Of Ladies & Cherry Blossoms

A little over a year ago three very special ladies travelled very far to pay me a visit. I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to post the photos, but it just so happens that now is a particularly perfect time to share. If you’ve seen me at all over past few weeks I’ve probably tried to drag you out to see the cherry blossoms in High Park. Flowers/plants make me happy and I assume they should do the same for you.

This story really should start the night before we went to biggest cherry blossom festival in Korea. A few of us and the ladies went out for one of those big Korean dinners where they fill your table with a million little delicious dishes. Mme wouldn’t eat anything with meat in it as her children had planted the doubt that Koreans might eat dog the way westerners eat beef.

Despite our best attempts she politely refused to budge. I may be partially to blame. The night they arrived I took 2 of the ladies to a famous Korean restaurant I’d been curious about for a while. None of my friends would ever agree to eat there, and my lack of Korean resulted in us ordering deep fried chicken bums. I love you ladies. 

After dinner we had a few drinks in Seomeyon.
Rhylon picked out the records that made the ladies smile.

Eventually it was time to go home. We had a big day ahead of us and sleep would be the wisest choice. As the cab approached Gwangali I mentioned my friend Dougie’s bar. Mme gave a mischievous smile, and within a few seconds she and I jumped out of the cab, much to the surprise of the other 2 ladies. A new cast of characters quickly assemble.

 
They quickly became big fans of Mme.

And what would a Wednesday night be without a little norebang? 

We snuck back to the hotel around 4 or so in the morning careful not to wake the other sleeping ladies.

The next day we set out bright and early for Jinhea. It was a bit of an adventure.  There are two main bus terminals in Busan. I brought us to the wrong one. Had I done my homework we would have gone to Sasang and sat on a nice comfy bus all the way to Jinhae. Instead we knew we would get as far as Masan and then something was going to happen, we weren’t quite sure what, but from what little English the ticket lady spoke, we gathered something would happen there.

In Masan we walked around the station a little confused ...

... then we walked around outside a little confused.

Eventually someone ordered one of the fierce ajummas who was washing the windows to help us. We followed her down the road from the bus station and waited until the local bus arrived.
Eventually lots and lots of flowers were seen.

This year I made it out to High Park just in time to catch the blossoms. It's no Jinhea, and they ladies weren't there, but they still managed to make me smile.