My Trip to Busan, South Korea

Right after I got back from my trip to Colorado, I found out that my company was supposed to have mailed me the certificate of eligibility for my work visa while I was still IN America. For whatever reason the Japanese immigration wouldn't let me obtain the visa inside the country. Luckily, they said I could go to Korea to get it, but I was still a bit irked about having to do more traveling while already jet lagged. My company was very apologetic and said they would pay for my airline ticket, which was nice, and actually, I ended up really enjoying the trip. Busan has a different feel than Seoul, although I like them both. Koreans generally seem to be much more open and boisterous than Japanese. When I went to Seoul in December, everyone was helpful and friendly to me, but Busan was even friendlier and more laid back. The hostel I stayed at, "Zen Backpackers" was amazing. The owner, June, was incredibly helpful and the hostel, more like an apartment, was clean and had a comfortable, cool atmosphere. I walked a lot around the city and through some crazy open markets with all kinds of strange food I had never seen before. They are really big on seafood in Busan, and along many of the streets there are restaurants with huge fish tanks on the sides and all sorts of big, creepy, sometimes disgusting looking fish and fish-like creatures swimming around. I did sit down to a really delicious Korean set-meal (kimchi, rice, soup, and other fermented vegetables) while I was there. The lady assured me it was only fish and vegetables, and most of it was pretty tasty, so I'll try not to think about what sort of "fish" was in it. I met two very nice people at the hostel and we went out together one night: Karen, a Korean-American from New York who speaks fluent English and Korean, had been traveling around doing a tour of Asia, and Mathias, from Denmark, is living in Shanghai getting his PhD. Being at the hostel reminded me of backpacking Europe and how cool it is to meet up with so many different people with different experiences and perspectives. We all had a really good time checking out a couple local Korean bars and having Karen there to translate was awesome! Before I had to head back to the airport I was even able to make a trip out to the ocean, which always makes me really happy.

Here are some of my photos:

So many crazy buildings...

Papa Smurf!

The sun was so bright it was hard to keep my eyes open

On the roof of the hostel

Zen Backpackers' living room

Karen, Mathias and me with some intoxicated Korean men

Karen and Mathias