October 4th 2009 - Busan Chuseok

October 4th 2009

Back from Tibet

Monday we returned to Korea from our trip to Tibet and Nepal, but unfortunately we arrived so late at night that we had to stay overnight in Seoul. But 4 hours of sleep was all that we got before we had to head back out to the airport to catch an early morning plane to Ulsan. We had to get out there early, as our plane tickets were for the previous day due to some last minute travel changes in Kathmandu, so we had to see if we could rebook them. Korean air is very flexible though and we were able to exchange the tickets without cost. Try doing that with SAS !!!

At work I found out that the second last ship was almost ready to leave Ulsan and there was nothing left for me to do on it. That was a pleasant surprise indeed and gave me more time to dig through millions of e.mails. No dispair though, as two days later the Korean Thanksgiving started and I was able to chill out at home. The time at home was mainly spent organizing 2000 photos from our trip and preparing an entry to this web page about our trip. I still haven't finished, but I will let you know when I get to the end of the very long road!

Friday we hooked up with Jamie and Colin at the Turkish restaurant in town. Jamie had been in Singapore for a month, so we had lots of things to set straight!! Unfortunately the restaurant is no longer our top pick in Ulsan after changing their menu. We were a little disappointed even though the food is still acceptable. For dessert we went to Cold Stone by the Uni and then for a night cap at the Wa Bar.

Saturday we picked up Jamie and drove down to COSTCO in Busan. Bad choice ... it was closed for Chuseok! So there was nothing left for us to do but to hang out at Haeundae Beach!! It was a nice time to be there as it was really quiet. Some of the young girls wore the Hanbok - the traditional Korean dress - as did the women in the highway toll booths! Lunch was good as well (Indian ... Ganga).

At night we got hold of Fernando who had taken care of Peo while we were gone, and "dragged" him out for a night at the local pubs. We had to get the inside story on how Peo had been behaving while the parents were out!! Seeing that Fernando is also our upstairs neighbor, we figures he would have the lay-down of all of Peo's parties!!!

Today we met up with Mari and Gokhan at Cafe H. Mari had also just arrived from holiday, so we had no problem spending 3 hours chatting and making plans for the coming week!! Tonight we are going for tuna sashimi with Fernando ... mmmmm, yummy!!