Tuesday 19th April, 2011

I rode into Sum Yung Dong AKA Neon City for some cheap $2 dollar store shopping and souvenir shopping. I promised to get mum some little magnets hand made out of clay of little Koreans wearing their traditional outfits. I also went to the Daisio discount store and managed to pick up a few other things such as scarfs, earrings, cosmetic bags, lollies, biscuits, hairclips, nail polish and some makeup accessories. I absolutely love Daisio. It's a great brand, made to quality and cheap. They recently opened a big store in Sum Yung Dong and Jenny, Tiger, Emma and I went in there the first week they opened and spent around 2 hours browsing and finding unusual items.

At around lunchtime I arrived at the big markets and the area was buzzing with streets vendors, customers, school kids and foreigners! I had never seen this area so busy before. Usually when we go, the big markets only has a few stalls here and there doing business. But today, they had stalls over flowing on the streets and in neighbouring lane ways.

They were selling anything you could put a price tag on. Seafood, nuts, fruit and vegetable were a plenty. There was a lot of second hand clothing and fashion accessories. Sweets, socks, hair clips, plants and flowers. You could find everything you needed.

Seafood

Sauces

smoky

vegetables

I'm not too sure what this is, some sort of sponge cake perhaps?

Tofu in blocks!

Fried goodies

pig meat

Fresh flowers

Tomatos!

Seafood

fish

plants and flowers

Socks! You'll never run out of socks!

Herbs and spices

Delicious strawberries

I loved every minute of it. The colours and smells and the noise and the hectic atmosphere. It was spring and the city was alive. I'm not sure if the markets are open every day or not, because from what I've gathered, most markets open when it's a nice day out. We have some markets across the street from the hotel and they're usually open on Thursdays and sometimes on Fridays, but I think now, with the weather warming up, they seem to be in operation on more days, but it'll be very random.

Wooden furniture..

No dogs!!! I don't know who would wear these socks?

Seafood on the streets

The Big Markets

On the way back, I stopped to have a bit of a gym workout, but I wasn't really feeling it, so I didn't stay too long. I remember how excited I was at seeing the cherry blossoms in bloom, but now my excitement got even bigger! The TULIPS were blooming!!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE tulips and they look absolutely gorgeous lining the footpaths. The colours were so vibrant- a rich, lipstick red and very bright, sunny yellow. It looked like they had been painted, they were that perfect!

First time I've seen this kind of pup, especially in South Korea! It's a Bedlington Terrier!

Tulips lining the footpath

one word- Gorgeous

My pretties

I'm truly loving spring here. People seem happier, I get to wear t-shirts and the flowers are blossoming.
x

me with the beautiful tulips!

It's Spring and the markets are alive! remains copyright of the author Two Otters, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I had to spend last night at a love motel.

Why?

Let’s start at the beginning.

Sunday night I return from my weekend spent watching the bullfights in Cheongdo (more on that later) and hanging out in Daegu. I walk into my apartment and immediatly notice that the floor feels squishy underneath my feet.  Normally when this happens it’s because an air bubble has formed under the cheap wood grain patterned linoleum that covers the span of my apartment, but this is different.  I Flip on the lights and walk around for a bit trying to figure out what the problem is when I hear a loud squelching sound a notice water coming coming out from underneath the linoleum where one sheet overlaps another. It turns out that there is a layer of water trapped underneath. So much water that when I step firmly on the floor in the center of the room I  see small ripples migrating towards the wall, which makes the floor look like a cheap water bed.

Elsewhere in my apartment pools of water have formed on top of the linoleum but luckily none are near any electrical devices and my dirty clothes hamper remains untouched. I try to access where the water is coming from and even contemplate trying to clean up the mess myself but it dawns on me that I’m too tired, too hungover, and it’s too late in the night for me to care. Instead I decide to deal with it in the morning.

I wake up for work the next day and realize there is a lot more water than I originally thought. This is evident in the water that has now begun seeping out into the entryway by the font door. I arrive at work and explain the problem to my co-teacher, who eventually calls the landlord. I’ve gotten used to assuming the worse in these types of situations so I’m already thinking that I’ll end up having to foot the the bill for any repairs that need to be done or at the very least have to stay somewhere else for a few days while the problem gets sorted out.

By lunch my co-teacher has talked to the landlord and he says that the water is coming from a broken pipe under my kitchen sink. I’m told that I need to go home and clean out the area underneath the sink so that they can come and make the necessary repairs in the morning. Fair enough, I can do that. I’m also told that I should try to clean up the water that is already on the floor and that the water valve to my apartment has been cut off to keep anymore from leaking. I’m not really excited about having clean it up myself, but I figure any effort on my part that can bring quick and painless end to this dilemma is well worth it. I’ve heard and read many stories involving english teachers going through hell because of household malfunctions–sometimes because of negligence on the part of a landlord and other times because teachers are expected to deal with the problems on their own, with little or no help from anyone. In my case, I’m lucky to at least have a co-teacher who can do my bidding for me. I head home hell bent on getting as much water up as possible.

After an hour of sliding around in flip flops with a makeshift mop (really just a swifter sweeper with an old towel attached to the end of it–not the best tool for the job), I realize that I am doing nothing more than moving the water from one place to another. It’s clear that that I won’t be able to remove it all and at this point I’m thinking it will probably require some professional assistance.

So lets review what we know so far:

1. A pipe has broken underneath the kitchen sink.
2.  There is water all over the floor, made worse by my attempt to clean it up.
3. The pipe will be fixed, but until then the water to my apartment has been completely cut off (No shower, no laundry, no flushing of the toilet).

I throw some shit in a bag and head to a love motel for the night. Lucky for me there are a slew of them in my neighborhood so I pick one at random and pray that it won’t break the bank. For about 35 bucks I get room with the following amenities: a round bed, an interior that looks like it belongs in a Tim Burton movie, a satin robe that barely goes past my butt (not that I tried it on) and red neon lights that are attached to the ceiling. I’m officially set for a one-man psychedelic orgy photo shoot and best of all, it has running water.

While at work today, my co-teacher tells me that not only has the landlord fixed the problem under my sink (which actually turned out to be a faulty water heater) but he’s also taken out my recycling for me. Little is said about whether there is still water everywhere except that I should turn on my ondong floor heating system so that whatever water remains will dry more quickly.

I walk into my apartment halfway expecting to see the water still there, but to my surprise there is not a drop to be found. From what it looks like, he pulled up all the linoleum, removed the water, and laid it back down. I Imagine he had to to move the furniture around to do this, but if he did I certainly can’t tell. He also took it upon himself to clean the mirrors and television glass, take out the garbage and arrange some of my shoes next to the door (which actually creeps me out a little). I’m considering sending him a thank you card as well as a request for his services on a weekly basis in exchange for english lessons.

So what stated out as a near disaster turns out to be only a minor irritation due to the help of my awesome co-teacher and and a landlord who either felt sorry for me or is simply an overachieving neat freak.

It’s too bad really. I was somewhat looking forward to spending another night the porno infused love motel.

Ciao,

Kimchi Dreadlocks

I have talked about this problem before, but I will but it into a more realistic context/story:

You wake up in the morning and you grab yourself a fresh cup of coffee, rub your eyes and sit down in front of your computer. DING! goes your email and you find a letter from some company that you’ve never heard of but, they have heard of you and want to purchase your photos. You skim through making sure that it is not one of those ever-so-obvious scams where they want you to send all your banking information to some small African country. You soon realize that this is a legit offer and they are asking some serious questions.

“Dear Awesome Photographer person in Korea, we love your photos of kimchi and random temples. We would like to purchase them for our office and are wondering how much it would cost for a high resolution image. We have attached a copy of the photo that we found on your flickr page”

So… now what do you do? Most of the time I send out a bajillion emails to friends and people that I know in the field and see what they have to say and skirt the issue with the potential client until I get a response that satisfies me. However, this is NOT the way to go about things.

Today over my morning coffee I found a great article on this exact issue. The Article on Digital Photography School was written by Mathew Dutile and it brings up some excellent points.

I really want everyone to take the time to read this article in its entirety. Read and think about it. let me know what you think.

For me the main thing is all about confidence and being firm on your pricing. Confidence is key. If you clients sense that you are not sure about your work or your prices they will use that to their advantage to get a better deal. They may also think that you cannot produce the goods and will not commit to the deal.

I think the most intriguing piece of advice has to be about “knowing when to walk away” This is extremely important to know and understand. I remember once when I was doing some wedding photography the client hired me for next to nothing. The groom was a friend and I thought that I was helping them out. They later came to me and showed me pictures and styles that they wanted me to shoot like. They were from another photographer that was charging 5 times what they were paying me, I should have just walked away.

A while ago I was telling a friend about that situation and they told me a story about a person who did just that. She walked away from numerous clients. Soon they were begging her to shoot for them and actually increasing the price. There is power in the world “No” but just be courteous.

Here is the link to the article again. Give it some thought and let me know what you think about it in the comments section below.

http://busan.cityawesome.com
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This is a strange memory, but I remember being 14 years old and watching a random show on the Discovery Channel or something similar on Okinawa. The people in the show were diving into piles of squid and clams and other strange sea aliens that I didn’t know the names of. It was cool when I was watching, but later that night, I’m pretty sure I had some Fear Factor-style nightmares, and I might have wet the bed. Not sure.

So anyway, flash forward to present-day in Busan. Who would have thought that one of the coolest things to do in this city was to eat the stuff that made me pee the bed all those years ago?

The Taejongdae clam tents are seriously a fun time. We show up after a long-ish bus ride to the end of Yeong-do, walk along this parking lot overlooking a pebble beach, and stroll down, scoping out the tents. I always feel like the prettiest girl at the ball as all the ladies who work the tents shout at my friends and me (Hey! Come on! You! Here!) and try to coax us into their tent. Don’t stress too much about the selection process: all are pretty much the same. They have no menus; our particular lady told us “memory” when we asked her for one, as she gestured towards the buckets of seafood out in front.

I’ve been here twice now, and both times, you just kind of mime what you want (or speak some Korean if you’ve got the skills), and the ladies will take care of the portions. I think clams (조개 – jo-gae) and mussels (홍합 – hong-hap) are the best things to go for here. There are also prawns (새우 – sae-oo) and some smaller shellfish, as well as Gaebul (the weird sea penis-looking things… I steer clear) if you’re feeling saucy. (NOTE: Just to be clear here: you’ll need to cook the clams. Sorry, just had to say it. You might want to use the scissors as well to cut the clams away from their shells).

There are no “prices” posted, but both times I’ve gone, it’s been about the same. For five people, mussels and clams, beer and some soju should run you 80-100k, depending on how much you drink. Another time, we had 10 people eating and the total was 160. Not bad, considering how much you get, and considering that the divers are about 50 meters away plucking the shellfish out of the ocean.

Taejongdae is also a really nice scenic park that give you some nice views along the ocean, so you can go hiking before or after you eat. There is a small train (think something like those trains that go around the zoo) that goes around Taejongdae, and there is also a small ferry/tour boat that goes around a couple small rock islands off the coast. I’ve heard that you can get a ferry from Jagalchi market to Taejongdae, but I’m not sure about this.

Directions:
FROM JAGALCHI/NAMPO: get to Jagalchi metro station exit 10 and take bus 8.
FROM SEOMYEON: get the 88-B or 88-A across the street from Judie’s Taehwa. The ride is about an hour.
FROM POINTS EAST (east of Seomyeon): Metro to Daeyeon station, exit 2 and take the 101 all the way to Taejongdae. OR you can take the 139, 1001 or 1003 to the Munhyeon stop and transfer to the 101 there. The ride from Daeyeon will take about an hour.
FROM BUSAN STATION: Bus 101, 88-A or 88-B will do the trick.

Take the bus to the END of the line (TaeJongDae) and you’ll get off in a parking lot. Turn left and you’ll see the entrance to the park. Turn RIGHT after the Family Mart, BEFORE the main gate. Walk down the path (it looks kind of seedy) till you come to a parking lot. You’ll see the tents and the ocean. ATM and bathrooms are to your left of the parking lot, slightly uphill, and overlooking the clam tents.