Ahhh the big 2-5.
The boy was absolutely devastated that neither of us could remember how I celebrated my birthday last year that he vowed to make this one memorable. He delivered. My only requests were that we
a) get out of Pohang
b) secure our airfare for our Christmas vacation
c) Eat Indian food
d) find me a cupcake (preferably red velvet).
Now these tasks weren't necessarily easy. For starters, we had to travel an hour west to Daegu to pay for our winter vacation flights in person. Our travel agent doesn't accept credit cards over the phone or online so it was our only option. Also, there's no Indian food (or any ethnic food really) in our town. Also, cupcakes are hard to come by.
Real cupcakes at least. Korean cakes are usually spongy and really light. I like my cakes hearty, thick, and I dare say... moist. I also like frosting. Creamy, rich frosting. Not any of that cool whip crap. And uhh, of the year and a half that I've lived in Korea I have never seen anything resembling red velvet.
So the boy and our usual companions (Corey and Paul) had their work cut out for them. We got up early, rented a car and headed to Daegu. We had NO idea where our travel agent was located and after a good hour of driving around and asking every Korean imaginable we paid for and secured our holiday tickets! My plane ticket was actually my big birthday present from the beau. A motorcycle last year, a Christmas vacation this year... he gives the best gifts!
We then headed to my favorite Indian restaurant in Daegu and gorged ourselves silly. I had chicken curry with cheesy naan, a refreshing salad and I split a corona with the boy. Can you see the happiness?
After Daegu we were back on the road. This time we headed south to Busan. If there was anything that I could've done without on my bday it wouldn't been the thousand and one toll booths that we came across. There were some that were only a mile or two apart!
Once in Busan we found our accomodation for the night (more on that later) and headed out on the town. We had hit downtown Busan for mayyybe 10 minutes when Corey miraculously spotted a cupcake shop down a back alley. CUPCAKES! Yummy yummy cuppycakes! Not only was it the 1st cupcake shop I've seen in Korea, it was aptly named "
Red Velvet". And yes, they had a few red velvet cupcakes left... just for me. Chris got himself a vanilla yogurt cream cupcake and Corey and Paul split one that was blueberry. nom.nom.nom.
Next on the agenda was a birthday brew. We found a German haus that actually brewed their own beer.
The night just wouldn't have been complete without a little arm wrestle arcade game.
After all of the bday festivities (and driving) we were all exhausted and decided to buy a few bottles of vino and head back to our hotel. Oh yes, our hotel. We arrived and there was only one room available. One room. One room with one big bed and vending machines in the hall... these kinds of vending machines...
Oh Korean love motels... always aim to please. We skipped the vending machine, ordered in chicken, watched some of Korea's funniest home videos and then passed out. All of us. On one not-really-that-big bed. Below is a picture of our ceiling/nightscape.
A great birthday that definitely will not be forgotten!
