Korea - Part 3

Having now become seasoned Korean public transport users (which incidently is cheap and efficient) we managed to find our way around the Busan subway and found the hotel where we were to rendez-vous with Guy. So we then sat down to await his arrival.




Much to our relief he turned up about half an hour after us and then got us booked into the hotel, having first negotiated a discount in Korean, most impressive. In the afternoon we took the usual City Tour (not Guy, he took to his bed, apparently he had had a hard night - only 2 hours sleep!). The next day we woke to find that the Seoul monsoon had caught up with us again but we went to the Museum and learned all about the Korean war and the social influences on the society.



Then one of the simple lunches; its almost as though you turn up at someones house, sit in their front room and the lady of the house prepares you a meal. However the resultant food is always delicious and rediculously cheap. Adjacent to the museum is the UN Cemetary, an immaculately maintained area with beautiful grounds and a 'Memorial Wall' (similar to the Vietnam war wall in the States) with the names of all the UN dead.

In the evening we went for a walk around China Town and the Russian area - Guy soon whisked us away from this rather seedy red light district - all part of the experience! The following day Guy took us to the beach area. We are not really beach people but it was fascinating to see Koreans at leisure, although a little bizarre to see small kids playing on the beach in their national costume not to mention the persian cats being walked like dogs.

On a promentary at one end of the beach a beautiful building was constructed exclusively for the 2005 APEC meeting of world leaders; pictures of George Bush in Korean national dress etc.

I couldn't get over the magnificent carpet (John didn't even notice it). It was round and had been woven to replicate the intricate designs on the temples. The tradgedy is that the building is not used for anything now. Busan is certainly a city of contrasts, on our third day we took the subway to the edge of the city and joined hundreds of people treking up the mountains (well actually we took the cable car and just walked at the top). Apparently this is a national pass time for people of all ages.

In the afternoon we went to another temple complex. It was set in an incredibly beautiful area, just what you imagine the far east to look like, with trees , rocks and waterfalls. Guy tried to explain the Buddhist philosophy to us as he had spent a week in a monastery in Thailand.

Whilst we were waiting for the bus to take us back to Busan we were approached by a young man who wanted some help with his english translation. John and Guy were amazed to find that he was translating the script from the film "Back to the Future". I cannot somehow see this happening in a bus queue in England.

In the evening Guy wanted to take us too a really nice restaurant to celebrate our 40th anniversary. He had found the name and address of a vegetarian restaurant so we set off to find it . Unfortunately we were back to the "all streets look the same " senario and none had any names on them. Guy was very disappointed and had a bit of a tantrum - I wonder where he gets that from. Not to worry we ended up in the plushest hotel in Busan and the meal cost him about 5 times what he had expected to pay, but we had a lovely evening.