Not a very good night’s sleep and an early start but we were awake before the 6:15am alarm, in time to get a good view of our approach into Busan, another South Korean port. Unlike our previous visit in 2012, when the rain tended to literally put a dampener on the day, today was just perfect. Paula was feeling well enough to cope with the planned four hour trip, but I wasn’t feeling 100%, though we met up with the others on time in the atrium at 7:15.
Ship berthed on the port side.
Our el Cheapo, $30 Vodafone pre-pay phones worked of course – ‘Welcome to South Korea’’ (again).
We were issued with a photocopy and had our passports returned the night before.
Our cruise cards were processed twice by the ship’s security staff. Once for the ship and once for immigration.
The face to face immigration interview was in the terminal, they scanned the passports. (Very quick)
We handed our passports back to the ship’s staff and retained the photocopy.
No apparent scanning or checking on our return, but we had to return the photocopies, to account for immigration.
Terminal scanning only on return – which seemed cursory.
We went for our tour stickers as a group and then waited in the theatre – something that apparently Marie doesn’t care to do…
Off OK and quickly through immigration and we were bus #4. We were ‘guided’ on a specific path, but one woman (always seems to be a woman) obviously wasn’t on bus #4 who strode straight across the garden to probably bus #6…
A lovely smiling Korean guide Hi, or Hy, or Hai, who had travelled in from Seoul, along with the other Incheon guides. Thank goodness we didn’t get the same one as before. Her English was pretty good and the bus excellent.
We headed through and out of Busan and up onto an amazing roadway and bridge, which was like something out of Tomorrowland. It climbed in a spiral and was almost roller coasterish. A double decker roadway too, which made it even more surreal.
The traffic was nowhere near as bad as we expected and it was still quite early when we reached our first stop, the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Like some other temples we have been too, we braved a street load of market stalls selling everything from clothing to coffee, soft toys to various food items. Some of the food on offer was definitely of the Korean speciality of kimchee – which some may know as fermented cabbage. Apparently, cabbage isn’t the only fermented vegetable they use and it is certainly one local delicacy that I’d avoid. Other items were wrapped on skewers but with no English translation, we had no idea what was on offer. Once passed this section, we went first of all slightly uphill, though a street of effigies that probably relate to the Chinese animal years. Year of the dog, rabbit, snake etc.
The pre-tour blurb mentioned climbing 108 steps. That was on the return though, as first of all, we went down another 18 steps, before the 108. The temple is right on the edge of the sea and the grounds were full of fascinating statues, tiny figurines, the inevitable Buddha and so on. It was a bit crowded down there with at least 8 Princess coaches, not to mention other tours and individuals.
The climb back up again wasn’t too bad and I spied a toy monkey at one of the stalls. A 5,000 dong note changed hands and the chattering monkey was ours. Paula bought a hat for 15,000 dong - and was last on the coach.
The next stop was again, in a waterside car park at Dongbaekseom Island (not really an island) and we walked up to APEC House, the site of the 2005 APEC Economic Leader’s meeting, passing the ‘plastic mermaid’ with a written plea for people to stop polluting the ocean with plastic.
A very pleasant walk and very busy, as by now, there were at least another four coach parties, but they looked Korean.
The bus then headed off to the one part of Busan we’d been to before, but we hadn’t realised just how big the place was. The bus dropped us at exactly the same spot as the ship’s free shuttle and some passengers elected to return later on the shuttle. We were dropped off at the beginning of the street market known as Gukje International Market.
We’d been before but at least the weather was kind. What we just cannot understand is how some of these stalls and shops survive, as there are 100’s of them and really, apart from we tourists, very few people around. We did make one purchase – from a cycle shop, where I managed a tube of UHU contact adhesive suitable for shoes, as my best shoes have come adrift and Paula needs the sole lining of her shoes sticking down. Another 4,000 dong. Our very last Korean purchase was something for the trashy souvenir gift exchange later in the cruise! I can’t say here what that was.
Back to the ship OK and although the buffet fish and chips a looked good, the batter was terrible an undercooked, but the chips with a couple of veal meat balls filled a gap, before the nana nap.
As we were port side, we couldn’t help hearing the shore side entertainment, with an excellent sound system, with a singer, then dancers, a violin and modern (hollow) cello duo.
Was it Korean music? Very little of it, but the western music they did sing and play was beautifully done. Round about leaving time, we noted an ambulance drive up to the gangway and the stretcher taken on board, No idea who or what that was for.
Sail away was most enjoyable out on deck 11, but once again, the ship had arranged a sail away party above us, on deck 14, with sausage rolls, crumbed prawns, even mini pizzas.
The shore-side entertainers waved us off with large handheld notices spelling out ‘SEE YOU SOON’. A very nice touch and appreciated. All in all, a great stop and a place well worth visiting for longer. As in Incheon and Tianjin, no graffiti.
The pre-dinner show was an entertainer we hadn’t seen before. Billed as Toni Steven’s, ‘Comedy variety’, she apparently has a club in Australia that probably specialises in entertaining along the lines of the old time music hall, catering for even older people, with equally old jokes. Her singing wasn’t bad, the orchestra was excellent (always better in the Vista lounge, with drummer shielded) but oh dear. More old jokes, some of which were almost as old as she is, and as she said, she was celebrating the 21st anniversary of her 49th birthday.
Thankfully, dinner was OK and I managed one of Ace McDermott’s tricks and it certainly worked on Jo! A bit of a chat after dinner to Mike, our star ukulele singer, then we crashed.
Clocks forward 1 hour again tonight and the Captain’s warning that the ocean might have a bit of motion from now on as the temperatures drop quite dramatically from the last three weeks. From the 30’s down to the very low 20’s.
The news was dominated by the terrible tragedy in Nice and we can only hope that our all-time favourite tour guide, Sylvie, is OK as that is where she is based.
Another sea day ahead before we hit Vladivostok. We have nothing planned.
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