Busan: great food and very nice people

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Seeing ferries docked at the waterfront restaurant, as we dined with friends three months ago, our turned on how fun would it be to take a cruise to Busan. So the next day, my wife went to research about this not so popular casual cruise among non-Koreans living in Japan. I swore never to take a cruise in the past. I always had this crazy fear of being trapped in the open water and counting hours of hunger and thirst before you get eaten by sharks piece by piece. An airplane crash in most cases would kill you instantly, so flying always offers a great relief. However, this so called "casual cruise" to Busan cost a little less than a plane, plus kids 6 years below are free. That means we will be saving a lot of money going to a place we really love. So the fear of spending much money on a trip outweighs the fear of being lost in the sea. So our family of four with Sam's family of three and Happy, all booked on what turned out to be a wonderful cruise after all. Drinking at the bar, singing at the karaoke and sauna bath are some of the activities we did on our 18 hour long journey to the land of geat spicy food. We even met a lot of Filipinos crews on the ship. Its always nice to have the familiar smiles and chit chat from people back home when traveling.
Busan was hot, humid and sticky this time of the year, and taking our first subway ride from the port to the hotel made use of all our barely-there muscle strength, carrying luggage, stroller and kids up and down subway stairs. These stairs are earth-core deep.
Only on our firt hour in this country we are really surprised how Koreans are all so freakin' nice and helpful. They do have a rough exterior, they talk loud, like they are always mad at something. They poke you to call your attention, they even shove you when you are blocking their way, hihihihihi! But seeing we have kids in tow, these people won't take no for an answer when they offer you their seats or grab your kid to carry down the stairs (quite scary actually if you don't know their culture). Specially the old people will bark loudly at you, if you insist on saying "no".
We even stopped asking for directions after awhile coz these people makes it their mission to assist you the best way they can, if asked for help. Once asked a random guy for a hotel direction, he said he was sorry he didn't know where it is. So we parted ways, then he ran after us after awhile, offered to call the hotel with his cellphone. He called the hotel then gave us a thourough direction. Another time, we asked someone again for direction, he ended up staying with us, hailed the cab for us and gave the driver directions to where we wanted to go.
I read so many blogs about Koreans being so nice, but some of them made certain conclusions that they get that kind of atention because they are Caucasians. Being dark brown Filipino getting much help and attetion from these people, I can ony assume that maybe its not a matter of skin color but more of putting their best foot forward to guests of their beautiful country.
We stayed at the Benikea Hotel and what an amazing surprise, our room was upgraded. The first time we got an upgrade, yay! We had a huge jacuzzi, huge flat screen TV, 2 computers with fast internet connection. Had to resist the temptation to stay longer in our lovely room. We went to Haeundae beach as first stooped after we droped our luggage. True to all things read on the internet, this beach is packed, not only with people but also with umbrellas lined up all across the beach. Seeemed like this is the place to be and be seen for locals and tourists alike, on this peak summer month. So many hot, banging bodies, felt like I'm walking on a set of a Korean drama, feeling like the guest hobbit . We were there on a Thurday afternoon, imagine this place on a weekend.
We then trasferred to Gwangalli beach, as beautiful as Haeundae but without the crowd. Although, when we came back on the weekend, it was also too crowded. Wow ! they do love their beaches down here. The Gwangalli beach with the view of the lighted Gwangan bridge at nightime is beautiful. The 15 minute walk from the beach to our hotel is also a nice stroll. Lovely window display from couture boutiques for high end wedding gowns and formal Korean traditional wear lined up the street.
The next day we went to the Nampodong area, where the Pusan International Film Festival is held every year. Came to see Arirang Street too, famous for serving japche (Korean glass nodles). Bought some souvenirs along the way and went to Jagalchi fish market.
This fish market is probably the highlight of our trip. A very huge indoor live seafood market. Seafood you didn't even know existed. Aquariums and basins of live sea creatures just waiting to die for your gastronomic pleasure. The street leading to it , also had an outdoor market, where you can find the tiniest to gigantic octopus, dried fish, various shells you didn't think it was even edible.
Damn did we have a feast. The fish vendor just asked us how many adults were eating, and he started doing the shopping for us. Putting live creatures on a basket. 2 huge flounders, a squid, an eel-like fish and some shell thingies, I don't even recognize. We were then asked to go to the second floor dining area and waited for our sumptuous meal to be served.
One flounder and squid were served sahimi style and those shell thingies too, talk about the freshest sashimi one can get. We also had crispy fried flounder and eel-like fish tempura, of course all served with Korean flair, hvaing a dozen of side dishes and greens.
We love em Korean food, spicy, rich, tasty yet healthy. It was a bit sad though since my kiddies find it difficult to eat spicy food, so they ended up eating Mc Donalds, the most hated yet indespensable establishment to travelers with kids like us. When I asked my 4 year old son while we were on the beach, which country he liked better, Japan or Korea he answered "Korea",asked the same question on a Korean restaurant and got a sad reply "Japan". Poor little thing, at least we compansate the lack of nutrition, with ice cream twice a day, which he would never get if ain't for the spicy food.
More than a sight seeing tour, we envisioned this trip as a gastronomic tour and so we did. We ditch our itenerary to visit temples and historical places, so we can focus on eating, shopping for Korean goodies and going to the beach.
We realized we would never be real travellers,me and wifey are just comfort travellers. My wife having been to Seoul more than a dozen times, and me once. We love coming back to places we are comfortable with. But Korea will always have a special place in our hearts, as it is where me and my wife first met. After almost 10 years, it was really sweet to go back to a country with the culture we both love and where the fates brought us together, then spend a lifetime together. We know we will be back in this beautiful country again.....
Finally, on our cruise back to Osaka, we had an opportunity to hangout with some of the Filipino crew at the karaoke joint. On our conversation, one of the crew, maybe unhappy with his salary, just blurted to me how much he was making a month. He said he was making 480 US dollars a month. Im sure he told me that to get a reaction on wheteher I think he is being duped or the salary was just fine. I always knew Filipino crew are not paid well enough, but 480 dollars for a month's work, a year of living in a ship without privacy away from your family, is plain injustice. I just have to nod my head without giving a reaction, while trying hard to keep a straight face. I felt really bad for these hardworking people. I just can't add to their suffering by telling them the salary is small for either Japan or Korean standards, knowing how already sad they might have been feeeling with the sight of seeing a fellow Filipino spending vacation with own kids and wife, while they toiled so hard away from the people they love. We thank these guys for making our casual cruise as pleasant as it should be .

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Photos

Haeundae Beach
people and parasol everywhere

Shinsegae
posing @ world's largest department store

Comments

[Sharing the Journey]

Nice Blog!
I really enjoyed it! Alec AKA: Shadow Man

[cabochick]

Wonderful Blog!
I'm just getting around to reading blogs and yours is terrific! Thanks for sharing.