I shall have a fishie

I had never been to an aquarium before, now I have! :D

We got a discount from our hostel and decided to play with the fishies....not in that sense.

Something about these kinds of fish. They're almost nightmare-inducing.
Even worse, they don't look very good to eat. :C

Stephanie told me I look like a serial killer in the darkness here. Well, that could be the nerves due to the backdrop.
Jellyfish,  in particular, perturb me. Where do they keep their brains? Oh, they don't have one?

 

 

It was an interesting experience. I got to see a lot of marine (Now less-than-)wild life I otherwise wouldn't have.
I knew Sharks had a lot of teeth but I got a really good look at how terrifying it actually is in the underwater tunnel. (Makes me so glad to be on dry land.)

After a couple of hours enjoying the interesting exhibits we decided to go to the fishmarket because that makes perfect sense. A chance to reaffirm our power over mother nature or perhaps....

I think the fishmarket is Jagalchi Market. It's sprawling and extends  inside and out along the piers. You can see workers sitting outside working with tubs of water containing squids, intrepid octupi and many cantankerous crabs.

Along with shops selling fresh fish, shellfish etc there are many restaurants where it is cooked. You can order your fish from the tank outside and have it killed and cooked immediately.

We didn't actually eat in the end. We didn't have a lot of extra time and since it was a holiday everywhere was pretty crowded. We opted to make our train instead of walking back to Incheon.
A different time though, definitely! Fresh fish like that is nothing to turn your nose up at.

Hotteok

One thing Korea is very good at is street food.
Delicious, tempting street food.

*ahem* Anyway, while in Busan I tried Hotteok.

 



 Ultra cheap at only 1,000 won, it's a type of mini-panake 'fried' in hot oil and flattened with a special stamp. It's considered to be a winter food and is served piping hot.

There are different varieties obviously, and the kind we had was sweet. I think it was stuffed with raisins or something similar. It's crisp, crunchy and very filling.  (Which is good because I'm told the calorie count is simply outrageous. XD )

These however are less to my taste and more than my bravery can handle.

Wow, wow, wow

We stayed in WOW guest house in Busan.

It was really, really good and quite homey. A great place to stay and so close to the beach.

But honestly, I liked it because of what everyone was encouraged to do to the walls and windows while there.

 

 

Nothing says home like graffiti and post-it notes.

Pork pots

 

 

These little guys were all over the street in our district in Busan.

Remarkably close to all the restaurants (Mmmm, let's go back to that barbecue place).

Less than subtle subliminal messaging?

Cable Car

I took my first trip on a genuine cable car swinging a distance above the ground and managed to restrain myself from doing this:

 

....externally.

 



 

Well, we made it up and down without comment. (Although peering down could get a bit of vertigo)

Ironically, the cable car broke down with a full carriage the following week and people had to be lifted down with special equipment.

 

 

 





I think that this Geumjeonsan mountain but I'm honestly not sure because someone else was playing tour guide.

 It was pretty spectacular but a lot colder. There also seemed to be a lot alleycats, particularly around the creepy abandoned(?) fairground at the base where you get on the car.

New Year Morning ................Party???

 

Despite ringing in the new on the beach, to the tune of Adele of all people, we levered ourselves  out of bed to great the first sunrise of the new year with drummers in animal onesies pajamas.

 

 

 

They were pretty good actually. Rhythm and style.



 



 

 

 

At sunrise they released a ton of balloons with wishes tied to them. I just hope marine animals don't eat them. That would kind of sour the wish.

 

 

 

After that, the sunrise.

 

 

 

I got up before dawn to greet the new year in 2013. It almost makes up for my horrible habit of sleeping ridiculously late of Saturdays.





New Year Morning Paparazzi

 

Here are Stephanie, Karen and I (Helen behind the lens) on beautiful Haeundae Beach in Busan. It was beautiful and the skies were pretty clear but it was still pretty cold.

 

The reason the beach is empty above is that this is actually off-season and the day before New Year.
It was decidedly crowded then.

We got tapped by a news crew who went something like "Oooh, foreigners. Get them to say Happy New Year."...which we did.

Note how Stephanie is wearing her pajamas. That's how close we were to the beach and how early it was.

Helen is not there because:

a.) She took the picture.
b.) As soon as the camera approached us she did this...

thus abandoning us to their tender mercies for two minutes.