Busan recap

I took the KTX down to Busan around the middle of the day cause I'd had to wait for my laundry to dry... yes one of the many issues with laundry here is it's air dry only. I got there figured out how to get to the subway and got a nice little charm for my cellphone that would also double as a fare card for the subway. I took the subway over to Haundae Beach and found my hotel, checked in and relaxed for a minute. Then grabbed my backpack and headed out to see what I could see around where I was staying and find a tourist information center. I've gotten pretty good at finding them and got an English map of Busan and while talking to the nice woman there found out about a city tour bus that would take me around the city stopping at many of the places I wanted to see for only 10,000 won a day. I then figured I'd wander through the aquarium. Honestly after the Georgia Aquarium which was done very well anything was probably going to be a let down... even more so for 16,000won. It was pretty good, just my personal bar for aquariums is very high. However there was a fun and cute exhibit of famous art work redone with fish as the main characters including Lady Liberty as a Penguine.


I wandered and had some street food for dinner and then took a long hot bath at my hotel. I also did my usual plan out the next day. After compareing the list of places I wanted to see from Lonely Planet and the route of the city tour bus I figured it would be a pretty good deal. I then set my alarm and crashed while watching some CNN (which is a perk for me since I don't have it at home.) The next morning I found a Dunkin Donuts grabbed some breakfast and went to the bus stop where the city tour bus would pick up and joined the crowd of young koreans standing around... it was kinda fun cause I've been here long enough I'm not always polite anymore about getting shoved from bus doors by ajumas and cut in lines. I fight back now. I grabbed my place in line and made sure I gave up my personal space like a good Korean and managed to cut off a pushy Ajuma who was obviously younger than me, as she tried to get on the bus infront of me. Sorry I'm not some just off the plane Meigook who can get run over. The bus driver smiled at it and was very kind to me as I gave him my money and got a card that allowed me to ride the bus all day. He also grabbed an English brochure and marked off the loops that were canceled and not running that day. I then watched the city fly by as I rode to the Olympic Sculpture garden. I got lost coming off the bus but eventually found it. I had a wonderful time freezing and taking pictures there. I will probably go back again with friends when it's warmer.

I then hopped the bus and rode downtown were I transfered to the other loop and stopped at the coast at some place called 75. I took a long time there hiking down to the ocean and taking pictures. It was a beautiful jagged coast with fishermen working lines and having fires on the coast. I also had a nice chat with a teacher from Seoul who was on vacation with her mother. She wanted to practice her English and since we were both waiting for the bus it wasn't a big deal. I took the last bus to my hotel eventually seeing a large chunck of the city. I also found mexican at a place called Fuzzy Navels.


That evening I was online at my hotel and got a message from the person I was supposed to crash with in Seoul that basicly sounded like she didn't really want me to stay there. I started replanning and decided to stay an extra day in Busan and just make it a day trip up to Seoul. (That also ment that I could stay up all night and watch Obama's innauguration.) So I called the front deask changed my plans and stayed up all night.
I then with my later start hopped the subway to the Jigalchi Fish market. I admittedly was a scaredly cat and didn't make it into the main market but saw somethings on the outside stalls that had me going what the heck is that. I also wandered through a traditional market north of there where I bought a spurlge and got a new leather coat. It was a rainy day so I didn't do a lot of outdoor things but had fun just wandering the city. Eventually I made it back to the hotel and crashed.
The next morning I got up checked out and grabbed the train back to Daegu.