Seoul searching through Asia.: Yeosu

This past weekend was Korea’s Memorial Day. It’s pretty much celebrated like Memorial day in America, with a 3 day weekend and parties. I took a trip down to some islands on the southwestern tip of Korea. I met a lot of great people and saw a lot of great parts of Korea.

walking up to the Buddhist Temple

We left late on Friday night to avoid the holiday traffic and to get to Yeosu in time for the sunrise. We left at 11pm and drove through the night. Everyone tried their best to get comfortable and sleep as much as possible. We made it to Hyang Il Am Temple at about 3:30am. We all either slept on the bus or found various spots outside until about 5am when we started out hike up to the top of the mountain.

The many stairs up to the Temple

Unfortunately we didn’t get perfect weather and it was quite foggy once we got to the top of the mountain. It was still a relaxing time and we slept, enjoyed the scenery and explored from sunrise until 10am when we departed again for Yeosu harbor.

Sunrise from the Temple

The fog setting in quickly

We walked around the harbor and then explored the fish market. Now, this fish market wasn’t like any other I’ve seen. Most of the seafood was very much still alive and swimming. I didn’t really peg myself for a completely unadventurous eater, but when my meal is still alive and they kill it in front of me I find it pretty unappetizing. Luckily most of the people I was with felt the same way so we opted for a restaurant that brings out fully cooked food. Unfortunately for me the “American” version of fully cooked and most other countries I’ve been to seem to vary. Our baked fish came out with very sharp teeth and eyeballs. Luckily I managed to get over my fear of food with heads and eyes and ate some fish. Also, Korea is awesome with side dishes! Even if you hate the meal there are tons of yummy side dishes that they bring out in an unlimited quantity.