Blogs from Busan, South Korea, Asia - page 7

Geo: 35.1579, 129.055Odpočinkový den, večer barbecue na střeše s Kimem, jeho kamarádama a dalším nájemníkem čínským hawajanem.... read more

22ndMarch Busan, South Korea After the peace, tranquillity of Japan not to mention how courteous everyone was, welcome back to the real world. We had great welcomes and sailaways whilst in Japan and we arrived in Busan (formerly Pusan, don’t ask me why) on a beautiful morning with no formal celebrations whatsoever. And this was Queen Elizabeth’s maiden call to South Korea. A very modern port on the outskirts of Busan itself, they seem to live their lives at 100 miles per hour. Technically North & South Korea are still at war following the Armistice which was signed in July 1953, but no peace treaty was concluded. Our guide on the tour mentioned several times that they live with the threat of some conflict with the North, even since we have left there have been incidences ... read more

Tuesday-Day Eleven Busan South Korea A huge harbour complex greeted us prior to breakfast this morning, the third largest port in the world. Mountains on all sides, a mixture of commercial and high density housing crowded between very new port facilities. Docking at 8am today we were informed previously that if you weren't taking a tour you would need a taxi into Busan which would cost around 7200Won. We were pleasantly surprised to find shuttle buses. Armed with a map, and a plan to see the UN Memorial cemetery we joined the throng of people waiting for shuttles, tours and taxis and quickly decided to give this a miss and go to the Maritime Museum which was within the terminal area. But on our way there we saw a shuttle bus with the door ... read more

One thing I love, and will miss most, about Korea is the food! There's such diversity in what you can eat; seasonal food, special celebratory food for different important occasions, fusion food etc. Towards the end of my stay in Korea, a friend and I made Wednesdays 'Korean food night' so we could get our fill of our favourite dishes. One of the first dishes a foreigner is bound to try in Korea is bibimbap. This is a dish where rice, mixed colourful vegetables (e.g. cucumber, zucchini, mushrooms, soybean sprouts, seaweed etc), and a fried egg are mixed together in a bowl with lashings of gochujang (chilli pepper paste). They come in so many regional variations. My favourite is dolsot bibimbap where all the ingredients come in a hot stone bowl where the raw egg is ... read more

It's so easy to be active in Korea and hiking appears to be a national sport, especially the older you get. Even when doing a nighthike at 4am we saw adjummas and adjoshis walking back down our local mountain walk. As summer hit Busan I went on quite number of hikes. One such day was in Busan around Igidae towards Oryukdo (islands): a distinctive part of the coastline. It was a fierce hot day which contributed to very hazy views of Busan. The walk itself was nice, apart from a steep crumbly bit where we had to pull ourselves up by rope! The views of the coastline were magnificent and we left the city behind for the most part. Oryukdo comprises of five (or six depending on the tide) craggy hills of rock that line out ... read more