The Shibby

I have been hanging out in Busan, South Korea for the better part of a year. In that time I have experienced a whole lot of craziness...

Some Words of Wisdom

I've got a smile on my face, I've got four walls around me. The sun in the sky, the water surrounds me. I'll win now but sometimes I'll lose. I've been battered, but I'll never bruise, it's not so bad. And I say way-hey-hey, it's just an ordinary day, and it's all your state of mind. At the end of the day, you've still got to say, it's all right.

-Great Big Sea

Festival of Fire

Posted By mmurphy on/at 10/20/2009 04:34:00 am

There hasn't been a whole lot happening around here lately other than trying in a vein attempt organize my life in preparation for my departure from Korea this Sunday. As such, I do intend to do one final fair-well Korea entry before I leave. Knowing me however, there is a good chance that this will be it.

The Busan Fireworks Festival at Gwangali beach happened this past weekend. The fireworks were launched from the bridge as well as from barges and it seemed like everyone in Busan (or possibly Korea) turned out to see the show. Rightfully so as well, it was perhaps the most extravagant and awe-inspiring demonstration that I have ever been too. It lasted a full forty minutes and each explosion was choreographed perfectly to the music of John Lennon and Queen (to name a few). It was so incredible in fact that it's reputation had brought spectators such as Jon down from Seoul for the weekend. I am also thankful for that because I was hoping to get to say goodbye to him before I departed. I spent that night watching the fireworks from the comfort of a restaurant a friend had managed to reserve for a private party before ending up down the road at Thursday Party.

Sunday afternoon I had lunch with a few of my former students and co-teacher, Rachel. These five middle schoolers helped show me the degree to which I have impacted their lives. To say the least it was an incredibly touching gesture and it certainly will be something that I will never forget.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I will get to another one before I leave the land of kim chi for good.

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The "Other" Side of Hong Kong

Posted By mmurphy on/at 10/08/2009 07:30:00 am

Last weekend I went down to Hong Kong to visit Danni. If you don't know who she is than check out about a half a dozen of my previous posts. Literally hours before my departure I was told I had to write a travel review for Hong Kong. Well here it is, check it out.

The first impression that most visitors to Hong Kong have is just how Western the city is. With the enormous towers that accent the skyline and designer shops that line its core avenues it is no wonder that people are unable to see past this veneer and recognize how incredibly diverse the city actually is. With just a little bit of time it is possible to garner an understanding of the traditional beliefs that shape life within the city but it could take a lifetime to truly understand the subtleties of Hong Kong’s unique culture. The first step toward this understanding comes from discovering the beauty and diversity that exists beyond the city’s image as a Western metropolis rooted in Eastern beliefs.

Choosing to take that first step is often the hardest for those reluctant to leave the comfort of Hong Kong’s tourist areas. However, with the slightest bit of effort you can find yourself enroute to one of the city’s many popular markets or shopping districts. MongKok, which literally translates to “The Crowded Corner”, offers visitors a glimpse of the absolute mayhem and chaos that Hong Kong is renowned for. It is in these areas that a number of outdoor markets specializing in knock-off brand name goods and cheap souvenirs exist. If shopping for inexpensive merchandise is not your thing than head over to the bars and restaurants of Lan Kwai Fong and neighbouring Rat Alley in Central Hong Kong. Lan Kwai Fong is well known amongst both travelers and the locals for its sheer number of bars as well as the general sense of disorder and anarchy that goes along with it. Even on the slowest of nights the streets of Lan Kwai Fong are packed with people eager to participate in mayhem that is reminiscent of the best St. Patrick’s Day party you have ever been to.

After a while the crowds and commotion of downtown Hong Kong are bound to take a toll on even the most cosmopolitan individual. When this happens than perhaps it is time to check out sleepy Lamma Island, a place where cars are non-existent, the beaches are numerous and the locals are exceptionally easy going. When you first step off the ferry you will be bombarded by the smell of warm sea air and an unbelievable sense of tranquility that one would not expect to find within Hong Kong. The quaint shops and café’s that line the island’s main thoroughfare can become quite busy on weekends but nonetheless convey the sense that things are easier on Lamma and that life is supposed to be taken that way.

If one piece of advice was to be given to prospective travelers it would be this, don’t be afraid to explore a little and look past the glossy, West meets East veneer that is projected to tourists. Find your own way and experience firsthand the cultural subtleties that define life in Hong Kong for those that make it such an incredibly unique place.

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Road Trippin Uljin

Posted By mmurphy on/at 9/30/2009 10:17:00 pm

Last weekend a group of us rented a van and headed up to a river valley just outside Uljin to celebrate Alex's birthday. We got a late start on Friday but managed to make it to our destination in just under four hours. We caught a few hours of sleep at a motel before packing up for the day and heading out to the river. We spent the day swimming, climbing, cliff diving, and relaxing in a place completely devoid of human existence. As the sun began to set we gathered some firewood and started a bonfire, which was incredible because it is not something that is easily accomplished down in Busan. After leaving the river we were all starving and headed into town for some dinner. After dinner we headed back to our motel and went down to the beach for some drinks and conversation. The following day the weather was absolutely miserable so we elected to pile into the van and begin our drive home. We took the slow route home in favour of stopping at scenic spots including beacon hill (as mentioned in a previous road tripping entry) and a beach. Despite the beauty of these places the cold rain made the ocean and mountains relatively unenjoyable. We arrived back in Busan at around 7 pm and got some dinner before electing to go our seperate ways. All in all it was another fantastic weekend and I hope Alex enjoyed his birthday roadtrip! Be sure to check out my photos!

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Oh Garcia, Hey Garcia, Go Garcia

Posted By mmurphy on/at 9/14/2009 04:47:00 am

As it turns out I had to arbitrarily take a vacation day last week, which was nice and provided me with some excess time to run around and take care of some errands. Other than traversing Busan I ended up writing an article for Groove and spending some time at the sauna with Alex. That night I went out with my K-friends to celebrate Katie's birthday and Rachel's final day at Dongeun. We went to an awesome sam-gipsol joint in Anthony's old neighbourhood before heading to a great patio for some beers closer to my home.


Saturday morning I rolled out of bed and found my way to the Seomyeon markets where I meet Juhee. She helped me pick out a new pair of pants in an effort to add some diversity to my rapidly deminishing wardrobe. Later that afternoon I caught up with Alex and Adam and we headed off to the ole ball game to watch the Lotte Giants take on the Samsung Lions. The game was a fairly important since both teams are fighting for a position in the post-season. Truthfully I couldn't have asked for a better ball game either. Our seats were right on the first-base foul line along with all the other foreigners (including Jill), we were right next to the stage where the mascots hung out and once again we had our own beer and doner agumas. Midway through the fifth inning I was chosen by a fellow foreigner to lead the crowd in cheers and my first act of duty was to start up a wave, a classic baseball maneuver. It took four or five tries to get things moving beyond our section but once the Koreans around us were involved I had the entire stadium participating. Before long I had the actual dancing man mascot in his white suit and his entire security detail telling me to sit down because my wave had run through half the inning and it seemed that my wave was now inadvertently promoting the opposite team. Literally as soon as I sat down, I looked over to the stage to see the dancing man trying to start his own wave. I couldn't believe that the guy was actually trying to steal my thunder. Funny thing is that my wave lasted half an inning, his couldn't even get half way around the stadium. It really is too bad that the guy was a complete tool though, Jill sorta had a thing for him and his white suit. Despite this, some others in the crowd recognized our initative and opted to buy us bags of beer as a means of congratulating us. The game ended with Lotte absolutely destroying Samsung, 9-1. After the game we all headed back to Seomyeon for some so-gogi, deliciousness and a nore-bong. In the spirit of the occasion Jill, Alex and I stuck around a little while longer after everyone went home and headed to the batting cages to hit some dingers. Afterward we sought out some toasta but were out of luck and settled for McDonald's, unfortunate really.

Sunday I spent the day at Haeundae beach with Alex, Kelsey, James and some of the other local folks. We just took in the sun, played some sports, had a swim or two and feasted on some fantastic sandwiches. Later, Alex and I headed back to the sauna to catch the sunset from the outdoor hot tubs on the roof. The sauna is called Vespa and is on da-mal-gee hill, definitely worth the 5000 won.

An absolutely chill, yet incredibly awesome weekend none the less.

Slainte

P.S. I found a black zipper hoodie in the nore-bong, if anyone is missing it than please let me know!

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Beers for Bears, a Fantastic Fundraiser

Posted By mmurphy on/at 9/08/2009 04:42:00 am

Not a whole lot new happening on my end, just trying to make it through the weeks to the eventual end of my contract 6 and a bit weeks from now. I did however manage to get my hands on a couple of tickets for me and the guys to head down to Hong Kong to pay our dear friend Danni a visit next month. If you are unfamiliar with Danni, she is my wicked Irish friend that I met at our hostel in Boracay. Anyways, I am really looking forward to this upcoming adventure I feel like it's going to be absolutely deadly.

Other than planning for the end of my contract and trying to get my affairs in order for my eventual return home I have been trying to get as much out of my time here as possible. For example, this past weekend I spent the majority of my time out at Haeundae beach taking in the sun and enjoying the extreme lack of Koreans and parasols. In addition, there was a surf competition there this weekend so it was kinda cool to go check out the free show and get a good amount of swag.

After finishing work on Friday I caught up with Alex and Jill for some chicken galbi in Seomyeon. The original plan was to head to the theater and catch a show but that changed as Jill was in the mood for some drinks. We ended up at a beer tent behind Lotte chatting with the bar tender. It seemed to him that Jill looks like Rachel Weisz, the girl from the Mummy. Frankly I don't see it, but hey, maybe that's just me. After the tent we headed off to Guri bar, had some social drinks, played some Beruit and made some new friends.

I spent most of Saturday at the beach but did end up back in Jangsan with Alex for dinner. We caught up with Kelsey afterward and went to a DVD Bong to watch The Benchwarmers. My advice to you, don't watch it. Later that night I went up to PNU with Adam, Juhee and Conrad for a fundraiser to save the Korean Moon Bear. Essentially, Moon Bears are a protected species under Korean law but the government has chosen to turn a blind eye. As such the bears are inhumanely farmed for their brine and organs. Check out moonbears.org for more information. The fundraiser was held at Basement which of course, meant that it would be a great night. There was a band playing, drink specials for those willing to donate to the cause, free t-shirts, and an awesome dance party. I am not an expert by any means but I feel like the event was a success. Everyone there seemed to be in the spirit and having a great time. As for Sunday, I made my way back to the beach again. I played some soccer and Frisbee, swam in the sea and chilled in the surf. That night I ended up playing nine holes with the boys (and Jill) and getting some fantastically cheap BBQ dinner. All together, the weekend was a bit hard on my liver, but fantastic none the less.

I have a holiday coming up this Friday so I think I might take the bike out on the hills and head down to Nampo to finally pick up my camera that has been in for service for the last month.

Slainte

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McCullough has hit Korea

Posted By mmurphy on/at 8/23/2009 10:01:00 pm

Jill McCullough, a dear friend of mine for many years has finally landed in Korea. Her arrival marks the onset of the last leg of my time here. In nine short weeks I will be saying on-yeong-ee gas-say-yo to Korea and bonjour to Indo-China before heading back to Canada. I'm excited to say the least.

Friday night I finished up work and jetted off to the airport to greet Jill who was as excited to see me as I was to see her. We piled in a taxi and took off back towards my house. We only spent a few brief moments there before rushing out the door to meet Adam and Juhee for some beers. They had also just flown back from Canada after having an extended vacation at home. It was great to catch up with everyone after so long and a lot of fun trying to teach Jill a few tricks about Korea.

Saturday Jill and I wandered over to Alex's vacant apartment to drop off her luggage and than on to Seongjong Beach for the afternoon where we were greeted by Sam and Kathryn. We spent some time playing in the sea and chilling on the beach before heading back to Alex's to shower off and get dressed for a night on the town. We ended up in KSU and got some Chen Chen Chinese food, which is always awesome. Afterward we found our way back to Haeundae to Rock and Roll House for the communal birthday celebrations of some people I know. It seemed as though most people I knew in Korea had showed up for this event. It was a ton of fun hanging out with all these people despite me getting ripped off by the bartender for an 11,000 won drink. After hanging out here for a while a few of us headed down the street to Thursday party where we finished out the night eating Cheese fries on the patio.

Sunday I caught up with Sam, Kathryn and Jill at Breeze Burns in Haeundae. I have frequented this restaurant for the past several months and I have never had such a poor experience as yesterday. For some reason it took my eggs 1 hour to cook, and I didn't get a waffle or orange juice with my combo. For 10,000 won you expect something decent, needless to say I was severely disappointed. After this fiasco we wandered down to the beach and chilled out for the day and had a great walk around the boardwalks and parks in the area before heading back to Alex's for pizza and movies.

I sincerely hope Jill's first weekend in town has been a memorable and enjoyable one and that Alex doesn't mind the fact that we turned his home into a hotel room in his absence haha.

Slante

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Paul's visit to the ROK

Posted By mmurphy on/at 8/09/2009 10:22:00 pm

I know I am almost a week late on this update but my life has been a little crazy lately with intensives at school and my various other social commitments. Anyways, I am sorry it took me so long to get this done.

Two weeks ago today my ah-pa (father) arrived in Busan, the day after a 3 day music festival in which I slept maybe a total of 8 hours the entire weekend. As you can imagine I was completely exhausted but at the same time very excited. This anxiety quickly faded when the airport staff informed me that his luggage had been lost! What's worse is that it contained all my gifts- everything from KD and jam to cereal and souvienurs for my students. Disgruntled but happy to see each other we went and got some late dinner. Tuesdayto Thursday I unfortunately had to work but he managed to entertain himself during the day while I was away. Tuesday night we caught up with a friend of mine for a quick 9 on the virtual links. Before we could even tee off my dad took a bad swing and broke the censor, which I found out today costs 100,000 won ($88) to fix. The good news is that it will be a memory he won't soon be forgetting. Wednesday night we headed out to the University bars to watch Alex and his band play their first live show. I got my dad pretty drunk unintentionally but he enjoy it and we all rocked out sufficiently to Alex and the Bad Headcolds. Thursday night we had dinner with my co-workers and my K-Friend wanted to take us for Soju, which of course I indulged and managed to get my dad slightly drunk once again. Friday I had the day off work so we took the opportunity to visit Nampo-dong (the market district) and pick up some cheap clothes, shoes, etc. We also visited the famous Jigalchi fish market and Busan Tower to take in a view of the harbour. That night he went home to bed but I caught up with Alex and John Bunford (know him? he's from Barrie) and his wife and we had another wild night on the town. Awesome to the end. The next day I took my dad to the beach to show him the craziness of Haeundae Beach during the busiest weekend of the summer, than we went off to Yongunsa, the only Buddhist temple in all of Asia built on the sea. After wards we went to Alex's place and than got some dinner with those boys again. Then in an attempt to see a movie we went to Shinsegae, the largest department store in the world, but were denied when there were no good English movies showing and no translations of Haeundae, the epic tale of a tsunami that destorys Busan. Exhausted from the day, my dad elected to head home and I stayed out with the rest of the team and we went to the amusement park/carnival. at Gwanali beach (see an earlier post about that crazy place). The Sunday we rose early and got ready for a killer hike. And killer it was. We went to a cultural village and checked out some temples and tombs and than hiked up a mountain. At the top we got some lunch and enjoyed the view sitting on a rock that jut 30 feet out the side of this mountain, it really felt like we were the only people around. We continued on through the mountains and happened upon the remains of an ancient fortress and checked out some watch towers and way-gates. It was really cool. That night we both went home and crashed after getting dinner, we wereabsolutely exhausted. Monday, his final day, it rained and we opted to avoid the rain andto just stay in and watch movies and maybe do a bit of shopping. That night however he took me to the Outback for dinner! It had been such a long time since I had steak, it was absolutely amazing. Tuesday morning we said our goodbyes, I put him in a taxi and I went home to sleep for a bit before getting restless and taking the bike out of storage and climbing another mountain.

I sincerely hope that wasn't too brief of a recap but a lot of stuff can happen in a week as action packed as ours so I feel it might be best to just stick to the big stuff!

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