Last week I was lucky enough to have my first visitor in Korea.  Despite never having been out of the country (road trips to Canada 30+ years ago don't count), I talked my dad into flying halfway around the world to an extremely foreign land.  With the luck I have at my school I was able to leave early on Friday meaning I could meet him at the airport, a 3.5 hour bus ride from my home.  It was long, but well worth it, I was all smiles once I finally met him in the arrivals hall.  He had survived his 15 hour flight, but unfortunately the travel wasn't quite yet finished.  We still had an hour subway ride into Seoul, and then a hunt for our hostel. 

In my typical "I can't sit still" fashion I decided that staying around town was out of the question. I asked my friend Sara if she wanted to go on an adventure to Daegu and try to find Donghwa temple - so that is what we did.  Two bus rides and one train later and we arrived!  Considering the temple is located on the side of a mountain about 22km outside of Daegu I'd say our travel was pretty smooth (I was mildly impressed with myself).  Before heading up to the temple we stopped for a coffee and some snacks and were then on our way.

Last Monday was a national Holiday in Korea - officially 석가탄신일 referred to as Buddha's Birthday, thus providing me with a three day weekend.  Having the extra time I knew that I wanted to take full advantage of the weekend, so Sara and I decided to explore Geoje Island, South West of Busan, but accessible by bus.  The weekend snuck up faster than expected and we had failed to look into train tickets early so we wound up on the 6:55 am train from Waegwon - really not a problem as it provided us with more time on Saturday.  Travel to Geoje went better than expected and we were on the island enjoying a lunch by noon.  ​