Our first solo trip together was to Busan in summer 2012. And it was amazing.
We went for a week, and it was chockablock with sun, sand, relaxation and fun!
The adventure started with the jouney. Instead of taking a bus, we splurged and booked a trip on the KTX, Korea's bullet train. We were so excited to sit in our seats and have our faces contorted by the exponential G-forces (okay, that was all me), but we set off and it was smooth and felt like a normal train. I was kinda disappointed by it... until I looked at the screen and saw that we were averaging 300km/hr. It was awesome. And even more awesome was that we got to Busan from Seoul in around 2.5 hours! Yay!
We spent some time trying to find our motel, which was down some dingy alleyway, behind where the traditional Korean restaurant dumps their food waste. I started to panic. This did not look like a great place to spend our week. Nevertheless, we found the place, and went in. And it was perfect! Yes! Don't judge a book by its cover (even though I do that- I know, I am terrible).
We went down to the reception desk, and asked about the area and any suggested places. The guy was super helpful, and explained the area. We were right next to the harbour, and one of the most famous fish markets in Korea, the Jagalchi Fish Market. We set out straight away and explored the area. We looked at all of the fish, and watched fishmongers skinning eels alive. It was amazing, and totally gross. I saw fish I have never seen before, but the thing that really struck me was the Perlemoen. For those of you not from South Africa, "Perlemoen" are called Abalone, and are an endangered species. It is against the law to dive for perlemoen in South Africa, and we have a big problem with people poaching it from our oceans, usually for export to Asia. What has really hit me since being in South Korea, is the sheer amount of Perlemoen available. No matter where you are, if you look hard enough, you can find a tank outside a restaurant, brimming with them. You can even go to the convenience staore and pick up a microwaveable rice with Abalone sauce. It makes me wonder how many of those creatures are from the almost-bare coasts of South Africa.
Anyway, we had also asked the hotelier about nearby beaches. He told us there was one about a 15 minute walk from the Jigalchi market, so after we had our fill of stinky fish guts, we set off in the direction he told us. We took lots of pictures along the walk, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and awesome bridge in the distance... Until the sun started to set and we still could see no sign of the beach. Turns out it was more like an hour walk. We spent that night on Songdo beach, and watched the sunset, with our 2 litre plastic bottles of beer from the CU shop on the beachfront.
The next day we ventured up to Haeundae beach. It is the most famous beach in Busan, with lots of bars and foreigner restaurants along the main road. We headed down to the beachfront and had a look....
If you have never been to a beach in Korea, you have no idea, so I will paint the picture for you. All of the Korean beaches I have been to are the same. They have ropes set up about 5 metres into the water. On the other side of the ropes, lifeguards on jetskis ride up and down, and shout at you if you try to go past the rope. I know I am tall, but when I stand next to the rope, the water just covers my shoulders. Sometimes I have the possibility of getting my hair wet... if there is a tsunami! Also, most Koreans can't swim. I know this is a generalisation, but it's based on asking most of my students, and the answers have been unanimous: "We have no time to learn how to swim, we are always at hagwons (private after-school academies)". So, apart from only having the small area to swim in, that 5m stretch is also PACKED with koreans bobbing in life vests, with water wings, or on inflatable rafts. Basically, you get into the sea, muscle your way into a space, and then stand there. Hahaha!
Ok, so now you have an idea of what the water looks like, let's move on to the beach.... We couldn't see any sand. Not a grain. For those of you who live in South Africa - think of the beach on boxing day or new years! There were umbrellas set up almost all of the way to the water, and the small sliver in between was crowded with people who didn't have umbrellas. We walked down a small path in between umbrellas. At some points we had to duck under, and cawl over people's towels. It was MAD. We basically couldn't see anything from the start of the beach, to 5metres out into the ocean. I started to feel like I was going to kick sand in someone's eye and pull off a kid's life vest, in order to have more breathing room, so we left the beach.
We headed to the aquarium on the beachfront. There wasn't much English, and when we bought our tickets, the ticket man told us to pay extra for a super ticket, including a special movie. The aquarium was really awesome. It was one of the ones where you walk under the water in tunnels. They also had a glass-bottom boat in the shark enclosure, but I was definitely not waiting in a queue for 2 hours for that! Instead we headed out, after having seen everything there was to see. On our way out there was a sign to the movie. It was a 4D movie of "Happy feet". I used to absolutely love the showscan in sun city, and went on it over and over whenever we went there. We were so excited. We piled into the studio, along with about 30 kids between the ages of 3 and 10. I was still laughing about how stupid we are, going on a kid's ride when it started. The happy feet penguin slid around for a while, and it was a serious baby ride. Then, out of nowhere, a sealion attacked him, and chased him around. I have no idea who made the hydraulics on that thing, but I was gripping onto my slip slops with my toenails. I was so scared that they would fly off and lodge in the moveable parts, shooting us off into outer space. At the same time I tried to multi-task by holding my 3D glasses on my head, and trying desperately to prevent whiplash. At one point, the penguin went off a cliff and I actually screamed. It was an awful experience. The mocking started as soon as we filed out of the theatre, along with laughing, happy babies. Robin still mocks me. I still have nightmares!
We went to a bar called "The Fuzzy Navel" for dinner. It is popular amongst foreigners, and here we met a British girl who will feature in a future story - the ziplining...
Anyway, the rest of our trip was mostly spent on Songdo beach, which we usually had mostly to ourselves, swimming, watching sunsets, drinking, and shooting fireworks! Amazing! Other than the beach time, there were three other main things we did.
First, we did the trick eye museum. It was immense. And awesome. I actually ran out of batteries halfway through it because there were so many things to photograph. If you ever get a chance to go to one, TAKE IT!
Another thing we did was the Busan city tour bus. Basically you hop on and off double-decker buses at whichever stop you want, the best stop that we did was the UN war memorial. I usually don't like that sort of thing, but it was really interesting. I know I am ignorant when it comes to things like history, and I will be the first to admit it, but I had no idea so many soldiers had been killed in the Korean war, and weirdly, it gives you a sense of pride in your country for being in there. Weird but true. It was a really nice afternoon walking around in the gardens.
Finally, The Busan tower. It was great. There were views of the whole of Busan. It was really pretty. Afterwards we went to the musical instruments museum (I know, Korea has a museum for everything, including teddy bears!) where I got in touch with my African roots, on the drum.
All in all, it was an amazing holiday in Busan. I would definitely recommend a trip!
