Fun in Busan

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Yesterday morning Reagan and I boarded the KTX. It is a train that is twice as fast as your regular passenger train. It has been overcast and raining in Seoul, so we were surprised at how nice Busan was. It's weather reminds me of Hawaii. When we got off the train we headed to our hotel. We walked for quite a while and could not seem to find it. We went to the Busan Station to ask for directions and a young man said he would show us how to get there. He walked us to our hotel and even helped with interpreting when we checked in. We have met several people who have gone out of their way to help us. We are very grateful for their help.

The room was very modern. Reagan liked the bathroom the most. Here in Korea and in other countries, there is no shower curtain between the bathtub and the rest of the restroom. You can get the whole room wet and then spray it all down when you are done. At first I was apprehensive of getting the Hong's bathroom wet, but now I have grown to really like the concept.

The first thing we did was go to the Haeundae Market. It might have been where I was found. I won't be sure until I get home to read all of the paper work from my adoption. It was a well kept market right next to the beach. We walked along the beach for a while, it was really nice.

Haeundae Market 

Haeundae Beach

Today we went to the World's Largest department store (as of 2009). In the mall we went to a  Jjimjilbang which is a spa. They are scattered all over Korea. Most of them are 24 hours, but this one only stays open until 12:00 a.m. A lot of people will stay the night in them. It was only 9,000 won to enter. It was gigantic. We were given shirts and shorts to wear. There was a ladies bathing room and a mens. In each room there are an endless amount of spas at every temperature. Ranging from ice cold to scalding hot. All of the water in the spas come from the hot springs. There were three types of water supplies. One was natural, one cleansed the skin, and one softened the skin. The only problem I had was you had to take off all of your clothes. It was hard for me. Reagan and I met up in the relaxation room. It is a large room with couches to lay on. You can watch DVDs with your personal DVD player. There were also an endless amount of saunas that each specialized in some sort of body treatment. We didn't go in any of them because we didn't want to be hot. I went in a cold sauna with an aquarium of jelly fish in it. We then went upstairs and laid in massage chairs. Then we went outside and soaked our feet in the foot baths. It was so relaxing, we could have stayed there all day. But Busan has so much to offer we had to leave.

Reagan really wanted to try fresh seafood. So we headed over to the Jalachi Fish Market. It was not appealing to me in the slightest. Reagan settled on live octopus. He actually liked it. The tentacles sucked the inside of his cheek while eating it. Yuck!!!! I don't like seafood, I won't each raw fish, and I would never eat seafood that is alive! 

Here is a video of him eating the live octopus: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FMj2XpA1lXs&feature=plcp

Our neighbors table of food.

 

On the way to the train station, in the subway, Reagan got out of his seat and gave it to an elderly lady.  I watched her digging through her purse. She pulled out a pink case and waved him over to her. Instead of waving someone over with your palm up, you wave someone over with your palm down. Waving it up is used to call a dog over. In the pink case was a toothbrush, toothpaste, tongue scraper, and floss (unused, we swear by it). I was really nice of her. 

We are on the KTX heading back to Seoul. It is 7:30 pm on Wednesday. It is 3:30 am where you are at (Oregon). 

The day before we left for Busan wasn't very eventful. We had heard that the chicken here was really good, so we searched for it, until we found it. It was actually quite good. For dinner we wanted to try Korean style pizza. We were safe in ordering and got the combination pizza. The only difference was it had corn on it. The pizza came with pickles instead of kimchi. 

Instead of a server coming to the table periodically, the button at restaurants is used when you are ready to order or if you need something. 

This pizza is not like some of the crazy pizzas we have seen. I don't think I could eat some of them. Like the ones with whole prawns on them.

We have had to thank a lot of people lately. In Korean you would say kamsamnida, which means thank you. 

So, kamsamnida, Judy and Diane for loving Betty. Kamsamnida mom and dad for loving, Lucky! 

We also visited an old folk village.

Kimchi pots