Busan

Everybody wakes at 6.30, a sign that the jet lag is over for every one (although Zeno seems to have a perfect inner clock and (unfortunately) always wakes around 6, no matter how late he falls asleep).

Yesterday we bought single metro tickets, after some research we decide to switch to a rechargeable card for more smooth travel. Tim also found a Korean prepaid card that doubles as a transportation card. It also sounds like the perfect solutions to our toll road challenges. We can get it in the lobby of a fancy hotel, so that’s how we start our day. When we finally have the card it isn’t a wireless payment card so it won’t work for the toll booths and in the bus it doesn’t work either so it’s not a huge success.

Our first stop of the day is the Busan museum which tells the story of the area and has some nice pieces and good English signs and descriptions. We learn a lot about the Japanese invasion at the end of the 16th century which ravaged this part of the country. Zeno is not the perfect museum guest this morning, he only wants to run around and starts an endless cry in the baby carrier or push chair until he falls asleep.

Next door is the UN cemetery, to commemorate the tens of thousand fallen UN soldiers during the Korean war. When North Korea invaded in 1950, the Korean, US and UN forces were driven back to a small perimeter around Busan. This made Busan the de-facto capital of the south during the war. After the naval landing at Incheon the UN forces pushed north taking Pyongyang triggering China to join the war on the Northern side, reversing the balance of power once again. After 3 years the final armistice settled on the 58th parallel, just as agreed upon after WW II.

We go for lunch across the road, we have a noodle soup, vegetarian gimbab and pesto noodles. We just miss the bus back to the metro station and have to walk. The metro brings us to city centre where we do some shopping in the big Lotte department store. Olga gets new trousers as her jeans teared(you might have noticed it on the pictures) and Cleo a strawberry drink. We came here for the Museum 1, a modern art museum focusing on digital art.

The museum is a treat for the children as it has many video projections and mirrors. The main attraction is a big hall with dozens of screens as a floor and a big screen on one side. It shows 12 different movies / experiences and the children can run around to their heart’s content.

Next to the metro station is a huge supermarket, so we use this once in a week opportunity to do some proper shopping. It’s very hard to find “normal” supermarkets here. There is a convenience stores at every 100m but they sell soda drinks, chips and instant noodles. Our day bag is filled to the brim as we leave and go to our final surprise destination.

Tim introduces some excitement into the day by keeping it a secret and letting Cleo guess. She hopes it will be a fun fair/ attraction park. It is the beach, which she doesn’t find a nice surprise even though she has a great time building sand castles and swimming.

The area is famous for its fish restaurants and their grilled eel dish. We walk through the food street but are turned off by the hundreds of fished and sea creatures being held in small aquaria to be boiled alive.

We hop into an Indian restaurant instead to order some vegetarian curries.

We walk back to the metro station and take a long 16 stop ride under the city back to our neighbourhood and lovely apartment. Time to wind down and relax.