Busan

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The hydrofoil from Hakata took four hours, so we arrived at 5pm. Somehow we have the knack for travelling during peak hour times. At immigration, we had to provide fingerprints and an eye scan (same as when arriving in Japan ) which was all fine until Dean stepped up. He peered so closely into the camera that the Immigration Official said, "Cute photo!" Now immigration officers aren't known for their sense of humour or interpersonal skills but she was giggling as she turned her computer screen around to show us a picture of what looked like Dean's face in a fishbowl. We laughed so hard, Eleanor still can't talk about it without bursting into fits of laughter. After recovering from Dean's candid camera shot, we withdrew some Wong from an ATM (an amount which looked like it could bail Nauru out of debt) and headed towards the Metro.

Struggling with my suitcase down a long flight of stairs, Dean pondered what it actually contained. About 20kg of crap, really. Reaching the ticket machines, we were initially a little bewildered, however a helpful young man took the 10000 Won note from my hand and ran off down the subway. Was he a thief? No, just an eager-beaver who hurtled 100m to the change machine and sprinted back. Meanwhile, a drunken Russian had to stop and say hello. Once the over-excited boy purchased our tickets and guided us through the turnstiles (also dropping his phone with an ominous clatter onto the tiled floor), we located the correct platform and boarded a train. Within minutes we were accosted by 'Mr Have-a-chat', who proceeded to enlighten us with his knowledge of American slang.

Arriving at Haeundae, after 20 or so stops, was like walking into Frankston on steroids. High rises, neon signs, TV screens, hundreds of people and a beach. The hostel was nice and bright, and just like Trip Advisor said, extremely close to bars and clubs. We weren't in Frankston, we were in Bondi. A stroll through a nearby market, mainly selling eels, nearly put me off my dinner. We played it safe, eating beef and rice and rice balls with crispy spicy anchovies and half-cooked chicken. A walk to the beach where the lights of the city twinkled in the distance and lots of people were out and about enjoying the balmy evening painted Busan in a different light. It certainly looks more impressive at night. Back at the hostel, we met some lovely Korean girls who helped us with our non-existent Korean language skills. They were very impressed with Dean's attempts at speaking the language.

In the morning, Dean and Eleanor rose early to visit the Busan Fish Market (second biggest in the world, after Tokyo). I opted to avoid the sight of creatures from the deep and their accompanying odours. At breakfast I met some lovely people and even managed to swap Harry Potter 7 for Lonely Planet Korea! Dean and Eleanor arrived back just in time to check out, full of tales of wonder.

Eleanor's version as told to me this afternoon:
We went on a train and wasted a ticket to go from one platform to another. On the train there was a guy selling knee braces and another one giving out pamphlets. We had to go on another train and went into the mini fish market first. It was really smelly. Inside the real fish market it was even more stinky. We had a look around at fish, clams, eels and octopus. We saw one of the biggest crabs in the world! Its legs were the same length as mine. We also saw a normal sized lobster but his claw was bigger than his body. We saw people chopping up octopus tentacles too.
On the terrace we had a good view of Busan port but it was cold and windy so we walked back downstairs to where the dried fish and restaurants were. There were thousands of restaurants and you had to sit on the floor in them and dad didn't want to do that. So we went downstairs again to the live fish and that's where I lost my appetite for octopus. A lady pulled a big octopus from a tank and the octopus slurped itself on to her stomach. She fought with it, trying to stop its head moving, and the tentacles were wrapped around her waist. Then she grabbed its head, got her hand into its breathing hole thing and out came its brain. She chucked it in the drain and then grabbed its head again, still fighting with tentacles, and put it in a plastic bag and gave it to someone who tied the bag up. The octopus was still moving and fighting in the bag. Dad and I left after that.
Walking out of the fish market, Dad and I saw some gyozas at a stall, so we went there for a snack. Dad ordered two, but it was two serves of three. They had glass noodles and vegetables inside and were really nice. They were called madgu. There was a guy eating at the stall already and when his friend came, he shared some fish thing covered in oil with us. After that, another friend came and he got out a similar thing but it was thinner and more disgusting. The two men poured some Korean alcohol for dad and me but dad told them I was only 10 and the other guy drank it instead.

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Photos

First meal in Korea
Played it safe with beef on rice, kimchi, rice with crispy anchovies, rice with half-cooked chicken and soup.

Haeundae Beach
A walk after dinner along the beach. Surrounded by skyscrapers, neon lights and mountains, so a little different from Aspendale.

On the ferry to Busan
Happy times...