Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Beach Days in Busan


This Eastern port city is the second largest city in South Korea, but is little in comparison to Seoul. The sand beaches grace the coast, fresh seafood restaurants, and a night life they compare to Miami.

It is a popular place for Koreans to go for vacation. The beaches are packed with koreans, umbrella, and yellow inner tubes. You have to pay for your 3' square of space on the beach, and they line 'em up and stack 'em deep. Your lucky to be touching sand and seeing sun. In Spain women repeating “Masaje?” walk the beach offering beach goers massages. In convenient Korea a constant stream of fried chicken and beer is being pushed in your face.

Our first night in Busan was a massive rain and wind storm. Malcolm and I ran for the water, despite the precipitation. John stood 6' tall on the beach under his umbrella. Not knowing what to do in the beach town with such weather we went to the bar with the best view of the shore. Perched on the 15th floor facing Hyundai Beach we played darts and pool until we braved the elements. We did not prepare enough in advance to claim a room in the vacation destination so we took the cheap way out and stayed in Vista jimjibang. We may of slept on the floor amoungst a hundred koreans, but for 7,000 Won ($5.75) we had a place with a view of the beach that would cost a pretty penny in the western world.

Our second day was beautiful with blue sky so we laid lazily on the beach all day until we grew hungry and had Chinese Shabu Shabu of fresh seafood and meat, cooked in two type of soup, one mild broth and the other spicy. It is served with rice, noodles, and green tea. In the evening we spent time on Gwanghali Beach which overlooks a beautiful bridge. Koreas filled the beach drinking Soju and setting off fireworks.

The sun and sand of Busan was a refreshing break from children and florescent lights, Monday was the end of summer vacation and back to work; at least it was done with a bit of a tan.  

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