Beach Day in Busan

Haeundae Beach

Tuesday evening, Mike & I headed to Busan which is South Korea's second largest city. It's located at the southern tip of the peninsula which would be about a 4.5 hour drive for us. However, we opted to take the KTX train which got us there in 2 hours! 

The ride was so smooth and comfortable. We wouldn't have known we were traveling at 300kph (186mph) if it wasn't posted.

By the time we arrived in Busan it was dark. Trying to get a taxi driver who understood where we wanted to go was a bit of a challenge. Except for the usual near death taxi experiences, the inadvertent egging was the only other surprise. A police officer in the area was so disinterested in the situation that our driver eventually gave up and we went on our way again.

Our trip was planned somewhat last minute due to changing circumstances at Mike's work. Trying to find an open hotel turned out to be quite a challenge. 

I don't even know how to describe the 'decor' of the hotel...basically any pattern, design, fabric, knick-knack etc that was available at the time. Our bed was, of course, hard as a rock. Mike jumped on one side of the bed while I sat on the other; I couldn't feel a thing and didn't move an inch.

That's right, we had TWO desks and desktop computers...with a wooden box covered with rhinestone red fabric lounge chair area.

Doorway decorations(?)

 Shower curtain not included.

'Fancy' toilets are a somewhat common occurrence here. I find it kind of funny considering squat toilets are also fairly common. 

I also thought it very 'creative' that each side of the window covering was completely different.

Hallway with waaay too many decorations.

The number 4 is unlucky here so like silly American hotels that don't have a 13th floor, our hotel lacked a 4th floor.

We picked a nearby restaurant for a late night dinner. Many places we've been to use gas to cook meat at the table but this place was more old-fashioned.

I'm not a big fan of seaweed soup but this bowl was better than most I've tried.

 This meat was way too spicy for my taste! 

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I'm not even sure what 100% Live means when referring to pizza...

If you look closely you'll see a man sitting on a platform that's on the back of the truck. We saw him remove a sign from the post but it seemed to be perfectly normal to ride around up there!

These pig planters were all over town where we were. :)

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For lunch one day we went to a T.G.I. Friday's. I realize it sounds really lame to go to such a restaurant when in Korea but sometimes it's nice to have comfort food....and HUGE drinks! Oh, and not sure if this is a new thing at all T.G.I. Friday's, but most of the female servers were sporting bunny or cat ears...lol

Baskin-Robbins shops are also very popular here. Of course Mike managed to find Blueberry Aloe ice cream to try!

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We walked along the beach one night. It was a little chilly for me but it had a nice view.

During our walk we found a wall decorated for the purpose of photo ops. The space between the wings says "I'm a beautiful butterfly." Ha!

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What we were not prepared for on our mini-beach vacation was the lack of bathing suits! And no, this was not a nudist beach. We already knew that Koreans tend to value fair skin so often walk around with huge visors or umbrellas to keep themselves out of the sun. That combined with (what was described to me) as being embarrassed/modest about their bodies means fully-clothed beach swimming! Jeans, socks, sweatshirts...it didn't matter what.

There were lots of 'police' (they seemed more like lifeguards) that were doing beach training...right behind me as I was laying on the beach. The formed a huge circle and then started doing exercises. I hope I never have to be saved by one of them! They switched between pushups, jumping jacks, squats and jogging. I've never seen so many bad pushups in one place before! I tried to discreetly take pictures but they turned out a little blurry. 

Seriously?!?

  
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We've seen a lot of people, especially females, take self portraits with their phones. The beach just gave them all the more reason to take lots of these types of pictures. And for whatever reason having peace signs in pictures is where it's at. Had to try it out ourselves! :)