Into the Countryside...

This morning, Jess, Carlos, and I jumped on a train in Haeundae and headed into the countryside for a day away from the hustle and bustle of Busan!  

The train was not only incredibly comfortable and super cheap ($3.75), it went along the coast and gave us a nice little tour of our current home country!

The weather was beautiful, and smiles were a plenty all day!  :)

Our first stop was a huge market about 500 feet from the train station.  This lady was selling chesnuts, and was cracking them with this old school chestnut press.  

I am obsessed with the old women who work in these markets!  I have no idea how old these women are, but could you ever imagine seeing a woman her age working in America?! -- much less sitting on the ground working!  The women here are powerful, gentle, modest, selfless and unbelievably hard working!

I had never, in my life, seen so many lobsters, EVER!  If I had to guess, I would say there were thousands for sale... This guy let me hold one of his!  mmmm mmmm mmmm!

Carlos found this Hammer Head Shark head!  eeehhhh

Anyone want some anchovies?!  How about a box of them?  xs, s, m, or l?

The flowers are in full bloom these days!

We walked, for a long time, towards the mountains, next to a small river, and decided it was time to take out the map and figure out where to head next!

We found a rode, on the map, that lead to the beach.  It seemed like a great idea to walk it at first, but about a mile into it, when the sidewalks disappeared, and there was still NO beach in sight, we decided hitch hiking sounded like a good idea!   Luckily, one of the city buses happened to be driving up the road and stopped for us!  I'm sure the bus driver probably rolled his eyes when he saw us on the side of the road and thought, Dumb foreigners!  Are they really thinking of walking all the way to the beach?!

Before we got on the bus, I snapped a picture of this bike that was leaning against the gate of a cow farm.  This area was gorgeous!

When we got to the bus stop, we found ourselves in a very small fishing village along the coast and decided to get off and check it out.  When the bus driver saw that we were getting off the bus, he actually got out and walked us over to a sign on the wall that listed the bus schedule, so we would know when he would be back to pick us up...   

We spent a long time walking in the fishing village and decided we were all very hungry!  But between Jess's allergy to fish, and Carlos's dislike for meat, we had a hard time finding somewhere that worked for everyone in that area.  We asked a lady where more restaurants were and she motioned to keep walking, and that we would find something...  When she saw our faces, and the despair that was presented, she quickly offered to drive us!  We were sooo excited and thankful for her gesture!  So, the 5 of us all piled into this Hyundai Tiburon and headed up the coast for some dinner! 

Nice and cozy in the backseat! 

The funniest part was that they drove and drove and drove and stopped at a restaurant about 10 minutes from where we started the trip!  The three of us all laughed and realized our countryside day trip was officially over and that we were back home!   Luckily the restaurant was charming, the food was delicious, and the conversation was great as always!!  All in all, it was a great day!