Day 71 - Busan, South Korea

Day 71 – Saturday 22^nd March 2014 – Busan, South Korea

We were ashore at 09.15 and on the shuttle bus for the half hour ride into the city centre, on the way we passed many closely packed together shipyards, working on all different sorts of sea going vessels, and I have never seen so many floating cranes, ranging upwards to the gigantic.

Busan, Fishing Harbour

A short walk from the drop off point and into the Yongdusan Park, there is an observation tower built in 1973 and 120 metres tall, from here on this beautiful sunny day, you could see the sprawling city of Busan.

  

   

The city spreads out into every valley and this is the second biggest city in South Korea after the capital, Seoul.

      

Within the park and around the tower are the Buddhist bell structure and mythical dragon.

  

Department Store

From here, I went into what is reputed to be, the biggest department store in the world, called Lotte.

It is very elegant inside, while I was very interested with the roof on which there was another observation deck, for the kids, a park, playground and zoo.  The next floor down consisted of different types of café/restaurant and also a quiet internet centre.  With the help of one of the assistants, I caught up with the communications.  The store is still expanding, with cinemas being built on the side and at the rear, a towering skyscraper to finish it off.

     

   

The next stop was the Jagalchi fish market, I have visited some of these fish markets around the world but I was not expecting to see, what I witnessed in this place. 

Within this modern building on the ground floor is the market selling live fish and shellfish, and I have never seen so much fish in one place. 

The locals pick out which fish they want from within the displays (there is constant flowing water through each one), they are killed there and then and popped into the shopping bag.  The variety of fish available is incredible and I left there in disbelief.

Open Fish Market

   

  

Only to find on the outside even more shops/stalls, doing exactly the same in what would of been the original market.  In here, they were even bartering over different types of sea weed.

Trawlers

Tied up alongside the quay was this line of trawlers, I presume do not go out fishing at the weekend.  How the surrounding seas can sustain this amount of fishing, only they can tell, but when it is gone, it is gone forever.

Underground Shopping Mall

The shopping extravaganza is not over yet, going back to the main shopping street and going into the subway underground, stretching as far as the eye can see in both directions are even more shops, following the same route of the road above, incredible.

Back to the shuttle bus pick up point for 16.00 and there are people everywhere and stalls opening up in every side street and more on the main road.  Shopping is from 10.00 to 22.00 and there are willing buyers, the same as the fish, I have never seen so many shops in one area.

The ride back on the bus was amazing, the driver switching lanes as often as he could, to the squeals, and oohs of the lady passengers, as we just avoided knocking someone over, or bashing into the other traffic.  Everyone was very glad to get back on board.

Farewell

We sailed at 18.00 to the accompaniment of drummers, singers and well wishers.

The pre- dinner cocktail was Japanese punch, white rum, pineapple and orange juices, sour mix topped with dark rum and splash of grenadine and very nice.

Dinner consisted of shrimps/salad/beef/crepe soufflé which finished off the night very nicely.

Busan was a different exciting type of metropolis, moving at a very fast pace.  Obviously, the Koreans have lots of spending power, and a wide variety to choose from, and long may they prosper.