Busan (부산) and Holi Hai 2017

For my next trip, I went to the beautiful city of Busan for the Holi Hai festival that was held at Haeundae Beach. The trip was regrettably a short one, so I will definitely have to visit Busan again. It was a successful trip though. I arrived late Saturday afternoon and found myself at the Jalgachi Fish market around dinner time. This is the largest fish market in Korea, and was also the first one I have visited. It certainly is a different atmosphere than anything I could have done at home. I love fish, and I have fished since I was young, but never have I seen so many different kinds of seafood. There was some seafood that was, in my opinion, quite colossal in size. I want to try so much of it. The market is indoors, where you sit down at a booth of your choosing (there are so many) and then choose your very much alive fish. Then you can watch the fish be taken out of the tank, filleted, prepared, and cooked in front of you. One thing you must be sure of is to watch where you step, this is because the water in the tanks should be flowing to keep the fish healthy. So, the water is always flowing into, and out of, the tanks and onto the floor. If you step too close to the tanks to get a look, you'll want to make sure you don't accidentally soak your sneakers. For this trip we decided to choose octopus as the dish for the evening.

During my first visit to Korea someone had pushed me to try moving octopus, and while I did try one tiny little chunk (and I mean TINY) it wasn't for me. I couldn't get past the fact that it was still squirming around on my plate. I had said I would never eat it again. That was until I found myself in Korea's largest fish market, and my friend ordered one. It was the first time she was able to try it. So I watched as the man pulled up an octopus, took a big knife and cut it into pieces, put it on a plate, and charged my friend 10,000 Won. Meanwhile, the octopus was moving around on our plate, its tentacles moving around as if they were looking for an escape route, unaware they were already dead. So I decided that if I am going to live in a different country I should start by doing it properly and to do that I had to get over being squeamish. The result...octopus isn't that bad. Honestly it doesn't even really have a taste. It is just really rubbery and chewy. When you put it into your mouth it still is moving, but as long as you chew instantly you cannot feel it move (except for moments when a sucker gets attached to your teeth). I split it with my friend, eating a good portion of it. We walked around the fish market for awhile, slowly traversing each aisle and looking at all the ocean fish. I swear I have never seen such large lobsters elsewhere as those I saw at Jalgachi.

After roaming around we left the fish market and hit the streets in search of other foods that piqued our curiosity. Fortunately for us not far away was a night market filled with street vendors and food. Since I have a sweet tooth, the items that I tried mostly were in the junk category. First I tried some candy glazed strawberries. They were really delicious. The outside was like hard candy, but the inside was a warm and juicy strawberry. Later on I tried one of the waffles that are so common on the street, with some apple glaze and whipped cream in the center. After sampling those, along with Indian style ice cream as well, we found ourselves at an all you can eat samgyeopsal restaurant. We pigged out. More than the food though, I realized how dehydrated I was and the three of us ended up going through three containers of water. I think that the waiters were surprised. 

The following morning my friend and I went to the 2017 annual Holi Hai Festival on Busan's Haeundae Beach. Even without the festival Haeundae Beach is an extraordinary beauty. It was nice to smell the sea, honestly it felt like home to me again. I miss the water, hearing the waves, and the annoying sand. The gulls were flying all along the beach, diving into the water near shore feeding on something. They were noticeably different from the gulls at home, smaller and slimmer. I also loved the way that the buildings and homes lined the cliff along one end of the beach. It was a spectacular view. 

Moving on the to festival...Holi Hai is actually an Indian based festival and is not related to Korean culture. Therefore, since it is a foreign festival that is held in Korea, there were many many many foreigners present. It was probably the largest amount of foreigners that I have seen since my national orientation in Daegu. Everyone was dressed in white and preparing for the color explosion that was going to happen when the festival began. I had always wanted to participate in some type of color event, so I was really looking forward to this one. When the festival was counting down there was Indian music playing and Indian people dancing on and around the stage. Finally there was a countdown and this is when it became exciting. When the countdown was complete the sky erupted with color powder until I was completely speckled in various hues of yellow, green, blue, purple, red, and even pink. Some other people attending the event were kind enough to share their color powder with us, and so I was given a packet of pink. While I was in the midst of trying to decide how to best cover myself in the hot pink powder, one of the Indian people nearby saw me thinking and decided he would help me. He approached me, took my powder, dumped in into his palm, and proceeded to completely paint my entire face pink. It was funny. I had so many people pass me and they must have decided I wasn't colorful enough. Many people smeared their colors on my cheeks and forehead as they passed. It was an exciting and lively event that I wouldn't trade. I am glad that I took the time to go. Even without registration I had a blast, became my own personal rainbow, and had the opportunity to become walking foreign street art as I  took the subway for an hour back to where I was staying. 

Haeundae Beach

Holi Hai Festival 2017