May 4 - Busan/Pusan, South Korea. Wow. Korea? Really? All I can do is give thanks to the Lord in all humility for this incredible journey. If we had had more time in Busan, I would've visited one of the large Christian churches there. Busan, interchangeable with Pusan, is the second largest city in South Korea, Seoul being the largest. We only had about four hours in the city so we took a shuttle from the port into the downtown area. I took a few pictures of long alleyways filled with street vendors and especially food vendors. Being in Asia, most of the food wasn't too appetizing, like dried octopus and fried squid paste cakes.
We opted for a Korean BBQ restaurant. The menu was limited because Korean BBQ is similar to Benihanas where they cook the food in front of you. At our table were two gas powered hot plates and the only entree options were bean sprouts with your choice of protein. We chose pork and bean sprouts, and I also tried a popular Korean drink, plum wine. They brought our food on large metal trays that sit on the hot plates. Judging by the bright red color, we knew it would be spicy, but we were not prepared for just how spicy! Most Asian food that I've had is either flavored with soy sauce, seafood, curry or garlic. This flavor was pure chili. Red hot chilis-the spiciest food I've ever had. Amazing to think that our food was probably considered mild to the Koreans. Well, with sweat on our foreheads and scorched taste buds what did we see but a Coldstone Creamery across the street! I'm learning more and more that America is everywhere. I had to try the Earl Grey Coldstone ice cream (I took a picture of the Earl Grey ice cream label for you Miriam!) It truly was frozen Earl Grey tea, otherwise known as heaven in a cone :). When we get home I'm going to march into my local Coldstone and demand that it be added to the menu.
After lunch, we walked around the international market which consisted of souvenirs cheap in quality but expensive in price. Note to self and readers, if you're looking for Asian souvenirs, get them in Thailand, Vietnam or mainland China. Hong Kong and China are very expensive, Cambodia doesn't really have anything worth buying and Busan was too pricey for the quality. However, we wanted some sort of memento, so Jeremy got a Korea t-shirt and I got a Korea sweatshirt.
I wish we weren't so limited on our time in Busan but we made the most of our few hours. I would love to visit Seoul after this experience. One thing I love about traveling is learning about and handling all of the foreign currency. For instance, the Vietnamese Dong is only a paper currency, no coins, and as I learned all too well, they will only accept pristine paper. The Korean Won has about the same exchange rate as the Japanese Yen, 1000 to $1. The Thai Baht is about 30 Baht to $1. The Cambodian Riel is the most inflated currency at a rate of 4,000 Riel to $1. I'm writing this because I want to look back in 20 years and compare :)
I'm very excited to see our next port of call...Russia! I never had any intention of taking a trip to Russia and probably won't be back unless it's on another cruise ship. To be given the chance to step on Soviet soil is exhilarating. I have a lot of expectations and predictions so we'll see if they are accurate!
Love you,
J & J
JESSICA!!!! The moment you get home, we are going over to Shelley and Bob's and using their ice-cream maker to make our OWN Earl Grey ice cream. We will try every recipe until it is perfect. I already can't wait!!!
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