Cassie-fied Files

Friday night, I went to Gimcheon to stay over at Stephanie's apartment. Gimcheon's in the middle of the country, so its only 2 1/2 hours to get to Busan (beach city in the southeast corner of Korea). As opposed to the 4-5 hour trip it would have been from Seoul. So, we arrived a little before noon.
I arrived in Gimcheon a little before 10 pm. We went back to her apartment, talked, watched a little bit of All About DBSK 2, and then watched the Dream Concert broadcast. We were very happy that they showed both Maximum and Keep Your Head Down.
Then, we went to sleep. Our train to Busan left at 9:37, so we left the apartment around 9 am to walk down to the station. We got coffee and breakfast at Dunkin Donuts then we boarded our train.
Himeko and Claire were also on this train, but we were in different cars. This was the beginning of our Busan adventure.

On subways, music will play whenever they arrive at transfer stations. Also, when its the last stop, they'll play a different tune. When the Korail trains get to the last stop, an instrumental version of "Let It Be" is played. This is a video of us exiting the train with this song playing.

We've arrived in Busan~~!

Our hostel was in Haeundae, so we took the subway. This is the first time I've seen Russian printed anywhere outside of Itaewon [foreigner town]. But apparently next to Busan Station is a China Town that turns into a Russian Town. So, a pretty significant Russian population is in Busan.

We took line 1 north to Seomyeon, where we transferred to line 2. At Seomyeon, we found a Jaejoong Fan-Advertisement for the concert. LUCKY~~~! v^.^v

So, we arrived in Haeundae. We walked to our accommodation, which was supposed to be at Hello! Guesthouse. But, our reservation got mixed up and they didn't have a room for us. They were booked solid (as most places are in Busan-- because of the JYJ concert and its the tourist season). But, we were lucky that Haeundae is a tourist city and they do not lack accomodations-- motels, hotels, and hostels are crowded together. So, we just went across the street and thankfully found a motel that had two rooms available. It was only $30 each for one night stay, which is reasonable.

So, we dropped off our stuff and went to find someplace to eat. We were starving~~~~~~!!!! We found this amazing Chinese restaurant. It was so good.

Fresh Fruit Cocktail: Watermelon, Lychee, Peaches, Asian Melon... YUM~!

Pork Fried Dumplings and Spring Rolls

Kimchi

Boiled Quail Eggs

Roasted Peanuts

Daikon and Onions

Sweet and Sour Pork

Thank you for the meal~! Super delicious!

After our amazing lunch, we went back to the motel and got ready for the beach! Last weekend (June 4-5) was the Haeundae Sand Festival. The highlight of which is the sand castle contest, where people make these fantastic sand sculptures. Thankfully, these sculptures were left on the beach for us to see them. It was so nice to be on the beach. The sand was so soft and wonderful. I was SHOCKED that the water was so cold. It was freezing! But, after awhile our bodies acclimated to the temperature and we body surfed for a couple of hours. That water is probably the saltiest water I have ever tasted. Despite this, we all had a blast. Afterwards, we all sunbathed until it was time for us to head back and go to the concert venue at the Sajik Gymnasium.

So we're off to Sajik to see the JYJ Concert~~~! There were fan girls everywhere! Food stalls, unofficial fan good vendors (they sell things like light sticks, pillows, calendars, mugs, notepads, etc)... it was so crowded.

Jaejoong Tour Bus

One of two extremely long lines to get into the venue

The baseball stadium where a game was in progress right next to the gymnasium

The concert was so much fun! I'll put videos and more pictures in a separate entry about the concert.
http://cassiefied.blogspot.kr/2011/06/jyj-concert-in-busan-11-12-june-2011.html
When we got back to Haeundae, we went to the BBQ Chicken place right next to the Chinese restaurant and ordered some chicken tenders to go. We went back to our motel, ate dinner, and went to sleep to prepare for our second day in Busan.

Dream Concert is an annual 4 1/2 hour concert (so, its more like a music festival). It contains the most popular acts in Korea for that year, so its a big deal. Also, the more popular you are, the later the performance is. So, the last act of the night is always the biggest name. Of course, this years its DBSK. ^^ Our seats were really good-- a little right, but a great view of the stage none the less.

I cannot stress enough how important fans are to the entertainment industry. Fans make or break groups. At Dream Concert, fans group together, wave balloons, put out banners, do fan chants, and try to outdo other fan groups. Although, there is a certain amount of respect among fan clubs. So, Dream Concert is a statement from the fans. When DBSK were in Japan or when they were on hiatus due to the lawsuit, they didn't perform at Dream Concert. But, their fan club still turned out in pretty significant numbers every time to sing DBSK songs for hours before the concert started. It was a show of solidarity to the kpop industry that the fans still supported DBSK even though they weren't there and their future was uncertain.
The worst thing an artist can experience at Dream Concert is called a "Black Ocean." It's a sign of protest/dislike/boycott of a certain group. All the fans turn off their lights, so it darkens the arena. Often times they don't cheer for that group or they heckle mercilessly. It is extremely powerful. Fans have so much control in the industry and they know it-- its scary at times.

Cassies~ <3

Maximum and Why by DBSK
These performances were AMAZING~! The entire audience lost their minds when HoMin came out. I was such a proud Cassie! I was about 20 rows from the stage and I felt the heat from the tall arcs of flames. I can't believe that the dancers had their faces so close to the fire. o.0