Monday, October 16, 2006

Busan 2006-10-16

Well today was a day that did not go to plan in a good way. I started off in the morning heading off up the hill to Democracy Park. On the way I had a rice triangle and some orange juice. It took a while to work out that the paths straight up the hill on the map were stairs and not roads. The park itself is simple yet very impressive. I then wandered further up the hill to Gongbusan mountain. It proved to be a lot higher than I though and I probably would not have made it to the top if it had not been for the assistance of a local walker. (Mr Lee). Unfortunately the fog was such that the view was really not worth the effort.

Mr Lee decided to be my tour guide as he was between jobs, and drove me out to Taejongdae, a place that is quite difficult to reach if you do not have a car. The scenery along this part of the coast was very beautiful, but it turns out I have been having a bad photo day. I have been using an odd series of settings, including having the ISO set to 1000. So most of the photos are very grainy. I think I set the camera to 1000 ISO when inside the monument at democracy park. Mr Lee helped me very significantly with my Korean. (Hanmingguk)

In the early afternoon we headed off to the fish market and I bought him lunch. We had a traditional Korean lunch, which was full of very unusual food stuffs and a liquor that was over 20% proof. I made a video, and will have to describe this meal later. Only to say at least 30%, including the vegetables, was things I had never eaten before. He said that because I was from Hoju (Australia) the woman there gave us much more than we would normally get. We did not finish all the food.

In the afternoon we went to Yogdusan Park to go up in the tower. We actually got a better view of Busan from down low in this 120 meter tower as we were closer to the city. We then went to the Daegaksa temple before I returned to my hotel. I have decided it is better to spend the later afternoon at the hotel as it is so hot. I can have a shower and then head out in the evening. I watched some more silly chinese gungfu TV soaps and Armor of god II with Korean subtitles and then headed out for dinner. I did not head down-town as was my plan because the sheer distance I had walked through the day was so great.

I had dinner at a korean place near where I am staying. Again they spent some time showing me the proper way to eat the food. It was enough for two or three people, so now I am not only tired I have eaten too much. I suspect that whenever I order traditional food, the servings suddenly double.

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