The Size of Korea

I saw that Sarah was posting like crazy today so I figured I would post something that is a bit of a hobby horse for me: the size of countries we visit overlaid with states in the US. It usually helps me get a good perspective of the country. For instance, the coastline of Vietnam is a little longer than California's. The South Island of New Zealand is roughly the same area as the same of Arkansas, etc.

Now I found this website and made a couple of screenshots overlapping South Korea with the three states I think will be reading this blog the most: Arizona, Illinois, and Texas.

In each screenshot I made a red dot showing our location in the country (the port city of Gunsan). I located Dallas and Phoenix as close as I could to the capital city of Seoul as well. In Illinois I situated Chicago slightly east of Seoul to try to include more cities of people we know "in" Korea.

Damn America, you big.  (By the way, Korea has roughly the same area as Indiana in terms of total size, but, almost impossibly, it is shaped almost exactly like Indiana as well.)

Also a few quick notes on the population of Korea:

• South Korea has ~50 million people.
• That is twice the population of Australia.
• That is 15 million more people than Canada. 
• Roughly half of the country lives in the Seoul Metro area, making the Seoul metro area either the biggest or second biggest metropolitan area on the planet.
• South Korea is the 2nd most un-diverse country in the world (The first being their neighbors to the north)

Busan

We didn't take a ton of pictures in Busan because we were just so excited to be on vacation I think we forgot.    But if we had remembered we would have taken pictures of Shinsegae, the biggest department store in the world.   Sushi Berry, REAL SUSHI!  Which is hard to find in Korea because they don't particularly like the Japanese.   Our guesthouse which was really cute and affordable only two blocks from Haeundae Beach.  A Kpop concert on the beach where a bunch of middle school kids went crazy, and a bunch of other stuff.    The beach in it of itself is an experience though because Koreans abhor the sun.    So a typical Korean bathing suit is covered up by a long sleeve rash guard and long surf pants as well as a sun visor that comes over the face and shields it from the sun.   That is when they are not wearing mini dresses and heels on the beach.   Also they line up umbrellas from end to end so no sunlight gets through to sun bathe.  We were lucky enough to get one in the first row so we could get some sun.    Another interesting thing about the beach in Korea is they have people walking up and down the beach selling fried chicken and cold beer so you never need to get up.  Altogether it was a very relaxing vacation.

 Chicken and beer on the beach

 A Lotte Giants game

 Michael was very interested in this coffee vending machine because it served both iced and hot coffee.

 The umbrellas at Haeundae Beach

The most amazing Lebanese food! (for Korean standards at least)  They have very little foreign food in our town so we were excited to have a little variety.

Guiness book of records certificate for the biggest department store in the world at Shinsegae

Korean Food (misc.)

Here is a random collection of Korean food we have encountered since coming to Korea.

Even when you are drinking you get Banchan or side dishes.   In this case a salad of shredded cabbage with a sweet mayo dressing and beer snacks which are like puffed corn rings.

The belgian fry place near us is amazing

Classic Korean BBQ or Galbi.  Lots of banchan come with it.

Haejangguk or hangover stew

 Whats leftover from our seafood ramen.  We bought the bowls from the restaurant because we loved them so much.

 More Galbi

 They LOVE coffee shops here.   And juice.

 Lots of food trucks

 They like cartoon like desserts

 Gamjatang - or pork bone soup.  So good!

 You have to let it cook down like 30 minutes before you can eat it.   Meals here are often an interactive experience.

 Gin and Tonic in a bag.

 Spam fries

 Dakbokkeumtang - braised chicken and potatoes in a spicy sauce

 Kimchi pancake

 This was not the shrimp we were expecting when we ordered it...

 Dakgalbi with cheese

We destroyed it.

Dakgalbi

Galbi or Korean BBQ

Mul-maengmyeon - cold noodles in water - you can order this as a side dish for the Galbi.  There is literally ice floating in it when it comes out.   Typically you put vinegar in it and take some of the hot meat and some cold noodles in one bite.

bubbling hot Haejangguk

Haejangguk (Michael incorrectly identifies this as Gamjatang in the video. This was before he could read Hangul)

Clean Slippers

These are slippers you wear with a dry mop on the bottom so you clean as you walk.  AMAZING!

Grocery Stores in Korea

I think those are pork legs.

Pork?

They love squid here.

Michaels favorite.  It's called No Brand and it is cheap.  They make a generic version of everything from toilet paper to Pringles.

They love American hot dogs here.  Here are some in a jar.

The complete American section at Emart.  Dressing, ketchup and hot sauce.

Cheese!   Really it is cheese light.  There cheese has no flavor or salt to it.

Two biggies in Korea, Spam and quail eggs.

Beef is really expensive but it is the best looking meat we have ever seen.

The day we found Feta was the best day ever for Sarah.

Prepare to have deals shouted at you through a megaphone.

Michael is SO excited about the locking carts

Celebrity wines are big here.