Considering how close Japan and Korea was, I made my first stop at Busan by taking the JR Beetle from Fukuoka port in Japan. Ferry ride was considerably rocky but I managed to keep from sea sickness as I tuned into music and sleep during the entire 3 hour trip. I came across some annoying obstacles when I was getting off the boat because of all the luggage I had accumulated in Japan and Taiwan (oh right, from Taiwan I flew back to Japan for a few days). I ended up taking the lift, which was only reserved for disabled people, to the terminal and from there I took a taxi to Busan station. Makes me nervous to be traveling by myself sometimes but the taxi driver and I conversed in Japanese along the way which was very welcoming. The 5-10 minute drive was only 3000 won ($3)!
So here was the second obstacle. I had arrived and headed to place my massive luggage in the locker. Even though they had English instructions, I could not get the damn thing to open. After trying for over 10 minutes or so, a very nice Korean man helped me out and I was so relieved. You could not believe the frustration building up inside me.
And the third obstacle. The plan was to meet my friend Jack and her two sisters at Busan station. We confirmed on Facebook the day before to meet at the ticket booths, but I, obviously, for the whole time, had thought it was at the ticket gates. I was shuffling around the whole place like a lost lamb and decided to turn to the powers of social networking. After facebooking her about where she was and so on to no avail, I re-read the day-old message again and snapped like a biscuit. Of course this was all happening in my head, I didn't physically snap like a biscuit. A good 40 minutes later, my eyes enlightened at the sight of her sister. I felt like that stupid ping pong ball hitting back and forth in my chest popped out (at which end can be left up to your imagination).
So here we are, finally cruising the fishy streets of Busan.
Fish market street. Everything looked the same store after store. I wondered how they do business with so much competition around them. We were meant to eat at the famous Jagalchi fish market (the furthest and tallest building in the photo), but ended up mistakenly eating at the wrong place (because the whole place was a damn fish market!).
I love how messy yet fresh everything looked; the fish still in there tanks swimming, or being roasted like in the photo above.
We entered this small building mazed with yellow table and seats, assuming it was the Jagalchi fish market. Though however, we were confused because it was not as busy as I had expected (only making sense later it was the wrong place). Upon entering, we were greeted with frolicking hands trying to suck you in to eating at their hub, so we tried to ignore them and walked quickly along. We were, however lost as to where to eat. Every store looked the same!
We settled at a table two thirds of the way when an old man started to converse with us in Korean, Japanese and English, though mostly Japanese, which luckily I could reasonably understand. He gave us four a deal, a fish roasted, sashimi plate, stir-fried squid, and corn and kelp as sides all for 40000 won ($40). It worked out to be a delicious meal at $10 each.
So what we had above was sashimi which I didn't end up catching the name of the fish considering the language barriers. In Korea sashimi is eaten wrapped with chilli soybean sauce and sesame leaves. The fragrant sesame leaves swore to give that aromatic kick in your mouth which downplayed the chilliness allowing the cool sensation of the fish to smooth itself in. I've eaten many DIY wraps in Korea and I must say sesame leaves really do make it that much more appetising and special.
Grilled fish and stir-fried squid. Both were piping hot and flavoursome with smokiness when they arrived at our table, but I must salute the grilled fish. Believe me, despite its rather off-putting aesthetic appeal, it was the best grilled fish I've ever had in my life. Juicy, with a good umph of a charcoal flavour, and just soft enough to flake large chunks off.
Left: Angel-in-us Coffee. I seriously LOL-ed (and cringed at the same time) seeing the name of this cafe. It's a very popular chain cafe in Korea where we would hang. I gather from Jackee and her sisters that there is nothing special from this cafe that entices them other than the beautiful decor.
Right: An ajumma (korean for middle-aged women or older) selling street food like dried squid, pancakes, sweet potato chips and much more. The Busan streets were lined with these little vendors eagerly waiting for locals and tourists (more of the latter I assume) to stop by and try some of their specialties.
Left: Piping hot, made-on-the-spot fried mochi slit open to be filled with a mix of brown sugar, peanuts and sesame. 1000 won.These little beauties were so good I went back for a second one and I really want one now. Later I found out on TV that these were one of the more famous street food in Busan.
Right: Waffle filled with whipped cream. Crisp, fresh, yummy.
A man feeding birds at the port. Ocean view was nice but nothing really outstanding.
Fishing boat docked at the port. I love the old rustic feel of this boat.
We took the KTX back to Seoul at night as we were only in Busan for one day. The KTX was painstakingly crowded as it was the Chuseok holidays so everyone was probably heading back home to their families.
The overall verdict for Busan? It's a nice coastal city with fresh seafood and street food but I think I'd love to visit when it's a bit warmer for the beaches.
