Busan: A Vacation in Two Parts by Alex
To start with, it is ill advised to begin a trip with a Martin without a hearty breakfast or a good night’s sleep. I suppose the trip started with some bad omens. They continued at the bus station where the nine o’clock bus was sold out and we had to get on the ten twenty, seated separately, luckily the seats were individual so we sat alone. The bus trip also took a little longer than expected because of all the summer weekenders going to the beach, but we got in at a relatively good hour, hot, hungry and tired, and in Audrey’s case developing a stomachache. Also, our guidebook put us closer to the city than we actually arrived, so it took some time to get on the right track (Literally, as we almost got on the wrong train). My sense of direction while traveling is always wrong, but luckily it is consistently 180 degrees off, so Audrey just has to say, “Let’s go the opposite way.” And we usually end up in the right place.
We took a long and uncomfortable ride on three trains to get to our first destination: Haeundae Beach. It was about 3pm when we got to the neighborhood of the beach stepping into the boiling sun, even hotter, hungrier and more tired as well as doubled over with stomach pain. Not a good condition in which to search for a hotel. We wandered around and eventually settled on the place we first saw upon coming out of the subway stop. Audrey had said, “Let’s cut through this parking lot.” I on the other hand thought it would be better to walk around the corner. While it was possible to get to both ways, the alleyway that led to the access was hard to miss if we had gone her way, and since we went mine, we missed it entirely. The hotel was lacking in air conditioning, though it had a machine for it, dirty, small and too expensive. We decided on one night in the place, and tomorrow we would continue looking. The rest of the day passed uneventfully if a little testily.
In the evening we decided to try and have some fun at a familiar chain of bars: WA Bar. We drank a number of tall drafts and headed home deciding on a day at the beach and a new hotel the next day. The hour we decided on waking was 8:15.
While I believe we had set an alarm, I remember it was not necessary for me. The lack of air-conditioning and the foolishness of not drinking much water the day before resulted in a very poor night’s sleep and a wicked hangover in the morning. I was up at about eight and started getting ready. I filled a bottle with water from the sink and took a sip before noticing the sign recommending against such practices. I used my finger to brush my teeth, as we had neglected to bring toothbrushes seeing as most places provide them, and splashed some water on my face.
Audrey too was suffering and even though she was not altogether immobile it was tough to get her up (It seems we have a track record of bad hangovers on vacation, see Wando in August 2005). We changed into our swimsuits determined to spend a day at the beach despite everything. In the process of getting ready, the bathing suit Audrey brought broke; Korean women don’t generally have lats or much muscle of which to speak. It did not bode well for our day at the beach.
The Korean beach experience is vastly different from the American one, mainly in the fact that they do not generally prepare anything for the trip; sun umbrellas, beach blankets, food, inner tubes, anything that you need is available, especially fried chicken and beer, draught beer no less carried by delivery men and women up and down the beach all day. We ignored the stares and set up our own sun umbrella, unfolded our beach blanket and promptly fell asleep. The other anomaly in Korean beach going is the lack of swimsuits and towels. Either one wears a Speedo and has a 1x2 ft. sport towel, or one goes in the quick dry shorts and t-shirt that are the standard summer attire. Beaches here are set-up to be visited on the spur of the moment. It is very convenient, but we still like to do it our way. I swam in the ocean for about five minutes and by two we felt rested enough and hot enough to leave the beach. The night before we had gone out for dinner in the Seomyeon district, which seemed like a pretty good place to stay, so we got on the train, covered in sand and looking greasy. Thus ended our first vacation.
We took a long and uncomfortable ride on three trains to get to our first destination: Haeundae Beach. It was about 3pm when we got to the neighborhood of the beach stepping into the boiling sun, even hotter, hungrier and more tired as well as doubled over with stomach pain. Not a good condition in which to search for a hotel. We wandered around and eventually settled on the place we first saw upon coming out of the subway stop. Audrey had said, “Let’s cut through this parking lot.” I on the other hand thought it would be better to walk around the corner. While it was possible to get to both ways, the alleyway that led to the access was hard to miss if we had gone her way, and since we went mine, we missed it entirely. The hotel was lacking in air conditioning, though it had a machine for it, dirty, small and too expensive. We decided on one night in the place, and tomorrow we would continue looking. The rest of the day passed uneventfully if a little testily.
In the evening we decided to try and have some fun at a familiar chain of bars: WA Bar. We drank a number of tall drafts and headed home deciding on a day at the beach and a new hotel the next day. The hour we decided on waking was 8:15.
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| Everything in Korea is a dare to consume more alcohol. |
While I believe we had set an alarm, I remember it was not necessary for me. The lack of air-conditioning and the foolishness of not drinking much water the day before resulted in a very poor night’s sleep and a wicked hangover in the morning. I was up at about eight and started getting ready. I filled a bottle with water from the sink and took a sip before noticing the sign recommending against such practices. I used my finger to brush my teeth, as we had neglected to bring toothbrushes seeing as most places provide them, and splashed some water on my face.
Audrey too was suffering and even though she was not altogether immobile it was tough to get her up (It seems we have a track record of bad hangovers on vacation, see Wando in August 2005). We changed into our swimsuits determined to spend a day at the beach despite everything. In the process of getting ready, the bathing suit Audrey brought broke; Korean women don’t generally have lats or much muscle of which to speak. It did not bode well for our day at the beach.
The Korean beach experience is vastly different from the American one, mainly in the fact that they do not generally prepare anything for the trip; sun umbrellas, beach blankets, food, inner tubes, anything that you need is available, especially fried chicken and beer, draught beer no less carried by delivery men and women up and down the beach all day. We ignored the stares and set up our own sun umbrella, unfolded our beach blanket and promptly fell asleep. The other anomaly in Korean beach going is the lack of swimsuits and towels. Either one wears a Speedo and has a 1x2 ft. sport towel, or one goes in the quick dry shorts and t-shirt that are the standard summer attire. Beaches here are set-up to be visited on the spur of the moment. It is very convenient, but we still like to do it our way. I swam in the ocean for about five minutes and by two we felt rested enough and hot enough to leave the beach. The night before we had gone out for dinner in the Seomyeon district, which seemed like a pretty good place to stay, so we got on the train, covered in sand and looking greasy. Thus ended our first vacation.
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