April 14 - Busan, Korea

Our last stop in Korea was the city of Busan.  This is at the far southeast corner of the Korean peninsula.  It was here that the advance of the North Koreans ended in the Korean War (not a war but it really was).  The city lies on the Nakdong River which is Korea’s longest and it’s the second most populous one in the ROK. Busan has the sixth largest port in the world and is a center for marine science and research and development.  As with all the cities I’ve been seeing in this part of the world, it’s a city of skyscrapers.  There are forests of them in each we’ve been visiting.

Today I booked a half-day tour to the Tongdosa Temple and the Bujeon Market.  We set out for the temple which was about a 50-minute ride outside of the city.  The countryside when we arrived at the temple site was beautiful. There was a mountain stream running alongside the pathway to the temple gates and buildings. It was pretty crowded because it was a beautiful day and a Sunday to boot.  The temple complex includes several gates, three buildings and some large courtyards covered with colorful lanterns.  Along the way we saw a few Buddhist monks.

After an hour we drove back into Busan for our only other stop, the Bujeon Market.  Along the way as the guide talked I realized that what we were going to was another one of these fast-food street food places which I had no interest in visiting again.  I thought we’d be going someplace where I might be able to pick up some kind of souvenir from my Korean visit.  Unless I wanted to take home some Korean fried chicken or a scallion pancake that wasn’t going to happen.  I opted to stay on the bus with several other people. I know it sounds like I’m a lazy ungrateful person who has the opportunity to see all these marvelous things, but I just wasn’t up for a trot through a very crowded and narrow market. The bus drove around the block and parked for a while and I did see this thing parked in a driveway nearby. Curious as to what it was I got out and walked over and found the jazziest looking handicap scooter I’ve ever seen.

We picked up the rest of the tour folks and drove back to the ship and that was my visit to Busan.  We sailed around 6 PM again and were on our way to Japan where we’ll be for the next nine days.

I have some impressions of Korea which I need to write down.  Every place we went seemed very clean.  I didn’t see any panhandlers at all unlike some of the other places we’ve been.  I didn’t see many motorbikes at all and instead there were lots of cars, Hyundais and Kias – no surprise there.  I asked our guide in Jeju about that and she said that cars are not that expensive here.  The people were universally friendly and very polite.  I found English speakers to be few and far between.  Korea manufactures a lot of electronics and it was evident because even the little restaurant we went to had those complex toilets with a panel of buttons on the side and that I haven’t a clue what they all do.  The food was tasty despite the fact that I didn’t know what some of it was.  It’s a very modern and attractive place and I think it would be a tragedy if somehow it was taken over by Kim and the North Koreans.   So for now bye, bye Korea.

Oh, late in the afternoon I caught my foot on a table leg as I was getting up.  I saved myself from falling but I managed to pull a muscle in my gluteus maximus. I’ve been walking gingerly ever since and I’m hoping it gets better fast.  And good news, my cough is just about gone.