With the Muths at work all day, Joylani and I went out to explore Busan on our own today. We headed down to Nampo-dong, where there were a couple of sights that sounded pretty interesting. The first was Yongdu-san Park and Busan Tower, which sat atop of its hills. Rather than hike up hill, there was a series of covered escalators leading up, which was nice given that it was pretty hot out. The main park area was small, but pretty interesting. The first group of people we came across was old men. Dozens of old men filled the shaded area of the park, talking in pairs, playing board games, or huddled over watching one. Then there were the families out for a stroll. We also passed a group of Mormons talking and preparing to go out to hassle people- I’ve seen them all over the country. And then on our walk towards Busan Tower, a huge field trip of school children crossed our path. Perhaps it wasn’t the park that was that interesting, just the cross-section of the Busan population that we glimpsed.

Busan Tower was nothing more than a caf and observation deck balanced on a really, really tall tower. Although simple, I quite enjoyed being up there, if not just for the surrounding views of the city. The observation deck was cylindrical and thus we could walk all the way around and, on a clear day like today, have unlimited visibility in every direction. Well not the parts of the city that were bound in by mountains, but we could see the sprawling city rolling over the nearby hills and extending right up to the ocean and harbor. Busan is a crowded and compact city, for buildings are all tall and packed together, but its orderly and clean. The grid of streets and blocks was clear from up there and things below looked orderly. I’ve said it a couple times in this blog, but I feel like you can really learn a lot about city by viewing it from above.

After Busan tower, we headed to the waterfront to check out the several-blocks-long Jagalchi Fish Market. One section was super busy and crowded, which was outdoors in some back alleys. Old ladies had tables full of fish, octopus, rays, sharks, you name it. Beyond the delicious-looking tables piled high with fish, this part of the market was most interesting because of its people. The peddlers yelling and bargaining, constantly shifting their umbrellas to adjust to the moving sun, and the descaling, gutting, and chopping of fish. The second part of the market was indoors and pretty mellow, but there were way more interesting seafoods; plenty of eels and worms, all kinds of shellfish, huge cuts of sashimi-grade meat, and the biggest crabs I’ve ever seen in my life. Between Busan Tower and the fish market, I think we saw two of Busan’s best sights. Although I’m a bit biased because I love seafood and seafood markets and Joylani says I’m a nerd for going up tall towers. One last thing to mention and will hopefully get a gasp or chuckle from our readers is this: I woke up with a mosquito bite on my eyelid which swelled my eye shut.