So I had thought of this as shopping day. We caught the
shuttle into town – town? – the population is 3.6 million!!!! The buildings
were not quite as tidy as most of the Japanese cities , a lot of which seemed
to have been bombed almost to extinction, therefore rebuilt, or fairly modern
anyway. Busan is the republics second largest city after Seoul but the largest
port; the fifth busiest seaport by cargo tonnage.
The streets were fairly full but not packed as per Hong Kong
standards. With a turn to the right we were at the escalator which took us to
the underground shopping mall. About a kilometre of small shops of every
description – well electronics, clothing, shoes, bags, and cosmetic and the occasional “cafes” and little booths
ladies very proficient in altering clothing - under the main street of the city, linking
with underground trains which rumbled overhead from time to time. The rule of
thumb is “if it has a door and aircon. they probably take credit cards but you
cannot barter; otherwise cash is king” We also learned that if you do not have
local currency your yen will be undervalued considerably!
Any how our usual shopping – walking, looking – was pursued.
I bought a nice top for $10 and another for $3. Sometimes you can try things on
and sometimes “NO”. Hop bought a couple of pairs of trousers and included in
the price was the shortening, done
immediately in another little booth.
Out of the shopping mall we went in search of lunch. Why
didn’t we go to the “English menu”
place? We saw the meal picture and the beer and thought OK. After being
seated and given a bib we were given a pan of sauce, noodles, cabbage, onion,
boiled eggs and slices of ???? which was set on the gas ring in the middle of
the table. We sat and waited to it all boiled and the waitress came and stirred
a few times before we tried. Noodles – no harm. They were ok but the sauce I
had liberally ladled over them was very spicy. I ended up feeling like Mick
Jagger with my lips protruding an inch or so beyond my face!!! MORE BEER! The
best part of the meal was some delicious fried chicken balls which we had
chosen instead of the chips. Chips and chicken would have been perfect………….
Off to the famous Ja-Gal-Ch’i fish market next also known as
the Aunts Market for all the women peddlers when it was established during the
Korean War. Fish of every size and shape; not just some but tanks and tanks of
them, some in nets and some kept in by a box floating on top of them. Snapper
about 4 inches long; eels – some only 6 inches long; abalone (our paua) not
much bigger than a 50c piece; octopus and squid; others that looked like
flounder; cod of all kinds; cone shell fish, scallops zooming ‘round; huge
horse mussels, clams and sea cucumbers. Unbelievable that there are any fish
left in the sea. There was little or no smell as all the tanks had water
running through them; the fish must have been stressed though. I don’t know how
long they live there! Of course there was packets of seaweed and dried fish
everywhere. In fact souvenir shops are mostly full of fish products, vacuumed
packed or dried, for sale. There is a certain oily fish smell that does wonders
for my dieting – I’m over that!! Outside the market on the back of a little
truck we saw fish just gutted and sliced – drying in the city smog!!!
Our favourite shop – one with puppies in the window for
sale. So gorgeous and soooo tiny.
So that was our day on Korea. Back on the shuttle and back
“home”
No comments:
Post a Comment