James is a 31 year-old Kiwi from a town right outside the Auckland. He is one of three and is the only one who has been adventurous enough to leave and travel. He first left home about ten years ago and found a job in the Pacific Islands as a designer for a magazine. He basically did all the layout for this one magazine but it was not enough money to live off of so after two years he picked up and went to Japan to teach. He stayed in Japan for a year and then came to Korea to teach. He has been here for three years all over the country but really had so great insight into the world of Busan.
He met me around noon on Friday and we were for the weekend to begin.
I was pretty exhausted from waking up at 5 in the morning to catch my flight to Korea but we went out for some Korean food for lunch and walked to Haeundae Beach. It is a really beautiful beach and I imagine during the spring and summer it is absolutely packed with people enjoying the sun and water. Even the day we went it was relatively warm out and a few people were walking around.
We continued to walk around the beach area and I began to get a grasp of what Busan is all about. It is basically a big resort town in the summer and then in the winter it is like any other big city. There are quite a few bridges connecting some peninsulas to the mainland. Most of the city is situated between the coast and the mountains and it is somewhat like a valley. I cannot remember what this bridge is called but got a very good picture of it during sunset and thought I would share it.
We did not have a crazy night on Friday, I was tired and he had a big X-mas night so we just relaxed and got some sleep.
The next day we went to Nampa-Dong where there are many Korea markets. This was the first major difference I found between Japan and Korea. Their market are in the middle of roads and complete madness. Also Koreans are very pushy and will not hesitate to push you out of the way so they may get to where they are going or whatnot.
Around Nampa-Dong thee is the Busan tower which was worth a look. It was a clear day and I could see the whole port area...it is the 3rd largest port in the world. Then we took a bus to Taejongdae park which was on the end of a peninsula that he had never been too. Difference number two came to me during that time between the Koreans and Japanese...Korean drivers are absolutely crazy. I felt like I was going to die a few times on that bus ride. Red lights don't really mean anything and the automobiles always seem to have the right of way...or other people are like me and know they will get hit in a second.
The next day, although I was not all that keen James wanted to go
for a hike to get the alcohol out of our system. Well, that turned into a 5 hour excursion but it was well worth the view of Busan. The only problem was the fact that we were making our way down without a torch so it became difficult some times, but we got out without any injuries. Sunday was the last night I spent at James' place and moved to meet with my friend Kathleen from Chicago. Until next time...
