March 15,
South Korea is slightly larger than Indiana with a population of over 50,000,000.
We arrived here at 10:00 a.m on a foggy morning. The pier is in a very large working harbor, one of the busiest Asian ports. We saw some massive ships and freighters of all sizes being built. Today we decided to take a free shuttle into the major part of town and walk through the city. The Busan Bank set up an office on the pier to exchange money, we gave them 40 dollars and they gave us 43,000 Won which made us feel rich. It was about a half an hour into the city with one stop at Yongdusan Park and then to the Phoenix Hotel. We opted to skip the park as we heard it was almost impossible to get a bus back.
Once in the city we made sure we knew where we were so we could find the shuttle bus back. It was a very busy section of the city with trucks, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, carts and lots of people everywhere. We headed for the Gwangbok-ro shopping district, it was a densely packed area and every other store appeared to sell phones. Vendors lined the street selling food, none of which looked appetizing in the least. (Except for the large pan filled with crispy crickets and the bunches of 3-foot long dried squid tentacles that looked tasty.) We spotted McDonalds and Betty wanted to see if the menu was the same as home. It was, but of course once in there we had to eat. The fries were better than at home, Betty said they were probably cooked in duck fat. A couple of Korean kids walked in, one wearing a Cleveland Indian baseball cap, so after I was finished I went to his table and asked if I could take his picture. He asked if I knew Chin Shoo and I said of course. Betty took a picture of the two of us then he had his friend take one. He was thrilled to meet people from Cleveland - go figure. When we left two Korean young men asked if they could take a picture of us. (It’s funny-we are so curious about them, and they are just as curious about us. The young Asian kids that are learning English love to talk to us.)
We were still looking for a watch battery, Betty finally gave up and bought a new watch for 12,000 Won which is $10.00 US. Now we had to spend the rest of our Won so Betty bought a nice jacket for 15,000 Won. I figured I’d better find some beer before we were totally broke. For some reason all of the bars were on the third floor of the buildings and I was having difficulty climbing stairs. I ended up buying some Korean beer from a shop and took it back to the ship. I’ll eventually update the beer list. With all the Won spent we decided to head back to the shuttle stop since the ship was leaving at 5:30. We had no problem finding it and we were back on board by 4:15. We are glad we got the opportunity to stop here in Korea and wish we had a few more days to explore more of the culture. I found the Koreans to be a happier group of people than the Japanese and just as helpful. (Probably because we didn’t bomb them.) They know more English too. Below is a picture of a traditional Korean send off as we sailed out of the harbor.
After dinner we went to the show, an encore performance by Bayne Bacon which was as good as the first show. Thankfully we have a sea day tomorrow. The ship is sailing various south-easterly courses back across the bay that forms the large natural harbor before altering onto a south-westerly heading in the Korean Strait, heading for Shanghai.
March 16
We enjoyed the day at sea, although the weather was cloudy and rainy. Hoping it stops before we get to Shanghai, China. Betty went to a Scholarship at Sea Lecture by Ambassador Douglas A. Hartwick and caught up on her sleep. In the afternoon we had another Scholarship at Sea lecture by the granddaughter of Harold Lloyd, the classic silent film star. It was very interesting talk about her upbringing by her grandparents. The evening show was a banjo player, Jim Coston. After going to the Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City and attending a performance there by the curator this guy seemed just average. All day we maintained a west-south-westerly course across the China Sea.
