Busan: Part Two by Alex
We arrived in Seomyeon and walked toward the Lotte Department Store. We saw a sign for a yeogwan and walked up. The décor was nice, the wood was dark and there were plants on the stairs, completely different from the last. The room was sumptuous and cool; it even had a water cooler with both hot and cold water available. We paid a much more reasonable price and got two nights, took showers and got ready for our next vacation.
Audrey had planned to get her hair cut at a salon in Busan and maybe even prepped for coloring, so I being the anal traveler that I am decided we should reconnoiter the area so as to make Monday’s trip as painless as possible. Also we wanted to see the Foreigners’ Street as our guidebook said it was an interesting sight. We decided to do that first and set off for the train. The walk to the train also included a practice run of the shopping we would do Monday, or I should say Audrey would do, in the underground arcade.
We got off the train and immediately the station told us something about what to expect. It was dark and quiet with a few stumbling drunk men wandering the dried blood colored brick halls. Outside the light was fading and the area was quiet. We saw a few South Asians walking out of a street, carrying bags of electronics equipment and figured that was the street. It was. I must say that I have been stared at long and hard in Korea before, but I have never felt those stares were anything more than curiosity. On this street I was the most out of place that I have been in Korea and that is saying a lot.
The heat of the day still lingered and prostitutes looked out from dim tearooms lazily fanning themselves, the odd Madam or skinny Russian man sat outside smoking. Few other people were on the street and those that were had the look of people who knew what they wanted and where to get it. We fit neither. Luckily, the street is short, but oddly, it abuts Busan’s Chinatown which while not ‘family-friendly’ is visited by families. And so, immediately upon passing the ill-disguised brothels, we found ourselves surrounded by playing kids. Over all it was an experience on which we felt it was not necessary to linger, and so continued on to the newer, more hip night spot in which Audrey’s hair salon was located.
Our trip to Busan was marked by opposites and Changsun Dong was another complete change from our most recent location. The subway station was crowded and there was music drifting down from the street. The sidewalks were crowded with people of all ages and in all styles of dress; our way was lit by the multi-hued glow of neon. We wandered about this maze for the rest of the evening, scouting the salon and window shopping, drinking coffee and engaging in a culinary event some foreigners had erroneously expressed as quintessentially Korean, shabu shabu, in fact it is a recent import of unclear origins most likely Vietnam by way of Japan. It must here be noted that Korean tastes, as through much of the world, run in fads with the difference from the West being the speed of saturation. Within a few months of a fad taking hold one can see it everywhere, and so shabu shabu can be seen on menus in restaurants specializing in such diverse foods as raw fish, pork ribs, intestines and even vegetarian dishes.
The next day we went back to Changsun Dong to get Audrey’s hair cut, they were not too keen on just bleaching her hair because it was difficult to convey to them the fact that she wanted to dye it herself at home. Audrey has since decided to get another haircut next month and bleach it at home, after which she will become a redhead.
After the cut we went shopping, Audrey found a couple of pieces she really enjoyed and bemoaned the lack of adequate shopping in our city. I had expressed an interest the night before in a glass of red wine and some pasta, we therefore set out to discover an Italian restaurant. We quickly happened upon two, the first was fine dining in an Italian Renaissance décor for which we felt underdressed; the second was more rustic Italian, at least from the outside. Inside it was less Tuscan Garden and more Olive Garden, served almost no true Italian dishes and had only wine spritzers. Very unsatisfying. We stopped by another of Korea’s newest fads: Japanese Fusion restaurants. We drank some Sake in wonderfully presentational bowls of crushed ice, and decided the Seomyeon district is where we will stay if we return to Busan. The rest of the trip passed uneventfully, and we returned home in time for our customary weekend meal of Sam Kyup Sal.
Audrey had planned to get her hair cut at a salon in Busan and maybe even prepped for coloring, so I being the anal traveler that I am decided we should reconnoiter the area so as to make Monday’s trip as painless as possible. Also we wanted to see the Foreigners’ Street as our guidebook said it was an interesting sight. We decided to do that first and set off for the train. The walk to the train also included a practice run of the shopping we would do Monday, or I should say Audrey would do, in the underground arcade.
We got off the train and immediately the station told us something about what to expect. It was dark and quiet with a few stumbling drunk men wandering the dried blood colored brick halls. Outside the light was fading and the area was quiet. We saw a few South Asians walking out of a street, carrying bags of electronics equipment and figured that was the street. It was. I must say that I have been stared at long and hard in Korea before, but I have never felt those stares were anything more than curiosity. On this street I was the most out of place that I have been in Korea and that is saying a lot.
The heat of the day still lingered and prostitutes looked out from dim tearooms lazily fanning themselves, the odd Madam or skinny Russian man sat outside smoking. Few other people were on the street and those that were had the look of people who knew what they wanted and where to get it. We fit neither. Luckily, the street is short, but oddly, it abuts Busan’s Chinatown which while not ‘family-friendly’ is visited by families. And so, immediately upon passing the ill-disguised brothels, we found ourselves surrounded by playing kids. Over all it was an experience on which we felt it was not necessary to linger, and so continued on to the newer, more hip night spot in which Audrey’s hair salon was located.
Our trip to Busan was marked by opposites and Changsun Dong was another complete change from our most recent location. The subway station was crowded and there was music drifting down from the street. The sidewalks were crowded with people of all ages and in all styles of dress; our way was lit by the multi-hued glow of neon. We wandered about this maze for the rest of the evening, scouting the salon and window shopping, drinking coffee and engaging in a culinary event some foreigners had erroneously expressed as quintessentially Korean, shabu shabu, in fact it is a recent import of unclear origins most likely Vietnam by way of Japan. It must here be noted that Korean tastes, as through much of the world, run in fads with the difference from the West being the speed of saturation. Within a few months of a fad taking hold one can see it everywhere, and so shabu shabu can be seen on menus in restaurants specializing in such diverse foods as raw fish, pork ribs, intestines and even vegetarian dishes.
The next day we went back to Changsun Dong to get Audrey’s hair cut, they were not too keen on just bleaching her hair because it was difficult to convey to them the fact that she wanted to dye it herself at home. Audrey has since decided to get another haircut next month and bleach it at home, after which she will become a redhead.
After the cut we went shopping, Audrey found a couple of pieces she really enjoyed and bemoaned the lack of adequate shopping in our city. I had expressed an interest the night before in a glass of red wine and some pasta, we therefore set out to discover an Italian restaurant. We quickly happened upon two, the first was fine dining in an Italian Renaissance décor for which we felt underdressed; the second was more rustic Italian, at least from the outside. Inside it was less Tuscan Garden and more Olive Garden, served almost no true Italian dishes and had only wine spritzers. Very unsatisfying. We stopped by another of Korea’s newest fads: Japanese Fusion restaurants. We drank some Sake in wonderfully presentational bowls of crushed ice, and decided the Seomyeon district is where we will stay if we return to Busan. The rest of the trip passed uneventfully, and we returned home in time for our customary weekend meal of Sam Kyup Sal.
Comments
Love Dad M.
Love, Mom M.
Any help at all would be appreciated!
Laura