Busan South Korea

         Today was a short visit to Busan, South Korea. We were sailing by 1:30 pm so it was just enough time to get in the port, get the tour off and get ready to sail. We have been here before and will be stopping again on the next leg so we decided to go into the city centre and walk around. There was a free shuttle service which was very efficient. We were walking around in the city by about 9 am.   Busan was not at all like the other port. It seemed to lack order whereas even Shanghai seemed

Mama Fish Lady

to have some. Our first stop was the Ja-Gal-Ch'i fish market. We have been in fish markets before but this one was a bit different. Judy described it as smelling more like the ocean and less fishy if that is possible. I think that was because the fish were all alive in tanks with running water . There were areas where the fish were being gutted and filleted but that was not true of the entire market. We wandered into one building which had row upon row of tables. We think that this was a fish cafeteria. You select your choice of fish – and many types of things from the ocean that we could not even begin to describe – and they prepare, cook and

Preparing Fish

serve it to you. We will need to check this out further when we return in a few days. How all those vendors can sell all that fish every day is beyond me! Not only was fish being prepared and sold in the market itself but for blocks around it. We did see the more “upscale” restaurants with the fish tanks out front where you selected you “entree”.

     We then wandered to the typical narrow alleyways filed with stalls that sold clothing, housewares, etc. We even found an area that we called the Home Depot section because it sold pipes, small motors, etc. Another part had fruits and vegetables only. From there we wandered down the street to the 'upscale' district where the fashions are more western like in display and appearance. They have every colour of running shoe that you can imagine and every name brand was on display. We decide to take the escalator up to Yongdusan Park. It is located

One Of Many Street Sculptures

on a small hill that provided views of the city. As we wandered around there was a small fence surrounding one of the buildings. Many locks were closed on the railing with notes attached to them. We have not seen this since Florence Italy although I know it is a common practice in some cities. We walked the 257 steps back down to street level and continued to the Lotte department store.

          The Lotte Department store is a beautiful store 11 stories high. There was one section that had quite a selection of wines. We ended up buying a Chilean Merlot take back to the ship. The ^th floor is a garden and observation deck where again you have wonderful views of the city. Because of the cool temperatures (13C) and winds we did not stay too long. Since it was getting close to the last shuttle time at 12:30 we made our way back to the shuttle stop to join the throngs of people waiting to get back to the ship. There were plenty of buses and although we ended on the 5^th bus, we waited only for a short time. We were back in time to go to the dining room for lunch. We ordered cheeseburgers! Judy's meal arrived a bit rare (a lot rare?) and then brought her another one. This one was even rarer so she settled on soup and pie!

Lover's Locks In The Park

other reason for visiting the store is that the 11

        We are now headed for China and the debarkation point for this leg. Tomorrow we have a sea day after the formal tonight. It is packing day for those leaving the ship. When we arrive in China we need to be off at 6:15 as we opted to go back to the Great Wall. We hope that the weather is a bit warmer!