kicking it in ulsan

Sometimes, you just need a good weekend with good friends.  Thank goodness I’ve just come off of one.

Stuart and I spent the weekend in Ulsan with our dear friends Chris and Angela.  They are the power couple that led the Ulsan Narwhals (our Frisbee team last season).  Stu and I loved them immediately, and once the season was over, we knew we had to make a plan to come and visit them in Ulsan. 

Ange and Chris planned an AMAZING weekend of adventures for us in Ulsan. 

On Friday night, we had lovely conversations and went for the most stunning Indian food I have had in Korea.  I do adore good Palaak Paneer and garlic naan (and wine)!  After eating, we wandered towards Baskin Robbins for some ice cream.  If there is one thing that Chris loves (aside from Ange), it is ice cream.  I really like this part of spending time with him; you are nearly guaranteed at least one ice cream stop per day, and maybe even more.  En route, however, we ran into some other waygooks who were going to some weird tilt-a-whirl, vomit-inducing, under-ground ride.  We followed and had quite the awkward laugh at what we witnessed.

Thoroughly exhausted and stuffed after Indian food and ice cream, we ventured back to Ange’s.  Stu and I then set out to find a love motel for the night.  Upon finding a decent one, we totally crashed.

The following morning, Angle treated us to a veritable feast of breakfast goods: watermelon, pineapple, whole-wheat toast with almond butter and jam, museli, soymilk, and delicious tea.  After our feast, we set out on bicycles to explore Ulsan.

We travelled down the river, through beautiful greenery and flowers to a café over the river.  We parked our bikes here and headed away from the river, up into the hills.  We climbed a beautiful and steep path to a lovely temple / pagoda / gazebo / what’s the word?  Here, we rested and ate delicious homemade hummus with carrots, cucumber, and crackers.

After heading down the hill (much easier than heading up!), we climbed back on our bikes and continued down the river.  We rode through a bamboo forest and a park; the scenery was just lovely.  I couldn’t help but think how much more beautiful Ulsan was than I thought it would be.  Ulsan is a port city that manufactures cars and massive ships on a huge scale.  I always imagined Ulsan would be dirty, smelly, and one big glorified factory.  I was so wrong, and so glad to be wrong.

We ended up at the most stunning Italian restaurant in Ulsan, and stuffed our faces with real Italian pizzas and risotto.  Afterwards, we got (can you guess?) ice cream.  Then, we rode a ferris wheel on the top of an 8-story department store.  The view of Ulsan was incredible.

After this, we rode back to Angela’s, as it was time to get ready for Ultimate Frisbee. 

Aside from playing Frisbee, which was lovely after a long hiatus from the game, the very best part of the afternoon was playing on real, green, luscious grass!  The thing about Korea is that there are not many grassy open spaces.  Schools often have fields, but these are made of yellow dust, with no grass in sight.  You can imagine our joy, then, at seeing a proper green grass field that we were allowed to run and jump and dive on!  We played barefoot, which was lovely, and relished in it!

After Frisbee, it was time for more Indian food.  Of course.  Back we went and I ordered the same thing.  It’s often hard to diverge from a dish you know is delicious!  We were joined for dinner by some of the other Frisbee players, which was really lovely.  After dinner, we crashed quickly.

Sunday saw us heading to the beach.  Ilsan (Iksan?) beach in Ulsan is a long way away from where Angela lives, but easily accessible by taxi.  To get there, we drove through the more industrial area of Ulsan (the part that epitomized what I thought all of Ulsan would be like).  Looking out the car window, I could see huge cranes and machinery building huge ships.  Plumes of gas and smog burst into the air from hundreds of exhaust chimneys.  I wondered aloud about the air quality in Ulsan.

The beach area was lovely.  We hiked through a pine forest and found the most spectacular views.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves here.

old women diving for various food-stuffs

where the old women sell their goods

diver

Afterwards, we found a lovely Mexican restaurant and feasted on burritos, nachos, mojitos, and margaritas.  Later, we bought dr. pepper and ice cream and made root beer floats while watching a movie at Ange’s.

It was such a pity that the weekend had to end!  Stu and I had such a wonderful time and a needed escape from the daily difficulties of life in Daejeon.