Back home to my Busan pad after an eight-day vacay into the south of South Korea…land of islands, mountains (okay, this whole country is covered in mountains), volcanoes, trees so lush they appear to burst from the countryside, flat-stone, black-rock, and gold-sand beaches, caves and waterfalls, too much rice, and permed ajummas renting floor mats to stretch out on for the night.  

One plane, three boats, a hell of a lot of buses, somewhere around ten taxis, and my flip-flopped (and sometimes sneakered) feet took me from my sixth-floor apartment to the East and South Coasts of Jeju Island, a magic beach called Yesongri, a gritty sea-side town called Yulpo, and the misty rolling tea plantation of Daehan-dawon.  I forgot my razor in Jeju City and my toothbrush at a minbak in Yulpo.  I ran out of granola bars and ate a whole lotta ramen.  I walked, hiked, sweated (a lot), smiled, cried (happy tears), read, rested, thought about life and the future (probably too much), collected shells, picked tea leaves, took photo after photo, learned “Nice to meet you” in Korean (bangapseumnida), and “beach” (haebyeon), and “bus” (beoseu), and spent hours just listening to the waves and looking at the clouds.  I thought about my friends at home and my friends in Busan.  I thought about my family.  I missed them all and at the same time felt them all with me.  In short, I had a wicked time.

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This is just the first post of many I’ll write over the next week or two, taking you with me back through the countless shades of green and blue I saw while soaking up the nature in this gorgeous part of the world.

Up next, excursions through what my friend Serven calls the “Hawaii” of Korea…

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More pics and words to come asap!

Like what you've read?  Please visit my online blog, Coco Busan.

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