Busan

This is a ridiculously overdue blog which will hopefully bring us almost up to date with everything exciting (as we have had a quiet couple of weeks). We'd been back at work for three long weeks of winter program and just as I was beginning to think that I couldn't face another extra phonics session ("I have a zit, a zit, a zit, I have a zit, a zit sits and sits, today my zit sits and sits and grins, today my zit sins, today my zit wins"), the four day weekend arrived and we decided to go to Busan. The nice thing is that the trip was funded almost entirely by Christmas money from our families.

This four day weekend was in aid of Lunar New Year, an important time in the Korean calender and the time when everyone in the country becomes a year older (which now makes me 27 Korean age, and Alan 28). About a week before our planned trip we started to hear horror stories about the New Year traffic, and decided to buy bus tickets to Busan in advance for 7am. When I told one of my private students this she assured me that it wouldn't do any good as people would be setting out at 3am. However the morning came and not only was our bus empty but so were the roads (maybe this has something to do with the fact that people from Busan and Gwangju traditionally hate each other), so we arrived in Busan very quickly although a little cold as the bus driver decided to have the heating off for most of the journey. With the help of a very kind man we managed to get ourselves a subway pass and headed for Hyundai beach where we were pleased to find a gaggle of gaudy love motels. We had read about one called Sugar with huge Jacuzzis and round beds but it turned out to be a little pricey, so after a little bit of exploring we settled for a classy place in the shape of a castle, called Zeus. It was absolutely fine apart from that the abundance of synthetic material meaning that we gave each other electric shocks every time we touched.

We then went down to the beach, and although it seemed wrong not to go paddling, it was just a bit too nippy, so we wandered the streets by the sea front and to our joy stumbled upon a little Vietnamese restaurant where we had lunch and ogled the foreign families like we'd never seen a white child. After lunch we headed to the Jagalchi fish market. It was an amazing place with tank after tank of live crabs, squid and sea cucumbers all tended to by the tireless Korean ajumas (old women). Maybe this particular weekend wasn't the most sensible time to visit, as the market was packed with frantic Korean women all trying to get the best sea food for their family feasts. Korean shoppers are pushy at the best of times but this situation clearly didn't allow for much patience of tourists wielding cameras (fair enough really), so we had to keep up with the pace for fear of being trampled.

That evening we went for dinner at an Indian restaurant which was incredible, despite being by far the most expensive meal of our time in Korea and more than our hotel room. The chef was Indian and there was a group of Indian people eating... a good sign. Not even our table next to the worlds most unignorable American couple could detract from the joy of nan bread.

On Sunday we took the subway to Beomosa to see the famous temple. The Busan subway has given us some of the best opportunities for people watching since we've been in Korea, and this trip was particularly good as a woman struck up a conversation with me. We are always a bit apprehensive when people start talking to us in almost perfect English, as in the past they have more often than not turned out to be Jehovah's witnesses or something similar. This usually ends with one of us being stuck in an awkward conversation while the other looks out of the window and sniggers. However this lady was very friendly. She told me all about her family and showed me pictures and insisted on taking a photo of us. She even restrained herself from getting her bible out until just before she got off, and even then it was just to sing me a verse of a hymn.

Beomosa temple was really incredible and by far the best one we have visited in Korea. There must have been about 50 buildings, some which had been beautifully restored but my favorite were the ones that had been left in their slightly decaying state. After the temple we decided to investigate Texas Street, the Russian area of Busan with rather a bad reputation. It wasn't hugely exciting although it was strange to see all the shop signs in Russian and what were very clearly hostess bars.

That night we had another lavish meal, and one of the best buffets I have ever had. We stayed for a good couple of hours filling and refilling our plates before waddling back for our second night in the Zeus motel.

Our last day in Busan started at the aquarium, which was pretty impressive, especially the sharks.

In the afternoon we planned to take a gondola to the old city walls. It wasn't easy to find and after hitching a lift from a man who thought we were Russian we discovered that it was closed for the public holiday, and because of the cold and the fact that by now we were carrying all our luggage we decided not to attempt the hike, and to instead go and warm up at the bath house. Bathhouses are on practically every street in Korea and seem to be a bit of a national obsession for men and women of all ages. The bathhouse we chose is apparently the biggest in Korea and certainly seemed pretty impressive with it's domed roof. Inside Alan and I were given a locker key each (with this we could mount up a tab for anything we wanted inside) and had to go our separate ways. I was slightly apprehensive about the nudity, particularly as we get stared at even when we have our clothes on but as soon as I got into the locker room, all the women were naked and seemed perfectly comfortable so embarrassment seemed slightly foolish and I very quickly got used to it. The bathhouse itself was enormous, with a huge central tub under the domed roof and maybe 20 more tubs of varying temperatures around the edges, some containing salt or herbal mixtures. There were also shower areas around the edges where women viciously scrubbed themselves and each other with the rough clothes and soap provided. There was even an ice cream stall where people could go and purchase ice creams naked and walk around with them. I spent a while going from one tub to another (avoiding the cold ones), even daring to half submerge myself in the one that claimed to be 47 degrees. After a while I hired some pyjama type clothes and went to meet Alan in the communal area. It turned out that Alan had been unable to shake off his Britishness about nakedness and had eventually decided to give the baths a miss altogether, so had been relaxing in the communal area in his pyjamas and trying out the saunas and cold room. We decided to go and experience Dr. Fish, a 'therapeutic' treatment where you put your feet into a tub of little fish and allow them nibble away at your feet, which is supposed to be good for circulation. I don't really know how much good it did us but it really tickled so I suppose the laughter acts as some kind of therapy.

Feeling relaxed and with a good 4 hours to kill before our 10pm bus (we booked a late return in case of the dreaded traffic) we decided to go and see Changeling at the cinema which was very good. Another wonderful weekend in Korea.

A couple of days later I received this email from the woman that we met on the train:

Hello Becky!
I am Mikyung Jo.
We met in line 2 subway in Busan on 25th January.
I descended at Motgol. You were going to Beomuesa (via Seomyeon)
I send you a phtograph of you and your lover.
I hope your love will ba long.. forever.
Bye bye