Puchŏn-dong

Wow!! Loved Busan, South Korea! I think we all came with little knowledge and no expectations and were wowed with this very vibrant city.

We decided that since we were doing an evening excursion, we would go off on our own in the morning, which is a little scary in itself. Jeff, Nancy and I took off on the shuttle into the city and realized that none of us grabbed a map. Hmmmm… tough start. But let’s talk about the shuttle bus. Colored lights, plush velvet seats, a big screen tv, a rice cooker, disco ball lights and most puzzling of all toilet paper on toilet paper holders installed overhead on both sides about every third seat. Think about that. What could that possibly be for?? None of us had the nerve to ask.

We got off the bus, found a map in a hotel (Chinese first , then finally English) and we were on our way. We made our destination a department store since they tend to be very lively in this part of the world and tell you a lot about the culture. We made our way through the many floors and ended up on the rooftop deck (floor 13) with some great views. Again, best part was we were the only ones there.

After walking around a fair amount, we headed back to the ship to prepare for our “Night in Busan” excursion which left at 4:00pm. It used to be that all excursions cost a certain amount of money, so you would pick and choose and we would often just go out on our own. Since the pandemic, Silversea chose to make almost all excursions free (well, not really free, but included) to draw people back on board.
Occasionally, there will be a paid excursion and we usually choose a couple of those a trip.
This evening excursion was one of the paid ones.

A lovely young Korean woman met us at the bus to begin our evening. She spoke perfect English and had a charming giggle that acted as punctuation. She managed to keep about 25 people together through 4 stops, smiling the whole time.

Our first stop was a restaurant that served us Rice Wine with a traditional pancake made from green onions, squid and eggs. Also, kimchi and tofu.

The next stop was a night market with all sorts of vendors making street food and selling small goods. She kept saying we were going to sample a special hot dog at one of the stalls. Nancy and I kept looking at each other thinking “we are not eating hot dog in Korea”. Well, something got lost in translation and it turned out to be a nut, seed and honey filled fried pastry. Whew.

Next we went up to the 100th floor of a building to an observatory to view the beautiful city at night. As you cross to the elevator to go back down, there is a bridge with a glass bottom to walk across that you can see down 100 floors. Jeff and I ran across it like 2 little girls with our eyes shut.

Next we went to a restaurant for a traditional BBQ pork dinner that is cooked right on your table. Pork, kimchi, radish kimchee, washed kimchee, pickled cucumbers and onions, soup and rice were our meal. Pretty yummy.

We headed back to the ship at 9:30 just in time to catch a local group that was putting on a show of traditional dancing and music for us.

A fabulous and exhausting day!

We all can’t help but think about the situation in Florida with the impending hurricane and hope for the best possible outcome.Read more