Advertisement
Pick and choose
The freshest catch of the dayTravelling tandem joins a pelleton!
This trip we went with a group from our office. We left on the Sunday night hoping to make the most of our time at the coast. We stopped off at Seoul Station to see the rest of the group off on the KTX, Korea's new and prized express bullet train to the coast. (it takes 3 hours to get from Seoul to Busan!) Our budget, unfortunately, could not cope with the bullet train, so we headed off to the Express Bus Terminal instead 😊
The bus terminal, as it seems all terminals in Korea do, looked more like an airport than a bus station. Our travel guidebook told us that the bus would take about 6 hours, so we bought tickets for just after midnight so that we could sleep on the bus and wouldn't need to worry about accomodation Accomportation!
Our bus trip was awesome! The seats are comfortable, recline and have a foot rest that can be lifted up for maximum comfort... It's a great way to travel! After one stop about 2 hours into the trip, we arrived in Busan at 04h15! Surprise!!
The Subway only started running
McMorning
4:30am and they don't give me enough milk for my coffee... I don't think I can take it right now. at 05:30 so we made ourselves comfortable in the corner Mac Donalds and waited out the time with our mac breakfast and coffee, learning our numbers in Korean. Mac Donalds at 4h30! Can you handle it?! As soon as the subway opened, we jumped on the train and headed to Haeundae Beach!!
The beach was beautiful in the early morning light, and after our 4 hour bus trip all we could do was stretch out on the sand and drift off to sleep to the sound of the sea for a few hours... does it get any better??
We'd made arrandements with the rest of the group to meet up at the Lotte Mart Department Store so we pulled ourselved up off the beach and headed back to the subway. The rest of our group seemed to be having a tough time getting up and were running about an hour late, which ended up being a good thing. We saw a mountain (or rather a big hill) and decided to start heading toward it on the way we passed through a fish market. The fish markets never cease to amaze me! There are rows and rows of buckets
Haeundae beach
Found a beach, time for a little snooze of live sea life! and if it's not alive, it's out on ice for the passing customers or drying out on hooks. It's crazy!!
We met up with the others and had Dolsot Bibambap (spicy rice and veggies served in a hot stone pot) for lunch. Tummies more than satisfied we made our way back to the beach, booking in at an almost-beach-side Yeogwan for the night on the way. Despite the not-quite-summer-yet temperatures all the South Africans in the group stripped down to cossies and jumped into the sea! Good fun The boys went off for a walk leaving Pauline and I to fend for ourselves against all those uber curious Korean boys! One of them even offered us a ride on his jetski!
As the day started coming to an end we bought tickets for a boat ride around the coasts and harbours of Busan. It was awesome! The weather started turning a bit drizley, but not even that could dampen our spirits! We stayed out on the deck, taking in the views, throwing pop corn at the sea guls chasing the boat (it's so cool, they all swoop and dive trying to catch it!) and
Korean dustbin
These heaps of garbage are at every street corner. Basically it's because there are NO rubbish bins ANYWHERE. even dancing to the crazy Korean pop music on the wobbly deck in the rain.
Probably the peak of the day's adventures came at dinner time. Andrew, our boss, lived in Busan for a while and took us to one of the Sashimi Warf restaurants that Busan is famous for. As you go in, you find yourself surrounded by tubs and tubs of swimming fish (and other alive creatures). You point to the fish (or eels, rays, penis fish, shark... )you want, and the
ajuma grabs her net pulls out the fish, chops off it's head, weighs it and then negotiates the price we ended up with 5 different fish and, by way of negotiation, 2 small sharks free! (*Take a look at the video link at the top)
Once you have your fish picked out, you go upstairs to wait for the chefs to prepare the fish and bring it up to you. It took about 20min before kimchi salads, lettuce and other leaves, bowls of sauce and finally the plates of incredibly well prepared sea food were brought up to us. The fish was all expertly sliced and layed out... so different to the almost barbaric
Mmm Fresh fish
Doesn't that make you hungry! scene 20min earlier! The fish is eaten raw, either dipped in one of the sauces or wrapped up with kimchi salads in one of the bigger leaves. All washed down with Soju and beer. It is SO delicious! What an experience!
Everyone started back home and Darrell and I headed off to the beach to light fire works and sparklers on the beach. In the rain
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0345s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Anne/Mom
non-member comment
Can you guys remember what "normal" SA life is like ... where you bath in a tub or shower, eat cooked food, drive a car, sleep on a bed, read English signposts ?! Sometimes it sounds like you have moved to a different planet because eveything is SO different. Well done for siezing every opportunity to experience (new, wierd) things!!!