BIFF and Street Food

Busan is host to one of Asia's best film festivals...at least that is what they advertise. It is right across the street from the fish market and has played host to all of the best movies coming out of Asia. I decided to head over there because they had street food and things to see. 

PIFF stands for Pusan International Film Festival. It is called BIFF as well. Sometimes they are even on the same map...

 Someone at the hostel I was staying at said I needed to try these. After much googling, I found that it is called Hotteok. It is like nan bread kind of. It has a filling of honey, brown sugar and sunflower seeds and maybe some other stuff. It is cooked on a hot griddle and it is delicious. The best part was that it cost less than a dollar. 

 20 feet from where the last picture was taken, I bought some corn on the cob. Unfortunately, there was no butter or salt and it was only kind of warm. Again, only a dollar. The worst part is that I couldn't find a garbage can for a half an hour after that. I ended up pretending to go buy something in McDonald's so I could throw it away. I then walked out without  buying something. I don't care. I'm a rebel and I do what I want...

 This is a poster for arguably the most famous Korean movie to come out of South Korea in the last 10 years. The movie is called Tae Guk Gi. Taking place during the Korean war, it is a story about two brothers who are drafted into the South Korean army. The older brother goes about taking on any dangerous task he can to try and win a medal to get the younger brother out of the army. He falls in love with his own legend and I won't spoil the rest. If you get a chance, watch this movie. I cry every time, and I am man enough to admit it. 

Along one of the market streets, I saw this little terrifying horror. Michael Jackson was looking at me from a balcony. It originally was black MJ, but had been left in the sun for years and had become bleached white. The irony was not lost on me.

 The next food item I got was some chicken on a stick. Pretty much what you would expect of a kebab, but it was HOT! Most things in Korea were hot. Also, it tended to get all over your face. Again, less than 1 dollar. 

 A view through the market at the tower in Busan. I thought that the tower looked a lot like the staff that takes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in time in the 3rd live action movie. If you don't know what I am talking about, you need to educate yourself on your TNMT lore. 

 The Koreans had more shopping areas than any place I have ever even heard of. I think their national past time is shopping. Their national sport is spending sprees, and the flag even features a barcode for easy scanning at a cash register (only partially true).

Some people would say, "Jeff, I bet you ate all Korean food when you were in Korea, you would be stupid not to." To that I say, you are stupid. I haven't had good Western food in months. I came across this delicious burger joint with some gloriously messy burgers. The one I got was the Texas burger. I also listened to smooth jazz and watched some welders working on a building. They were not wearing eye protection...what a country!

The decoration in this place was neat/terrifying. I am all about the whole plywood theme...its cheap to maintain. Those are original dolls from the TV show, Doug. That was a little creepy. Also there were some sesame drawings with some face drawings on them. 

In the next few days, I am going to have a really long post about war and America and stuff. It will be really word heavy without too many pictures.