't seen for a couple of months. We went for samgyeopsal (bbqed pork belly, see earlier post) and then for beer. We basically just commiserated and laughed at stupid stuff. After helping Lynn catch a cab back to her end of town I went back to the bar to flirt with the barmaid until the wee hours. She was a pretty strange girl, as Korean girls go, but then I don't seem to like the usual sorts of Korean girls. Or even the usual sort of any girl, come to that. Always liked the weird ones better. Anyway, it was fun flirting, I guess I'll have to go back for some more beer and flirting later on. She had a big tattoo of a Haida design in the middle of her chest that I couldn't stop looking at, a damned clever trick. Apologies to any male readers but there are no photos of said tattoo.

On Sunday I mostly slept in, recovering from the previous evening. Although I don't think about it much, my body does remind me now and then that I'm older than I used to be. Later on I met up with Se-yeong and we went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which I enjoyed more than a lot of movies I've seen in the cinema in a while. Lots of wacky stunts and crazy stuff. TOO MUCH ACTION!! It was great.

After the movie we went to a roast chicken restaurant called Dak, the Korean word for chicken, around the corner from my place. This place has awesome chicken, spit-roasted over a real wood fire. It tastes kinda like smoky Swiss Chalet chicken. It's also stuffed with rice and chestnuts, so the meat is extra tender and the rice is extra rich. I'd eaten a big pot of spicy chicken stew (suitable for three persons or one Gregarious Monk) there before but this time Se-yeong treated us to a roast chicken. Simply awesome.

Hmmmm. Monday. Where did Monday go? Ah, right, Lynn wanted to visit the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan and I went along just to hang out. I hoped we could visit the Busan Museum, which is a bit small for the size of the city but it's a pretty good museum as those places go. Sadly, the museum was closed and we lurched off in search of yet more Korean barbecue restaurants. We were both half-mad with hunger by this point and wandered a fair bit before we decided to head off to a galbi restaurant I had found in my rambling around the city. It was a bit more expensive than usual, which is to say that it cost about $30CDN for the both of us to gorge ourselves on little hunks of barbecued marinated beef and an array of little side dishes, salad and soup.

Tuesday Keith and I decided to climb to the top of Geumjeong again to stretch out the cramps that were the evil fruit of Saturday's hike. It took us about three hours to climb to the top, head off in a direction we hadn't taken before and end up on the back of the mountain in a neighbourhood next to where I work. It takes me a half-hour by bus commute to get there normally, so I guess a three hour hike (including the rest stop we took to gorge ourselves on dried squid, Gatorade and candy bars) isn't too bad. We decided to take a cab back to my neighbourhood but we encountered the strange phenomenon that I have only encountered with taxi drivers here in Korea: the driver refused to turn his cab the other way, even though there are u-turn lanes all over the place here where drivers can easily and legally reverse direction. We got him to drop us at the subway station instead. The $10-15 cab fare looked better in our pockets anyway.

Well, it's Thursday now. A short work week and another weekend looms. What adventures will it hold? Tattoo-gazing, flirting drunkeness? Knee-busting trans-mountain hiking? Superhuman feats of gustatory overindulgence? Buddha's birthday weekend was the best I've had in quite a while.