Ok - the pictures are up - I just need to get this blog up.
Saturday: September 22, 2007
We got on the city bus in Naju and took it to the first subway stop which we then took to the bus station - this seemed a lot longer dragging our carry-on suitcases a couple of other bags with us. Thankfully we bought our tickets the week before so we didn't have to do that. We did our regular stop at the Duncan Donuts in the bus station. The bus ride was fairly uneventful - not my favorite, but its cheaper and actually quicker than taking the train. I slept and Cameron played video games and read. I tried to watch a movie on his PSP - not a good idea - its right up there with reading - makes me sick. We stopped at a rest area - there wasn't any familiar food so we just made a pit stop.
We got to the bus station - Cameron was actually feeling weak - we had a role switch. So, he got some food at Paris Baguette. I bought our tickets for the return trip and we sought out the subway. Buying tickets was an interesting ordeal - you have to choose what station you are getting off at. I let Cameron handle this part. A clerk finally helped him.
We made it down to the subway suitcases and all. There are 3 lines in Busan - our line was straight so we didn't have to get off until Nampo-dong. There were a couple of other English speakers in our car - one guy was very loud and very embarrassing - its moments like those I'm thankful that we took Jim Lo's classes and learned about cultural sensitivity.
When we arrived at our stop 40 min. later we decided to guess at which exit to take. We didn't know exactly where our hotel was so we kind of went blindly. We got a taxi - showed him on the map about where we thought we wanted to go. We got to a hotel - the one we thought, but it was not the one we wanted - I was guessing that they changed the name of the hotel since our map was old. Our taxi-driver actually went in with us and asked at the desk about it. We wanted Busan Beach Tourist Hotel and this was Songdo Beach Hotel. We decided that if we did not like or could not find our selection that we might go back to this one. Our taxi driver got a little bit of direction to our hotel - so off we went again. We finally found it! Cameron tipped the driver even though it isn't customary to tip. Our fee was only 5,000 won which is around $5.00.
We went into the hotel - it was in a very odd place! In the middle of a bunch of fisheries. We went in and found that it was very nice inside so we had high hopes. We went to check in and we were able to get a seaside view for 60,000 won a night, which was excellent! I was nervous about how the room would be - it was beautiful - hardwood furniture, balcony, very clean - and a bathtub! The bed was hard, but we are finding that this is normal. The customary things for koreans were that we took our shoes off just inside the door and then the room steps up and just inside the room was the bathroom which stepped down. There were slippers for us and robes. Also, there is no shower curtain, which we are used to.
Both of us were really hungry - we went down to the desk to ask about food. The manager came to help us. He told us a couple of places and said they would call for a taxi. We waited a few minutes and they said it was hard to get a taxi since it was Saturday afternoon. We decided to look at their DVD selection while we waited - they let us go behind the counter since they only had the titles listed in Korean. They were still having trouble finding a taxi. The manager asked us if we would mind riding with him - it sounded like he was going to somewhere to us so we said sure. He apologized for the condition of his car - it was a tad beat up. We got in - he drove us by the beach and past the UN Hotel - which is where we thought we were going to go for dinner. He drove us up to Amnam Park - a popular park in the area. He pointed out a popular galbi restaurant and then a restaurant at the park. We had no idea what the prices would be like so we decided on the one at the park - he said it had some western style food. They had pizza, spaghetti, steak, pork, seafood. Both of us were in the mood for steak, but the plates were around 25,000-35,000. We were hoping to save our nice meal for an American restaurant. Steak is very expensive here since they have to import the beef. We decided on the pork cutlet only 10,000 won - which turned out to my disappointment to be don cas. I was excited about having a salad so I ate mine at Cameron's. We also had baked potatoes which we hadn't had in a while (even though we have potatoes at home). It ended up being ok - a lot of food for the money. After dinner we walked up the mountain part way. It was really beautiful. The wind of the sea was nice. I took some pictures of the ships and of the bay. There was a bunch of modern art sculptures - they were very neat and interesting. We were tired after the days journey so we decided to head back to the hotel and hang out and relax the rest of the evening. We got a taxi and went home. After we got back we walked down the road near our hotel to see if we could find a convenience store for soda and snacks. We found one. The only other thing we did besides relaxing that night is order a pizza - the pepperoni was a little different, but it was ok.
Oh, I forgot to say - each time I get in a car or on a bus here - I usually pray the whole time - they drive like they are invinsible! It can be scary!
Sunday:
Since we were so tired from traveling Saturday we slept in. I didn't want to spend the whole weekend rushing around and not getting any rest. They weren't able to get us a taxi so we decided to walk and get one. It was threatening to rain - we or course left our umbrellas at the hotel. The traffic was moving slow, but we decided it would be best to get a taxi or get wet. Our destination was PIFF Plaza - where they do the annual film festival - which is actually starting tomorrow Oct. 4-12. There we found - McDonalds and Duncan Donuts! We decided on McDonalds for lunch. BigMac attack! for me. Cameron got a couple of cheese burgers. After lunch we checked out the stores and stands around PIFF. There lots of name brand stores and lots of road stands with socks, shirts, umbrellas, jewelry, ties, food, etc. We picked up a couple of things. We found Gukje market. It has all kinds of household items - kitchen, bedding, small furniture. Since we didn't need any of that we only spent a short time looking. We did find a shop that had souvenier type stuff. We bought a really pretty fan to hang on the wall. I found bookmarks! which I collect from places I visit.
It was getting late in the day - we wanted to go to Taejongdae. Its an island or peninsula like thing that juts out from the Nampo-dong area. There is a park at the end that is beautiful. There are rocks and a lighthouse. We took a taxi. It was windy and a little rainy when we got there. Since the park is so big we got tickets for the shuttle. It stops at various parts of the park so you can get off and take pictures and see the views. We got off at the first lookout - I used the bathroom while we were there - thankfully they had a couple of actual toilets and not just squatty-potties. They had toilet paper you could get outside the stalls. Many places don't even have that.
We went to the lookout - it was covered. We took some pictures and used to binocular viewing things to see the ships better. There was a couple of container ships and a ferry. Watching the water crash on the rocks below was neat. I got a snack - a waffle with cream. It was yummy! Then we got back on the shuttle. There were a few more stops - I was hoping to get off at the lighthouse. We kept going and picking up people, but no one was getting off so we stayed on hoping that there would be more places and that people were just waiting for the best one. No one got off from our car - we ended up at the entrance of the park. I was so mad! Thankfully the tickets for the shuttle were 1500 won. Cameron asked me if I wanted to go back. I didn't know what to do. It was windy and raining. At this moment my umbrella decided to break. We decided not to go back. We walked up to see the MASH memorial instead. There were lots of steps and they were very steep. The next challenge was to get a taxi back to Nampo-dong - which posed to be a good one. We started walking back towards the town that was right outside the park. There were a bunch of "Throw the dart at the balloon" carnival games - which most people know is NOT my favorite. Finally a taxi came - it had to turn around, but that was ok. I only wish you could tell which ones were stick and which ones were automatic! At this point I was getting a headache and the jerky taxi ride was not helping. We drove through a port area - that was neat! We saw a ship with the Chicago as part of the name. I wished I could have taken a picture. The ships were big!
We had the taxi take us to the entrance of the Busan Tower - which happened to be about a gazillion steps. None of the escalators we saw in Busan were in operation. We are constantly being reminded that we need to get into shape. Hopefully all this walking and stair climbing will help. It was dusk when we got there. The park seemed like a ghost town. It was eerie! I was just hoping that after all the stair climbing that it was open. The park was interesting. There were a few statues and a huge bell! One of the statues was a dragon - representing the Busan people. The detail on it was amazing. We were able to get tickets 3000 won. That is one great thing about Korea - everything seems to be so cheap (except beef :o) ). We took the elevator up. Busan at night was beautiful - all the lights. We could see far, but we could still not see the whole city. There was a glare on the windows from the lights so my pictures did not turn out so well, which was disappointing. We could even see our hotel. We went back down after a little while - got some juice and headed back towards the city. We checked out a few more stores and saw Krispy Kreme. Then we went to Duncan Donuts to see if they had any sandwiches and of course got some donuts. Then we got a taxi and headed back to the hotel. I think this was the night we had the rude driver. The only person that wasn't nice the whole trip.
Monday:
We got up a bit earlier, but we still missed breakfast at McDonald's so we got bagels at Duncan Donuts. That we know of Koreans don't really have seperate kinds of food for breakfast. I believe they usually have rice and maybe even kimchi. I need to get more details on this. After breakfast we headed to the bookstore we saw near the subway. It was big - we were hoping they might have a selection of English books. They did - not many - mostly classics and children's book. They did have a Trump book and Sex and the City - YUCK! To counter that I did see The Purpose Driven Life (which I have seen in Korean) and some Chicken Soup books. Cameron picked up some Harry Potter books and I got the whole Anne of Green Gables set. We kind of went crazy since this is the first time we found books - and the prices weren't bad. There is a website you can order books from, but we just checked that out this week. We were probably a sight at the store.
Then we headed out to catch the subway to Haeundae where the aquarium is. One thing we didn't think about at the bookstore is that we would be toting them around all day - oops! On the way to the subway we checked out some of the underground shops. Lots of clothes, purses, jewelry. A little art and a few places with electronics stuff. I don't think we picked up much.
We got on the subway. We had to transfer to another line. This trip took about 40 minutes. We had to walk a few blocks to find the aquarium. It was kind of busy, but not too bad and the tickets ended up being half as much as we thought - I think a holiday special. It was a nice aquarium. I thought they could have turned the air on, but other than that we enjoyed it. You can see all of the pictures on our album blog. We went at this specific time so we could see them fee the sharks. They had a bunch of sharks - I think 6 kinds. We got our picture taken in front of the aquarium. It turned out nice! We didn't realize that the shark feeding was on the other side of the aquarium so we got there a little late and there was a huge crowd of people. It was all in Korean so we didn't understand much and it wasn't just shark feeding - they fed some of the mantarays and some of the other really big fish. We were a bit disappointed we couldn't see very well, but it was ok. All in all it was fun. I picked up a magnet for our collection. I thought it was very similar to the Atlanta Aquarium - maybe not quite as big.
Before we went in to the aquarium I had seen a Bennigans. We were planning to go to Outback for steak, but Cameron has been wanting to take me to Bennigan's since we have been married. He was very excited! He got his favorite Monte Cristo sandwich and I had an amazing steak! I also enjoyed having a salad. It was very nice and we could see out to the beach. It is past beach season - which I was a bit bummed about, but it was a little chilly. The weather cleared while we were in Haeundae.
Cameron was hoping to go to Carrefour - a store that is also in Brazil, but it was no longer in that location. I was also wanting to check out the Walmart, but that was no longer there either. We walked down in the Haeundae area where there are a lot of condos and some expensive hotels. We saw that Trump has some buildings here right on the water. I wanted to get some pictures of the bridge. After walking and walking we finally found a spot where you could see it. Both of us were tired and Cameron's hands were hurting from carrying the bags of mostly books. We walked and walked again to find the subway. We were both so tired. We finally found that - in a very strange spot. We road to Seomyeon to see if there was more shopping there - there was supposed to be. This was also the transfer point on the subway. After we got off there seemed to be a sort of mall underground - it was soooo crowded - we both decided that this was not a good idea. After wandering around for about 30 min or an hour we decided to get back on the subway and go back.
Back in Nampo-Dong we were hoping to find a bag to put all of our treasures in. We found out quickly that each and all of the shops we had seen cheap bags in were closed. We ended up getting a duffle bag in a shop where this nice guy was showing us souveniers. We also found postcards here.
We got a taxi and headed to the hotel. Cameron was enjoying the X-Files marathon - I can only watch some of those shows - they freak me out. I decided to enjoy a bubble bath at midnight. I didn't care about going to bed early since I wanted to sleep on the bus.
We got up early and headed to McDonald's for a bacon, egg and cheese mcmuffin. YUMMY! We then headed the bus station.
The bus ride wasn't bad, but traffic was horrible. We left on the day of Chusak. We got to the bus station about 30 or 40 min. late. We got tickets for the direct bus. I have never seen the bus station so crowded. The big problem with getting direct bus tickets is that its first come first serve for each bus that comes. This was not good. We had to stand our ground in the line. Many people will just push past you. Finally after I think 20 minutes we got on the bus. That trip also took 20 minutes longer than normal. Traffic was backed up so bad. There was a family actually standing - they got on at the one stop we stop at to pick up people. Traveling that day was not fun. We were glad to get a taxi in Naju - thankfully the streets were not packed with cars.
Home again! The trip was fun and the rest was needed.
