The biggest highlight of today was the train ride from Busan to Seoul.
But because our timing was the 10:18 train, there was more than enough time for us to say a farewell to the sea, to Songdo Beach, to Busan.
Was I sad?
To tell the truth, yes, I was, a little.
Perhaps I had not expected myself to fall in love with the city even in such a short span of two days.
Perhaps I had not expected myself to appreciate the presence of sea, sand, wind, space, place, and even her pace.
People tend to talk about the city in terms of the beach, the sea, the seafood, the port, but no one talks much about the presence of Geumjeongsan, her Fortress and her Temple. No one talks about the hills and slopes that make for great cardio exercise even just getting from here to there.
And what about the huge covered markets that bustle with goods and produce and clothes and stuff for the average local shopper there?
Hardly anyone talks about the university that sits somewhere near one of the markets.
Yet there's a nice bakery, and a donut shop there.
I won't go so far to say that Busan felt rustic- they do have a strong manufacturing presence after all- but she was grounded, and she comfortable. Her presence made you slow down, made you feel like you had a place on this earth, that you were born for a purpose, and you could come retreat amongst all this nature until you were certain of it.
Maybe that's why I brought back those pine cones.
So that even right now, when we're close to the end of the year, I can look at those pine cones and think of a mountain, with her peace and her serenity, that I visited sometime in late Spring.
This morning the Uber brought us swiftly to the train station where we boarded KTX 4012 for Seoul. We were seated at B 3A/3B on the left side of the train.
There're a whole lot of pictures that I have of the train ride- it was a two-hour plus one after all- but since I don't know enough of the country to describe where is where, I'll just plonk them here bit by bit, and we'll see.
I'm not sure whether this is Ulsan or Daegu or both.
Chances are they're both.
I mean, I've not heard much about either place (haven't had the chance to look into it yet) but I think they do a great deal of agriculture, and the pictures certainly seem to say so.
After this the train continued.
I think this is probably somewhere between Daegu and Gimcheon.
I don't know, but I loved how there were all these agricultural farms, then a series of tall apartment blocks, then the silhouette of a mountain not too far ahead.
After this came even more pictures of South Korea's natural greenery interposed with farming and agriculture and manufacturing facilities all under her bright blue skies.
I'd like to think that this was between Gimcheon and Suwon, but again, there're still a lot more pictures coming up, so I'm not really sure.
After this came more scenes that I really do think were either from agricultural or manufacturing farms. Wish I knew what it were under all these tents, or what it were they were growing out in the open fields.
There's a gap somewhere in all these pictures that I didn't manage to take.
I was occupied with a work call.
But I found myself fascinated by the sight of the mountains.
It didn't matter which way you turned. There always seemed to be a range somewhere on the horizon.
I now begin to wonder just how it's like to live a life surrounded by mountains.
Does it change your perspective?
Does it make you realize just what it is you have and what you are?
It's a little hard for a city girl on a somewhat flat island to truly understand what it's like to live in a flat with mountain ranges in view.
I can only imagine just how safe, mindful and inspired one might feel.
The last stretch of the journey took us between Suwon and Seoul.
And we got to Seoul station proper on time at 13:39.
A little while later we headed out to the main road to Uber our way to the hotel.
I cannot describe just how it felt to be returning to the same hotel in the same place in the same district where I had been one early winter over more than a decade ago.
You know, it's times like these that I'm thankful that in life, there're some things that seem to wait, and some things that stay the same.
November 2013 was the last time when I was in Yeungdeungpo.
It's 2024 now.
I'm so glad that Courtyard by Marriott is still there.
We checked in, settled down, took a good look at the late Spring view, and headed to the lounge.
Here we had hot drinks and a couple of cookies, then because we were still hungry, headed down to Times Square for a quick lunch.
All around the floors we walked and looked around, trying to make up our minds just what we could have for a 4pm meal, but the choices here seemed to hover between either that of a full meal (which meant we might be too full for dinner) or snacks.
In the end we gave up hunting and went to Shake Shack for a burger instead.
Afraid I can't remember just what burger it was, and afraid I don't have a picture.
Lunch over, we headed down to Emart and to Olive Young where at the store (for nostalgia's sake) I got a lip tint, and also a fabric perfume that was said to resemble forest green. We also went around the shops, and at clothing store 8 Seconds, got a bagful of clothes.
Later in the evening we headed across the road from the hotel to take a look around (and see if there were anything to be had).
Let's just say I was a little surprised that the entire area consisted very much of late-night drinking places, a couple of BBQ restaurants, and some other restaurants dotted here and there.
To be honest I would have been quite comfortable getting convenience microwavable food from the GS25 store, but my friend is one of those persons who goes out for the foodie part, and so we found ourselves at a place having a plate of pajeon and boiled pork soup, which, to my surprise, was very comforting even for a warm Spring night.
