This weekend was my head co-teacher wedding. I had known for a while she was going to get married and trying to figure out what to get. I wanted to get something from my trip to canada that was unique but other than valetines chocolate boxes which I thought would be tacky but couldnt really come up with anything. Luckily, now I'm being told its tradition to give money and the teachers are each contributing $25 each.When we arrived first there was a bridal room wh...

Turkey's relationship with Korea in the modern age started with the Korean War when Turkey was a large participant. I was surprised to learn that Turkey had the third highest foreign casualties after the US and UK (Canada and Aus are 4th & 5th). Some Turks settled in Korea after the war and a few Koreans began to convert to Islam. They started a large muslim neighbourhood in Itaewon Seoul, but also settled in other parts of Korea including Busan.youtube video...

Saturday morning headed out to the bus station for my departure from Busan. Once again, this was a clean organized terminal like Yorkdale bus station, nothing like the chaos we have at Dongdaegu which is four bus stations next to each other, and you have to figure out which depot to goto, then which bus. You have a choice of ferry or bus to get to Geojedo Island now that they have just opened a new suspension bridge. I heard the ferry costs more and is on strike ...

Today was a bright sunny day so was going to make the most of my last full day in Busan. First took the train to near the end of the line for Beomeosa Temple. It said it was a 3km walk from the station but the bus actually seemed like 5km curving up steep mountain roads I was glad I didnt walk. The temple itself was typical for korean, but not as grand as the ones I had seen at Haeinsa or Bulguksa. A scenic part was watching the snow melt from the curved rooftops...

Last night and all thru the night it began to pour with rain. I decided to switch my Thurs/Fri itineraries to indoor stuff as the forecast for Thursday was rain all day. After sleeping in and catching up on email in an internet cafe headed out at noon to the Busan Museum. This was free and had interesting displays but not as impressive as larger museums I had seen in Seoul and Gyeongju. Behind the museum is a large park with the UN War cemetary from the Korean Wa...