First Day on the town: Nampodong
Trip Start
Unknown
1
4
30
Trip End
Ongoing
Busan, Korea Rep.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
We have the subway mastered pretty well. There are only 3 lines to keep up with so its not too difficult. We came up out of the subway and just started walking. The first sign we saw was for Yongdusan Park so we decided to check it out. We figured out that the park was actually elevated a little above the city and were excited to get a better view. Once we got up there we found that Busan Tower was located on the top, which is a pretty famous landmark/tourist attraction, and would give us a wayy better view than we had anticipated. We rode the elevator some 100+ meters up into the air and came out in the sky cafe with an unbelievable view of the city and the main Port. We then walked around the tower where there was a temple, a giant flower clock, and some other stuff. We found a street down below the park called Gwangbokro shopping st. I was just that, a shopping street. It had all kinds of stores, alot of which were american. North Face, Patagonia, Mountain Hardware, Tommy Hilfiger and on and on. They love Western stuff here!
After that it was off to the PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival) area. There is an annual film festival here and they have a walk with the handprints of the winner from each year in the ground, kind of like the Hollywood Walk of Fame on a much smaller scale. This area was packed with people and little food vendors selling everything from french fries to entire fried squid! There were a few side streets that looked exactly like Canal st in New York selling purses, glasses and alot of radom crap.
Once we left there we kept walking towards the water to the Jagalchi Fish Market. As we were getting close to the actual market we saw these stores on the streets with lots of big tubs and hoses in front. We quickly realized that in those tubs were all kinds of live fish, eel, shrimp, etc, just naively swimming around waiting to be chopped and sold right there on the street. There were women sitting on stools on the st corner gutting fish. It was crazy..and you can imagine the wonderful aroma coming from it all. The actual market was in an open warehouse right on the water where boats can pull up, unload and immediately start selling. Once again we saw tons and tons of fish out on display and being gutted to order right there. It was definitely a new experience!
We accidentally found an Italian place for lunch, and chowed down on spaghetti alfredo and Margherita pizza (we knew we were doin Korean for dinner, so we didnt feel so bad.) It was actually really good and we left stuffed! We kept wandering after lunch and came across a temple right in the middle of the city (we had actually spotted it from above in the tower.) It was so bizarre to be walking down a boomins st and then bam there is this ancient Korean temple. We walked into the gate and peeked in, there were about 5 Buddha statues with candles and people on mats in front meditating/praying. We wanted to get some pictures but decided to not be disrespectful tourist, but it was really cool to see.
We then came across a Lotte Dept store. Imagine Macys...on crack! Apparently Lotte owns the majority of the city and there are tons of these enormous stores! We didnt even know where to begin. We ended up to just going floor by floor looking around. And ended up on the roof with another really good view of the city.
We were going to keep walking around but what little bit of sun we had had quickly went away and was replaced by really intense wind. It was so cold we had to book it to the subway. We headed back and started getting ready for the night...Korean BBQ and out with our teacher friend Leah.
We had a great first day exploring and are really loving Busan!! Here are all the pics. And thanks to Bryan who got me a video camera for my Bday, there is a lot of video of it all too! Im just going to throw all of the pics and videos on here so everybody can sift through how they want!! ps..there is also a video if the aparment in here too
Comments
You should teach the kids English swear words but tell them that they mean 'chair, desk, car' etc.
I have really enjoyed looking at all of the pics you have shared with everyone! Can't wait until the next entry...will Bryan ever be helping you out with any blog entries? Don't let him get out of writing..I want to know how the kids are coming along and what you are doing to help them with the English language..especially the "first timers". Love, Mom
Looks like fun and what a view. Glad you went up the tower. That would cost you $20 in Chicago at the Sears Tower. I looked at the pics but it says I need Flash to view the videos. One more computer thing for me to work out! ---so the mystery gift was a video camera. Good idea :) Happy birthday. It is the 9th there.
It really looks like a big and clean city.
We need for you to send me your address and phone #. Do you use your reg. cell phone.
A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM PAPA AND NANA.
WE LOVE YOU ANDS MISS YOU.
You be shue and whatch over your shoulder.
Papa-Nana
Looks like you have lots of interesting things to explore! Thanks Bryan for e personal narrated tour!
It looks like ya'll are having a great time! I love that I know exactly what has
been going on over there :) This blog was your greatest idea yet! I was so lost
when you were in Italy!! haha