釜山の最後の写真

最後の釜山のスタルワルス旅行の写真：


On my way to the movie theater to see Episode 3, I was invited to try to win some free movie passes to "Kingdom of Heaven" by one of those yellow miniskirted campaign girls. I was surprised a bit, since generally the ones in Japan don't bother foreigners that much (since they assume we're tourists or something, and have no need for whatever they're promoting... which in this case i actually was).

Further perplexing was how the girl thought I would have any chance winning anything -- the game required you to stack those blocks up to spell something (in Korean) before the train came back around the track or something like that.


Where would a trip to a foreign country be without a sampling of their local McDonalds be? Korean McDonalds aren't too much different I suppose... the major difference was the fact that they had plastic reusable cups insetad of throwaway paper ones. But I noticed that they (and most places in Korea apparently) have free refills on their soda. They have advanced far beyond Japan in this respect (actually you can get free refills at Costco and some family restaurants in Japan... its not /that/ backwards).

OK, another difference would be the presence of a giant fiberglass rotating Elvis statue... I only went to this one McDonalds during my short stay, but I'm guessing this is not a common feature.



It was here that I met up with the 'Star Wars Group' from Japan... which really turned out to be just the one guy I was in touch with, two japanese friends of his who were mostly there for the shopping and some Korean girl he knew (sitting) and her friend.


The theater was actually above this McDonalds. Ticket to the movie were only ~$6.50, and despite being opening night, it was pretty empty at this theater.



Afterwards the Korean friends took the fanboy guy and I to a fancy bar/club type place nearby. They had live music for a while, but it was mostly just quiet tables. The girl was slightly sassy... her friend was not sassy at all.

After the girls went home we tried to go to here:

The Batman Bar. But apparently it has recently shut down. But even late at night, lots of people out at food stands and the so-called 'shoju tents.'


Next day I got a haircut (less than $10... more than china but less than japan), checked out of my hotel and tried to do some shopping before my boat left at 3pm:


More campaign girls... except this time no one was actually stopping to pay attention (except for maybe me). This one was kind of sad, it was basically two skinny girls sort of pretending to dance to some familiar Kpop tunes blaring out of a sound system behind them and randomly talking about dishwashers or something (while no one listened).



For lunch... I had a rendezvous with Jared!


On my way back to the subway station, i spotted another kind of lackluster pair of promotion girls... They definitely haven't reached the level of campaign development you see often in Japan.



final shot before going through customs and getting on the boat. Note my new summer hair style. :-P


福岡帰る

釜山第２番の写真

But the reality was that english (and chinese and japanese) signage was pretty ubiquitous in most places and even better, people at most stores and restaurants spoke english well (better than in the equivalent people here Japan, I will have to say).

On Korea as a whole... I liked it and I am looking forward to visiting again in the future, but overall, the impression I got (and don't take this the wrong way anyone...), based on my travels and life experience is that Korea is half-way between China and Japan.... I don't mean geographically... although it is.... I don't mean culturally (it has a lot in common with both) i mean like socio-economically, infrastructurally, and even sanitarially... (i don't think thats a real word....)

Its more expensive than China, not as expensive as Japan (except for the Pizza Hut). Its cleaner than China, but not as clean as Japan. Infrastructure is generally nicer than China, but not nice as Japan. More bootlegs than Japan, less than China (but very close!)

Anyway, here's part two of the pics:


My first touristy destination was Yongdusan Park ('Dragon Head' Park in chinese). It sits on a hill overlooking the bay. Its got a ~300 foot tower that you can go up.

When I got here i was surprised at the huge number of old retired guys that were milling about, like TONS (like almost reminded me of the housekeepers you see in parks in HK on sundays). I guess retired Korean guys like to get out and get some fresh air, cause it seemed like nearly every one was doing it at this park when I showed up.



But there was only one who was wearing a SOMBRERO.... yes sombrero. and hawaiian shirt.... and his cane, which he used not to walk, but to stretch...

No idea why... but when i saw it, i knew i must photograph it.



They had a statue of a famous Korean Admiral Yi Sun-shin who defeated a japanese invasion force in the 1500's...


View of the city from the tower. Not exactly a beautiful place, lots of urban sprawl...


Harbor's getting a little crowded too. :-P

If you look onthe left side of the picture you can see one of the hydrofoil ferries I took coming in to dock at the international port.


Here it is after its tied up.

While up in the tower, I met some Korean American family who lived in Kansas who was visiting. I learned that apparently the University of Kansas is referred to as 'KU' so its not confused with the University of Kentucky... exciting stuff. :-P


This is the 'UN Memorial Tower' -- let's not forget that Pusan became the provisional capital of S. Korea during the Korean war and at one point was the last stand of the S. Korean and US forces, before the amphibious assault at Incheon. There were actually like 17 UN countries that participated in the fighting on the side of S. Korea. Their flags are shown here.

Nearby is the Pusan Museum, which I decided to check out...


In addition to that strangely communist looking statue, I also saw some couple taking wedding photos on the grounds of the museum.

On my way out, I decided to take a random self-portrait. (Yes, I wore my Star Wars shirt...)

As far as the Museum's contents go, it mostly focused on the history of the area and the history of Korean/Japanese relations here. Since Pusan is basically the closest point in Korea to Japan, anything happening between the two countries happened here.


Behind the museum is a cemetary for UN war dead. It was closed by the time I got here, so I took a picture from outside only.


韓国バス