Really South Korea

  Busan, Korea Rep.
Sunday, September 30, 2007

Busan or Pusan (has two different names not sure why) was our next stop and in just 2 hours 40 minutes we'd travelled the length of the whole country on the super quick KTX train.  Busan was to be a 30 hour whistle stop tour since we'd amended our schedule to fit in more in Seoul, so we had a lot to fit in in a very short time.  After arriving on the Friday lunchtime we checked into our accomodation, Busan Blue Backpackers, which was really smart.  It was someones appartment turned into hostel accomodation and featured all wood flooring, smart widescreen tv and a good view from the balcony.  We then booked our tickets to Japan at the international ferry terminal and had some hot spicy beef soup at a place called wellys, and was already 4pm by then so we went to the footy stadium for a quick look at that.  There was an open gate as we walked around so naturally we walked through and entered the main stands and had a walk around there before being turfed out by a security guard.

Womens 400m with umbrella at Busan Stadium

Girl & Beer Bar in Busan

It was 6pm by the time we got back to the appartments so we took a subway down to Haeundai beach just to see what it was like (looked like a beach) and then went back into the city centre and downtown where we met up with our new temporary flatmates, James from Colorado, Kathy from New York and Ben from Australia.  We had a few drinks in a bar called Girl & Beer (bar wasn't as good as the name suggested) and had a few shots of soju which is South Koreas version of rice wine.  Their version was much milder though and only 20% alcohol so the face i pulled after downing it was different from the Chinese version.  We hit an American style bar after that and as I wanted to go to the Jagalchi fish market early the following morning, ideally I was looking for a few quiet drinks and an earlyish night.  Stumbled back to the appartment at 3am (doh!).

The beers got bigger in Busan

I still got up at 6.30 though to head down to the market but I think I got there too late.  I'd heard good things about the market being really lively and a sight to see, but when I arrived there all the stalls were still open but only a handfull of people were wandering around the market.  Made a mental note to get up earlier for the Japanese ones.  I got some breakfast nearby and then spent the next couple of hours wandering about the area and generally getting lost.

In the afternoon I headed to a national park that had Mount Geumjeong as its centre piece and I took a cable car up there (unfortunately there wasn`t enough time to climb it).  Had great views of the port from up there and there was plenty of walking to be done once you`re up there too.

Me at the top of Mount Geumjeong looking hungover

And then finally my time in Busan was up and we headed for the ferry terminal to get our overnight boat to Hakata.  Probably could have done with an extra day in Busan but never mind, the delights of Japan were up next.

Top 5 recomendations if you`re ever in Korea:
1) Do the DMZ and Panmunjeon trip to the North Korean Border
2) Catch a football game and sit right in with the mad supporters
3) Spend an afternoon chilling by the Cheongyye stream
4) Have a night out in downtown Busan
5) Hike around the Suwon Fortress (and then sleep on the subway)