Train to Busan

 Tyler Reporting

(Continuing to transcribe my Morning Pages journal entries relating the details of our 3-week trip to South Korea and Japan.)

Day 4: Travel Day! Packed up in Seoul and left our luggage with the hotel reception until we had to head to the station. J wanted to get some of the rice wine we had tried the previous night; so we went to Lotte Department Store. It wasn't open yet, so we milled around in a underground mall, then went in through Lotte's *giant* food court. J was able to find some wine similar to what he wanted, but then -unfortunately- we ended up drifting around the store for another hour or so. 

We got back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff and then made the very hot and sweaty hike back to Seoul Station. There we boarded our train to Busan. (Zombie time!)

Boarding the train Busan. Sarah and the kids had to deal with plenty of references to the Korean zombie movie during this portion of the trip.

The train went quicker than expected. It was 3 hours, but maybe after an 11+ hour flight, it just seemed fast in comparison. Enough time for a couple of beers and a game of Magic with J. The scenery went by quickly. Korean towns are interesting because they seem to grow upward rather than sprawl out. Even the smallest town will have a cluster of high rises, with green hills where the suburbs should be. 

Beers and Magic the Gathering while racing across the Korean countryside.

At one point we went by a large Buddha statue, which felt novel. Korea is now a Christian majority nation, so we haven't seen much in the way of temples, etc.

Arriving in Busan, it was then a sweaty, delirious ride to our hotel; which is a small, which is a small clean building with the worlds nicest and most helpful owner. He'd literally printed up a map, turned it into an envelope to hold our key car, and on it was a QR code linking to an Instagram account with photos and descriptions of all the restaurants he recommended.

Panorama photo of the view from our balcony. Other parts of Busan had more of a resort/beachy feel, but the bay we overlooked had a cool working port feel, with boats constantly coming and going.

We made our way to a seafood restaurant where -similar to the meat market- you'd buy shellfish and eels, then head to an eating area upstairs to have it cooked for you. Despite the fact that I'm still a little suspect about a lot of seafood, it was still a really great experience.

The restaurant we ate dinner out. You ordered your food, from the tanks on the ground floor, then went upstairs to have it prepared for you.

Eels and veggies sauteed in a chili sauce. A lot of the dishes in Korea included a lot of gochujang sauce... and all my light-colored shirts were invariably speckled with red and orange dots by days end.

Sarah enjoying another exciting meal in South Korea!

Afterward we went to the BIFF... Busan International Film Festival street... which has that name year-round, despite the fact the festival wasn't currently occurring. It was another chaotic night market scene, but most of our group was spent, so we didn't linger long.

Exploring BIFF Street. Lots to see, do and eat!

A side street in Busan, at night. So many narrow, illuminated streets just begging to be explored.

This was actually across the street from where we ate our dinner. A bustling warehouse where people were unloading and sorting the days catch. Incredibly busy, even late in the evening.

Back in the hotel, Sarah and Y set off to do laundry, while J and I decided to head back to the market to grab a beer. We went to two places that both actually featured IPAs, but you could tell that the were geared more to tourists and expats. The second place features "spam fries" ... literally strips of Spam that have been deep fried and were crispy. They were something so simple and tasty that I'm honestly surprised we haven't encountered them in someplace like Hawaii.

Spam fries!

Getting back to our hotel, I encountered a very exhausted and disgruntled Sarah who was still dealing with damp clothes after the dryer failed to do its job. 

I awoke the next morning to hang the still-damp clothes outside on our balcony to dry better, then took a hangry Stella to Starbucks for some breakfast. On the walk back, we accidentally overshot our street by one block and ended up in an amazing fish market that ran for several blocks down the street. Then returned to our hotel to begin our final full day in Korea.

Scenes from the seafood market just a block from our hotel.