Dynamic Busan!

We took a trip last weekend to the port city of Busan, South Korea. It's the second largest city here and I believe it. We had an amazing time and as soon as we arrived at our hotel, I was in heaven. The place was gorgeous and right on the beach. I felt like I was home in FL, minus the fact that the people here hate the sun. It's actually more honorable to be pale than to have a glowing tan. They carry umbrellas all. of. the. time. Rain, sun, wind, snow...whatever, they are carrying one to block any chance of UV rays hitting their skin. I wish people in the U.S. thought being pale was the happening thing. Then maybe I wouldn't have the wrinkles I do at 29...hmmm.

Waiting at the Asan Train Station for the KTX to Busan

Looking out the window on the trainShows the speed of the bullet train...301 km/hr = 187 mph!Tom enjoying the complimentary bottle of wine from the hotel (Thanks Westin!)

Ella just enjoying the hotel. No wine necessary for her.

Back to the trip. It was fab-u-lous. Ella finally realized she's über popular with the Koreans and decided it was time to ham it up for these people. At dinner, she walked around the restaurant saying "hiiiiiiiii" to everyone, dancing and twirling around. (yes, we tried very hard to keep her seated, but they really did love the entertainment). After dinner, we did as the Koreans do and visited the local Baskin Robbins for some dessert. Pistachio Almond was to die for I might add. We brought our ice cream to the boardwalk and as we sat down, people were literally stopping and talking to our little "rockstar". We had people sitting down with us along the boardwalk drawing a bigger crowd than whoever the local band was playing on the beach that evening! Ella of course tried to feed them from her spoon and they so graciously would decline (thank god). It was a lot of fun to talk to the locals (even if we didn't understand everything) and to see Ella soaking up the attention.
We took Ella to the Busan Aquarium the first night and she definitely enjoyed herself. She loves "fishies" but was a tad bit hesitant when it came to the shark tank and the fake penguins. We took her for a late night swim at the hotel pool (we were on vacation...no judging if you don't happen to take your kids swimming at 9 pm.)

The cool elevator

Swimming with Daddy

The next morning we went to a local bakery for breakfast and sampled a ton of their pastries and delicious coffee. We then headed to the Nurimaru APEC House. Nari means World and Maru means Summit in Korean. It was the site of the 2005 economic world summit. Simply put, the place is gorgeous and I wouldn't mind turning it into a beach vacation home one day;) Oh to dream is a wonderful thing...

A seafood cafe along the boardwalk

These little restaurant booths were set up everywhere. You could pick out fresh seafood and have a drink at the bar while they cook your meal.

The Narimuru APEC House We then headed into the city of Busan (yay more subway traveling) and walked around Texas Street filled with restaurants and typical Korean shops. Hardly impressed, we moved on pretty fast to the Yongdusan Park which houses the Busan Tower. Took a quick ride up the hillside escalators...a series of seven sets of escalators to get to the top of the park (not even to the top of the tower...didn't attempt that tourist trap). Tom later informed me the escalators were UP only. So after a few pictures and a quick stroll around the park, we trekked down the hundreds of stairs and headed to the Jagalchi Fish Market.

Texas Street (home of the military red light district at night)

And the series of escalators begin...

Holy paper lanterns. But some nice scenery between escalators.

Buddha fountain. I guess we were supposed to stop and make a wish. Maybe next time.

The pic below is of a bell. It's rung four times a year. I dared Tom to ring it, but he was a bit afraid of going to a Korean Jail. We both wished our crazy friend Joe was there with us because he for sure would have rang it:)

The Busan Tower

Tom's photography skills amaze me. The dragon and the tower in one photo.

With Busan being a seaside city, you can only imagine the amount of seafood at this fish market. It's a fantastic sight and I don't even LIKE seafood. There are stalls upon stalls of any manner of sea creatures. It's a range from fish, to sharks, to octopus to clams, to other creepy crawly things that I don't even have a name for (and they probably don't either!) You can watch the men at the wharf unloading the fish into tanks and you can watch the women at the vendor stalls cleaning, gutting, slicing and preparing all of the fish to be sold. I have never seen anything like this before in my life. Shoot, I have never smelled anything like this before either. The overpowering aroma of fish is in the air and hits you like a brick wall. Still, I forged on and made it through. There are restaurants on the second floor of this market where you can bring the fresh fish you just bought from the first floor and have the "chefs" cook it. I know how much Tom loves seafood and would have enjoyed doing that, but I moved us out of there a little too quickly. Besides, he's allergic to shrimp even if he doesn't believe it and I'm sure he would have tried to eat a ton of it. Better safe than sorry, right?

Can you see me??

This post was a long one...I know. But Busan deserved it. It was such a beautiful place to visit. A little gem on the coast of South Korea...who knew? To see even more pictures (yes there are more!) click here. Thanks for looking! Wish you all were here with me:)