Week 4: Busan & Gyeongju, South Korea

Busan
We entered South Korea by way of ferry from Fukuoka, Japan. Our ferry – the Biitorou (pronounced “Beetle”) - is the fast boat. We overtook the slower Camilla Line, which had left port a couple of hours earlier, as we approached Busan's harbor. Boarding and disembarking the ferry was a breeze – until we passed our luggage through the x-ray machines on the final stage of customs and were escorted aside by Korean officials.

Colin had been gifted a pair of Samurai swords by our last couchsurfing host in Japan. We'd wrapped them up in a sleep sack and strapped them to Tom's pack in the ferry terminal, wondering if the U.S. would let us bring them in. Doesn't look like we'll get the chance to find out, as Korean customs promptly impounded them upon arrival – no “knives” longer than 10 cm permitted. Now, I KNOW you can get swords in Korea, but that is apparently irrelevant when it comes to crossing international borders. After some discussion, customs agreed that they could transfer the swords to the Seoul airport for Tom to pick up upon departure – for a fee. Colin's disappointment was intense and palpable – we had to shuffle him away from the customs officials before it turned to outrage, so we wouldn't get hit with a fine on top of it all. We were ushered out of customs with official-looking paperwork on our impounded items, and instructions on where to find the customs office when we got to the airport. A couple of days later, we received an email letting us know that we would have to electronically transfer funds to cover a licensing fee, transport costs, VAT tax and storage deposit in order for the swords to be transferred to Incheon Airport. A quick eBay search indicated that we might break even on their value, but most likely not. AND we still didn't know if the U.S. would allow them in, so we might just be throwing our money away. Sigh. We're still trying to get a response to whether they'll just ship them to the U.S. for us instead, or at least send them back to Japan for our host to retrieve – I hate the thought of them gathering dust in a closet somewhere in the Port of Busan, or worse, decorating some customs official's bathroom wall....

We finally made our way out of customs and on to the nearby subway to find our guest house for the night. We had my hand drawn map and directions copied from the Zen Backpacker's web site.
It was a bit of a hike on both ends, but after circling and staring up at the huge building the directions led us to, we found the right entrance to the building and took the specified elevator up to the 15th floor. The Zen turned out to be a private apartment, whose tenant had turned it into a travelers' guest house to cover the costs of living there. It was gorgeous! Floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city and the surrounding hills, and four roomy bedrooms: three outfitted with multiple bunk beds and one occupied by our host. We also had access to two bathrooms and a fully equipped kitchen, with breakfast fixings and free wi-fi included in the rate. We got out for dinner that night, but the next day, Tom and Colin couldn't be pulled out of the apartment until nearly 5 p.m.! Colin really did need a down-time day after our three week whirlwind through Japan and into Korea, so I let it go – we couldn't have asked for a better place to be lazy. After that one day as lounge lizards, we were once again off and running to see the city.

I had feared that Busan might be a seedy Port city, but not at all. It is a dynamic, intriguing mix of ultra-modern and still traditional commerce and architecture. Street vendors and food carts line densely packed streets, while neon light shows electrify the city's buildings and bridges at night. A string of beaches front onto the South Sea (aka East China Sea), straddling the passage between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow (West) Sea. The food was incredible – as a long time Japanese food junkie, I was surprised to find that Korean cuisine blows Japan's out of the water!
Hoejeon is the Korean version of sashimi, but SO much more diverse, with an extra dose of weird thrown in for good measure. The spices are intense (not an endorsement in everyone's book, but definitely in mine), and the variety of tastes and small dishes served with each meal give every eating experience such diversity and variety that you cant help but find something you like on the table! And finally, the prices make it all an unparalleled value – wow.
Our meals in Busan included a feast of raw and grilled fish at simple, low tables above the central fish market (made more fun by an impromptu lesson in drinking customs and etiquette by a diner at a neighboring table); a meal of grilled pork, onions and mushrooms cooked on a grill set into our table and served with soft tofu soup and dozens of side dishes, which we enjoyed with fellow traveler Meg; a lunch of chicken bulgogi; and dinner at a sidewalk food stall serving up street grilled prawns, clams and some kinda meat (we never did get clear on exactly what kind), along with spicy bean sprout soup and shoju, the local rotgut (tasty and cheap!)

Gyeongju
After eating our way through Busan and sleeping in style at the Zen for three nights, we made our way back to the subway, and headed to the station at the end of the line to catch a bus to Gyeongju. Meg and I had been overlapping since we first met in Tokyo, and she had headed there the day before us, sending along detailed directions on how to find the guest house we had booked.
Sa Rong Chae had come highly recommended by June, our host at the Zen, and with good reason! It was a traditional hanok – a collection of tile-roofed buildings and rooms with sliding rice paper doors set around a central courtyard. Traditionally an extended family compound, this one now hosted travelers from all around the world – there were Japanese and Thai, Germans and Austrians, and a couple of Americans passing through during our stay there. Each evening, the owners - who lived there too - offered a class in Korean arts and crafts or a traditional wooden flute performance, and on Saturday night, they built up a bonfire in the courtyard. Nice.
During our days, we explored the historical and archeological sites the town is famous for – the surreal tumili (earthen mounds serving as tombs for past kings and royal families) scattered around town; the restored palace grounds at Anapji Pond;

the outlying Bulguski Temple, set on a mountain a short bus ride east of the city, and comprised of dozens of temples and shrines housing numerous bronze Buddhas;
and the enormous complex that makes up the Gyeongju National Museum – which we thought would be a two hour visit, but wound up occupying us for an entire day. Each day, we spent several hours walking, wandering from site to site and being in awe of so much that we saw.
And of course, we ate. ;-) Our most memorable meal in Gyeongju was ssambak – an assortment of 28 small dishes ranging from raw spicy oysters and grilled whole fish to marinated mushrooms and several kinds of kimchi, all wrapped in a variety of leafy greens and seaweed. I could easily have stayed in Gyeongju twice as long, but with just two full days left until Tom's flight home, we decided we had to get to Seoul, where Korean bath houses and more food adventures await!....