Crown Busan

Busan(Pusan), South Korea. Today we disembarked at 0800. We took a shuttle to downtown about 0930, and it became very obvious that Japan, by comparison, was immaculate. The International Market had about 1400 vendors selling everything you can imagine, and it kind of reminded us of the Mercado in Mexico (including the sewer odors). We did get some good deals, but not as good as Cub remembers 30 ...

... dunks a net and catches it for you. they then filet it right then and there, the good parts go onto a sashimi appetizer and the rest gets thrown into a soup for your dinner...fish head and all. one of busan's specialties is live octopus. the tentacles arrive to your table all chopped up and still squirming and wiggling! d loved it and would pick out the most active ones but i just couldn't stomach it. especially ...

... the bars and restaurants are just like at home: they have to be trendy, or a chain, or original in a way, but to find something purely traditional, purely folklorical... seems impossible, just because it is as irrelevant as looking for a montmartre café at every stree corner in Paris.

This is the strangest of impressions for me: being in an Asian country which is just as developped as any of the western countries. It puts a number of things in reflexion, that's the least I can say.

... st*tion, 0730 S******y, str*ight to Bus*n, 4 hour 40 min ride: 22,500 won. Perfect. I'll worry *bout getting home when the time comes. No need to stress *bout th*t right now. Life by the se*t of your p*nts. Pl*ns *re m*de, *nd I'm excited to get home *nd get p*cked. To give you *nd ide*, In reference to Florid*: Os*n, where P*t is, is like T*ll*h*ssee; Kuns*n, where I *m, is like T*mp*, *nd Bus*n, where we *re he*ding is like Mi*mi. It's further ...

... we've stayed in during our whole trip. Our hotel overlooked the ocean and there was a pretty boardwalk. The only problem about Korea is that people live in humungous skyscraper apartments at least 50 stories high, which sort of cuts into the view. But still pretty. Jeremy and I walked around a little bit through town, but we were pretty tired from the long day. For the first time in a while, we hadn't gotten a nap.

... might be marinated differently, and the side dishes vary. You pay for the servings of meat (some places have a 3 serving minimum), the rest is all included. Two people can eat A LOT, have a bottle of Soju (A Korean rice vodka--and typically consumed at every meal) for under $15 easily. The atmosphere at these places is really relaxed--you're meant to take your time, AND you can always order more if you want ...

... 24th 2007) Btw, just in case you think I have difficulty counting with three digits, I don't. Days 98, 99 & 100 were spent in Japan (see the next entry). ˇ Blue is as good as it gets After being met off the bus from Seoul (yep, Nick surprised us and was the first thing or person we saw as we stepped off the bus from Seoul) we were brought to some sort of Seaman's Club (Busan, remember, is a big port/sailor ...

... No doubt Haute Cuisine back in the Juseon Era, for 3 hungry Westerners the sight of pickled mackerel, fermented roots and sweetened fish innards was almost enough to tip us over the edge. We ate our bowl of rice (John took one for the team and forced down half a mackerel - he said afterwards it was "the fishiest fish" he had ever eaten) in near silence and retreated to our room to play Scrabble and while away the hours until bedtime. Fortunately a very nice Korean ...