Christmas in Busan

(Pictures for the Busan stories/posts part 1 & part 2)

Christmas morning I awoke to the sounds of footsteps above. In my mind I envisioned Santa and the helpful reindeer (Rudolph with his frostbitten nose) bringing beautifully wrapped packages to my house. Then I opened my eyes and quickly realized the rhythmic pounding from upstairs was my neighbors giving each other early morning Christmas presents. I glanced under my spirited little tree and saw that Santa had been unable to locate my apartment in Korea (the buildings DO all look alike). But on a better note, it was Busan time and I was on a schedule. No time to sulk… off to southern Korea.

My traveling partner and I took the high-speed KTX from Yongsan (in Seoul) to Busan. We had one quick transfer and we were there in a little more than 3 hrs. During the stops/transfers on the way down, the train stopped for maybe 2 minutes tops. They stopped, you jumped off or on, and it started up again. If you missed your stop or were dilly-dallying too much, you were SOL until the next stop.

On another note, not once were our tickets checked. We spent a little under 50,000w and were never given the satisfaction of presenting our ticket stubs! But I digress…

Upon arrival in Busan, we didn’t miss a beat. We took a bus outside Busan station and headed to our first stop- Taejongdae Park on the southeastern tip of Busan. This was a last minute destination on our tentative itinerary, but looking back, it was one of the best. Walked the entire park, down to the beach, to the lighthouse, saw the different statues and temples. Took lots of pictures and since it was Christmas, the park was overflowing with families. The outfits were at both extremes. Some people were decked out in hiking gear, while others were dressed to the nines and walking the park in heels.

After the grand tour of Taejongdae Park, we took a bus to the Tagalchi Fish Market. Well, we took a bus almost to the fish market, but traffic wasn’t moving, so another passenger told the driver to stop and about 2/3 of the bus riders hopped out and walked the rest of the way downtown. The fish market was incredible. It was a Friday evening, so a lot of the inventory was somewhat low, but the environment was just as colorful.

Walked downtown Busan, lights on all the trees and families taking their Christmas walks. The streets were jam packed and the buzz of the holidays was in the air. Felt great. We picked Big Sugar’s for dinner and enjoyed some pizza, homemade potatoes (chips), and martinis. Post dinner, we walked off the bag of chips we ate, and continued our walking tour of downtown. We jumped right into the mix and entertained many of the locals with our Christmas hats and aggressive picture-taking. From there, we hopped on the subway and headed to Pusan National University to find our sleeping spot for the evening.

After a very large beer at WA Bar near the university, we began our jimjilbang search. Found a lovely one at a good price. It was close to the Oncheonjang subway stop and conveniently close to the mountain we were planning to climb the following day (although we didn’t know this upon arrival at the sauna.) This particular jimjilbang brought its own adventures when it came to sleeping time. The showers/bathing areas were normal, but the sleeping room was co-ed. I felt very safe, but the sounds old men make in their sleep are sure to bring nightmares for years to come. We grabbed some blankets (toddler-size) and blocks of wood (pillows) and found two spots near the wall, away from everyone. I put in my earplugs and readied for dreamland. At 4:30am I started dreaming that I was being kicked in my leg, behind my knee. It didn’t stop and eventually I shook awake realizing I was actually being kicked in the leg. I looked up to see a man shoo’ing me away. Apparently I was sleeping too close to he and his wife’s “area”… sorry buddy, but this place was packed and it wasn’t like I was trying to move in on your romantic evening. Needless to say, I grabbed my stuff and jumped over my friend to sleep on the other side. Oh, and through out the night, there was a drunk man sitting by himself in the next room (the “restaurant” part) shouting to himself. He was very angry about something; I’m just not sure what. Perhaps the kicker shoved him away too.

Saturday we did an INCREDIBLE 8-hr hike… will write more soon.  Baby steps for this one.. it was a wild weekend to say the least.