Some Stuff Before September...

The formatting on this one is really making me crazy, so forget lining up text to pictures!

I may be 6,000 miles away from Los Angeles, but I'm not far from home where there's Dodger Dogs.

Last weekend we spent one night in Downtown Daegu again, and I made it to this bar called Organ Bar. I really loved it - the music was fantastic, and it was a very cool place. There were Elliott Smith records on the wall - I wouldn't want to hear it on a fun night out, but still notable.

The next morning we made our way to Busan on the KTX fast train for Rizzo's birthday. This group of teenage girls posted up in their heels on the stairs to the sand and started applying makeup and giggling at our huge group of foreigners. I couldn't help but snap a picture of them. Then of course, the guys with us used that as an excuse to start up a conversation with them with their limited English.

Then, of course, they buried our friend, Pat, in the sand. Getting buried in the sand is common around here - apparently a sand burial prevents you from getting sick in the winter... if only.

We kept the western night going with a birthday dinner at TGI Friday's, but they did sing Rizzo a birthday song in Korean, so that was delightful. Bar hopping after that, followed by a casino run at 4am. Koreans are not allowed to gamble in Korea, so everyone in the casino was English-speaking or Japanese. We were on the roulette table all night/day, and man, was it a bush league casino.

To keep it short: 1. the lady running our table spun the ball out of the roullete wheel at least twice 2. she swept away winning chips at least twice 3. everyone kept placing bets well after she called for no more 4. everyone was taking their winning bets before she picked up the glass marker from the table signaling that all winners have been paid out and that you can grab your winnings.




We ended up staying in the casino until about 7am, and walking back to the "love motel" in the bright daylight, I almost wanted to stop and join the people who were starting to post up on the beach.

All in all, Busan showed me a great time. I will be back for more.