South Korea and I: Busan Part 1

As mentioned in one of the post before, the ferry from Japan to Korea was really nice. It was a comfortable journey. The very first sight of Korea were skyscrapers built near the sea. Lots of them. All looking the same. After being here more than a week I can tell you, this is a sight you see very often in Korea. I don’t know if these are flats or company buildings.

Then we arrived at the harbor and underwent the normal procedure: immigration, security check and customs. In Korea you also have to give your fingerprints and take a photo for immigration.

The following hours weren’t really pleasant. We wanted to ask for directions at the tourist information. The next subway station seemed to be very close on the map we found. Unfortunately, it was closed, due to the lunch break. So we walked around a bit until we found the exit and took a look at the first bus stop information sign we found. Then a taxi driver came to us telling us “No!” while crossing his forefinger. First we ignored him, taking another look on our map while he still told us “No!”. Then he asked “Busan station??”. We said no and told him the name of the nearest subway station we were looking at. He wanted to have 10.000 Korean Won. But he wasn’t really speaking any English. One time he said “Tenga!” to my boyfriend. He just repeated “Tenga?”, because we both didn’t get what the taxi driver wanted to tell us. Then the driver enthusiastically repeated “Tenga, tenga!”…. no comment

So we weren’t really sure if the drive would cost us 10.000 Won or more. Then another taxi driver came to us and started to pull on our map. My boyfriend told me, that the name of the subway station was on the bus station sign and pointed his finger at it. The first taxi driver then placed himself in front of the sign so that I couldn’t read it. He again told us “No!”. It was really enough. We felt so pressured. So we took our suitcases, said we’d walk and went away. On the next exit we found a group of young Koreans who told us the way to the station. It took us 10 minutes to get there. Surely not a taxi drive that is worth six to seven Euro.

Getting a ticket was no problem. The ticket vending machines also have the option to display everything in English. The subway stations in Busan (and also Seoul) have big glass doors, which keep the people from jumping onto the tracks. So we waited at one of these doors for the next train. A lot of people got off and we waited until they all were outside. Then I took my suitcases and went in. Right when my boyfriend was about to enter the doors closed. He managed to jump in, but his foot was stuck between the doors, which DIDN’T open again. I somehow pulled his leg in, but of course was hurt by the doors. SCREW YOU KOREAN SUBWAY! We only had like 20 seconds to get inside the subway. Why won’t the doors open again in this situation???

We got out at our station and searched for the right exit. Exits are numbered in Korea, as well as in Japan. That makes things – most of the time – easier. On the hostel’s website they said it was okay to take exit 2 or 10. Funny thing was, both exits were pretty far apart from each other. AND there was another exit between them. Exit number 2 didn’t have an elevator or an escalator, so we decided to go for exit 10. This one was in a shopping center, where we could take the elevator. Wrong decision. We wandered around for quite some time without knowing where to go until we found a tourist information and they told us the way. We took the wrong exit number 10. There are two of them, which we didn’t know. The one which we took, which was part of the subway exits, and one, which was part of the exits of the underground shopping street x____X

We entered the hostel, and everything seemed to be fine. Until we saw our room. First of all it was directed to the main street, which was pretty loud. Closing all windows didn’t help. You could still hear everything. The walls were also really thing. Secondly, it was really cold inside. The windows didn’t keep the warmth inside. We had to heat all the time. We didn’t get linen to our bed either. It was just blankets and pillows, which were (hopefully) washed after every guest. We found stains and hair on the bed, so we put towels on the pillows and took a clean woolen blanket from a closet, which we put over the dirty part of the blanket. The hostel also didn’t have a kitchen, just a microwave, a sink and a refrigerator. It contained three plates, some cups, chopsticks, one fruit knife, and only dirty spoons. That was it.

We bought cereal, milk, toast and cheese for breakfast. Cheese is really expensive here. The same goes for ham. We put the cheese and milk in the fridge and took the toast and cereals with us to the room. On the next day when we wanted to have breakfast, we only had three slices of cheese left and somebody also drank from our milk… We couldn’t believe it. Somebody ate our food *___*

At Busan, they have a fish market. We went there for dinner, because of a recommendation from the hostel staff. On our way there we saw merchants selling fish and seaweed. And the fish and seaweed where partially lying on the streets – something I had never seen before. In the market fish, clamps, crabs and other animals from the sea where cramped together in tanks. There is a restaurant floor on the second floor. A lot of them sell Sashimi (raw fish fillet). But after seeing, what we saw before, we weren’t in the mood for raw fish. There was a restaurant with pictures of their menu. We had our first Korean meal there. The picture just showed a grilled spiny lobster but we also got a lot of side dishes, like Kimchi (Korean’s famous fermented cabbage), cabbage salad, sweet potatoes, etc. It tasted really good. And it was cheap. We paid approximately 8 € per person.

We also went to Taejongdae. It’s a natural park at the sea. You have a beautiful view over the ocean while hiking. Of course, if you are lazy, you can take the “train” that stops at the major sights. We decided to walk, but a lot of Koreans took the train. There were long lines on all the stops.

Taejongdae was really beautiful even if it was very cold.

But how can you access Taejondae? Only by bus. We know how hard it can be to ride a bus from our time in Japan. So we asked the staff for a detailed description on how to ride a bus in Korea. It was really good we asked that. There were no English signs on the bus. You can’t even go by counting stops, because the bus doesn’t stop if there’s nobody to get off or on. Luckily I can read a bit Hangul (the Korean alphabet), so I was somehow able to trace our route. In Korea you also have to pay when you get on the bus (that’s different from Japan). So be sure to have the right amount ready. You pay 1200 Won (~0.85 €) for each ride, it doesn’t matter how far you go. When I got on the bus I searched for the place I had to put my money into. There was just a large donation box filled with money. This is where you have to put your money. Because I wasn’t sure about that I showed the bus driver my money. He just shouted something in Korean I didn’t understand. He shouted again. I threw the money in and he was satisfied. I think he probably got nervous, because we were taking so long to pay. The next thing you need to know about Korean buses: If you have the chance to sit, then sit!

Riding the bus in Korea is really rough. Especially, when there are no other cars on the street. You have to hold on to something with both hands if you don’t want to roll around the bus.

We also walked around the market streets near our hostel. It’s really different from Japan or Europe. The vendors put shoes in front of their store. But sometimes it’s not like you know it. The just throw all the shoes they have together, so that you have a mountain of shoes in front of you.

You can always find something to eat in the markets of Busan. There are small stalls or kitchens everywhere. For example at PIFF movie plaza we tried Busan’s famous Seed Hot Dog. It’s like an American pancake or German Krapfen filled with seed (i.e. sunflower seeds). On the outside it’s a bit salty and the pancake itself is sweet. It’s a nice combination.
We also tried Garaetteok (Korean rice cake) boiled in soup like Japanese Oden, Gimbap (Korean Sushi, but it's not really Sushi, it doesn't contain raw fish, but meat and a lot of vegetables), Mandu (Korean dumpling), spicy noodles while (almost) sitting on the street (have a look at the photo) and other things.