House Special: Busan

Busan Break

We (Clementine and I) took the slow train down from Seoul to Busan for a weekend, basically covering Korea from the North-Western corner of Ganghwa to the South-Eastern Corner of Busan. It was my first time to Busan and I was very curious to see the landscapes and a new city.
Busan is a little slower than Seoul and the presence of trade through this busy harbour port is evident as many Russians and Japanese walk the streets of downtown Busan searching for a bar, a meal or sex.

The city is beautifully located amongst the rolling hills with beaches and a more relaxed atmosphere.
The sceneries by train were average and the same: rolling green hills with highways, rice paddies and industrialisation. My expectations were not satisfied, but hey, it was another proof that even the landscapes are same-same. I want to go to the East-Coast next to see if there is some kind of change.
It was a great weekend break away and my first introduction to train travel in South Korea. Almost any place is reachable within one day from Seoul be it by train or bus and I should see it as an opportunity to do this more often.

Next week will be Chuseok (Korean Thanks Giving) and I am planning to take a slow boat and slow train to Beijing China. I got my visa on the weekend and booked a return ferry ride to a port in China. I don’t know much other than the ferry is 17hours and the train 12hours. I’ll need to do some research this week, but I also don’t want to know too much. The plan is to visit the Great Wall, how exactly I don’t know.

Busan Beach

Busan is Korea’s second largest city and is situated in the South. It’s here that you’ll find Korea’s long sandy beaches, no waves and thousands of people during summer. Koreans flock here in their thousands to soak up the summer sun and relax in the water. The beach is divided into perfect grids of umbrellas and you can buy a spot for 5000Won. No one will steal your shit, but what you do have to face is the thousands of people packed like sardines in the motionless sea. Thousands of sunscreen, colour matching, sun soaking weekend goers who all rent a yellow tube and obey the beach rules.
There is no sign to tell you how everything works (maybe in Korean), but you soon figure it out as you rub against the people while taking a dip. The sign could read something like: “Don’t go too deep, you might drown, but don’t worry, we’ll tell you when you’re too deep – we’re watching you!”
The scene in the water can be compared to a new years day in Durban, South Africa, with thousands of people standing in the water no deeper than chest height. There are life guards patrolling to see that you don’t go any deeper than chest height and if you do they will blow their whistle and chase you back. This chest-height-line is the beach DMZ and guarded to the same extent. Behind the ‘line’ are cowboys on jetskies who heard people like cattle if they do cross this ‘chest-height-line’ (no one does though). The jetskies are the biggest threat in this ‘big lake’ with Life Guards speeding up and down to look cool and hopefully blow their whistles. This was summer at Hae-undae beach, but I am sure their all the same.

It is a decent sized sandy beach with warm water. No waves and again too many people on a summer weekend. Next time I’ll rent a yellow tube and the current might take me to Japan and a Jetski Cowboy will come to ‘save’ me.