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  • Day 25

    Busan Day 1

    October 22, 2017 in South Korea ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    I'm off to Busan for 4 days today. Staying at the Stanford Inn at Jagalchi. It's a bit more upmarket than where I've stayed recently. Mind you, full marks to Hotel Elena for having a laundry room around the corner from my room. I did a lot of laundry ...

    I roll up to the bus station for the 10:20 bus and board without issue. The bus will reach Busan around 1:15 pm. Fortunately there's a stop along the way to buy food or have a toilet break. None of the Korean buses have a toilet on board.

    The bus station in Busan is quite close to Nopo subway station, which is the terminal for line 1. Luckily my hotel is not far from both Nampo and Jagalchi stations on this line. It is an hour long trip with around 23 stops.

    I always enter the metro's last carriage when I'm hauling my luggage. It's not crowded at Nopo station but as we progress the post-lunch crowd come on board. One particular group is, shall we say, a little pissy? One of the guys in this group is hugging one of his mates (I luv you man) and then leans against my luggage. And then half-sits on my luggage. I am concerned he will be gored by my luggage as it has a nasty spike (somehow).

    Anyway no international incident occurs and I detrain at Jagalchi station. There is a map showing the station exits, for some reason it is inverted (south at the top, north at the bottom). Consequently I end up on the wrong side of the road walking in the wrong direction. Big sigh.

    Eventually I navigate my way through the masses of locals, tourists and street vendors. Room 1408 is alright, good city view.

    Given I'm here for 4 nights, I want to stock up for meals, snacks and ... alcohol. There's a bus that runs through 2 e-marts and its stop is not far from here. It doesn't look too far ...

    This is where things go pear-shaped. Busan is a big city. It's a Sunday. There is a lot of traffic. The bus trip out takes way longer than expected and it's airless on the bus. Nobody opens a window but everyone over 40 dresses like they're living in the Arctic. It's a windy day but not cold, certainly not on the bus.

    Anyway I leave the bus and check out the first e-mart. Closed (Sunday?). I go back to the bus stop to wait for the bus to the 2nd e-mart. Across the road 2 girls are dancing to K-Pop music to drum up trade. I don't envy them, they are finding it tough going in the wind.

    So the next bus comes and I take it to the 2nd e-mart, which is around 2.6 km along the road. This is part of a large shopping centre. Most of the shops are open in this centre, but not the e-mart 😥

    So I take the bus back to the hotel. Stand all the way. It takes an hour with the traffic. Nobody opens a window, but it's a free-for-all as far as coughing and spluttering are concerned. I try not to breathe ...

    It's a Dante-esque level of hell. I buy some supplies at a convenience store just to keep me going. I think about how much time I spent on public transport today.
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