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Published: July 24th 2005
The THX train is Korea's poor rival to Japan's Shinkansen (bullet trains). Nonetheless I took it from Seoul to Busan for kicks, since it's also much cheaper than the Shinkansen. I sat next to a fellow Asian backpacker (origins unknown, but probably native Korean), but he slept the whole time so we did not speak.
At this point I was weary of sightseeing and foreign cultures (for someone who loves traveling, I get culture shock and homesickness quite easily), so I skipped downtown Busan and the largely dismantled fortress (I am sure the Koreans can find a way to blame this on the Japanese as well) and headed straight to Haeundae, Busan's tourist beach/foreigner enclave. Right away I liked Busan for the traditional food market. Busan is known for its raw fish (Koreans claim sushi and sashimi were Korean inventions, not Japanese), and most restaurants have tanks full of myriad seafood. Being from Taiwan, these tanks are nothing new. But here in Korea, the seafood is different. They have live eels, squid, triggerfish, and what looked to be blind eels, snails, and sand worms of some sort. I made up my mind right then I was not having seafood in Korea (my previous attempt at eating codfish roe reminded me not to try random Korean seafood).
I wandered around Busan and found a motel room. The motel only required that I fork over 40,000 wons (equals $40), and no names or forms were required. I thought this is perfect. I saw the room and I loved it. It has a triangular bathtub with enough room for three and multiple, multi-directional showerheads to make you get wet all over within one second. Then I turned on the TV and, ohmigawd, there was porn. Okay, I think I found a love motel. Oh well, I already paid. But I felt icky. I just hope I wasn't paying the hourly rate (I was wasn't, it turned out).
I wandered my way to the beach and it was packed with high schoolers and older folks. Some kids were splashing around in the water in their school uniforms. Before doing the beach though I had to fill my stoimach. I managed to find an open restaurant at 2pm and ordered the only korean food I knew and have been eating (bimbimbop, which is a mix of vegetables over rice and more vegetables and fish cake in small dishes), though I was the only person and no one their spoke English. She taught me to mix up the ingredients as they do for bimbimbop. Very nice of her. Other restaurants left it up to me to make an arse of myself. I asked for cola, and the lady walked me over to the convenience store next door to buy one rather than telling me they don't have it. Once again the food was spicy and I sweated all over (or was I sweating from their watching my every wrong move at eating Korean food).
After lunch I walked around the beach and saw a rally for the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Council) Summit, which is to be held in November in Busan (mind you now is July). Koreans sure love rallying. There was also a stage being set up for the World Youth Sailing Championships. You get the feeling that Busan is a second-rate city trying very hard to prove itself cosmopolitan, like a reject kid on the playground showing off the snail he found.
After a long lone nap back at my love motel, I woke to noises outside. At 7pm, Busan became much more crowded with families and college kids in hoards. The beach stage came alive with traditional Korean dancers and fireworks, followed by beach fashion show and performance by Korea's own heavy metal, hip hop, pop, and rap artists. The foreign sailing competitors left in droves when Korean heavy metal started. I stuck around for hip hop, which was great.
When I went back to my love motel (the front door was now covered with business cards from local escorts) at 11pm, Busan was still hopping.
The next morning I ran around Haeundae and found high-rise condo construction everywhere. This looks to be Korea's up-and-coming South Beach. I definitely love this place and I recommend it for a relaxing trip, especially for seafood lovers. Alas I have to leave Busan for Beijing. I am sure I will be back for mroe yummy Korean food and Korean beach scene (Korea and beach, who knew?).
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willow
non-member comment
Korea and Beach
This a great story. The seafood sounds really sounds challenging and tempting just reading the story. One thing you didnt mention here: how were the chics man?