A Cold Vacation

I spent the last seven days travelling between two major cities in South Korea. The vacation began with two days at Busan on Boxing Day and the next five days at Seoul until the New Year’s Day. It has been a good six years since the last time I returned to Toronto for Christmas that I experienced rather cold weather. It took me a few days to be climatized once again.

It was the first time that I visited Busan – which is the southern-most seaport and the second largest city in South Korea and it was the second time that I visited Seoul. Having planned this trip from scratch, I think I knew exactly where to go and what to do, however, with my little understand of the Korean language, navigating through the cities was proven to be much trickier. Nonetheless for this time, the Koreans whom I approached and asked for help were more helpful and friendly than those of whom I came across several years ago.

December 26, 2011
- arrived at Busan in the wee-hours and checked in at the hotel
- visited the Jagalchi Market and hiked up to the YongDuSan Park

December 27, 2011
- walked along the HaEunDae Beach and visited the NuRiMau APEC House
- waited for the sun to set to take a photo at the GanGan Bridge

December 28, 2011
- took a morning express train from Busan to Seoul
- explored MyeongDong for the rest of the afternoon

December 29, 2011
- transferred to the DMZ and visited the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel
- explored the Itaewon District and NamDaeMum District

December 30, 2011
- hiked up the NamSan Park
- visited the GyeongBokGung Palace
- returned to my favourite district in Seoul – Insa Dong
- attended the Nanta show

December 31, 2011
- travelled to Suwon and explored the HwaSeong Fortress, a UNESCO Hertiage Site
- returned to Seoul for the countdown

January 1, 2012
- attended mass at the MyeongDong Cathedral
- went to DongDaeMum and was rather disappointed before returning to the NamSan Hanok Village
- it must be the coldest day for my entire vacation
- returned to Hong Kong