Advertisement
Published: March 29th 2013
Edit Blog Post
BUSAN, KOREA - Yesterday was a sea day and I spent it going to lectures about our last two ports of call and organizing some of my pictures on the computer. Dinner dress was for the final formal night and I decided to wear my tux shirt and my black suit since I didn’t want to carry them all the way to Asia without using them. After dinner was the “Black and White Ball” where all the ships officers, male and female, dance with guests and, after each dance, an officer identifies their self as a “mystery officer” and the dance partner wins a prize. I’m sitting at the bar with my bar buddies when the last dance is announced and a beautiful, young lady officer (if I had a granddaughter, she would be that age) comes over to ask me to dance. I accepted and it turns out she was the “mystery officer”; I won 100 internet minutes and a bottle of champagne. I think it was a setup by one of my buddies, but I can use the 100 minutes.
This morning we arrived in Busan with smooth seas and decent temperatures for a change. Busan is the
largest port city in South Korea and the third largest port in the world. South Korea has risen from the poverty and destruction of WWII and the Korean War with ship building, electronics and fishing as their major industries. Our guide was a very knowledgeable young lady who lived through the poverty and has pride in the changes in her country. Current population is 3.8 million.
Our first stop was the Beomeosa Temple, a typical Zen temple. It is situated on a hilly area and a lot of steps were required to reach the top. There were several people praying there and they seemed undeterred by the tourists. It was founded in 678 AD. We visited in a beautiful part of the year to witness the many cherry blossoms blooming throughout the city and at the Temple. Our stay in Busan was short so we didn’t get a chance to visit many other attractions that would be worth a visit. In the summer, they have several beach resorts that are well utilized by the populace and visitors. There is a 100 story hotel, shopping center and amusement park under construction in downtown. We went to an outdoor “International Market”
BUSAN HARBOR
FISHING BOATS with vendor stalls extending several blocks. There were several food vendors in the alleyway. There were no signs in English identifying what was on the “menu” or the cost, so I didn't try anything. Our final stop was the fish market. There were over 700 vendors, most of their catch was in various stages of “live”, many varieties of food from the sea that I had never heard of or seen. At 4:00 am, the night’s catch is auctioned to the restaurants for use on their menus. Through the day retail customers come through. If they want, their purchase is sent to the restaurant upstairs for cooking and eating. Around 5:00 pm the housewives come in and then the vendors prepare their excess by drying or freezing to clear everything out for the next day’s catch.
Tomorrow Nagasaki. There has been a notice that we will have internet access issues, so if I can't post my Nagasaki blog, I’ll catch up in Osaka.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.042s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0218s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb