Next stop - South Korea

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Well that title is a little bit misleading, I've been in Busan, Korea for two nights now. First off though, I'll finish off Japan. From Hiroshima, I had a long 5, nearly 6 hour train ride to Fukuoka. I decided that I would take the local train since I was in no rush to get to Fukuoka and it was about 4000 yen cheaper than the Shinkansen. The trip went by really quickly, seemingly much faster than a 6 hour flight. Perhaps that is because I had plenty to watch outside my window. For the first hour or two the train was right along the coast with a great view of the islands. On the other side, not far off, were the mountains, so either way you looked the view was great. A bit farther along we moved more inland, but still between the mountains so the view was still very nice. Japan still has a lot of natural beauty, despite the ultra modern and sometimes grungy cites and towns that fill nearly every bit of flat land. After about 3.5 hours we arrived in Shimonoseki, a city at the very western tip of Honshu, the main island. From there I had to switch trains to go to Kyushu, the westernmost of the main islands. I was only on that train for a few minutes before I switched to the final train, which took me to Fukuoka over the last hour of the journey. This part of Kyushu is pretty heavily populated, so much of the journey was through cities and suburbs. Well actually the entire time I was going through towns and cities, but until now they had been much smaller and farther between.

Walking out of the train station, Fukuoka felt like any other Japanese city I had been to so. I decided to save a couple hundred yen and walk to the hostel, which wasn't too far off, maybe 20-30 minutes by foot. I took a little longer route and checked out some of the sights and neighborhoods in between. There was a temple with another big Buddha. This one, however was much more recent, finished in the 90's and carved out of wood. It was just as large as the other ones I have seen. Still very impressive by any standards. A few blocks away was Kushida shrine, one of Fukuoka's oldest and most significant shrines. It was a nice shrine, much like the ones I've seen before. One unique thing was the nearly three-story tall portable shrine that is carried around town during a festival earlier in the summer. Apparently neighborhoods and groups from all over town each build their own and carry them around during the festival. The thing was massive. It was only a few meters wide, so it must be pretty difficult to keep it upright. It was incredibly detailed too. I'll post a picture when I can. From that shrine, it was only a short walk to the Nakasu-Kawabata shopping arcade. The arcade was a few blocks long and had some interesting shops for souvenirs and such, but nothing I could really buy and carry around with me. The guesthouse was a few minutes away from the far end of the arcade. It was a nice little place. There was an udon restaurant/bar in the front, which was unfortunately closed the two days I was there. The dorm was on the second floor up a very steep set of stairs, almost a ladder. This dorm was a more traditional Japanese style - futon on the tatami mats. I can't say it was especially comfortable, the futon could have been a little thicker. It was really quiet there the first night, since most of the guests were at a wedding party of some sort so they didn't get back until late.

That evening I went out in search of some yatai - mobile food stalls. This is the only city in Japan I have really seen street food on a large scale. When I got there they were still setting up, so I decided to wander around the area. It was a Sunday so I don't think that there were as many options as on another night, but there were plenty to choose from in the Tenjin area, one of the main centers of town. While I was wandering about the area, I stumbled upon a square where there was some kind of Taiko drum performance with a bunch of food and other booths set up. I picked up some delicious chicken karaage, a kind of deep-fried chicken pieces, for 400 yen. After watching the show for a little while, I figured the yatai should be set up by now and I found one and got a 500yen bowl of tonkotsu (not tonkatsu) ramen, a ramen with a very rich pork broth and a couple of pieces of pork, which was delicious. They had some other foods that I didn't recognize, but I was having a ramen craving and decided to go for the cheapest thing they had, which was the ramen. On the way back I went past the same drum show and watched a little more. When I was there the first time, there was a group of nearly all girls, young girls, playing the drums. The second time I presume was the main event, this time with a bunch of men doing it. The whole event was fun. After the show, I returned to the hostel for the night.

The next morning I wasn't in any rush to get up. I decided to take a walk around and see some other parts of the city. First I walked to the port area. What was called the "charming" port area was anything but. A bit smaller than Kobe's port with fewer attractions. Of course, when I say port, I mean the area with a few attractions and a small park where you can walk around, not the shipping areas. The only really positive was the port tower here was free. At 70 meters up, there was a good view of the harbor and city. After that I walked up the river until I could cross and headed towards the Ohori park and Fukuoka Castle ruins area. Both of these adjacent area combine to form a large green space around a lake which is a nice area to escape from the city. The castle ruins was an interesting place to wander. It was very quiet and peaceful. A few sports fields are located in the ruins and it is very much like a park. Mostly the ruins consisted of the stone foundations where the wooden structures and walls would be. Of course, the stone foundations are made of boulders several feet in diameter and several meters high at places. A few structures from the Edo period (17-19th centuries) remained, but they weren't very accessible to the public. I wandered around for a bit. The best view of the city was from the top of where the main castle tower would have been. From there you could see a 360 view of the city with a nice green buffer. It was only a short walk over to Ohori park. The main feature of this park was a large artificial (I assume) lake with a few islands in the middle. A biking and jogging path went around the round lake and a path crossed through the middle over the islands. Apparently the lake is modeled after a place in China, probably somewhere I will see later on. I walked about a third of the circuit to the islands, where I walked across. The lake has lots of big carp, several feet long. There were a lot of turtles as well. At one point I could see at least a dozen little turtle heads poking through the water.

I took a subway the few stops back towards Tenjin, because at this point I was getting hungry, so I decided to find a sushi conveyor belt restaurant. I found a place in one of the department store restaurant sections that wasn't too expensive. I had a few dishes, some tuna, some rolls, and a few others. Pretty good. I stayed away from the more expensive ones though. I wandered from there to a new shopping area - Canal City, to see what was there. It was pretty boring, just a large artificial shopping center very much like any western mall. The actual building was cool - it has an interesting design with a "canal" in the middle with fountain shows. I didn't stay there long, and made my way back to the hostel. By the time I got back it had started to rain, so I just relaxed there until the evening. When it stopped raining, I ran over to a supermarket and got something simple for dinner. At some point I learned that my ferry the next day was cancelled because of weather conditions, so I had to arrange for a flight at the last minute. I could have waited a few more days for the ferry, but I wanted to get on to South Korea- there wasn't much more to do in Fukuoka. It cost more but I didn't want to mess up my schedule too much. The weather was caused by nearby Typhoon Roke, which was passing by on the south side of Japan.

I had a 10:40 flight so I had to get up a bit earlier than I would have for the ferry, which was only a 15 minute walk from the hostel. Fukuoka airport was easy to get to and not crowded. So far, in both Incheon and Fukuoka airport, the security has been very easy. I didn't even have to take off my shoes! The flight itself was only 35 minutes or so once we took off. They somehow managed to find enough time to serve us a breakfast pastry and water while we were at cruising altitude. Immigration at Busan was very easy, it took no time to get through and get out of the airport. To get to the hostel it was a long train/subway ride through town. Busan is a huge city. There are about 3.6 million people living here, but it is in a very mountainous area, so the city is spread over a very large area. My hostel - Indyhouse, is only a couple minute walk from a nice beach. Busan has several nice large public beaches. Unfortunately the weather is not especially beach friendly with strong winds blowing sand everywhere. Once I was checked in I got a late lunch at a nearby restaurant that Indy, the owner of the hostel, recommended. I had a big bowl of bibimbap - a bowl of rice with a whole bunch of stuff on top that you mixed together with some korean sweet chili paste. It also came with a big assortment of side dishes, about 6 or 7. Pretty much any Korean meal comes with a variety of side dishes. This whole meal cost only 5000 won, less than $4.50. So far Korea has been much cheaper than Japan, especially on the subway. I decided to take a walk around, so I went along the beach towards another neighborhood, Centum city, the home of the worlds largest department store. It took nearly an hour to get there, but it was a nice walk. Halfway there was a river with a nice boardwalk. On the way there I noticed a huge, very new complex of buildings, that looked almost futuristic, like something you'd see in a sci-fi movie city. I'm still not quite sure what they are. Eventually I made it to Centum city and the department store. This place was huge. There was a driving range on the roof, an ice rink, a spa world, and of course about 10 huge floors with just about every brand imaginable. I only did a quick walk through part, since I wasn't really interested in buying anything. I hopped on the subway and went a few stops to Haeundae beach, the next beach over from where I was staying. It was dark and very windy when I got there, so I didn't stay too long. There was an interesting market, but it was mostly closed up. After that I just came back for the night.

Today I wanted to get an early start, but didn't quite make it. I went over to the famous fish market in Busan. Again it took forever to get across town on the subway. Once there I wandered around for a while looking at the multitudes of fish and sea creatures. There were a couple sections. A large building where a couple of dozen people had tanks with live fish, shellfish and other creatures offering to cut them up and serve them me. Outside was a long street with all sorts of fresh, frozen and dried fish, squid, octopus, shellfish and other living and once-living sea creatures. All around this part of town were outdoor markets. On the other side of the main thoroughfare, was a huge market over several blocks where you could buy just about anything you could think of. I grabbed a bit to eat at one of the food carts - a small fried donut would be the best way to describe it. I think its called hotteok. The guy cut it in half and poured in a mixture of seeds, nuts and sugar and it was incredibly delicious. I should have gotten another, and at only 900won (80 cents) a great deal. At the far end of this neighborhood was an alley called the "book alley", which of course was filled with small bookshops overflowing with books. I had been hoping to find a new book there, but didn't have much luck with english books. After a bit of wandering aimlessly, I came back to the Gwangalli beach area, where my hostel is. I went to a restaurant recommended by Indy for some good cheap food where I got a beef rice dish that was good, as well as some pork dumplings for a snack. Overall it was only 7500 won ($6.50). Since it was so windy and chilly when I first got here, I didn't really get much of a chance to check out the nearby beach, so I wandered down there and walked up the direction I hadn't been. There were plenty of beachy bars and whatnot. There was a nice jogging/cycling/walking path along the water at the end of the beach. I walked a little ways down until it got dark and turned back. The path goes out quite a ways perpendicular to the beach so it offered a great view of the whole area. A bridge cuts across the water and it is light up at night, and the whole area is quite nice at night. Right now I am just relaxing in the hostel and probably will take it easy tonight. Maybe tomorrow I can get an earlier start. Probably not though. I have one more night here in Busan, before I head north about an hour to Gyeongju.

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