Written by Chelsea Marie Hicks
My body is a reliquary, its bones my rigid relics
about which lay memories, scattered in particles
like the ashes of dust and salt, thrown over shoulders.
Sheets That Smell Just Like A Day At The Beach
Written by Chelsea Marie Hicks
At first she only tasted the faint smell of salt seasoning the air, unaccompanied by any sight or sound. Her view was enveloped in a darkness so consuming she was momentarily convinced that salt had forever been painted black–that her memory of its whiteness was flawed, likely misinformed by a strange dream, a wrong deja vu. She could feel the rough grains of salt between her toes and would only realize what rubbed her skin when the light bent open her eyes. There brown, grey sand slipped through her and the sensory flood swelled as sea foam left its fading bubbles clinging above her ankle; limbs instantly washed over by the wet chill of an unforgiving sea, its crashing whistle ringing in her ears; the bath of warm sunlight dripping from her taut white bodice.
This was just like a day at the beach except that it wasn’t. Wherever Claire had just awoken was nowhere within the realm of the familiar despite the seething sensation that she’d done this all before.
Filed under Fact and Fiction, Stories
PLACES TRAVELED 2011
In the midst of list season, I deliver to you the first of far too many to come. Here is a tale told through images of places I traveled in 2011.
HANOI, VIETNAM : : FEB. 2011
The Ho Chi Minh Memorial in Hanoi
A young boy properly suited for Tet festivities
Tran Quoc Pagoda
HA LONG BAY, VIETNAM : : FEB. 2011
Local dwellings of the Bay
Giant vertical rock formations
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM : : FEB. 2011
Cathedral Notre-Dame
Soaking up the afternoon sun
Ho Chi Minh statue in front of the Peoples Committee Hall
MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM : : FEB. 2011
A vessel of the Delta
Snake liquor for sale and a local curious fish
Coconut candy makers selling their product in the Delta
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA : : FEB. 2011
A fellow giant, me, greetings the Petronas Towers
One of oh so many delicious plates served up in Malaysia
PENANG, MALAYSIA : : FEB. 2011
On the water, island life
A monk giving alms at a Chinese temple for the Lunar New Year celebration
Botanical garden locals
A city of temples for ranging beliefs
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA : : 2011
Hongdae’s infamous makguelli man
Awaiting the sunrise near the sea
Fried goodness for sale near Seoul Station
Seoul Lantern Festival 2011
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA : : JUNE 2011
Gwanggali beach
Seafood stew successfully devoured
Bidding farewell to the sun over Gwanggali
PORTLAND, OREGON : : JULY 2011
Street art spotted in NW PDX
Sweet nectar from Mecca
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS : : JULY 2011
Chicago Theatre
Skyscrapers and fields of grass
The Magnificent Mile
Meeting giant Marilyn
DES MOINES, IOWA : : JULY 2011
Iowa feels like home and these are some of the state’s finest folks and dear friends of mine.
Wall art at Big Tomato Pizza
The lovely lady Anna and I, faces glowing in humidity
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON : : AUG. 2011
Exterior of the Seattle Art Museum
Roomies reuniting in Seattle
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA : : AUG. 2011
View of San Fran from Lombard Street
Annie Danger and I at the base of the windiest street in the world
Decor of China Town
Alcatraz sighting in the bay
Message of the Mission
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA : : AUG. 2011
Kaili and I playing with a sculpture park illusion
Minne’s Spoon and Cherry sculpture
Bridge wisdom
CANNON BEACH, OREGON : : AUG. 2011
Sunny day at the seashore
My puppy dog, Sadie Hawkins, hiding out in the tall sea grass
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA : : SEPT. 2011
Jackson Square
Intricate bead-work of a chief suit
Taking a shot at General Lee
Draping Oaks
NOLA pride: Abita beer and the Saints logo in the distance
Cafe Du Monde, possible location of heaven on Earth
DMZ/JSA/NORTH KOREA : : OCT. 2011
South Korean guards standing in a kill stance in the Joint Security Area between North and South Korea
The flagpole carrying the weight of the heaviest flag in the world in North Korea
Peering into another world
HONG KONG : : DEC. 2011 (COMING SOON)
For more photographs of my travels and Korean life, visit my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seafaringwoman/
Filed under Sights, North America, Asia
48 Hours in Busan
Last, last weekend was Korea’s Memorial Day weekend and to celebrate my coworkers Will and David, our friend Amila and myself decided to venture south to the beaches of Busan to soak up the sunshine, dine on fresh seafood and splish-splash in the salty waters of the East Sea.
SATURDAY
The journey began late on Saturday night as we took a 3-hour train ride from Seoul to Busan and since there were no seats left on the train we made ourselves comfortable in one of the standing cars. The trip itself went by fairly fast, no doubt with help from the service cart selling beer at the same cheap price as convenience stores (~2,000 won or $1.50). When we finally arrived in Busan, our first mission was to fill up our bellies and after a little bit of roaming around and swiftly moving out of the sketchy Russian quarter, we settled on a small Korean restaurant for some pretty standard grub; I had a bowl of some scrumptious bibimbap that included some raw fish. After having drinks in a different section of the city that kind of reminded us of Hongdae, we decided to make the trek to a nearby jjimjilbong (Korean spa/baths) to wash and sauna off the day and catch some zzz’s.This jjimjilbong was quite nice with multiple hot baths, a large pool and two saunas, and the common room for sleeping was rather large though a little on the discomforting side due to the extra hot temperature.
SUNDAY
Waking up around 11 AM feeling fairly well-rested, we hit the sauna, showered and grabbed a quick bite to eat before catching the subway to Gwangalli Beach.
Group shot at Gwangalli Beach (left to right: me, Will, Amila and David)
This beach was absolutely gorgeous and not too overcrowded, which was rather nice. We basically spent the entire day laying on the beach sipping makguelli, taking dips in the ocean to cool-off and grabbing food, coffee and water just across the street whenever the need arose.
Salty East Sea waters
Amila gazing out at the sea and Gwangan Bridge
My sandy toes
On the boardwalk
After beach lounging for several hours, we had all worked up a mighty hunger, but David and I were specifically craving some spicy cold noodles which isn’t exactly everybody’s cup of tea, so we left Will and Amila on the beach to hold our spots and got ourselves some giant bowls of noodles!
Mmmmmmmmmm!
All too quickly our day at the beach was turning into night and for the evening hours we made our way to Haeundae Beach, which though I haven’t ever been to Cancun, I feel confident in making the comparison deeming Haeundae essentially to be Korea’s Cancun. Though Haeundae isn’t the kind of beach I prefer, it made for an eventful and amusing night out, and the surrounding area/section of the city was actually a lot of fun for grabbing dinner, drinks and whatever other entertainment seemed necessary, like noraebonging!!
Haeundae Beach by night
For a few hours we sat on the beach near the water playing drinking games and chatting, listening to terrible bands performing on the giant stage that we couldn’t manage to get far away enough from to allow the sea to completely drown out the sound. One game we played was a number/counting game that sounded too easy at first, but surely enough after a few rounds we were all becoming sufficiently goofy off of our beach beverages of choice, especially Amila who had trouble remembering some of her times tables! With the beach growing chilly and our stomachs rumbling, we went inland to find a spot for dinner that we could all agree on, which took far longer than it should, but eventually we settled for a giant pot of seafood stew and it was thoroughly satisfying to say the least.
Remnants of a seafood devouring session
Will and I had been really aching for some singing time so our next destination was a noraebong (singing room). The first place we went to basically refused us, a sometimes occurrence for foreigners just about anywhere, but the woman was very kind and directed us to a different noraebong nearby. Though we were all in attendance, Will and I were total mic hogs, but Amila and David didn’t seem to mind too much! I wish I could remember the entire tracklist for the night, but of what I can recall I know Will and I did a spectacular job with Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson,” and Queen, Prince, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones and Rick Astley (yes, we rick-rolled ourselves) all happened at some point.
Will, Amila and David at the noraebong…I think the boys were doing “Kung-Fu Fighting”
This might have to be one of my profile pictures for life
The rest of the evening went as most Korean nights do, unpredictably predictable. We walked around exploring the city at night, laughing at the strange sights and generally causing mischief whenever we foreigners could. David and I “played” a little volleyball on the beach and Will and I dared drunk David to run to the top of a sand mountain, which he did. All was magically well until we made it to incredibly beautiful looking, both on the interior and exterior, jjimjilbong we planned to sleep in only to discover that it was full. I didn’t think this was possible and certainly doubted the front-desk women until she allowed me to take a peek at the sleeping area to see if we wanted to stay there still and it literally was the most packed sleeping quarters I’d ever seen in my life. Fortunately jjimjilbongs are a plenty and after a short cab ride we found a place to rest our weary limbs.
MONDAY
For me, Monday began all too abruptly as an adjumma (someday I will go into all that this single word encompasses and signifies, which is a surprising amount, but for now just know that this is the word used to describe a particular and common type of Korean woman, but literally translates to married woman) woke me by shaking and hitting me with a square brick pillow and in a whispered shout said something in Korean that my mind translated to “get up and move now!” This all happened at 9:30 AM, which maybe in my U.S. days would have been a normal waking hour for me, but in Korea I’m lucky if I’m out of bed before 11: 00 AM. Exhausted and off-kilter from waking in the middle of my sleep cycle, I presume, I headed for the sauna in hopes of sweating myself to a state somewhere closer to awake than I was; it half-worked, but I think the cold pool after is what really did the trick. Or maybe just being surrounded by a ton of naked Korean women starring at me is what did it.
Amila and I were ready to go before the boys had even gotten themselves off the floor (somehow they avoided being rudely awakened by some Korean woman), but we managed to all meet-up for some breakfast before returning to Gwangalli Beach to spend yet another day on its glorious sand. Unlike our lazy Sunday, much of Monday was spent in the ocean playing with the volleyball David brought along. It was super fun running around and hitting the volleyball in the salty water and just being in the ocean like that reminded me of how I used to spend my weekends on the Oregon Coast surfing when I was younger. I’m sure I’d be awful at it now as I was never even that good, but I’m actually looking forward to busting out my surfboard when I get back to America and seeing what I can do.
The day was winding down fast and all too soon it was approaching the hour for Amila to catch a train back to Seoul. For our final supper together we grabbed some Mexican food and mojitos at a restaurant with a patio right next to the beach and it was an excellent meal to bid farewell to one of our posse members.
Last supper all together in Busan
From that point, the weekend was already perfect and extremely memorable, definitely among my favorite weekends spent in Korea. I couldn’t really imagine at the time what would’ve made the trip significantly better, but sure enough we came up with something. While eating dinner, the next mission was determined to be to get onto the roof of a building, specifically with our eyes on the linked twin towers that were so intriguing and architecturally attractive in the skyline.
Before embarking on our rooftop adventure though, we checked out a beach carnival that was next to the buildings. It was a quaint operation when it comes to carnivals, but it certainly created some great photo opportunities. I especially loved the bright colors, neon lights and terribly reproduced popular images.
The Crazy Flip
TERMINATOR in Korea!
Loving this DISCO light
The sun was destined to set soon and thus we made our attempt to get to the roof of a building near the sea. The first tower we went up to the fifteenth floor and had no luck–every door was locked despite the deserted appearance of the building. With our fingers crossed, we took the elevator to the top floor of the second tower and as the boys turned to head for the stairwell I felt compelled to at least try the doors to the empty office next to the elevator and to my complete shock the doors were unlocked, as were the doors to the balcony overlooking Gwangalli Beach. We were all so ecstatic and simply couldn’t believe that we had discovered a high up in the sky to call ours for a little while. There are few things in life that I call perfect, but that occurrence and our luck in that moment and watching the sunset over the sea and edge of the hills in the distance of the cityscape really was perfect. Spending whatever time we did up there really was the ideal way to end our trip to Busan.
The view from our claimed balcony at Gwangalli Beach
Busan in the evening hours from up above
Well, that concludes the tale of my 48 hours in Busan. As I’ve already said, the trip was amazing and it was so wonderful to see another part of Korea. It’s finally setting in that I’m leaving soon and may or may not be back. It’s going to be difficult to bid this country farewell, it really is.
26 days and counting….
For more photos and higher quality images from my time in Busan as well as my travels throughout Asia, please visit my Flickr.
Filed under Asia, Sights, Stories, Traveling Tales
