Pusan, South Korea

On December 30th, Rose and I took a hydrofoil boat from Fukuoka, Japan to Pusan (Busan), South Korea. The trip only took about 3 hours. A sign said that Pusan is 115 miles away. We were surprised to see so many islands between the two countries. Not sure to whom they belonged. I took a Dramamine and took many naps along the way. They showed “The Wizard of Oz,” so I tried to keep my eyes closed as much as possible.
Pusan is definitely a big city. It is the second biggest in South Korea, and is a very large container port. I was surprised at the number of ships and the size of the port.
We stayed at another hostel, which sucked. Not because it was really bad, it was just inconvenient, noisy, and crowded. Plus the other people who were staying there were really weird. One guy had made his own catalogue of all the movies ever made, and color-coded ones he liked and disliked, and wanted to discuss them with us. Another was a Chinese guy from Australia that told us how much he hated Lebanese people. Finally, the snorer, who reached at least 800 decibels, kept us awake a few nights.
Ok, enough complaining. So Korea smells really bad too. It could be because it was a holiday, but the sidewalks reeked with garbage and rotten eggs.
We visited the fish market one morning, which was an interesting experience. There were sea creatures that I have never seen before. After a while, I had to leave because all the old ladies turning the fish and eels inside out, stripping off their skin and extracting all their internal organs was starting to get to me. Plus I discovered their little game of “splash the foreign girls with fish water and watch them squeal and run away,” which I didn’t appreciate. Luckily I only had two drops of fish brains splatter on me when I got too close to a man whacking the head of a fish with a dull knife. Rose had her leg covered in fish water. I will post pictures of the fish market when I get them from Rose.
But, it wasn’t all smelly and fish gutty. As I said before, the spa was great, and we also went to visit a temple on New Years Day, called Beomeosa. Many people make a trek out to the Buddhist temple on New Years, just like here in Japan.
It was nice to see the differences in the Buddhist temples in Japan and Korea. One thing that stands out is the colors. Every inch of the temple walls and ceilings are painted in bright colors. Same gold Buddhas, but the ones in Korea looked more like the Indian style ones I have seen. And some had moustaches.
There is a picture of me sitting on a stone bridge. What is funny about that picture is what happened right before. I asked Rose to take my picture on the bridge, so I hurried over to the spot I wanted to sit in. Well, the ledge was very narrow, and my butt is very big, so I fell over backwards onto the bridge. My legs were flailing up in the air and I lay there not being able to stop laughing. There was also an 80 year old man sitting on the bridge too who laughed hysterically right along with me. Unfortunately, Rose was either too nice, or laughing as well, and did not get a picture of me making a fool of myself. But a few minutes later at one of the temples, she fell off the steps, and a man carrying an orange purse saw both of us. He must think Americans are really clumsy.
I am very glad I was able to get out of the city to see some nature and history of Korea. If I were to go again, I would definitely visit some other places, but this was a great first trip.